This invention claims protection for a mixed-frequency time-difference amplification flow measurement method based on an improved ultrasonic time-difference method, belonging to the field of ultrasonic fluid
velocity measurement technology. Addressing the problem of insufficient time-difference resolution in low-frequency ultrasonic flow measurement, this invention constructs a flow measurement architecture that deeply coordinates
fiber optic sensing and
heterodyne mixing: 1) An interferometric
fiber optic sensor is used to acquire upstream and downstream ultrasonic signals, whose high
signal-to-
noise ratio and phase fidelity provide a
distortion-free
signal basis for subsequent time-difference amplification; 2) The two signals are digitally mixed with a reference
signal and low-pass filtered. Utilizing the complete phase information retained by the
fiber optic sensor, the
microsecond-level original
time difference is losslessly converted into a significantly amplified apparent
time difference on the difference frequency signal; 3) The apparent
time difference is extracted by cross-correlation and then the
amplification factor is used to inversely deduce the actual
propagation time difference; 4) The flow velocity and flow rate are calculated. In this invention, fiber optic sensing ensures the measurability and phase accuracy of weak low-frequency signals, while
heterodyne mixing breaks through the traditional time-domain resolution limit. The two complement each other and work synergistically to significantly improve the accuracy and stability of flow measurement under complex river conditions.