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:
Feb. 04, 1997
Filed:
Sep. 08, 1995
Ekhard Preikschat, Bellevue, WA (US);
Robert J Hilker, Bothell, WA (US);
APPA Systems, Inc., Bellevue, WA (US);
Abstract
A rotating consistency transmitter and method of measuring the viscosity, consistency, concentration or the rheological properties of a flowing multi-purpose material in a pipeline by measuring the torque acting on a rotating shaft, which at one end is driven by a motor and at the other end is attached to an impeller directly positioned inside the pipeline. The rotating shaft is made up of three concentric shafts, an outer drive shaft, a middle sensor shaft and an inner reference shaft aligned and attached together so that a single motor may be used to rotate it. The sensor shaft is connected at one end to the drive shaft and connected at the opposite end to the inner reference shaft. When material is present in the main pipeline and in contact with the impeller, rotation of the impeller is impeded, thereby producing a torque across the sensor shaft. This torque causes a twisting action on the sensor shaft which may be determined by measuring the angular displacement between the outer drive shaft and the inner reference shaft. The angular displacement is measured by passing focused light beam across two optical disks, one being attached to one end of the reference shaft. The amount of light transmitted through the two optical disks is a direct measure of the torque acting on the sensor shaft which, in turn, directly relates to the drag forces acting on the impeller.