Non-Intrusive Continuous Wave Acoustic Flowmeter STTR Proposal

Omni Technologies, Inc. (OTI) is proposing a unique acoustic method for measuring flow rate of liquid cryogens. Over the last 30 years, acoustic flowmeters have been demonstrated that non-intrusively measure flow rates in fluid filled pipes. The majority of these use pulsed time of flight techniques but none have used continuous wave (CW) techniques as is being proposed. The advantages of the proposed technique are simplicity of electronics, better signal detection capability, and continuous verses periodic measurements. This translates to a cheaper, smaller, more capable and highly accurate sensor suite. The risk of the proposed technique is reduced since proven pulsed time of flight systems use nearly identical sensor configurations and are based on the same physics. Measurement of fluid flow of liquid cryogens adds significant complexity to the sensor design due to material thermal effects but literature suggests that acoustic flowmeters are applicable for flow measurement of liquid cryogens. Upon completion of Phase I, OTI expects to have demonstrated the validity of the proposed method and have a working commercially viable flowmeter design by the end of Phase II. OTI expects the new flowmeter will provide NASA with a means to more accurately and more reliably measure cryogenic flow.