Method for determining the freezing temperature of a liquid, and a device intended therefore

US6692144B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Mannesmann VDO AG · DE

Inventors

• Rainer Kober · Darmstadt, DE
• Sven Petzold · Wiesbaden, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: May 4, 2000
• Grant date: Feb 17, 2004
• Expiry date: May 4, 2020

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B60S1/50
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A method and measuring device intended for a window-cleaning system of a motor vehicle, wherein the freezing temperature is determined by continuous cooling of a representative partial volume of the liquid inside a chamber. For this purpose, measurements are made of the temperature while the liquid is cooled, which first drops in accordance with the heat dissipation until the start of the phase change initiating the freezing, and in the process leads the heat of solidification released to a temporary temperature plateau. The freezing temperature can be reliably determined in this way for each chemical composition of the liquid.