Doppler Flow Meters

[vjp...@at.biostrategist.dot.dot.com]

If you have ever seen the Kill-a-Watt meter to track electric use of
home appliances, you can undertsand why I was hoping for a cheap
doppler meter to track liquid flow noninvasively inside piper using
sound waves. I recently got a ten dollar sonic stud finder, and
suspect the only reason this device can't track flow is software and
not hardware. Are we likely to see home doppler meters any time soon?

- = -
Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
http://www.panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm http://www.facebook.com/vasjpan2
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]

[Some@Guy]

vjp...@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:

> you can undertsand why I was hoping for a cheap doppler meter
> to track liquid flow noninvasively inside piper using sound waves.
> I recently got a ten dollar sonic stud finder, and suspect the
> only reason this device can't track flow is software and not
> hardware. Are we likely to see home doppler meters any time soon?

No.

There are industrial flow meter solutions (doppler, transit-time,
mechanical, etc).

There is no demand for a home version.

I'm some-what inclined to do home automation, and the only thing I would
do along those lines would be to install a mechanical flow meter where
my main water line enters the house. I'd only be interested in total
water flow, not the flow to individual branches (bathrooms, sinks,
toilets, etc). I'd probably install a pressure and temperature sensor
at my main water supply point first before I'd ever install a flow
sensor.

Mechanical flow meters are also known as turbines and rotometers.

Here's some examples:

http://www.omega.com/ppt/pptsc.asp?ref=FTB690&Nav=gref02

http://www.omega.com/ppt/pptsc.asp?ref=ftb8000b&Nav=gref02

I've worked with doppler and transit-time flow meters used to measure
blood flow in biomedical applications, so I know how they work and why
they are the preferred tool to measure blood flow in arteries in living
subjects. But for home water consumption, I wouldn't go with
ultrasonic.

[Bob F]

Some@Guy wrote:
>
> I'm some-what inclined to do home automation, and the only thing I
> would do along those lines would be to install a mechanical flow
> meter where my main water line enters the house.

My utility provided one of those for me.