GB2281622A - A device for non-intrusive detection of liquids - Google Patents

A device for non-intrusive detection of liquids Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2281622A
GB2281622A GB9417837A GB9417837A GB2281622A GB 2281622 A GB2281622 A GB 2281622A GB 9417837 A GB9417837 A GB 9417837A GB 9417837 A GB9417837 A GB 9417837A GB 2281622 A GB2281622 A GB 2281622A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
signal
container
ultrasonic signal
liquid
reflected
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
GB9417837A
Other versions
GB9417837D0 (en
Inventor
Robert Lewis
Ronald Malcolm Belchamber
Michael Patrick Collins
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Process Analysis & Automation
BP Chemicals Ltd
Original Assignee
Process Analysis & Automation
BP Chemicals Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Process Analysis & Automation, BP Chemicals Ltd filed Critical Process Analysis & Automation
Publication of GB9417837D0 publication Critical patent/GB9417837D0/en
Publication of GB2281622A publication Critical patent/GB2281622A/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01F—MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUID LEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME
    • G01F23/00—Indicating or measuring liquid level or level of fluent solid material, e.g. indicating in terms of volume or indicating by means of an alarm
    • G01F23/22—Indicating or measuring liquid level or level of fluent solid material, e.g. indicating in terms of volume or indicating by means of an alarm by measuring physical variables, other than linear dimensions, pressure or weight, dependent on the level to be measured, e.g. by difference of heat transfer of steam or water
    • G01F23/28—Indicating or measuring liquid level or level of fluent solid material, e.g. indicating in terms of volume or indicating by means of an alarm by measuring physical variables, other than linear dimensions, pressure or weight, dependent on the level to be measured, e.g. by difference of heat transfer of steam or water by measuring the variations of parameters of electromagnetic or acoustic waves applied directly to the liquid or fluent solid material
    • G01F23/296—Acoustic waves
    • G01F23/2968—Transducers specially adapted for acoustic level indicators
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01F—MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUID LEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME
    • G01F23/00—Indicating or measuring liquid level or level of fluent solid material, e.g. indicating in terms of volume or indicating by means of an alarm
    • G01F23/22—Indicating or measuring liquid level or level of fluent solid material, e.g. indicating in terms of volume or indicating by means of an alarm by measuring physical variables, other than linear dimensions, pressure or weight, dependent on the level to be measured, e.g. by difference of heat transfer of steam or water
    • G01F23/28—Indicating or measuring liquid level or level of fluent solid material, e.g. indicating in terms of volume or indicating by means of an alarm by measuring physical variables, other than linear dimensions, pressure or weight, dependent on the level to be measured, e.g. by difference of heat transfer of steam or water by measuring the variations of parameters of electromagnetic or acoustic waves applied directly to the liquid or fluent solid material
    • G01F23/296—Acoustic waves
    • G01F23/2962—Measuring transit time of reflected waves

Abstract

A device for non-intrusive detection of a liquid within a container which comprises (a) means for producing an ultrasonic signal; (b) means for detecting the ultrasonic signal reflected from the container/liquid interface; (c) means for converting the reflected ultrasonic signal into an electric signal; (d) means for detecting the electric signal; and (e) a coupling agent for securing the device to the container.

Description

A DEVICE FOR NON-INTRUSIVE DETECTION OF LIOUIDS The present invention relates to a device for the nonintrusive detection of liquids within a closed container and to a method of detection of liquids.
It is often necessary to determine the presence of liquid within a closed or sealed container, for example water level within a boiler. In such circumstances, it is not possible to open the container and thus evaluation can be difficult, if not impossible.
We have now developed a device which allows non-intrusive detection of the presence of liquid within a container through the use of ultrasonic energy.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a device for the non-intrusive detection of a liquid within a container which comprises: (a) means for producing an ultrasonic signal; (b) means for detecting the ultrasonic signal reflected from the container/liquid interface; (c) means for converting the reflected ultrasonic signal into an electric signal; (d) means for detecting the electric signal; and (e) a coupling agent for securing the device to the container.
The present invention provides a device for detection of liquid in a container through the measurement of the reflected ultrasonic signal from the container/liquid interface.
The device of the present invention allows for non-intrusive detection of the liquid and thus is suitably positioned on the exterior wall of the container. The device may be secured to the wall of the container using any suitable means, for example a magnetic holder or an adhesive.
The device requires a means for providing an ultrasonic signal. It is preferred that the device comprises a piezoelectric transducer.
Any suitable ultrasonic signal may be provided for the device of the present invention. Suitably, the signal is a pulse, a sine wave or a random sequence signal.
The signal emitted from the device is passed through the wall of the container to the wall/liquid interface. At this point, some of the ultrasonic signal is reflected from the interface back to the exterior wall of the container. The remainder of the signal is coupled into the material contained within the container. A greater amount of the signal will pass into the container containing liquid rather than gas and thus less signal is reflected back to the exterior of the container.
The reflected signal is detected through any suitable means which may be the same means used to provide the original ultrasonic signal, i.e. a piezo-electric transducer.
Alternatively, the means for detecting the reflected signal may be an independent transducer.
The reflected ultrasonic signal is converted to an electric signal for identification using any suitable means. This may be an amplifier or a gated integrator, signal averager, digitiser, box car integrator, peak detector or similar convertor.
The electric signal may then be identified by a suitable means e.g. a light switch.
The device requires a coupling agent for efficient coupling of ultrasonic power to the wall of the container. Suitably, the coupling agent may be an adhesive or a viscous compound. It is preferred that the device is secured with an epoxy resin.
The device of the present invention is particularly applicable for monitoring boiler water levels, levels of liquid in gas/liquid separators, as a high/low indicator for tanks and for detection of flooding in distillation columns.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a non-intrusive method for the determination of liquid in a container which method comprises the steps of: (a) producing an ultrasonic signal; (b) passing the ultrasonic signal through the wall of the container; (c) detecting the reflection of the signal from the container/liquid - interface; (d) converting the reflected ultrasonic signal to an electric signal; and (e) identifying the electric signal.
Suitably, the energy of the first reflection may be monitored and converted into an electric signal for identification. Alternatively, the second or subsequent reflections from the container/liquid interface may be monitored.
It is preferred to monitor either the second or subsequent reflections.

Claims (7)

Claims
1. A device for the non-intrusion detection of a liquid within a container which comprises: (a) means for producing an ultrasonic signal; (b) means for detecting the ultrasonic signal reflected from container/liquid interface; (c) means for converting the reflected ultrasonic signal into an electric signal (d) means for detecting the electric signal; and (c) a coupling agent for securing the device to the container.
2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for providing the ultrasonic signal is a piezo-electric transducer.
3. A device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the means for detecting the ultrasonic signal is a piezo-electric transducer or an independent transducer.
4. A device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the means for converting the reflected ultrasonic wave into an electric signal is an amplifier, a gated integrator, a signal averager, a digitiser, a box car integrator or a peak detector.
5. A device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the coupling agent is an adhesive or a viscous compound.
6. A device as claimed in claim 5 wherein the coupling agent is an epoxy resin.
7. A method for the determination of a liquid in a container using a device as defined in anyone of claims 1 to 6, which method comprises the steps of: (a) producing an ultrasonic signal; (b) passing the ultrasonic signal through the wall of the container; (c) detecting the reflection of the signal from the container/liquid interface; (d) converting the reflected ultrasonic signal to an electric signal; and (e) identifying the electric signal.
GB9417837A 1993-09-03 1994-09-01 A device for non-intrusive detection of liquids Withdrawn GB2281622A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB939318281A GB9318281D0 (en) 1993-09-03 1993-09-03 A device for non-intrusive detection of liquids

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB9417837D0 GB9417837D0 (en) 1994-10-26
GB2281622A true GB2281622A (en) 1995-03-08

Family

ID=10741449

Family Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB939318281A Pending GB9318281D0 (en) 1993-09-03 1993-09-03 A device for non-intrusive detection of liquids
GB9417837A Withdrawn GB2281622A (en) 1993-09-03 1994-09-01 A device for non-intrusive detection of liquids

Family Applications Before (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB939318281A Pending GB9318281D0 (en) 1993-09-03 1993-09-03 A device for non-intrusive detection of liquids

Country Status (1)

Country Link
GB (2) GB9318281D0 (en)

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2302946A (en) * 1995-06-29 1997-02-05 Whitaker Corp Ultrasonic liquid level detector
EP0979998A2 (en) * 1998-07-14 2000-02-16 Bayer Corporation Dynamic noninvasive detection of analytical container features using ultrasound
WO2014016801A3 (en) * 2012-07-25 2014-11-06 Services Petroliers Schlumberger Non-invasive acoustic monitoring of subsea containers
US20150253178A1 (en) * 2014-03-10 2015-09-10 Onesubsea Ip Uk Limited Container Monitoring Apparatus
US20170167910A1 (en) * 2014-02-04 2017-06-15 Total S.A. Detection of water in a tensioning buoy
WO2020152244A1 (en) * 2019-01-24 2020-07-30 Dehon Sa System and method for measuring the filling level of a fluid container by means of acoustic waves

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4144517A (en) * 1977-08-05 1979-03-13 Joseph Baumoel Single transducer liquid level detector
GB2013343A (en) * 1978-01-26 1979-08-08 Page Eng Co Ltd Apparatus for detecting liquid
US4203324A (en) * 1977-08-05 1980-05-20 Joseph Baumoel Sonic liquid level detector
GB2076536A (en) * 1980-05-21 1981-12-02 Detectronic Ltd Method of Detecting a Body of Liquid
GB2128326A (en) * 1982-10-05 1984-04-26 Itt Ind Ltd Non-intrusive liquid level switch
US4630245A (en) * 1983-07-15 1986-12-16 Introtek Corporation Non-contacting liquid level detection system

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4144517A (en) * 1977-08-05 1979-03-13 Joseph Baumoel Single transducer liquid level detector
US4203324A (en) * 1977-08-05 1980-05-20 Joseph Baumoel Sonic liquid level detector
GB2013343A (en) * 1978-01-26 1979-08-08 Page Eng Co Ltd Apparatus for detecting liquid
GB2076536A (en) * 1980-05-21 1981-12-02 Detectronic Ltd Method of Detecting a Body of Liquid
GB2128326A (en) * 1982-10-05 1984-04-26 Itt Ind Ltd Non-intrusive liquid level switch
US4630245A (en) * 1983-07-15 1986-12-16 Introtek Corporation Non-contacting liquid level detection system

Cited By (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2302946A (en) * 1995-06-29 1997-02-05 Whitaker Corp Ultrasonic liquid level detector
EP0979998A2 (en) * 1998-07-14 2000-02-16 Bayer Corporation Dynamic noninvasive detection of analytical container features using ultrasound
EP0979998A3 (en) * 1998-07-14 2002-03-20 Bayer Corporation Dynamic noninvasive detection of analytical container features using ultrasound
WO2014016801A3 (en) * 2012-07-25 2014-11-06 Services Petroliers Schlumberger Non-invasive acoustic monitoring of subsea containers
GB2521287A (en) * 2012-07-25 2015-06-17 Schlumberger Holdings Non-invasive acoustic monitoring of subsea containers
US20170167910A1 (en) * 2014-02-04 2017-06-15 Total S.A. Detection of water in a tensioning buoy
US9841308B2 (en) * 2014-02-04 2017-12-12 Total S.A. Detection of water in a tensioning buoy
US20150253178A1 (en) * 2014-03-10 2015-09-10 Onesubsea Ip Uk Limited Container Monitoring Apparatus
WO2020152244A1 (en) * 2019-01-24 2020-07-30 Dehon Sa System and method for measuring the filling level of a fluid container by means of acoustic waves
US20220090955A1 (en) * 2019-01-24 2022-03-24 Dehon Sas System and method for measuring the filling level of a fluid container by means of acoustic waves

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB9318281D0 (en) 1993-10-20
GB9417837D0 (en) 1994-10-26

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WAP Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1)