Abstract:

Eddycurrent Flowmeter is used for measuring the sodium flowrate in the outlet of the primary sodium pump of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor. Sodium flowrate monitoring is essential for protection of the reactor. Hence fast response electronics is required for processing the Eddycurrent flowmeter signal. The signal conditioning circuit plays a vital role in designing the fast response electronics for Eddycurrent Flowmeter. The previous electronics design has a pre-amplifier, isolation amplifier, low pass filter and precision rectifier. With the existing electronics a response time of 1.5sec was achieved to detect the changes in flowrate. The major contribution of the delay in the electronics was due to the filter and AC to DC conversion. This work presents the improvements in the design methods of the signal conditioning circuit which has a faster response time. The simulation and experimental results prove that the designed electronics can detect the changes in flowrate with a response time of less than 25ms.

Key Word: Eddycurrent Flowmeter, Response time and Signal conditioning circuit.