Problem

A company in Turkey operates several wastewater treatment facilities in the Istanbul district, mainly using open-channel flow meters at the inlet and outlet. At one facility, flow readings between inlet and outlet were unbalanced by up to 30% — a discrepancy that shouldn’t occur under normal operation. After the open-channel inlet, the pipe runs underground with very limited access for flow measurement, with the only viable access point being the valve room. Most flow meter vendors could not offer a solution, and the wastewater also contained up to 2% solid content by volume.

Application

AquaTrans AT600 clamp-on flow meter measures wastewater intake on a large pipe with very tight available space, providing a non-intrusive solution where traditional flow meters could not be installed.

The Panametrics partner proposed testing the AT600 clamp-on flow meter for this application, despite the short downstream piping run. The meter was installed in a single traverse configuration, as there wasn’t enough available length for a dual-traverse setup. The customer tested the meter for a full month to properly evaluate its performance, and the results matched expectations. As a public company, the customer had to run a formal tender process — two other companies attempted flow measurement at the same location but could not achieve stable readings, with some showing severe fluctuations. As a result, the customer selected the Panametrics AT600 clamp-on flow meter as the reliable solution for this challenging wastewater application.