Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7237441?dq=7143430
Timestamp: 2017-07-24 09:21:10
Document Index: 159734471

Matched Legal Cases: ['art.\n5', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1']

Patent US7237441 - Ultrasonic type fluid measurement device - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsAn ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument is capable of highly accurate fluid measurement. A measurement part is provided forming a plurality of split channels partitioned by partition boards halfway across a fluid channel, and at least a pair of ultrasonic transmitter-receivers for transmitting ultrasonic...http://www.google.com/patents/US7237441?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7237441 - Ultrasonic type fluid measurement deviceAdvanced Patent SearchTry the new Google Patents, with machine-classified Google Scholar results, and Japanese and South Korean patents.Publication numberUS7237441 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 10/544,669PCT numberPCT/JP2004/002119Publication dateJul 3, 2007Filing dateFeb 24, 2004Priority dateFeb 24, 2003Fee statusPaidAlso published asEP1612520A1, EP1612520A4, US7360449, US20060201259, US20070193367, WO2004074783A1Publication number10544669, 544669, PCT/2004/2119, PCT/JP/2004/002119, PCT/JP/2004/02119, PCT/JP/4/002119, PCT/JP/4/02119, PCT/JP2004/002119, PCT/JP2004/02119, PCT/JP2004002119, PCT/JP200402119, PCT/JP4/002119, PCT/JP4/02119, PCT/JP4002119, PCT/JP402119, US 7237441 B2, US 7237441B2, US-B2-7237441, US7237441 B2, US7237441B2InventorsYasuhiro Umekage, Yoshinori Inui, Yukio Nagaoka, Hajime Miyata, Shigeru IwanagaOriginal AssigneeMatsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (15), Referenced by (21), Classifications (7), Legal Events (3) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetUltrasonic type fluid measurement device
US 7237441 B2Abstract
An ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument is capable of highly accurate fluid measurement. A measurement part is provided forming a plurality of split channels partitioned by partition boards halfway across a fluid channel, and at least a pair of ultrasonic transmitter-receivers for transmitting ultrasonic waves into the fluid flowing through the split channels and receiving ultrasonic waves that have passed through the fluid. Further, an arithmetic unit calculates the flow velocity and/or flow volume of the fluid according to the propagation time of the ultrasonic waves. The measurement part further includes an approach channel for preliminarily rectifying the fluid flowing to the split channels.
an approach channel portion located at an upstream side of said measurement part and extending into said fluid channel to one half of the width of said fluid channel; and
a split channel portion including at least one partition board, said at least one partition board dividing said split channel portion into at least two channels that are open at opposite ends to allow fluid to flow therethrough, said split channel portion being located downstream of said approach channel;
an arithmetic unit operable to calculate at least one of flow velocity of the fluid and flow volume of the fluid based on a propagation time of the ultrasonic waves transmitted and received by said pair of ultrasonic transmitter-receivers, wherein:
said approach channel portion preliminarily rectifies the fluid prior to the fluid flowing to said split channel portion;
said ultrasonic transmitter-receivers are disposed at a side wall of said measurement part and at opposite sides of said split channel portion; and
one of said ultrasonic transmitter-receivers is located at an upstream side of said split channel portion and another of said ultrasonic transmitter-receivers is located at a downstream side of said split channel portion.
2. The ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fluid channel and said measurement part are separate structures.
3. The ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein said approach channel portion has a fixed cross-sectional area.
4. The ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein a length of said approach channel portion is longer than a height of said measurement part.
5. The ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein a thickness of said at least one partition board is less than a wavelength of the ultrasonic waves transmitted from said pair of ultrasonic transmitter-receivers.
6. The ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein one of said at least one partition board is positioned in a center of an ultrasonic transmitting region of said pair of ultrasonic transmitter-receivers.
7. The ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one partition board is an odd number of partition boards forming the at least two channels and one of said at least one partition board is centrally located and positioned in a center of an ultrasonic transmitting region of said pair of ultrasonic transmitter-receivers.
8. The ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein said approach channel portion is arranged to extend into an upstream chamber of said fluid channel.
9. The ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least a part of a surface of the at least two channels of said split channel portion is surface-treated with a nonviscous material.
10. The ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein a portion of the side wall of said measuring part on which said pair of ultrasonic transmitter-receivers is mounted is covered with a perforated plate.
11. The ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein a portion of the side wall of said measuring part on which said pair of ultrasonic transmitter-receivers is mounted is covered with a wire mesh having 50 to 500 openings.
This application is a U.S. National Phase application of PCT International Application PCT/JP2004/002119.
An ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument according to the present invention is equipped with a fluid channel having a measurement part formed with plural split channels partitioned by partition boards halfway across the channel; at least a pair of ultrasonic transmitter-receivers that transmit ultrasonic waves into fluid flowing through the above-mentioned split channels, and receive ultrasonic waves that have passed through the fluid; and an arithmetic unit for calculating at least one of the flow velocity and flow volume of fluid according to the propagation time of ultrasonic waves generated by the above-mentioned ultrasonic transmitter-receivers. The above-mentioned measurement part is provided with an approach channel for preliminarily rectifying fluid flowing to the split channels.
FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal sectional view of an ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument according to exemplary embodiment 1 of the present invention.
Hereinafter, a description will be made for exemplary embodiments of the present invention, referring to drawings.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the intermediate part of rectangular measurement part 1 with its rectangle cross-section is partitioned by a plurality of partition boards 2 at its short side.
Consequently, the correction coefficient (referred to as “flow volume coefficient” as well) for converting propagation time to flow volume remains constant all through from small flow volumes to large ones.
FIG. 3 shows partition boards 2 inclined so that the lower part will be positioned at the downstream side.
FIG. 4 shows exemplary embodiment 3 in which propagation of ultrasonic waves through each split channel 3 is further improved. More specifically, ultrasonic transmitter-receivers 16 and 17 are provided with piezoelectric oscillators 21 and acoustic matching layers 22, fixed on the inner and outer top surfaces of case 40, respectively, by means of bonding or the like.
Therefore, ultrasonic waves pass through each thin layer evenly, allowing flow velocity at each layer to be measured accurately. Consequently, the correction coefficient for converting propagation time to flow volume (also referred to as “flow volume coefficient”) remains constant (e.g., 1) all through from small flow volumes to large ones, namely a flat characteristic.
Next, FIG. 5 shows an example in which slits 23 formed in piezoelectric oscillator 21 of ultrasonic transmitter-receivers 16 and 17 are positioned orthogonally to partition boards 2. The other parts of the arrangement of piezoelectric oscillator 21 are the same as in FIG. 4, and the arrangement of ultrasonic transmitter-receivers 16 and 17 is the same. Therefore, this example will describe only ultrasonic transmitter-receiver 17.
FIG. 6 shows an example in which both upstream end sides of partition boards 2 are projected upstream. This arrangement suppresses influx to the vicinity of the channels at both sides of split channels 3, increases the flow velocity in the central part, and reduces the influence by uneven streams near the boundary layers, further increasing measurement accuracy.
FIG. 7 shows an example in which, in a direction opposite to that in above-mentioned FIG. 6, both upstream end sides of partition boards 2 are retreated downstream. This arrangement reduces foreign matter clogged near the center of split channels 3, increasing durability. In the same way, both downstream end sides of partition boards 3 are retreated upstream to reduce foreign matter clogged near the center of split channels 3, even with pulsatile flow, to increase durability.
The arrangement shown in FIG. 8 is equipped with three partition boards 2 a through 2 c in which central partition board 2 b extends forward beyond other partition boards 2 a and 2 c. First, this arrangement partitions the channel in measurement part 1 into two split channels 3 a and 3 b. Next, short partition boards 2 a and 2 c further partition two split channels 3 a and 3 b into four split channels 3 c, 3 d, 3 e, and 3 f. In such an arrangement, the fluid with its stream uniformized through approach channel 5 is split into split channels 3 a and 3 b first, and then into split channels 3 c, 3 d, 3 e, and 3 f again. Each stream flows in a laminar flow state through approach channel 6 into downstream chamber 11.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, the channel in measurement part 1 is divided into six split channels 3 g, 3 h, 3 i, 3 j, 3 k, and 3 m by five partition boards 2 d, 2 e, 2 f, 2 g, and 2 h. Then, as a result that three partition boards 2 e, 2 f, and 2 g centrally positioned are extended beyond other partition boards 2 d and 2 h externally positioned, two split channels 3 i and 3 j centrally located are set to be longer than other split channels 3 g, 3 h, 3 k, and 3 m externally located.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, the channel of measurement part 1 is divided into six split channels 3 n, 3 o, 3 p, 3 q, 3 r, and 3 s by five partition boards 2 i, 2 j, 2 k, 2 m, and 2 n, all with the same length, where the cross-sectional area of split channels is expanded stepwise from the center to external part.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, four split channels 3 t, 3 u, 3 v, and 3 w are provided, and the thicknesses of partition boards 2 o, 2 p, 2 q is to be changed.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, measurement part 1 equipped with multilayer channel 4 is structured separately from fluid channel 7.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 15, fluid flow in split channels 3 a through 3 d is to be favorable. For this purpose, the length of partition boards 2 a through 2 c, namely the length of split channels 3 a through 3 d is to be substantially equal to the length (W) of the ultrasonic transmitting and receiving regions of ultrasonic transmitter-receivers 16 and 17.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 16, the open edges at both ends of measurement part 1 are to be arc-shaped or tapered. In this way, when fluid flows into measurement part 1, the fluid smoothly flows without generating a whirlpool or the like.
This embodiment, as shown in FIG. 17, provides net-like members 30 and 31 such as wire mesh at the open part of measurement part 1.
This embodiment, as shown in FIG. 18, adopts honeycomb-like porous members 32 and 33 as rectifying parts. It is obvious that the same actions and effects as those in exemplary embodiment 14 are available.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, at least a pair of ultrasonic transmitter-receivers 16 and 17 are arranged on one wall part at the short side of measurement part 1 in the direction of the fluid flow at a given interval.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 21, the channel wall surface at the side where ultrasonic transmitter-receivers 16 and 17 are mounted is made of ultrasonic waves absorbent member 34 (e.g., resin with its minute porous surface). In this way, some components of ultrasonic waves transmitted from the ultrasonic transmitter-receiver in transmission do not travel along or near the wall surface to be reflected, thus preventing impure components of ultrasonic waves to be received.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 22, ultrasonic reflective member 35 made of a material with a high reflectivity, such as a mirror-finished metal plate, is provided on the ultrasonic reflecting surface in the ultrasonic propagation path. In this way, attenuation and scattering when ultrasonic waves are reflected are reduced to enable ultrasonic waves to efficiently propagate, and to decrease noise components in receiving waves, further improving measurement accuracy.
In exemplary embodiment 18, the description is made for a V-shaped propagation path, with a single reflection on the ultrasonic propagation path. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 23, the propagation path is W-shaped, with two reflections on the facing wall surfaces, which is available with the same effect as in exemplary embodiment 18. In this case, it is obvious that ultrasonic reflective member 35 may be provided on the ultrasonic reflecting surface as well.
An ultrasonic fluid measurement instrument according to the present invention can be used for measuring flow velocity and flow volume of gaseous fluid such as gas and liquid fluid such as water and oil, and even for distinguishing fluid type.
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