Viscometer
AssigneePhasepsl Instrument Inc.
InventorsCharles Tsang, Gordon Chiu, Jonathan Gosling, Stephen Gosling
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A viscometer including a thermal block, a thermo device to control temperature of the thermal block, a temperature sensor to sense temperature of the thermal block, a capillary tube embedded in the thermal block such that the capillary tube is in thermal contact with the thermal block, an entrance tube connected to the capillary tube and embedded in the thermal block, a velocity tube connected to the capillary tube and embedded in the thermal block and at least two flow sensors aligned along the velocity tube adapted to measure velocity of the test specimen in the velocity tube.
Claims29
A viscometer for testing the viscosity of a test specimen comprising:
- a thermal block;
- a thermo device to control temperature of said thermal block;
- a temperature sensor to sense temperature of said thermal block;
- a capillary tube embedded in said thermal block such that said capillary tube is in thermal contact with said thermal block;
- an entrance tube connected to said capillary tube and embedded in said thermal block, said entrance tube providing a pathway to said capillary tube from outside said thermal block;
- a velocity tube connected to said capillary tube and embedded in said thermal block, said velocity tube providing a pathway to said capillary tube from outside said thermal block;
- and
- at least two flow sensors aligned along said velocity tube adapted to measure velocity of the test specimen in said velocity tube.
A method of measuring viscosity of a test specimen using a viscometer including a thermal block, a capillary tube embedded in the thermal block such that the capillary tube is in thermal contact with the thermal block, an entrance tube connected to the capillary tube and embedded in the thermal block with the entrance tube providing a pathway to the capillary tube from outside the thermal block, a velocity tube connected to the capillary tube and embedded in the thermal block with velocity tube providing a pathway to the capillary tube from outside the thermal block, at least two consecutive flow sensors aligned along the velocity tube to measure velocity of the test specimen in the velocity tube, comprising:
- beginning with an empty viscometer;
- delivering the test specimen to the connection of the capillary tube and the velocity tube by pushing the test specimen from behind with compressed gas through the entrance tube and the capillary tube;
- temporarily stopping flow of the test specimen to allow the test specimen to equilibrate to a target temperature in the thermal block, whereby temperature of the thermal block is controlled by a thermal device;
- once the temperature of the test specimen is equilibrated, allowing the compressed gas to push the test specimen forward into the velocity tube at a fixed pressure while simultaneously venting the velocity tube from outside the thermal block;
- using the flow sensors placed along the flow path of the velocity tube to monitor passing of a leading meniscus of the test specimen;
- and
- recording time it takes a leading meniscus of the test specimen to travel between the at least two consecutive flow sensors to determine velocity of the flow between the at least two consecutive flow sensors.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.