Methods of measuring fluid viscosity and flow rate

Claim 1

A method of measuring the flow rate of a fluid through a conduit comprising: (a) measuring the speed of sound transmission through the fluid from an upstream point in the conduit to an opposed downstream point; (b) measuring the speed of sound transmission through the fluid from said downstream point to said upstream point; (c) subtracting the measurement of step (b) from the measurement of step (a) to determine the fluid flow rate; (d) adding the measurement of step (a) to the measurement of step (b) to determine the fluid sound velocity; (e) measuring the temperature of the fluid in the conduit; (f) determining a fluid viscosity factor from the measured fluid sound velocity and temperature; and (g) correcting the fluid flow rate by the fluid viscosity factor to obtain a corrected fluid flow rate.

Claim 2

A method of measuring the flow rate of a fluid through a conduit comprising: (a) measuring the speed of sound transmission through the fluid from an upstream point in the conduit to an opposed downstream point; (b) measuring the speed of sound transmission through the fluid from said downstream point to said upstream point; (c) subtracting the measurement of step (b) from the measurement of step (a) to determine the fluid flow rate; (d) adding the measurement of step (a) to the measurement of step (b) to determine the fluid sound velocity; (e) measuring the temperature of the fluid in the conduit; (f) determining a fluid viscosity factor from the measured fluid sound velocity and temperature; and (g) correcting the fluid flow rate by the fluid viscosity factor to obtain a corrected fluid flow rate.

Claim 3

A method of determining the viscosity of a fluid comprising: (a) measuring the speed of sound transmission of the fluid; (b) measuring the temperature of the fluid; and (c) calculating the fluid viscosity by employing an empirical formula in which the variables are the fluid speed of sound transmission derived from step (a) and the fluid temperature derived from step (b).

Claim 4

A method of determining the viscosity of a fluid comprising: (a) measuring the speed of sound transmission of the fluid; (b) measuring the temperature of the fluid; and (c) calculating the fluid viscosity by employing an empirical formula in which the variables are the fluid speed of sound transmission derived from step (a) and the fluid temperature derived from step (b).

Claim 7

A method of measuring the volumetric flow rate of a liquid through a conduit comprising the steps of: (a) measuring the speed of sound transmission through the liquid from a downstream point in the conduit to an opposed upstream point separated by a sonic path length L to provide a value f A ; (b) measuring the speed of sound transmission through the liquid from said upstream point to said downstream point to provide a value f B ; (c) adding f A to f B to provide a value C indicative of the fluid sound velocity; (d) subtracting f A from f B to provide a value V indicative of the fluid flow velocity; (e) deriving the actual velocity of sound C', correcting C for the parameters by which f A and f B are measured, by the formula LC/2N where N is a multiplier selected according to C and L; (f) measuring the temperature T of the fluid; (g) calculating the kinematic viscosity V k of the fluid utilizing the values C' and T using an empirically derived algorithm; (h) deriving a constant K 1 by the formula 2ND/L 2 where N is a multiplier factor selected according to C' and L, and D is a constant determined by the physical parameters of the conduit and the second paths; (i) correcting the fluid velocity V to obtain V' by the formula V'=V/K 1 ; (j) calculating the Reynolds number R e for the fluid by the formula DV'/V k ; (k) deriving a constant K 2 from R e employing an empirically determined relationship, and (l) calculating the corrected fluid velocity V" by the formula V'/K 2 .

Claim 8

A method of measuring the volumetric flow rate of a liquid through a conduit comprising the steps of: (a) measuring the speed of sound transmission through the liquid from a downstream point in the conduit to an opposed upstream point separated by a sonic path length L to provide a value f A ; (b) measuring the speed of sound transmission through the liquid from said upstream point to said downstream point to provide a value f B ; (c) adding f A to f B to provide a value C indicative of the fluid sound velocity; (d) subtracting f A from f B to provide a value V indicative of the fluid flow velocity; (e) deriving the actual velocity of sound C', correcting C for the parameters by which f A and f B are measured, by the formula LC/2N where N is a multiplier selected according to C and L; (f) measuring the temperature T of the fluid; (g) calculating the kinematic viscosity V k of the fluid utilizing the values C' and T using an empirically derived algorithm; (h) deriving a constant K 1 by the formula 2ND/L 2 where N is a multiplier factor selected according to C' and L, and D is a constant determined by the physical parameters of the conduit and the second paths; (i) correcting the fluid velocity V to obtain V' by the formula V'=V/K 1 ; (j) calculating the Reynolds number R e for the fluid by the formula DV'/V k ; (k) deriving a constant K 2 from R e employing an empirically determined relationship, and (l) calculating the corrected fluid velocity V" by the formula V'/K 2 .