TIME DOMAIN REFLECTOMETRY INSTRUMENT WITH BOTTOM UP ALGORITHM
A radar transmitter for emulsion measurement comprises a probe mountable to a bottom of a vessel and defining a transmission line extending upward into the vessel, in use, for sensing impedance. A pulse circuit is connected to the probe for periodically generating pulses on the transmission line and receiving a reflected signal from the transmission line, each reflected signal comprising a waveform of probe impedance over time. A controller is operatively connected to the pulse circuit and comprises a programmed processor and a memory. The memory stores trace data of a plurality of individual waveforms. The processor is programmed to profile a first section of the waveforms which does not change over time and a second section of the waveforms which changes over time, representing an emulsion moving in the vessel. The controller locates where the waveforms indicates motion to determine emulsion level.
1 . A radar transmitter for emulsion measurement comprising:
a probe mountable to a bottom of a vessel and defining a transmission line extending upward into the vessel, in use, for sensing impedance;
a pulse circuit connected to the probe for periodically generating pulses on the transmission line and receiving a reflected signal from the transmission line, each reflected signal comprising a waveform of probe impedance over time; and
a controller operatively connected to the pulse circuit and comprising a programmed processor and a memory, the memory storing trace data of a plurality of individual waveforms, the processor being programmed to profile a first section of the waveforms which does not change over time and a second section of the waveforms which changes over time, representing an emulsion moving in the vessel, the controller locating where the waveforms indicates motion to determine emulsion level.
2 . The radar transmitter of claim 1 wherein the waveform comprises a time domain reflectometry signal.
3 . The radar transmitter of claim 2 wherein the controller uses TDR inversion to transform the waveform into impedance relative to distance.
4 . The radar transmitter of claim 1 wherein the controller is programmed to use historical difference motion detection.
5 . The radar transmitter of claim 4 wherein the controller compares a current waveform to a prior waveform a select time T prior to the current waveform.
6 . The radar transmitter of claim 1 wherein the controller is programmed to use modulated motion detection where there is relative movement between the emulsion and the probe.
7 . The radar transmitter of claim 6 wherein modulated motion detection assembles all the waveform samples at time tSlice to create a waveform that has some amount of energy from the pumping period T, and detects a P(tSlice), the amount of fluid modulation Power at time t from the bottom of the probe for all time's out to the probe's farthest reach, and determines the first time P(tSlice) that crosses a threshold pTHRESH, and indicates that as the emulsion location.
8 . The radar transmitter of claim 1 wherein the controller is programmed to use linear motion detection.
9 . The radar transmitter of claim 8 wherein the linear motion detection creates an image of the moving edge from the plurality of individual waveforms and determines a slope of a line at the moving edge and an intersection point of the line along a time scale.
10 . The radar transmitter of claim 1 wherein the controller uses random motion detection.
11 . The radar transmitter of claim 10 wherein the random motion detection creates a variance trace that is a point wise variance of all of the plurality of waveforms in a buffer and determines a reflection time there the variance trace crosses a select threshold.
12 . A time domain reflectometry measurement instrument for emulsion measurement comprising:
a probe mountable to a bottom of a vessel and defining a transmission line extending upward into the vessel, in use, for sensing impedance;
a pulse circuit connected to the probe for periodically generating pulses on the transmission line and receiving a reflected signal from the transmission line, each reflected signal comprising a waveform of probe impedance over time;
a signal processing circuit connected to the pulse circuit for developing a time representation of the reflected signal;
a memory storing trace data of a plurality of individual waveforms; and
a programmed processor operatively connected to the signal processing circuit and the memory, the processor being programmed to profile a first section of the waveforms which does not change over time and a second section of the waveforms which changes over time, representing an emulsion moving in the vessel, the controller locating where the waveforms indicates motion to determine emulsion level.
13 . The time domain reflectometry transmitter of claim 12 wherein the controller uses TDR inversion to transform the waveform into impedance relative to distance.
14 . The time domain reflectometry transmitter of claim 12 wherein the controller is programmed to use historical difference motion detection.
15 . The time domain reflectometry transmitter of claim 14 wherein the controller compares a current waveform to a prior waveform a select time T prior to the current waveform.
16 . The time domain reflectometry transmitter of claim 12 wherein the controller is programmed to use modulated motion detection where there is relative movement between the emulsion and the probe.
17 . The time domain reflectometry transmitter of claim 16 wherein modulated motion detection assembles all the waveform samples at time tSlice to create a waveform that has some amount of energy from the pumping period T, and detects a P(tSlice), the amount of fluid modulation Power at time t from the bottom of the probe for all time's out to the probe's farthest reach, and determines the first time P(tSlice) that crosses a threshold pTHRESH, and indicates that as the emulsion location.
18 . The time domain reflectometry transmitter of claim 12 wherein the controller is programmed to use linear motion detection.
19 . The time domain reflectometry transmitter of claim 18 wherein the linear motion detection creates an image of the moving edge from the plurality of individual waveforms and determines a slope of a line at the moving edge and an intersection point of the line along a time scale.
20 . The time domain reflectometry transmitter of claim 12 wherein the controller uses random motion detection.
21 . The time domain reflectometry transmitter of claim 20 wherein the random motion detection creates a variance trace that is a point wise variance of all of the plurality of waveforms in a buffer and determines a reflection time there the variance trace crosses a select threshold.