Cross-Correlation Flowmeters

Measuring with cross-correlation flowmeters

Cross-correlation flowmeters are a type of flowmeter which has not yet achieved widespread practical use in industry. Much development work is still going on, and they therefore mainly exist only as prototypes in research laboratories. However, they are included here because their use is likely to become much more widespread in the future.

Such instruments require some detectable random variable to be present in the flowing fluid. This can take forms such as velocity turbulence and temperature fluctuations. When such a stream of variables is detected by a sensor, the output signal generated consists of noise with a wide frequency spectrum.

Cross-correlation flowmeters use two such sensors placed a known distance apart in the fluid-carrying pipe and cross-correlation techniques are applied to the two output signals from these sensors. This procedure compares one signal with progressively time-shifted versions of the other signal until the best match is obtained between the two waveforms. If the distance between the sensors is divided by this time shift, a measurement of the flow velocity is obtained. A digital processor is an essential requirement to calculate the cross-correlation function, and therefore the instrument must be properly described as an intelligent one.

In practice, the existence of random disturbances in the flow is unreliable, and their detection is difficult. To answer this problem, ultrasonic cross-correlation flowmeters are under development. These use ultrasonic transducers to inject disturbances into the flow and also to detect the disturbances further downstream.

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