SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A NONDESTRUCTIVE ON-LINE TESTING OF SAMPLES

• US 20120038371A1
• Filed: 09/16/2011
• Published: 02/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aspect AI Ltd
• Original Assignee: Uri Rapoport
• Inventors: Rapoport, Uri
• Granted Patent: US 8,847,608 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/633
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 24/085 Analysis of materials for the purpose of controlling industrial production systems

Abstract

A non-destructive on-line system for detecting a presence of a material in a sample of a substance, including: an MRI device; a flow conduit encompassed by the tunable RF coil of the MRI device and having an input duct and an output duct; a flow of the sample through the flow conduit; a signal detector for detecting frequency-dependent output signals from the MRI device as a function of a frequency variation of the RF tunable coil within a frequency range of an RF resonant frequency of a standard sample of the substance, and a processing unit.

Claims

1. A non-destructive on-line system for detecting a presence of a material in a sample of a substance comprising:

an MRI device;

a flow conduit encompassed by the tunable RF coil of said MRI device and having an input duct and an output duct;

a flow of said sample through said flow conduit;

a signal detector for detecting frequency-dependent output signals from said MRI device as a function of a frequency variation of the RF tunable coil within a frequency range of an RF resonant frequency of a standard sample of said substance, and

a processing unit,

wherein said processing unit is configured to;

determine an impedance frequency variation from said frequency-dependent output signals and at least one MRI device operational parameter;

determine an RF frequency variation of at least one characteristic parameter of said substance from said impedance frequency variation, and

compare said RF frequency variation of said at least one characteristic parameter of said sample with an RF frequency variation of a corresponding characteristic of a standard sample of said substance such that said comparison determines said material content of said sample.

2. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one characteristic of said substance is selected from the group consisting of at least one physical characteristic, at least one electrochemical characteristic, at least one chemical characteristic and at least one biological (PPECB) characteristic and any combination thereof.

3. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 2, wherein said at least one characteristic comprises either an electrical inductance of said substance or an electrical reactance of said substance.

4. The non-destructive on-line method according to claim 1, wherein said frequency range is approximately ±

100 MHz of said resonant frequency.

5. The non-destructive on-line method according to claim 1, wherein said material comprises water.

6. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 1, wherein said output signal comprises either a voltage signal or an RF voltage signal.

7. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit is further configured to optimize a production process of said sample.

8. The system according to claim 1, adapted to measure and control the sample undergoing a modification said modification is selected from the group consisting of a physical modification, biological modification, chemical modification and any combination thereof.

9. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 1, wherein said sample is selected from the group consisting of tomato puree, tomato ketchup, tomato paste, tomato sauce, tomato beverage, tomato soup, tomato concentrate, apple puree, apple paste, apple sauce, apple beverage, apple concentrate, potato puree, potato paste, potato sauce, potato beverage, potato concentrate.

10. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 1, adapted to measure and to control water pollution by at least one contaminant said at least one contaminant is selected from organic contaminants, inorganic contaminants and any combination thereof.

11. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 1, adapted to measure an acidity parameter in a food product.

12. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 2, wherein said physical parameter is selected from the group consisting of boiling point, refractive index, viscosity, moisture content, rheologic properties, magnetic properties.

13. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 2, said electrochemical parameter is selected from conductivity, pH, oxygen content, permittivity permeability, dielectric constant and any combination thereof.

14. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 2, wherein said chemical parameter is selected from the group consisting of chemical concentration and identity of the composition and any combination thereof.

15. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 2, wherein said biological parameter is selected from the group consisting of bacteria, mold, fungi, alga, virus, microorganisms, eukaryotes and any combination thereof.

16. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 1, wherein said sample is further selected from the group consisting of a solid, a sol-gel, a super-critical solution and any combination thereof.

17. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 1, wherein said material is further selected from the group consisting of water-miscible fluids, water-immiscible fluids, aggregated solutions, dispersions, emulsions, solution, slurry, polymer, solid and powder and any combination thereof.

18. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 16, wherein said solid is selected from the group consisting of nano-particles, fine powders, flowing solids and any combination thereof.

19. The non-destructive on-line according to claim 1, wherein said processor provides a Smith Chart of said impedance frequency variation as a function of said RF frequency such that said impedance frequency variation is function of the reactance and inductance of fluid sample.

20. The non-destructive on-line system according to claim 1, wherein said sample comprises either a fluid state or a solid state.

21. A non-destructive on-line method for detecting a material in a sample of a substance comprising:

providing an MRI device;

providing a flow conduit encompassed by the tunable RF coil of said MRI device;

providing a flow of said sample through said flow conduit;

detecting frequency-dependent output signals from said MRI device as a function of a frequency variation of the RF tunable coil within a frequency range of an RF resonant frequency of a standard sample of said substance, and

determining an impedance frequency variation from said frequency-dependent output signals and at least one predetermined MRI operational parameter;

determining an RF frequency variation of at least one characteristic of said substance from said impedance frequency variation;

comparing said RF frequency variation of said at least characteristic of said substance with an RF frequency variation of a corresponding characteristic of a standard sample of said substance,

wherein said comparison determines said material content of said sample.

22. A non-destructive on-line system for detecting a presence of a material in a sample of a substance comprising:

an MRI device;

a container encompassed by the tunable RF coil of said MRI device containing said sample;

a signal detector for detecting frequency-dependent output signals from said MRI device as a function of a frequency variation of the RF tunable coil within a frequency range of an RF resonant frequency of a standard sample of said substance, and

a processing unit,

wherein said processing unit is configured to;

determine an impedance frequency variation from said frequency-dependent output signals and at least one MRI device operational parameter;

determine an RF frequency variation of at least one characteristic parameter of said substance from said impedance frequency variation, and

compare said RF frequency variation of said at least one characteristic parameter of said sample with an RF frequency variation of a corresponding characteristic of a standard sample of said substance such that said comparison determines said material content of said sample.