Patent ID: 8004414

Claim:
A method of determining a flow-rate of material passing through a piping, the method comprising: passing a first laced material through a piping, wherein the first laced material is a first material that is uniformly laced with a first set of multiple Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags that are suspended, in a colloidal state, in the first material, and wherein the first set of RFID tags is distributed in a first known concentration in the first laced material; detecting and counting first RFID tags, from the first set of multiple RFID tags, as the first RFID tags pass through the piping to generate a first RFID tag passage rate, wherein the first RFID tag passage rate is based on a first quantity of first RFID tags, from the first set of multiple RFID tags, that pass a specific location on the closed piping per a unit of time, and wherein the first RFID tags are detected and counted by positioning at least one RFID sensor adjacent to the piping, where the first RFID tags have a limited detection range that is less than a cross-sectional radius of a first section of the piping, and where a second section of the piping has a smaller cross-sectional radius in order to permit detection of the first RFID tags by positioning said at least one RFID sensor proximate to an exterior surface of the second section of the piping; and determining a flow rate of the first laced material through the piping based on the first RFID tag passage rate and the first known concentration of first RFID tags in the first laced material.