Patent ID: 7194918

Claim:
A method for operating a magnetoinductive flowmeter, said flowmeter including a measuring tube through which flows an electrically conductive medium, as well as two measuring electrodes and a magnet with two field coils, which field coils are positioned parallel to each other on mutually opposite sides of the measuring tube, thus permitting the generation of a magnetic field that extends in an essentially perpendicular plane relative to the direction of flow, and the measuring electrodes are so positioned that their connecting line extends along an essentially perpendicular vector relative to the direction of flow and to the magnetic field as well as through the cross-sectional center of the measuring tube, with the two field coils being so energized for the normal flow-measuring operation that an essentially homogeneous magnetic field is generated, permeating the medium flowing through the measuring tube, while for determining the flow rate, the voltage present between the two measuring electrodes is collected at one or both measuring electrodes and measured against a reference potential, said method comprising the steps of intermittently interrupting the normal flow-measuring operation, energizing the two field coils in a manner as to generate an inhomogeneous magnetic field that permeates the medium flowing through the measuring tube, and collecting the voltage present between the two measuring electrodes.