Mass flow measuring device

Abstract: The invention relates to an impeller (1) for a mass flow measuring device receiving inflow of material through an inlet tube (6), the impeller comprising a bottom plate (4), an upper plate (5) and vanes (3) extending between the lower and upper plates. An inner edge (7) of the vanes (3) is continuously or successively rising from the center (9) of the impeller (1), or the vicinity thereof, towards the outer edge (R 1m ) of the inlet tube (6), and that the vanes (3) are provided with a continuously or successively rising outer edge (14) corresponding to an increase of the radius of the impeller from the radius (R 2 ) of the bottom plate (4) to the radius (R xm ) of the upper plate (5).

Description: The present invention relates to a mass flow measuring device, in particular for bulk material or a fluid, and the invention especially relates to an impeller arrangement used in the measuring device in which the mass flow rate is measured by using the Coriolis measuring principle. Such a prior measuring device is described in our copending European patent application No. 96850202.1 filed on 29 November 1996 and made available to the public after the filing date of the present application, describing the main principles for such a mass flow meter, and to which application herewith is referred. In such a measuring device the particles to be measured are subjected to tangential acceleration in a whirling impeller, and the torque exerted on the vanes of the impeller in reaction to the Coriolis force of accelerated particles is being measured as an indication of the mass flow rate. The object of our above European patent application was to avoid measurement errors, due to uneven distribution of the material to be measured. Even though the accuracy in the measurements has been greatly improved by our previous device, it is still subject to some errors if the distribution of the material can not be guaranteed. The errors depend on that the Coriolis force is reduced when the material is introduced in a position outside the center point of the impeller. From the patent application EP-A-0 146 902 there is known a method to deal with that problem. The impeller is driven by a motor, the torque of which from the acceleration of the material is measured by an electronic transducer. The impeller includes a number of vanes fastened to a circular bottom plate and an upper circular plate on the material inlet side. Characteristic for the invention according to this document is that the inner edges of the vanes extend perpendicularly to the bottom plate of the impeller towards the outer edge of the inlet hole. To get the inlet hole filled over its entire area, a guiding device in the form of a circular cone with the diameter of the inlet hole is arranged between said bottom and upper plates. This is stated to reduce the tendency of the material to accelerate from center part of the hole. To achieve a better reduction of the center area acceleration from below, a rotary vane feeder or a screw feeder is placed in front of the apparatus. By that complement the weighed material is pressed into the impeller and thereby, it is stated, the acceleration is reduced. However, the object of the present invention is to further improve the measurement accuracy of the material introduced into the impeller from the inlet tube by modifying the shape of the impeller. The above object has been obtained in that the invention has been given the features stated in the independent claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims. The invention will now be described with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which Fig. 1 shows a schematic side view of a conventional impeller and an inlet tube for a mass flow measuring device, Fig. 2 shows schematically a side view corresponding to Fig. 1 but with an impeller according to the invention, Fig. 3 shows a diagram showing the relation between height H and radius R of the impeller, and Fig. 4 shows schematically a side view of an impeller according to the invention and made for a large material flow. The part of the device shown in the drawings is intended to be a part of a complete device for measuring a mass flow of the kind described in our copending European patent application No. 96850202.1, but in these drawings is only shown the impeller 1 and the inlet tube 6. The other parts relating to the measuring device can have the same, but also alternative, designs as those shown in our previous application. The impeller 1 is mounted for rotation around a vertical shaft 2, rotating in a direction shown by the arrow. The impeller 1 is provided with vanes 3 leading to the circumferential edge of the impeller 1, for guiding the material to be measured from the central area out from the impeller 1 via the vanes 3. The bottom of the impeller 1 is closed by a lower plate 4, and the top of the impeller 1 is closed by an upper plate 5, having a central opening above which the end of an inlet tube 6, supplying the material to be measured, ends. The present invention involves another way to solve the problem of minimizing the measurement errors referred to above. The distribution of the inflowing material into the measuring device can with the present invention be arbitrary or improved by any of the devices defined in any other of our European patent applications filed simultaneously herewith. According to the invention the measurement errors can be minimized if the size of outer radius R 2 of the impeller 1 used for the measurement is varied. The impeller vanes 3 are assumed to have a height H increasing from the center of the impeller 1 until reaching the radius of the tube 6 leading the material into the impeller 1. Material particles entering the measuring device are falling down in the central part of the impeller 1 and rebounding from the center and due to the centrifugal force the particles are thrown substantially horizontally along any of the impeller vanes 3 towards the outer diameter R 2 of the impeller 1. The particles leave the impeller at its lower edge, which has a certain outer radius. Material particles that are entering the impeller 1 close to wall of the inlet tube 6 are thrown towards the upper edge of an impeller vane and are also deflected horizontally. The diameter of the impeller can in relation to the lower edge have a larger radius at its upper part. The increased radius gives rise to an extra acceleration distance compensating for that the radial point of impact results in a shorter distance than that from the impeller center. The desired degree of compensation can be calculated according to the equation as described in our earlier European patent application No. 96850202.1, namely the mass flow q = M / n (R 2 2 -R 1 2 ) where M = torque, n = axis speed of rotation, R 2 = outer radius of the impeller, and R 1 = inner radius from which the particles or the flow meet the impeller surface in or round it's centre. A closer analysis has shown that if you take into consideration the impact from the incoming material the equation will be: q = M / n * [R 2 2 - (R 1 /2) 2 ] If R 1 = 0 the outer diameter is R 2 , whereas material having a point of impact outside the center of the impeller hitting the impeller at a distance x from the center will have the radius R 1x , and the corresponding outer radius R x , the equation if q, M and n are regarded as constants, will be R 2 2 = R x 2 - (R 1x /2) 2 and consequently R x = [(R 2 2 + (R 1x /2) 2 ] ½ The radius R x at the upper edge of the impeller is R xMax , and R 1x = R 1Max = the radius of the incoming inlet tube. If the impeller vanes are made with varying outer diameter following the equation above, the influence of different point of impact for the incoming particles is eliminated. As it is desirable to have the speed of the material particles limited so that they are not crushed when they hit the surface they meet when they leave the impeller, the diameter of the impeller should be kept constant irrespective of the magnitude of the material flow. The diameter of the incoming tube is increasing with increasing maximum flow, and consequently the vanes 3 extend along a shorter part of the impeller radius, but at the same time the height H of the vanes 3 increase. In Fig. 1, as stated above, there are shown the conditions in an ordinary impeller in which the outer diameter R 2 for all heights of the impeller is constant, and parallel with the shaft 2. The inner edge of the impeller vanes 3 is rising from the center of the impeller to the inner radius of the inlet tube 6. The outer edge 8 of the vanes is as stated above parallel with the shaft 2 and the center line 9, around which the impeller 1 rotates. By the line 10 is shown a flow line for a particle entering the measuring device close to the center of the inlet tube 6, and falling into the impeller near its center, from which the same particle will follow the line 11 close to the bottom 4 along a vane 3 when passing out to the circumferential edge of the impeller. Correspondingly there is shown by the line 12 a flow line for a particle entering the measuring device close to the wall of the inlet tube 6, and falling into the impeller off its center, from which the same particle will follow the line 13 close to the top 5 along a vane 3 when passing out to the circumferential edge of the impeller. It is quite obvious that the shorter distance (R 2 - R 1 ) on which the particle following line 13 is in contact with the vane 3 will lead to another force on the vane than for a particle following the line 11. In Fig. 2 is shown a view similar to the one in Fig. 1, but the impeller is in this case made in accordance with the present invention, and consequently the outer diameter of the impeller 1 increases from R 2 at the bottom to R xm at the top of the vanes 3. Correspondingly the outer edge 14 of the vanes 3 continuously rises from the bottom 4 to the top 5. By 15 is shown the flow line for a particle entering the flow measuring device at a distance R 1x from the center line 9 of the impeller 1, which horizontally follows the flow line 16 for escaping the impeller at a distance R xm from the center line 9. Fig. 3 shows a diagram H=f(R) showing the relation between the height H x and the outer radius R x for the impeller vanes 3, with the limits 0 < H < H m and R 2 < R x < R xm . The enclosed area corresponds to the profile the vane 3 should have to eliminate the influence of a different point of impact for the incoming particles. In Fig. 4 is shown the proper form of the impeller for a large material flow. The inlet tube 6 has a large radius in relation to the radius of the upper plate 5. The height H of the impeller 1 is increased in relation to the impeller radius, whereby the vanes become proportionately shorter. The inner radius R 1 becomes more important, but the influence is eliminated in that the outer edge 14 has an increasing radius. By using this impeller there is no need for any disturbing inserts in the inlet tube, which is important for large material flows. With a mass flow measuring device formed according to the present invention it will be possible to make an impeller having a big height and no area reducing device in the inlet, and nevertheless minimize the influence of an uneven distribution of the incoming flow of material.

