Turbine Rotor Sensor

Turbine rotor blade and motion sensor for measuring speed of a substance.

A turbine rotor sensor is used to measure the speed of a substance passing through the inside of the turbine. A turbine consists of a series of blades mounted around a rotatable shaft which runs parallel and centrally within a tube or pipe. The rotor blades are angled enough to generate sufficient rotation and performance whilst keeping any interference with the measured quantity to a minimum.

There a few ways to measure the rotation speed of the turbine; magnets are fitted to the blades and a stationary magnetic pickup sensor mounted close to the outer circumference of the turbine counts each time a blade passes; a photoelectric cell is used instead of a magnetic pickup; or a gearing mechanism linked to a rotational sensor is attached directly to the turbines rotating shaft.

Each of the above sensing methods will generate a counting signal, which when combined with the time measurement will produce a rotational speed signal which is proportional to the speed of the substance moving through the turbine.

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