A transit-time flow meter for measuring milliliter per minute liquid flow

Abstract
A transit-time flow meter, using periodic temperature fluctuations as tracers, has been developed for measuring liquid flow as small as 0.1 ml/min in microchannels. By injecting square waves of heat into the liquid flow upstream with a tiny resistance wire heater, periodic temperature fluctuations are generated downstream. The fundamental frequency phase shift of the temperature signal with respect to the square wave is found to be a linear function of the reciprocal mean velocity of the fluid. The transit-time principle enables the flow meter to have high accuracy, better than 0.2%, and good linearity. This flow meter will be used to measure and control the small liquid flow in microchannels in flow injection analysis.