Ultrasonic liquid flow controller
First Claim
1. A method of determining a rate of flow of a fluid in a conduit, the method comprising acts of:
- sending first and second ultrasonic signals along a length of the conduit;
receiving the first and second ultrasonic signals;
cross-correlating the first received ultrasonic signal and the second received ultrasonic signal to generate a resulting time-domain signal;
analyzing the resulting time-domain signal to determine a difference in transit time between the first received ultrasonic signal and the second received ultrasonic signal; and
calculating the rate of flow of the fluid in the conduit based upon the determined difference.
12 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An ultrasonic flow meter includes a conduit, a first ultrasonic transducer, a second ultrasonic transducer, and a controller. The first ultrasonic transducer is disposed at a first position about a first portion of the conduit to transmit a first ultrasonic signal and to receive a second ultrasonic signal. The second ultrasonic transducer is disposed at a second position about a second portion of the conduit that is spaced apart from the first position along a length of the conduit to transmit the second ultrasonic signal and to receive the first ultrasonic signal. The controller is configured to cross-correlate the first and second received ultrasonic signals and generate a resulting time-domain signal, analyze the resulting time-domain signal to determine a difference in transit time between the first and second received ultrasonic signals, and calculate a rate of flow of a fluid in the conduit based upon the determined difference.
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Citations
52 Claims
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1. A method of determining a rate of flow of a fluid in a conduit, the method comprising acts of:
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sending first and second ultrasonic signals along a length of the conduit;
receiving the first and second ultrasonic signals;
cross-correlating the first received ultrasonic signal and the second received ultrasonic signal to generate a resulting time-domain signal;
analyzing the resulting time-domain signal to determine a difference in transit time between the first received ultrasonic signal and the second received ultrasonic signal; and
calculating the rate of flow of the fluid in the conduit based upon the determined difference. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An ultrasonic flow meter comprising:
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a conduit;
a first ultrasonic transducer, disposed at a first position along a length of the conduit, to transmit a first ultrasonic signal and to receive a second ultrasonic signal;
a second ultrasonic transducer, disposed at a second position along the length of the conduit that is spaced apart from the first position, to transmit the second ultrasonic signal and to receive the first ultrasonic signal; and
a controller configured to cross-correlate the first received ultrasonic signal and the second received ultrasonic signal and generate a resulting time-domain signal, to analyze the resulting time-domain signal to determine a difference in transit time between the first received ultrasonic signal and the second received ultrasonic signal, and to calculate a rate of flow of a fluid in the conduit based upon the determined difference. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. An ultrasonic flow meter comprising:
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a conduit;
a first ultrasonic transducer, disposed at a first position along a length of the conduit, to transmit a first ultrasonic signal and to receive a second ultrasonic signal;
a second ultrasonic transducer, disposed at a second position along the length of the conduit that is spaced apart from the first position, to transmit the second ultrasonic signal and to receive the first ultrasonic signal;
a timing circuit, operatively coupled to the first and second ultrasonic transducers, to initiate transmission of the first and second ultrasonic signals after a determined delay relative to a reference event; and
a controller to process the first and second received ultrasonic signals and determine a difference in time between receipt of the first received ultrasonic signal and receipt of the second received ultrasonic signal relative to the reference event. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A method of determining a rate of flow of a fluid in a conduit, the method comprising acts of:
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(a) transmitting a first ultrasonic signal from a first position disposed along a length of the conduit;
(b) transmitting a second ultrasonic signal from a second position disposed along the length of the conduit, the second position being spaced apart along the length of the conduit from the first position by a distance;
(c) receiving the first ultrasonic signal at the second position;
(d) receiving the second ultrasonic signal at the first position;
(e) determining a speed of propagation of at least one of the first and second ultrasonic signals in the fluid;
(f) processing only the received first and second ultrasonic signals to determine a difference in time between receipt of the first ultrasonic signal and receipt of the second ultrasonic signal; and
(g) calculating the rate of flow of the fluid based upon the speed of propagation determined in act (e) and the difference in time between the receipt of the first ultrasonic signal and the receipt of the second ultrasonic signal determined in act (f). - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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Specification