The market for ultrasonic flow meters has developed rapidly over the past years. Reputed market research companies claim that ultrasonic flow meters have the highest growth rate and forecast an explosive market growth. One of the main drivers for this robust growth is the emerging adoption of ultrasonic flowmeters for custody transfer measurements of, (refined) liquid petroleum products and natural gas. The introduction of a highly accurate, multiple beam ultrasonic flowmeter for liquids in the nineties formed a true revolution in the market for custody transfer metering. Up to then the market was dominated by turbine and PD meters. Over the past years ultrasonic flowmeters gained full acceptance and customers are using the multiple beam ultrasonic flowmeter in a growing number of custody transfer metering applications worldwide. Based on the market experience gained over the years with the five-beam ultrasonic flow meter and continuing basic research and development, a new and cost effective ultrasonic flowmeter concept for custody transfer has been developed. This ultrasonic flowmeter has three beams and is designed for dedicated custody transfer. A number of inherent qualities make the three-beam ultrasonic custody transfer flow meter very suitable for pipeline operations: (1) high stability, no shifting k-factor; (2) highly repeatable and accurate measurements; (3) no moving parts; (4) no strainers; (5) low pressure drop i.e. savings on pumping costs; (6) large dynamic range; (7) minimal maintenance; (8) bi-directional. This paper describes: (1) Recent technical improvements and developments of multiple beam ultrasonic flowmeters; and its (2) Application for pipeline leak detection systems.
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