An Ultrasonic Tomography Flowmeter Implementation for Gas/Liquid Two-Phase Flow Measurement

Abstract

Today's ultrasonic flow metering is very important in the industry. By using ultrasound tomography, we can be obtained cross-sectional images from inside a tube that contains two-phase fluid. By processing these images, the flow of each phase can be calculated separately. Time of flight ultrasonic tomography was used in the proposed method and does not be used conventional methods for image reconstruction. The flow rate of each phase is obtained directly from the sensitivity matrix. The proposed method is independent of flow pattern identification and then there is no need to calibration and as a result, the system is stable. One MHz piezoelectric was used to implement the proposed method and 16 piezoelectric was mounted to implement for a fan-shaped ring, also a four-channel AFE board with a sampling speed of 105 MHz and a 14-bit resolution was used. All control signals are generated by FPGA and there is no need for a microprocessor to control the process. A very simple power amplifier is used to drive the piezoelectric which has low power consumption and contributes to the stability of the system. The simulation results of the measured values show a low error of the SIE factor.