Refurbishment Of Fluid Flow Demonstration Unit

INTRODUCTION
The fluid flow demonstration unit is a piece of equipment that was designed specially for instructional purposes. The main part of the equipment consist of five parallel glass pipe lines carrying a metered supply of pumped water from a water reservoir. Each line possess it’s own entry and exit valves so that the water supply may be diverted through any of the lines at will.
The four lines contain a demonstration insert viz. An orifice plate, a venturi, a series of bend, a date valve and globe valve line also one of the lime contain no insert. Each of these lines possess a manometer leg attachment points so that pressure difference across the demonstration can be measured. The flow rate is measured or obtained by measuring the pressure differences between the inlet of the meter and a point of reduced pressure, where the orifice meter, ventari, series of bend, date and globe valve have flow rates which can be varied by means of the flow control valve and metered by the flow meter, while used water is returned to the reservoir to facilitate continuous operation.
The type of flow common in these demonstration unit is laminar flow, because the fluid flowing (water) move along a straight, parallel paths in layers or laminar. This type of flow is governed by the law of relating shear stress to rate of angular deformation that is the product of viscosity of the fluid is dominant and this suppresses any tendency to turbulent condition.
This equipment could be used for operation such as: measuring pressure drop during flow in a straight pipe, flow through the venturi meter, flow through the orifice meter also calibration of the rota meter.

The process “refurbishment” has been of great concern in our Chemical Engineering section, industries etc. Refurbishment is actually the ability to bring back and equipment to a good working condition, these makes an equipment to be operated with less errors, following commissioning instruction, service requirement, repairs and maintenance. The inevitability less than 100% reliability of any equipment ultimately necessitates it’s repair and maintenance.
When one is refurbishing a particular equipment some techniques are used such as:
– Close inspection of the equipment to find faults
– Inspecting to find out any damage
– Operating different parts to find out if there is any malfunction. For an equipment such as the “fluid flow demonstration unit” when those steps are taken the possible faults would be listed out these is in order to make the refurbishment process easier.
In refurbishing the fluid flow demonstration unit after all of the above techniques, each components of the equipment will be dismantled one after the other, washed with brush and H2S04 and rinsed properly, surface treatment operation would also be carried out which include.
The cleaning of the board, painting of the board to avoid any pest attach, cleaning of the water tank also painting to reduce the formation of dirts in the tanks. Those part that need repair were repaired, parts that ought to be replaced were replaced while those that could not be purchased were improvised.
During the maintenance and service operation that is refurbishment, a knowledge of the working principle of the equipment is required since it is used to correct errors in measuring devices such as manometer, repair of damage part and replacement of the worn out parts of the equipment.
The need for refurbishment is to increase the workability of an equipment and enhance flow parameter studies in the fluid flow demonstration unit. The performance and efficiency of the fluid floro demonstration unit has electrode the poor maintenance, non-monitoring of operating during use, failure to report faults early and inadequate servicing of the parts.
Therefore the refurbishment of these equipment and any other Chemical Engineering Instrument promote performance, maximizes efficiency of the equipment, and also assures satisfactory result.