Pressure Mesaurement System

Turbulent Flow Instrumentation

Turbulent Flow Instrumentation Pty Ltd, or TFI, is an Australian company that specialises in the development of instrumentation for the measurement of turbulent flow fields. Although based in Australia, most of our customers are located overseas (particularly in North America andEurope) and include many well know organisations.

History

TFI was founded in 1995 to further develop the Cobra Probe, a multi-hole pressure probe for the dynamic measurement of turbulent flows. Since that time, we have continued development of the Cobra Probe and have also developed a number of other flow measurement devices.

Today, TFI continues to develop and support a range of instrumentation as well as undertake a number of other activities. Primarily, TFI provides specialist consultancy services; develops specialist instrumentation and provides services for the measurement of complex flow fields.

Key Personnel

Bernard Smith is a watchmaker by trade and has been with the company since its inception. Over the years his specialist skills have created all of TFI's Cobra Probes as well as many other made-to-order traverse systems, pitot probes and specialist instrumentation for universities and research organisations. His wide ranging abilities and watchmaking background are an integral part of TFI's skills base.

Peter Mousley, an aeronautical engineer, first worked with the Cobra Probe upon commencing his PhD in vehicle aerodynamics in 1996, when he used the Probe for experimental measurements. Out of interest he continued development of the Cobra Probe, improving both its manufacture and its operation. He also commenced the process of re-writing the front-end software for the probe, from the original DOS-based application to a user-friendly Windows-based system. He has expanded TFI's ability to customise data acquisition systems and integrate other instruments into a total data acquisition package, as well as continuing to work on improvements to the Cobra Probe and the Device Control software. Peter now heads TFI's hardware and software engineering efforts.

Juliette Milbank is a mechanical engineer with a doctorate in aeroacoustics fromRMITUniversityinMelbourne,Australia. As part of her doctorate she concentrated on experimental measurements in an open-jet wind tunnel and is familiar with both the TFI instrumentation and the issues involved in data acquisition. Juliette is involved with product testing and optimisation. She also maintains the TFI website.

Products

TFI produces three main instruments for measuring pressure and flow properties. These are the Cobra Probe, the ECA (Extended Cone of Acceptance) Probe and the DPMS (Dynamic Pressure Measurement System). All are capable of measuring not only the mean or time-averaged flow properties, but also the time-varying or turbulent flow components. This allows the study of the dynamic properties of flow and pressure fields. All instrumentation operates via Windows® based software that provides simplified configuration and real-time graphical display of measurements. In addition, TFI can integrate a range of instrumentation into a total data acquisition and facility control package. See below for further information.

Dynamic Pressure Measurement System

The DPMS (Dynamic Pressure Measurement System) is a multi-channel pressure measurement system that measures both mean and time-varying pressures for up to 1024 channels. This system has a high frequency response allowing examination of the dynamic properties of pressure fields and can also be used to show real-time pressure fluctuations in a graphical overlay on a picture of the test set up. The channels can be grouped in multiple modules, each of which may be stand-alone or rack mounted.

Extended Cone of Acceptance

The ECA (Extended Cone of Acceptance) Probe is a 13-hole pressure probe that operates on principles similar to the Cobra Probe, but has an extended flow angle range, of ±135°, within which measurements can be successfully made. Like the Cobra, the ECA Probe resolves 3-components of velocity and local static pressure in turbulent flows. The ECA Probe is ideal for highly turbulent flows, reverse flows or when the flow direction is completely unknown.

System Integration

TFI can integrate your choice of TFI and 3rd party instruments into a complete data acquisition, processing and control system, operated via a single user interface. This streamlines your running procedures, allows for synchronised measurements, gives consistent data storage formats and simplifies post-processing. The complete integration of hardware and software allows fully automated operation.

Other hardware that TFI produces include a range of pitot tubes, traverses, thermocouple and microaccelerometer modules and low channel-count (miniature) pressure modules. We also have specialist instrument making skills that can be utilised for any custom requirements.