Development of the Vortex Mass Flowmeter with Wall Pressure Measurement

Mass flow measurement is essential to the understanding and control of processes concerning fluid flow. The availability of reliable mass flowmeters, however, is far inadequate to meet the demand. In this paper we developed a practical vortex mass flowmeter with wall pressure measurement. The meter coefficient of mass flow rate was acquired through experiments with air at Reynolds numbers from 1.3×103 to 9.8×103. Here we show that the meter coefficient of mass flow rate is nearly constant at Reynolds numbers greater than 5.5×103. To further extend the lower limit, a correction factor related to the Reynolds number was introduced into the vortex mass flowmeter. The results show that the relative errors of the vortex mass flowmeter developed are basically within ±5%. This device can satisfy a diversity of requirements of mass flow measurement in engineering fields.