High pressure gauges are essential safety and process monitoring equipment in many industrial fields. They are mainly used to measure and display system pressures that exceed conventional pressures, typically referring to pressure environments several times or even hundreds of times higher than standard atmospheric pressure (about 0.1 MPa or 1 bar).
Let’s analyze the main industrial activity areas that require high-pressure gauges and their specific applications:
1、 Oil, gas, and energy industries
This is the most typical and demanding application field for high-pressure gauges.
Oil and gas drilling and production:
Wellhead pressure control: Monitor the pressure of drilling fluid and oil and gas production to prevent blowouts.
Fracturing (hydraulic fracturing): The fracturing pump truck requires an ultra-high pressure gauge to monitor the pressure of the fracturing fluid injected into the formation, which is a key safety and control parameter.
Pipeline transportation: Long distance oil and gas pipelines require high-pressure gauges to monitor the outlet pressure of pump stations and the pressure along the pipeline, ensuring transportation efficiency and pipeline safety.
Refining and Chemical Industry:
Reactors and reactors: Many chemical reactions, such as hydrogenation and polymerization, require high-pressure environments, and pressure gauges are used to monitor reaction conditions in real-time.
High pressure separator: used to separate gas-liquid mixtures generated under high pressure.
Energy and Power:
Thermal/nuclear power generation: Monitoring boiler steam pressure, main steam and reheat steam pressure of steam turbine are core parameters to ensure power generation efficiency and safety.
Geothermal power generation: monitoring the pressure of high-temperature and high-pressure steam or hot water extracted from underground.
2、 Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry
The high-pressure synthesis process requires high-pressure gauges, such as for the synthesis of ammonia, methanol, polyethylene, etc., which need to be carried out at pressures of tens or even hundreds of megapascals.
Supercritical fluid technology:
Supercritical CO ₂ extraction: used in the food, spice, and pharmaceutical industries, requiring precise control of pressure in high-pressure vessels.
Supercritical water oxidation: used for treating high concentration organic wastewater with extremely high reaction pressure.
Pharmaceutical: Some drug synthesis and crystallization processes require high-pressure reaction vessels.
3、 Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering
Hydraulic system:
Construction machinery: Hydraulic cylinders of excavators, cranes, shield machines, and other equipment require high-pressure gauges to monitor the system’s working pressure, ensuring accurate force and movement.
Hydraulic press/compressor: used for metal forming, plastic product pressing, etc., pressure gauge is the key to controlling the forming pressure.
Gas compression and storage:
Air compressor system: Monitor the pressure at the outlet of the compressor to ensure that the air storage tank and pipeline system operate within a safe range.
Industrial gases: Monitor the pressure of high-pressure gas cylinders or storage tanks such as oxygen, nitrogen, argon, etc.
Refrigeration and air conditioning:
Industrial refrigeration systems, especially those using high-pressure refrigerants such as ammonia or carbon dioxide, require high-pressure gauges to monitor the compressor discharge pressure and condenser pressure.
4、 Aerospace and Defense
Aircraft hydraulic system: hydraulic pressure monitoring of landing gear, flaps, brakes and other systems.
Rocket engine testing: The delivery pressure of fuel and oxidizer, as well as combustion chamber pressure testing, require extremely accurate and high-pressure resistant pressure gauges.
High pressure pneumatic system: used for various control mechanisms.
5、 Research and Testing
Pressure vessel testing: Conduct pressure and burst tests on all types of high-pressure vessels, pipelines, and valves, requiring high-precision high-pressure gauges or pressure sensors.
Materials Science: The study of the performance of materials in high-pressure environments.
Physics research, such as high-pressure physics experiments.
Why are high-pressure gauges necessary for these occasions?
Safety first: prevent equipment explosions, pipeline ruptures, and personnel injuries caused by excessive pressure. The pressure gauge is the “eye” for system overpressure.
Process control: The efficiency and product quality of many industrial processes are directly related to pressure, and precise pressure control is crucial.
Equipment protection: Real time monitoring of pressure can prevent pumps, compressors, and other equipment from operating under overload conditions, extending equipment life.
Compliance with regulations: Most countries’ industrial safety regulations require that equipment above a certain pressure must be equipped with calibrated pressure gauges.
In summary, any industrial activity involving the compression, transportation, or reaction of fluids (gases or liquids) at pressures significantly higher than atmospheric pressure requires the use of high-pressure gauges. The selection will be based on the specific pressure range, medium characteristics (such as corrosiveness, viscosity), temperature, and environmental conditions (such as explosion-proof requirements) to determine the appropriate type (such as diaphragm pressure gauge, shock resistant pressure gauge, etc.).