zyxwvutsrqponm

zyxwvutsrqp
zyxwvutsrqp
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 34, NO. 5 , SEPTEMBER 1998

Optimal Design of the Coils of an Electromagnetic Flow Meter

2563

Andrzej Michalski, Jacek Starzyriski and Stanislaw Wincenciak

zyxwvuts
Warsaw University of Technology, IETiME, P1 00-661 Warszawa, ul. Koszykowa 75, POLAND

Abstract -A new method of optimal design of the

excitation coil for an electromagnetic flow meter is
presented. The main goal is to form an algorithm
which will be able to deal with natural channels of
any shape with conductive beds/banks. The presented
method allows an engineer to design an optimal coil
to obtain homogeneity of the special weight vector W .
This homogeneity provides that the voltage measured
between the electrodes of the flow meter will be pro-

zyxwvuts
portional to the mean velocity of the liquid in the
channel. The optimization of the coil shape is carried \

zyxw
'bxciting coil
out through minimization of a n objective function de- LChannel walls
fined on the basis of a finite element method 2D model
of the cross-section of the channel. Fig. 1. The primary transducer of an electromagneticflow meter for
open channels
Index terms -Electromagnetic flow meter, finite
element methods, fluid flow measurement, optimal de-

zyxwvut
sign. where V is the volume of the measurement zone and W
is a special weight function [l], [a],
I. INTRODUCTION If the exciting coil of the flow meter generates such a
field that

zyx
The idea of an electromagnetic flow meter is based on
Faraday's law, which associates an electric potential 'p
induced in the measurement zone with the vector of liquid
velocity 6 and the vector of magnetic flux density B . This
dependence is described by the Poisson's equation
div (agradcp) = d i v a (6 x B ) , (1)
where a is the electric conductivity.
An electromagnetic flow meter for an open channel con-
sists of two metal electrodes placed on the opposite chan-
nel banks and a coil which generates a magnetostatic field
in the channel. The spatial configuration of the primary
transducer for an electromagnetic flow meter for a rect-
angular channel is presented on Fig. 1.
As a solution of (l), it was shown that the voltage in-
duced between the electrodes el-e2 of the flow meter is
Manuscript received November 3, 1997.
Andrzej Michalski anmiQiem.pw.edu.pl, tel. ($48) 22-660-74-27,
fax (+48) 22-628-45-68,
Jacek Starzvriski jstar@iem.pw.edu.Pl,tel. (+48) 22-660-76-14,
fax (+48) 22-628-45-68, http://www.iem.pw.edu.pl/-jstar.
Stanislaw Wincenciak winQiem.pw.edu.pl, tel. (+48) 22-660-76-
W x B = K = const (3)
in the whole domain V then the voltage between the elec-
trodes would be proportional to the flow of the liquid i.e.
Ue=k16.adv, (4)
where a is the unit vector parallel to K . Therefore the
main goal of the electromagnetic flow meter design is to
find a shape of the coil which will realize possibly uniform
distribution of the vector K within V .
It was shown by Bevir [l]that the weight vector W is
equal to the current density in the channel obtained by
solving the Laplace equation for electric field excited only
by the voltage between the electrodes. The value of the
voltage should assure the total current flowing between
the electrodes equal 1A. The same results were obtained
by Smyth [2]who had used analogy between the electro-
static and electric current fields.
Bevir and Smyth were able to calculate W analyti-
cally for channels with simple geometry and nonconduc-
tive banks.
11. CALCULATION
OF THE WEIGHT VECTOR
Designing of the primary transducer for the natural
channel requires calculation of the distribution of weight

