Excitation signal's influence on ultrasonic transit time flow meter's performance

Abstract

Ultrasonic flow meter performance was analyzed. Ultrasound transit time was used for flow rate estimation. Time of flight was measured using cross correlation processing. Simultaneous channels excitation was used. Ultrasonic signals were excited using low voltage (4V pp) signal generator, received signals were amplified 30 dB and simultaneously acquired by 100 Ms/s 10 bit analog-to-digit converters. Subsample delay estimation was used. Flow rate was varied from 10 l/h to 200 l/h. Measurement channel diameter 8 mm was used. It is complicated to obtain the unbiased reference signal for correlation processing. Various combinations of signals travelling in measurement channel were used for cross-correlation processing. Performance of correlation function and time of flight estimator variance were studied. Variable gain amplifier usually is used for signal dynamic range matching to A/D converter input. Gain influence on time of flight was a subject to study. It has been concluded that gain control introduces systematic errors in time of flight estimator. Influence of the temperature of electronics (pulser, receiver, A/D converter, reference clock etc.) and ultrasonic transducers on the delay estimator was studied. It was concluded that the major temperature-related systematic error comes from the pulser. Performance of the meter was studied when narrowband and spread spectrum signals were used for ultrasound excitation across temperature and flow rate range. It has been concluded that spread spectrum signal allows for better zero flow stability over temperature and lower time of flight variation.