Anemometric Type Flow Transmitter Using Transistor as a Primary Sensor

Abstract

In this paper, an anemometric type flow meter has been designed and developed using a transistor as a flow sensor. The heat is dissipated from the surface of the p–n diode created by short circuiting the emitter and base terminal of the transistor CL100B causing the drop in the temperature with respect to the fluid velocity and it is utilized to measure the flow rate of the fluid across the pipeline section. Two identical sets of transistor acting like p–n diodes are used, the first diode senses the fluid velocity and produces an inconstant voltage and the other is in contact with the stagnated fluid produces a constant voltage. In this paper, the temperature effect is easily compensated by taking the difference in the output of diodes. The difference between the output voltages of the identical transducer only depends on the flow rate. The transducer design and its theoretical characteristic equation and graphs have been derived and discussed in this paper. The proposed transducer has a low cost with good linearity, accuracy, and repeatability.

Keywords:

• Flow transducer
• Heat transfer coefficient
• Signal conditioner
• Transmitter
• Transistor

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anamika Lata

Anamika Lata received her BE degree in electronics and instrumentation from Sathyabama University Chennai, India, and MTech degree in electronics and communication from the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad, India. She is currently pursuing PhD degree in the Department of Electronics Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad, India. Her current research interest includes sensor and transducer development. Email: [email protected]

Nirupama Mandal

Nirupama Mandal received her BSc (Hons) degree in physics, the BTech degree in instrumentation engineering, the MTech degree in instrumentation and control engineering and the PhD degree in instrumentation engineering from the University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India. She is working as an assistant professor in the Department of Electronics in Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad, India. She has authored more than 25 papers in international journals and 20 papers in international conference proceedings. Her current research interests include transducer design, PC-based instrumentation, controller design, and process modeling.