Dual bluff body vortex flowmeter
US4735094A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 28, 1987 |
| Grant date | Apr 5, 1988 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 28, 2007 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01F1/3209
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A dual bluff body vortex flowmeter includes a flow passage having first and second ends and a vortex-responsive sensor disposed in the passageway between its ends. A parallel pair of circularly cylindrical bluff bodies are disposed one each between the sensor and the two ends of the passage. The downstream portion of each bluff body faces towards the sensor, so that the sensor is responsive to vortices shed from either the first or second bluff body, when fluid flows in the passage from the first to second end, or from the second to the first, respectively. The sensor is preferably a piezoelectric device mounted in a cantilever beam disposed between the first and second bluff bodies and connected to the interior wall of the flow passage. The use of circularly cylindrical bluff bodies allows flows to be measured which have rates significantly lower than those measurable with conventional bluff body flowmeters, since the circularly cylindrical bluff bodies can be manufactured with smaller but more uniform dimensions than conventional bluff bodies.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.