Fluid flow meter with linearization
First Claim
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1. A fluid flow meter, comprising;
- a flow chamber;
a first gear intermeshing with a second gear, the first gear and the second gear being positioned within the flow chamber, the intermeshing of the first gear and the second gear permitting synchronous rotation of the first gear and the second gear in response to flow of a fluid through the flow chamberthe fluid flow meter having a nominal operating range of volumes comprising a maximum volumetric flow rate and a minimum volumetric flow rate; and
a flow sensor configured to generate a detection signal in response to the passage of fluid through the flow chamber and/or synchronous rotation of the first gear and the second gear; and
a controller operatively coupled to a data storage medium, the controller being configured to;
receive detection signal from the flow sensor to generate input pulses, a volume per input pulse being generally constant in the nominal operating range,determine an input pulse frequency, whereby, the input pulse frequency corresponds to a number of pulses per second,determine whether the fluid flow meter is operating outside the nominal operating range based on the input pulse frequency,generate a correction function based on the input pulse frequency, andapply the correction function to input pulses when the controller determines that the fluid flow meter is operated outside the nominal operating range.
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Abstract
A fluid flow meter is described, that includes intermeshing gears that may rotate synchronously. The fluid flow meter may produce a pulsed output that can be normalized to suitable values according to a method of normalizing input pulses generated in response to the rotation of gears. A volume counter can be incremented by an amount equal to a volume per input pulse each time an input pulse is generated. When the volume counter exceeds a first reference volume, a normalized output pulse can be generated until the volume counter exceeds a second reference volume.
35 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A fluid flow meter, comprising;
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a flow chamber; a first gear intermeshing with a second gear, the first gear and the second gear being positioned within the flow chamber, the intermeshing of the first gear and the second gear permitting synchronous rotation of the first gear and the second gear in response to flow of a fluid through the flow chamber the fluid flow meter having a nominal operating range of volumes comprising a maximum volumetric flow rate and a minimum volumetric flow rate; and a flow sensor configured to generate a detection signal in response to the passage of fluid through the flow chamber and/or synchronous rotation of the first gear and the second gear; and a controller operatively coupled to a data storage medium, the controller being configured to; receive detection signal from the flow sensor to generate input pulses, a volume per input pulse being generally constant in the nominal operating range, determine an input pulse frequency, whereby, the input pulse frequency corresponds to a number of pulses per second, determine whether the fluid flow meter is operating outside the nominal operating range based on the input pulse frequency, generate a correction function based on the input pulse frequency, and apply the correction function to input pulses when the controller determines that the fluid flow meter is operated outside the nominal operating range. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A fluid flow meter, comprising;
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a flow chamber; a first gear intermeshing with a second gear, the first gear and the second gear being positioned within the flow chamber, the intermeshing of the first gear and the second gear permitting synchronous rotation of the first gear and the second gear in response to flow of a fluid through the flow chamber the fluid flow meter having a nominal operating range of volumes comprising a maximum volumetric flow rate and a minimum volumetric flow rate; and a flow sensor configured to generate a detection signal in response to the passage of fluid through the flow chamber and/or synchronous rotation of the first gear and the second gear; and a controller operatively coupled to a data storage medium configured to store generic calibration of the fluid flow meter, wherein the generic calibration represents a predetermined relationship between a volumetric flow rate of fluid correlated to volume per input pulse the controller being configured to; retrieve the generic calibration of the fluid flow meter, determine a correction function based on the generic calibration, the correction function being a function of time interval between input pulses, receive detection signal from the flow sensor to generate input pulses, and apply the correction function to the time interval between input pulses, and generate an output pulse. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A fluid flow meter, comprising;
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a flow chamber; a first gear intermeshing with a second gear, the first gear and the second gear being positioned within the flow chamber, the intermeshing of the first gear and the second gear permitting synchronous rotation of the first gear and the second gear in response to flow of a fluid through the flow chamber; and a flow sensor configured to generate a detection signal in response to the passage of fluid through the flow chamber and/or synchronous rotation of the first gear and the second gear a controller having an output pulse generator and being configured to receive detection signal from the flow sensor and generate input pulses in response to the detection signal, determine, based on an actual time interval between input pulses whether the fluid flow meter is operating outside a nominal operating range, generate a correction function based on a predetermined time interval between input pulses and the actual time interval between input pulses, increment a volume counter by an amount equal to a volume per input pulse at a time corresponding to time interval of input pulse corrected by the correction function, transition the output pulse generator from a state where the output pulse generator does not generate output pulses to a state where the output pulse generator starts generating an output pulse when the volume counter exceeds a first reference volume, and transition the output pulse generator from a state where the output pulse generator generates the output pulse back to a state where the output pulse generator stops generating the output pulse. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification