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:
Jul. 06, 1999
Filed:
Dec. 11, 1996
John B Wilkerson, Knoxville, TN (US);
Fred Henry Moody, III, Knoxville, TN (US);
Joseph Shellie Kirby, Knoxville, TN (US);
The University of Tennessee Research Corporation, Knoxville, TN (US);
Abstract
A sensor for non-intrusively measuring the volumetric flow rate of materials, such as cotton, in a confined air stream is disclosed. The sensor is mounted on a conduit through which an air entrained material such as cotton flows. The sensor has an emitter unit having a number of light sources such as an LED which emit light beams normal to the longitudinal axis of the conduit. The sensor also has a detector unit which detects the light beams from the light sources. The light beams are detected by light-to-frequency circuits which generate a signal indicative of the sensed light. The light beams are attenuated depending on the amount of material passing through the conduit. The generated signal is sent to a counter circuit. The counter outputs are coupled to a processor circuit which calculates the quantity of material flowing through the light beam as a function of the frequency signal and a baseline frequency signal indicative of the level of light detected when no material is flowing through the light beam.