A rain gauge for measurement of rain fall. The rain gauge includes: a measurement chamber having an inlet port at one end and a drainage port at the other end, the drainage port being closed by a valve and programmable to be opened at predefined events to release water collected in measurement chamber; a funnel or collector adapted to receive rain fall opens into the inlet port; and an ultrasonic transducer for transmitting and receiving acoustic signals into measurement chamber. The ultrasonic transducer is programmable to determine the water level in measurement chamber. An automatic weather station including the rain gauge is also provided.

A monitoring apparatus is disclosed that includes a.) at least one acoustic pickup, b.) a sound pressure sensor acoustically coupled to the at least one acoustic pickup, and c.) a computing device interfaced to the sound pressure sensor. The at least one acoustic pickup may be submerged in or located in proximity to flowing fluid. The sound sensor is configured to acquire sound intensity waveforms naturally generated by the flowing fluid as a source of data patterns for training the apparatus as well stimuli used to generate responses about flow conditions. The computing device is configured to quantify flow parameters of the flowing fluid from sound utterances and visual appearances intrinsically expressed by the flow using machine learning models.

The invention provides a method of verifying the health of a liquid level detection device, preferably a vibrating fork level switch, while the device remains in situ. The method includes, independently of the device, verifying if the fork tines are fully wet or fully dry. This step can be carried out by a further, independent, level measuring apparatus.

The invention provides a method of verifying the health of a liquid level detection device, preferably a vibrating fork level switch, while the device remains in situ. The method includes, independently of the device, verifying if the fork tines are fully wet or fully dry. This step can be carried out by a further, independent, level measuring apparatus.

The current invention relates to methods and systems for evaluating a filling state of a load bearing means by means of a monitoring system comprising a sensing module; said load bearing means adapted for being carried by a transport unit; said load bearing means comprising a loading space; said sensing module situated in proximity to said load bearing means and outside of said loading space; said sensing module comprising an emitter, a receiver, an evaluator and a memory comprising calibration data; said sensing module configured for carrying out a plurality of steps; wherein a spacing S between said emitter and said receiver does not exceed 200 mm; and wherein a maximum dimension M of said load bearing means is not smaller than 4 m.

The current invention relates to methods and systems for evaluating a filling state of a load bearing means by means of a monitoring system comprising a sensing module; said load bearing means adapted for being carried by a transport unit; said load bearing means comprising a loading space; said sensing module situated in proximity to said load bearing means and outside of said loading space; said sensing module comprising an emitter, a receiver, an evaluator and a memory comprising calibration data; said sensing module configured for carrying out a plurality of steps; wherein a spacing S between said emitter and said receiver does not exceed 200 mm; and wherein a maximum dimension M of said load bearing means is not smaller than 4 m.

A beverage dispenser having a beverage-level indicating system. The beverage dispenser includes a housing and a dispensing head arranged on the housing for dispensing a beverage into a beverage container. The beverage dispenser further includes a beverage-level sensor arranged on the housing and which determines a beverage level within the beverage container without contacting the beverage within the beverage container, a beverage-level indicator that provides a visual indication of the beverage level within the beverage container, and a control unit that causes the beverage-level indicator to indicate the beverage level within the beverage container based on the beverage level as determined by the beverage-level sensor.

Various embodiments include determining a level of a surface of a fluid and/or for determining a quality of the fluid in a fluid container. An example apparatus comprises a sound transducer module having two sound transducers designed to receive and emit sound signals in such a manner that a superimposition sound signal results when the sound signals are superimposed, and a reference element arranged in the fluid at a predefined distance from the sound transducer module and is designed to reflect the superimposition sound signal. The sound transducer module is designed, by superimposing the at least two sound signals, to emit the superimposition sound signal both in a first direction to the surface of the fluid and in a second direction to the reference element, said second direction running at a predetermined sound signal angle with respect to the first direction.

An appliance, such as a refrigerator appliance, and controller configured to perform operations of a method for measuring contents in a container are provided. The operations include receiving, from a sensor, one or more signals indicative of a height of contents in a container, and determining a contents volume in the container based at least on the height of contents in the container.

An appliance, such as a refrigerator appliance, and controller configured to perform operations of a method for measuring contents in a container are provided. The operations include receiving, from a sensor, one or more signals indicative of a height of contents in a container, and determining a contents volume in the container based at least on the height of contents in the container.