Development of a custom on-line ultrasonic vapour analyzer/flowmeter for
the ATLAS inner detector, with application to gaseous tracking and Cherenkov
detectors
Precision sound velocity measurements can simultaneously determine binary gas
composition and flow. We have developed an analyzer with custom electronics,
currently in use in the ATLAS inner detector, with numerous potential
applications. The instrument has demonstrated ~0.3% mixture precision for
C3F8/C2F6 mixtures and < 10-4 resolution for N2/C3F8 mixtures. Moderate and
high flow versions of the instrument have demonstrated flow resolutions of +/-
2% F.S. for flows up to 250 l.min-1, and +/- 1.9% F.S. for linear flow
velocities up to 15 ms-1; the latter flow approaching that expected in the
vapour return of the thermosiphon fluorocarbon coolant recirculator being built
for the ATLAS silicon tracker.Comment: Paper submitted to TWEPP2012; Topical Workshop on Electronics for
Particle Physics, Oxford, UK, September 17-21, 2012. KEYWORDS: Sonar;
Saturated fluorocarbons; Flowmetry; Sound velocity, Gas mixture analysis. 8
pages, 7 figure
