Uniformity property acquisition apparatus, method of acquiring uniformity property and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11525794-B2
Application number	US-202117155815-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 22, 2021
Priority date	Jan 23, 2020
Publication date	Dec 13, 2022
Grant date	Dec 13, 2022

Abstract

A uniformity property acquisition apparatus is the uniformity property acquisition apparatus configured to acquires a uniformity property of a mixture in which an insoluble solid matter is mixed in liquid, and the uniformity property acquisition apparatus includes: a pair of electrodes configured to apply the AC signal to the mixture; measurement unit configured to measure impedance of the mixture on the basis of a response signal flowing through the mixture when the AC signal is applied to the mixture; and processing unit configured to acquire the uniformity property of the mixture on the basis of the impedance measured by the measurement unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A uniformity property acquisition apparatus configured to determine a uniformity property of a mixture in which an insoluble solid matter is mixed in liquid, the uniformity property acquisition apparatus comprising:
a pair of electrodes configured to apply an AC signal to the mixture;
a measurement unit configured to measure impedance of the mixture based on a response signal flowing through the mixture when the AC signal is applied to the mixture; and
a processing unit configured to
acquire the uniformity property of the mixture based on the impedance measured by the measurement unit,
set an equivalent circuit, in which a parallel circuit formed of a resistor and a constant phase element is employed as an element, from the impedance measured in the measurement unit,
generate data indicating complex plane impedance by executing an equivalent circuit analysis using the equivalent circuit, and
calculate the uniformity property based on a parameter related to the parallel circuit.

2. The uniformity property acquisition apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the processing unit is configured to determine a number of types of the solid matter in accordance with a number of the parallel circuit obtained by the equivalent circuit analysis.

3. The uniformity property acquisition apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the processing unit is configured to determine that, as an order of the constant phase element approaches unity, a uniformity of size of the solid matter is increased.

4. A uniformity property acquisition apparatus configured to determine a uniformity property of a mixture in which an insoluble solid matter is mixed in liquid, the uniformity property acquisition apparatus comprising:
a pair of electrodes configured to apply an AC signal to the mixture;
a measurement unit configured to measure impedance of the mixture based on a response signal flowing through the mixture when the AC signal is applied to the mixture;
a processing unit configured to acquire the uniformity property of the mixture based on the impedance measured by the measurement unit;
a frequency control unit configured to control a frequency of the AC signal; and
a storing unit configured to store, for each respective reference liquid of a plurality of reference liquids providing references for the mixture, correlation information indicating a correlation between an imaginary number component of impedance of the respective reference liquid and the frequency of the AC signal, and an evaluation index for evaluating the uniformity property,
wherein
the processing unit is configured to evaluate the uniformity property based on the impedance measured by the measurement unit for every frequency, and
the processing unit selects, from the storing unit, correlation information from the stored correlation information that corresponds to correlation information generated based on the impedance measured by the measurement unit, and calculates the evaluation index linked to the selected correlation information.

5. The uniformity property acquisition apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the processing unit is configured to:
generate, when the frequency of the AC signal is changed, generated correlation information indicating a correlation between an imaginary number component of the impedance measured by the measurement unit in accordance with the frequency and the frequency of the AC signal applied, and
evaluate the uniformity property based on the generated correlation information.

6. The uniformity property acquisition apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the processing unit is configured to determine the number of types of the solid matter in accordance with a number of peaks of the imaginary number component specified by the generated correlation information.

7. The uniformity property acquisition apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the processing unit is configured to determine that, based on the generated correlation information, the smaller a half-width value of a peak in a correlation diagram indicating the correlation of the generated correlation information is, the higher the uniformity property of size of the solid matter becomes.

8. A method for determining a uniformity property of a mixture in which an insoluble solid matter is mixed in liquid, the method comprising:
applying an AC signal to the mixture;
measuring impedance of the mixture based on a response signal flowing through the mixture when the AC signal is applied to the mixture,

wherein the measuring includes measuring the impedance of the mixture based on the response signal flowing through the mixture when the AC signal is applied to the mixture while changing a frequency of the AC signal; and
acquiring the uniformity property of the mixture based on the measured impedance, wherein the acquiring the uniformity property includes evaluating the uniformity property based on the measured impedance and the frequency of the AC signal applied to the mixture.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium including a program configured to cause a computer to determine a uniformity property of a mixture in which an insoluble solid matter is mixed in liquid, the program causing the computer to:
apply an AC signal to the mixture;
measure impedance of the mixture based on a response signal flowing through the mixture when the AC signal is applied to the mixture, wherein to measure the impedance, the computer is to measure the impedance of the mixture based on the response signal flowing through the mixture when the AC signal is applied to the mixture while changing a frequency of the AC signal; and
acquire the uniformity property of the mixture based on the measured impedance, wherein to acquire the uniformity property, the computer is to evaluate the uniformity property based on the impedance measured in accordance with the frequency and the frequency of the AC signal applied to the mixture.

10. A method for determining a uniformity property of a mixture in which an insoluble solid matter is mixed in liquid, the method comprising:
applying AC signal to the mixture while changing a frequency of the AC signal;
measuring impedance of the mixture based on a response signal flowing through the mixture when the AC signal is applied to the mixture, wherein the measuring includes measuring the impedance of the mixture from the response signal flowing through the mixture when the AC signal is applied to the mixture; and
acquiring the uniformity property of the mixture based on the measured impedance, wherein the acquiring the uniformity property includes calculating the uniformity property by obtaining from the measured impedance an equivalent circuit, in which a parallel circuit formed of a resistor and a constant phase element is employed as an element, and by using the equivalent circuit.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium including a program configured to cause a computer to determine a uniformity property of a mixture in which an insoluble solid matter is mixed in liquid, the program causing the computer to:
apply an AC signal to the mixture while changing a frequency of the AC signal;
measure impedance of the mixture based on a response signal flowing through the mixture when the AC signal is applied to the mixture, wherein to measure the impedance, the computer is to measure the impedance of the mixture from the response signal flowing through the mixture when the AC signal is applied to the mixture; and
acquire the uniformity property of the mixture based on the measured impedance, wherein to acquire the uniformity property, the computer is to calculate the uniformity

Assignees

• Hioki Electric Works

Inventors

• Nakayama Naoto
• Shioiri Akihiro
• Kawamuro Yuki

Classifications

• G01N27/02

  by investigating impedance · CPC title

• G01N27/122

  Circuits particularly adapted therefor, e.g. linearising circuits · CPC title

• G01N15/02 Primary

  Investigating particle size or size distribution (by measuring osmotic pressure G01N7/10; investigating sedimentation of particle suspensions G01N15/04; investigating individual particles G01N15/10) · CPC title

• G01N27/06 Primary

  of a liquid (involving electrolysis G01N27/26) · CPC title

• G01R27/08

  Measuring resistance by measuring both voltage and current · CPC title