Extensional bundle waveguide techniques for measuring flow of hot fluids.

A bundle of acoustically slender metal rods, each thin compared to wavelength, tightly packed within a sheath, and welded closed at each end, provides a dispersion-free waveguide assembly that acts as a thermal buffer between a transducer and the hot fluid medium the flow of which is to be measured. Gas and steam flow applications have ranged up to 600 degrees C. Liquid applications have ranged from cryogenic (-160 degrees C) to 500 degrees C and include intermittent two-phase flows.