Numerical simulation and experimental study of z-path ultrasonic heat meter based on TDC-GP21

Ultrasonic heat meters have being widely applied in the industrial and commercial heat measurement. The precision of an ultrasonic heat meter depends on two aspects: the accuracy of time measurement and the relationship of average velocity detected between the two ultrasonic transducers and the inlet average velocity of the pipe (here is a factor k standing for it). Different mass fluxes lead to different situations of the flow field, which means that factor k varies with Reynolds number. In this paper, Z-path is designed to avoid blocking in the pipes. Lager Eddy Simulation (LES) model is used to calculate the flow field of the transition region in the CFD numerical simulation and a regular pattern of this Z-path heat meter is proposed from the simulation results. The TDC-GP21 chip is adopted to offer precise time measurement and experimental results in laboratory show that this kind of ultrasonic heat meters provide high measuring precision and are advantageous to apply in civil use.