JPH08313326A - Constant liquid level measuring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To measure the liquid level precisely. CONSTITUTION: A constant liquid level measuring apparatus is composed of a microwave generating apparatus 4, a transmission antenna 1 arranged toward a container 3 to be measured which is connected to the microwave generating apparatus 4 and contains a liquid, a receiving antenna 2 arranged opposite to the transmission antenna 1 through the container to be measured, a receiver 5 connected to the receiving antenna 2, and a level computing apparatus 6 which receives the output of the receiver 5 and computes the level of a liquid.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a constant liquid surface position measuring device applied to confirm the filling amount of a bottle filling device for soft drinks, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, when measuring the amount of liquid contained in a container, the liquid is transferred to a container with a scale or the weight of the container is measured in advance, and when the liquid is sealed. Measurement is performed by subtracting the weight of the container alone from the weight of the container. Also, although it is not a liquid amount measurement technology, for example, when bottling soft drinks,
The method of pouring a predetermined amount of soft drink is used.

[0003]

As in the above-mentioned prior art, in the method of transferring the liquid to the graduated container or the method of measuring the weight of the container alone in advance, the container is fixed or the container is fixed. If the weight of the container could not be measured while the liquid was enclosed, such as when an accessory was attached to the, the measurement could not be performed. Further, in bottling of soft drinks, there was a problem that the pouring did not go well and the prescribed amount was not reached.

[0004]

The present invention employs the following means to solve the above-mentioned problems.

(1) Microwave generating means, a transmitting antenna connected to the microwave generating means and arranged toward a container to be measured having a liquid, and arranged to face the transmitting antenna through the container to be measured. A receiving antenna, a receiving means connected to the receiving antenna, and a level calculating means for receiving the output of the receiving means and calculating the level of the liquid are provided.

(2) In the constant liquid surface position measuring device of the above-mentioned 1, the control means for receiving the output of the level calculating means and outputting the control signal, and the liquid for injecting into the container to be measured and receiving the output of the control means. And an injection means for stopping.

[0007]

[Action]

(1) In the above-mentioned invention 1, microwaves are output from the microwave generation means and radiated from the transmitting antenna. The microwave passes through the container under measurement filled with the liquid having a predetermined dielectric constant, is received via the receiving antenna, and is output by the receiving means. At this time, the microwave transmission characteristics differ depending on the dielectric constant ε of the medium and the propagation distance (thickness) in the medium. For this reason, the transmission characteristics of radio waves due to the difference in the amount of liquid inside the container to be measured are measured in advance and are input in advance to the level calculation means as a database. Then, the level calculating means receives the output of the receiving means, compares the obtained transmission characteristics with the database input in advance, and calculates and outputs the level of the liquid in the container to be measured.

In this way, the liquid level in the container to be measured can be measured easily and accurately.

(2) In the second aspect of the invention, the level calculation operator calculates the liquid transmittance by almost the same operation as described above and outputs it as a control signal every moment. A stop signal is output when the transmittance reaches a predetermined level. The control means receives this signal and causes the injecting means to fully inject the liquid until the liquid surface of the container to be measured reaches a predetermined position, and when the liquid level reaches the predetermined position (when the stop signal is received), the injection is stopped.

In this way, the liquid can be easily and accurately injected into the container to be measured.

[0011]

【Example】

 (1) An embodiment of the present invention 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

The output of the microwave generator 4 is connected to the transmitting antenna 1. The receiving antenna 2 faces the transmitting antenna 1, and the container to be measured (made of non-metal) 3 is arranged in the middle. The output of the reception antenna 2 is sent to the level calculation device 6 via the receiver 5.

In the above, the microwave is output from the microwave generator 4 and radiated from the transmitting antenna 1.
The microwave is received by the receiving antenna 2 through the measured container 3 in which the liquid a having a predetermined dielectric constant ε is filled, and is output by the receiver 5. At this time, the microwave transmission characteristics differ depending on the dielectric constant ε of the medium and the propagation distance (thickness) in the medium. For this reason, the radio wave transmission characteristics due to the difference in the amount of the liquid a inside the container 3 to be measured are measured in advance and are input in advance to the level calculation device 6 as a database. Then, the level calculation device 6 receives the output of the receiver 5, compares the obtained transmission characteristic with the database previously input, and calculates and outputs the level of the liquid a in the measured container 3.

