Ultrasonic Flow Meter

Ultrasonic flow meters are commonly applied to measure the velocity of liquids that allow ultrasonic waves to pass, such as water, molten sulfur, cryogenic liquids, and chemicals. Transit time designs are also available to measure gas and vapor flow. Be careful because fluids that do not pass ultrasonic energy, such as many types of slurry, limit the penetration of ultrasonic waves into the fluid. In Doppler ultrasonic flow meters, opaque fluids can limit ultrasonic wave penetration too near the pipe wall, which can degrade accuracy and/or cause the flow meter to fail to measure. Transit time ultrasonic flow meters can fail to operate when an opaque fluid weakens the ultrasonic wave to such an extent that the wave does not reach the receiver.