Product suggestion

How the catalogue is ranked against a line, and what the list shows.

Checks the Flowtech catalogue against each line item’s process conditions and returns a short list, with the reason behind every rejection and warning. The same enquiry produces the same answer. The ranking is worked out each time a line is read, so a corrected limit counts at once.

It uses the item group as the family and product limitations as the bounds. It does not invent a limit where the guide is silent. Each family is sized for the line from its published tables, line sizes or options (R29): a family no size reaches is ruled out unless the value is assumed, which only warns. A flow meter on a liquid line that states its size but no usable flow is sized at that size, its flow not checked (R29). A minimum flow the line does not state is assumed, so it never rules a family out on its own. A family with no sizing data reads “sizing not available”. A family sized by one of its options takes the item code released for that option, else its only code, which covers its whole range, or says the option has none. A family with a single item code is always orderable with it: its size field is an option the line sets, and it reads “sizing not available” or “can’t size yet” only when it has no code or more than one; a stated value no option covers still rules it out. A steam line is sized on its density, worked out from its pressure and temperature, and a steam line holding none of pressure, temperature or density can’t be sized (R29). A vortex flowmeter on a liquid is checked for cavitation at its size: one that would cavitate is sized up while a larger size reads the flow, else ruled out with the pressure it needs and the pressure the line holds (R100).

A gas flow written in m³/h

A gas flow is read in Nm³/h, a cubic metre at 0 °C and 1.01325 bar. Where a gas line states its flow in plain m³/h, the figure is taken as flow at the line’s own operating pressure and temperature and brought to Nm³/h for sizing. The product notice says so with the pressure, the temperature and the figure in Nm³/h. The value on the line stays as the customer wrote it.

This needs an operating pressure on the line. Without one the flow cannot be read and the product is not sized. A temperature the line does not state is assumed, and a line that gives only a pressure range is read at its lowest pressure; either way the size is marked as resting on assumed conditions. A flow the line states in Nm³/h is read as it is, and a liquid line is not affected.

A gas on a rotameter

The acrylic, glass tube and metal tube rotameter tables are written for water, so a gas’s flow is turned into its water equivalent with the float’s density and the gas’s density at the line’s operating pressure and temperature. That density is the one the line states, taken as at the line’s conditions; with none stated, it is the matched fluid’s normal density brought to those conditions. A fluid that is only guessed gives no density. A gas line with neither is not sized on these tables. A size worked out on an assumed phase or operating point, or on a stated density under 20 kg/m³, is marked as assumed: it warns and rules nothing out (R24, R29).

The line’s phase

Whether a line is liquid, gas or steam decides which limits apply to it and how it is sized. It is read in this order:

1. A state or phase cell on the line itself, such as FLUID STATE: LIQUID or Fluid State: G. Gas or vapour on a steam or water line is read as steam.
2. The fluid’s own wording: steam, a steam grade such as LPST, MPST or HP ST, gas, vapour.
3. The matched fluid at the line’s stated operating temperature and pressure, where that differs from standard conditions. Water is read against the catalogue’s steam tables, and nine other liquids against their vapour-pressure curves: above the boiling point there, it is vapour.
4. The matched fluid at standard conditions.
5. A guess from the line, which is assumed: gas from a gas’s name, liquid from a flow in m³/h.

A phase from the first two is stated. One the line states that the fluid’s conditions disagree with stays as stated, and a liquid that would boil gets a “may boil” note.

Design and maximum values

A design or maximum pressure or temperature the line holds is checked against each family’s limits beside its operating figures. One the customer states rules a family out where it breaches a trusted limit, as an operating figure does (R23). One filled in under R68, like an assumed range end, is only noted on the family and neither warns nor moves it down the order (R24). A line that states only a design or maximum value counts as stating that pressure or temperature.

Key inputs

A product reads as confirmed only once the line states every key input its instrument type needs (R28). A line missing one lists what it lacks.

A level span is a C-C distance or a measuring range. A level indicator or level switch sits on a tank, not in a line, so it is asked for its process connection size, and a query to the customer asks for that. An atmospheric pressure assumed under R17 does not count for a pressure transmitter (R16).

What each family reads as

Among limitation entries, only a trusted hard limit or a not-suitable entry rules a family out. A key limitation warns. An installation entry is a note. A bound a line gives nothing to judge can’t be checked and rules out nothing.

