Acoustic method for determining the viscosity and/or surface tension of a liquid
US7281413B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 24, 2005 |
| Grant date | Oct 16, 2007 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 7, 2025 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01N11/16
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
The present invention comprises a noncontact method for measuring viscosity and/or surface tension information of a liquid in a liquid containment structure. The steps of the method include exciting a surface of the liquid with an excitation burst of acoustic energy that causes the surface to oscillate; generating a positional data set comprised of a plurality of positional measurements related to the detected position of the surface at a plurality of times after the surface is excited; generating a frequency domain data set from the positional data set, the amplitude spectrum of the frequency domain data set comprising information about the oscillation frequency of at least one vibrational mode of the of the surface as it oscillates; and processing the frequency domain data set and/or the positional data set to yield information about the surface tension and/or viscosity of the liquid. A Fast Fourier Transform technique may be used in generating the frequency domain data set.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.