Meter electronics for two or more meter assemblies

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10598532-B2
Application number	US-201616070182-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 26, 2016
Priority date	Feb 26, 2016
Publication date	Mar 24, 2020
Grant date	Mar 24, 2020

Abstract

A meter electronics ( 100 ) for two or more meter assemblies ( 10 a, 10 b ). The meter electronics ( 100 ) includes a processor ( 110 ) and one or more signal processors ( 120 ) communicatively coupled to the processor ( 110 ). The one or more signal processors ( 120 ) are configured to communicatively couple to a first meter assembly ( 10 a ) and a second meter assembly ( 10 b ). Accordingly, only one meter electronics can be employed to control the two or more meter assemblies, which may reduce the costs associated with employing two meter electronics.

First claim

We claim:

1. A meter electronics ( 100 ) for two or more meter assemblies ( 10 a , 10 b ), the meter electronics ( 100 ) comprising:
a processor ( 110 ); and
one or more signal processors ( 120 ) communicatively coupled to the processor ( 110 ), wherein the one or more signal processors ( 120 ) are configured to communicatively couple to a first meter assembly ( 10 a ) and a second meter assembly ( 10 b ) via leads ( 11 a , 11 b ) connecting the meter electronics ( 100 ) to the two or more meter assemblies ( 10 a , 10 b ),
wherein the meter electronics ( 100 ) is configured to:
store a first flow calibration factor associated with the first meter assembly ( 10 a ); and
store a second flow calibration factor associated with the second meter assembly ( 10 b ).

2. The meter electronics ( 100 ) of claim 1 , wherein the one or more signal processors ( 120 ) are further configured to receive a first sensor signal ( 12 a ) from the first meter assembly ( 10 a ) and a second sensor signal ( 12 b ) from the second meter assembly ( 10 b ).

3. The meter electronics ( 100 ) of claim 2 , wherein the one or more signal processors ( 120 ) are further configured to digitize the first sensor signal ( 12 a ) and the second sensor signal ( 12 b ).

4. The meter electronics ( 100 ) of claim 1 , wherein the one or more signal processors ( 120 ) are further configured to provide a first drive signal ( 14 a ) to a first meter assembly ( 10 a ) and a second drive signal ( 14 b ) to a second meter assembly ( 10 b ).

5. The meter electronics ( 100 ) of claim 1 , further comprising a communication port ( 140 ) communicatively coupled to the processor ( 110 ), wherein the communication port ( 140 ) is configured to communicatively couple with a host.

6. The meter electronics ( 100 ) of claim 1 , wherein the one or more signal processors ( 120 ) are configured to receive the first sensor signal ( 12 a ) via a first communication channel ( 112 a ) and the second sensor signal ( 12 b ) via a second communication channel ( 112 b ).

7. The meter electronics ( 100 ) of claim 1 , wherein the first sensor signal ( 12 a ) is comprised of signals from a left pick-off sensor ( 17 a 1 ) and a right pick-off sensor ( 17 ar ) in the first meter assembly ( 10 a ) and the second sensor signal ( 12 b ) is comprised of signals from a left pick-off sensor ( 17 b 1 ) and a right pick-off sensor ( 17 br ) in the second meter assembly ( 10 b ).

8. The meter electronics ( 100 ) of claim 1 , further comprising at least one memory ( 130 ) communicatively coupled to the processor ( 110 ).

9. The meter electronics ( 100 ) of claim 1 , wherein the meter electronics ( 100 ) is further configured to:
store a first zero-offset associated with the first meter assembly ( 10 a ); and
store a second zero-offset associated with the second meter assembly ( 10 b ).

10. The meter electronics ( 100 ) of claim 9 , wherein the meter electronics ( 100 ) is further configured to determine a difference between a total mass flow through the first meter assembly ( 10 a ) and a total mass flow through the second meter assembly ( 10 b ), the difference determined using the first calibration factor, the second calibration factor, the first zero-offset, and the second zero-offset.

11. A method of operating two or more meter assemblies, the method comprising:
providing a first sensor signal, the first sensor signal being provided by a first meter assembly;
providing a second sensor signal, the second sensor signal being provided by a second meter assembly;
receiving the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal with a meter electronics via leads connecting the meter electronics to the first meter assembly and the second meter assembly; and
storing a first flow calibration factor associated with the first meter assembly and a second flow calibration factor associated with the second meter assembly in the meter electronics.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
providing a first drive signal to the first meter assembly; and
providing a second drive signal to the second meter assembly;
wherein the first drive signal and the second drive signal are provided by the meter electronics.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising digitizing the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal with at least one signal processor.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first and second sensor signal is provided to the meter electronics through a first communication channel and the second sensor signal is provided through a second communication channel.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first sensor signal is comprised of signals from a left pick-off sensor and a right pick-off sensor in the first meter assembly and the second sensor signal is comprised of signals from a left pick-off sensor and a right pick-off sensor in the second meter assembly.

16. The method of claim 11 ,
determining, by the meter electronics, a difference between a total mass flow through the first meter assembly and a total mass flow through the second meter assembly, the difference determined using the first sensor signal, the second sensor signal, the first flow calibration factor associated with the first meter assembly, the second flow calibration factor associated with the second meter assembly, a first zero offset associated with the first meter assembly and a second zero-offset associated with the second meter assembly,
wherein the first zero offset and the second zero-offset are stored in the meter electronics.

17. A system ( 5 ) with meter electronics ( 100 ) for two or more meter assemblies, the system ( 5 ) comprising:
a first meter assembly ( 10 a );
a second meter assembly ( 10 b ); and

a meter electronics ( 100 ) communicatively coupled to the first meter assembly ( 10 a ) and the second meter assembly ( 10 b ) via leads connecting the meter electronics ( 100 ) to the first meter assembly ( 10 a ) and the second meter assembly ( 10 b ), wherein the meter electronics is configured to:
store a first flow calibration factor associated with the first meter assembly ( 10 a ); and
store a second flow calibration factor associated with the second meter assembly ( 10 b ).

18. The system ( 5 ) of claim 17 , wherein the first meter assembly ( 10 a ) is configured to measure one of a property and a characteristic of a fluid in a supply line (SL) and the second meter assembly ( 10 b ) is configured to measure one of a property and a characteristic of a fluid in a return line (RL).

19. The system ( 5 ) of claim 17 , the meter electronics further configured to:
store a first zero-offset associated with the first meter assembly ( 10 a );
store a second zero-offset associated with the second meter assembly ( 10 b ); and
determine a difference between a total mass flow through the first meter assembly ( 10 a ) and a total mass flow through the second meter assembly ( 10 b ), the difference determined using the stored first flow calibration factor, stored second flow calibration factor, stored first zero-offset, and stored second zero-offset.

Assignees

• Micro Motion Inc

Inventors

• Shen Kai
• Maginnis Richard L
• Gao Fengchuan
• Liu Huan

Classifications

• G01F1/8459

  vibrating means being located inside the measuring conduits · CPC title

• G01F1/8436 Primary

  signal processing · CPC title

• G01F1/8409 Primary

  constructional details · CPC title

• G01F15/06

  Indicating or recording devices · CPC title

• G01H11/06

  by electric means · CPC title