Interface detector keeps track of pipeline stream
Chemical & Engineering News · 1970
A new instrument, the NUS interface detector, uses sound velocity to identify products in an oil pipeline and to signal the passage of an interface between two products. The device, developed by NUS Corp.'s electronic systems division, Paramus, N.J., can be used with crude oil, liquefied petroleum gas, and all types of refined petroleum products. According to NUS vice president Ellis M. Zacharias, Jr., it is an outgrowth of the NUS industrial velocimeter, used in the chemical process industries to measure concentration, solids content, and specific gravity of products in process streams. The interface detector consists of a compact electronics package and a probe, installed in the pipeline, containing a time-sharing transmitting/receiving transducer. The transducer emits pulses of ultrasonic energy that travel through the liquid to a reflector and back to the transducer. The time taken by the pulses to travel the known distance from transducer to reflector and back is measured electronically and ...