Impedance sensing systems and methods for use in measuring constituents in solid and fluid objects
First Claim
1. A resonance type impedance sensor which is a multicoil open-core or air-core inductor, said sensor comprising at least two coils, at least one coil of the at least two coils being at least one excitation coil connectable to at least one alternating current source with frequency sweep, at least one other coil of the at least two coils being at least one sensing coil connectable to at least one data processing system and/or data acquisition unit (“
- DAQ”
), wherein;
(i) upon electrical connection to said current source, said at least one excitation coil is capable of propagating an energy to said at least one sensing coil, which is capable of generating a probing electromagnetic field, (ii) said at least one sensing coil is designed in such a way that intrinsic inductance L, capacitance C, and resistance R parameters of said at least one sensing coil are capable of providing resonance conditions for measuring of object under test impedance at a predetermined frequency or at a predetermined frequency range; and
(iii) said at least one sensing coil uses only its intrinsic (distributed) capacitance and is not connected to any capacitance means such that said at least one sensing coil is capable of measuring at least one of conductance, conductivity and one or more dielectric properties of at least a part of said object under test being disposed within a sensing area of said at least one sensing coil.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Devices and methods of the invention can be used in many industries, including, but not limited to, utilities, agriculture, food, textile, pharmaceutical, photovoltaic and semiconductor, medical devices, chemical and petro-chemical, material science, and defense, where monitoring and/or analysis of various properties of materials are desired. Sensors and methods of using same are provided for measuring at least one impedance of an object under test (or a tested object) at a predetermined frequency and/or a predetermined frequency range, particularly where resonance conditions are provided for such measurement.
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Citations
45 Claims
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1. A resonance type impedance sensor which is a multicoil open-core or air-core inductor, said sensor comprising at least two coils, at least one coil of the at least two coils being at least one excitation coil connectable to at least one alternating current source with frequency sweep, at least one other coil of the at least two coils being at least one sensing coil connectable to at least one data processing system and/or data acquisition unit (“
- DAQ”
), wherein;
(i) upon electrical connection to said current source, said at least one excitation coil is capable of propagating an energy to said at least one sensing coil, which is capable of generating a probing electromagnetic field, (ii) said at least one sensing coil is designed in such a way that intrinsic inductance L, capacitance C, and resistance R parameters of said at least one sensing coil are capable of providing resonance conditions for measuring of object under test impedance at a predetermined frequency or at a predetermined frequency range; and
(iii) said at least one sensing coil uses only its intrinsic (distributed) capacitance and is not connected to any capacitance means such that said at least one sensing coil is capable of measuring at least one of conductance, conductivity and one or more dielectric properties of at least a part of said object under test being disposed within a sensing area of said at least one sensing coil. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
- DAQ”
Specification