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US 6,647,804 B1Granted
System and method for flow measurement in a pipe
AssigneeRD Instruments, Inc.
InventorKent L. Deines
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Fluid flow in a conduit is measured with an acoustic Doppler system installed in an opening in the pipe. The Doppler system may include transducers and driving circuitry to produce narrow beam pulses of acoustic energy. The transducers may be coupled to an acoustic refractive lens which is sealed in the opening.
Claims10
A method of installing an acoustic flow measurement device in a pipe containing fluid under pressure and using said device to measure a fluid flow rate in said pipe, the method comprising:
- coupling an apparatus having an access opening around an outer surface of said pipe containing fluid under pressure;
- coupling a valve to said apparatus, wherein said valve is configured to selectively block fluid flow;
- perforating a portion of said pipe covered by said apparatus, such that said fluid flows through said perforated portion;
- installing at least one acoustic transducer in said perforated portion of said pipe;
- emitting at least one pulse of acoustic energy into said fluid flowing within said pipe with said at least one acoustic transducer;
- detecting Doppler shifted reflections of acoustic energy from regions within said fluid;
- and
- determining total fluid flow through said pipe at least in part by analyzing said Doppler shifted reflections.
5 more elements
An apparatus for measuring the flow rate of fluid in a pipe comprising:
- an acoustic lens;
- at least one acoustic transducer coupled to said lens so as to emit acoustic energy through a surface of said lens;
- a signal generator configured to electrically drive said at least one acoustic transducer at a selected excitation frequency so as to produce pulsed sound waves in the fluid having a selected wavelength, wherein said at least one acoustic transducer has a characteristic dimension that is much larger than said selected wavelength so as to form a narrow beam of emitted acoustic energy;
- and
- a processor configured to determine a velocity profile comprising a plurality of velocity measurements of said fluid at a plurality of locations within said pipe.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.