As early as 1738, the Swiss Daniel Bernoulli used the differential pressure method to measure water flow based on the Bernoulli equation.Later, the Italian G.B. venturi studied the use of venturi to measure flow and published his results in 1791.

In 1886, the American herschel used the venturi control as a practical measuring device for measuring water flow.

From the beginning to the middle of the 20th century, the original measurement principles gradually became mature, and people no longer limited their thoughts to the original measurement methods, but began to explore new things.

In the 1930s, there was a new method to measure the flow rate of liquid and gas by acoustic wave. However, no great progress was made until the second world war. In 1955, the maxson flowmeter using acoustic cycle method was invented to measure the flow rate of aviation fuel.

After the 1960s, measuring instruments began to develop in the direction of precision and miniaturization.

With the rapid development of integrated circuit technology, ultrasonic (wave) flowmeters with phase-locked loop technology have been widely used, and the wide application of microcomputers has further improved the capacity of flow measurement, such as laser doppler flowmeters can process more complex signals after the application of microcomputers.