What each line reads as

Which families are listed

• On a line that names no family, while anything in the narrowed pool fits, only that pool is listed: the families the generic name points to, else the line’s category (R27).
• When nothing in it fits, the list widens to the whole job, with a notice.
• Every family the customer names is checked and shown, even one from another job, and even on a line with no category (R25), except a family not in use, a companion-only family, and an accessory on any line but its own accessory line. On an accessory line a person’s pick is the only family listed.
• Families offered only when named, such as the open-channel flowmeter, the orifice plate, and the portable, clamp-on and insertion ultrasonic flowmeters, are listed only when the line names them. Which families are on demand, and the words that ask for them, are set on the family’s page in Product limitations. A companion-only family, such as ORF flange assembly, is never listed, even when named.
• A family is offered only while it and its datasheet are in use. A line that already holds one keeps it, marked as no longer in use.
• The IBR vortex flowmeter is listed only on a steam line, and only when the email the lines were read from asks for it, since “ibr”, “boiler”, “Indian Boiler Regulation” and “Indian Boiler Regulations” are words that count anywhere (below). Such a steam line leads with it and keeps the vortex flowmeter listed below it; a water line or any other line keeps the meters it would have had. A steam line alone does not list it, an explicit “Non-IBR” or “IBR: No” anywhere in the email cancels the boiler words (a negated boiler cancels only itself, never an explicit IBR ask), a line of unknown phase stays on the standard vortex flowmeter, and where its datasheet is inactive the vortex flowmeter stays. The miniature and the differential pressure transmitters are listed only when asked for by name or by one of their words: mini, miniature or pencil for the miniature; DPT, differential pressure transmitter or dp transmitter for the differential. A name in the line’s document, or in the enquiry’s subject or body, asks as well. The smart pressure transmitter is listed whenever it fits, and “pressure transmitter” alone never brings in the miniature.
• A general name that covers several families, such as “pressure transmitter” for the smart and the miniature pressure transmitter, counts as naming a family offered only when named only if every family it covers is offered that way, as “bypass rotameter” does, including beside other names on the same line. Such a family can also be marked offered on steam: it is then listed on a line whose fluid is steam; a line whose phase is not known is not steam, nor is a line whose fluid is condensate.
• The bypass glass and metal tube rotameters are listed only when the line names them, each by its own name (a general “bypass rotameter” names both), or when the line’s flow is above every glass tube’s range, since a bypass rotameter is made to the client’s flow (R27, R88).
• Names are read from the line. When the line names none, what the line’s own document states of it outside its row is used, such as its file name or the Type row of its specification; failing that, a family named in the enquiry’s subject or body, if those names agree on one family. Either is judged, listed and picked like a named family.
• A word marked to count anywhere asks for its family on every line of the family’s category when it appears anywhere in the email the lines were read from (its subject, body and attachments), any column of any line included, as whole words. A mention the client negates, as in “non-IBR” or “IBR not required”, does not count, and neither does a word that also names a family offered whenever it fits. A label such as “IBR required:” counts only when its answer says yes, and within the subject, the email body with the requirements read from it, or the attachments with theirs, an answered label outweighs a passing mention; a conditional “as applicable” or “if required” does not count. The ask lets in a family offered only on demand and ranks it as one the line calls for, but it does not name it: a line that names another family keeps that family as its pick, except that on a steam line the IBR vortex flowmeter takes the place of a vortex flowmeter the line names. A line, its document and the enquiry’s subject or body read such a word the same way when they name a family: “Non-IBR”, “IBR: No” or “IBR not required” names nothing there, so “Non-IBR vortex flowmeter” stays the vortex flowmeter. It applies to enquiries read after the word is marked.

The order

Among families that fit: meeting the accuracy the enquiry asks for first, then orderable from the line’s own data, then fewer warnings, then a family the line calls for, then a line that matches the family’s ideal use, then the more accurate at the line’s flow, then the cheaper, then more of the line checked, then more sizing headroom, then the widest margin to its nearest limit, then catalogue order (R28).

When the family a line names is ruled out, for any reason, its try-next families lead the alternatives, in their order, before the rest are ranked. The rules still apply to each: a bypass rotameter named on a line below 50 NB is followed by the metal tube rotameter (R88). A glass tube rotameter named for a flow above every tube’s range is cautioned, not ruled out (its sizing basis is marked assumed), and stays the pick; the bypass glass and bypass metal tubes are listed beside it and rank as R28 says. A stated span wider than any one tube covers, a table that could not be read, or a flow below the smallest tube, brings neither. Only when the glass tube is ruled out does the try-next order put the bypass glass, then the bypass metal tube first. An electromagnetic flowmeter named on a DM, deionized or distilled water line is ruled out (R99) and followed by the vortex, then the turbine flowmeter.

A family’s ideal use is the duty it suits best, entered on the Limitations screen as Ideal use. A family can have several ideal uses; the line matches it when it fits any one, every entry of that use for the line’s phase passing. An entry that cannot be checked, because the line or the fluid library holds no value for it, leaves the line unmatched and is named on the product notice. An ideal use that reads nothing, such as “temporary check metering”, is shown and does not rank.

The gates

A family must give the output the line asks for, read from the line’s category, its instrument tag or its stated output (R27). An indicating transmitter (LIT, PIT) asks for a transmitter. A category with no outputs set gates nothing. A tag-plate material such as “Tag: SS304” asks for nothing.

A flow meter or rotameter is marked analogue, digital or both, and a line that asks for analogue is not offered a digital family, nor one that asks for digital an analogue family (R124). Both and unmarked families always pass. “4-20 mA analogue output” and “digital communication” describe a signal, not the display, and ask for neither. A family held back reads “has no analogue readout” or “has no digital readout” under Ruled out.

