Patent ID: 7373808
Filing Date: 2008-05-20
Classification: G01F,G01N

Abstract:
1. An ultrasonic meter comprising: a spool piece that couples within a flow of fluids; and a first transducer pair mechanically mounted to the spool piece and acoustically coupled to the flow of fluids, the first transducer pair comprising an upstream transducer and a downstream transducer in operational relationship to the upstream transducer and defining a first chord there between; the ultrasonic meter is configured to determine diagnostic data based on acoustic signals transmitted between the first transducer pair, the diagnostic data comprising: asymmetry of the flow of fluids in the spool piece; cross flow of the flow of fluids in the spool piece; and profile factor of the flow of fluids in the spool piece; and the ultrasonic meter is configured to determine that changes in the roughness of a pipe mechanically coupled to the ultrasonic meter have occurred when a trend of the diagnostic data with respect to time comprises a substantially constant value of about unity for both the asymmetry and the cross flow and a substantially changing value for the profile factor.