Effect of mechanical vibrations on Coriolis mass flow meters

An analytical study of the response of a simple Coriolis meter subjected to external mechanical vibrations and corresponding finite element studies of three commercially available meters are presented. These show that vibrations produce additional components in the meter sensor signals but that these components are only at the frequency of the vibrations. The results show that errors reported in vibration experiments, using any frequency except the meter drive frequency, are due to failure of the determination of the phase difference between the sensor signals. The results also show that external vibrations at the meter drive frequency produce a meter error regardless of the phase detection algorithm.