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 using a pair of ring-shaped transducers disposed at first and second positions spaced apart along the 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;
calculating the rate of flow of the fluid in the conduit based upon the determined difference; and
providing the calculated rate to another device for use as the determined rate of flow of fluid in the conduit;
wherein the act of cross-correlating comprises;
performing a Fourier transform on the first received ultrasonic signal to generate a first frequency-domain representation;
performing a Hilbert transform and a Fourier transform on the second received ultrasonic signal to generate a second frequency-domain representation;
multiplying the first and second frequency-domain representations together to generate a resulting frequency-domain representation; and
performing an inverse Fourier transform on the resulting frequency-domain representation to generate the resulting time-domain signal.
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.
82 Citations
30 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 using a pair of ring-shaped transducers disposed at first and second positions spaced apart along the 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; calculating the rate of flow of the fluid in the conduit based upon the determined difference; and providing the calculated rate to another device for use as the determined rate of flow of fluid in the conduit; wherein the act of cross-correlating comprises; performing a Fourier transform on the first received ultrasonic signal to generate a first frequency-domain representation; performing a Hilbert transform and a Fourier transform on the second received ultrasonic signal to generate a second frequency-domain representation; multiplying the first and second frequency-domain representations together to generate a resulting frequency-domain representation; and performing an inverse Fourier transform on the resulting frequency-domain representation to generate the resulting time-domain signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11)
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9. 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 using a pair of ring-shaped transducers disposed at first and second positions spaced apart along the 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; calculating the rate of flow of the fluid in the conduit based upon the determined difference; and providing the calculated rate to another device for use as the determined rate of flow of fluid in the conduit; wherein the act of cross-correlating comprises; performing a Fourier transform on each of the received ultrasonic signal and the second received ultrasonic signal to generate a first frequency-domain representation and a second frequency-domain representation, respectively; multiplying the first and second frequency-domain representations together to generate a resulting frequency-domain representation; and performing an inverse Fourier transform on the resulting frequency-domain representation to generate the resulting time-domain signal. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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12. An ultrasonic flow meter comprising:
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a conduit; a first ring-shaped 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 ring-shaped 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; wherein the controller is further configured to; perform a Fourier transform on the first received ultrasonic signal to generate a first frequency-domain representation; perform a Hilbert transform and a Fourier transform on the second received ultrasonic signal to generate a second frequency-domain representation; multiply the first and second frequency-domain representations together to generate a resulting frequency-domain representation; and perform an inverse Fourier transform on the resulting frequency-domain representation to generate the resulting time-domain signal. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification