Patent ID: 11879759
Assignee: nan
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 9:
10. An ultrasonic flowmeter for determining the flow of a flowing medium, comprising:
a first ultrasonic transducer and a second ultrasonic transducer and having a control and evaluation unit, wherein the ultrasonic transducers are designed to transmit an ultrasonic signal onto a signal path and/or to receive an ultrasonic signal from the signal path and are operatively connected to one another via the signal path of the ultrasonic signal;
wherein at least the ultrasonic transducer designed for transmission has a buffer element, wherein the buffer element is arranged in the signal path of the ultrasonic signal in or on the transducer housing, wherein the buffer element forms at least one at least partially reflective boundary layer in the signal path;
wherein, in the operating state of the ultrasonic flowmeter, the transducer element of the transmitting ultrasonic transducer transmits an ultrasonic signal, wherein the ultrasonic signal is at least partially reflected at the boundary layer of the buffer element and is partially transmitted;
wherein either:
the reflected signal portion is received by the transducer element of the transmitting ultrasonic transducer and the transmitted signal portion is received by the transducer element of the receiving ultrasonic transducer;

or
a second transducer element is arranged in the transducer housing of the ultrasonic transducer designed for transmission, and the reflected signal component is received by the second transducer element of the transmitting ultrasonic transducer and the transmitted signal component is received by the transducer element of the receiving ultrasonic transducer; and

wherein the control and evaluation unit is configured such that, in the operating state of the ultrasonic flowmeter, the control and evaluation unit monitors the reception of the reflected signal component and the reception of the transmitted signal component and detects and signals one of the following operating states of the ultrasonic flowmeter:
if the reflected signal component is received and the transmitted signal component is received: ultrasonic flowmeter operational;
if the reflected signal component is received and the transmitted signal component is not received: measuring tube empty;
if the reflected signal component is not received and the transmitted signal component is not received: ultrasonic flowmeter in error state.