Device and Method for measuring the mass of a polarisable fluid in a container

Abstract

A method and a device for determining the amount of fill volume in a container. A mass of polarizable liquid in a container is positioned within the measurement region of a shielding antenna and a measuring pulse antenna. The shielding antenna is connected to both a measuring device that measures a time-dependent voltage value of an external interference signal and to a compensation signal generator that generates a time-dependent compensation signal compensating this interference signal. The measuring pulse antenna is connected to both a measuring pulse generator that generates a polarization signal to transmit to the fluid fill in the container and to a second measuring device that measures a response signal to derive the mass of the fluid from said response signal.

Claims

1. The invention relates to a device for measuring a mass of a polarisable fluid in a container (100) a shielding antenna (29, 29b), which defines a measurement region (20), of an active shield (2), wherein the shielding antenna (29, 29b) is connected to a first measurement device (21) and a compensation signal generator (22), a measuring pulse antenna (30, 30b) which is connected to a second measuring device (31) and a measuring pulse generator (32) and is arranged within the measuring region (20), and wherein the device is prepared for this purpose by means of the first measuring device (21), to measure a time-related voltage value of an external interference signal and to generate a compensation signal compensating this interference signal by means of the compensation signal generator (22) and to conduct said compensation signal to the shielding antenna (29, 29b) and thus to achieve a wide range of accuracy of the measurement range (20), and to generate a polarisation signal by means of the measuring pulse generator (32) and to polarize the measuring pulse antenna (30,30b) by means of the measuring pulse generator (32) and to measure a response signal by means of the second measuring device (31) and to derive the mass of the fluid from said response signal.

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the shielding antenna (2) is a hollow-cylindrical antenna (29), in particular made of thin conducting film, which is open at one end, in particular an upper end, in order to cover at least partial insertion of the container (100) into an inner space of the hollow cylindrical antenna (29), and the measuring pulse antenna is a ring antenna (30), which is arranged in such a way that an operating medium (100) introduced at least partially, passes through the ring antenna (30).

3. The invention relates to a device according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the hollow-cylindrical shielding antenna (29) is formed from the inside by a supporting structure (28), in particular a non-conductive and non-magnetic supporting structure in the form of a cylinder or cylinder skeleton made of plastic.

4. Device according to one of claim 3, characterized in that the supporting structure (28) is mounted with a shielding antenna (29) and ring antenna (30) on a housing (4), in particular in an approximately quasi-rectangular housing or a housing having a three-or hexagonal cross-section, in which the measuring and shielding electronics, ie the first measuring direction (21), the compensation signal generator (22), the second measuring device (31) and the measuring pulse generator (32) are provided.

5. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the shielding antenna (29b) and the measuring pulse antenna (30b) are arranged next to one another in a row at a small distance from one another in a row in comparison with a line of the shielding antenna (29b).

6. The device according to one of claims 1-5, characterized in that the second measuring device (31) comprises a voltmeter (312) which is connected in parallel to a preamplifier (311).

7. Device according to claim 6, characterized in that the preamplifier is an operational amplifier which is operated with inverted input.

8. The invention relates to an arrangement comprising a plurality of devices common to one of the devices 1-7 for measuring the fluid in a plurality of containers having a polarisable fluid, said containers being inserted into receptacles of a carrier plate, and at least partially protruding through the carrier plate, characterized in that the devices are arranged at a distance from one another and in a manner such that they can be moved together in such a way that at least two, preferably all, of the containers can be introduced into the measuring regions of two, preferably all, of the devices in an identical manner.

9. Arrangement according to claim 8, characterized in that the devices are fastened to a multi-axis robot arm and can be moved together by means of said arm.

