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Microwave sensor for measuring the properties of a liquid drop

This article has been downloaded from IOPscience. Please scroll down to see the full text article. 2007 Meas. Sci. Technol. 18 1934 (http://iopscience.iop.org/0957-0233/18/7/020) View the table of contents for this issue, or go to the journal homepage for more

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IOP PUBLISHING Meas. Sci. Technol. 18 (2007) 19341938

MEASUREMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

doi:10.1088/0957-0233/18/7/020

Microwave sensor for measuring the properties of a liquid drop

Ming Huang1,3, Jingjing Yang1, Jiaqiang Wang2 and Jinhui Peng3
1

School of Information Science and Engineering, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, Peoples Republic of China 2 Department of Applied Chemistry, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, Peoples Republic of China 3 Faculty of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650092, Peoples Republic of China E-mail: huangming@ynu.edu.cn

Received 21 January 2007, in nal form 5 April 2007 Published 15 May 2007 Online at stacks.iop.org/MST/18/1934 Abstract A novel microwave sensor for measuring the properties of a liquid drop has been invented, its analytical theory established and a working prototype has been constructed and tested. It was also found that the theory based on the microwave sensor is in good agreement with the experimental results. Excellent linearity is achieved by optimizing the design, with an accuracy of distilled water drop volume measurement of approximately 0.5 l, and this microwave sensor has been used to measure surface tension, species concentration and the microwave absorption properties of a liquid drop simultaneously, which are the key parameters in the elds of physical chemistry and microwave chemistry. properties
Keywords: liquid drop, microwave sensor, surface tension, absorption

1. Introduction
The formation of drops is a phenomenon ubiquitous in daily life, science and technology [1]. It is found that a great deal of information on liquid properties is contained in the process of drop formation. This makes it possible to measure several physical parameters of a liquid by using drop analysis. The development of a bre drop multianalyser has been reported over the last 15 years [2]. It has proved to be a powerful analytical tool for determining the physical and chemical characteristics of liquids. More recently, capacitive tensiography has been reported [3, 4]. It has been demonstrated that the capacitive transducer gives a direct measurement of the volume in the pendant liquid drop, with a resolution of 1 l. It is well known that microwave and infrared form a continuous electromagnetic spectrum that extends from RF frequency to optical wave. It has been shown that the RF capacitive sensor and bre sensor can measure the parameters of a liquid drop [2, 3]. Therefore, it is possible to measure the parameters of a liquid drop by a microwave sensor. The
0957-0233/07/071934+05$30.00

objective of this paper is to apply the microwave sensor for the measurement of the parameters of a liquid drop. Preliminary experiments have been carried out and these show that the microwave sensor is capable of measuring drop volumes with an accuracy of down to 0.5 l. It can also measure microwave absorption properties, species concentration and surface tension simultaneously.

2. Theory
Microwave sensors based on cavity perturbation techniques have been studied by many researchers [5, 6]. Measurements of a liquid drop are performed by inserting a small, appropriately shaped liquid drop into a cavity and determining the properties of the liquid drop from the resultant change in the resonant frequency and loaded quality factor which is given by [7] f0 fs = 1 1 E E0 dv ( 1)fs W0 2 r vs 1 1 E E0 dv. Q1 Q1 = W0 r s 0 2 vs (1) (2) 1934

2007 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK

Microwave sensor for measuring the properties of a liquid drop

Figure 1. Sketch of the microwave sensor for measuring the properties of a liquid drop.

The microwave cavity is a two-port network. The insertion loss and half power width of this network can be written as [9] 2 1 2 (5) T = 1 + 1 + 2 fs Qs = (6) B where T is the insertion loss of the network, and T = (Pin Pout )/Pin . Pin and Pout are the microwave input power and the microwave output power of the cavity respectively. 1 and 2 are the input coupling coefcient and the output coupling coefcient of the network respectively, and 1 = Y01 n2 G, 2 = Y02 n2 G. Y01 is the equivalent input 1 2 admittance of the network. Y02 is the equivalent output admittance of the network. n1 and n2 are the turns ratio of the input ideal transformer and the turns ratio of the output ideal transformer, respectively. G is the equivalent conductance of the networks. B is the half power width of the network. Suppose that n1 , n2 , Y01 , Y02 are constant, and R = 1/G = kr Vs (t), where R is directly proportional to Vs (t) with a coefcient k, 1 1, 2 1, then from equation (5), the following can be obtained 2 1 2 Pin Pout = 1 1 + 1 + 2 1 2 1 2 Pin 2Pin r k Y01 Y02 =1 Vs (t) n1 n2 2Pin k r =1 Vs (t) (7) n1 n2 where k = k Y01 Y02 . Equation (7) indicates that the larger the volume Vs (t) of the liquid drop, the smaller the output power Pout of the cavity. Therefore, the smaller the Pout , the smaller the output voltage of the cavity, and the output voltage of the cavity is inversely proportional toVs (t). Substituting equation (3) into (2) would yield Q1 = Q1 + s 0
3 3r E0 Vs (t). 2W0 (r + 2)

Figure 2. 3D graph detected by the microwave sensor in the process of the formation of three distilled water drops.

