JP2966544B2 - Alcohol concentration measurement device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in an apparatus for measuring alcohol concentration. In particular, the present invention relates to an improvement that simplifies the process of zero adjustment, shortens the time for interrupting measurement for zero adjustment, and improves the accuracy of zero adjustment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is necessary to measure the concentration of alcohol contained in an aqueous solution in order to control the quality of so-called dampening water used in the lithographic printing process, such as the brewing and aging processes of alcoholic beverages and the like. Yes, especially in the latter case (fountain solution quality control), the alcohol concentration is sensitive to print quality, so the alcohol concentration in the dampening solution is measured continuously during the printing process. Must be kept tightly constant.

[0003] The most primitive method for detecting the alcohol concentration is to pump out a test liquid containing alcohol each time, measure the specific gravity of the aqueous solution containing the test alcohol, and based on the specific gravity, etc. This is a method for estimating the concentration of alcohol contained in a liquid.

[0004] However, this measurement method is an intermittent measurement method, and it is necessary to pump out a test liquid every time measurement is performed.
Continuous measurement was not suitable as a method for measuring the concentration of alcohol such as fountain solution.

[0005] Therefore, an alcohol concentration measuring apparatus capable of continuous measurement as shown in FIG. 2 has been devised.

Referring to FIG. 2, the alcohol concentration measuring apparatus according to the prior art illustrated uses a bubbler mechanism to selectively vaporize alcohol contained in a test liquid, and the vaporized alcohol and air supplied to the bubbler mechanism. The upper end (201) is closed with an upper end closing member (21), the lower end (202) is opened and immersed in the test liquid (1). Penetrates the cylindrical member (20) and the upper end closing member (21) and hangs down in the cylindrical member (20), and the lower end (221) is somewhat higher than the lower end (202) of the cylindrical member (20). And the lower end thereof is immersed in the test liquid (1) together with the lower end (202) of the tubular member (20). The air supply pipe (22) through which air is supplied, and the inside of the tubular member (20) communicates with the outside air. Scan discharge channel (24) and a gas sensor provided in the gas discharge passage (24) (25) becomes more.

In this embodiment, the gas discharge passage (24) is provided through the upper closing member (21). However, it is needless to say that this is one example.

When measuring the alcohol concentration using this alcohol concentration measuring apparatus, a cylindrical member (2
Air inlet means comprising a blower pump with an alcohol concentration measuring device fixed at a position where the lower end (202) of the air supply pipe (0) and the lower end (221) of the air supply pipe (22) are immersed in the test liquid (1). (50)
With this, air is continuously sent to the air supply pipe (22). Since the lower end (221) of the air supply pipe (22) is immersed in the test liquid (1), the supplied air turns into bubbles in the test liquid (1) to form the test liquid (1). Agitate the test liquid (1)
In particular, it rises while evoking the evaporation of alcohol contained therein and enters the inside of the tubular member (20), where the gas exhaust passage (2
It is released into the atmosphere via 4), but during this process,
The alcohol concentration is detected by contacting the gas sensor (25) provided in the gas discharge path (24).

If the amount of air sent from the air supply pipe (22) per unit time is kept constant, the amount of alcohol evaporating by air bubbles is determined by the concentration of alcohol contained in the test liquid (1). Therefore, the alcohol content of the test liquid (1) can be determined by measuring the alcohol concentration of the air discharged from the gas discharge passage (24) with the gas sensor (25). Can be measured continuously.

The gas sensor used in the alcohol concentration measuring apparatus having such a structure performs zero adjustment at appropriate time intervals because an error occurs in the detection value due to environmental conditions and aging. It is necessary to use it.

When the zero point adjustment of the alcohol concentration measuring apparatus according to the prior art is performed, (a) the entire apparatus is once taken out of the test liquid (1) and the lower end (202) of the cylindrical member (20) is taken out. Is immersed in water (reference liquid) that does not contain alcohol at all, and (b) air is supplied from the air supply means (50) in the same manner as in normal measurement, and the inside of the cylindrical member (20) is (C) Wait for alcohol remaining in the inside to be completely removed, adjust the zero point of the gas sensor (25), and (d) reconnect the device to the original It returns to the test liquid (1).

Due to this complicated operation, the test liquid (1)
The measurement of the alcohol concentration is interrupted for about 5 to 6 minutes or more, and the apparatus is moved from the test liquid (1) into water containing no alcohol (reference liquid) or water containing no alcohol (reference). Liquid) from the liquid to the test liquid (1). In order to do this automatically, a device that automatically moves the device is required.

[0013]

In the alcohol concentration measuring apparatus according to the prior art having the structure shown in FIG. 2, as described above, zero adjustment requires a man-hour and a time which are hard to overlook, and the gas sensor (25) There is a drawback that the residue of the vapor of the test liquid (1) adheres to the periphery of the gas sensor, which may lower the sensitivity and accuracy of the gas sensor (25).

[0014] This fact indicates that, as in the measurement of alcohol content in fountain solution used in the lithographic printing method, continuous measurement in which zero adjustment must be performed several times per hour is required. The field constitutes a serious drawback that is hard to overlook.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate this drawback, and to provide an alcohol concentration having advantages such as continuous measurement, easy and short zero point adjustment, and high zero point adjustment accuracy. It is to provide a measuring device.

[0016]

The above object is achieved at the upper end (20
1) is closed by the upper end closing member (21), and the lower end (202) is an open end and penetrates the cylindrical member (20) immersed in the test liquid (1) and the upper end closing member (21). Then, it hangs down in the tubular member (20), the lower end (221) ends above the lower end (202) of the tubular member (20), and the lower end (221) is connected to the test liquid (1). An air supply pipe (22) immersed therein, an air supply means (50) for supplying air to the air supply pipe (22), and the inside and outside air of the cylindrical member (20) are connected to a gas sensor (25). This is achieved by making the following improvements to an alcohol concentration measuring device having a gas discharge passage (24) communicating with the alcohol concentration measuring device. I. The cylindrical member (20) is replaced with a partition (31) having a small hole (311).
, And the two are divided into an upper chamber (60) and a lower chamber (70). B. The air supply pipe (22) branches off via a three-way switching valve (40) to form a cleaning pipe (23), and the cleaning pipe (23) is connected to the upper chamber (60).
So that it opens at the top.

It is not necessary to make the depth at which the lower end (202) of the cylindrical member (20) is immersed in the test liquid (the difference between the lower end (202) of the cylindrical member and the height of the external liquid level) so large. Absent. This is because the air blown out from the air supply pipe (22) must not push down the surface of the test liquid, and the air must not escape to the outside beyond the lower end (202) of the tubular member. Therefore, about 15 mm is appropriate.

The difference in height between the lower end (221) of the air pipe and the lower end (202) of the tubular member (20) is suitably about 5 mm. The deeper the air supply pipe (22), the greater the effect of promoting the evaporation of alcohol by foaming. However, if it is immersed too deeply, the air bubbles tend to escape beyond the lower end (202) of the tubular member (20). This is because

The size of the upper chamber (60) is such that the pressure fluctuation generated when the cleaning air supplied through the cleaning pipe (23) agitates the air in the upper chamber (60) is affected by the pressure fluctuation. ), The partition wall (31) is positioned at the lower end of the upper closing member (21) because it is preferably as small as possible so as not to cause flow pulsation in the air containing alcohol vapor passing through the gas sensor (25). From about 5 to 30 mm.

The cross-sectional area of the small hole (311) provided in the partition (31) is sufficient if it is about the same as the cross-sectional area of the air supply pipe (22). 31)
(The original effect of this).

The hole leading to the washing pipe (23) of the three-way switching valve (40) is used to increase the washing speed and to enhance the sealing effect of the infiltration of alcohol vapor from the lower chamber (70). The flow rate of the cleaning air supplied via the air supply pipe (22) is set to be larger than the hole leading to the air supply pipe (22) so that the flow rate of the cleaning air supplied through the air supply pipe (22) is larger than the normal air supply rate supplied through the air supply pipe (22). It is advantageous to do so.

[0022]

In the alcohol concentration measuring device according to the present invention, a. The cylindrical member (20) has a partition (31) having a small hole (311).
Are divided into an upper chamber (60) and a lower chamber (70). The air supply pipe (22) is branched via a three-way switching valve (40) to form a cleaning pipe (23). Since the cleaning pipe (23) is opened at the upper part of the upper chamber (60), . When the zero adjustment of the gas sensor (25) is performed, it can be simplified by the following steps, and the cylindrical member (20)
Need not be taken out of the test liquid (1) and immersed in a reference liquid containing no alcohol.

D. The steps are as follows. E. The air supply to the air supply pipe (22) is stopped by operating the three-way switching valve (40), and the air supply to the cleaning pipe (23) is started.

F. The air containing the alcohol filled in the upper chamber (60) is wiped by the air sent from the washing pipe (23), and the air containing no alcohol is discharged from the gas discharge path (24). At this point, the zero point adjustment of the gas sensor (25) may be performed.

G. At this time, since the volume of the upper chamber (60) is much smaller than the volume of the tubular member (20), the zero point adjustment can be started in a short time.

H. Also, part of the air sent to the upper chamber (60) will also be sent to the lower chamber (70), so that the air in the upper chamber (60) does not contain alcohol at all. And the accuracy of the zero adjustment is also improved.

Re. Further, when air is supplied at a considerably high wind speed, there is also an effect of cleaning the residue adhering to the gas sensor (25).

Nu. When the process returns to the alcohol concentration measurement step after the zero point adjustment, the above steps may be performed in the reverse order. At that time, since the lower chamber (70) is already filled with the air containing alcohol, What is necessary is just to send to the small upper chamber (60) through the small hole (311), and since the volume of the upper chamber (60) is small, the alcohol concentration of the air in the upper chamber (60) can be reduced in a short time. The alcohol concentration in the air in the lower chamber (70) can be made the same, and the process can return to the alcohol concentration measuring step in a short time.

Le. In this way, it is not necessary to take out the alcohol concentration measuring device from the test liquid (1) and immerse it in the reference liquid containing no alcohol, and to adjust the zero point of the gas sensor (25) continuously and in a short time. And the measurement accuracy is sufficiently improved.

[0030]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an apparatus for measuring an alcohol concentration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral (20) denotes a cylindrical member, the upper end (201) of which is shown.
Is closed by the upper closing member (21) and its lower end (20
2) is an open end, and is immersed in the test liquid (1) for measurement. An air supply pipe (22) penetrates the upper closing member (21) and communicates with the air inlet means (40) through a three-way valve (40), and a lower end (221) has a cylindrical member. It ends above the lower end (202) of (20),
In the measurement, it is immersed in the test solution (1). (twenty four)
Denotes a gas discharge path, which communicates the upper part of the tubular member (20) with the outside air, and a gas sensor (25) is provided in the middle.

A washing pipe (23) according to the gist of the present invention is branched from the air supply pipe (22) by the above-mentioned three-way valve (40), and is opened at an upper part of the tubular member (20). (31) is a partition, which is also a member according to the gist of the present invention. The partition (31) divides the tubular member (20) into two parts vertically, and forms an upper chamber (60) and a lower chamber (70). These upper chamber (60) and lower chamber (70) Communicates with a small hole (311).

In order to measure the alcohol concentration of the test liquid (1) using the alcohol concentration measuring apparatus according to the present invention having this structure, as shown in FIG. In the state immersed in (1), the three-way valve (40) is operated to feed air into the air supply pipe (22) to exert a bubbling effect to vaporize the alcohol in the test liquid (1). As described above, the alcohol concentration of the air containing the alcohol vapor represents the alcohol concentration of the test solution (1). The air containing the alcohol vapor fills the lower chamber (70), fills the upper chamber (60) through the small holes (311), and is released to the outside air through the gas discharge passage (24). However, in the middle of this, the gas sensor (25)
Then, the alcohol concentration of the air containing the alcohol vapor is measured to estimate the alcohol concentration of the test liquid (1).

Next, in order to perform the zero point adjustment, as shown in FIG. 1, while the alcohol concentration measuring device is immersed in the test liquid (1), the three-way valve (40) is operated and the air supply pipe (40) is operated. Stop the air sent to 22) and send air to the washing tube (23). Then, the bubbling is stopped, the vaporization of the test liquid (1) is stopped, and at the same time, air is sent into the upper chamber (60). And since the volume of the upper chamber (60) is small, the upper chamber (60) is rapidly filled with alcohol-free air, and the alcohol-free air is discharged to the outside air via the gas discharge path (24). During that time, the gas sensor (25) comes into contact with the gas sensor (25), so that the zero point adjustment is executed after the indication of the gas sensor (25) is stabilized. At this time, upper room (60)
Since the alcohol-free air sent into the lower chamber (70) flows into the lower chamber (70) through the small holes (311) of the partition (31), the air in the upper chamber (60) does not contain any alcohol. Therefore, the zero point adjustment accuracy is also improved.

