Container screening system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10168305-B2
Application number	US-201414517686-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2014
Priority date	Oct 17, 2013
Publication date	Jan 1, 2019
Grant date	Jan 1, 2019

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for interrogating a liquid in a container. In one embodiment, methods are provided to interrogate and identify a container material type and a liquid within a container.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. An apparatus for detecting a presence of a container comprising a sample and determining a condition of the sample, comprising:
a holder for supporting the container comprising the sample;
a radio frequency (RF)transmitter configured to transmit an RF signal at the holder;
an RF receiver configured to receive a reflected RF signal of the RF signal;
and memory comprising data representative of a baseline reflected RF signal;
and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
transform the reflected RF signal into a frequency domain as a transformed reflected waveform;
transform the baseline reflected RF signal into the frequency domain as a transformed baseline waveform;
determine a ratio of the transformed reflected waveform to the transformed baseline waveform;
compare the ratio relative to a predetermined threshold to determine whether the container is being supported by the holder;
and evaluate the reflected RF signal relative to the baseline reflected RF signal to determine the condition of the sample wherein the condition is one of a hazardous condition or a non-hazardous condition.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein air present at a location above the holder reflects the RF signal.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to continuously monitor for the reflected RF signal waveform and evaluate the reflected RF signal to the baseline reflected RF signal.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein to transform comprises conducting a discrete Fourier analysis on the baseline reflected RF signal and the reflected RF signal.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the memory further comprises a database comprising data representative of a plurality of different RF signals associated with a respective hazardous sample; and
wherein the baseline RF signal is one of the plurality of different baseline RF signals.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein to evaluate comprises:
comparing the reflected RF signal to the baseline RF signal to determine the condition of the sample in response to determining that the sample is being supported by the holder.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the sample is determined to be non-hazardous in response to the reflecting RF signal not matching any of the plurality of different RF signals.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the sample is determined to be hazardous in response to the reflecting RF signal matching one of the plurality of different hazardous substance RF signals.

9. A method for detecting a presence of a liquid in a screening system for analyzing liquid-filled containers, the method comprising:
transmitting, at a transmitter, a radio-frequency (RF) signal at a holder supporting the container comprising an unknown liquid;
monitoring, at a receiver, for a reflected RF signal of the RF signal;
retrieving, from memory, data representative of a baseline reflected RF signal;
conducting, at a processor, a discrete Fourier analysis on the baseline reflected RF signal to convert the baseline reflected RF signal to a transformed baseline waveform;
conducting, at the processor, the discrete Fourier analysis on the reflected RF signal to convert the reflected RF signal to a transformed reflected waveform;
calculating, at the processor, a ratio of the transformed reflected waveform to the transformed baseline reflected waveform;
comparing, at the processor, the ratio relative to a predetermined threshold to determine whether the container is being supported by the holder;
and evaluating, at the processor, the reflected RF signal relative to the baseline reflected RF signal to determine whether the liquid is one of is hazardous and non-hazardous in response to determining that the container is being supported by the holder.

10. A method for determining a condition of a liquid in a container comprising:
storing, at memory, data representative of a baseline reflected radio-frequency (RF) signal;
transmitting, at a transmitter, an RF signal at the container comprising a liquid;
receiving, at a receiver, a reflected RF signal in response to the transmitted RF signal reflecting off the liquid;
conducting, at a processor, a Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) on the reflected RF signal to generate a signal transform;
conducting, at the processor, the FFT on the baseline reflected RF signal to generate a baseline transform;
determining, at the processor, a ratio of the signal transform to the baseline transform;
determining, at the processor, a difference between the signal transform and the baseline transform;
conducting, at the processor, a partial least squares regression analysis based on the ratio and the difference to generate a regression value for the liquid;
wherein the reflected RF-signal is received in at least one of a time domain for an RF time measurement and a frequency domain for an RF frequency measurement;
measuring, at a temperature sensor, a temperature of the liquid to compensate for changes in the RF radio signal and an ultrasonic velocity measurement of sound passing through the liquid caused by temperature;
calculating, at the processor, a signature for the liquid based on the regression value, the RF time measurement, the RF frequency measurement, the ultrasonic velocity, and the temperature;
and comparing, at the processor, the signature for the liquid to a database of signatures for liquids to determine a condition of the liquid, wherein the condition is one of a hazardous condition and a non-hazardous condition.

Assignees

• Pirkle Wesley C
• Shoaf Richard L
• Battelle Memorial Institute

Inventors

• Pirkle Wesley C
• Shoaf Richard L

Classifications

• G01N2291/048

  Transmission, i.e. analysed material between transmitter and receiver · CPC title

• G01N29/44 Primary

  Processing the detected response signal {, e.g. electronic circuits specially adapted therefor (digital signal processing per se G06F17/00)} · CPC title

• G01N29/02

  Analysing fluids (using acoustic emission techniques G01N29/14 {; constructional or flow details for analysing fluids G01N29/222; optoacoustic fluid cells G01N29/2425}) · CPC title

• G01N2291/102

  one emitter, one receiver · CPC title

• G01N2291/044

  Internal reflections (echoes), e.g. on walls or defects · CPC title