Choosing a perfect Sight Flow Indicator in India

Sight glasses are vital tools in the chemical and petrochemical industries for inspecting the interior of storage tanks and measuring the volume of media in pipes.

In this post, we’ll take a look at sight glasses, a specialist instrument utilised in many different processing industries, such as wastewater management, food and beverage, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, wastewater treatment, energy, utility, as well as oil and gas sectors.

Sight glasses are installed in a wide range of gas and fluid handling pipes, tanks, and vessels across different industries.

Sight Glass:

Sight glasses, also known as sight windows or viewports, allow observers to look inside a process tank or a pipe.

Sight glasses manufactured by the most prominent manufacturer and supplier of sight flow indicator in India – Noble Glass Works are used by workers in the processing facility to:

Visually confirming the many steps of production.
Keep an eye out for any colour or consistency changes in the media or fluids you’re working with.
Keep an eye on the liquid levels in a tank.

Sight flow indicators, commonly known as sight glass tubes, are a particular sort of sight glass. In order to visually confirm the flow rate as well as the flow direction of fluids, as well as inspect products or media going through process lines, transparent tubes called sight flow indicators are inserted in pipes.

Glasses to improve one’s vision have a long history of use in business. When steam-powered locomotives first appeared, sight glass was first used as the water level gauges in the boiler systems to guarantee that the water was always at the correct level for safe operation.

Sight glasses or Sight Flow Indicators supplied by the most remarkable and distinguished Sight Glass supplier in Vadodara have two main applications in the sanitary products processing industries.

Sight glasses are used in the biopharmaceutical business for checking the progress of fermentation in tanks and vessels.
Sight glasses are commonly used in the food and beverage processing sector for a variety of purposes, including but not limited to confirming a changeover that is known to have occurred in a process, inspecting fluids and slurries for defects, and checking product clarity and cleanliness.

Types:

Sight glasses of the window or port variety come in two main varieties.

A common type of sight glass for windows is a flat piece of glass that is held in place by two metal rings that are sealed with gaskets. This sight glass design is ideal for low-pressure, non-critical applications since it can be taken apart for cleaning.

A fused sight glass has become the gold standard for usage in demanding environments. As part of its manufacturing, the window in this sight glass is fused together with the metal carrier ring.

Fused sight glass windows are very resistant to catastrophic collapse because the metal ring’s compressive force is greater than the tensile strength of the glass.

How is the Sight Flow Indicator in India made?

Sight glasses may be made from a number of different types of glass.

Soda-lime glass can be used for sight glass windows in non-critical, low-pressure applications if the fluid or media being studied is cold and non-abrasive.

However, borosilicate glass or acrylic polymers are typically used to manufacture sight glass windows for process fluids whose temperature ranges up to 536°F, as this form of glass would break at higher temperatures.

Sight glass windows used in environments hotter than 536°F are made of quartz or sapphire.

These latter sight glasses are typically employed in procedures that require resistance to heat stress and corrosion or operate at temperatures above 500°F.

Sight glasses can also be manufactured using high-grade speciality plastics like acrylic or polycarbonates for use in certain hygienic processing applications.

Pros and Cons of Plastic Sight Glass manufactured by an excellent Sight Glass supplier in Vadodara:

Pros:

In contrast to glass, most polymers are not easily broken. Toughness is a major factor in terms of security, hence this is an essential attribute. For the sake of employee and customer safety, several factories and processing plants will not accept a glass or other easily broken materials.

Plastic sight glasses can withstand the alcohols, alkalis, and acids used in the production of many foods and drinks without breaking down.

Some plastic eyeglasses may be very sturdy substitutes for glass, depending on the construction. Plastic polymer is injected into a carefully shaped metal support ring, creating a very sturdy plastic sight glass window, as offered by some manufacturers.

When compared to their glass counterparts, sight glasses made from plastic are more affordable to produce. Therefore, they are commonly used for inexpensive purposes like fluid level gauges.

Cons:

Plastic sight glasses’ useful field of view is smaller than that of their glass counterparts. Sight glasses made of plastic are only suitable for applications having low-temperature processes i.e. below 300°F, as even high-grade plastic composites melt at higher operating temperatures.

Transparency and functionality may be compromised over time by scaling, abrasive damage, as well as other surface imperfections in plastic sight glasses more so than in glass equivalents.

Points to keep in mind while choosing the perfect Sight Flow Indicator for your industrial application:

Consider the following guidelines listed by the leading manufacturer and supplier of Sight Flow Indicator in India when deciding on the ideal sight glass for your needs:

1. Max operating temperature:

Sight glass windows made up of Soda-lime glass, as mentioned above, can only withstand temperatures of 300°F or less.

At higher temperatures, either borosilicate or quartz/sapphire glass is required.

2. Thermal shock:

When deciding on a material for sight glass, designers must keep in mind how the temperature is likely to fluctuate quickly.

Rapid or dramatic temperature changes in the workplace are incompatible with the use of sight glass with low durability, low thermal conductivity, as well as high thermal expansion coefficient.

Borosilicate glass, which has a lower expansion coefficient than regular glass, is, therefore, more suitable for use as window panes since it is less affected by variations in temperature. Generally, the sight glass windows made of plastic can withstand temperature changes without much of an issue because of their elasticity.

3. Corrosion:

Some caustic or acidic chemicals will lead sight glass windows to grow “cloudy” over time, reducing their transparency. Select a material of the sight glass window that is resistant to corrosion for use in these settings.

The frame of the sight glass should be made of a material that is resistant to corrosion as well as compatible with viewing the fluid inside.

4. Abrasion:

Pick a material for the sight glass that will not be damaged by the particles present in the fluid. Sight glasses can be tested visually or by using ultrasonic technology to check for abrasions.

5. Pressure:

As indicated earlier, fused sight glasses should be utilised in all high-pressure situations to avoid sight glass failure.

6. Impact:

Food processing is one industry where materials suspended in the process fluids could potentially damage the sight glass window. If your glasses have scratches from particles, you should get new ones right once.

If the viewing window is constructed of glass, fixed-type sight glasses are the most resilient.