Accurate liquid flow measurement is critical in industries such as oil and refining where a tiny error during custody transfer can prove costly for users. Honeywell’s Small Volume Provers enable accurate and traceable custody transfer and comply with all major international standards. Users benefit from increased calibration flexibility, faster and more efficient proving and significant cost savings as compared to other measurement techniques.
Honeywell’s Small Volume Provers offer a variety of solutions for pipelines, refineries, ship loading and unloading facilities, chemical plant, loadrack, production platforms, storage and offloading units and aviation refueling meter proving.
Offshore SVPs
The Small Volume Prover (SVP) offshore model (O) is suitable for production platforms and floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) units. It has a small footprint and reduces uncertainties by providing faster and more efficient results. With more than 100 units in use today, it improves profitability for upstream operators.
The SVP is a compact, cost-effective device that allows users to verify the accuracy of flow meters used to measure product and process materials. Due to its small footprint and relatively light weight, the cost of offshore platform real estate is reduced considerably.
The volume prover is used in oilfields worldwide, either on platforms or FPSOs working with varying crude oils, and is compatible with all custody transfer metering technologies, including Coriolis and Ultrasonic flow meters. Flow meters are often proven several times a day, so any reduction in the time taken by the process increases transfer accuracy and significantly improves productivity. This level of accuracy beats all international benchmarks and enables greater fiscal accountability of expensive fluid products.
How Does It Work?
The main features of the SVP include its precision smooth bore measurement cylinder, a displacement piston that contains an integral bypass valve and high accuracy optical switches. The fail-safe valve in the piston reduces process interruptions to ensure the highest accuracy and the product is designed for remote installation and operation. It includes PTFE filled seals that ensure fluid compatibility, and sealing integrity. The SVP has a constant displaced volume of 100 percent, regardless of the meter location, and contains no hydraulic or pneumatic features, ensuring constant proving results with uncertainty equal to or exceeding 0.02 percent as required by the American Petroleum Institute (API). The product is manufactured using 316 stainless steel and can resist harsh external environments.
What Problems Does It Solve?
Size and ruggedness play a crucial role in an offshore metering installation. With a footprint that is one-fourth the size of traditional technologies, and a special design, the Offshore SVP helps save real estate costs, and improves production efficiency and profitability.
Small Volume Prover (SVP) Controller
The new Honeywell Enraf Small Volume Prover (SVP) controller provides real-time monitoring and significantly enhanced operational control for a more precise, reliable and rapid proving cycle. The controller represents a major upgrade to the performance of all existing and new SVPs with its advanced, intuitive features and increased precision.
The SVP controller provides a single solution for better visibility and control of any proving operation. This easy-to-use replacement for all existing control modules and new provers provides operators the most advanced capabilities available – data storage and handling, sophisticated alarm functions, simpler service and system diagnostics. It also controls the water draw operation as and when necessary.
With an intrinsically safe design, the SVP Controller is approved by ATEX and CSA to meet the extreme requirements of installation in hazardous locations.
How Does It Work?
The easy-to-read 3.5-inch, six-line display gives instant visibility into all critical data on the standard screen, including piston position, motor status, error status, cycle value, prover date and sweep time. Using the Local Access Device (LAD) for handheld control provides complete access to programming and other system information via a menu-driven procedure. An on-screen cycle counter allows users to view the number of cycles and can provide a preventative maintenance service alarm determined by the user.
The sweep time display in seconds with repeatability in milliseconds provides a highly precise visual reading of the time the piston takes to travel between the upstream and downstream optical switches – vital for pulse generation calculations and the repeatability of proving runs.
What Problems Does It Solve?
For the first time, the Honeywell Enraf Small Volume Prover (SVP) Controller allows users to visually monitor and control the operation of the prover in real time on a clear LCD display for optimal performance.
Stationary SVP
The Stationary Small Volume Prover (SVP) or Standard model (S) is ideal for pipelines, refineries, ship loading and unloading facilities and chemical plants for verifying the accuracy of custody transfer-approved flow meters. It has been deployed by more than 400 users across the world.
The Stationary Small Volume Prover is the next generation of captive displacement provers. The small volume prover offers unrivalled uncertainty that surpasses the American Petroleum Institute (API) requirement of 0.02 percent, while its turndown flow range ratio of 1200:1 ensures calibration flexibility. Coupled with its compact size, high accuracy and low pressure drop, these factors make the small volume prover number one choice for proving Coriolis mass flow meters, Ultrasonic, positive displacement (PD) and turbine meters.
Seven models are available for flow ranges from 715-17,500 BPH, with pressure ranges up to 3600 psig. These captive displacement provers can be used in either standby or bypass mode on a wide range of process applications from crude oils to LPG.
How Does It Work?
The Stationary Small Volume Prover is a precise instrument that receives a command from the flow computer to initiate the retraction of the displacement piston and start the meter proving process. When the piston is released, the controllers send back pulses to the computer counter during the movement of the piston for the activation time between optic switch one and two position. These next generation captive displacement provers come with a precision smooth bore cylinder and measurement piston that contains an integral bypass valve, with the “fail-safe” valve design reducing the possibility of process interruption. Regardless of the meter location, a constant displaced volume of 100 percent leads to results that exceed the API requirement for repeatability of 0.02 percent. Additionally, the PTFE seal provides these captive displacement provers with unmatched fluid compatibility. The prover’s design enables remote installation and operation.
What Problems Does It Solve?
Errors in meter factors can have a significant financial impact. The Stationary Small Volume Prover offers enhanced precision and rapid proving cycle to allow the proving of flow meters at the start of every single process transfer, thus ensuring precise measurements, while optimizing profitability.
Truck/ Trailer-Mounted SVPs
The Truck/ Trailer Mounted Small Volume Prover (SVP) offers the quickest and most precise method for load rack meter proving. Targeted at marketing terminals, aviation refueling farms, refineries and pipelines, it is utilized globally by companies for calibration of all types of flow meters.
The small, lightweight footprint of the SVP offers flexible configurations for either truck or trailer mounting. It enables load rack operators to continue the fuel loading operations, while simultaneously proving the accuracy of their flow meters. This helps reduce load rack unavailability and adhere to regulatory norms. By utilizing Prove-it software, instant test data is produced, which minimizes proving time. Truck/ Trailer Mounted SVPs can be utilized in multiple locations for proving a wide range of meter sizes with a 1200:1 turndown ability.
A battery-powered version of the SVP and Prove-it software is also available for portable proving of flow meters where AC power is either unavailable or difficult to access.
How Does It Work?
Based on Six Sigma techniques, the Truck/ Trailer Mounted SVP is designed to conform to American Petroleum Institute (API) guidelines, meeting, or even exceeding the uncertainty requirements of 0.02 percent. The SVPs are equipped with a smooth bore measurement cylinder, a displacement piston that contains an integral bypass valve to minimize disturbance to flow streams, and high precision optical switches.
The provers are truly portable, allowing users the flexibility to calibrate a varying number of meters in different locations and applications, including marketing terminal load racks, aviation refueling, pipelines and refineries. All SVP models can be mounted on any vehicle, trailer, barge or system, making the offering highly flexible.
What Problems Does It Solve?
With Truck/ Trailer Mounted SVPs, users benefit from greater accuracy and reduced proving cycle. This allows them to minimize, and even eliminate, load rack unavailability, as opposed to other technologies that require the loading lanes to be closed at the time of meter proving. The prover also reduces the time taken for calibration in applications such as pipeline or refinery meter proving.