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:
Nov. 06, 2012
Filed:
Nov. 02, 2009
John F. Foss, East Lansing, MI (US);
Alan R. Lawrenz, East Lansing, MI (US);
John F. Foss, East Lansing, MI (US);
Alan R. Lawrenz, East Lansing, MI (US);
Board of Trustees of Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a mass loading monitor for measuring in real time the particulate, i.e., powder, dust and the like, content of air inside an industrial or commercial processing facility and providing a warning signal indicating the existence of a potentially explosive atmosphere in the facility. In a first embodiment, the mass loading monitor comprises two parallel cylinders, one of which is charged with clean, ambient air and the other of which is charged with air from within the facility containing dust, powder or other particulate matter. A piston resides within each cylinder and the pistons are commonly accelerated for a short distance during which time the pressure at each piston face is measured. The time integrals of the pressures from each of the piston faces are evaluated over the period: from rest to the time of discharge from the open end of the cylinders. The ratio of these integrals defines the difference in the densities within the cylinders. In a second embodiment, a single piston and cylinder assembly is first calibrated with clean air and subsequently filled with particulate laden air and the time integrals of the pressures on the piston face are similarly evaluated.