zyxwvu
14, fax (+48) 22-628-45-68,

0018-9464/98$10.000 1998 IEEE

2564
zyxwvutsrqpo
zyxwvu
zyxwvuts
E#:--
vector W which is determined by the shape of the mea-
sured zone, the shape and size of electrodes and the flow
zyxwvuts
channel's wall-to-water conductivity ratio. The authors'
approach uses numerical model of the channel to solve the
Laplace equation
div (cgrad p) = 0,
zyxwvu
with Dirichlet boundary conditions: 'p = 0 on the first
zyxwvutsrqpo
electrode and 'p = 1 on the second one. Then the distri-
bution of the weight function is calculated as
W = -au grad 'p.
Factor a is necessary to scale the current density in such a
that the current flowing between the
will be equal to the desired value of 1A:
1 In the second stage the magnetostatic field generated
a=
I ss, a 2 d s l '
where Se is the surface of the measuring electrode. EX-
ample distributions of W for the trapezoidal cross-section
channel and the conductive and nonconductive bed is
shown in Fig. 2.
a,
/
--
--e
zyx / b. - =a/ /
zyxwvutsr
Fig. 2. A comparison of the distribution of the weight vector W i n
trapezoidal cross-section channel: a. nonconductive, b. conductive
bed. w vectors in a. and b. are not in the same scale.
The distribution of vector W includes all electrical pa-
rameters of flow channel and its environment. Now the
designer can start the optimization of the shape of the
exciting coil to fulfill the condition ( 3 ) .
111. DESIGNO F THE COIL SHAPE
Two main parameters of the spatial configuration of the
flow meter are the length of the coil and the shape of the
coil cross-section. The length of the coil is determined by
the side effects. The coil should be long enough to avoid
the shorting effects arising in the parts of the measure-
ment zone in which the magnetic field sharply vanishes.
The cross-section shape is mainly determined by the ad-
missible weight vector K heterogeneity.
For the design of the shape of the cross-section of the
exciting coil we use the 2D model of the primary trans-
ducer, neglecting the ending effects. The geometry of the
finite element model which was implemented in the FAT
problem oriented language [3] is presented in Fig. 3 .
In the first stage of the calculation the static electric
current field is solved. Then the distribution of the weight
1
air
w a t e r surface
electrode
(5) channel bed
(6)
Fig. 3 . The geometry of the channel and the initial shape of the coil
(left). Geometry of the FE model is shown on the right.
is calculated by using (6) and Values of in all
finite elements of the channel cross-section are stored to
be used in the second stage.
(7)
by the coil is simulated. The homogeneity of the vector
K distribution is realized by searching for the shape of
the coil which will minimize the objective function given
by
where S is the surface area of the channel cross-section,
X is the vector of the design parameters which determine
the shape of the coil (we will use Xopt for the final values
of the parameters), B = [Bz,
stage.
BY]is the magnetic field and
W = [Wz,W,] is the weight vector calculated in the first
The quasi-Newton BFGS algorithm [4]is used for the
minimization of the objective function. Gradient of the
objective function is calculated by using numerical per-
turbation with the elliptic regeneration of the F E mesh
[31.
Once optimization is finished, the electric current field
described by (1) is simulated to calculate the voltage in-
duced between the electrodes.
Several sets of design parameters were tested by the
authors. The results presented below were obtained for
independent change of the z-coordinates of all nodes form-
ing the outer edge of the coil. Up to 14 design parame-
ters were used The FAT system optimization toolbox [!3]
allows a user to play easily with design parameters and
constrains. The elliptic regeneration of the F E mesh after
change of the boundary shape gives smooth shapes.
The presented method allows us to optimize the shape
of the excitation coil to satisfy (3) and simultaneously
estimate a power efficiency and signal-to-noise ratio for
the designed primary transducer of electromagnetic flow
meter. A close look at (4) and (8) shows that by adjusting
the value of I C , we can affect the magnetic field intensity
and in fact determine the required value of the measured
signal (voltage) for the expected range of flows.
 Iv. V E R I F I C A T I O N OF RESULTS
TABLE I
2565 zyx
Results of calculations, k = 0.125
It is not possible to compare the obtained results with
Shape of q Induced Magnetic
any analytic solution. The approximate assessment of sig- uwIuq the channel Voltage Energy
nals which should be generated by the transducer proves S j m j Sjm [VI [k J1
that numerical results are acceptable. The present work 1 O.ljO.1 rect. 0.083 0.114 45
is part of a larger project. The numerical method for 2 0.1/0.0001 rect. 0.046 0.118 19.9
channels with nonconductive banks was designed and de- 3 0.1/0.1 traD. 0.0672 0.133 100
4 0.1/0.0001 trao. 0.0424 0.148 40.8
scribed elsewhere as in [5]. That method has been suc-
cessfully applied for designing two industrial flow meters.
The experimental results show very good accuracy of com- Another important technical parameter of a transducer
puter simulation. The new method was tested and com-
is the magnetic field energy which indicates the power
pared with an earlier version of the code for designing a consumption.
flow meter for a channel with nonconductive banks. The
The optimized shapes of the coils for trapezoidal (1 m
results were practically the same.
deep, 3 to 2 m wide) and rectangular (1m x 2 m) flow chan-

v.

