Method and measuring arrangement for measuring gas content of fluid

• US 6,427,521 B2
• Filed: 07/01/1999
• Issued: 08/06/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Metso Field Systems Oy (Neles Oyj)
• Original Assignee: Metso Field Systems Oy (Neles Oyj)
• Inventors: Manninen, Timo, Dahlström, Ilkka, Jakkula, Pekka
• Primary Examiner(s): Williams, Hezron
• Assistant Examiner(s): GARBER, CHARLES D
• Application Number:
  US09/346,431
• Publication Number:
  US 20020014105A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,132 Days
• Field of Search: 73/190.1, 73/614.1, 73/614.3, 73/614.4, 738/610.4, 738/610.5, 324/637, 324/639, 324/613
• US Class Current: 73/19.01
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 22/04 Investigating moisture content
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/343 paper pulp

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a measuring arrangement for measuring the gas content of a fluid (13). The fluid (13) comprises gas bubbles. In the method, microwave radiation (20) is transmitted through the fluid (13) and a signal (7) indicating the travel time, phase or amplitude of the radiation (20) is formed in a microwave measuring device (16), and a gas measuring equipment (18) determines the gas content of the fluid (13) by means of the signal (7).

Claims

1. A method for measuring the gas content of a fluid, which has gas bubbles, in which method microwave radiation is transmitted through the fluid, the method comprising the steps of:

measuring at least one variable of the microwave radiation after the radiation has propagated through the fluid, and

determining the gas content of the fluid on the basis of noise caused by gas bubbles in the variable of the microwave radiation.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said measuring step determine the change in travel time of the propagation of the microwave radiation through the fluid by measuring a change in at least one variable of the microwave radiation.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the variable of the microwave radiation is the phase.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the variable of the microwave radiation is the amplitude of the radiation.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein a variable signal is formed form the changes of the variable of the microwave radiation, and the variable signal is filtered in order to make the gas content measurement more accurate.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the variable signal is filtered by averaging in order to make the gas content measurement more accurate.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the gas content is determined by means of a value describing the changes in the variable.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the value describing the changes is one of a standard deviation and variance.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the value describing the changes is the greatest value of the change.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein said measuring step further comprises the steps of:

forming the measured variable of the microwave radiation into a measurement signal;

converting the measurement signal from the time domain into the transform domain;

forming a value that is characteristic of the transformed signal; and

forming the gas content of the fluid by means of the value characteristic of the transformed signal.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein the characteristic value is one of the greatest value, effective value, and area of the signal.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein the consistency of the fluid is also measured, the result of the consistency measurement is corrected according to the result of the gas content measurement.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein the fluid in the method is papermaking pulp, and the method is applied in the measurement for air content which is about 0.1% or more of the total volume of the pulp.

14. A measuring arrangement for measuring the gas content of a fluid, which has gas bubbles, the measuring arrangement being arranged to transmit microwave radiation through the fluid, and comprising a transmitting antenna, a receiving antenna and a microwave measuring device, which are arranged to measure at least one variable of the microwave signal as the signal travels through the fluid, wherein

the measuring arrangement comprises a gas measuring equipment for determining the gas content of the fluid on the basis of noise caused by the gas bubbles in the variable of the microwave signal.

15. A measuring arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the variable of the microwave radiation is the phase.

16. A measuring arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the variable of the microwave radiation is the travel time.

17. A measuring arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the variable of the microwave radiation is the amplitude of the radiation.

18. A measuring arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the microwave measuring device is arranged to form a variable signal and to filter the signal in order to make the gas content measurement more accurate, and to supply the filtered variable signal to the measuring equipment.

19. A measuring arrangement according to claim 18, wherein the microwave measuring device filters the signal through averaging in order to make the gas content measurement more accurate.

20. A measuring arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the gas measuring equipment is arranged to determine the gas content by means of a value describing the changes in the variable.

21. A measuring arrangement according to claim 20, wherein the value describing the changes is one of a standard deviation and variance.

22. A measuring arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the microwave measuring device is arranged to form a measurement signal from the variable, the measuring arrangement comprising:

transform means for transforming the measurement signal from the time domain into the transform domain; and

gas measuring means equipment, which is arranged to form a value that is characteristic of the transformed signal, and to form the gas content of the fluid by means of the value characteristic of the transformed signal.

23. A measuring arrangement according to claim 22, wherein the characteristic value is one of the greatest value, effective value, and area of the signal.

24. A measuring arrangement according to claim 14, wherein, when the consistency of the fluid is also measured, the gas measuring equipment is arranged to correct the result of the consistency measurement by means of the result of the gas content measurement.

25. A method according to claim 14, wherein the measuring arrangement is arranged to measure papermaking pulp as the fluid, and the measuring arrangement is arranged to measure air content which is about 0.1% or more of the total volume of the pulp.