Performance evaluation of piezoelectric and differential pressure sensor for vortex flowmeters

• Transient pressure sensor optimization is presented behind trapezoidal bluff body.
• Frequency measurement techniques are compared under various flow conditions.
• Background noise is estimated with various sensors under no flow conditions.
• Vortex shedding frequency is estimated using EMD and autocorrelation decay rate.

Piezoelectric and transient differential pressure sensors are two among the most widely employed sensors for vortex flowmeter application. The present study evaluates the performance of these two techniques under fully developed and disturbed flow conditions. Firstly, the location of the transient differential pressure sensor is optimized to obtain high amplitude signals and good linearity in Strouhal number. Empirical mode decomposition method in combination with autocorrelation decay is successfully employed at high Reynolds numbers to identify the vortex shedding frequency in presence of hydrodynamic noise. The performance of the differential pressure sensor deteriorates significantly under disturbed flow conditions at low Reynolds number due to the presence of low frequency components. This deterioration in the signal quality limits the lower operating range of the flowmeter with differential pressure sensor. The output signals of the piezoelectric sensor and differential pressure sensor under no flow condition are compared to obtain the background noise due to piping vibrations and electrical interferences. These results will help a designer to suggest robust signal processing algorithms for vortex frequency detection.