Patent · US Active

Thermal flow sensor and method for operating same

US11988535B2 · kind B2 · utility

0Cited by
3References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 23, 2021
Grant dateMay 21, 2024
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 5, 2041

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01F1/712
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A method for operating a thermal flow sensor includes: bringing a measuring medium into thermal contact with a sensor element of the flow sensor and periodically heating the medium using an AC voltage introduced into the sensor element; simultaneously detecting a maximum amplitude of a temperature and/or a phase shift between a curve of the AC voltage and the curve of the temperature; adjusting the detected maximum amplitude and/or the detected phase shift using calibration data; determining an isoline using the adjusted maximum amplitude and/or the adjusted phase shift based on model of the flow sensor, wherein the isoline has a plurality of value pairs of thermal conductivity and thermal capacitance of the medium; deriving a medium information from the isoline; and performing a flow measurement by converting signal values from the sensor element into measurement values of an effective flow velocity of the medium using the medium information.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.