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Publication Number
US-12504357-B2
Publication Date
2025-12-23
Expiration Date
Abstract
Provided is a heat-drying moisture meter that presents reliability with respect to a measurement result. In order to solve the above problem, a moisture meter includes a mass sensor configured to measure the mass of a sample placed on a weighing dish, a heating chamber having the weighing dish placed inside, a heating unit configured to heat the heating chamber, and an arithmetic control unit configured to calculate the moisture content of the sample from a sample mass before heat-drying and a sample mass after heat-drying by controlling the heating unit. The arithmetic control unit presents the reliability of the moisture content based on the minimum indication of the mass sensor.
Core Innovation
The invention relates to a moisture meter that performs heat-drying by placing a sample on a weighing dish inside a heating chamber. A mass sensor measures a sample mass W before heat-drying and a sample mass D after heat-drying while a heating unit heats the heating chamber, and an arithmetic control unit calculates moisture content from the sample mass W and the sample mass D by controlling the heating unit. The arithmetic control unit is configured to display information indicative of reliability of the calculated moisture content on a display.
The reliability information represents an influence of an error per one count of a minimum weight indicatable by the mass sensor on the moisture content. The arithmetic control unit accesses a storage unit including a reliability determination table divided stepwise with a threshold of a multiple of the minimum weight indicatable by the mass sensor into a plurality of regions. The arithmetic control unit applies a difference W−D between the sample mass before heat-drying and the sample mass after heat-drying to the regions, and displays that the reliability decreases as numerical values of the regions to which the difference is applied decrease.
Further embodiments compute and display accuracy/error using an environmental coefficient and calculate and display a recommended sample amount Wr. The calculation is based on user-required accuracy AC, together with an environmental coefficient A, and parameters B related to the moisture content, and the embodiments include presenting reliability and computed accuracy/error.
Claims Coverage
The document includes one independent claim with dependent claims that refine reliability display, accuracy/error computation, and recommended sample amount calculation. Coverage centers on moisture content calculation from pre/post heat-drying masses, reliability display based on the mass sensor’s minimum weight indicatable and region-based thresholds, and further environmental-coefficient-based accuracy/error and recommended sample amount.
Heat-drying moisture content from pre/post masses
A moisture meter comprising a mass sensor, a heating chamber with a weighing dish inside, a heating unit, and an arithmetic control unit configured to calculate moisture content from a sample mass W before heat-drying and a sample mass D after heat-drying by controlling the heating unit.
Reliability display based on minimum weight indicatable and region thresholds
The arithmetic control unit displays reliability indicative information for the calculated moisture content based on a minimum weight indicatable by the mass sensor, where reliability represents an influence of an error per one count of the minimum weight indicatable by the mass sensor on the moisture content.
Region-based reliability using reliability determination table
The arithmetic control unit accesses a storage unit including a reliability determination table divided stepwise with a threshold of a multiple of the minimum weight indicatable by the mass sensor into a plurality of regions, applies a difference W−D to the regions, and displays that the reliability decreases as numerical values of the regions to which the difference is applied decrease.
Environmental-coefficient-based reliability and accuracy computation
The arithmetic control unit calculates and displays accuracy/error using an environmental coefficient and an operating environment, including PE=±A×B/W.
Recommended sample amount calculation
The arithmetic control unit calculates and displays a recommended sample amount using the environmental coefficient and a user-required accuracy input for moisture content, based on Wr=A×B/(AC).
The claims cover calculating moisture content from sample mass before and after heat-drying, displaying reliability tied to the mass sensor’s minimum weight indicatable and a stepwise reliability determination table using W−D, and further computing and displaying accuracy/error and a recommended sample amount using an environmental coefficient and required accuracy.
Stated Advantages
Displays information indicative of a reliability of the calculated moisture content.
Reliability decreases as the numerical values of the regions applied to the difference W−D decrease.
Computes and displays accuracy/error using an environmental coefficient and an operating environment.
Computes and displays a recommended sample amount to meet a user-required accuracy.
Documented Applications
Not explicitly described in patent.
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