Improvement of signal processing in Coriolis mass flowmeters for gas-liquid two-phase flow

As an increasingly popular flow metering technology, Coriolis mass flowmeter exhibits high measurement accuracy under single-phase flow condition and is widely used in the industry. However, under complex flow conditions, such as two-phase flow, the measurement accuracy is greatly decreased due to various factors including improper signal processing methods. In this study, three digital signal processing methods-the quadrature demodulation (QD) method, Hilbert method, and sliding discrete time Fourier transform method-are analyzed for their applications in processing sensor signals and providing measurement results under gas-liquid two-phase flow condition. Based on the analysis, specific improvements are applied to each method to deal with the signals under two-phase flow condition. For simulation, sensor signals under single- and two-phase flow conditions are established using a random walk model. The phase difference tracking performances of these three methods are evaluated in the simulation. Based on the digital signal processor, a converter program is implemented on its evaluation board. The converter program is tested under single- and two-phase flow conditions. The improved signal processing methods are evaluated in terms of the measurement accuracy and complexity. The QD algorithm has the best performance under the single-phase flow condition. Under the two-phase flow condition, the QD algorithm performs a little better in terms of the indication error and repeatability than the improved Hilbert algorithm at 160, 250, and 420 kg/h flow points, whereas the Hilbert algorithm outperforms the QD algorithm at the 600 kg/h flow point.