A transmit or switch tag (for example LT-101) drops the category’s default ask for a local readout. A line that states a C-C distance or insertion length rules out a family whose datasheet has no such entry. A family with no datasheet entries is never ruled out this way. A stated float size the datasheet does not offer only warns.

A family can need inputs of its own before it is offered. The top mounted level switch is listed only when the line states its stem or total length, or the height of a high, middle or low switching point, because its stem is made to them; Flowtech asks for “Number of Actuating Levels & Their Distance from top of the Connection” to quote it. It is shown as ruled out with “offered only when the line states a stem length or switching heights”. When the customer names the top mounted switch, it stays the pick and the line needs the stem length or switching heights; a general name such as “float type” does not count as naming it (R27).

A level switch line’s number of set points decides between the switches. It is read from the set-point option the customer states, else from how many switching levels the line states, else from wording such as high/low or HH/LL; a default never counts, and one tag per switching point, such as LSH, states no count. The side mounted switch takes one set point, so a line stating more rules it out (R23). A displacer switch ranks first at two set points and the top mounted switch at three or more, behind any family with fewer warnings (R28); the top mounted switch stays listed at two. A general name such as “float type” keeps its own families, so a float type line with two set points still gets the top mounted or cable float switch, not the displacer (R27).

The named family

The family the customer names is checked, not trusted (R25). A line is a deviation only when no family it names fits; if one of two named families fits, the line reads as the named family fitting. If the named family is ruled out, the line is a deviation (R26): the best fitting alternative is the suggestion and the named family is listed as ruled out with its reasons. A warning on the named family does not make a deviation; it stays the pick with the warning shown. A family named in the line’s own document or in the enquiry’s subject or body makes a deviation when ruled out, as a family the line names does.

A reviewer can pick a different family for a line (R96). The pick is kept beside what the enquiry asked for, which stays as stated. The picked family leads the list and is checked like any other, with any limit it breaks kept as a caution. A pick outside the families asked for makes the line a deviation, with the reason “Chosen in line review”.

On the line

Each line in the list shows its suggested product in place of the enquiry’s wording, as the Item Master lists it: the item code’s name, such as “Glass Tube Rotameter 40NB”, then its code; or, with no code, the family and why it has none. The wording stays in the row’s hover text and in the line’s panel. A chip says what kind of answer it is:

A code is missing for a reason: “no released code” at the size chosen, “sizing not available”, “can’t size yet” (a steam line with no pressure, temperature or density says “steam needs its operating pressure, temperature or density”), or “no size reads this flow”. A family sized from a datasheet option reads “configured to order”. An excluded line shows no product, only its exclusion reason. Suggested is not a confirmation: the review badge on the row still says whether the line is confirmed, auto-confirmed or still to review, and confirming the product comes later.

The line’s review opens with its product on a strip: the suggestion’s Item Master name, its code, and one line saying why the selection reads as it does. A line with no suggestion says why, and a failed read offers Retry. Why this product opens the reasons, folded until asked for. On a deviation they begin with a table of the product the customer asked for beside the one offered, with each reason’s deciding value and where it came from. Then come why it is this family and this item code, and Other options, best first, which lists the families after the pick, each with whether it fits, its warnings and why it ranks below the pick: it is not the family named, it is outside the preferred category, it cannot be ordered at a size from the line, it misses the accuracy the enquiry asks for, it has more warnings, the line calls for the pick and not for it, it misses the pick’s ideal use, it is less accurate or its accuracy is not known, it costs more or has no price, fewer of the line’s values could be checked, its size leaves less room, or it sits closer to its limits; two level on all of these are ordered by the catalogue. The families ruled out are folded beneath with their reasons. An excluded line gets no product. A product that deviates from what was asked, or that is left open, is also an open item of the line, under Differs from the enquiry or Choose, with a Why this product button that opens the same reasons (Line items).

Why this family, why this item code

The notice gives its reasons without opening anything:

A value that fails a limit without ruling the family out is a warning, and is listed with the warnings, not with the rows passed. On a deviation, the family asked for is named with what ruled it out.

The line’s pick also carries its datasheet options for the line when it is of the line’s category (R77): what the customer stated, what a condition decided and why, defaults, and menus left for a person. The alternatives, a family on a line with no category, a family ruled out and one with no datasheet carry none. Every family that fits and has a datasheet is still read against the line, whatever its category: a stated value it does not offer counts as a warning in the order (R28, R78), and the pick also marks it not offered. A yes/no header the enquiry leaves blank takes the datasheet’s yes or no default. A header another header’s choice switches off for that family names that header when the enquiry leaves it blank: “not used with” it “set to” the choice, “not used without” it where the choice is not applicable, or “not used without a choice for” it where nothing is chosen; a stated value stays shown. The accessories header lists the stated items the family offers, then its default components not already named; a list a person edited gets no defaults added. An item the reading could not match to an option carries no warning, and a stated item the family does not offer counts as a warning too. The line’s review shows the pick’s options on its datasheet (see Line items).

The sales person will act on it in the quotation builder.

Related: Line items · Business rules.