The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 02, 2002
Filed:
Mar. 23, 2000
Robert P. Evans, Idaho Falls, ID (US);
S. Curtis Wilkins, Idaho Falls, ID (US);
Lorenzo D. Goodrich, Shelley, ID (US);
Jonathan D. Blotter, Pocatello, ID (US);
Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC, Idaho Falls, ID (US);
Abstract
A non invasive method and apparatus is provided to measure the mass flow rate of a multi-phase fluid. An accelerometer is attached to a pipe carrying a multi-phase fluid. Flow related measurements in pipes are sensitive to random velocity fluctuations whose magnitude is proportional to the mean mass flow rate. An analysis of the signal produced by the accelerometer shows a relationship between the mass flow of a fluid and the noise component of the signal of an accelerometer. The noise signal, as defined by the standard deviation of the accelerometer signal allows the method and apparatus of the present invention to non-intrusively measure the mass flow rate of a multi-phase fluid.