Patent ID: 6898987

Claim:
A flow meter comprising: a. a housing; b. a cylindrical flow chamber disposed in the housing and having an interior cylindrical wall and an axis; c. a rotor rotatively mounted within the flow chamber; d. an inlet formed in the housing and open to the chamber for directing fluid into the chamber; e. an outlet formed in the housing and open to the chamber for directing fluid from the chamber; f. the inlet and outlet being axially spaced with respect to the axis of the flow chamber; g. the rotor mounted between the inlet and outlet, along the axis of the flow chamber, but axially spaced along the axis of the flow chamber from both the inlet and the outlet; h. the inlet oriented with respect to the interior cylindrical wall of the cylindrical flow chamber such that the fluid directed into the chamber via the inlet is directed generally tangential to the interior wall of the chamber; and i. wherein the orientation of the inlet with respect to the rotor and interior wall of the chamber causes the fluid directed into the chamber to spiral around the interior wall and move from the inlet around the rotor, causing the rotor to rotate, and out the outlet.