Ultrasonic Water Meter Technology Shows Promise

Titan Enterprises (UK) has built a Ultrasonic water meter technology demonstrator using it’s Atrato flowmeter as a platform. The new device easily satisfies all the required water industry performance standards and fits within the 110mm desirable mounting length.  

The world domestic water meter market is estimated to reach over 30 million units this year. The majority of these will be “smart” meters requiring power to operate.  The sub-meter and heat transfer markets are reported as being the fastest growth sector. 

Titan has built and trialled a 110mm long, half inch bore, water meter and achieved an accuracy better than ±2% over a 250:1 flow range using an external power supply. 

Managing Director of Titan Enterprises, Trevor Forster commented “Existing solid state water meter products tend to be complicated, expensive to produce and frequently do not satisfy all of the performance requirements. He added “Atrato’s patented small bore ultrasonic flow metering technology offers many benefits for this application including the potential for low power operation, higher flow models and a wide flow range (400:1), consequently we are seeking to license the technology to a suitable partner for commercial exploitation”. 

The standard Atrato ultrasonic flowmeter is a true inline non-invasive flow meter without the contorted flow path and disadvantages of alternative designs. It can handle flows from laminar to turbulent and is therefore largely immune from viscosity. It also offers excellent turndown, linearity and repeatability. Available in 60°C and 110°C temperature versions and a 30 bar higher pressure model - Atrato flowmeters use patented 'time-of-flight' ultrasonic technology that enables it to operate over very wide flow ranges (200:1) with excellent accuracy (better than ±1.0% of reading).