Apparatus for determining a physical process variable of a medium

US6295874A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Endress+Hauser Inc. · DE

Inventors

• Bernd Strütt · Steinen, DE
• Bernhard Michalski · Maulburg, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 21, 2000
• Grant date: Oct 2, 2001
• Expiry date: Jan 21, 2020

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01F23/806
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An apparatus for determining a physical process variable of a medium (2) which can be used in conjunction with various sensor types, the sensors having in common that they determine a process variable by means of a delay-time method. The apparatus has a sensor (4), a sensor-specific application unit (5) and an evaluation unit (6), which is essentially independent of the sensor type used, the sensor (4) being assigned a transmitting/receiving unit (7), the transmitting unit (7a) transmitting measuring signals in the direction of the medium (2) and the receiving unit (7b) receiving the measuring signals influenced by the interaction with the medium (2), and the application unit (5) being designed in such a way that it provides measurement data, independently of the type of sensor (4) used, from which the evaluation unit (6) determines the physical process variable using a delay-time method by means of a uniform evaluation algorithm.