The implementation of digital dosing was a massive step forward in terms of improving accuracy in dosing systems. But in this course, we’re going to turn our attention to the accurate measurement of flow and take you through the benefits of FlowControl Measurement – or FCM.

Simply put, FCM offers intelligent measuring of flow. A flow control measuring sensor is built into the digital dosing system to help provide a better and more accurate measurement of flow.

The FCM module is a positive-displacement flow meter with a built-in pressure sensor. It tells the pump the exact volume of chemicals pumped with every stoke. This built-in sensor can measure flow in much the same way as an external displacement flow meter, making the latter redundant. But we will come back to that later.

It’s quite simple to understand how it works in practice. First, the dosing head must be filled. Then, the liquid must be compressed. After these two steps, the volume of the dosing head can be measured. It’s as simple as that. And thanks to the intuitive display, you can always keep track of the stroke position and the liquid quantity in the dosing head.

With the inclusion of FCM, you open a world of new benefits that all contribute to the improvement of your overall operation. So, let’s dive right into it and take a look at some of the advantages and benefits of using FCM.

Implementing the FCM feature not only enables intelligent process control within the pump itself, it also allows for the detection of any flow deviations in the system, sending an alarm if something isn’t right. That way, you can quickly react to any potential wear and tear in your system. But that’s not all. It reacts to other failures such as cavitation or pipe burst and automatically switches off the system when any serious failures are detected.

Furthermore, if the pump’s pressure or flow is unstable, it automatically stabilises itself to maintain a consistent performance. This is massively beneficial as it reduces chemical spillage and brings chemical savings.

As an added bonus, some pumps in the Grundfos SMART Digital Range feature AutoFlowAdapt, which lets the pump automatically adapt to flow and pressure changes, bringing huge reliability improvements.

Integrated intelligence does more than improve reliability, however. As touched upon earlier, the intelligent control within the pump makes external flow meters or similar measuring devices, superfluous. The fact that these flow meters are deemed unnecessary brings a variety of benefits in itself – the obvious one being a massive reduction in installation costs thanks to savings made on extra components.

Additionally, flow measurement features enable the pump to detect and correct errors – not just in the pump itself, but in the connected pipes as well. This allows the pump to detect issues such as cavitation, leakage and overpressure that could lead to potentially dangerous situations.

Not only that, it also brings the cost of repairs down as you’ll make huge savings on spare parts, since it’s easy to define the problem, but also because you’ll have fewer components to worry about. Naturally, the addition of built-in monitoring and control, as well as the selective fault diagnosis, adds to the system reliability, which makes maintenance, troubleshooting and management less of a headache.

So, let’s go over the benefits of FCM one more time. It enables intelligent control within the pump itself, bringing improved reliability. It automatically adjusts the flow or pressure according to system changes. Its integrated flow meters make external flow measurers superfluous.It reduces the amount of components, thereby massively reducing installation costs – as well as the cost of maintenance and spare parts.