Collocated sensor for a vibrating fluid meter

Abstract

A combined driver and pick-off sensor component (200, 300) for a vibrating meter is provided. The combined driver and pick-off sensor component (200, 300) includes a magnet portion (104B) with at least a first magnet (211). The combined driver and pick-off sensor component (200, 300) further includes a coil portion (204A, 304A) receiving at least a portion of the first magnet (211). The coil portion (204A, 304A) includes a coil bobbin (220), a driver wire (221) wound around the coil bobbin (220), and a pick-off wire (222) wound around the coil bobbin (220).

Claims

1. A combined driver and pick-off sensor component (200, 300) for a vibrating meter, comprising: a magnet portion (104B) comprising at least a first magnet (211); a coil portion (204A, 304A) including: a coil bobbin (220); a driver wire (221) wound around the coil bobbin (220); and a pick-off wire (222) wound around the coil bobbin (220), wherein the driver wire (221) and the pick-off wire (222) are separate and distinct.

2. The combined driver and pick-off sensor component (200, 300) of claim 1, wherein the pick-off wire (222) is wound on top of at least a portion of the driver wire (221).

3. The combined driver and pick-off sensor component (200, 300) of claim 1, wherein the coil bobbin (220) comprises a first winding area (322) for receiving the driver wire (221) and a second winding area (322′) for receiving the pick-off wire (222).

4. The combined driver and pick-off sensor component (200, 300) of claim 3, wherein the first and second winding areas (322, 322′) are spaced apart from one another.

5. The combined driver and pick-off sensor component (200, 300) of claim 4, further comprising a flux directing ring (330) positioned between the first and second winding areas (322, 322′).

6. The combined driver and pick-off sensor component (200, 300) of claim 1, wherein the coil bobbin (220) comprises a magnet receiving portion (220′) for receiving at least a portion of the magnet (211).

7. The combined driver and pick-off sensor component (200, 300) of claim 1, wherein the first magnet (211) corresponds to the driver wire (221) and the magnet portion (104B) further comprises a second magnet (311) coupled to the first magnet (211) corresponding to the pick-off wire (222).

8. A vibrating meter (400), comprising: a meter electronics (20); a sensor assembly (40) in electrical communication with the meter electronics (20) and including: one or more flow conduits (103A, 103B); and one or more combined driver and pick-off sensor components (200, 300) coupled to at least one of the one or more flow conduits (103A, 103B) with each of the combined driver and pick-off sensor components comprising a magnet portion (104B) and a coil portion (204A), wherein the coil portion (204A) includes a coil bobbin (220), a driver wire (221) wound around the coil bobbin (220), and a pick-off wire (222) wound around the coil bobbin (220), wherein the driver wire (221) and the pick-off wire (222) are separate and distinct.

9. The vibrating meter (400) of claim 8, further comprising a first electrical lead (411) coupled to the driver wire (221) and in electrical communication with the meter electronics (20) for communicating a drive signal and a second electrical lead (411′) coupled to the pick-off wire (222) and in electrical communication with the meter electronics (20) for communicating a pick-off signal.

10. The vibrating meter (400) of claim 8, wherein the magnet portion (104B) comprises at least a first magnet (211).

11. The vibrating meter (400) of claim 10, wherein the coil bobbin (220) comprises a magnet receiving portion (220′) for receiving at least a portion of the first magnet (211).

12. The vibrating meter (400) of claim 8, wherein the pick-off wire (222) is wound on top of at least a portion of the driver wire (221).

13. The vibrating meter (400) of claim 8, wherein the coil bobbin (220) comprises a first winding area (322) for receiving the driver wire (221) and a second winding area (322′) for receiving the pick-off wire (222).

14. The vibrating meter (400) of claim 13, wherein the first and second winding areas (322, 322′) are spaced apart from one another.

15. The vibrating meter (400) of claim 14, further comprising a flux directing ring (330) positioned between the first and second winding areas (322, 322′).

