Flow meter uses time-of-flight technology to send and receives ultrasonic waves

Aimed at applications such as ultrasonic heat, cooling and flow meters, Mouser now stocks Maxim's MAXREFDES70# heat and flow meter which uses ultrasonic time-of-flight (ToF) to send and receives ultrasonic waves between piezoelectric transducers in both the upstream and downstream directions in a pipe. An accurate flow rate can be calculated by measuring the ToF difference between the upstream and downstream wave travel with digital signal processing. The MAX35101 time-to-digital converter is the centre of the heat/flow meter system. The MAX35101 integrates the functions needed for automatic ToF measurements, including the ultrasonic pulse launching and detecting, ToF calculating, temperature measurements, and a real-time clock. The MAX35101 can operate in various configurable automatic even timing modes, requiring minimal interactivity from a host microcontroller and reducing the power consumption of the system.