Apparatus and method for identifying a refrigerant fluid contained in a tank or in measuring cell of a system for recharging an air-conditioning plant

A method for identifying a refrigerant fluid contained in a tank or in a measuring cell of a system for recharging an air-conditioning plant, comprising the steps of:

• emitting in a direction of the refrigerant fluid infrared radiations with a first emitting intensity at a first wavelength and a second emitting intensity at a second wavelength;
• detecting a first intensity of infrared radiations at the first wavelength by a first photodetector after the infrared radiations have passed through the refrigerant fluid;
• detecting a second intensity of infrared radiations at the second wavelength by a second photodetector after the infrared radiations have passed through the refrigerant fluid, wherein said second photodetector is structured and arranged separately from said first photodetector;
• calculating a ratio between the first intensity detected upon the exit of the refrigerant fluid and the second intensity detected upon the exit of the refrigerant fluid;
• and
• according to the Lambert-Beer law, obtaining from said ratio a physical magnitude representative of the refrigerant fluid;
• wherein said first photodetector and said second photodetector receive said infrared radiations coming from the refrigerant fluid contained within a common interior of the tank or the measuring cell.

A non-transitory computer readable medium tangibly embodying computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• emitting in a direction of a refrigerant fluid contained in a tank or a measuring cell infrared radiations with a first emitting intensity at a first wavelength and a second emitting intensity at a second wavelength;
• detecting a first intensity of infrared radiations at the first wavelength by a first photodetector after the infrared radiations have passed through the refrigerant fluid in the tank or the measuring cell;
• detecting a second intensity of infrared radiations at the second wavelength by a second photodetector after the infrared radiations have passed through the refrigerant fluid in the tank or the measuring cell, said second photodetector structured separately from said first photodetector;
• calculating a ratio between the first intensity detected upon the exit of the refrigerant fluid and the second intensity detected upon the exit of the refrigerant fluid;
• and
• according to the Lambert-Beer law, obtaining from said ratio a physical magnitude representative of the refrigerant fluid;
• wherein said first photodetector and said second photodetector are arranged to receive the infrared radiations coming from said refrigerant fluid contained within a common interior of the tank or the measuring cell.