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Title: Validating The Accuracy Of Multi-Path Transit Time Ultrasonic Flowmeters
Author: Don Augenstein, T. Cousins
Source: 2009 International Symposium on Fluid Flow Measurement
Year Published: 2009
Abstract: Transit time ultrasonic flow meters (UFMs) employing multiple chordal paths are now applied in many industries. One recent development is the nuclear industry using Cameron Caldon Ultrasonics (CCU) UFMs to improve their calorimetric determination instrumentation. This improvement is part of a program called Measurement Uncertainty Reduction Uprate or MUR. The MUR allows nuclear power plants to increase their licensed power levels by as much as 1.7%, using multi-path meters. A nuclear power plants calorimetric determination requires accurate knowledge of the feedwater flow rate and temperature. Cameron Caldon Ultrasonics UFMs for the nuclear industry, known as the LEFMCheckPlus (8 path), can be used to determine both parameters with accuracies of 0.3% and 0.3C respectively. Due to the feedwater flow measurement accuracy requirement, Cameron Caldon Ultrasonics calibrates their nuclear flowmeters in a full scale plant model. These models provide opportunities to perform parametric tests that quantify the sensitivity of multi-path UFMs to upstream hydraulics. Over the past 10 years, Caldon Ultrasonics has performed their laboratory calibration tests at the Alden Research Laboratory (Holden, Massachusetts, USA). These calibration tests included a range of meter sizes and upstream piping configurations. The multi-path transit time technology has demonstrated insensitivity to upstream and downstream configurations that include elbows, manifolds, and Y branches. Metrics such as flatness ratio (FR) and swirl rate are used to characterize the velocity profile. These metrics also validate the meter factor determined at Alden Laboratory by relating the field installation to the laboratory calibration.

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