Nonintrusive Flow-Measurement System

A nonintrusive flow-measurement system based on ultrasonics has been developed to replace a system based on turbine flowmeters. A turbine flowmeter must be mounted in line with a pipe; this raises the possibility of leakage at the flowmeter/pipe joints, and the flowmeter unavoidably perturbs the flow. Moreover, a turbine flowmeter is vulnerable to mechanical malfunction and can be vulnerable to corrosion or clogging, depending on the nature of the fluid. In contrast, the ultrasonic flow-measurement system does not contain any rotating or sliding mechanisms that could fail, and does not involve any penetration of the pipe, so that the flow is not perturbed and there is no risk of leakage, clogging, or corrosion.