Process and apparatus for controlling the concentration of solid particles in suspension in a liquid fluid
AssigneeAteliers des Charmilles S.A.
InventorCharles Frei
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Abstract
A process and apparatus for monitoring the concentration of electrically conductive solid particles in suspension in a fluid by circulating the fluid between a pair of electrodes opposed surfaces disposed at a fixed distance from each other, the electrodes being connected across a DC power supply. Electrical discharges occur across the gap between the electrodes, and the concentration of solid particles is determined as an inverse function of the average delay time interval required for triggering the electrical discharges, which is in turn measured by counting the number of electrical discharges occurring within a predetermined time interval.
Claims6
A process for controlling the concentration of electrically conductive solid particles in suspension in a liquid fluid, said process comprising flowing said liquid fluid between a pair of electrodes each having an active surface of predetermined area, maintaining said active surfaces at a constant distance from each other, connecting said electrodes across a D.C. power supply such as to cause relatively low energy electrical discharges to occur between said active surfaces, and determining the average delay time interval between applying a predetermined voltage between said electrodes and the occurrence of an electrical discharge, whereby the duration of said average delay time interval is an inverse function of the concentration of said solid particles in said liquid fluid.
An apparatus for measuring the concentration of electrically conductive solid particles in suspension in a liquid fluid, said apparatus comprising a pair of electrodes having each an active surface of predetermined area disposed at a predetermined distance from a corresponding active surface of predetermined area of the other electrode, means for flowing said liquid fluid between said electrodes, means for applying a DC voltage across said electrodes for causing low energy electrical discharges to occur between said electrodes, and means for developing a signal representative of the average delay time interval of triggering of said electrical discharges.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.