Measure pressure peaks – avoid risks

What is a pressure spike?

The pressure seat is an impulse, a rapid increase or decrease, which exceeds the previously calculated pressure (according to DIN 40 200 (DIN 24 312)) for a functional device. This phenomenon is often encountered when using pressure sensors in applications with various pumps and valves, generally in all gas and liquid-filled pipelines. Pressure spike is also known as pressure surge, pressure hammer and water hammer.

What damage can a pressure spike cause?

If, for example, a valve is switched on or off, a pressure wave is triggered by the shut-off valve closing too quickly. This pressure wave runs through the medium at the speed of sound, against the direction of flow, and is reflected back again. Within milliseconds, there is a very strong increase in pressure, which can cause considerable damage to systems and pressure sensors.

Mostly, however, the measuring devices are affected. Deformations and even “penetration” are the result. The mild consequence of such a destructive pressure peak is a total loss of the affected measuring device. The damage can thus be noticed immediately, which means that the measuring device is replaced and the natural process can continue as intended. It becomes critical when a pressure peak merely causes a deformation. As a result, the measuring device only delivers imprecise values. This can result in high financial damage.

How can pressure peaks be identified?

For measuring pressure peaks, we recommend using the HySense PR 400 pressure sensor. Due to its extremely short response time and a sampling rate of 10 kHz, it is also suitable for detecting very fast pressure processes.

The MultiSystem 5070 can be used to record the measured values. With a signal input measurement rate of 0.1 ms and a large measurement data memory, pressure curves can be recorded and evaluated.