APPARATUS AND METHOD USING AN ARRAY OF ULTRASONIC SENSORS FOR DETERMINING THE VELOCITY OF A FLUID WITHIN A PIPE

摘要

An apparatus and method for measuring the flow velocity of a fluid flowingthrough a pipe that includes an array of at least two ultrasonic sensor units(with as many as 16 sensor units) disposed at predetermined locations alongthe pipe. Each sensor unit includes an ultrasonic transmitter and anultrasonic receiver. Each sensor unit provides a respective signal indicativeof a parameter of the transit time or amplitude of the ultrasonic signalpropagating between each respective ultrasonic transmitter and ultrasonicreceiver. A signal processor defines a convective ridge in the k-.omega. planein response to the ultrasonic signals using an adaptive beamforming algorithm,such as Capon and Music. The signal processor further determines the slope ofat least a portion of the convective ridge to determine the flow velocity ofthe fluid.