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US 6,275,046 B1Granted
Cotton moisture meter
AssigneeLubbock Electric Co.
InventorsSteve Moffett, Paul Mohr
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The method and structure of a moisture measuring device that creates an electric field and then determines a moisture content of a specimen based on the effect the moisture of the specimen has on the electric field.
Claims10
A structure of a moisture measuring device comprising:
- a) a specimen where the specimen's volume defines a specimen space,
- b) an electric field creation unit,
- c) an electric field created by said electric field creation unit throughout said specimen space,
- d) said electric field creation unit having,
- i) a signal generator creating a time varying voltage having a frequency, and
- ii) a first electrically conductive element adjacent to a boundary of the specimen space coupled to the signal generator to which the voltage is applied to create an electric field,
- e) an electric field detection unit adjacent to a boundary of said specimen space, wherein said electric field detection unit measures the electric field where the specimen is in the specimen space, the detection unit comprising,
- i) a second electrically conductive element disposed within the electric field that has a voltage induced upon it proportional to strength of the electric field, and
- ii) a detection circuit coupled to the electrically conductive element for detecting the induced voltage of a particular frequency,
- f) a third electrically conductive element substantially at ground potential disposed within the electric field, and
- g) said electric field detection unit detecting the induced voltage inversely proportional to the moisture content of the specimen.
8 more elements
A structure of a moisture measuring device comprising:
- a) a specimen where the specimen's volume defines a specimen space,
- b) an electric field creation unit adjacent to a boundary of said specimen space,
- c) an electric field created by said electric field creation unit throughout said specimen space,
- d) an electric field detection unit adjacent to a boundary of said specimen space, wherein said electric field detection unit measures the electric field when the specimen is in the specimen space,
- e) said electric field creation unit is an electric field generator having,
- i) a signal generator creating a time varying voltage having a frequency,
- ii) a first electrically conductive element adjacent to the first boundary of the specimen space coupled to the signal generator to which the time varying voltage is applied to create the electric field,
- f) said electric field detection unit is an electric field detector having,
- i) a second electrically conductive element adjacent to the second boundary of the specimen space within the electric field that has a voltage induced upon it proportional to strength of the electric field,
- ii) a detection circuit coupled to the second electrically conductive element for detecting the induced voltages of a particular frequency, and
- iii) an interface circuit coupled to the detection circuit which produces an output signal related to a moisture content of a specimen within the specimen space,
- g) a third electrically conductive element at ground potential, adjacent to a third boundary of the specimen space, and
- h) said detection circuit detecting the induced voltage inversely proportional to the moisture content of the specimen.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.