US 12,320,723 B2
Apparatus for measurement of capillary pressure in a porous sample
Phillip Naegele, Claremore, OK (US); William J. Willems, Broken Arrow, OK (US); and Tom Hicks, Tulsa, OK (US)
Assigned to AMETEK, INC., Berwyn, PA (US)
Filed by AMETEK, INC., Berwyn, PA (US)
Filed on Mar. 31, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/129,266.
Prior Publication US 2024/0328880 A1, Oct. 3, 2024
Int. Cl. G01L 7/18 (2006.01)
CPC G01L 7/187 (2013.01) 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A capillary pressure measurement device, comprising:
a centrifuge comprising a rotating apparatus adapted to hold a plurality of porous media samples and configured to test the porous media samples under centrifugal motion during rotation of the rotating apparatus;
a fluid capture device disposed adjacent to each of the porous media samples during rotation for receiving fluid displaced from the respective porous media samples due to centrifugal motion applied to the respective porous media samples by rotation of the rotating apparatus, the fluid capture device including one or more solid spacers to reduce a volume of the fluid capture device for different porous media sample configurations;
a measurement system that measures an amount of fluid displaced from each of the porous media samples, the measurement system including a camera that takes an image of a fluid meniscus in the respective fluid capture devices and a position sensor that determines a position of the respective fluid capture devices and triggers the camera to take the image of each fluid meniscus when the fluid meniscus is in a field of view of the camera,
wherein each fluid meniscus represents a fluid volume that is correlated to capillary pressure of a corresponding porous media sample.