The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 15, 1994
Filed:
Mar. 18, 1993
Arvind R Saklikar, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
William A Lloyd, Plymouth, CA (US);
PowerPrint Technologies, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for determining the quality of a colloidal suspension. According to the method of the present invention, an oscillating input electrical signal is applied simultaneously to a sample of the colloidal suspension to be tested and to a reference solution. The reference solution is substantially identical to the colloidal suspension except that the colloidal particles have been removed. The input signal causes charge particles and molecules within both substances to move, thereby, giving rise to electrical currents. Thus, a test current is extracted from the colloidal suspension and a reference current is extracted from the reference solution. Thereafter, a differential output current is derived by substracting the reference current from the test current. The peak-to-peak magnitude of the differential output current is measured, and the phase of the output current is compared to the phase of the input signal to determine the difference in phase between the two signals. Based on the peak-to-peak value and the phase difference, the quality of the colloidal suspension is determined.