High performance ultrasonic sensor for intelligent water meter

With the rapid development of Internet of things technology, the demand for high-performance ultrasonic sensor of ultrasonic intelligent water meter applied in intelligent buildings is becoming more and more obvious. In order to further improve the measurement performance of ultrasonic intelligent water meter, Audiowell has launched a new generation of water meter flow sensor -- US0078 from the perception layer. Compared with similar competitive products on the market, this product has more stable electrical performance and stronger pressure resistance. At the same time, it has the characteristics of high sensitivity, fast reaching the peak value and easier signal processing, which helps to improve the measurement accuracy of ultrasonic water meter, and provides a more competitive hardware basis for the iterative upgrade of ultrasonic intelligent water meter.

 Figure 1:Audiowell water meter flow sensor US0078

Audiowell water flow sensor has high performance, which is mainly reflected in:

1. high sensitivity, fast reaching the peak value and easier signal processing

From the comparison analysis of echo between Audiowell water meter US0078 and similar sensors in Figure 2, it can be seen that Audiowell water meter flow sensor only needs 8 waves to reach the peak value and complete the vibration starting. Compared with other products with 12 waves to reach the peak value, the time of echo signal is shorter and the sensitivity is higher.

Figure 2: Analysis of echo contrast between Audiowell US0078 (left) and similar sensor (right)

From the waveform, the difference between the peaks of the echo received by Audiowell US0078 is obvious, and the difference between adjacent signal waves is greater than the similar sensors. It is easy to identify the first, second, third or more recovered signal waves. Reducing the difficulty of signal processing at the perception level is conducive to simplifying the water meter measurement algorithm and laying the core hardware foundation for water meter R & D and manufacturing enterprises to reduce cost and increase efficiency.

2. The electrical performance is highly stable at high and low temperature with zero flow drift

Table 1 shows the comparison between the electrical performance of Audiowell US0078 and similar sensors in low temperature and high temperature environment. Under the condition of zero flow, Audiowell US0078 can receive 432mV in a low temperature environment of 10℃. In the high temperature environment of 60℃, the receiving amplitude is 369mV, and the amplitude change ratio is 14.64%. The amplitude change ratio of the other two similar competing products is 19.32% and 24.66% respectively, and the amplitude change ratio is significantly lower than the similar competing products in the market, indicating that its electrical performance is highly stable at high and low temperature zero flow drift value, and higher than the industry level.

Table 1 :comparison of zero flow drift value of Audiowell us0078 and similar sensors in low temperature and high temperature environment.

3. The maximum with stand voltage can reach 4.8mpa with strong reliability

The static hydrostatic test was conducted on the flow sensor US0078 of Audiowell water meter. The test condition was to maintain the water pressure of 4.8mpa for 15min. Compared with various test parameters before and after the test, it was found that the product performance remained stable and met the specification requirements. In addition, Audiowell US0078 can work continuously under the environment of 2.5MPa for a long time to meet the needs of long building water use time, high peak water pressure and high pressure requirements.

Table 2： performance parameters of flow sensor US0078 of Audiowell water meter

 
4. Small size, complied with the national drinking water standard

Table 2 Performance parameters of Audiowell water meter flow sensor US0078 shows that the resonant frequency of the product is 2110±30KHz, which can meet the requirements of wide volume ratio water meter. Large working temperature range, temperature resistance up to 90 ℃, effective resistance to high and low temperature environment, suitable for regions with different latitudes. At the same time, the production materials of the products have passed the drinking water standards of various countries, such as WRAS, ACS, KTW, etc. In addition, the product must be tested one by one before leaving the factory to ensure that all performance parameters are within the specified range and have good consistency. Therefore, the product can be used in pairs without pairing test before assembly, which can effectively simplify the assembly process of intelligent water meter and improve the operation efficiency of water meter manufacturers.

Fig.3: Dimensions and specifications of US0078 water flow sensor

Figure 3 shows the overall dimensions of US0078 water flow sensor. The installation diameter is 10mm, the accuracy error is ± 0.2mm, the volume is small and the processing accuracy is high, which can effectively reduce the installation error.

In general, the flow sensor US0078 of Audiowell water meter has high sensitivity and reaches the peak value quickly. The electrical performance is highly stable with zero flow drift value at high and low temperatures. The product is small in size, high appearance dimensional accuracy, reducing installation error, and has high and low temperature resistance, high humidity resistance, high pressure resistance and other characteristics, meet the requirements of wide range ratio water meter, product batch consistency, safety and health, and has been widely used in household, building, urban construction and other fields of intelligent water meter.

Other products of Audiowell water meter flow Sensor: