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US 7,030,631 B1Granted
Method and apparatus for monitoring and determining the moisture content of a substance in a container
OwnerThomas A. Jenningsinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for monitoring and determining the moisture content of a sample substance inside a closed container. The apparatus includes a parallel capacitance circuit formed by a source of AC voltage supplied to a reference container and a sample container. The method does not require penetration or opening of the sealed sample container nor the destruction of the sample, and can be used to rapidly determine moisture content under normal storage conditions or at elevated or lower temperatures that may be used in a drying process.
Claims7
An apparatus for monitoring and determining the moisture content of a substance, comprising:
- a closed sample container having an interior surface and an exterior surface;
- a reference container having an interior surface and an exterior surface;
- a desiccant placed in said reference container to eliminate moisture;
- a capacitance meter that provides a known frequency of AC voltage;
- a plurality of electrical contacts connected to the exterior surface of said sample container, the exterior surface of said reference container, and to said capacitance meter to apply the AC voltage from said capacitance meter simultaneously to said sample and said reference containers, each electrical contact having a known surface area;
- an output circuit connected to said electrical contacts mounted to said sample container;
- an inverting circuit connected to said capacitance meter and said output circuit;
- and
- a source of electrical resistance in said output circuit of said sample container, whereby electrical differences between the sample container and the reference container are used to determine the moisture content of a sample in the closed sample container without opening the sample container.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.