This dissertation aimed at the design, development and validation of an optoelectronic device, operating in the infrared range, for counting and measuring the velocity of spheres in turbid media. The motivation to develop this theme resulted from the need to control the spheres circulation to implement an alternative system for cleaning heat exchangers used to cool hydrogenerators, which make use of spherical abrasive artefacts. The methodology used is based on the processing of the electronic signal generated by a circuit that produces pulses proportional to the time of passage of the sphere inside the meter, at each interruption of the light beam. The processing of the signal, which is generated by pairs of mutually perpendicular optoelectronic sensors and mounted transversely to the flow of cooling water carrying the spheres, is performed by a programmable logic controller, which provides intelligence to the system. Among the obtained results, it was verified that the device can detect circulating spheres both when transported by water flows with different degrees of turbidity (laboratory tests) and when in operation in the environment of the hydroelectric plant, whose opacity of the cooling water is given by the fouling removed during the cleaning process. As a conclusion, it can be stated that the proposed optoelectronic device meets the needs of the construction of the alternative system of cleaning by abrasive spheres and can eliminate false positives in the counting of the spheres, such as air bubbles or incrustation particles whose critical dimensions differ from those of the abrasive spheres.