10. The invention relates to a method for determining a mass of a polarisable fluid of a combined container (100), characterised in that a) At least far into the measurement region (20) of an active shield (2) defined by a shielding antenna (29, 29b), in such a way that the fluid is completely or largely located in the measuring region (20), b) The measurement of the fluid mass is then carried out in-which is measured by means of a measuring pulse antenna (30, 30B) one of which is connected to the measurement pulse antenna (30, 30B) coupled measurement pulse generator (32), to the fluid in the interior of the container (100) and is thereby polarised, and by means of a control device which is likewise connected to the measuring pulse antenna (30, 30B), a response signal of the polarised fluid is measured and the fluid sample is derived there from, c) wherein a time-delay compensation signal is measured by means of a first measuring device (21) connected to the end-of-coil measuring device and a compensation signal that compensates for the interference signal is generated on the basis of the measured interference signal by means of an alternating voltage generator (22) and is conducted to the shielding antenna (29. 29b) in order to ensure the freedom of interference of the measuring region (20).

11. Method according to claim 10, characterized by a reaction time of the active shielding of less than 1 millisecond, preferably less than 100 microseconds.

12. Method according to one of the claims 10-11, characterized in that the second measuring device (31) is connected to the measuring pulse antenna (30,30b) in the form of an operational amplifier (311) as a pre-amplifier, and in particular comprises a voltmeter (312).

13. The method according to one of claims 10-12, characterized in that the polarization signal generated by the measurement pulse generator (32) a voltage pulse, in particular a DC voltage pulse or an alternating voltage pulse having a Gaussian envelope, or an alternating voltage of constant amplitude and frequency, and/or a frequency between 10 and 100 kHz, preferably 40 to 50 kHz.

14. The method according to one of claims 10-13, characterized in that the compensation signal generated by the compensation signal generator (22) has a bias voltage, in particular in the range of 0.1-10 volts

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] FIG. 1: A preferred embodiment of a measuring device according to the invention in cut-away or specular view

[0032] FIG. 2: The electrical circuit diagram of the embodiment of FIG. 1

[0033] FIG. 3: The invention also relates to an arrangement according to the invention, which is used for the simultaneous measurement of a plurality of syringes

[0034] FIG. 4: A schematic section through a second preferred embodiment of the present invention is the use with vials or ampules.

[0035] A measuring device according to the invention is shown in FIG. 1 in a partially cut-away perspective representation. In this embodiment, the device according to the invention consists of the three parts shield 2, ring antenna 30 and the housing 4, which houses the electronics. Shield 2 around the cylindrical shielding foil 29, which is also used as a shielding antenna, surrounds the cylindrical shielding foil 29, which also serves as a shielding antenna, and is mechanically stabilized by the shielding structure 28. The upper end face of both the structure 28 and the shielding foil 29 is open and forms the circuit boundary O-opening through which the operating medium 100 to be measured is divided into the inner-space of the shield 2. The interior also simultaneously represents the measurement region 20. In the upper region of the interior 20 of the shield 2, the ring antenna 30 of the type is arranged, which lies on the cylinder axis of the shield 2 in its normal position. The ring antenna 30 is connected to the measuring electronics 3 is connected in a circuit-related manner in the housing 4. The measuring electronic unit 3 comprises a measuring pulse generator 32 and a second voltage measuring device 31. The measuring pulse generator 32 is a signal generator which is used to polarize the fluid volume of the container 100 to be measured.

[0036] The electronic system used for active shielding is also accommodated in the housing 4 and comprises the first voltage measuring device 21 and the compensation signal generator 22. The housing 4 has a cross-section in the form of a regular hexagon, which has the advantage that, when a plurality of devices according to the invention are connected to form an arrangement according to the invention, a regular hexagonal grid can be generated. This corresponds to the pattern in which the receptacles in carrier plates, also called nests, are usually arranged.

[0037] FIG. 2 shows the circuit diagram of the electronic components used in the embodiment of FIG. 1 for use. The second voltage measuring device 31 and, on the other hand, the measuring pulse generator 32 are connected to the ring antenna 30 serving to couple the measuring signal into the sample. The measurement pulse generator 32 generates the current required to polarize the fluid signal in order to be measured in the form of a voltage pulse, which can be, for example, Gaussian, Lorentz, or Heavyside—Step Form, or can also take the form of an AC voltage signal having a fixed frequency, which AC voltage signal is emitted for a certain period of time. The polarization signal generated in order to be measured is recorded by means of the same ring antenna 30 and is evaluated on the voltage measurement unit 31, which is likewise connected to the ring antenna 30, consisting of the preamplifier 311 and voltmeter 312.

