Speed of sound and convective velocity augmented coriolis meters with drive gain limit logic

A system for sensing a process fluid, comprising:

• a Coriolis meter (CM) having at least one flow tube, the CM configured to selectively provide a measurement of a mass flow of the process fluid, a measurement of the density of the process fluid, and a drive gain signal, the process fluid passing through the at least one flow tube;
• a sensor array (SA) having a plurality of sensors configured to sense a characteristic of the process fluid that convects with the process fluid through at least one flow tube, and produce sensor signals representative of the process fluid characteristic convecting with the process fluid;
• a sensor array processing unit (SAPU) in communication with the SA and a memory device storing executable SAPU instructions, wherein the SAPU instructions when executed cause the SAPU to process the sensor signals to determine a convective velocity of the process fluid and a speed of sound (SOS) of the process fluid;
• and
• a system processing unit (SPU) in communication with the CM, the SAPU, and a memory device storing executable SPU instructions, wherein the SPU instructions when executed cause the SPU to:
• produce a CM mass flow rate using the CM;
• produce a CM density value using the CM;
• produce a GVF using the SOS and the CM density value;
• produce a SA mass flow rate using the convective velocity and the CM density value;
• report the CM mass flow rate when the drive gain signal is at or below a predetermined drive gain threshold;
• or
• report the SA mass flow rate when the drive gain signal is above the predetermined drive gain threshold.

A method for sensing a process fluid, comprising:

• using a Coriolis meter (CM) having at least one flow tube to determine a CM mass flow value of the process fluid, a CM density value of the process fluid, and a drive gain signal, the process fluid passing through the at least one flow tube;
• using a sensor array having a plurality of sensors configured to sense a characteristic of the process fluid that convects with the process fluid through at least one flow tube, and produce sensor signals representative of the process fluid characteristic convecting with the process fluid, and a sensor array processing unit (SAPU) in communication with the sensor array to determine a convective velocity of the process fluid using the sensor signals;
• and
• reporting a first mass flow rate of the process fluid as measured by the CM when the drive gain signal is at or below a predetermined drive gain threshold;
• or
• reporting a second mass flow rate of the process fluid as determined using the convective velocity and the CM density value when the drive gain signal is above the predetermined drive gain threshold.