Automatic determination of the specific gravity of alcohol and water mixtures. Part I. Development and evaluation of a simple sensing system

Abstract

The design of a simple sensing system to determine the specific gravity of liquids is described. The evaluation of a prototype system to measure the specific gravity of alcoholwater mixtures is discussed. The system is fully automatic and data processing is achieved in an off-line manner, Further possible areas of application are discussed.

An automatic densimeter system for themeasurement of the alcoholic strengthof potable spirits

“…A number of instrumental methods [3,4,5] have been developed in recent years which rely on the magnetic suspension of a float for measurement, and are suitable for the range, temperature and sensitivity required-for measuring alcohol solutions. An automatic instrument described elsewhere [6] has been constructed in this laboratory. Samples and standards are sequentially introduced by a mechanism into a pre-cooler and then into a thermostatted cell where the deflection of a float supported by a stainless steel wire is related to the solution density.…”

25 years’ experience of vapour generation techniques for quantifying trace levels of mercury, arsenic, selenium and antimony in a range of environmental samples

“…Use of the Technicon AutoAnalyzer techniques to measure the original gravity of beer was the foundation of the system. 1 Alcohol is vaporised from the beer and the vapour then re-condensed to measure the alcohol level colorimetrically. Close control of the vaporisation and the subsequent steps particularly to avoid pulsation ensured a low signal to noise ratio and subsequent improved data quality.…”

The use of a simple 8 bit microprocessor as a flexible sequence controller for developinglaboratory automation

“…The development of automatic systems used in the Laboratory is carried out by a small team of specialists with.backgrounds in instrumentation, analytical chemistry and electronics. Some typical examples of systems developed by the team include the automatic determination of metals in food, 4 ], the determination of density of alcohol, [5], and. the automatic dilution and measurement of samples for vitamin assays.…”