title: Embedded Doppler system for industrial in-line rheometry.
abstract: Rheological fluid behavior characterization is crucial for the industrial production of cosmetics, food, pharmaceutics, adhesive, sealants, etc. For example, the measurement of specific rheological features at every step of the production chain is critical for product quality control. Such measurements are often limited to laboratory tests on product specimens because of technical difficulties. In this work, we present an embedded system suitable for in-line rheometric evaluation of highly filled polyurethane-based adhesives. This system includes an ultrasound front-end and a digital signal processing section integrated in a low-cost field-programmable gate array. The system measures the real-time velocity profile developed in the pipe by the fluid, employing a Doppler multigate technique. The high-resolution velocity profile, combined with a pressure drop measurement, allows an accurate evaluation of the flow consistency index, K, and the flow behavior index, n, of the interrogated fluid.
authors: Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Universita degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, Italy. stefano.ricci@unifi.it
authors: Stefano
authors: S
authors: Ricci
authors: Maxime
authors: M
authors: Liard
authors: Beat
authors: B
authors: Birkhofer
authors: Didier
authors: D
authors: Lootens
authors: Armin
authors: A
authors: Bruhwiler
authors: Piero
authors: P
authors: Tortoli
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007221:Industry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012212:Rheology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler / Q000295:instrumentation*