Featured Product: TKB Battery Operated Paddle Wheel Flow Meter

Truflo’s TKB Battery Operated Paddle Wheel Flow Meter certainly sets the standard in the paddle wheel flow meter market. The TKB Series has been designed for tough industrial applications and has been engineered to provide long-term accurate flow measurement for both corrosive and non-corrosive liquids. Along with providing an industry leading accuracy of 0.5%, as well as offering a lifetime warranty, there are a number of reasons as to why the TKB paddle wheel flow meter is truly best in class.

Paddle Wheel Assembly

Perhaps the biggest feature that sets the TKB Series apart from the rest of the industry is their newly re-designed paddle wheel assembly. Truflo was able to identify the biggest issue when it came to paddle wheel flow meters and re-engineer theirs to address these issues and be able to provide the most accurate and reliable paddle wheel flow meter on the market.

For the most part, what you will find from other paddle wheel flow meter manufacturers is a flat, plastic paddle, rotating on either a titanium, plastic or ceramic shaft. The issue with this being, is when you have 2 dissimilar materials constantly rotating on each other, it creates a lot of friction. This constant friction can lead to the Paddle Wheel eventually failing. Paddle wheel flow meters are a basic technology and if something does go wrong with the unit, it tends to be with the actual Paddle Wheel itself.

Truflo identified the main pain point when it came to these sensors and have re-engineered the entire Paddle Wheel assembly to bring it to the point where it is far superior in comparison to other manufacturers. Along with standardizing on a Tefzel paddle, a zirconium ceramic rotor pin and zirconium ceramic bushings are now standard on all Truflo paddle wheel flow meters. By incorporating the bushings, there is no longer 2 dissimilar materials rotating on one another, it is simply ceramic on ceramic, which greatly reduces friction and increase the longevity of the Paddle Wheel. If you are unfamiliar with Tefzel, or also known as ETFE, it is a material that is used in many applications that demand mechanical toughness.

Common Applications:

• Pump housings and pipe linings
• Impellers for abrasive slurries
• Fluid handling and chemical processing equipment
• Oxygen respirator components
• Military / defense equipment
• Food processing equipment

Performance Characteristics:

• Chemically inert to a wide range of industrial chemicals and solvents
• Exceptional dielectric insulation properties
• Rugged, great abrasion resistance, and impact strength
• High resistance to outdoor weathering
• Radiation and heat sterilization resistant

Zirconium ceramic is another great material with regards to chemical and wear resistance, similar to Tefzel. It is widely used in the dentistry field for replacement crowns. The reasons zirconium ceramic makes great crowns are similar to why it makes it a great material to use when dealing with chemical flow meters. It has an extremely high hardness, high fracture toughness, resistant to wear, oxidation and corrosion.

Aside from the introduction of the bushings and the standardization of the high-grade materials of construction, Truflo also re-designed the shape of the actual paddle itself. By moving away from the standard flat paddle shape, they have re-engineered it to give it a contoured, low-drag, fluid-dynamic design. This re-design is how the industry leading accuracy of 0.5% was achieved. The re-design coupled with the standardization of the high grade materials of construction gave Truflo the confidence to offer their lifetime warranty on the paddle wheel assembly. 

True-Union Design

Just like any true-union ball valve is designed, all of Truflo’s in-line paddle wheel flow meters sizes 2″ and smaller come equipped with a true-union body. If for any reason, the flow meter needed to be taken out of the line, there is no need to cut any pipe, the user would simply just unscrew the two union nuts on each end of the flow meter.

These true-union style bodies are offered in PVC, Polypropylene and PVDF to ensure there is a material that is chemically compatible with your application. Truflo also offers their entire TK Series with a 316 stainless steel body with NPT connections up to 2″. 

360° Rotatable Display

The TKB Series liquid flow meters come standard with a 360° rotatable display. The simple reason this feature was integrated into the design of the flow meter was so that whether or not the user has horizontal or vertical oriented pipe, they would easily be able to get a reading off the display. The display is rotated simply by removing 2 screws, rotating the head to the desired position and putting the screws back in place.

The TKB battery operated model has standardized on a back-lit LCD screen with a 3 year battery life. However, Truflo’s powered in-line flow meters now standardize on vivid LED displays. Truflo made the decision to standardize on the LED displays because in many cases, the applications where these flow meters are being installed tend to be either in dimly lit factory’s or super sunny, outdoor applications. In both situations, having an LED screen makes it much easier to get a reading on the flow meter. With Truflo’s entire TK Series, these displays come standard. There is no need to purchase a mounting kit and order it separately, they come standard out of the box to ensure the ordering process is as easy as possible. 

No Programming

Lastly, one of the great features of not only the TKB, but Truflo’s entire line of in-line paddle wheel flow meters, is they come completely pre-programmed. This is just one more area where Truflo has looked into making their products as simple and pain free as possible. Unlike other chemical flow meter brands where you would have to determine and set the K-factor in order to get an accurate reading on your meter, the TKB is completely plug and play, out of the box it is ready to go! 

Learn more about flow meters

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