A Sonic Driver Fixed-UFM was installed on an oil pipeline for extended trials during the first half of 2021.
The flowmeter was configured for interface detection using its standard Phase Detection mode of operation. Given a knowledge of the speeds of sound in 2 fluids, for example in this case water and oil, the unit was programmed to continuously monitor speed of sound and to trigger an event when a user programmed threshold was crossed.
Over the period the flowmeter measured and recorded both flow and phase information, the following figure shows a typical trend as an interface passed.
This extended site trial provided much useful information for on-going product development and put the flowmeter control unit and its sensors through a full range of environmental conditions with temperatures up to 55 degrees centigrade during the day and freezing at night.
This Phase Detection capability lends itself to other industrial applications in fields such as food and pharmaceuticals where different liquids are being mixed and a knowledge of speed of sound can be used to indicate; ratio, and state of mixing, emulsion, etc..
A case study can be downloaded at Downloads.