Vortex Flowmeter Chinese Brand Birth: where to fall, where to climb

Vortex flowmeter, the world's most promising future flow meter.

In September 2010, China Instrument Society announced this year's list of winners. The anti-vibration vortex flowmeter developed by Jiangsu Weihao Electronics Co., Ltd. in our city won the highest prize – the first prize of the Science and Technology Award. This is the first time that the award has been awarded to a single instrument product for the first time in nine years. In this regard, the company's general manager Tang Xianzhao heart filled with emotion: In order to create a Chinese brand vortex flowmeter, more than a dozen domestic scientific research institutions studied for a full half a century, private enterprises in Yixing are struggling for more than 20 years!

First-rate products "fall down" in the market

In 1987, China's instrumentation industry was immersed in joy: The national "6th Five-Year" research project vortex flowmeter was successfully developed, and the related technology was successfully transferred to the city's Condor Group, which is the original of Jiangsu Weihao Electronics Co., Ltd. parent company.

The relevant authorities of the country highly support the promotion of this product. At the same time, this new-generation flowmeter that can make up for all the drawbacks of traditional differential pressure flowmeters is eagerly awaited by users. Under the joint efforts of the government, the market, and the company, the vortex flowmeters produced by the Condor Group are rapidly being industrialized in the short term and extended to almost every place in the country where flow meters are needed. Surprisingly, however, the intrinsic susceptibility to turbulence disturbances at the beginning of vortex flowmeter design was infinitely amplified in the rapid expansion of the market. Many companies that were not well suited to use this product under the current technological conditions complained about: Is too sensitive to interference, such vortex flowmeter can not be used for measurement! Failure to recognize the market is a failure, but at the time the Condor Group did not destroy confidence, but the scientific research institutions within the United Nations launched 11 years of technical research. Regrettably, this technical problem was still unable to break through when the Condor Group changed its system.

Where to fall from where to get up

The fate of the first-generation vortex flowmeter made Tang Xianzhao, the director of the after-sales service department and the head of the development department of the original Condor Group, very painful and extremely reconciled. In 1998, through restructuring, Tang Xianzhao took Jiangsu Weihao Electronics Co., Ltd. to be independent from the Condor Group. He resolved that the Chinese brands of vortex flowmeters must be built by private enterprises in Yixing.

Six years later, Weiwei Electronics, which is mainly engaged in the production and distribution of industrial automation systems, has grown stronger. The company is finally determined to restart the technological research on the eddy current flowmeter sensitive to vibration interference. At this time, domestic research on related technologies has still not progressed, but foreign countries have made breakthroughs. The new vortex flowmeters have quickly occupied the domestic mainstream market. Many industry friends asked Tang Xianzhao: “A good day, however, why do you want to touch hot potato?” Tang Xianzhao replied: “People can break this technical problem and we can!”

Where to fall, where to get up from. At the beginning, Tang Xianzhao who dealt with customers all day was familiar with the problems in the specific use of customers. This is his greatest advantage. Therefore, Tang Xianzhao started from the technical problems of solving the fatal and weak points of the product, and proceeded with technical problems from the actual reaction on the spot. In December 2004, Tang Xianzhao came to Shenzhen alone and stayed at the nearest hotel in Shenzhen’s Huaqiang North Road electronics market. After 18 days of experimenting day and night, he finally solved the first problem - the core technology of the signal processing section. Returning to Yixing, he and the technicians also put in the second challenge - the sensor technology. Tang Xianzhao heads into the research room and works 16 hours a day or more for 3 years. In 2007, the major technical problems of vortex flowmeters that were sensitive to vibration disturbances were eventually overcome. In that year, the Provincial Bureau of Technology Supervision commissioned the National Industrial Instrument Quality Inspection and Testing Center to inspect the products. The result is that the product's anti-interference ability has overturned the traditional perception, and the detection range and energy-saving targets of the products have greatly exceeded that of foreign products of the same type. Wei Wei Electronics has also become the drafting unit of China's vortex flowmeter national standard.

Technology is the best stepping stone in the market

On January 15th, 2008, Weihan Electronics finally got the only production permit for the anti-vibration vortex flowmeter in China. The company was excited about it. The sales team rushed to the country's leading companies in the chemical industry to promote their products.

Unsurprisingly, the sales staff has not yet introduced the performance of the product, but declined it for convenience. The reason is that the domestic product will not be used. In the following year, Tang Xianzhao almost ran across large-scale chemical companies and Class A chemical design institutes. He was subject to skeptical eyes and the same reasons for rejection. The “frozen ice” of foreign product monopoly is thicker than imagined. How to “break ice” is the only way for users to use comparisons. With full confidence in product performance, Tang Xianzhao changed his marketing strategy and once again ran to several well-connected companies, requesting users to try out products. After repeated "tackling", several companies finally agreed to try. These companies have tried for less than a month and have sent feedback: They have never used such high-performance vortex flowmeter products and look forward to further cooperation. As a result, Wei Sheng Electronic's "vibration-resistant" vortex flowmeter gradually opened its doors to the market. Many companies have also voluntarily sent user reports after use to express their support for high-performance domestic vortex flowmeters.

In August 2010, China Instrument and Control Society convened the most authoritative domestic experts to carry out scientific and technological achievements appraisal for this anti-vibration vortex flowmeter. The same skeptical nine experts visited the company, reviewed the test report and a thick stack of user evaluations, and finally gave the highest rating of “reaching the international advanced level” in the opinion panel of the appraisal committee. Zhang Zhonghua, one of the experts and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said with excitement: “The private enterprises in Yixing have been contending for the instrument and meter industry in China and have made tremendous contributions to the revitalization of the national industry.”