Apparatus for measuring distribution of flow rates of flowable medium

#1. Field of the Invention

#The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring flux of a flowable medium, and more particularly, to a flux distribution measuring apparatus for measuring spatial distribution of flow rates of a flowable medium using thin metal wires to scan the flowable medium.

#2. Description of the Related Art

#The above advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing the preferred embodiments thereof in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

#FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a flux distribution measuring apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a flux distribution measuring apparatus according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention;

#Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

#In FIG. 1 showing structure of a flux distribution measuring apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a thin metal wire 11 is configured to have one-dimensional structure, and current supply lines 12a and 12b are connected to both ends of the thin metal wire 11, respectively. Also, lead wires 13 are connected to the thin metal wire 11 such that adjacent lead wires have a uniform interval therebetween to measure the flow rate of a medium flowing between the adjacent lead wires. The lead wires 13 each have one end connected to the thin metal wire 11 and the other end connected to a connector 15 via a supporter 14. Thus, the measuring apparatus in FIG. 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention has a single sensor module 10 with one-dimensional structure.

#FIG. 2 shows a diagram of the flux distribution measuring apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, where a number of sensor modules each corresponding to the sensor module 10 in FIG. 1 are two-dimensionally arranged to extend the measuring range of flow rates of a flowable medium. In the measuring apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the lead wires each have one end connected to the thin metal wire of a corresponding sensor module and the other end connected to a connector through a supporter. The measuring apparatus in FIG. 1 measures distribution of flow rates of a flowable medium while the sensor module 10 scans a plane perpendicular to the direction of a flow path, whereas the measuring apparatus in FIG. 2 measures distribution of all the flow rates at a time with respect to a plane perpendicular to the direction of a flow path while the sensor module 10 scans the entire area of the plane at the same time. Thus, in case that the sensor modules are arranged in the two-dimensional way, three-dimensional spatial distribution of flow rates can be measured while the sensor modules scan a flowable medium in the direction parallel to the direction of a flow path.