Multipath Flow Metering of High-Velocity Gas Using Ultrasonic Phased-Arrays

In this work we combine a multipath ultrasonic gas flow meter (UFM) with an ultrasonic air-coupled phased-array. This allows complementing the advantages of a multipath UFM, i.e. higher accuracy and more robustness to irregular flow, with the extended velocity measuring range due to sound drift compensation via a phased-array. We created a 3D-printed flow meter consisting of an $8 \times 8\,\,\lambda /2$ phased-array for transmission and 14 individual receivers for seven upstream and seven downstream sound paths. Measurements were conducted in a test rig with a maximum gas flow rates of 8.3 m3 s−1 (107 ms−1). A differential pressure nozzle was used as reference sensor. Three configurations were compared: Parallel sound paths with a single transmitter; parallel sound paths with the phased-array as transmitter; and fan-shaped sound paths with the phased-array as transmitter. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and deviation of measured flow were used as comparison criteria. In addition, we measured the optimum steering angles of the phased-array required to compensate the sound drift effect. Using the phased-array with the sound drift effect compensation enabled and disabled, the SNR increases by 10.6 dB and 4.95 dB, respectively, compared to the single transmitter setup at 83 m s−1. Furthermore, the phased-array with compensation active, extends the velocity measuring range by 29%, from 83 ms−1 to 107 m s−1, while maintaining a similar standard deviation of the flow measured. Besides demonstrating that a phased-array in a gas flow meter significantly extends the measurement range, our setup qualifies as versatile research platform for designing future high-velocity gas flow meters.