Transit-time Ultrasonic Flow Meter To be more precise, let's assume that Tdown is the transit-time (or time-of-flight) of a sound pulse traveling from the upstream transducer A to the downstream transducer B, and Tup is the transit-time from the opposite direction, B to A. The following equations hold: Tdown = ( D / sinq ) / ( c + V*cosq ), ---------(1) Tup = ( D / sinq ) / ( c - V*cosq ), ---------(2) where c is the sound speed in the liquid, D is the pipe diameter and V is the flow velocity averaged over the sound path. Solving the above equations leads to V = ( D / sin2q ) * ∆T / (Tup * Tdown), ---------(3) where ∆T = Tup - Tdown. Therefore, by accurately measuring the upstream and downstream transit-time Tup amd Tdown, we are able to obtain the flow velocity V. Subsequently, the flow rate is calculated as following, Q = K *A* V, (4) where A is the inner cross-section area of the pipe and K is the instrument coefficient. Usually, K is determined through calibration. From equations (3) and (4), we see that the measurement results, V and Q, are independent of fluid properties, pressure, temperature, pipe materials, etc. The sound speed term does not appear in the final equations. These characteristics, plus large turn-down ratio, no pressure drop, no moving parts, no disturbance to the flow and many other features, make ultrasonic transit-time flowmeter extremely attractive. The transducers come with two types, one is clamp-on type, the other is wetted type. The wetted type can be further categorized into insertion type and flow cell (or spool piece) type. A brief comparison among those types can be found Here. The transducers can be mounted in three ways: Z-method, V-method and W-method. With Z-method, the two transducers are mounted on opposite sides of the pipe (see the figure on the top) and the sound pulse crosses the pipe flow once. This method is usually used for large pipe size, say above 12".
It should be mentioned that the actual implementation of the above principle is much more complex than what it looks like. The challenges include:
Different manufacturers have different answers to the above questions. As a result, there are many brands of ultrasonic flowmeters, some of them may work well in a wide range of applications, some may not. Some may be expensive, and some may be less expensive. Some may be easy to use, some may be difficult.A low-cost, high accuracy, reliable and easy to use ultrasonic flowmeter is always the pursuing goal of all ultrasonic flowmeter manufacturers. Among all the leading ultrasonic flow meter manufactureres; Shenitech believes itself to be the top performer along this line. We offer guaranteed high quality, guaranteed lowest price for all our ultrasonic flow meters. |
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