zyxwvuts
I M P R O V E M E N T IN T H E F L O W M E T E R DESIGN

In evaluating the quality of the design, the ratio of the

nels for two conductivity ratio (water/ground): u W / u g=
0.1/0.1 and u w / u g= O . O l / O . O O O l are presented in Fig. 5.

zyxwvuts
final value of the objective function to the square of IC

zyxwvutsr
multiplied by the area of the channel cross-section

was used as a factor of homogeneity of distribution of K .

The homogeneity is high if the value of q is small.

zyxwvutsrqponmlk
Fig. 4 compares changes of the value of the objective

zyxwvutsrqp
function and the predicted value of the potential induced
between the electrodes by 1m3/ s flow in the rectangular
channel during the process of optimization. As the ob-
jective function decreases the absolute value of induced
potential converges t o the theoretical value of IC = 0.1 V,
see (4).
Fig. 5. Shapes of the coil after optimization: continuous line:
owlug= 1; dashed line: u w / u g= 1000
The results of calculation for IC = 0.125 are summarized
in Table I.
The voltage presented in the 4th column of Table I was
obtained by solving (1) with homogeneous speed of the
flow 6 = 1 m/s. For such conditions the voltage should
be equal to IC . 6 . S which results in 0.125V for rectan-
gular and 0.15625 V for trapezoidal channel. The values

zyxwvutsrqpon
00014
d obtained from the model are slightly smaller because it

zyxwvutsrqponmlkj
000lZ

zyxwvutsrqponmlkj
zyxwvutsrqponm
f 0001
is not possible to obtain ideally uniform distribution of
o m the vector K within the channel. The performance of the
100 200 300 4w 500 600 designed transducer was controlled by the simulation of
No of field analyses
different flow profiles and the induced voltage was always
E -006 close to the value of the total flow.
The comparison of distributions of the weight function
W obtained for both cases (see Fig.2) indicates that con-
H3 3 -0 085
-009
ductive banks cause the heterogeneous distribution of W
$-0095 near the bottom edges of the channel cross-section.
-0 1
0 100 200 300
No of field analyses
400 500 600 This undesirable effect can be partially compensated
in two ways: by a placement of the coil away from the
Fig. 4. A comparison of the value of the objective function (upper channel banks or by a change of the shape of measuring
plot) and the induced potential (lower plot) during the optimization electrodes.
process. T h e results of simulation with coil moved away about
0.125 of channel width are presented in Table 11.
The improved homogeneity of K results in almost lin- Comparing Table I and Table I1 it is clear that for such a
ear characteristic of the transducer. The voltage induced construction of the transducer the improvement of the ho-
between the electrodes is-according to (4)-proportional mogeneity of vector K is at the cost of significant growth
to the total flow multiplied by the predicted coefficient IC. of power consumption.
 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjih
zyxwvutsrqp
2566

1
2
3
uw/uo
s/m / 5 / m
1
1000
1
zyx
zyxwv
zyxwvutsrq
Shapeof

rect.
trap.
TABLE I1
Results of calculations. T h e coil was shifted from channel bank

the channel

rect .
q

0.061
0.026
0.054
Induced
Voltage
[VI
0.116
0.12
0.139
Magnetic
Energy
[kJI
96
40
200
1
2
3
d
[m]

0.0
0.2
0.3
Shape of
the channel

rect.
rect.
rect.
TABLE IV
Results for the improved design and

0.118
0.066
0.053
5w/5y

Induced
Voltage
[mVI
0.065
0.077
0.074
= 0.1

Magnetic
Energy
[kJI
301
861
917

zyxwvutsrqp
4 1000 trap. 0.025 0.148 80

zyxwvuts
4 0.4 rect. 0.051 0.071 950

d
zyxwvutsrqpon
TABLE I11
Results for the improved design a n d a w l a y = 10

[m]
Shape of
the channel
q Induced
Voltage
Magnetic
Energy
5
6
7
8
0.0
0.2
0.3
0.4
trap.
traD.
trap.
trap.
0.152
0.113
0.134
0.157
0.0727
0.071
0.0656
0.062
627
1070
1070
1070

[VI [kJI a real channel of different shapes and conductive banks.

