Claims
- 1. A mass-flow sensor, comprising:
at least one light source positioned to project a light beam into a flow passage; at least one detector positioned to receive light reflected off entrained materials flowing through the flow passage and to convert the light into a generated signal indicative of the level of light reflected; and a signal processing circuit coupled to the at least one detector and having means to transmit a signal to a data acquisition system for calculating the quantity of material in the flow passage passing through the light beam.
- 2. The mass-flow sensor of claim 1, wherein the at least one light source is a light-emitting diode.
- 3. The mass-flow sensor of claim 2, wherein the light-emitting diode produces light in the visible spectrum.
- 4. The mass-flow sensor of claim 2, wherein the light-emitting diode produces light in the infrared spectrum.
- 5. The mass-flow sensor of claim 1, wherein the light source emits frequency-modulated LED light.
- 6. The mass-flow sensor of claim 1, wherein the at least one detector includes a photodiode.
- 7. The mass-flow sensor of claim 1, wherein at least one detector is positioned alongside at least one light source.
- 8. The mass-flow sensor of claim 1, wherein the light source and detector are housed in a single housing unit.
- 9. The mass-flow sensor of claim 1, wherein the entrained materials are harvested cotton.
- 10. The mass-flow sensor of claim 1, further comprising a temperature control system.
- 11. The mass-flow sensor of claim 10, wherein the temperature control system comprises a temperature sensor, a reference voltage, a voltage comparator, a solid-state relay and a thermo-electric module.
- 12. The mass-flow sensor of claim 1, further comprising a cleaning system.
- 13. The mass-flow sensor of claim 1, comprising a plurality of light sources and a plurality of detectors, wherein each of the plurality of light sources is positioned to project a light beam into the flow passage and each of the plurality of detectors is positioned to receive light reflected off the entrained materials flowing through the flow passage.
- 14. A material transport system having a conduit defining a flow passage through which entrained materials are transported between an inlet end and an outlet end of the conduit in a direction parallel to a longitudinal axis of the conduit, wherein the material transport system includes a mass-flow sensor comprising at least one light source positioned to project a light beam into a flow passage, at least one detector positioned to receive light reflected off of entrained materials flowing through the flow passage and to convert the light into a generated signal indicative of the level of light reflected, and a signal processing circuit coupled to the at least one detector and having means to calculate the quantity of material in the flow passage passing through the light beam.
- 15. The material transport system of claim 14, wherein the light source in the mass-flow sensor is a light-emitting diode.
- 16. The material transport system of claim 15, wherein the light-emitting diode produces light in the visible spectrum.
- 17. The material transport system of claim 15, wherein the light-emitting diode produces light in the infrared spectrum.
- 18. The material transport system of claim 14, wherein the detector of the mass-flow sensor includes a photodiode.
- 19. The mass-flow sensor of claim 14, wherein at least one detector is positioned alongside at least one light source.
- 20. The mass-flow sensor of claim 14, wherein the light source and detector are housed in a single housing unit.
- 21. The material transport system of claim 14, wherein the entrained materials are harvested cotton.
- 22. A method of determining the quantity of entrained materials flowing through a material transport system having a conduit defining a flow passage through which the entrained materials are transported between an inlet end and an outlet end of the conduit in a direction parallel to a longitudinal axis of the conduit, the method comprising:
projecting at least one light beam into the flow passage to contact the materials flowing therethrough; detecting the light from the light beam reflected off the entrained materials; converting the light into a generated signal indicative of the level of light reflected; and calculating the quantity of material in the flow passage passing through the light beam as a function of the generated signal and a baseline signal.
- 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the light beam is projected by a light-emitting diode.
- 24. The method of claim 23, wherein the light-emitting diode produces light in the visible spectrum.
- 25. The method of claim 23, wherein the light-emitting diode produces light in the infrared spectrum.
- 26. The method of claim 22, wherein the light is detected by a photodiode detector.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/186,346, which was filed on Mar. 2, 2000. The entirety of that provisional application is incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60186346 |
Mar 2000 |
US |