When an ultrasonic wave travels in a liquid, the flow of the
liquid will cause its speed to change. When it travels in the flow
direction, its speed increases and against it, decreases. By
measuring the difference in travel times between both
directions, one can measure the flow speed.
As shown in Chart 1, a pair of sensors is mounted upstream and
downstream on the surface of the pipe. The mounting
configuration can be 'Z' or 'V'. The time-difference of
ultrasonic signals transmitted and received across upstream and
downstream are calculated as below...