A flowmeter is a device to measure velocity or volume of flow of liquids or gases passing a given point per unit of time.

See also Time of Flight.

For the flowprobe a vessel is positioned between transducers which generate wide beams of ultrasound to fully illuminate the vessel. The ultrasound beams alternately intersect the flowing blood in upstream and downstream directions. The flowmeter derives an accurate measure of the changes in transit time influenced by the motion of the blood.

See also Bi-directional Flow.

(TOF) Time of flight is a ultrasound technique used for calculating of the distance to a target by using the timing of the returning echo from the target and the speed of sound in the medium between the target and the sensor. Time of flight is used in echo location and ultrasonic flowmeters.

A flowmeter derives an accurate measure of the transit time ; transit time (or time of flight) is the difference in time for an ultrasonic pulse to travel with the direction of flow and against it. With bi-directional illumination it is the time taken for an ultrasound pulse to travel from one transducer to another. This time is used to measure blood flow rate. The difference between the upstream and downstream measured transit times calculates the volume flow.

See also Echo Ranging.