Improvement in Performance of the Sulphuric Acid Transport Installation through Modification of Flow Characteristics Using Electric Actuators

The paper presents a flow model of the installation for tank car filling with sulphuric acid (VI). For the mathematical modelling of the flow process in the industrial installation, a model diagram of the object and experiments carried out during the installation work were applied. The analysis of specific experimental series showed unusual shapes of mass flow characteristics vs. the valve opening level (too wide hysteresis), which markedly deviated from typical flow characteristics that are found in standards and literature. As a result of flow modelling in the sulphuric acid installation, a better-shaped characteristic was presented that should be obtained based on the measuring system values in the absence of the inertia-related error. In the experiments carried out according to the selected procedures, effects of the actuator speed on the characteristics of interest were determined. It was observed that the use of a “slower” actuator (i.e., longer transition time) narrows the characteristics in terms of a reduced difference in flow readings between the valve opening and closing courses. In the specified research procedure for the real flow characteristics, effects of the measurement transducer dynamics in the flow meter on the characteristic course were assessed. It was demonstrated that a faster transducer enabled closer flow recordings to the valve nominal characteristics. The variable speed can improve the positioning precision, with the use of the lowest possible speed rule directly before the positioning point.