Abstract: A moisture monitoring system for continuous flow gas lines, the system having an electrical heater with a salt impregnated sleeve thereabout, with noble metal contacts positioned on the sleeve excited by the AC output of a solid state oscillator and varying in resistance according to water vapor concentration in the gas surrounding the element, with a direct current control signal derived from the AC current to control the direct current to the heating element. A temperature responsive resistor in thermal relation with the heater provides an indication of the moisture content.

Abstract: A liquid level system employs a pair of vertically spaced sensors in a tank such as a boiler. Each sensor includes a pair of bellows. The first bellows is enclosed by a protective enclosure while the second bellows is exposed to the interior of the tank. The first bellows of the two sensors are interconnected and filled with a liquid forming substance, such as an alkali metal, which is in liquid phase at high temperatures, while the second bellows of each sensor and the enclosure for the first bellows are interconnected and filled with a second liquid-forming substance, such as a metal alloy, which is essentially inert. A transducer is connected to one of the second bellows which produces an electrical output signal proportional to the difference between the pressures at the locations of the second bellows and, thus, the level of liquid in the tank.

Abstract: Gross calorific content available from natural gas combustion determined from proportionality to molar oxygen demand in an apparatus including: provision for supplying gas and air at fixed, standard volumetric rates such that oxygen is present in excess; a combustion chamber employing swirled mixture introduction to effect complete gas burning; an oxygen sensor to detect deviation of combustion product oxygen content from an optimum setpoint value; an electrolytic hydrogen (oxygen) generator, the output of which adds to the gas and air mixture prior to combustion; and electronic control circuitry to maintain setpoint through regulation of an electrolysis current. Said current, or its control signal, also serves as a direct electronic meter of the generated species. Thus, through calibration, a measure of oxygen demand and calorific value is provided.

Abstract: A system for sampling flue gases for a Klaus process controller by periodically capturing flue gas in a sample chamber with one side closed and the other side open, closing the other side, and only thereafter exposing the other side to a carrier fluid having a constant rate of flow. The carrier fluid and flue gas thus mix and are subsequently scrubbed and fed to the balance of the controller apparatus. The sample chamber is opened and closed by metal bellows operated valves selectively provided with positive and negative (vacuum) interior pressures in a certain sequence.

Abstract: A device for absorption of selected radiation wavelengths, such as solar radiation, for producing heat energy, consists essentially of a single film or layer of a mixture of metal particles and a dielectric material which are coated on a supporting substrate of either metal or glass. The metal and dielectric concentration varies in a gradual transition from a major portion, up to 100%, of metal at one boundary surface to a major portion, up to 100%, of dielectric at the opposite boundary surface. There are no interior boundaries in the film; the film composition is inhomogeneous between the boundary surfaces and substantially homogeneous in planes generally parallel to the boundary surfaces. Dielectric materials and metals are disclosed in combinations adapted for solar radiation absorption over a broad band of wavelengths, on the order of from 0.35 to 1.