A Rapid Prototyped Thermal Mass Flowmeter

An innovative rapid prototyping technique for embedding microcomponents in PDMS replicas was developed and applied on a thermal mass flowmeter for closed loop micropump flowrate control. Crucial flowmeter design and thermal parameters were investigated with a 3-D fully coupled electro-thermal-fluidic model which was built in Comsol Multiphysics 5.2. The flowmeter was characterized for three distinct measuring configurations. For precise low flowrate applications, a sensor-heater-sensor flowmeter configuration with a constant heater temperature was found to be the most appropriate yielding the measuring range of 0 to 90 µL·min-1 and the sensitivity of 1.3 °C·µL−1·min in the lower flowrate range of 0 to 40 µL·min−1.

Fluid–structure interaction analysis of coriolis mass flowmeter

Coriolis mass flowmeter (CMF) is widely used in the industrial field. In mass flow measurement, there are many impurities in measured fluids that will adhere to the inner wall of the vibrating tube of CMF. The vibration characteristics of CMF would change due to the structural change, i.e., wall clung state, which will generate the wall clung state fault. In this paper, aiming at the wall clung state fault of CMF, the finite element model of CMF is established based on ANSYS. The velocity distribution of fluid in the vibrating tube of CMF is analyzed, considering the fluid–structure interaction. The location of the wall clung state in a vibrating tube is determined. Then, the fault model is established. The mechanism of the vibration transmission characteristics outwards of CMF caused by the wall clung state is analyzed by harmonic response analysis. Finally, the failure mode of CMF is investigated.