System and method for identifying fluids and monitoring fluid quality in a vessel
First Claim
1. A method of detecting the quality of a fluid in a vessel, comprising the steps of:
- transmitting an interrogation pulse into a vessel containing a fluid;
receiving a first reflection of the interrogation pulse off of a first transition boundary;
receiving a second reflection of the interrogation pulse off of a second transition boundary;
measuring the time between receiving the first reflection and receiving the second reflection;
determining a distance between the first transition boundary and the second transition boundary;
calculating a derived characteristic of the fluid located between the first transition boundary and the second transition boundary based upon the distance between the first transition boundary and the second transition boundary and the time difference between receiving the first reflection and receiving the second reflection;
determining a first configurable offset value to calculate a quality floor threshold;
determining a second configurable offset value to calculate a quality ceiling threshold; and
determining whether the derived characteristic is between the quality floor threshold and the quality ceiling threshold.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems are disclosed for using time domain reflectometry to determine the identity of a fluid in a vessel, and to determine whether the quality of a fluid in a vessel is within acceptable parameters. Methods include identifying a fluid by comparing a derived characteristic of a fluid to a reference characteristic, determining the quality of a fluid by determining if a derived characteristic is within an acceptable quality range, monitoring a fluid for a dynamic change in quality or state, and identifying a fluid by comparing a transition reflection waveform to a reference signature transition. The methods are implemented in systems for identifying a fluid layer in a vessel, such as fuel, free liquid water or ice, detecting misfueling or fuel contamination, and detecting fluid state changes, such as the formation of ice.
67 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method of detecting the quality of a fluid in a vessel, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting an interrogation pulse into a vessel containing a fluid; receiving a first reflection of the interrogation pulse off of a first transition boundary; receiving a second reflection of the interrogation pulse off of a second transition boundary; measuring the time between receiving the first reflection and receiving the second reflection; determining a distance between the first transition boundary and the second transition boundary; calculating a derived characteristic of the fluid located between the first transition boundary and the second transition boundary based upon the distance between the first transition boundary and the second transition boundary and the time difference between receiving the first reflection and receiving the second reflection; determining a first configurable offset value to calculate a quality floor threshold; determining a second configurable offset value to calculate a quality ceiling threshold; and determining whether the derived characteristic is between the quality floor threshold and the quality ceiling threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of detecting a change in a fluid in a vessel, comprising the steps of:
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measuring a fluid characteristic with TDR at a first time; measuring the fluid characteristic with TDR at a second time, where the second time is after the first time; and comparing the fluid characteristic measured at the first time to the fluid characteristic measured at the second time, wherein the fluid characteristic comprises the number of detected transition boundaries. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. A system for monitoring the quality of a fluid in a vessel, comprising:
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a transmitter configured to transmit an interrogation pulse into the vessel; a receiver, configured to receive reflected portions of the interrogation pulse; an electronics unit in communication with said transmitter and said receiver, the electronics unit cyclically transmitting interrogation pulses to the transmitter and receiving reflections from the receiver for time domain reflectometric measurement of the fluid; a memory; and a processor in communication with the electronics unit and the memory, the processor configured by the memory to perform steps comprising; detecting first and second impedance transitions corresponding to first and second boundaries of a bounded region of known length; calculating a derived characteristic of the fluid located between the first boundary and the second boundary; determining a first configurable offset value to calculate a quality floor threshold; determining a second configurable offset value to calculate a quality ceiling threshold; and determining whether the derived characteristic is between the quality floor threshold and the quality ceiling threshold.
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Specification