Sight glass
The sight glass is a fitting that is used to observe the flow and to indicate the level of fluids and solids (e.g. grain ) in pipelines and pressure vessels and to observe thermal processes in industrial furnace systems.
For this purpose, the sight glass must be made of temperature and pressure resistant glass or be covered against permanent radiation. The mechanical loads from the neighboring pipes are absorbed by a massive housing , unless the sight glass is attached directly to a large pipe or system or to a pressure vessel with a simple block flange . Because of their fragility, sight glasses should always be secured with an initial lock .
Oil eyes are used to record the fill level of containers . For this purpose, single or multiple oil eyes are built into the container wall at critical fill levels, such as maximum and minimum. In a modified form, sight glasses are used to control the water level in steam generators .
A water meter is also designed as a sight glass.
Sometimes the sight glass also includes a small turbine to display the direction and speed of flow of the fluid, for example at petrol pumps at petrol stations . In pipelines with a large nominal diameter and on large pressure vessels, sight glasses are equipped with lighting .
Usual designs for sight glass fittings
Sight glass fittings can be roughly divided into the categories of tank sight glasses , flow sight glasses and level indicators .
See also
literature
- Peter von Böckh, Christian Saumweber: Fluid Mechanics. 3rd edition, Springer Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 2013, ISBN 978-3-642-33891-5 , p. 323.
- AJ Kieser: Handbook of chemical-technical apparatus, mechanical aids and materials. Second volume Fi-Kr, published by Julius Springer, Berlin 1937, p. 634 ff.