In this way, the level of the liquid a in the container 3 to be measured can be measured easily and accurately.

(2) An embodiment of the present invention 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 2, a focusing type radio wave lens 12 in front of the transmitting antenna 1 and a bottle for soft drink (measured container) 1
4, the focusing type radio wave lens 13, and the receiving antenna 2 are sequentially arranged. An injector 18 having an injection port 18 inserted into the mouth of the bottle 14 is provided above the bottle 14. The output of the level calculator 6 is sent to the injector 18 via the controller 17. The connection relationship between the microwave transmitter 4, the receiver 5, and the level calculator 6 is the same as in the above embodiment.

As described above, the microwave is radiated from the transmitting antenna 1. As the antenna, an antenna with sharp directivity such as a horn antenna is used,
However, since the main lobe has a spread, the power density becomes low and the sensitivity when receiving a transmitted wave decreases. In order to solve this, a radio wave lens 12 is arranged between the transmitting antenna 1 and the container to be measured, and the power density is converged. At this time, each device is installed so that the container to be measured comes to the focal position of the radio wave lens 12. In this way, the radiated Mikes wave passes through the bottle 14 and heads for the receiving antenna 2. However, because of the nature of the radio wave lens, the converged microwave diffuses again.
The radio wave lens 13 is also disposed between the receiving antenna 2 and the receiving antenna 2.

In this way, the microwave is irradiated, the transmitted wave is received, and the level calculating device 6 calculates the transmission characteristic.
Then, the transmittance of the bottle 14 is calculated by comparison with a previously input database and sent to the controller 17. The transmission characteristics at this time are shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, when the bottle 14 is not filled with the specified amount of soft drink, although there is some attenuation of the transmitted wave by the bottle 14, there is no liquid in its propagation path, and therefore the attenuation is achieved. The amount is small and the transmittance is high.

Thereafter, as the soft drink is poured into the bottle 14, the microwave-permeable region is filled with the liquid.
Since this permeation region has a certain width, its permeation characteristics do not change suddenly and decline gradually, and when the entire permeation region is filled with soft drink, the transmissivity is constant again. Become.

Because of such a transmission characteristic, a reference value Tmin for the transmittance is set, and when the transmittance obtained from the measurement falls below the reference value, the injection of soft drink water is stopped. Output a stop signal.

The controller 17 receives this signal, and the injector 1
8 is fully opened until the liquid surface of the container to be measured reaches a predetermined position, and when it reaches the predetermined position, injection is stopped.

The above processing flow chart is shown in FIG.

In this way, the bottle 14 is filled with soft drink easily and accurately.

The microwave generator 4, the receiver 5 and the level calculation device 6 may be replaced with the network analyzer 16 in the above.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the liquid level in the container to be measured can be measured easily and accurately. Further, the liquid can be easily and accurately injected to a predetermined level in the container to be measured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention 1. FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention 2;

FIG. 3 is a processing flow chart of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the operation of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 transmitting antenna 2 receiving antenna 3 container under measurement 4 microwave generator 5 receiver 6 level calculator 12, 13 radio wave lens 14 bottle

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A microwave generation means, a transmission antenna connected to the microwave generation means and arranged toward a container to be measured having a liquid, and a microwave antenna arranged to face the transmission antenna through the container to be measured. A constant liquid level position measuring device comprising: a receiving antenna, a receiving means connected to the receiving antenna, and a level calculating means for receiving the output of the receiving means and calculating the level of the liquid. 2. The constant liquid level position measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the control means receives the output of the level calculation means and outputs a control signal, and the liquid is injected into the container to be measured and the output of the control means is received. A constant liquid level position measuring device, comprising: