Patent ID: 8590395

Claim:
A flow meter, comprising: a sensor element that receives a flow input of a metered fluid and outputs a flow output of the metered fluid, wherein the sensor element comprises: an inductor element; a magnetic element coupled to the inductor element; a battery element that powers the flow meter; a reference clock element coupled to the sensor element; a clock element coupled to the inductor element; and a controller element coupled to the reference clock element and the clock element; wherein in response to movement of the magnetic element relative to the inductor element caused by a fluid pressure differential of the metered fluid, the inductive value of the inductor element of the sensor changes and the controller element calculates a changed frequency of the clock element based upon the reference clock element and the changed inductive value of the inductor element caused by movement of the magnetic element relative to the inductor element and wherein the changed frequency of the clock element is representative of a volume of liquid consumption value of the metered fluid measured by the flow meter.