Geo Scientific Ltd. - Flow & Current Meters

1) The AquaCalc 5000 Digital Flow Computer

The AquaCalc 5000 is a handheld device that measures, records and calculates velocity and total flow measurements from a AA or Pygmy current meter. The user inputs the distance and depth, while the AquaCalc measures the revolutions and elapsed time, thus calculating the mean velocity and total stream discharge. It stores 9 complete cross sections, with 99 vertical measurements for each cross section. After the stream measurements are complete, you can upload the data to a PC.

Advantages include; more efficient stream flow calculations; reduces operator error by automatically computing formulas and eliminating transcription errors; ability to add or delete a station anywhere in the cross section, and measure up to 5-point in a vertical (Surface, 0.2, 0.6, 0.8, Bottom). The AquaCalc is manufactured from high-quality water resistant materials to withstand prolonged exposure to sunlight, rain, sleet and snow, and an optional rod mount is available to attach the indicator to a top-setting wading rod. Specifications

2) AquaCalc Pro Open Channel Flow Computer

The AquaCalc Pro is the natural successor to the AquaCalc 5000, with added features, such as a waterproof enclosure, a large graphical display, an audible tone for both key clicks and meter rotations, storage of 30 river cross sections, operating system upgrades via internet and e-mail, and a 3-year warranty.

HI 9024 USGS input and the user comments over the past 10 years have been incorporated into the AquaCalc Pro. Thanks to input from the field, the AquaCalc Pro is more versatile and user friendly than the AquaCalc 5000. The Pro has the ability to run in multiple modes including a simplified and a professional mode similar to the firmware available in the AquaCalc 5000. This additional versatility will allow the user to customize the AquaCalc Pro from the most basic operating mode with on-screen prompts and warnings that step you through a measurement to a more streamlined mode. The AquaCalc Pro provides one-key quick access to the measurement screen where you will see up to five vertical observations at a time on one screen.

3) AquaCount Current Meter Digitizer

HI 9024 The AquaCount provides a digital readout for Price-type AA and Pygmy current meters. It eliminates use of the headphone and stopwatch while it is a simplified version of the AquaCalc 5000 flow computer. The AquaCount not only counts the revolutions, calculates and displays velocity in feet per second or meters per second, but time, revolutions and velocity are all simultaneously displayed on the LCD display, therefore there is no need to wait until the end of a measurement cycle.

The AquaCount can be used with no modification or retro-fit of a standard Price-type current meter. Just plug it into the same connector you have for your headphone and immediately start reading velocity, revolutions and time. The AquaCount can be used with wading rods or cable suspended systems. It uses the same advanced CMOS circuitry as the AquaCalc 5000 which has proven itself in the USGS to be the accepted standard.

With sealed membrane buttons and water resistant sealed circuitry, the AquaCount's easy to read 32 character LCD displays reading to four significant figures, and it is powered by a 9 VDC battery with power conserving standby circuitry for long battery life.

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4) AquaPulse - Impulse Counter-Timer

The AquaPulse is an LCD impulse counter with timer display which registers the number of revolutions made by the bucket wheel of a current meter. The counter eliminates the need to count every revolution during a velocity observation.

The timer display also eliminates using a stopwatch and allows both bucket wheel counts and time to be read easily and quickly. The time is selectable from 10 to 100 seconds.

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5) Top Setting - Wading Rod

The Top Setting Wading Rod is intended for use with the Type AA and pygmy current meters. It is designed for measuring shallow streams, with the standard metric rod marked in centimeter increments with a length of 1.2 meters.

The standard English rod is marked in feet and tenths with a length of 4 feet. These wading rods also are available in lengths up to 3 meters or 10 feet. The anodized aluminum handle has an integral scale to indicate the correct setting of the current meter at the 0.2, 0.6 and 0.8- depth settings. It allows the hydrologist to quickly set the meter at the correct depth without bringing the meter out of the water.

The depth of the water is read on the graduated hex main rod. When the round setting rod is adjusted to the depth of the water, the current meter is automatically positioned for the 0.6-depth method (0.4-depth position up from the streambed). Setting the unit to half the water depth will place the meter at the 0.2-depth up from the streambed. Conversely, setting the unit to twice the water depth will place the meter at the 0.8-depth position up from the streambed. The latter two positions correspond to the conventional two-position method.

