OPTICAL FLOWMETER FOR IN-LINE FLOW VELOCITY AND FLUID QUALITY CHARACTERIZATIONS FOR AEROSPACE FUEL SYSTEMS

K Sciences proposes the development of a novel and innovative optical flowmeter is proposed to provide unparalleled high-speed data acquisition and high accuracy flow rate measurements of gases, liquids, two-phase, and multi-phase fluids as well as fluid quality in support of instrumented flow calculations. The optical flowmeter envisioned for pyrophoric fluid flow metering has a heritage of operation in multi-phase cryogenic and non-cryogenic testing environments within both NASA and the oil and gas industry. The proposed optical flowmeter can offer a multitude of functionalities including liquid presence for valve shutoff, flow velocity, fluid quality or gas fraction, bulk fluid density, robust operation in harsh environments (temperature, pressure, vacuum, corrosive, etc.), non-intrusive and minimal fluid flow perturbation, inherent explosive proof operation, no limitations to flow or quality regimes (all gas to all liquid operating envelope), real-time response, and no installation requirements (upstream or downstream conditions). The optical flowmeter product is anticipated to provide sub-millisecond response times, high repeatability and accuracy of <0.1% over a wide range of flow rates (0.05 ¢ 30 gal/min) and pipe geometries (0.25 ¢ 3.0 inch diameters) in a multi-phase flow at any gas fraction.Ā