Correcting for two-phase flow in a digital flowmeter
First Claim
1. A flowmeter comprising:
- a vibratable conduit;
a driver connected to the conduit and operable to impart motion to the conduit;
a sensor connected to the conduit and operable to sense the motion of the conduit and generate a sensor signal; and
a controller connected to receive the sensor signal, the controller being operable to;
generate a raw mass-flow measurement from the sensor signal;
detect a single-phase flow condition and process the raw mass-flow measurement using a first process during the single-phase flow condition to generate a first mass-flow measurement; and
detect a two-phase flow condition and correct the raw mass-flow measurement using a second process during the two-phase flow condition to generate a second mass-flow measurement.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A flowmeter is disclosed. The flowmeter includes a vibratable conduit, and a driver connected to the conduit that is operable to impart motion to the conduit. A sensor is connected to the conduit and is operable to sense the motion of the conduit and generate a sensor signal. A controller is connected to receive the sensor signal. The controller is operable to detect a single-phase flow condition and process the sensor signal using a first process during the single-phase flow condition to generate a validated mass-flow measurement. The controller is also operable to detect a two-phase flow condition and process the sensor signal using a second process during the two-phase flow condition to generate the validated mass-flow measurement.
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Citations
55 Claims
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1. A flowmeter comprising:
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a vibratable conduit;
a driver connected to the conduit and operable to impart motion to the conduit;
a sensor connected to the conduit and operable to sense the motion of the conduit and generate a sensor signal; and
a controller connected to receive the sensor signal, the controller being operable to;
generate a raw mass-flow measurement from the sensor signal;
detect a single-phase flow condition and process the raw mass-flow measurement using a first process during the single-phase flow condition to generate a first mass-flow measurement; and
detect a two-phase flow condition and correct the raw mass-flow measurement using a second process during the two-phase flow condition to generate a second mass-flow measurement. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A flowmeter comprising:
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a vibratable conduit;
a driver connected to the conduit and operable to impart motion to the conduit;
a sensor connected to the conduit and operable to sense the motion of the conduit and generate a sensor signal; and
a controller connected to receive the sensor signal, the controller being operable to;
detect a single-phase flow condition and process the sensor signal using a first process during the single-phase flow condition to generate a validated mass-flow measurement; and
detect a two-phase flow condition and process the sensor signal using a second process during the two-phase flow condition to generate the validated mass-flow measurement.
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36. A digital flowmeter comprising:
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a vibratable conduit;
a driver connected to the conduit and operable to impart motion to the conduit;
a sensor connected to the conduit and operable to sense the motion of the conduit and generate a sensor signal; and
a controller connected to receive the sensor signal and detect a single-phase flow condition and a two-phase flow condition, the controller further comprising;
a first processing module to analyze the sensor signal during the single-phase flow condition and to generate a first mass-flow measurement;
a second processing module to analyze the sensor signal during the two-phase flow condition and to generate a second mass-flow measurement, the second processing module having a neural network processor to predict a mass-flow error and to calculate an error correction factor used to generate the second mass-flow measurement; and
output circuitry to generate a drive signal to operate the driver. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A method of generating a measurement of a property of material flowing through a conduit, the method comprising:
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sensing motion of the conduit;
generating a measurement of a property of material flowing through the conduit based on the sensed motion;
detecting a flow condition based on the measurement of the property;
if the flow condition is a single-phase flow condition, applying a first analysis process to the measurement of the property using digital signal processing to generate a first measurement signal;
if the flow condition is a two-phase flow condition, applying a second analysis process to the measurement of the property using a neural network processor to;
predict a mass-flow error based on the measurement of the property, generate an error correction factor, apply the error correction factor to the measurement of the property to generate a second measurement signal;
generating a drive signal to impart motion in the conduit based on the measurement of the property; and
imparting motion to the conduit using the drive signal. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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Specification