US 12,352,778 B2
Flow velocity determining apparatus
Ikuya Kikuchi, Kawagoe (JP); Atsuya Ito, Kawagoe (JP); and Ryohei Kagawa, Kawagoe (JP)
Assigned to AIR WATER BIODESIGN INC., Kobe (JP); and NIKKISO COMPANY LIMITED, Tokyo (JP)
Appl. No. 17/426,529
Filed by AIR WATER BIODESIGN INC., Kobe (JP); and NIKKISO COMPANY LIMITED, Tokyo (JP)
PCT Filed Jan. 31, 2019, PCT No. PCT/JP2019/003437
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 28, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/157926, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 6, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0099696 A1, Mar. 31, 2022
Int. Cl. G01P 5/20 (2006.01); G01N 15/14 (2006.01)
CPC G01P 5/20 (2013.01) [G01N 15/1459 (2013.01)] 4 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A flow velocity determining apparatus comprising:
an irradiating unit that emits irradiation light toward a liquid mixture which contains a non-spherical solid and a liquid and flows through a flow path;
a detecting unit that detects reflected light emitted by the irradiating unit and reflected by the liquid mixture flowing through the flow path, the detecting unit being disposed on at least one side of an optical axis of the reflected light when seen in a plan view of an imaginary plane including an optical axis of the irradiation light and the optical axis of the reflected light, the optical axis of the irradiation light and the optical axis of the reflected light being on a same line when viewed from a normal direction of a reflection surface at a reflection point, and an angle of the optical axis of the reflected light with respect to the flow path being −θ1 in a case in which an angle of the optical axis of the irradiation light with respect to the flow path is defined as an angle θ1; and
a determining unit that determines a flow velocity of the liquid mixture by using a light amount of the reflected light detected by the detecting unit,
wherein the detecting unit includes a first detecting unit disposed on one side of the optical axis of the reflected light and a second detecting unit disposed on an other side when seen in the plan view of the imaginary plane; and
the determining unit compares a first light amount of the reflected light detected by the first detecting unit with a second light amount of the reflected light detected by the second detecting unit to determine the flow velocity of the liquid mixture.