Patent ID: 7063668

Claim:
A method for determining a moisture content of air comprising the steps of: during a calibration procedure, introducing an air sample into an acoustic analyzer; in said acoustic analyzer, interacting acoustic energy with the air sample to obtain acoustic velocity-related information from the air sample; in said acoustic analyzer, determining compositional information for at least one of oxygen and nitrogen in said air sample using said acoustic velocity-related information; in said acoustic analyzer, determining a deviation of said compositional information from expected compositional information for dry air; during a measurement procedure following said calibration procedure, introducing an oxygen/air gas sample into the acoustic analyzer; in said acoustic analyzer, interacting acoustic energy with the oxygen/air gas sample to generate further acoustic velocity-related information for said oxygen/air gas sample; in said acoustic analyzer, determining further compositional information for an oxygen content of said oxygen/air gas sample using said further acoustic velocity-related information and said moisture content value calculated for said air sample; and in said acoustic analyzer, calculating a moisture content value for the air sample from said deviation.