Nonconductive vapor/solid or liquid fraction determination
First Claim
1. Method of measuring phase fractions in mixed flow media of dielectric material, comprising the steps ofapplying a cyclic series of relatively displaced voltage fields across the flow in distributed, spatially overlapping, time sequenced, fashion, each with a field of said series being established in tapered form between a relatively narrow input electrode opposing a relatively broad receiving electrode,summing capacitive currents so produced across the flow by such fields and affected by the flowing medium dielectric constant to produce a signal correlatable with phase fraction of the flow with direction dependent variations averaged out.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The relative amounts of liquid phase versus vapor phase of a mixed phase nonconductive fluid such as oil or fuel; or the relative amounts of solids versus gas of a mixed flow of nonconductive particles and gas such as pneumatically conveyed plastic pellets and other material is determined by capacitive measurement taken in several distributed directions overlapping within the cross section of a flow path by providing a rotating electric field therein with an alternating voltage on the order of 10-100 kilohertz, with capacitive measurement produced by the rotated field being proportional to the liquid or solid fraction (and by subtraction from unity, vapor or gas fraction), the rotating electrical field being produced by sequentially rotating the electrical position of six plates equally spaced around the periphery of the cross section to be measured, the plate structure and insulations defining a flow measuring cross section or being spaced on the outer periphery of a nonconductive flow tube with allowance for rigors of flow conditions and fluid environment to provide reliable, long life.
51 Citations
9 Claims
-
1. Method of measuring phase fractions in mixed flow media of dielectric material, comprising the steps of
applying a cyclic series of relatively displaced voltage fields across the flow in distributed, spatially overlapping, time sequenced, fashion, each with a field of said series being established in tapered form between a relatively narrow input electrode opposing a relatively broad receiving electrode, summing capacitive currents so produced across the flow by such fields and affected by the flowing medium dielectric constant to produce a signal correlatable with phase fraction of the flow with direction dependent variations averaged out.
Specification