Method and ultrasonic meter system for determining pipe roughness
First Claim
1. An ultrasonic meter comprising:
- a spool piece that couples within a flow of fluids; and
a first transducer pair mechanically mounted to the spool piece and acoustically coupled to the flow of fluids, the first transducer pair comprising an upstream transducer and a downstream transducer in operational relationship to the upstream transducer and defining a first chord there between;
the ultrasonic meter is configured to determine diagnostic data based on acoustic signals transmitted between the first transducer pair, the diagnostic data comprising;
asymmetry of the flow of fluids in the spool piece;
cross flow of the flow of fluids in the spool piece; and
profile factor of the flow of fluids in the spool piece; and
the ultrasonic meter is configured to determine that changes in the roughness of a pipe mechanically coupled to the ultrasonic meter have occurred when a trend of the diagnostic data with respect to time comprises a substantially constant value of about unity for both the asymmetry and the cross flow and a substantially changing value for the profile factor.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and ultrasonic meter system for determining pipe roughness. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are ultrasonic meters comprising a spool piece that couples within a flow of fluids, and a first transducer pair mechanically mounted to the spool piece and acoustically coupled to the flow of fluids (wherein the first transducer pair comprises an upstream transducer and a downstream transducer in operational relationship to the upstream transducer and defines a first chord there between). The ultrasonic meter is configured to determine diagnostic data based on acoustic signals transmitted between the first transducer pair (wherein the diagnostic data comprises an asymmetry of the flow of fluids in the spool piece, a cross flow of the flow of fluids in the spool piece, and a profile factor of the flow of fluids in the spool piece). The ultrasonic meter is configured to determine changes in the roughness of a pipe mechanically coupled to the ultrasonic meter based on a trend of the diagnostic data (wherein the trend comprises a substantially constant value of about unity for both the asymmetry and the cross flow and a substantially changing value for the profile factor).
40 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. An ultrasonic meter comprising:
-
a spool piece that couples within a flow of fluids; and a first transducer pair mechanically mounted to the spool piece and acoustically coupled to the flow of fluids, the first transducer pair comprising an upstream transducer and a downstream transducer in operational relationship to the upstream transducer and defining a first chord there between; the ultrasonic meter is configured to determine diagnostic data based on acoustic signals transmitted between the first transducer pair, the diagnostic data comprising;
asymmetry of the flow of fluids in the spool piece;
cross flow of the flow of fluids in the spool piece; and
profile factor of the flow of fluids in the spool piece; andthe ultrasonic meter is configured to determine that changes in the roughness of a pipe mechanically coupled to the ultrasonic meter have occurred when a trend of the diagnostic data with respect to time comprises a substantially constant value of about unity for both the asymmetry and the cross flow and a substantially changing value for the profile factor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A method comprising:
-
transmitting acoustic signals between a first transducer pair of an ultrasonic meter; determining diagnostic data based on the acoustic signals, the diagnostic data comprising;
asymmetry of a flow of fluids that couples within a spool piece;
cross flow of the flow of fluids in the spool piece; and
profile factor of the flow of fluids in the spool piece;trending the diagnostic data with time; and determining that changes in the roughness of a pipe have occurred when the trend comprises a substantially constant value of about unity for both the asymmetry and the cross flow and a substantially changing value for the profile factor. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A computer-readable media comprising a plurality of instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
-
trend of diagnostic data with time, the diagnostic data is based on acoustic signals transmitted between a first transducer pair and comprises;
asymmetry of a flow of fluids that couples within a spool piece;
cross flow of the flow of fluids in the spool piece; and
profile factor of the flow of fluids in the spool piece; anddetermine that changes in the roughness of a pipe have occurred when the trend comprises a substantially constant value of about unity for both the asymmetry and the cross flow and a substantially changing value for the profile factor. - View Dependent Claims (20)
-
Specification