Patent ID: 7373841

Claim:
A Coriolis mass flowmeter comprising: an evaluation unit, at least one pipe ( 9 ) through which a mass flows, an excitation unit ( 8 ) to make the at least one pipe undergo mechanical vibration as an oscillating element, the oscillating behavior of which, changing in dependence on the mass flow, at least one sensor ( 15 , 16 ) for sensing the oscillating behavior of the at least one pipe to determine the mass flow, wherein to determine the current state of wear of the pipe ( 9 ), the excitation unit ( 8 ) imparts a single oscillatory pulse to the pipe ( 9 ), the oscillatory response of which is sensed by the at least one sensor ( 15 ; 16 ) and is used by the evaluation unit ( 10 ) as a basis for calculating the current damping constant of the pipe ( 9 ) and comparing this with a stored, original damping constant of the pipe ( 9 ) when it was new.