Development of Ultrasonic Kinematic Viscometer Based on Liquid Flow Through Bottom Hole

The development of a kinematic viscometer based on the ultrasonic sensing method is reported in this letter. In the proposed method, an ultrasonic sensor mounted on top of a liquid tank with a small hole at the bottom is used for measuring the viscosity of Newtonian liquid samples. The ultrasonic sensor in association with a data acquisition system is exploited to monitor the level of the flowing liquid through the bottom hole of the liquid tank and to measure the flow time of the liquid samples. The proposed system is utilized for measurement at temperatures of 20 °C, 30 °C, and 40 °C. The experimental result agrees with the results of standard viscosity of the test samples within the percentage error of 0.14%–5.11%. The merits of the proposed system are simple in design, low cost, very precise and repeatable, noninvasive, automatic flow time measurement, and better response time due to the use of the ultrasonic sensor. The proposed system can be employed for measuring the viscosity of all types of Newtonian liquids independent of their transparency or color.