Flow meter
US5337615A · kind A · utility
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 15, 1993 |
| Grant date | Aug 16, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 15, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01F1/28
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A fluid volumetric flow sensor has relaxed dimensional tolerances when compared to prior art devices of the type in which a swirl, imparted to the fluid by channels in a housing, causes a rotor to spin. The rate at which the rotor spins may be measured by allowing the rotor lobes to interrupt an optical beam generated by a clip-on opto-electric module. The swirl-inducing channels that cause rotor motion lead from an inlet chamber into a small volute chamber that is upstream of and separate from the rotor chamber. Fluid impinging on a thrust reverser at the downstream end of the rotor chamber provides a fluid support so that the rotor is entirely supported by flowing fluid at normal flow rates. The thrust reverser may be a bluff body formed on a tension shaft that is attached to and extends downstream from a wall of the volute chamber through an axial lumen in the rotor body.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.