Patent GB-1064979-A (GB)
Title: Method for developing a signal
IPC: C02F1/52
Filed: 1964-09-30
Abstract: 1,064,979. Electric measurements. DOW CHEMICAL CO. Sept. 30, 1964 [Oct. 11, 1963], No.39864/64. Headings G1N and G1U.  A signal useful for the control of the rate of addition of a flocculating chemical to an aqueous system of dispersed electrically charged particles is developed by flowing the dispersion along a path including a portion having a substantially water insoluble dielectric surface and by detecting by similar electrodes spaced apart along the flow path the rate of charge transport; the resistivity of the dispersion, dynamic pressure drop, friction loss, and accelerating or decelerating forces being chosen for optimum results. Accelerating and decelerating forces are most easily regulated but it is preferred that the velocity is maintained in the region of laminar flow. An aqueous medium different from the medium under test can be used and preferably should have an electroconductance less than that of an aqueous solution containing  100 p.p. m. of sodium chloride. The two mediums are caused to flow alternately along the flow path, and a sample of the signal arising from the charge transport is taken from the second medium during each period. Alternate paths around the measuring path are avoided by breaking the flow at the ends of the path. Current or voltage may be measured as an indication of charge transport. The voltage may be measured by an electrometer and energy may be supplied by a pump or by feeding the dispersion to the centre of a rotating table. The pumped stream may be caused to flow through rubber tubing of sufficient length to cause a pressure drop of at least 3 lbs. per sq. inch. The electrodes can be any electro conductive substance but are preferably reversible. They may comprise conductive chemical elements containing solution of their own ions, an inert noble metal coated with hydrogen, oxygen, or a halogen, metals coated with their own insoluble salts in contact with a solution of the metal salt coating, e. g. calomel electrodes, and a noble metal in contact with a solution containing both an oxidized and a reduced form of some chemical compound such as ferric and ferrous chlorides. Suitable dielectric material including glass, quartz, ceramics and plastics are listed. An apparatus using calomel electrodes either side of a weir connected to the dispersion through a salt bridge is described with reference to Fig. 4 (not shown), the pressure in the pipe being sensed and applied to counterbalance pressures in the calomel electrode which would cause dilution of the salt solution. Test results on starch dispersions obtained from such an apparatus are listed, and suitable weir materials are referred to. In a control system Fig. 5 (not shown) silver, silver chloride electrodes are used at each end of a capillary through which a sewage dispersion and distilled water are alternately flowed by a sequence timer, and during the last two seconds of the distilled water period, the electrodes are connected to a meter for pH measurement and when the meter output differs from that on a preset recorder, a pneumatic controller produces a change in the polymer dosing rate to the sewage.