System and method for identifying and characterizing fluids in a vessel
AssigneeMeggitt (Orange County), lnc.
InventorsCarlos E. Carvalho, Thomas Miskell
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Abstract
A method and system are disclosed for using time domain reflectometry to determine the identity of a fluid in a vessel. The method includes transmitting an interrogation pulse into a vessel containing a fluid, receiving a reflection of the interrogation pulse off of a transition boundary, characterizing the properties of the reflection, where the properties include polarity, slope, phase, and amplitude, and comparing the properties of the reflection to a reference boundary transition signature.
Claims20
A method of determining the identity of a fluid in a vessel, comprising the steps of:
- transmitting an interrogation pulse into a vessel containing a fluid;
- receiving a first reflection of the interrogation pulse off a first transition boundary;
- characterizing a property of the first reflection, where the property includes at least one of the group consisting of polarity, slope, phase, and amplitude;
- and
- comparing the property of the first reflection to a reference boundary transition signature.
A system for determining the identity of a fluid in a vessel, comprising:
- a transmitter configured to transmit an interrogation pulse into the vessel;
- a receiver, configured to receive reflected portions of the interrogation pulse;
- an electronics unit in communication with said transmitter and said receiver, the electronics unit configured to transmit interrogation pulses to the transmitter and receive reflections from the receiver for time domain reflectometric measurement of the fluid;
- a memory;
- and
- a processor in communication with the electronics unit and the memory, the processor configured by the memory to perform steps comprising:
- receiving a first reflection of the interrogation pulse off of a first transition boundary;
- characterizing a property of the first reflection, where the property includes at least one of the group consisting of polarity, slope, phase, and amplitude;
- and
- comparing the property of the first reflection to a reference boundary transition signature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.