Ultrasonic device for the measurement of the delivery of a fluid in a _conduit

Claim 1

A device for measuring the delivery of a fluid in a conduit comprising: (a) first and second electroacoustic transducers arranged in the wall of a pipe forming said conduit and disposed in a confronting relationshp with each other along an axis which is inclined at a predetermined angle relative to the axis of said conduit, each of said transducers being able to convert an electric signal of predetermined frequency into an ultrasonic wave which propagates through said fluid and to convert a received ultrasonic wave into an electric signal; (b) a collimator disposed in the path of said fluid upstream of said transducers, extending completely across the cross-sectional area of said conduit and forming a plurality of throughholes which are parallel to each other and to the axis of said conduit; (c) a first oscillator for generating electric signals of said predetermined frequency; (d) a phase comparator circuit for detecting the phase difference between the ultrasonic signals received by said respective transducers; (e) first and second switching means for operatively coupling said first and second transducers, respectively, to said first oscillator and to said phase comparator circuit; (f) a first timing circuit for controlling said switching means such that both of said transducers are coupled first to said first oscillator and second to said phase comparator circuit in alternating sequence; (g) a sampling circuit connected to receive signals from said phase comparator circuit; (h) a second timing circuit for controlling said sampling circuit; (i) a processing circuit connected to receive signals from said sampling circuit and to correlate said detected phase difference with the delivery of fluid in said conduit; and (j) a display means for displaying symbols in response to electric signals received from said processing circuit.

Claim 2

A device for measuring the delivery of a fluid in a conduit comprising: (a) first and second electroacoustic transducers arranged in the wall of a pipe forming said conduit and disposed in a confronting relationshp with each other along an axis which is inclined at a predetermined angle relative to the axis of said conduit, each of said transducers being able to convert an electric signal of predetermined frequency into an ultrasonic wave which propagates through said fluid and to convert a received ultrasonic wave into an electric signal; (b) a collimator disposed in the path of said fluid upstream of said transducers, extending completely across the cross-sectional area of said conduit and forming a plurality of throughholes which are parallel to each other and to the axis of said conduit; (c) a first oscillator for generating electric signals of said predetermined frequency; (d) a phase comparator circuit for detecting the phase difference between the ultrasonic signals received by said respective transducers; (e) first and second switching means for operatively coupling said first and second transducers, respectively, to said first oscillator and to said phase comparator circuit; (f) a first timing circuit for controlling said switching means such that both of said transducers are coupled first to said first oscillator and second to said phase comparator circuit in alternating sequence; (g) a sampling circuit connected to receive signals from said phase comparator circuit; (h) a second timing circuit for controlling said sampling circuit; (i) a processing circuit connected to receive signals from said sampling circuit and to correlate said detected phase difference with the delivery of fluid in said conduit; and (j) a display means for displaying symbols in response to electric signals received from said processing circuit.