What problems should I pay attention to when using ultrasonic flowmeters?

Typical problems with ...

Typical problems with ultrasonic flow meters can include:

• Strong wind.
• Foam.
• Turbulence.
• Surge / slug flows.
• Solar heating of the sensor.
• Insufficient / failure / lack of temperature compensation.
• Primary device sidewall echos.
• Signal crosstalk.
• In addition, what UFM doesn't tell you clearly is presence of lot of air in the pipe

Published February 12, 2019 20:13 by Chokkanhalli Ramesh, Retired Scientist (Hydrometeorology) from Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, India

Hello Xie Chengsan, I agree ...

Hello Xie Chengsan,

I agree with most of the comments below but I would like to add the following:

1. changes in the liquid medium incl. temperature that change the liquid density and sound velocity.

2. gas/air bubbles or pockets in pipeline.

Regards, Bruno

Published February 12, 2019 08:50 by Bruno Peeters, managing director at Model Engineering

Hi, If you use clamp-on ...

Hi,

If you use clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeter, mostly the problems are:

1. Pipe thickness & materials factor which is not determined carefully

2. Sedimentation along pipe walls

3. Vibration and other noises coming both from outside an inside the pipe

4. Clamp on sensors positioning if not accurately determined (the angles between each sensors, the distance, etc. depending on the flowmeter type)

5. Mixed materials/particles flowing through will negatively affect the accuracy of measurement

If you use an inline ultrasonic flowmeters, the problems usually are:

1. Clogging/sedimetation on the sensors

2. Materials/debris that might damage your inner ultrasonic flowmeter

3. Mixed materials/particles flowing through will negatively affect the accuracy of measurement

Published February 12, 2019 08:26 by Muhammad Alfalah Fauzi, CFD Engineer Intern at Institut für Wasserbau und Technische Hydromechanik (IWD) - TU Dresden

(1) Select the appropriate ...

(1) Select the appropriate flow meter form according to the medium, flow rate and work site;
(2) installing the transducer according to different types of ultrasonic flow meters in a reasonable manner;
(3) Regular maintenance, often check the working status of the  ultrasonic  flow meter and the connection of the display;
(4) Regularly calibrate the ultrasonic flow meter.

Link to the AFT solutions here 

Published February 12, 2019 01:39 by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network