What is laminar flow? Laminar flow is key to the operating principle of Alicat differential pressure instruments, enabling them to output highly accurate mass flow rates across very wide measurement and control ranges. In this article, we briefly discuss different flow types with a focus on laminar flow. Turbulent, laminar, and transitional flow When flowing […]
Mass flow controllers have a closed loop pressure feature, able to control pressure or mass flow rate. Simultaneously control pressure and measure flow rate.
RS-232 communication with an Alicat The RS-232 protocol is the default method of talking to Alicat devices. While instruments can also be configured using a variety of other protocols (RS-485, PROFIBUS, EtherCAT, Modbus RTU or TCP/IP, DeviceNet, PROFINET, and EtherNet/IP), the tried and true RS-232 communication standard remains the go-to method for commanding and reading […]
High-accuracy multi-gas calibrations using Gas Select™ feature Alicat mass flow meters and controllers can measure or control over 98 gases with NIST-traceable accuracy. In this article, we discuss how an Alicat maintains high accuracy measurements across this wide range of gases. Alicat devices are pre-loaded with 3-dimensional gas properties data Alicat mass flow instruments report […]
Alicat mass flow controllers have control response times as fast as 30 ms. What exactly does that mean? In this article, we discuss Alicat mass flow controller response specifications. Watch this one-minute video to see Alicat’s control response between setpoint extremes: Physical time constant (τ) The physical time constant (τ) is one of the few […]
Pressure drop is the amount of line pressure permanently lost as gas passes through an instrument. This loss is due to the frictional resistance of the components the gas touches. Every instrument and fitting in a line induces some pressure drop. Calculating pressure drop Pressure drop is determined by calculating the difference between the pressure […]