Ultrasonic Flow Meter for Long-distance Water Transmission Scheduling

The total investment of a long-distance water conveyance channel project in Xinjiang is RMB 2.5 billion, with a total canal length of 168.80 km from the outflow of the Tekes River to the Lata Port on the China-Harbin border.The project is a large (1) type I project, which not only undertakes the water demand for irrigation of crops in the Xinjiang region of 10.60 hm2, but also meets the requirements for regional hydroelectricity generation. A total of 37 intakes, 6 branch canal sluice gates, 26 trunk pipe sluice gates and 7 headworks sluice gates are designed in this water conservancy project to meet the basic needs of industrial and agricultural water use along the route and in the Xinjiang region.

Ultrasonic Flow Meter Measurement Principle

Because the ultrasonic flowmeter has a non-contact design, has a wide range of applicability, especially suitable for the environment under the more adverse conditions of the water level measurement and runoff measurement; ultrasonic flowmeter in the structural design is also not easy to monitor the impact of the chemical nature of the object, can be used for long-term, online measurement. In addition, ultrasonic flowmeter also has a high degree of automation, can save a lot of manpower, material resources and measurement costs.

The ultrasonic flow meter is designed with the Doppler effect principle, by analysing the Doppler frequency difference between the flow with and against the flow in the water distribution channel, it reflects the velocity of the water in the channel, and then calculates the total flow rate. Ultrasonic waves produce the Doppler effect in water, and the ultrasonic generator in the flowmeter is the only source of sound during the measurement process, which produces a frequency difference between the incident and reflected waves, thus causing the Doppler effect. Monitoring the frequency difference of the ultrasonic waves in the water flow is a key step in the measurement of water flow.

Ultrasonic Water Flow Meters 

Doppler Ultrasonic Flow Meter

Ultrasonic Flow Meter used in Long Distance Water Dispatch Project

The ultrasonic flowmeter is applied in Xinjiang long-distance water resources scheduling project, can effectively solve the problem of high measurement cost, low accuracy, human and material resources consumption. For example: the project of the main canal project in the sub-sluice water measurement, with the traditional artificial sample data collection and manual measurement, can not get accurate data, and can not meet the basic requirements of multiple sampling and multiple measurements; and ultrasonic flowmeter to measure the sub-sluice water, you can achieve the section of the project water real-time monitoring and automated monitoring. More importantly, the normalisation and real-time monitoring is conducive to the safety of engineering construction and the rational use of water resources. The entire aqueduct project has a number of water intakes and gates, the traditional manual-based monitoring mode can not achieve synchronous monitoring and data transfer and sharing. The ultrasonic flowmeter has high measurement efficiency and high density of measurement points, which can grasp the water level information of each gate in real time and synchronise the information to the management personnel of the upstream and downstream sections, so as to achieve the comprehensive control of water level and flow rate of each section, and to ensure the safe operation of the aqueduct.

On this project, 60 ultrasonic flow meters and 15 electromagnetic flow meters were finally purchased from ARTang. Ultrasonic flow meters, electromagnetic flow meters and data sensors will be installed at key locations to automate operations. With the help of the network monitoring equipment, the data centre managers can obtain first-hand and accurate data without having to be physically present to monitor and react quickly to ensure the safety of the canal operation and meet the water needs of the surrounding farmland.