Method and device for non-contacting monitoring of a filling state
OwnerStefan Boehm, Ludwig Danzer +2inventors
InventorsStefan Boehm, Ludwig Danzer, Sven Rathmann, Jan Wrege
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Abstract
In a method and a device for non-contacting monitoring of the fill state of liquids in an unpressurized liquid container, the fill state and/or the fill state change is determined by radiating light onto the boundary region of the liquid at which a fill state-dependent curvature arises due to adhesion forces of the liquid at the reservoir wall and surface tension, and the intensity of the reflected light or the reflection angle is measured at a predetermined location.
Claims23
A method for non-contacting monitoring of a fill state of a liquid in an unpressurized liquid container comprising the steps of:
- radiating light onto a boundary region between the liquid and a wall of the container at which a fill state-dependent curvature exists due to adhesion forces of the liquid at the container wall and surface tension;
- measuring an intensity of light reflected from said boundary region at a predetermined location;
- and
- from the measured intensity, determining at least one of a fill state or a fill state change of said liquid in said container.
A method for non-contacting monitoring of a fill state of a liquid in an unpressurized liquid container comprising the steps of:
- radiating light onto a boundary region between the liquid and a wall of the container at which a fill state-dependent curvature exists due to adhesion forces of the liquid at the container wall and surface tension;
- measuring an reflection angle of light reflected from said boundary region at a predetermined location;
- and
- from the measured reflection angle, determining at least one of a fill state or a fill state change of said liquid in said container.
A device for non-contacting monitoring of a fill state of a liquid in an unpressurized container comprising:
- a light source that emits light that irradiates a boundary region between the liquid and a wall of the container at which a fill-state dependent surface curvature exists due to adhesion forces of the liquid at the wall and surface tension;
- a detector that measures an intensity of said light reflected from said boundary region at a predetermined location;
- and
- a determination unit that determines a fill state or a fill state change of said liquid in said container dependent on said intensity.
A device for non-contacting monitoring of a fill state of a liquid in an unpressurized container comprising:
- a light source that emits light that irradiates a boundary region between the liquid and a wall of the container at which a fill-state dependent surface curvature exists due to adhesion forces of the liquid at the wall and surface tension;
- a detector that measures an reflection angle of said light reflected from said boundary region at a predetermined location;
- and
- a determination unit that determines a fill state or a fill state change of said liquid in said container dependent on said reflection angle.
A device for filling air gaps in a micro-component, comprising:
- a reservoir containing a predetermined quantity of filling liquid;
- a transfer unit connected to said reservoir that directly transfers liquid from said reservoir into a gap in a micro-component to be filled, said gap having a gap wall and said liquid in said gap exhibiting a boundary region between said liquid and said gap wall at which a fill state-dependent surface curvature exists due to adhesion forces of the liquid at the gap wall and surface tension;
- a light source that irradiates said boundary region with light;
- a detector that detects a characteristic of said light reflected from said boundary region, said characteristic being selected from the group consisting of intensity of the reflected light and a reflection angle of the reflected light;
- and
- a determination unit that determines a fill state of the filling liquid in the gap dependent on the detected characteristic.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.