1 0.0 rect. 0.054 0.0751 8.6
2 0.2 rect. 0.0503 0.0754 9.06 The presented results of numerical simulation prove the
3 0.3 rect. 0.0489 0.0755 9.23 existence of extreme values of the analyzed functions
4 0.4 rect. 0.0485 0.0755 9.34 which makes the optimal design possible.
5 0.0 trap. 0.0476 0.095 19.3 Using this methodology the designer can also investi-
6 0.2 trap. 0.0432 0.0941 18.3
7 0.3 traD. 0.0398 0.0929 18.1 gate the influence of a particular parameter on the metro-
8 0.4 traD. 0.0403 0.0914 18 logical characteristics of the designed primary transducer
of an electromagnetic flow meter. The choice of elec-
trode shape and value of k is determined mainly by real
Another possibility to improve of the design is to change
or expected conductivity of the environment. Knowing
the shape of the measuring electrodes as shown in Fig. 6.
the range of conductivity values it is possible not only
The shapes of the coils which are presented in Fig. 6 were to optimize the design with respect to power consump-
obtained after optimization. tion and signal-to-noise ratio, but also to decide how the
transducer should be designed.
In the case of a wide range of changes of the conduc-
tivity, especially when the ground conductivity is greater
than that of the water, it seems to be reasonable to iso-
late the flow channel from the ground. This solution is
often applied for economic reasons and the results ob-

zyxwvutsrq
Fig. 6. Shapes of the coil after optimization for the design with the
lowered electrodes, uw / U g = 1

Table 111 presents the results of calculations for design

tained during exploitation of such flow meters show that
it is the correct solution.
In all cases the presented software is very useful as it
allows one to design the optimal device and to test several
variants of the construction.

REFERENCES
shown in Fig. 6 and the following parameters: the conduc-
tivity of liquid U , = 0.1 S/m, conductivity of the channel M. K. Bevir, “The theory of electromagnetic flow meter,”
bed g g = 0.01S/m and k = 0.08. It may be noticed that J.Fluid Mech., vol. 43, 1970.
for high liquid-to-ground conductivity ratio the value of

cl (see Fig. 6) has small influence on the quality of the
transducer.
Table IV contains results similar to those presented in
T a b l e I11 but obtained for the exchanged values of con-
ductivity: U , = O.OlS/m, and crg = O.lS/m. The value
of k was again 0.08.
Table IV shows that for conducting banks the use of
electrodes with d = 0.2m may be beneficial, especially
for rectangular channels.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The methodology of optimal design of the shape of the
coils for an electromagnetic flow meter was extended to
zyxwv
C. Smyth, “Derivation of weight functions for the circular and
rectangular channel magnetic flow meters, by means of Green’s
theorem and conformal mapping,” Journal of Physics E: Sci-
entific Instruments, vol. 4,1971.
J. Korytkowski (‘Solv;ng inverse prohlems with the aid
ei al.,
of field analysis and synthesis translator,” in 5th International
I G T E Symposium on Numerical Field calculation in Electrical
Engineering, Proceedings, (IGTE, Technische Universitat Graz,
Austria), pp. 267-272, 1992.
P. Gill, W. Murray, and H. Wright, Practical Optimization. Lon-
don: Academic Press, 1982.
A. Michalski and S. Wincenciak, “Method of optimization of
primary transducer dedicated for electromagnetic flow meter,”
in Proceedings of I E E E Instrumentation d Measzlrement Tech-
nology Conference, 0&06.06 1 9 9 6 Brzlssel, I M T C Proceedings,
pp. 1350-1353,1996.