Ultrasonic flowmeter for partially filled pipes

Dear,


I am wondering if there is an ultrasonic type flowmeter (clamp on) for measuring flow in partially filled pipes.


The ones that I was able to find were only for fully filled pipes. And if we want to add any additional sensor on clamp on ultrasonic flowmeter in order to make it able to measure flow in partially filled pipes.


Thank you,


Your assistance is highly appreciated,


Charbel

The simple answer is no. Most ultrasonic transmitters measure the velocity of the material in the pipe, then assume the pipe is full, and calculates the flow rate.

Almost all flow transmitters use the same technique, the only difference is how the velocity is measured.

There are open weir flow meters, (often seen in waste water plants) that measure the height of water crossing a weir plate. This is the only flow measurement I am aware of the does not require a full pipe.

What about adding a vertical section in the piping? Wouldn’t that always be full?

FluxCap said:

What about adding a vertical section in the piping? Wouldn’t that always be full?

Click to expand...

I had to help a customer add a meter on their discharge into the city sewer system.

Used a +gf+ Signet magmeter on a 6" pipe that had to be full so I had them add 4 elbows and some pipe to add a 12" vertical pipe as a p-trap to keep the pipe being monitored full.

Google

partially filled pipe flow meter

for technology hits that claim to work

Ultrasonics, like most flow meters, measure velocity. To get flow rate you need cross sectional area, which means depth of flow must be known.

There are two possibilities. The cheap one is an inverted siphon - essentially a U section of pipe dropping below the invert of the main sewer so it is always flowing full. This may be difficult to achieve in a large sewer or a small manhole.

The second is an instrument like the Isco in Dan W's search that measures both velocity and depth of flow.