The application of flow measurement technology and instrumentation roughly has the following areas.

1) Industrial production process

Flow meter is one of the major types of process automation instruments and devices. It is widely used in metallurgy, electric power, coal, chemical industry, petroleum, transportation, construction, textile, food, medicine, agriculture, environmental protection and people’s daily life. Life and other areas of the national economy are important tools for developing industrial and agricultural production, saving energy, improving product quality, and improving economic efficiency and management level. It occupies an important position in the national economy. Among the process automation instruments and devices, the flow meter has two major functions: as a detection instrument for the process automation control system and a total meter for measuring the quantity of materials.

2) Energy metering

Energy is divided into primary energy (coal, crude oil, coalbed methane, petroleum gas and natural gas), secondary energy (electricity, coke, artificial gas, refined oil, liquefied petroleum gas, steam) and energy-carrying media (compressed air, oxygen, Nitrogen, hydrogen, water) etc. Energy metering is an important means for scientifically managing energy, realizing energy saving and consumption reduction, and improving economic efficiency. Flow meters are an important part of energy measurement instruments. Commonly used energy sources such as water, artificial gas, natural gas, steam and oil all use an extremely large number of flow meters, which are indispensable tools for energy management and economic accounting.

3) Environmental protection project

The emission of smoke, waste liquid, sewage, etc. seriously pollutes the atmosphere and water resources, and seriously threatens the human living environment. The country lists sustainable development as a national policy, and environmental protection will be the biggest issue in the 21st century. To control air and water pollution, management must be strengthened, and the basis of management is quantitative control of pollution.

Our country is a country where coal is the main energy source. There are millions of chimneys in the country that continuously emit smoke into the atmosphere. Flue gas emission control is an important project for radical pollution. Each chimney must be equipped with flue gas analysis instruments and flow meters to form a continuous emission monitoring system. The flue gas flow rate has great difficulties. The difficulty is that the chimney is large in size and irregular in shape, the gas composition is variable, the flow rate range is large, dirt, dust, corrosion, high temperature, no straight pipe section, etc.

4) Transportation

There are five ways: railway, road, air, water transportation, and pipeline transportation. Although pipeline transportation has existed for a long time, its application is not universal. With the emergence of environmental protection issues, the characteristics of pipeline transportation have attracted people's attention. Pipeline transportation must be equipped with flowmeters, which are the eyes of control, distribution and scheduling, as well as an indispensable tool for safety monitoring and economic accounting.

5) Biotechnology

The 21st century will usher in the century of life sciences, and industries featuring biotechnology will develop rapidly. There are many substances that need to be monitored and measured in biotechnology, such as blood and urine. The instrument development is extremely difficult, and there are many varieties.

6) Scientific experiment

Scientific experiments require not only a large number of flow meters, but also extremely diverse varieties. According to statistics, a large part of the more than 100 types of flowmeters are used for scientific research. They are not produced in batches and are sold in the market. Many scientific research institutions and large enterprises have set up special teams to develop special flowmeters.

7) Marine meteorology, rivers and lakes

These areas are open flow channels. Generally, it is necessary to detect the flow rate and then calculate the flow rate. The physical principles and fluid mechanics based on the flow meter and the flow meter are common, but the instrument principle and structure as well as the conditions of use are quite different.