Method of operating a fluid meter, and fluid meter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10746579-B2
Application number	US-201916239587-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 4, 2019
Priority date	Jan 19, 2018
Publication date	Aug 18, 2020
Grant date	Aug 18, 2020

Abstract

A fluid meter is operated, in particular, for flow quantity determination of a flowing medium. A flow quantity determination is carried out with the aid of a measuring arrangement. A sensor arrangement determines a position and/or inclination. An axial and/or angular position of the fluid meter in relation to at least one establishable axis and/or direction is determined by way of the sensor arrangement, and the axial and/or angular position is used for the correction of the measurement values of the measuring arrangement. In addition, a convection flow of the medium is determined in the fluid meter, and a corrective for the measurement values of the measuring arrangement is derived from the convection flow which has been determined.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of operating a fluid meter, the method comprising:
carrying out a flow quantity determination by way of a measuring arrangement;
providing a sensor arrangement for at least one of a position determination or an inclination determination;
causing the sensor arrangement to determine at least one of an axial position or angular position of the fluid meter in relation to at least one establishable axis and/or direction;
using at least one of the axial position or the angular position for correcting of measurement values acquired by the measuring arrangement; and
determining a convection flow of the medium in the fluid meter, and deriving a correction of the measurement values of the measuring arrangement from the convection flow.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of determining the convection flow comprises determining a temperature of the medium and/or a temperature of a connection housing.

3. The method according to claim 2 , which comprises determining the temperature of the medium inside or outside the fluid meter.

4. The method according to claim 2 , which comprises determining the temperature of the connection housing.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the establishable axis is defined by an installation position of the fluid meter and/or by a flow direction of the medium in the fluid meter.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the measuring arrangement is an ultrasonic measuring arrangement having an ultrasound measurement section and at least one ultrasound transducer.

7. The method according to claim 6 , which comprises determining the flow quantity with the aid of a time-of-flight difference of a time of flight of the ultrasound signal in the medium.

8. The method according to claim 2 , which comprises using the measuring arrangement for determining a temperature of the medium.

9. The method according to claim 6 , which comprises determining a temperature of the medium by measuring a time-of-flight of the ultrasound signal.

10. The method according to claim 2 , which comprises providing a temperature sensor and determining a temperature of the medium and/or of the connection housing with the temperature sensor.

11. The method according to claim 1 , which comprises determining a temperature difference between a temperature of the medium and a temperature of a connection housing of the flow meter, and using the temperature difference for determining a convection in the medium.

12. The method according to claim 1 , which comprises using at least one of the axial position or the angular position for determining a direction of the convection flow.

13. The method according to claim 2 , which comprises providing a data table in which empirically determined data and system parameters are stored.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the empirically determined data and system parameters are selected from the group consisting of a time of flight of an ultrasound signal, a time-of-flight difference of the ultrasound signal in and counter to a flow direction of the medium, a temperature of the medium and/or a temperature of the connection housing, an installation position of the fluid meter, a density of the medium, a flow rate and a flow volume, a direction of the convection flow and a strength of the convection flow.

15. A fluid meter for flow quantity determination of a flowing medium, the fluid meter comprising:
a connection housing with a feed and a discharge;
a measuring arrangement for acquiring measurement values for the flow quantity determination;
a sensor arrangement for determining at least one of a position or an inclination of the fluid meter, said sensor arrangement being configured to determine an axial and/or angular position of the fluid meter in relation to at least one establishable axis and/or direction;
a control and evaluation instrument configured to correct of the measurement values of the measuring arrangement by using the axial and/or angular position;
at least one device for determining a convection flow of the medium and for deriving a correction for the measurement values of the measuring arrangement from the convection flow.

16. The fluid meter according to claim 15 , wherein said at least one device for determining the convection flow of the medium is a device for determining a temperature of the medium and/or of said connection housing.

17. The fluid meter according to claim 16 , wherein said measuring arrangement is used as said device for determining the temperature of the medium.

18. The fluid meter according to claim 16 , which comprises a temperature sensor being the device for determining the temperature of the medium and/or of the connection housing.

19. The fluid meter according to claim 15 , wherein said sensor arrangement for determining the position and/or inclination is said device for determining the convection flow of the medium.

20. The fluid meter according to claim 15 , wherein said sensor arrangement comprises an inclination and/or position sensor.

21. The fluid meter according to claim 15 , wherein said control and evaluation instrument is configured to derive the correction for the measurement values of the measuring arrangement from the convection flow.

22. The fluid meter according to claim 15 , wherein said measuring arrangement comprises an ultrasound measurement section and at least one ultrasound transducer for emitting and/or receiving an ultrasound signal, and wherein the ultrasound signal is emitted along the ultrasound measurement section.

Assignees

• Diehl Metering Gmbh

Inventors

• Gaugler Ulrich
• Neder Frederik

Classifications

• G01F15/028

  for low flow rates · CPC title

• G01F1/667 Primary

  Arrangements of transducers for ultrasonic flowmeters; Circuits for operating ultrasonic flowmeters · CPC title

• G01F1/662 Primary

  Constructional details · CPC title

• G01F1/6965

  comprising means to store calibration data for flow signal calculation or correction · CPC title

• G01F15/02

  Compensating or correcting for variations in pressure, density or temperature · CPC title