Here r = r jr is the complex permittivity of the liquid drop; and are the real part and the imaginary part; E0 is the eld in the unperturbed cavity and E is the eld in the interior of the liquid drop; vs is the volume of the liquid drop; Q0 and f0 are the quality factor and resonance frequency of the cavity in the unperturbed condition respectively and Qs , fs the corresponding parameters of the cavity loaded with the liquid drop; W0 is the total energy stored in the cavity. Under the quasi-static approximation, the electric eld within a liquid drop sphere placed in a uniform external electric eld E0 is given by [8] E= 3E0 . r + 2 (3)

Substitution of this expression into (1) yields the usual expression for the perturbation of the frequency by a small liquid drop sphere, f = f0 fs =
2 3E0 (r 1)fs Vs (t), 2W0 (r + 2)

(4)

where Vs (t) is the volume of the liquid drop which grows in the process of drop formation. Equation (4) indicates that the resonant frequency change f of the cavity is directly proportional to Vs (t).

(8)

Equation (8) indicates that the larger Vs (t) is, the smaller Qs will be, and Qs of the cavity is inversely proportional toVs (t). 1935

M Huang et al

(a)

(a)

(b)

(b)

(c)

(c)

Figure 3. The formation processes of three distilled water drops detected by the microwave sensor. (a) The relation between f and time. (b) The relation between output voltage and time. (c) The relation between Qs value and time. , the experimental data. The dashed lines are the least-squares t to the experimental data. The nal point lies away from the line of best t. The main reason is the shape of the drop is signicantly altered just before detachment.

Figure 4. The formation processes of glycerol, distilled water and 10%NaClwater solution drops detected by the microwave sensor. (a) The relation between output voltage and time. (b) The relation between relative frequency shift and time. (c) The relation between half power width B and time. The dashed lines are the least-squares t to the experimental data.

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Microwave sensor for measuring the properties of a liquid drop

Table 1. Parameters of the tting curves in gure 4. Vt Liquids Glycerol Distilled water 10% NaClwater a 0.0034 0.0019 0.0075 b 2.2336 2.1905 2.1434 a fst Bt b 2.4907 2.4919 2.4926 a 0.1709 0.0639 0.4264 b 32.2909 35.0944 36.8127

0.000 10 0.000 41 0.000 36

3. Measuring equipment
The microwave sensor consists of a cavity, a microwave generator, an interface circuit, a detecting circuit and a computer. The cavity is a circular cylindrical E010 mode resonator, of which the resonance frequency is 2.45 GHz, aperture diameter is 8 mm, the outside diameter of the liquid delivery tube is 3.5 mm and the inside diameter of the liquid delivery tube is 1 mm. The microwave generator is scan frequency with a resolution of 1 MHz. The detecting circuit is composed of a linear detector, a low-pass lter and a 12-bit high speed A/D converter. The output voltage accuracy of the microwave sensor is 1.22 mV. The sensor system was controlled by the computer. Its software ran in a windows XP environment. The control software was programmed by visual basic. A structure diagram of the microwave sensor system is schematically presented in gure 1. The computer controlled the microwave generator through the interface circuit. The microwave signals were transmitted into the cavity. The output signals of the cavity were picked up by the detecting circuit. The data processing of the microwave sensor system was based on the computer.

Figure 5. The resonant frequency versus concentration by weight of glycerolwater solutions.

4. Results and discussion

Figure 2 shows a 3D graph for constant-pressure delivery obtained from distilled water. Figure 3 is obtained from gure 2. It can be seen from gure 3(a) that the relative frequency shift f of the cavity is linear with time in the process of drop formation, which is in good agreement with equation (4). It is obvious that the output voltage of the cavity in gure 3(b) and the Qs value in gure 3(c) are inversely proportional to time in the process of drop formation, which is in agreement with equations (7) and (8), respectively. Therefore, the theory based on the microwave sensor is in good agreement with the experimental results. Based on the experimental result in gure 3(b), the difference of output voltage is 100 mV in the process of distilled water drop formation, and the weight of a drop is 38.5 mg, and the resolution of the measuring equipment for voltage is 1.22 mV, therefore, the accuracy of drop volume measurement of the microwave sensor is approximately 0.5 l for distilled water. The different solutions and species concentration variations usually cause change in the physical properties of a solution, such as surface tension, concentration and mass density etc, which in turn will inuence the drop size and its microwave absorption properties. Therefore, these combined effects can be measured by detecting the output signal of the microwave sensor in the process of drop formation.