[0038] The active shield is used for largely eliminating the components of the fluid sample which penetrate through the O-opening 20 of the shield into the interior of the shield and do not influence the parts of the fluid sample which are not located in the interior of the shield, in addition to the measuring process described above. It comprises 30 the shielding foil 29, which also functions as an antenna, voltage sensor 21 and compensation signal generator 22, the latter are connected to one another by means of a coupling 27. The chip sensor 21 detects the current interference signal level present on the shielding film 29 in the opposite direction to a reference level, for example the earth. The measured signal to the compensation signal generator 22, which thereupon generates an oppositely directed signal which is delayed in time and, with a certain pre-voltage, conducts it to the shielding antenna 29 in order to compensate for the interference signal and to transmit into the interior space and the fluid in order to be measured free of interference signals.

[0039] FIG. 3 illustrates an arrangement according to the invention in use in the simultaneous fill volume determination of a plurality of containers, here syringes. As shown, two devices 1, 1′ are connected to each other at a distance from one another by means of their respective housings 4, 4′ in such a way that their distance corresponds to the two fluid containers to be measured, here container 100, inserted into carrier plate 101. For this purpose, a spacer 5 is arranged between the housing 4, 4′ the arrangement created in this way is mounted on a multi-axis robot arm 6, shown only schematically, which can move it and pivot it in one or more axis in order, as shown, to push the syringes 100 projecting downwards out of their support plate 101, as shown. Thanks to the active shield can then be used to measure the fluid in two syringes 100 at the same time, without the measurement being of opposite to influence.

[0040] Since it does not allow the structural conditions in the case of vials or ampules, it is not possible to introduce the containers held in the nest, that is to say vials or ampules, into the interior of a hollow-cylindrical shielding of the outer casing of FIG. 1, according to the present invention, such nest has a different configuration, which is shown in a schematic section in FIG. 4.

[0041] In this embodiment, the active shield 2 comprises the flat or rod shaped shielding antenna 29b, as well as the compensation electronics (not shown) connected thereto. The polarizable fluid to be measured in the container 100 is completely located within the measuring region 20, in which the compensation field generated by the shielding antenna 29b (dashed - indicates) a more efficient time-dependent interference electric fields. The size of this region corresponds approximately to the width of the shielding antenna 29b and the width of the shielding antenna 29b, which is why this size is hollowed as the width or diameter of the container 100. The likewise flat or rod shaped measuring pulse antenna 30b, to which the measuring electronics (also not shown) are connected, is arranged parallel to the shielding antenna 29b, aligned between the latter and the housing 100. In this case, the measuring pulse antenna 30b should be brought into close proximity to the operating element 100 in order to generate the signal strength. In order that the measuring pulse antenna 30b lies completely in the measuring range at the same time, it is dimensioned to be smaller than the shielding antenna 29b.

LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

[0042] 1 Set-up [0043] 2 (active) Shield [0044] 20 Measurement region [0045] 21 First voltage measuring device [0046] 22 Alternating voltage generator [0047] 28 Structure [0048] 29 Shielding film, hollow-cylindrical shielding antenna [0049] 29b Flat or rod-shaped shielding antenna [0050] 30 Ring-shaped measuring pulse antenna [0051] 30b Flat or rod-shaped measurement pulse antenna device [0052] 31 Second voltage measuring [0053] 311 Amplifier [0054] 312 Voltmeter [0055] 32 Measuring pulse generator [0056] 4 Housing [0057] 5 Spacer [0058] 6 Robot arm [0059] 100 Container, syringe [0060] 101 Carrier plate