Claims: A mass flow measuring device comprising an inlet tube (6) and an impeller (1) for receiving inflow of material through said inlet tube (6), the impeller comprising a bottom plate (4), an upper plate (5) and vanes (3) extending between the lower and upper plates, characterised in that an inner edge (7) of each vane (3) is rising from the center (9) of the impeller (1) , or the vicinity thereof, towards an outer edge (R 1m ) of the inlet tube (6), and that each vane (3) is provided with a rising outer edge (14) corresponding to an increase of the radius of the impeller from the radius (R 2 ) of the bottom plate (4) to the radius (R xm ) of the upper plate (5). A mass flow measuring device according to claim 1, characterised in that the inner edge (7) of each vane (3) is rising linearly from the center (9) of the impeller (1) , or the vicinity thereof, towards the outer edge (R 1m ) of the inlet tube (6). A mass flow measuring device according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the outer edge (14) of each vane (3) follows a mathematically calculated curve for minimizing measurement errors, and that the increase of the outer radius of each vane (3) corresponds to the increase of the radius of the impeller from the radius (R 2 ) of the bottom plate (4) to the radius (R xm ) of the upper plate (5). A mass flow measuring device according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the outer edge (14) of each vane (3) follows an approximation of a mathematically calculated curve for minimizing errors, and in that the increase of the outer radius of each vane (3) corresponds to the increase of the radius of the impeller from the radius (R 2 ) of the bottom plate (4) to the radius (R xm ) of the upper plate (5). A mass flow measuring device according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the outer edge (14) of each vane (3) rises linearly corresponding to the increase of the radius of the impeller from the radius (R 2 ) of the bottom plate (4) to the radius (R xm ) of the upper plate (5).

Inventors: SOEDERHOLM ARNE, SOEDERHOLM OLLE, SOEDERHOLM, ARNE, SOEDERHOLM, OLLE, Söderholm, Arne, Söderholm, Olle
Applicants: SEG MEKANIK AB, S.E.G. MEKANIK AB
Application year: 1997
Main classification: G01F1
IPC codes: G01F1