Heat transfer based flowmeter for high temperature flow rate measurements: Design, implementation and testing

The present work deals with the design, implementation and testing of a new heat transfer-based flowmeter. The suggested flowmeter allows the measurement of flow rates in applications involving hot fluid flows, mainly gas flows. The suggested flowmeter operates by circulating a cold fluid (water) of a known flow rate and temperature in a concentric tube heat exchanger in an opposite direction to the main flow of hot fluid of unknown flow rate. The flowmeter enables, from temperature measurements and the energy balance of the exchanger, the determination of the unknown flow rate. It was shown that the suggested flowmeter can reach accuracies greater than 90% depending on different parameters. The flowmeter's precision was shown to be increased with the increase of both cold and hot flow rates. The suggested flowmeter can be enhanced when the fluid temperatures are within the optimal range of operation which are achieved and specified by the design parameters.