Design of Miniature Clamp-On Ultrasonic Flow Measurement Transducers

Clamp-on ultrasonic transit-time difference measurements of liquid flowrate are widely used in industry for both flow metering and heat metering applications. However, the sensors used tend to be relatively large, hindering their use on small diameter pipes, and using more material in the transducer wedge than is strictly necessary. The accuracy of the technique depends on a number of factors, and particularly on the accuracy of the compression wave speed in the liquid that is used in the calculations to obtain flowrate or heat transfer rate from the liquid in the pipe. Many flow meters either assume a value for the wave speed or obtain it using thermocouple measurements of the pipe exterior with a lookup table or simple equation. An error in the liquid ultrasonic velocity relates directly to errors in the calculated flowrate. It is highly beneficial if the ultrasonic wave speed in the liquid can be accurately measured in real time for flowrate calculations, especially for temperature and pressure varying conditions. A new type of small clamp-on ultrasonic transducer is reported, using a 6-mm-wide PEEK wedge that contains two piezoelectric elements, one of which generates sound normal to the flow direction, yielding the measurement of ultrasonic wave speed in the liquid. The new transducers were tested on a small rig with a 15-mm diameter copper pipe and a 70-mm diameter stainless steel pipe, yielding accurate measurements of liquid ultrasonic velocity and flowrates.