Patent ID: 7360399

Claim:
An apparatus for the measurement of a density and/or a viscosity of a fluid present in a containment, said apparatus comprising: a filling line; a supply line; a connecting line; an emptying line: a pressure line; a sample tank for the collecting and quieting of a volume fraction of the fluid to be measured, which tank is in communication, at least at times, with the containment via said filling line and said supply line connected, at least at times, with said filling line; a collector for fluid removed from the containment; and a fluid measuring device, comprising a vibration measurement pickup and measuring and operating electronics electrically coupled to said vibration measurement pickup including at least one measuring tube for conveying fluid to be measured, said at least one measuring tube communicates, at least at times, with said sample tank via said connecting line, which is connected to an inlet end of said vibration measurement pickup, an exciter mechanism mechanically acting on said at least one measuring tube for causing said at least one measuring tube to vibrate during operation, a sensor arrangement reacting to mechanical oscillations of said at least one measuring tube for registering vibrations of said at least one measuring tube and for producing oscillation measurement signals representing vibrations of said at least one measuring tube, wherein: said measuring and operating electronics producing an electric driving signal for said exciter mechanism and said measuring and operating electronics producing at least one measured value representing the density and/or the viscosity of the fluid to be measure; and said at least one measuring tube communicates via said emptying line, which is connected, at least at times, to an outlet end of said at least one measurement pickup, with said collector, and said emptying line communicates, at least at times, with said pressure line, so that fluid present in said pressure line can flow into said emptying line.