Monitor water and heat flow with better accuracy
07 October 2014
Maxim’s MAXREFDES70# flow meter reference design can improve water- and heat-metering accuracy by an order of magnitude.
Traditional mechanical flow meters measure water and heat usage with spinning wheels that easily get out of calibration due to wear from friction and contaminants. This causes inaccurate meter readings and repeated, expensive on-site maintenance costs. Not only do these inaccurate readings reduce revenue, they also prevent leak detection, potentially wasting millions of gallons of clean water a year.
The MAXREFDES70# ultrasonic flow meter is the modern alternative to that old technology. This solid-state meter is 10x more accurate that mechanical meters, and 4x more accurate than competitive ultrasonic solutions. This accurate measurement is done without the use of heavy batteries, and the flow meter uses a single “A”-size battery that can last up to 20 years.
Measuring as little as 0.5 liters of water per minute with better than 1% accuracy, its fast ultrasonic pulses can be customised to the pulse frequencies required by flow conditions. It can detect even minor leaks that the mechanical meters will never find. With no moving parts, the MAXREFDES70# flow meter is highly resistant to contaminants, subject to less wear, and requires virtually no maintenance. It features no compromises, as it maximises uptime and provides the most accurate data possible.
At the heart of the MAXREFDES70# reference design is the new MAX35101, a complete time-to-digital converter with analogue front-end (AFE) that measures the difference of upstream and downstream ultrasonic pulses. Supporting flow measurement at low rates (< 30 l/hr), the MAX35101 offers the highest time-to-digital conversion accuracy (20ps) on the market today.
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