Device for the capacitive measuring of a fill level

• Main Authors: BROYER PATRICK, IMBAUD PIERRE
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 27.01.2005
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: APPARATUS FOR ENZYMOLOGY OR MICROBIOLOGY; BEER; BIOCHEMISTRY; CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE; CHEMISTRY; ENZYMOLOGY; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MEASURING; MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUIDLEVEL; METALLURGY; METERING BY VOLUME; MICROBIOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; PHYSICS; SPIRITS; TESTING; TRANSPORTING; VINEGAR; WINE

A method of controlling the presence or absence of a volume of liquid in a container or of controlling the filling of a container with a liquid volume. A channel passes through the container and channel opens into a shaft which collects all or part of the liquid. The channel(s) and shaft(s) form a fluidic network. Implementation of the method includes: detecting the capacity, or another related parameter, such as the relative permittivity of the air present in the container, the oscillation frequency or the voltage, at each shaft before the liquid is injected; detecting the capacity, or another related parameter, at each shaft after the liquid has been injected; determining the capacitive variation, or a variation in a related parameter, at each shaft; and deducing the quantity of liquid present at each reaction shaft. The invention is particularly suitable for use in the field of diagnosis.