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:
Jun. 15, 2004
Filed:
Nov. 07, 2001
Shigeru Iwanaga, Nara, JP;
Yasuhiro Umekage, Kurita-gun, JP;
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An ultrasonic flow meter of the present invention includes: a measurement flow path through which a fluid to be measured flows; ultrasonic transducers and provided respectively on an upstream side and a downstream side with respect to each other along the measurement flow path ; an upstream aperture hole and a downstream aperture hole , the aperture holes and for exposing the ultrasonic transducers and to the measurement flow path ; a first influent suppressor provided in a vicinity of at least the downstream aperture hole for reducing inflow of the fluid to be measured into the aperture hole ; a second influent suppressor provided on an upstream side of the measurement flow path with respect to the aperture holes and for reducing the inflow of the fluid to be measured into the aperture holes and ; a measurement control section for measuring a propagation time of an ultrasonic wave between the ultrasonic transducers and ; and a calculation section for calculating a flow rate based on a signal from the measurement control section . The first influent suppressor provided for the downstream aperture hole comprises an aperture hole sealing section having at least one ultrasonically transmissive hole . Thus, it is possible to stabilize the flow between the ultrasonic transducers so as to enhance the ultrasonic reception level, thereby increasing the measurement precision and the upper limit value for the flow rate measurement, and to reduce the driving input for the ultrasonic transducers.