Fuel quality sensor
First Claim
1. A fuel quality sensor for electronically monitoring contamination in flowing fuel in real time, comprising:
- an upper waveguide and a lower waveguide, the waveguides being rectangular parallelepipeds defining interior cavities resonant at the same frequency and having at least one intermediate plate separating the upper waveguide from the lower waveguide, the waveguides being short circuited and having a common ground;
a thin metallic wire extending through the intermediate plate from the interior cavity of the upper waveguide into the interior cavity of the lower waveguide, the metallic wire being electrically isolated from the at least one intermediate plate, the wire extending equal distances into the cavities;
an input port mounted on the upper waveguide and having a radiator disposed in the interior cavity of the upper waveguide;
an output port mounted on the lower waveguide and having a receiver disposed in the interior cavity of the lower waveguide; and
a fuel conduit extending through the upper waveguide, the metallic wire being external to and in close proximity to the fluid conduit;
wherein the metallic wire is dimensioned and configured for tunneling electromagnetic energy from the upper waveguide into the lower waveguide so that an output signal produced at the output port may be analyzed to determine a dielectric constant and loss tangent of fuel flowing in the fuel conduit for fuel contamination.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The fuel quality sensor includes two rectangular parallepiped waveguides of equal dimensions stacked one atop the other and having a common ground. A thin wire extends through the intermediate wall(s) between the upper and lower waveguide cavities. An input connector is mounted on a sidewall of the upper waveguide, and an output connector is mounted on a sidewall of the lower waveguide cavity. A fluid conduit extends through the upper waveguide cavity adjacent the wire. A tunable microwave signal or wideband time domain pulse is applied to the input connector while fuel is flowing through the conduit. If the fuel flowing in the conduit is uncontaminated, the output signal at the second connector will show no change from the tunneling frequency, but if the fuel is contaminated, the change in the fuel'"'"'s dielectric constant will result in a change in tunneling frequency and/or tan δ at the second connector.
17 Citations
11 Claims
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1. A fuel quality sensor for electronically monitoring contamination in flowing fuel in real time, comprising:
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an upper waveguide and a lower waveguide, the waveguides being rectangular parallelepipeds defining interior cavities resonant at the same frequency and having at least one intermediate plate separating the upper waveguide from the lower waveguide, the waveguides being short circuited and having a common ground; a thin metallic wire extending through the intermediate plate from the interior cavity of the upper waveguide into the interior cavity of the lower waveguide, the metallic wire being electrically isolated from the at least one intermediate plate, the wire extending equal distances into the cavities; an input port mounted on the upper waveguide and having a radiator disposed in the interior cavity of the upper waveguide; an output port mounted on the lower waveguide and having a receiver disposed in the interior cavity of the lower waveguide; and a fuel conduit extending through the upper waveguide, the metallic wire being external to and in close proximity to the fluid conduit; wherein the metallic wire is dimensioned and configured for tunneling electromagnetic energy from the upper waveguide into the lower waveguide so that an output signal produced at the output port may be analyzed to determine a dielectric constant and loss tangent of fuel flowing in the fuel conduit for fuel contamination. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification