Levitronix® has released the first ultrasonic, single-use (SU) flowmeter on the market. Characterized by high accuracy and superior performance, LEVIFLOW® SU noninvasive flowmeters enable a highly precise and low-cost flow measurement. With an accuracy of <1% of reading and flow ranges from 1 mL/min to 80 L/min, they offer the highest level of accuracy for measuring liquids in biopharmaceutical and other applications that require FDA, USP-VI, BSE/TSE, and animal-component–free materials that can be gamma sterilized.

Figure 1: Operating principle of ultrasonic single-use sensor

Technical Background: Figure 1 illustrates the operating principle: Two piezo-electric transducers, mounted in the sensor housing, generate and receive an ultrasonic wave. The wave going in direction of the flow (with-steam wave) is accelerated, and the wave going against the flow direction (against-steam wave) is slowed down. Both waves are processed by a signal converter. The difference of the transit time of both waves is proportional to the velocity of the fluid.

Figure 2: Single-use flow sensor

The standard configuration of Leviflow single-use flowmeters (Figure 2) consists of a flow sensor and a converter with a digital signal processor (DSP) for processing sensor signals. Various signals (analog output, digital input/output) are provided and can be configured with PC software. A two-wire RS485 bus allows arrays of multiple flowmeters. In addition, the sensor value is shown on a four-digit display.

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Ulrike Flaig is a business development specialist at Levitronix GmbH, Technoparkstrasse 1, 8005 Zürich, Switzerland, 41-44-445-1913; [email protected]; www.levitronix.com.