Patent ID: 7894061

Claim:
A flow monitoring system comprising: a pipe configured for transporting a fluid therethrough; an optical fiber generally spiraling a plurality of revolutions circumaxially about the pipe along a longitudinal portion having a predetermined length to serve as a single transducer for detecting flow information originating along the longitudinal portion; a linear polarizer/analyzer circuit configured to communicate with the optical fiber; a light source communicating with the linear polarizer/analyzer circuit and configured for generating a light signal along the optical fiber at a frequency greater than a period of a disturbance to flow past the predetermined length of the transducer; a reflector disposed along the optical fiber for reflecting back the light signal along the optical fiber; and an optical detector communicating with the linear polarizer/analyzer circuit, the optical detector being configured for optically determining from the light signal dynamic events along the optical fiber indicative of flow disturbances passing by the transducers; wherein the predetermined length of the transducer is larger than a spatial wavelength of the longest wavelength of a flow disturbance to be measured.