Ultrasonic flow metering with laminar to turbulent transition flow control
AssigneeDaniel Measurement and Control, Inc.
InventorsPaththage Jayampathi Anuradha Priyadarshana, Drew Shine Weaver, Peter Syrnyk, Dale Goodson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus and method for ultrasonic flow metering of viscous fluids. In one embodiment, an ultrasonic flow metering system includes an ultrasonic flow meter, a flow conditioner, and a reducer. The ultrasonic flow meter includes a pair of ultrasonic transducers arranged to exchange ultrasonic signals through a fluid stream flowing between the transducers. The flow conditioner is disposed upstream of the ultrasonic flow meter. The reducer is disposed between the flow conditioner and the ultrasonic flow meter to reduce the cross sectional area of the fluid stream flowing from the flow conditioner to the ultrasonic flow meter.
Claims23
An ultrasonic flow metering system, comprising:
- an ultrasonic flow meter comprising a pair of ultrasonic transducers arranged to exchange ultrasonic signals through a fluid stream flowing between the transducers;
- a flow conditioner disposed upstream of the ultrasonic flow meter;
- a reducer disposed between the flow conditioner and the ultrasonic flow meter to reduce the cross-sectional area of the fluid stream flowing from the flow conditioner to the ultrasonic flow meter;
- and
- flow computation logic configured to compute volumetric flow through the ultrasonic flow meter using correction based on instantaneous profile factor of the fluid stream and meter factor;
- wherein meter factor is a ratio of a reference volume of discharge to a volume discharged by the ultrasonic flow meter within a predetermined time period.
A method for ultrasonic metering, comprising:
- connecting a downstream end of a reducer to an upstream end of an ultrasonic flow meter;
- connecting an upstream end of the reducer to a downstream end of a flow conditioner, wherein an inner cross-sectional area of the downstream end of the reducer is smaller than an inner cross-sectional area of the upstream end of the reducers;
- and
- computing volumetric flow through the ultrasonic flow meter using a correction based on instantaneous profile factor of a fluid stream and meter factor;
- wherein meter factor is a ratio of a reference volume of discharge to a volume discharged by the ultrasonic flow meter within a predetermined time period.
An ultrasonic flow metering system, comprising:
- a flow conditioner;
- a reducer;
- an ultrasonic flow meter;
- and
- flow computation logic;
- wherein the flow conditioner is coupled to an upstream end of the reducer, and the ultrasonic flow meter is coupled to a downstream end of the reducer;
- wherein the flow conditioner and the reducer condition a fluid stream flowing through the ultrasonic flow meter such that the ultrasonic flow meter measures velocity of the fluid stream with less than 0.2 percent error and with the fluid stream having a Reynolds number less than 5000;
- wherein the flow computation logic is configured to compute volume of the fluid stream based on a correction derived from instantaneous profile factor of the fluid stream and meter factor;
- wherein meter factor is a ratio of a reference volume of discharge to a volume discharged by the ultrasonic flow meter within a predetermined time period.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.