What is the flow rate?
The flow rate is the speed at which fluid in a pipe moves, or the speed at which it moves from one place to another location.
The flow rate Q, or Q=Vt, is defined as the volume V flowing through a point in time t.
Where,
V represents volume
t is time.
The SI volume unit is cubic meters (m3).
Flow rate and velocity are connected by the equation Q=Av, where A is the flow’s cross-sectional area and v is its average velocity.
Volumetric flow rate = V / t = Volume / time
Another concept linked to mass flow rate is mass flux or mass current. This time, it is the mass of a material that flows through a certain cross-sectional area per unit of time rather than its volume.
Mass flow rate = m / t = mass / time
How do I calculate the flow rate?
Drops per minute must be calculated using the drop factor. Total volume (in mL) divided by time (in minutes) multiplied by the drop factor (in gtts/mL) equals the IV flow rate in gtts/min.
What are Flow Conversion Formulas?
Flow conversion formulas are formulas for converting the value of flow from one unit to another. There are numerous flow conversion methods. The most generally used flow scales are litre, gallon, imperial gallon, etc. The flow conversion formulas are described below:
Flow rate conversion
- 1m3=103L
- 1ft3=28.3168466L
- 1U.S Fluid Gallon=3.785411784L
- 1Imperial Gallon=4.54609L
| Group | Unit Name | Result | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metric | Litres Per Hour | 60 | L/hour |
| Litres Per Minute | 1 | L/min | |
| Litres Per Second | 0.016666666666667 | L/sec | |
| Millilitres Per Hour | 60,000 | mL/hour | |
| MillilitresPer Minute | 1,000 | mL/min | |
| MillilitresPer Second | 16.666666666667 | mL/Sec | |
| Cubic meters Per Hour | 0.06 | m3/hour | |
| Cubic meters Per Minute | 0.001 | m3/min | |
| Cubic meters Per Second | 1.6666666666667E-5 | m3/Sec | |
| Cubic millimeter per Hour | 60,000,000 | mm3/hour | |
| Cubic millimeter Per Minute | 1,000,000 | mm3/min | |
| Cubic millimeter Per Second | 16,666.666666667 | mm3/ sec | |
| Imperial | Cubic feet per Hour | 2.1188800032893 | ft3/hour |
| Cubic feet per Minute | 0.035314666721489 | ft3/min | |
| Cubic feet per Second | 5.8857777869148E-4 | ft3/sec | |
| U.S Fluid | Gallons per Hour (U.S.) | 15.850323141489 | gal/hour |
| Gallons per Minute(U.S.) | 0.26417205235815 | gal/min | |
| Gallons per Second(U.S.) | 0.0044028675393025 | gal/sec | |
| Imperial | Gallons per Hour (Imperial) | 13.198154897945 | gal/hour |
| Gallons per Minute (Imperial) | 0.21996924829909 | gal/min | |
| Gallons per Second (Imperial) | 0.0036661541383181 | gal/sec |
What is an IV drip rate and IV drop factor?
An IV drip rate describes the rate of an intravenous infusion depending on the number of drips (gtt) given to the patient every minute. This is determined by the tubing type (micro drip or macro drip), the total amount to be infused, and the length of time the infusion is set to run.
Pressure Conversion table
Temperature Conversion Table
Length conversion table
An IV drop factor describes the particular size of the IV fluid drops produced by the tubing system. This is a fixed value determined by the amount of tubing necessary and available to give the drug. Micro drip or macro drip tubing is available.
The IV drip rate is calculated using the following simple formula: Total Volume (mL)/Time (min) x Drop Factor (gtt/mL) = IV Drip Rate (gtt/min).
What are the differences between micro drip IV tubing and macro drip IV tubing?
Microdrip IV tubing produces extremely small drip sizes for treatments that must be administered carefully and/or for patient populations that are highly sensitive to large doses of pharmaceuticals (namely, neonatal and pediatric patients). The drip factor for microdrip is commonly approximated to be 60 gtt/mL.
Macrodrip IV tubing is more prevalent and has larger fluid droplets than microdrip tubing.The macrodrip drip factor is typically between 10 and 20 gtt/mL.