ULTRASONIC FUEL FLOW MEASURING SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• Main Authors: Reepmeyer, James Ryan, Andarawis, Emad Andarawis, Wallace, Kirk Dennis, Nott, Cameron Roy
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 17.11.2022
• Subjects: BLASTING; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; HEATING; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; LIGHTING; MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; MEASURING; MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUIDLEVEL; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; METERING BY VOLUME; NON-POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT MACHINES OR ENGINES, e.g. STEAMTURBINES; PHYSICS; STEAM ENGINES; TESTING; WEAPONS

A fuel flow measuring system includes an ultrasonic fuel flow sensor. The fuel flow sensor includes a first transducer and a second transducer. The first transducer is excited at multiple different excitation frequencies and a voltage, an electric current, and a phase difference between the voltage and the electric current is sensed at the first transducer during excitation. Data points are generated based on the sensed readings and a model is fit to the data points to determine a complex impedance spectrum. The complex impedance spectrum indicates a range of excitation frequencies within a range of a peak resonance frequency of the first transducer. One or more characteristics of excitation signals directed to the second transducer are set based on the determined complex impedance spectrum. In this manner, the signal to noise ratio of ultrasonic signals emitted by the second transducer and received by the first transducer can be maximized.