16. A method for forming a vibrating meter including a sensor assembly with one or more flow conduits, comprising steps of: winding a driver wire around a coil bobbin; winding a pick-off wire around the coil bobbin, wherein the driver wire and the pick-off wire and separate and distinct; coupling the coil bobbin to one of the one or more flow conduits; electrically coupling the driver wire to a meter electronics for communicating a drive signal; and electrically coupling the pick-off wire to the meter electronics for communicating a pick-off signal.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising a step of coupling a magnet to a second flow conduit of the one or more flow conduits such that the coil bobbin receives at least a portion of the magnet.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of winding the pick-off wire comprises winding the pick-off wire on top of the driver wire.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of winding the driver and pick-off wires comprises winding the driver wire in a first winding area and winding the pick-off wire in a second winding area spaced from the first winding area.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising a step of coupling a flux directing ring to the coil bobbin between the first and second winding areas.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows a prior art fluid meter.

(2) FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of a combined sensor component according to an embodiment.

(3) FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a combined sensor component according to another embodiment.

(4) FIG. 4 shows a vibrating meter 400 according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(5) FIGS. 2-3 and the following description depict specific examples to teach those skilled in the art how to make and use the best mode of embodiments of a support member. For the purpose of teaching inventive principles, some conventional aspects have been simplified or omitted. Those skilled in the art will appreciate variations from these examples that fall within the scope of the present description. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the features described below can be combined in various ways to form multiple variations of the fluid meter. As a result, the embodiments described below are not limited to the specific examples described below, but only by the claims and their equivalents.

(6) FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of a combined sensor component 200 according to an embodiment. According to the embodiment shown, the combined sensor component 200 comprises a combined driver and a pick-off sensor component. According to an embodiment, the combined driver and pick-off sensor component can be coupled to the first and second flow conduits 103A, 103B. In the embodiment shown, the combined sensor component 200 is coupled to the first and second flow conduits 103A, 103B using mounting brackets 210A, 210B. Therefore, the combined sensor component 200 can replace one or more of the sensor components 104, 105, 105′ of the prior art flow meter 5 shown in FIG. 1. In some embodiments, two combined sensor components 200 may be used to replace the pick-off sensors 105, 105′ while the driver 104 can be eliminated. Thus, the use of the combined sensor component 200 can reduce the number of total sensor components required for an operational fluid meter.

(7) According to an embodiment, the combined sensor component 200 comprises a coil portion 204A and a magnet portion 104B. The magnet portion 104B comprises a magnet 211 that is held onto the mounting bracket 210B using a bolt 212B. The magnet 211 can be positioned within a magnet keeper 213 that can help direct the magnetic field. According to an embodiment, the magnet portion 104B comprises a typical magnet portion of prior art sensor components. The mounting bracket 210B is shown coupled to the second flow conduit 103B. The mounting bracket 210B may be coupled to the flow conduit 103B according to well-known techniques such as welding, brazing, bonding, etc.

(8) According to an embodiment, the coil portion 204A is coupled to the first flow conduit 103A with the mounting bracket 210A. The mounting bracket 210A may be coupled to the flow conduit 103A according to well-known techniques such as welding, brazing, bonding, etc. The coil portion 204A also comprises a coil bobbin 220. The coil bobbin 220 can include a magnet receiving portion 220′ for receiving at least a portion of the magnet 211. The coil bobbin 220 can be held onto the mounting bracket 210A with a bolt 212A or similar fastening device. The particular method used to couple the coil portion 204A to the flow conduit 103A should in no way limit the scope of the present embodiment.

(9) Additionally, while the combined driver and pick-off sensor component 200 is shown being coupled to a dual flow conduit sensor assembly, in other embodiments, one of the portions 104B, 204A may be coupled to a stationary component or a dummy tube, for example. This may be the case in situations where the combined driver and pick-off sensor component 200 is utilized in a single flow conduit sensor assembly.

(10) According to an embodiment, the coil portion 204A collocates the driver wire 221 and the pick-off wire 222. Unlike the prior art combined sensor component described in the '104 patent, the combined sensor component of the present embodiment provides separate and distinct wires 221, 222. However, according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the driver wire 221 and the pick-off wire 222 are both wound around the same coil bobbin 220. Winding the driver wire 221 and the pick-off wire 222 around the coil bobbin 220 creates a driver coil 221′ and a pick-off coil 222′, which are collocated. In the embodiment shown, the wires 221, 222 are stacked on top of one another, i.e., one wire is wound on top of the other. While the embodiment shows the driver wire 221 being wound on the bobbin 220 prior to the pick-off wire 222, the reverse could also be utilized, wherein the pick-off wire 222 is positioned radially inward of the driver wire 221.

