What is the difference between Coriolis and ultrasonic flowmeters?

What is the difference between Coriolis and ultrasonic flowmeters?

Our research shows that these are the two fastest growing flow technologies. But there are important differences between the two.

1. Ultrasonic flowmeters were introduced in 1963 by Tokyo Keiki in Japan while Coriolis meters were introduced in 1977 by Micro Motion in the United States.
   
   
2. Coriolis meters do better on liquids than gas because they rely on the momentum of the fluid to make their flow measurement. Liquid is more dense than gas.
   
   
3. The large majority of Coriolis meters are sold for line sizes of 2 inches and less, while ultrasonic meters do best in larger line sizes.
   
   
4. The most highly accurate Coriolis meter is slightly more accurate than the most highly accurate ultrasonic meter.
   
   
5. At least four Coriolis suppliers have come out with Coriolis meters in the 8 – 16 inch line size in the past five years. These meters are aimed at the fast growing energy markets.
   
   
6. Developments continue in multipath ultrasonic flowmeters with the number of paths increasing. Faure Herman with 18 paths has more than any other ultrasonic meter, as far as I know. This is a meter for liquid petroleum applications. But there is still some confusion about the difference between “chord” and “path” with some suppliers talking about “chords” and other suppliers talking about “paths.”
   
   
7. Unlike Coriolis meters, ultrasonic meters do very well on both liquids and gas.
   
   
8. Neither Coriolis nor ultrasonic meters do well on steam flow measurement, though both are trying to do this.

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