A standard plug is fitted into the handle to accept the leads from a headphone, AquaPulse, AquaCount or AquaCalc. All parts are made of stainless steel, anodized aluminum and brass.

6) Sounding Reels & Bridgeboard

The A-55 Sounding Reel is used to position stream gauging and sample collection equipment from an overhead structure or boat. The reel is used with weights up to 45 kg (100 pounds) and holds 23 meters of 0.25 cm diameter Ellsworth sounding cable. The reel can be mounted on Type A and Type E cranes, the bridgeboard, the sit-down or stand-up cable car, and the boat boom assembly. The A-55 reel is equipped with a USGS-type computing depth indicator and can be furnished to read in either metric or English units. The computing depth indicator has a main dial graduated in meters or feet, and decimeters or tenths of a foot. The numbered inner dial shows total depth and the main dial has a graduated spiral to indicate directly the 0.8 depth position. The Canadian model comes with a 4-digit counter that displays the depth digitally in centimeters. Each reel is equipped with removable handle, steel carrying case and pressed sleeve connector (the Type B connector can be specified if required).

Sounding Reels & Bridgeboard ____

The A-Pack Reel is small and compact and was designed for use at remote sites where it is necessary for the hydrologist to backpack or hand carry the stream gauging equipment for some distance. It is for use with weights up to 23 kg (50 pounds). The drum has 13.7m of 0.25 cm Ellsworth sounding cable. The bridgeboard mount plate and the cable car reel mount plate are drilled to accommodate the reel. The reel is equipped with a removable handle, steel carrying case and is equipped with a counter to measure water depth in metric or English units.

The Type A Sounding Reel has the same design specifications as the A-55 but uses the same counter as the A-Pack reel. This allows for a higher capacity reel than the A-Pack with a simpler, lower cost counter than the A-55 reel. The Type A reel counter can be specified to read in either metric or English units.

The bridge board is designed for making discharge measurements and obtaining water quality samples from off of bridges. It is a free-standing support, accommodating A-Pack, A- 55 or B-56 sounding reels. It comes with an adjustable foot rest which makes it easily adaptable to bridge railings of different heights and walkways of various widths. The suspension cable is stretched out over the sheave at the end of the 4 foot long boom and the current meter or sampler is then suspended from the cable and lowered into the water. The recommended maximum sounding weight to be used with the bridge board is 50 pounds (23 kg).

HI 9024 7) Handline

The handline is used to make discharge measurements or to collect water quality or sediment samples where it is inconvenient to use a sounding reel or crane. It can be suspended from boat, bridge, irrigation channel, walkway or other platform. It does not have a counter to measure water depth, and only 15 or 30-pound (7 or 14 kg) sounding weights should be used with it.

The handline consists of a Lee-Au handline reel, 40 feet (12.2 m.) of 0.10-inch (0.25 cm) Ellsworth cable, a pressed sleeve connector, and a 10 foot (3 m), 16-gauge/2-conductor, rubber-covered electrical cord with adapter to complete the electrical circuit from the meter to the headphone, counter or beeper. Additional electrical cord lengths can be specified as required to a maximum of 65 feet.

HI 9024 8) Sounding weight

Sounding weights are used in streams where discharge measurements are made by suspension techniques from bridges, cableways or boats. The sounding weight is suspended below the current meter to keep it stationary in the water. The USGS Columbus-type or "C"-type weights are streamlined to minimize resistance to flowing water and are longer than the current meter, thereby offering some protection from bridge piers and flowing debris. The added length also produces better directional and stabilizing characteristics than that obtained with other weights.

The hanger slot is shaped to allow the hanger to tilt forward 15 degrees and backward 5 degrees from the vertical. This prevents the meter from coming into contact with, and being damaged by, the weight. These weights come in 15, 30, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200 and 300-pound (7, 14, 23, 34, 45, 68, 91 and 136 kg) sizes. The 15-pound (7 kg) weight is cast from brass, but all others are cast from lead and have aluminum tailfins. All are properly balanced and tested by an approved method before shipment. The weights can be epoxy coated if required.