Figure 4 gives experimental results for glycerol, distilled water, and 10% NaClwater solution. The tting curves of gure 4 can be simulated as y = at + b, where t is the time of the formation of a liquid drop, y is equal to output voltage V , resonant frequency fs , or half power width B of the microwave sensor for different models respectively. The tting parameters a and b displayed in table 1 are obtained by the least-squares t. The tting equation V = at + b in table 1 shows that b decreasing monotonically from 2.2336 to 2.1434 indicates the imaginary part r of permittivity of the liquid drop increasing gradually from 10% NaClwater to glycerol. Similarly, the tting equation fs = at + b shows that the real part r of permittivity of the liquid drop decreases from glycerol to 10% NaClwater, while b increases monotonically from glycerol to 10% NaClwater. The tting equation B = at + b shows that the half power width of the microwave sensor increases monotonically from glycerol to 10% NaClwater. Meanwhile, the tting parameter a means the slope of the tting curve y = at +b is a dynamic characteristic in relation to the volume, surface tension, density and pressure, etc in the process of drop formation. Therefore, the microwave absorption properties of the liquid contain a great deal of information in the process of drop formation. Just like the bre drop multianalyser [2] and capacitive tensiography [3], the microwave sensor has been demonstrated to be a new method to determine the physical and chemical characteristics of liquids in an experiment. By measuring the static liquid in the capillary, the relations between the output signal of the microwave sensor and the concentration by weight of glycerolwater solutions are obtained, and shown in gures 56. Figure 5 shows that the 1937

M Huang et al

5. Conclusion
The theory of the microwave sensor has been established and a prototype has been constructed with a volume resolution of 0.5 l. Besides surface tension and the microwave absorption properties of a pendant liquid drop, the concentration of liquid can also be measured more accurately by a microwave sensor.

Acknowledgments
The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (project 20463003) and the Natural Science Foundation of Yunnan Province (project 2004E0003Z) for nancial support. Chinese Patent is pending.
Figure 6. Plot of output voltage and resonant frequency of the microwave sensor against concentration by weight of glycerolwater solutions.

References
[1] Eggers J 1997 Nonlinear dynamics and breakup of free surface ows Rev. Mod. Phys. 69 865930 [2] McMillan N D, Finlayson O, Fortune F, Fingleton M, Daly D, Townsend D, McMillan D D G and Dalton M J 1992 The bre drop analyser: a new multianalyser instrument with applications in sugar processing and for the analysis of pure liquids Meas. Sci. Technol. 3 74664 [3] Wang C H, Augousti A T, Mason J and McMillan N D 1999 The capacitive drop tensiometera novel multianalysing technique for measuring the properties of liquids Meas. Sci. Technol. 10 1924 [4] Augousti A T, Mason J, McMillan N D and Zhang D 2006 Application of capacitive tensiography to investigation of pendant drop growth Meas. Sci. Technol. 17 N48N52 [5] Kupfer K, Kraszewski A and Kn chel R 2000 Sensors Update o (Oxford: Oxford University Press) [6] Huang M, Peng J H, Yang J J and Wang J Q 2007 Microwave cavity perturbation technique for measuring the moisture content of minerals sulphide concentrate Miner. Eng. 20 924 [7] Metaxas A C and Meredith R J 1983 Industrial Microwave Heating (London: Peter Peregrinus) [8] Bleaney B I and Bleaney B 1957 Electricity and Magnetism (Oxford: Oxford University Press) [9] Bahl I and Bhartia P 2006 Microwave Solid State Circuit Design 2nd edn (Beijing: Publishing House of Electronics Industry) [10] Sihvola A H and Kong J A 1988 Effective permittivity of dielectric mixtures IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 26 4209 [11] Brosseau C 2005 Modelling and simulation of dielectric heterostructures: a physical survey from an historical perspective J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 39 127794

resonant frequency of the microwave sensor is approximately linearly dependent on the concentration of glycerolwater solutions, which is in agreement with experimental results in gure 7(a) of [3]. More interestingly, gure 6 shows that the output voltage and the half power width are not monotonically dependent on concentration, which would be difcult to explain by mixing formulae of dielectric material [10, 11]. The surface tension of a liquid drop is a key parameter in the eld of physical chemistry. However, the surface tension of aqueous glycerol varies from 6.28 mN m1 to 7.20 mN m1, while the concentration of glycerolwater changes from 0% to 100%, and the surface tension difference of 12.5% and 25% glycerolwater is 0.5 mN m1 in table 2 of [3]. Therefore, it is difcult to measure the concentration of the solution by the surface tension of the liquid. Based on the experimental results in gures 5 and 6, the differences in the resonant frequency, output voltage and half power width are 2 MHz, 111.6 mV, and 7.2 MHz, respectively, while the concentration of glycerolwater changes from 12.5% to 25%. It shows that the microwave sensor for measuring the concentration of liquid is more accurate. The nonlinear phenomena found in our experiment (gure 6) are not understood and the physical/chemical origin of the interesting phenomena remains a subject for the future.

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