Water moisture measuring instrument and method

Claim 1

A water moisture measuring instrument wherein the microwave energy absorbed by the water moisture from a sample is monitored by detection of microwave energy comprising: a source of gas having a pre-established dryness at a preset pressure and being conveyed and supplied in a conduit, a means for driving volatiles from a polymer sample connected to said conduit supply and arranged with a further conduit for thereafter transmitting said volatiles and gas from said means for driving, a microwave transducer cell being a non-metallic enclosure having a microwave oscillator and detector positioned across from and in alignment with one another and having said further conduit passing therebetween and in a predetermined position relative to the microwave beam between said oscillator and detector, a microwave absorber material surrounding said transducer cell to prevent scattered and reflected microwaves from passing to said detector, a moisture absorber adjustably positioned axially along and within said further conduit for controlling the pressure and flow of said volatiles and gas within said microwave beam, and electronic circuitry connected to said oscillator and detector to register output of said detector as a consequence of water moisture in said moisture absorber.

Claim 12

A method for determining the amount of water moisture in the volatilized gaseous sample from a sealed container having a sample of polymer molding pellets by use of microwave measuring techniques comprising the following steps; producing volatiles from the polymer sample by heating them in a sealed test cell, conveying the volatiles from the polymer sample by means of predried gas flowing at a known pressure and flow rate, transmitting the volatiles into a microwave transducer test cell, restraining the volatiles at a preset location in the beam of the microwave transducer test cell by restricting the outflow path of the volatiles to control resident time of the volatiles within the transmitted microwave energy, measuring the loss of microwave energy passing between an oscillator and detector in the transducer test cell when there is restrained water moisture near the open rectangular end of the oscillator antennae horn transverse to the elongated sides thereof, surrounding the transducer test cell with a microwave absorber to control the stray transmission of microwave energy between the oscillator and detector, and registering the output from the detector once most of the moisture has been obtained from the polymer sample as a measure of the loss of energy due to water moisture in the volatiles.

Claim 13

A method for determining the amount of water moisture in the volatilized gaseous sample from a sealed container having a sample of polymer molding pellets by use of microwave measuring techniques comprising the following steps; producing volatiles from the polymer sample by heating them in a sealed test cell, conveying the volatiles from the polymer sample by means of predried gas flowing at a known pressure and flow rate, transmitting the volatiles into a microwave transducer test cell, restraining the volatiles at a preset location in the beam of the microwave transducer test cell by restricting the outflow path of the volatiles to control resident time of the volatiles within the transmitted microwave energy, measuring the loss of microwave energy passing between an oscillator and detector in the transducer test cell when there is restrained water moisture near the open rectangular end of the oscillator antennae horn transverse to the elongated sides thereof, surrounding the transducer test cell with a microwave absorber to control the stray transmission of microwave energy between the oscillator and detector, and registering the output from the detector once most of the moisture has been obtained from the polymer sample as a measure of the loss of energy due to water moisture in the volatiles.