Patent ID: 9709427
Date: 2017-07-18
CPC Classifications: G01F,Y10T

Claim:
1. A flowmeter for detecting fluid flow rates in a pipe comprising: a tube having a channel disposed in the pipe through which fluid in the pipe flows, the tube is made entirely of a sound absorbing material so that essentially all non-fluid paths of sound are absorbed; an upstream ultrasonic transducer in contact with the pipe and positioned in alignment with the channel so plane waves generated by the upstream transducer propagates through the channel; a downstream ultrasonic transducer in contact with the pipe and positioned in alignment with the channel so plane waves generated by the downstream transducer propagate through the channel and are received by the upstream transducer which produces an upstream transducer signal, the downstream transducer receiving the plane waves from the upstream transducer and providing a downstream transducer signal; a controller in communication with the upstream and downstream transducers which calculate fluid flow rate in the upstream transducer signal and the downstream transducer signal; and wherein the tube is made of a polymer filled with attenuative particles, the upstream transducer and the downstream transducer extend through the pipe wall and acoustically communicate with the pipe interior and the attenuative particles are either metal, metal oxide, glass microspheres or rubber having a mesh size less or equal to an acoustic wavelength.