(11) According to an embodiment, an insulating layer (not shown) may be provided between the driver wire 221 and the pick-off wire 222. However, such an insulating layer is not necessary.

(12) As shown, both coils share a single magnet 211 and a single magnet keeper 213. Consequently, the number of components required to form a combined sensor component 200 is substantially reduced.

(13) The combined sensor component 200 provides a significant advantage over the combined sensor shown in the '104 patent. The combined sensor component 200 substantially eliminates the resistive compensation that is required by the '104 patent as the driver wire 221 is different from the pick-off wire 222. Therefore, the back-EMF calculation has been simplified to equation (2).

(14) $\begin{array}{cc}{V}_{\mathrm{bEMF}}=V_{\mathrm{total}}-M\frac{di}{dt}& \left(2\right)\end{array}$

(15) Where:

(16) M is the mutual inductance between the two coils 221′, 222′.

(17) As can be appreciated, with the resistive compensation removed from the equation, the determination of the back-EMF is substantially simplified. Further, an online temperature measurement is no longer required. Also, recall from above that the resistive compensation is typically much larger than the inductive compensation. Therefore, the compensation required by equation (2) results in smaller flow measurement errors.

(18) Although not shown in FIG. 2, it should be appreciated that the meter electronics 20 can communicate with the driver wire 221 with a wire lead (See FIG. 4) similar to the wire lead 110 shown in FIG. 1. Therefore, when in electrical communication with the meter electronics, the driver wire 221 can be provided with a drive signal in order to create motion between the coil portion 204A and the magnet portion 104B. Likewise, the pick-off wire 221 can communicate with the meter electronics 20 with a wire lead (See FIG. 4) similar to one of the wire leads 111, 111′. Therefore, when in electrical communication with the meter electronics, the pick-off wire 222 can sense motion between the coil portion 204A and the magnet portion 104B and provide a pick-off signal to the meter electronics. Therefore, the combined sensor component 200 does not require the complex circuitry and mimetic circuit as required by the system disclosed in the '104 patent.

(19) FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a combined sensor component 300 according to an embodiment. The embodiment shown in FIG. 3 is similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 except that rather than winding the pick-off wire 222 on top of the driver wire 221, the two wires are spaced from one another, while remaining wound around the same bobbin 222. Therefore, the bobbin 222 comprises a first winding area 322 and a second winding area 322′. According to an embodiment, the first and second winding areas 322, 322′ are spaced from one another. The winding areas 322, 322′ may comprise grooves formed in the coil bobbin 222 in order to receive a wire. According to the embodiment shown, the driver and pick-off wires 221, 222 are further separated by a flux directing ring 330. The flux directing ring 330 may be formed from carbon steel or some other mu metal and coupled to the coil bobbin 222 between the first and second winding areas 322, 322′. The flux directing ring 330 can help in isolating the electric fields associated with the individual wires 221, 222. The flux directing ring 330 can direct the flux lines from the driver wire 221 away from the pick-off wire 222.

(20) Although the driver wire 221 is shown positioned closer to the magnet portion 104B, in other embodiments, the pick-off wire 222 can be positioned closer to the magnet portion 104B. Therefore, the present embodiment should not be limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 3.

(21) According to an embodiment, the combined sensor component 300 eliminates the resistive compensation as in the combined sensor component 200, but also with the combined sensor component 300, the mutual inductance from equation (2) is small enough that any errors in the compensation of equation (2) are minimal. Consequently, the back-EMF of the pick-off wire 222 can be measured directly as if the pick-off wire 222 were located on a separate sensor component as in the prior art.

