VA flow meters (or purge meters)
Over time, different types of VA flow meters (also called purge meter) have been developed, usually in response to some specific need. Nowadays a purge meter usually consists of a tapered tube, typically made of glass or plastic. Inside this tapered tube there is the ‘float’ which is made either of anodized aluminum or a ceramic. The ‘float’ is actually a shaped weight that is pushed up by the drag force of the flow and pulled down by gravity. The drag force for a given fluid and float cross section is a function of flow speed squared only.
While the meters are still relatively simplistic in design, relatively low cost, low maintenance and ease of installation they are widely used in many kinds of application. Despite these facts, the traditional VA meter has a number of drawbacks. For instance, graduations on a given purge meter will only be accurate for a given substance at a given temperature and pressure. Either way, due to the direct flow indication, the resolution is relatively poor anyway. Especially when they are built into a machine, reading might be hard. Moreover, the float must be read through the flowing medium, so you can imagine that some fluids may obscure the reading.