Patent ID: 9304024
Filing Date: 2016-04-05
CPC Classification: G01F

Claim Text:
1. An ultrasonic flow meter for measuring fluid flow in a conduit having a conduit axis comprising: multiple transducer pairs positioned to form acoustic transmission paths that are co-located in two or more chordal measurement planes, in each chordal measurement plane the multiple transducer pairs located in the chordal measurement plane are positioned to form acoustic transmission paths that traverse at least once from one side of the plane to another side of the plane, each traverse is either direct from one transducer to another or via one or more reflection points, the length of separation between any two transducers or reflection points in a direction aligned with the conduit axis being less than 2.5 times the length of the separation between any two transducers or reflection points in a direction perpendicular to the conduit axis, if all paths are direct from one transducer to another transducer of a transducer pair there is a minimum of three traverses in each chordal plane and if any paths employ a point of reflection there is a minimum of four traverses such that in either case a sum of the number of paths and the number of traverses in each chordal plane is equal to or greater than six and whereby a plurality of axial velocity measurements are made in each chordal plane.