The Secretary of State for Industry in Her Britannic Majesty's

Other

Alan Thomas Hayward

Terence Cousins

Vortex-shedding flowmeters

A device for arresting and/or launching a discrete body at the end of a pline in which the body forms a sliding seal and through which the body is carried by fluid flow comprises a length of pipe continuous with and opening into the pipeline, and having a closed end remote from the pipeline, the internal cross-section of said length of pipe being substantially the same as that of the pipeline; a casing forming a chamber on the exterior of the said length of pipe; an external connection for fluid flow to or from the chamber; and at least one through which the chamber and the interior of the said length of pipe communicate. The invention is particularly applicable to the arrestment and launching of displacement members used in flowmeter provers and both functions may be provided in a single device by the provision therein of two sets of apertures, a first set arranged towards the pipeline and shaped and dimensioned to launch the displacement member when fluid flows through the device towards the pipeline and a second set of apertures arranged towards the closed end of the length of pipe and shaped and dimensioned to arrest the displacement member when fluid is present in the said length of pipe.

Launching and arresting a discrete object in a pipeline

A fluid flowmeter of the venturi type is disclosed in which a throat is fed between complementary surfaces of a duct and a control member. Relative movement between the duct and the control member in response to the flow of fluid through the meter serves to enlarge the throat as the flow rate increases, and operation over a wide range of flowrates is thereby made possible. A measure of fluid flowrate can be obtained from fluid pressure measurements at the throat and at a position upstream thereof. An advantage over one prior art device is that the throat position remains substantially constant during relative movement of the complementary surfaces, so that sensing of the throat pressure is simplified.

Flowrate meters

A detection device for sensing the passage of a discrete body through a cely fitting pipe comprises a constriction which, by interaction with the moving body, produces a change in a mensurable parameter in the region of the constriction, which change is sensed by a suitable detector. The invention is particularly applicable to detection of displacement members transported by fluid flow through the pipelines of meter provers used to calibrate fluid flowmeters.

Location detecting devices and methods

An arrester for a discrete body being transported through a closely fitting ipeline by liquid flow, consisting of a final length of pipe with enlarged bore which gradually tapers to a minimum cross section at its closeable end. When the end is closed, a discrete body carried axially into this enlarged bore is decelerated by the action of liquid in the end bore being forced back past the body. Suitable shaping of the taper governs the rate of deceleration. The invention is particularly applicable to the arrestment of displacement members used in flowmeter provers and provision has also been made for launching an arrested displacement member back into the prover pipe with an acceleration rate governed by a further region of enlarged bore but with reverse taper.

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East Kilbride, United Kingdom

Alan Thomas Hayward