(22) Advantageously, the combined sensor component 300 provides a collocated sensor component with the measurement simplicity of a stand-alone sensor component. The combined sensor components 200, 300 may be used in Coriolis flow meter in order to reduce the number of sensor components required. With the combined sensor components, the number of sensor components can be reduced from three (FIG. 1) to two. This results in a reduction in material costs, assembly time, and less wiring. Additionally, the use of the combined sensor components 200, 300 ensure collocation of a driver wire 221 and a pick-off wire 222. Therefore, use of either the combined sensor component 200 or the combined sensor component 300 improves the accuracy of measurements obtained using DICOM.

(23) As with the combined sensor component 200 shown in FIG. 2, the driver wire 221 and the pick-off wire 222 can share the same magnet 211. However, in the embodiment shown, the magnet portion 104B comprises a second magnet 311. The second magnet 311 can be coupled to the first magnet 211 and can be used to primarily interact with the pick-off wire 222. This is because in the combined sensor component 300, the pick-off wire 222 is positioned further away from the first magnet 211 and consequently, better performance can be achieved if the second magnet 311 is used that is positioned closer to the pick-off wire 222 during use.

(24) FIG. 4 shows a vibrating meter 400 according to an embodiment. The vibrating meter 400 is similar to the meter 5 shown in FIG. 1 and like components share the same reference number. The vibrating meter 400 may comprise a Coriolis flow meter or some other fluid meter. Therefore, the vibrating meter 400 comprises a sensor assembly 40 and the meter electronics 20. The sensor assembly 40 can receive a fluid. The fluid may be flowing or stationary. The fluid may comprise a gas, a liquid, a gas with suspended particulates, a liquid with suspended particulates, or a combination thereof.

(25) The sensor assembly 40 is in electrical communication with the meter electronics 20 via leads 415. According to the embodiment shown, the vibrating meter 400 utilizes the combined sensor components 300; however, in other embodiments, the combined sensor components 200 may be used. As shown in FIG. 4, the vibrating meter 400 has reduced the number of sensor components from three to two. Therefore, the manufacturing process is substantially simplified. Further, the vibrating meter 400 may be used for DICOM operations.

(26) According to the embodiment shown, a first combined sensor component 300 is coupled at the inlet end of the flow conduits 103A, 103B while a second combined sensor component 300 is shown coupled at the outlet end of the flow conduits 103A, 103B. In the embodiment shown, the first combined sensor component 300 is in electrical communication with the meter electronics 20 via a first wire lead 411 and a second wire lead 411′. More specifically, the driver wire 221 of the first combined sensor component 300 is coupled to the first wire lead 411 while the pick-off wire 222 is coupled to the second wire lead 411′. Similarly, the second combined sensor component 300 is in electrical communication with the meter electronics 20 via a third wire lead 412 and a fourth wire lead 412′. More specifically, the driver wire 221 of the second combined sensor component 300 is coupled to the third wire lead 412 while the pick-off wire 222 is coupled to the fourth wire lead 412′.

(27) Advantageously, the meter electronics 20 can provide a drive signal to one or both of the driver coils via leads 411, 412 and receive pick-off signals from the pick-off coils via leads 411′, 412′ as is generally known in the art.

(28) The embodiments described above provide an improved collocated sensor component for a vibrating meter. The improved collocated sensor component comprises a combined driver and pick-off sensor component. In order to ensure collocation of the driver and pick-off coils 221′, 222′, the driver and pick-off wires 221, 222 are wound around the same coil bobbin 220. Advantageously, in embodiments where the collocated sensor component is used for DICOM, collocation of the driver and sensor components does not have to be assumed or estimated. Rather, the combined driver and pick-off sensor components 200, 300 ensure that collocation is achieved.

(29) The detailed descriptions of the above embodiments are not exhaustive descriptions of all embodiments contemplated by the inventors to be within the scope of the present description. Indeed, persons skilled in the art will recognize that certain elements of the above-described embodiments may variously be combined or eliminated to create further embodiments, and such further embodiments fall within the scope and teachings of the present description. It will also be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the above-described embodiments may be combined in whole or in part to create additional embodiments within the scope and teachings of the present description.

(30) Thus, although specific embodiments are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the present description, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. The teachings provided herein can be applied to other fluid meters, and not just to the embodiments described above and shown in the accompanying figures. Accordingly, the scope of the embodiments should be determined from the following claims.