Method for identifying a state of a stream of refrigerant

An apparatus for sensing a state of a stream of refrigerant, comprising:

• a moisture sensor in fluid communication with the stream of refrigerant and adapted to changes color in response to one of presence or absence of humidity associated with the refrigerant in the stream, wherein a dry refrigerant is one associated with the absence of humidity and a wet refrigerant is one associated with the presence of humidity;
• an image sensor installed proximate to the moisture sensor and adapted to capture a plurality of images of the sensor;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• control the image sensor to capture a plurality of sample images of the sensor in a set of short-predefined intervals for sensing the stream of the refrigerant;
• process each of the plurality of sample images to identify a plurality of colors, wherein a first color among the plurality of colors is indicative of the dry refrigerant and a second color among the plurality of colors is indicative of the wet refrigerant;
• calculate, for a long-predefined interval, an aggregated volume of each of the first color and the second color corresponding to the plurality of processed sample images, wherein the aggregated volumes of the first color and the second color are indicative of a volume of the dry refrigerant and the wet refrigerant respectively in the stream;
• compare an aggregated volume ratio of the first color and the second color with a first threshold ratio and a second threshold ratio;
• and
• determine the state as one of a dry state, a transient state, and a wet state based on the comparison.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to execute operations for identifying a state of a stream of refrigerant, the operations comprising:

• capturing, by an image sensor in a set of short-predefined intervals, a plurality of sample images of a sensor for sensing the stream of the refrigerant, wherein the sensor changes its color in response to one of presence or absence of humidity associated with the refrigerant in the stream, wherein a dry refrigerant is one associated with the absence of humidity and a wet refrigerant is one associated with the presence of humidity;
• processing each of the plurality of sample images to identify a plurality of colors, wherein a first color among the plurality of colors is indicative of the dry refrigerant and a second color among the plurality of colors is indicative of the wet refrigerant;
• calculating, for a long-predefined interval, an aggregated volume of each of the first color and the second color corresponding to the plurality of processed sample images, wherein the aggregated volumes of the first color and the second color are indicative of a volume of the dry refrigerant and the wet refrigerant respectively in the stream;
• comparing an aggregated volume ratio of the first color and the second color with a first threshold ratio and a second threshold ratio;
• and
• determining the state as one of a dry state, a transient state, and a wet state based on the comparison.