As described above, the use of the alcohol concentration measuring apparatus according to the present invention simplifies the procedure for zero adjustment and shortens the time required for zero adjustment, but contains 3% of alcohol. In the case of transition from a state in which water (test liquid) was measured to a water (reference liquid) containing no alcohol, a conventional technique (an alcohol concentration measuring device was used to change from water (test liquid) once containing 3% alcohol) FIGS. 3 (a), 3 (b) and 4 show the difference in the required time between the case where water is transferred to alcohol-free water (reference liquid) and the case according to the present invention.
(A) and (b) show the graphs. FIG. 3A shows the case of the present invention, in which the time required to stabilize at the zero point is 60 seconds, whereas in the case of the prior art, as shown in FIG.
Seconds. On the other hand, in the case of shifting from a state immersed in water containing no alcohol (reference liquid) to water containing 3% of alcohol (test liquid), in the present invention, FIG.
This is 50 seconds as shown in FIG. 4A, but it is 110 seconds as shown in FIG.

Therefore, the total length of time required for zero adjustment is about 2 minutes in the present invention, but about 5 minutes in the case of the prior art, and the total length of time required for zero adjustment is 50 in the case of the present invention.
% Has been confirmed to be reduced.

[0037]

As described above, the alcohol concentration measuring apparatus according to the present invention is an improvement of the alcohol concentration measuring apparatus having the structure shown in FIG. Divided into upper and lower rooms,
(B) The air supply pipe branches off via the three-way switching valve (40) to form a cleaning pipe, and this cleaning pipe is opened at the upper part of the upper chamber. The upper chamber having a small volume is filled with alcohol-free air in a short time, and the alcohol-free air is discharged to a gas sensor area through a gas discharge path.
At this point, it is sufficient to adjust the zero point of the gas sensor.
In adjusting the zero point of the gas sensor, there is no need to take out the cylindrical member from the test liquid and immerse it in the reference liquid containing no alcohol, and the zero point adjustment procedure is continuous, and
It is simple, the time required for zero adjustment is short, and part of the air sent to the upper chamber is also sent to the lower chamber, so the air in the upper chamber does not contain alcohol at all. As a result, the accuracy of the zero point adjustment is improved, and when air is supplied to the upper chamber at a considerably high wind speed, there is also an effect of cleaning the residue adhering to the gas sensor.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual configuration diagram of an alcohol concentration measuring device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual configuration diagram of an alcohol concentration measuring device according to a conventional technique.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show the time required for stabilizing the indication of a gas sensor when moving from a state immersed in alcohol-containing water (test liquid) to water containing no alcohol (reference liquid). 3 is a graph showing a comparison between the present invention and a conventional technique.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are required to stabilize the indication of a gas sensor when moving from a state immersed in water (reference liquid) not containing alcohol to water containing alcohol (test liquid). 5 is a graph showing time comparing the present invention with the prior art.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Test liquid 20 Cylindrical member 201 Upper end of cylindrical member 202 Lower end of cylindrical member 21 Upper end closing member 22 Air supply pipe 221 Lower end of air supply pipe 23 Cleaning pipe 24 Gas exhaust channel 25 Gas sensor 31 Partition wall 311 Small hole of partition wall 40 Three way Valve 50 Air supply means 60 Upper chamber 70 Lower chamber

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Takashi Matsuzawa 1-15-1, Kamiogi, Suginami-ku, Tokyo Marunouchi Building Nemoto Special Chemical Co., Ltd. (72) Hiroo Nagae 1-1-15, Kamiogi, Suginami-ku, Tokyo No. 1 Maruzan Building Nemoto Special Chemical Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-4-307295 (JP, A) JP-A-3-293550 (JP, A) JP-A-56-24548 (JP, A) JP-A-1-301141 (JP, A) JP-A-2-114145 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G01N 1/22 G01N 27/04 G01N 27/06

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An upper end (201) is closed by an upper end closing member (21), and a lower end (202) is an open end, and the test liquid (1) is closed.
A cylindrical member (20) immersed therein; and an upper end closing member (21).
0), and the lower end (221) ends above the lower end (202) of the tubular member (20).
1) An air supply pipe (22) immersed in the test liquid (1) and an air supply means (50) for supplying air to the air supply pipe (22).
And a gas sensor (2)
5) In an alcohol concentration measurement device having a gas discharge path (24) communicating with the above, the cylindrical member (20) is divided into two parts by a partition (31) having a small hole (311), and an upper chamber is formed. (60) and a lower chamber (70); the air supply pipe (22) is branched via a three-way switching valve (40) to form a cleaning pipe (23); and the cleaning pipe (23) is connected to the upper chamber. An alcohol concentration measurement device characterized by having an opening at the top of (60).