Patent ID: 7017396

Claim:
A method for determining at least one parameter of a mixture of a carrier substance, water and gas, comprising the following steps: bringing the mixture into a measuring range of a sensor, measuring complex permittivity values ε m (f i ) of the mixture at several measuring frequencies f i by feeding an electromagnetic wave to the sensor and by means of calibration data of the sensor, establishing a system of equations by entering the permittivity values ε m (f i ) into a mixing formula ɛ m = ɛ b + ∑ i = 1 n ⁢ ⁢ v i 3 · ( ɛ i - ɛ b ) · ∑ j = 1 3 ⁢ ⁢ ɛ m ɛ m + N ij · ( ɛ i - ɛ m ) with ε 1 and v 1 being the permittivity value and the volume fraction of the gas, ε 2 and V 2 the permittivity value and the volume fraction of the free water, ε 3 and v 3 the permittivity value and the volume fraction of the bound water, ε b the permittivity value of the carrier substance, and N 1j , N 2j and N 3j the depolarization factors of an ellipsoidal cavity of the gas or the free water or the bound water, respectively, wherein n=3 when taking the bound water into account and n=2 when neglecting the bound water, and determining at least one unknown parameter of the mixing formula, or of a value derived from the unknown parameter, by evaluating the system of equations.