Device and method for determining the mass-flow of a fluid

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9964423-B2
Application number	US-201214364681-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 7, 2012
Priority date	Dec 12, 2011
Publication date	May 8, 2018
Grant date	May 8, 2018

Abstract

A device for determining the mass flow of a fluid includes a line for conducting the fluid in a flow direction to a contact with a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger has a surface temperature which is constant in the flow direction. The device also includes a first temperature measuring position upstream from the exchanger for determining a first fluid temperature, a second temperature measuring position downstream from the heat exchanger for determining a second fluid temperature, and a third temperature measuring position for detecting the surface temperature of the heat exchanger.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A device for determining the mass flow of a fluid, the device comprising:
a line for conducting the fluid in a flow direction to a contact with a heat exchanger, the heat exchanger having a surface temperature which is constant in the flow direction;
a first temperature measuring position upstream from the exchanger for determining a first fluid temperature;
a second temperature measuring position downstream from the heat exchanger for determining a second fluid temperature; and
a third temperature measuring position for detecting the surface temperature of the heat exchanger.

2. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an adjustable device for supplying a heat output to the heat exchanger.

3. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the heat exchanger and the line are disposed such that:
the heat exchanger surrounds the line;
the line surrounds the heat exchanger; or
the heat exchanger is accommodated inside the line.

4. The device according to claim 3 , wherein if the heat exchanger is not accommodated inside the line, the first temperature measuring position is arranged at a first distance from the heat exchanger and the second temperature measuring position is arranged at second a distance from the heat exchanger, wherein the first and second distances are distances at which at least one of a fin efficiency of the line is negligibly small and radial temperature profiles of the fluid are negligibly small.

5. The device according to claim 4 , wherein the first distance is not equal to the second distance.

6. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one of:
a first contact element connected to the first temperature measuring position that surrounds the line at a location upstream of the heat exchanger; or
a second contact element connected to the second measuring position that surrounds the line at a location downstream of the heat exchanger.

7. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a fourth temperature measuring position provided on the surface of the heat exchanger, the fourth temperature measuring position being different from the third temperature measuring position.

8. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising one or more of:
a first temperature difference measurement detector configured to detect a temperature difference ΔT′ between the third temperature measuring position and the first temperature measuring position, and
a second temperature difference measurement detector configured to detect a temperature difference ΔT″ between the third temperature measuring position and the second temperature measuring position
wherein each of the first and second temperature difference measurement devices is one of a thermocouple, a thermopile, or a set of resistance thermometers.

9. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising a heater;
wherein the heat exchanger has a closed volume filled with a saturated medium in the phase equilibrium of boiling liquid and saturated vapour,
wherein the constant surface temperature in the flow direction is achieved via the saturation temperature of the saturated medium condensing on the surface of the line, and
wherein in the equilibrium state heat supplied by the heater re-vaporizes the saturated medium condensed on the line.

10. The device according to claim 9 , wherein at least one of:
the third temperature measuring position measures the constant surface temperature via a vapour pressure curve and a vapour pressure of the saturated medium in the heat exchanger ( 30 ), and/or the first temperature measuring position ( 51 ), and
a vapour pressure thermometer at the first temperature measuring position and a vapour pressure thermometer at the second temperature measuring position are filled with the same medium as the heat exchanger so that the temperature difference ΔT′ between the third temperature measuring position and the first temperature measuring position and the temperature difference ΔT″ between the third temperature measuring position and the second temperature measuring position can be detected from a pressure measurement or from a differential pressure measurement.

11. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the line carries one of a main flow of the fluid or a bypass that is a portion of the main flow of the fluid.

12. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising a first temperature measuring device configured to directly measure the fluid temperature at the first temperature measuring position; and
a second temperature measuring device configured to directly measure the fluid temperature at the second temperature measuring position.

13. A method for determining a mass flow of a fluid, the method comprising:
recording, at a first constant mass flow and a first constant temperature at a first measuring position, a series of measurements {{dot over (Q)} i , ΔT′ i , ΔT″ i } i=1 . . . n , n≥2, for n temperature measuring positions, wherein {dot over (Q)} is a heat output applied to the fluid at a measuring position by a heat exchanger, the heat output {dot over (Q)} applied to the fluid at a measuring position is different than that applied to the fluid at a preceding measuring position, ΔT′ is a temperature difference between a third temperature measuring position and a first temperature measuring position, ΔT″ is a temperature difference between the third temperature measuring position and a second temperature measuring position, the first temperature measuring position is arranged upstream in relation to the heat exchanger, the second temperature measuring position is arranged downstream in relation to the heat exchanger, and the heat exchanger has a surface temperature which is constant in the flow direction and which can be detected at the third temperature measuring position,
expanding the quantities {dot over (Q)}, ΔT′ and ΔT″ of the recorded series of measurements {{dot over (Q)} i , ΔT′ i , ΔT″ i } i=1 . . . n with respective systematic errors F {dot over (Q)} , F ΔT′ and F ΔT″ ;
inserting the expanded series of measurements both into a first function and into a second function, wherein the first and second functions link the quantities {dot over (Q)}, ΔT′ and ΔT″ and a specific heat capacity c p of the fluid, the first function is

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Assignees

• Grohmann Steffen
• Karlsruher Inst Technologie

Inventors

• Grohmann Steffen

Classifications

• G01F1/6842 Primary

  with means for influencing the fluid flow · CPC title

• G01F1/6888

  Thermoelectric elements, e.g. thermocouples, thermopiles · CPC title

• G01F1/696

  Circuits therefor, e.g. constant-current flow meters · CPC title

• G01F1/684 Primary

  Structural arrangements; Mounting of elements, e.g. in relation to fluid flow · CPC title

• G01F1/6847

  where sensing or heating elements are not disturbing the fluid flow, e.g. elements mounted outside the flow duct · CPC title