In 1959, an ultrasonic flowmeter using the doppler technology was firstly developed by Shigeo Satomura for using in blood flow analysis.
In 1963, the first ultrasonic flowmeters are developed for using in industrial applications.
Since their introduction,clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeters have had a sharky reputation in the field of flow measurement. The ultrasonic flowmeter based on doppler method were often misapplied,because doppler ultrasonic flowmeters were never suitable for clean liquids.In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Doppler ultrasonic flowmeters came to prominence.However, they were not well understood, and as a result oft misapplied. This gave ultrasonic flowmeters a bad reputation with some end-users.
In the 1990s,Transit time(also called time of flight) ultrasonic technology was introduced and became widespread.Transit-time flowmeter was very suitable for measuring clean and average liquid.
Over the past 15 years, benefited from advanced microprocessor technology, in terms of greater accuracy and greater success rates out of the box. transit time flowmeter has continued to evolve.
In 1995, the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) developed R 117, “Measuring Systems for Liquids Other than Water.” While this is a standard that applies to ultrasonic flowmeters, it applies to other types of flowmeters as well.
In June 1998, the American Gas Association published a standard called AGA-9. This standard lays out criteria for the use of ultrasonic flowmeters, specifically multipath systems, for custody transfer of natural gas. It was updated and reissued in 2007.
In February 2005, the American Petroleum Institute (API) published a standard for the use of ultrasonic flowmeters for measuring liquid hydrocarbons.
Those custody-transfer of industry approvals have paved the way for ultrasonic flow measurement.