Moisture meter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12535397-B2
Application number	US-201917779503-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 28, 2019
Priority date	Nov 28, 2019
Publication date	Jan 27, 2026
Grant date	Jan 27, 2026

Abstract

Provided is a moisture meter including a mass measurement unit for measuring the mass of a specimen, a heater for heating the specimen, a control arithmetic unit configured to control the heating unit to heat the specimen until a change in the mass of the specimen becomes not more than a predetermined threshold and calculate the moisture content of the specimen, a timepiece for measuring a heating time, and a storage unit. The control arithmetic unit measures the moisture content of a standard substance for inspection and a heating time, diagnoses the presence/absence of an abnormality in the heating unit by comparing a measured heating time with a predetermined time as a set heating time stored in the storage unit in advance.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A moisture meter comprising:
a mass measurement unit configured to measure a mass of a specimen placed on a weighing dish; a heating chamber having the weighing dish placed inside and configured to open and close; a heating unit placed in the heating chamber and configured to heat the specimen; a control arithmetic unit configured to control the heating unit to heat the specimen until a change in mass of the specimen becomes not more than a predetermined threshold and calculate a moisture content of the specimen from the change in the mass of the specimen before and after heating; a timepiece configured to measure a heating time; and a storage unit, wherein the heating unit includes a heater, wherein the heating chamber includes a glass cover disposed between the specimen and the heater and the glass cover is in a form of a container covering the weighing dish, wherein the control arithmetic unit includes a standard substance measurement unit configured to measure a moisture content of a standard substance for inspection as the specimen and measure a heating time, and an abnormality diagnosis unit configured to diagnose presence or absence of an abnormality in the heating unit by comparing a measured heating time of the standard substance with a predetermined time as a set heating time of the standard substance stored in the storage unit in advance, wherein the abnormality diagnosis unit determines that there is an abnormality in the heating unit when the measured heating time is longer than the predetermined time, wherein the determined abnormality includes contamination on the glass cover, contamination on the heater, and a failure of the heater.

2 . The moisture meter according to claim 1 , wherein the standard substance is at least one of the group of salts having bonded water of crystallization consisting of sodium tartrate dihydrate, sodium citrate dihydrate, sodium tungstate dihydrate, calcium bromide dihydrate, calcium chloride dihydrate, and sodium dihydrogen phosphate dihydrate.

3 . The moisture meter according to claim 2 , comprising a display unit,
wherein the abnormality diagnosis unit displays, on the display unit, a message notifying a user of, as diagnosis results, a location of an abnormality and a measure against a cause.

4 . The moisture meter according to claim 1 , comprising a display unit,
wherein the abnormality diagnosis unit displays, on the display unit, a message notifying a user of, as diagnosis results, a location of an abnormality and a measure against a cause.

5 . The moisture meter according to claim 1 , wherein the standard substance is a salt having a theoretical moisture content, and wherein the set heating time of the standard substance is the time required to remove the theoretical moisture content from the standard substance.

6 . A moisture meter comprising:
a mass measurement unit configured to measure a mass of a specimen placed on a weighing dish; a heating chamber having the weighing dish placed inside and configured to open and close; a heating unit placed in the heating chamber and configured to heat the specimen; a control arithmetic unit configured to control the heating unit to heat the specimen until a change in mass of the specimen becomes not more than a predetermined threshold and calculate a moisture content of the specimen from the change in the mass of the specimen before and after heating; a timepiece configured to measure a heating time; and a storage unit, wherein the heating unit includes a heater, wherein the heating chamber includes a glass cover disposed between the specimen and the heater and the glass cover is in the form of a container covering the weighing dish, wherein the control arithmetic unit includes a standard substance measurement unit configured to measure a moisture content of a standard substance for inspection as the specimen and measure a heating time, and an abnormality diagnosis unit configured to diagnose presence or absence of an abnormality in the mass measurement unit by evaluating a measured moisture content with reference to a theoretical moisture content of the standard substance and to diagnose presence or absence of an abnormality in the heating unit by comparing a measured heating time of the standard substance with a predetermined time as a set heating time of the standard substance stored in the storage unit in advance, wherein the abnormality diagnosis unit determines that there is an abnormality in the heating unit when the measured heating time is longer than the predetermined time, and wherein the determined abnormality includes contamination on the glass cover, contamination on the heater, and a failure of the heater.

7 . The moisture meter according to claim 6 , wherein the standard substance is at least one of the group of salts having bonded water of crystallization consisting of sodium tartrate dihydrate, sodium citrate dihydrate, sodium tungstate dihydrate, calcium bromide dihydrate, calcium chloride dihydrate, and sodium dihydrogen phosphate dihydrate.

8 . The moisture meter according to claim 7 , comprising a display unit,
wherein the abnormality diagnosis unit displays, on the display unit, a message notifying a user of, as diagnosis results, a location of an abnormality and a measure against a cause.

9 . The moisture meter according to claim 6 , comprising a display unit,
wherein the abnormality diagnosis unit displays, on the display unit, a message notifying a user of, as diagnosis results, a location of an abnormality and a measure against a cause.

10 . The moisture meter according to claim 6 , wherein the standard substance is a salt having a theoretical moisture content, and wherein the set heating time of the standard substance is the time required to remove the theoretical moisture content from the standard substance.

Assignees

• A&D Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kanno Masahiro

Classifications

• G01N5/045 Primary

  for determining moisture content · CPC title