Boiling condition detector
AssigneeGas Research Institute
InventorsFoster B. Stulen, Douglas B. Pape, William J. Williams
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus and methods are disclosed for acoustically detecting different conditions of boiling occurring within a liquid and developing useful control signals correlated to the detected boiling condition. Distinctions are made between no-boiling, sub-cooled boiling, and full or rolling boiling conditions.
Claims26
In combination with a vessel containing a liquid that is expected to boil where the condition of boiling is desired to be known, detection apparatus comprising:
- (a) transducer means for producing an electric signal correlated to individual random acoustic events occurring within the liquid contained in the vessel;
- and
- (b) circuit means for receiving said transducer means signal, identifying groups of acoustic events from bursts of signal activity which correspond directly to individual acoustic event occurrences, determining the rate of group acoustic event occurrence, and classifying said determined rate into one of different output signals, said different output signals being generated by said circuit means in response to different detected degrees of individual random acoustic events occurring in said liquid contained in said vessel.
In combination with a vessel containing a liquid that is expected to boil where the condition of boiling is desired to be known, process control apparatus comprising:
- (a) heating unit means for applying heat to the vessel and responsive to different control signals to apply correspondingly different rates of heat into the vessel,
- (b) transducer means for producing an electric signal correlated to individual random acoustic events occurring within the liquid contained in the vessel;
- and
- (c) circuit means for receiving said transducer means signal, identifying groups of acoustic events from bursts of signal activity which correspond directly to individual acoustic event occurrences, determining the rate of group acoustic event occurrence, and classifying said determined rate into one of different control signals transmitted to said heating unit means, said different control signals being generated by said circuit means in response to different detected degrees of individual random acoustic events occurring in said liquid contained in said vessel.
In a method of controlling the boiling condition of a liquid contained in a vessel that cooperates with a vessel heating means responsive to a feedback control signal to vary the rate of heat input to the vessel, the steps comprising:
- (a) detecting individual random acoustic events occurring in the contained liquid;
- (b) producing electric signals correlated to said detected individual random acoustic events;
- (c) identifying groups of acoustic events from bursts of signal activity which correspond directly to individual acoustic event occurrences;
- (d) determining the rate of acoustic event occurrence;
- (e) classifying said determined rates into one of different output signals;
- (f) generating a feedback control signal for said vessel heating means from said classified output signal;
- and
- (g) applying said feedback control signal to said vessel heating means to vary the rate of heat input to the vessel, different feedback control signals being generated when detected individual random acoustic events indicate different boiling conditions of the liquid.
In a method of controlling a programmable cooking appliance having a heating unit that cooperates with a utensil containing a liquid capable of boiling, the steps comprising;
- (a) detecting individual random acoustic events occurring in the contained liquid;
- (b) producing electric signals correlated to said detected individual random acoustic events;
- (c) identifying groups of acoustic events from bursts of signal activity which correspond directly to individual acoustic event occurrences;
- (d) determining the rate of group acoustic event occurrence;
- (e) classifying said determined rate into one of different output signals;
- and
- (f) generating a feedback control signal for the cooking appliance heating until from said classified output signals, different feedback control signals being generated in response to different detected rates of individual random acoustic event occurrence that indicate different boiling conditions of the liquid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.