American Meter Company

Eagle Research Corporation

James N Butch

Randy L McCullough

John Lee Wayt

A conformal coating and method for applying same to a printed electrical circuit board, components and leads for providing corrosion resistance. In a preferred embodiment, the conformal coating comprises a first coating layer of parylene which is vacuum deposited and removably bonded onto an ultra-clean surface of a printed circuit board including attached components and leads. Additionally, a second coating layer of a corrosion inhibiting viscous fluid is deposited onto the first coating layer to form a continuous, stratified, conformal coating which is sealed and corrosion resistant.

Method of coating printed circuit board

A system for determining the energy and volume delivered by a flowing natural gas carried within a pipeline based on BTU content analysis of the natural gas using a micro-miniature gas chromatograph. By monitoring key parameters of the flowing natural gas, such as temperature, pressure, flow rate, and BTU content, the system accurately determines the total energy and total volume delivered by the flowing natural gas over a programmable duration of time. Micro-miniature fabrication of the gas chromatograph imparts important advantages to the system , including small size, modular design, low power consumption, fast BTU analysis times, and low consumption of consumable carrier and reference gases. Low power consumption permits operation of the system using low-capacity supplies such as solar or battery, while minuscule consumption of consumable gases permits the use of 100 ml or less cartridges for the carrier and reference gases, making the integration of the consumable gas cartridges into the system enclosure practical. A further advantage of the micro-miniature gas chromatograph as used in the system is its modular design, allowing convenient disposal and replacement. The foregoing attributes combine to provide an energy monitoring system that, due to its small size, low operating power, and low consumption of consumable gases, is ideally suited for unattended operation for extended periods of time.

Energy measurement device for flowing gas using microminiature gas chromatograph

Printed circuit board coating and method

A fluid density compensator for flow volume measurements utilizes a plurality of look-up calibration tables, each for a different density gas. The measurement device provides an output signal having a frequency corresponding to the flow rate therethrough. Each of the tables is indexed by frequency and includes, for each frequency, an expected differential pressure reading across the measurement device and a volume factor. The tables are constructed during the manufacture of the meter measuring device, and are stored in a non-volatile memory of a computer associated with the measuring device. Also associated with the measuring device is a differential pressure sensor across the measuring device. During operation, the output frequency of the measuring device is utilized to index into all of the tables and compare the differential pressure stored in the tables with the actual measured differential pressure. The table having the closest comparison is selected and the volume factor stored in that table is utilized to update the calculated flow volume.

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Charleston, WV, United States of America

James N Butch