Liquid storage tank contents gauge
First Claim
1. A liquid storage tank contents gauge comprising ultrasonic signal means for providing an electrical signal corresponding to the vertical height of the liquid in a tank, electronic means coupled to said signal means for deriving the volume of liquid corresponding to said vertical height, and an output means coupled to said electronic means for providing a usable output of said volume, said ultrasonic signal means including one and only one transducer for both emitting a signal and receiving the same signal when reflected by a liquid-air interface in a tank, said electronic means comprising a plurality of programmable read-only memory units, each containing the value of a liquid volume corresponding to a given vertical height in said tank and means for searching for and finding the read-only memory unit corresponding to the vertical height provided by said signal, and means for passing the output of said read-only memory unit to said output means.
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Abstract
A liquid storage tank contents gauge comprises means providing an electrical signal corresponding to the vertical height of the liquid in a tank in the form of an ultrasonic transducer positioned at the base of the tank and emitting a pulse of acoustic energy vertically upwards and which detects the pulse when reflected from the liquid/air interface within the tank and including timing means provided to time the interval between the emission of the pulse and the detection of the reflected pulse, electronic means for deriving the volume of liquid corresponding to the vertical height, and an output means for providing a visual output of this volume.
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Citations
9 Claims
- 1. A liquid storage tank contents gauge comprising ultrasonic signal means for providing an electrical signal corresponding to the vertical height of the liquid in a tank, electronic means coupled to said signal means for deriving the volume of liquid corresponding to said vertical height, and an output means coupled to said electronic means for providing a usable output of said volume, said ultrasonic signal means including one and only one transducer for both emitting a signal and receiving the same signal when reflected by a liquid-air interface in a tank, said electronic means comprising a plurality of programmable read-only memory units, each containing the value of a liquid volume corresponding to a given vertical height in said tank and means for searching for and finding the read-only memory unit corresponding to the vertical height provided by said signal, and means for passing the output of said read-only memory unit to said output means.
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6. A liquid storage tank contents gauge comprising signal means for providing a first electrical signal corresponding to the vertical height of the liquid in a tank, said signal means including one and only one transducer, electronic means coupled to said one and only one transducer of said signal means for deriving the volume of liquid corresponding to said vertical height, an output means coupled to said electronic means for providing a visual output of said volume, said electronic means including means for producing a second electrical signal indicative of the temperature of the liquid in the tank, and means for modifying said first electrical signal by adding said second electrical signal to said first electrical signal so as to compensate for temperature variations.
- 7. A liquid storage tank contents gauge comprising signal means for providing an electrical signal corresponding to the vertical height of the liquid in a tank, electronic mans coupled to said signal means for deriving the volume of liquid corresponding to said vertical height, and an output means coupled to said electronic means for providing a visual output of said volume, and means separately mountable in such tank for detecting the presence of a layer of contaminating second liquid immiscible with and of greater density than the liquid to be stored in the tank, said means for detecting the presence of a layer of contaminating second liquid including a pair of capacitor plates, means for mounting said capacitor plates adjacent the base of such tank, and means connected to said capacitor plates for detecting the change in capacitance between said plates indicating the presence of said second liquid.
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9. A liquid storage tank contents gauge comprising signal means including one and only one transducer for providing a first electrical signal corresponding to the vertical height of the liquid in a tank, electronic means coupled to said signal means for deriving the volume of liquid corresponding to said vertical height, an output means coupled to said electronic means for providing a usable output of said volume said gauge having compensating means to compensate for variations in the temperature of the liquid in the tank, said compensating means including means for producing a second electrical signal indicative of the temperature of the liquid in the tank, and means for modifying said first electrical signal by adding said second electrical signal to said first electrical signal.
Specification