Tools, processes, and systems for in-situ fluid characterization based on a thermal response of a fluid are provided. The thermal response of a downhole fluid may be measured using a downhole thermal response tool and compared with thermal responses associated with known fluids. The properties of the downhole fluid, such as heat capacity, diffusivity, and thermal conductivity, may be determined by matching the thermal response of the downhole fluid with a thermal response of a known fluid and using the properties associated with the known fluid. The composition of the downhole fluid may be determined by matching the viscosity of the downhole fluid to the viscosity of known fluid. A downhole thermal response tool for cased wellbores or wellbore sections and a downhole thermal response tool for openhole wellbores or wellbore sections are provided.

The present invention is a system and method for determining effective ground thermal properties. Accurate prediction of required loop length for geothermal heat exchange systems is critical for optimizing performance and associated cost, yet limited by lack of knowledge of the effective average thermal properties of the surrounding ground. Testing involves first charging the ground loop by circulating fluid at constant temperature and constant rate of heat input, then halting heat input and monitoring the ground loop temperatures during discharge. One aspect of the invention is to enable separate determination of effective ground thermal conductivity and volumetric heat capacity first by adopting design elements resulting in improved reproducibility, and second by evaluating thermal conductivity near the time when the quotient Q of later discharge temperature to start-of-discharge fluid temperature is almost independent of volumetric heat capacity. Evaluation discharge times are specific to both ground loop design and charging conditions.

A material transport property measurement system includes an ellipsometry system, a heat capacity measurement system, and a controller. The ellipsometry system has a light source to generate a light which passes through a polarizer and shines on a sample. The sample reflects the light to an integrated polarization analyzer, which includes multiple polarizers with different polarization angles distributed from 0 to 180 degrees. A detector assembly includes multiple detectors corresponding to the multiple polarizers to detect light passing through the respective polarizers and generate multiple first electrical signals. The heat capacity measurement system measures a temperature parameter of the sample using a non-contact method, and outputs a second electrical signal. The controller analyzes the second and the multiple first electrical signals to obtain the transport properties of the material. A material transport property measurement method is also provided.

Method of operating a flow sensor device (10) with a first sensor arrangement (11) for measuring a flow (F) of a fluid (g) and a further first fluid property (p.sub.1), and with a second sensor arrangement (12) for measuring a further second fluid property (p.sub.2); said method comprising the steps of operating said flow sensor device (10) for determining said further first fluid property (p.sub.1) by means of said first sensor arrangement (11), operating said flow sensor device (10) for determining said further second fluid property (p.sub.2) by means of said second sensor arrangement (12), comparing said further first fluid property (p.sub.1) and further second fluid property (p.sub.2) and producing a comparison result (R), and monitoring said comparison result and producing a fault signal (FS) in case of a fault state. The present invention relates to such a sensor device.

According to one embodiment disclosed in the present inventive concept, a method for diagnosing the lifespan of a pressure vessel is disclosed. The method for diagnosing the lifespan of the pressure vessel includes the steps of extracting a calorimetric sample from the pressure vessel or a surveillance test specimen, measuring the enthalpy amount, changes in the enthalpy amount, the specific heat capacity, or changes in the specific heat capacity of the extracted calorimetric sample; determining the amount of entropy change in the calorimetric sample based on the measured enthalpy amount, the measured changes in the enthalpy amount, the measured specific heat capacity, or the measured changes in the specific heat capacity; and determining the remaining lifespan of the pressure vessel based on the amount of entropy change in the calorimetric sample. In addition, various embodiments discernible through the specification are possible.

Described herein are systems and methods for detecting a physiological response based on thermal measurements while accounting for effects of the environment. In one embodiment, a system includes an inward-facing head-mounted thermal camera (CAM.sub.in) that takes thermal measurements of a region of interest (TH.sub.ROI) on a user's face, and an outward-facing head-mounted thermal camera (CAM.sub.out) that takes thermal measurements of the environment (TH.sub.ENV). CAM.sub.in does not occlude the region of interest, and the system further includes a computer that detects the physiological response based on TH.sub.ROI and TH.sub.ENV. Optionally, the computer generates feature values based on sets of TH.sub.ROI and TH.sub.ENV, and utilizes a machine learning-based model to detect, based on the feature values, the physiological response.

The invention provides an improved method to predict the solubility of a drug or other molecule in a solid polymer or other matrix at any temperature. The instant invention provides a method to determine the difference in specific enthalpy, specific entropy and specific Gibbs energy between a solid solution and the unmixed components, as well as a method to use those data to predict the solubility of a drug or other molecule in a solid polymer or other matrix. The method uses known thermodynamics equations and thermal analysis data, such as obtained from DSC (differential scanning calorimetry) at temperatures that are lower than the temperature at which the solubility is predicted. The method allows prediction of the drug-in-polymer solubilities without the use of elevated temperatures, but still avoids impractically long experiments. The instant invention can predict the solubility at many temperatures, but is particularly useful in the pharmaceutical sciences to predict the solubility of a drug in a polymer at typical storage temperatures, which are typically near room temperature or below.

The invention provides an improved method to predict the solubility of a drug or other molecule in a solid polymer or other matrix at any temperature. The instant invention provides a method to determine the difference in specific enthalpy, specific entropy and specific Gibbs energy between a solid solution and the unmixed components, as well as a method to use those data to predict the solubility of a drug or other molecule in a solid polymer or other matrix. The method uses known thermodynamics equations and thermal analysis data, such as obtained from DSC (differential scanning calorimetry) at temperatures that are lower than the temperature at which the solubility is predicted. The method allows prediction of the drug-in-polymer solubilities without the use of elevated temperatures, but still avoids impractically long experiments. The instant invention can predict the solubility at many temperatures, but is particularly useful in the pharmaceutical sciences to predict the solubility of a drug in a polymer at typical storage temperatures, which are typically near room temperature or below.

The invention provides an improved method to predict the solubility of a drug or other molecule in a solid polymer or other matrix at any temperature. The instant invention provides a method to determine the difference in specific enthalpy, specific entropy and specific Gibbs energy between a solid solution and the unmixed components, as well as a method to use those data to predict the solubility of a drug or other molecule in a solid polymer or other matrix. The method uses known thermodynamics equations and thermal analysis data, such as obtained from DSC (differential scanning calorimetry) at temperatures that are lower than the temperature at which the solubility is predicted. The method allows prediction of the drug-in-polymer solubilities without the use of elevated temperatures, but still avoids impractically long experiments. The instant invention can predict the solubility at many temperatures, but is particularly useful in the pharmaceutical sciences to predict the solubility of a drug in a polymer at typical storage temperatures, which are typically near room temperature or below.

A method and a measuring apparatus for determining specific quantities for the gas quality in which the gas or gas mixture flows through an ultrasonic flow sensor as well as through a microthermal sensor, and the former is used for determining the sound and flow velocity and the latter for determining the thermal conductivity and the thermal capacity of the gas or gas mixture. The sound velocity, the thermal conductivity and the thermal capacity are subsequently used for the correlation of the specific quantities for the gas quality.