Mass flow meters measure the weight of fluid or gas passing through a pipe in a fixed time. Two common types are the Coriolis effect meter and the thermal mass flow meter. The former uses induced semi-circular vibratory force to measure mass flow, while the latter uses heat transfer under controlled conditions.
A mass flow meter is a device used to measure the flow of a fluid or gas passing through a pipe in a fixed time. Mass flow in this sense refers to the weight and not the volume of the substance. Mass flow measurement is used in a variety of scientific and industrial applications and is achieved with one of two common types of mass flow meters: the inertial or Coriolis effect meter and the thermal mass flow meter.
Mass flow, not to be confused with volume flow, is a measurement of the mass of fluid or gas past a fixed point over a specific time interval. The standard unit of measure for mass flow is pounds per second or kilograms per second rather than gallons or liters per second. These measurements are made with one of two different types of mass flow meters. The first uses a natural phenomenon known as the Coriolis effect to measure mass flow. The second type uses the principles of heat transfer.
The coriolis or inertial mass flowmeter uses fluid flowing through an arrangement of tubes that are subjected to an induced semi-circular vibratory force. The resulting Coriolis effect leads to oscillation in different parts of the tube arrangement moving out of phase. The magnitude of this phase shift is directly proportional to the mass flow of fluid in the pipe. Sensors placed on the tube measure the amplitude, frequency and phase shift of these oscillations. The fluid mass flow is then extrapolated from the sensor readings.
The second common type of mass flow meter, the thermal variant, uses the principle of heat transfer under controlled conditions to calculate flow rates. The gas or fluid is passed through a pipe where it is exposed to a heat source. As the molecules of the fluid pass the heat source, they absorb heat energy, thus cooling the source. The greater the mass of fluid passing through the heat source, the greater the cooling effect.
The rate at which molecular energy transfer occurs is a known constant and the amount of cooling is a measurable variable. These two factors are used to calculate the number of molecules that have passed over the heat source in a given period. From this result the exact mass flow rate is calculated. A detailed thermal profile of the fluid and its flow characteristics can also be learned from the heat transfer results.
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