In modern flow control settings, a slow controller sampling rate is often much slower than a flowmeter response, and flowmeters are often selected without consideration of the dynamic response characteristics. However, for fast loops which necessitate a high control sampling frequency, negligence in flowmeter selection might result in an undesirable control performance degradation. Such associated research is expected to be critical to design and evaluation of new flowmeters, i.e., wedge flowmeters in this study, but little work has been found in the public domain to address this issue. In this paper, a new way of calculating process variability is proposed to fast-track the evaluation of flow control performance and cost saving. In addition, based on frequency response analysis, a systematic study of how dynamic response characteristics of flowmeters impact flowmeter accuracy and process variability is presented. Moreover, the impact of controller sampling rate on process variability is researched. Last, the closed-loop stability of the flow control loop with new wedge flowmeters is evaluated for a wide range of its targeted applications. The results demonstrate that a flowmeter with a faster response will always lead to process variability reduction for a given controller sampling rate, and that with careful controller set up, a flow loop with wedge flowmeter is still stable despite relatively slow dynamics.

在现代的流量控制设置中，缓慢的控制器采样率通常比流量计响应要慢得多，并且通常在不考虑动态响应特性的情况下选择流量计。但是，对于需要高控制采样频率的快速环路，流量计选择上的疏忽可能会导致不希望的控制性能下降。预计此类相关研究对于设计和评估新型流量计（例如本研究中的楔形流量计）至关重要，但是在公共领域却很少找到解决该问题的工作。本文提出了一种计算过程变异性的新方法，以快速评估流控制性能并节省成本。另外，根据频率响应分析，提出了关于流量计动态响应特性如何影响流量计精度和过程可变性的系统研究。此外，研究了控制器采样率对过程可变性的影响。最后，针对新的楔形流量计对流量控制环的闭环稳定性进行了评估，以用于其广泛的目标应用。结果表明，对于给定的控制器采样率，具有更快响应的流量计将始终导致过程可变性的降低，并且通过精心设置控制器，具有楔形流量计的流量环路尽管动力学相对较慢，但仍保持稳定。使用新型楔形流量计对流量控制回路的闭环稳定性进行了评估，以用于其广泛的目标应用。结果表明，对于给定的控制器采样率，具有较快响应的流量计将始终导致过程可变性的降低，并且通过精心设置控制器，具有楔形流量计的流量环尽管相对较慢的动力学仍然稳定。使用新型楔形流量计对流量控制回路的闭环稳定性进行了评估，以用于其广泛的目标应用。结果表明，对于给定的控制器采样率，具有较快响应的流量计将始终导致过程可变性的降低，并且通过精心设置控制器，具有楔形流量计的流量环尽管相对较慢的动力学仍然稳定。