AN ADVANCED MULTISENSING CORIOLIS GAS FLOW METER

THIS PROJECT IS DEVELOPING A NEW MULTISENSING GAS FLOW METER THAT CAN ACCURATELY MEASURE THE MASS FLOW RATE, PRESSURE, DENSITY, TEMPERATURE, AND VISCOSITY OF ANY GAS IN A PIPELINE. ALL MEASUREMENTS ARE TAKEN FROM A SINGLE RUGGED NONINTRUSIVE AND SIMPLE DEVICE THAT USES A UNIQUE METHOD TO CREATE AND UTILIZE CORIOLIS FORCES TO DIRECTLY MEASURE THE MASS FLOW RATE OF ANY GAS MOVING IN A PIPELINE. BY VIRTUE OF AN UNUSUAL SENSOR DESIGN AND SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD, THE SAME SIGNALS GENERATED FROM THE DEVICE TO MEASURE MASS FLOW RATE CAN ALSO BE USED TO CONCURRENTLY MEASURE GAS PRESSURE, DENSITY, TEMPERATURE, AND VISCOSITY, ALL IN REAL TIME WITH AN ESTIMATED RESPONSE OF A FRACTION OF A SECOND. THE PHASE I RESEARCH ACTIVITIES ATTEMPT TO (1) FULLY UNDERSTAND THIS UNIQUE CORIOLIS EFFECT, (2) GAIN THE ABILITY TO PREDICT THE MAGNITUDE OF THE EFFECT ON ANY ARBITRARY SENSOR DESIGN, AND (3) ANALYZE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE EFFECT AND FUNDAMENTAL GAS PROPERTIES SUCH AS TEMPERATURE, PRESSURE, AND DENSITY. THE CAPABILITY OF THIS TECHNOLOGY WILL THEN BE COMPARED WITH THAT FROM CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES.