AN APPARATUS HAVING AN ARRAY OF PIEZOELECTRIC FILM SENSORS FOR MEASURING PARAMETERS OF A PROCESS FLOW WITHIN A PIPE

摘要

A apparatus (10, 110, 170) is provided that measures the speed of sound and/or vortical disturbances propagating in a single phase fluid flow and/or multiphase mixture to determine parameters, such as mixture quality, particle size, vapor/mass ratio, liquid/vapor ratio, mass flow rate, enthalpy and volumetric flow rate of the flow in a pipe, by measuring acoustic and/or dynamic pressures. The apparatus includes a spatial array of unsteady pressure sensors (15-18) placed at predetermined axial locations x1 - xN disposed axially along the pipe (14). The pressure sensors (15-18) provide acoustic pressure signals P1(t) - PN(t) to a signal processing unit (30) which determines the speed of sound amix propagating through of the process flow (12) flowing in the pipe (14). The pressure sensors are piezoelectric film sensors that are mounted or clamped onto the outer surface of the pipe at the respective axial location.