Introduction
Vectoflow offers flow measurement technology for many different applications. Our customers want to measure flow velocities, flow angles, the local Mach number, pressures, temperatures and all this with a good spatial resolution. Sometimes time-averaged data is sufficient, in other cases a time-resolved measurement is required. Vectoflow offers high-quality solutions for all of these different requirements, ranging from flow probes including calibration in Vectoflow's own calibration wind tunnel, to temperature and pressure scanners, to data acquisition and evaluation software.
The different areas of application
Vectoflow flow measurement probes are very robust due to their additive manufacturing and can therefore be used in a wide variety of applications. The probes also withstand harsh operating conditions. Typical areas of application for Vectoflow probes are:
- Aerospace
- Turbo machines
- automotive engineering
- wind power
- Shipbuilding
- Motorsports / competitive sports
- Plant engineering and chem. Industry
Variants
There are different flow measuring probes depending on the application and measuring range. The head shape and number of holes are adapted to the task at hand. The larger the number of holes on the probe tip, the higher the achievable accuracy and the measurable angular range. 3-, 5-, 7-, 14-hole probes as well as individual, customer-specific developed probes are possible. In order to be able to achieve optimal results, the material of the probe is adapted to the corresponding measuring conditions of speed, frequency, angle of attack and temperature.
| Overwiev for applications and measuring range of Vetoflow probes | |||||
| 3-hole | 5-hole | 7-hole | 14-hole | Custom | |
| Examples of applications | Measurements in the boundary layer | Standard measurements | Increased measurement range | For recirculating flows or automotive wheel casing measurements | Adapted to the customer´s needs |
| Velocity | 3 m/s (16.5 ft/s) up to Mach 2 | ||||
| Frequency | 10 Hz up to 1 kHz | ||||
| Max. angle of attack | > 50° up to 165° | ||||
| Temperature | For metals: -50 °C to 1000 °C (-60°F to 1800°F) / For ceramics: -50 °C to over 1000 °C (-60°F to over 1800°F) | ||||
Turbo machines are an important area of application for the Vectoflow products. The geometrical flexibility in connection with the increased mechanical robustness and temperature resistance of the probes enables measurements even under difficult conditions. Vectoflow instruments entire gas turbines, including truss systems, for its customers.
The lightweight probes are also of great interest in automobile construction and motorsport applications, mostly in racing cars but also in wind turbines and in plant construction. Due to the additive manufacturing, which is used for the construction of almost all Vectoflow flow probes, the combination of more than one probe head in one probe rack is possible and still offers a high degree of geometric flexibility. These rakes are used e.g. B. in Formula 1, engines and wind turbines where no traversing system can be installed to measure data at different points in space.
For all mobile applications, such as aerospace and shipbuilding, Vectoflow offers lightweight probes as well as an Air Data System that measures the pressure and temperature values of the flow, evaluates the data on board and sends the results to a computer or a flight control system transmitted instantaneously.