REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS

VOLUME 70, NUMBER 2

FEBRUARY 1999

Level meter for dielectric liquids

L. Bruschi, G. Deltto, and G. Mistura
Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia and Dipartimento di sica Galileo Galilei, Universita di Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy

Received 9 September 1998; accepted for publication 18 November 1998 We describe a novel device which can measure, with low dissipation and high resolution, the level of a dielectric liquid. This device can also be used with cryogenic liquids, in particular with liquid helium. The high degrees of stability and of reproducibility make this apparatus an instrument of performances largely competitive with respect to others commonly used. 1999 American Institute of Physics. S0034-6748 99 05102-3

I. INTRODUCTION

II. WORKING PRINCIPLE

The measurement of the level of a liquid in a container may present various problems which depend on the nature of the considered liquid. The more serious difculties are encountered with the cryogenic liquids at low density and at small dielectric constant.1,2 Hereafter we describe a novel device, based on a transmission line used as a probe, which allows to accurately measure the height of a dielectric liquid, including liquid helium. The line is realized with two coaxial cylindrical conductors. In the region enclosed by the two conductors the liquid can enter. By immersing the line into the liquid, this will ll up to an height h equal to the liquid level. Since the dielectric constant of the liquid is different from that of the vapor, the line characteristics change with h. A sinusoidal signal is fed into the line from the vapor side. This signal is practically reected at the other end and comes back to the input with a phase delay which depends on the submerged portion of the line. From the measurement of it is thus possible to determine h. The phase delay is measured with inexpensive and easy to nd components. This technique might look like the capacitive method in which the liquid level is determined by the capacitance between two conductors.1,2 Actually, by exploiting the propagation speed of the signal, it is not necessary to build a high capacitance probe, therefore the inner conductor can have a diameter much smaller than the outer one with a consequent greater simplicity in the construction and a signicant reduction of capillary effects. Furthermore, the resulting probe is less sensitive to the unavoidable stresses and deformations occurring during handling and cool downs. Another aspect worth mentioning is that small deformations of the probe caused by its handling and thermal stresses can induce big capacitance changes, while the propagation speed remains practically unaltered. This guarantees a very good reproducibility and stability in the measurements. This device has been successfully used in our laboratory to control the level of cryogenic liquids both in transport dewars and in cryostats. Since the electrical dissipation of the probe is quite small and the signals are not pulsed but steady, this level indicator unlikely disturbs other measurements even if they are made at the same time as the level determination.
0034-6748/99/70(2)/1514/4/$15.00 1514

Let us consider a two-wire transmission line of length L and characteristic resistance R 0 . If the line, terminated to a load of impedance R C , is attached to a generator with a voltage V G V 0 cos t and an impedance R G , the voltage V(x) and the current I(x) amplitudes along a uniform and lossless line can be obtained from the general solution of the telegraphists equations3 V x V0 R0 e R0 RG 1 R0 RG e
j j /c x 2e 2j j /c /c L 2L x

1
/c x

1 2e 2e

1
j /c /c L 2L x

I x

V0

1 2e

2j

where x is a coordinate which assumes the value 0 at the beginning and the value L at the end of the line, is the dielectric constant of the medium separating the two conductors forming the line and c is the propagation speed of signals in vacuum. 1 and 2 are instead the reections coefcients at the input and at the end of the line given by
1

RG R0 , RG R0 RC R0 . RC R0

The term proportional to e j ( /c)x in the general solution 1 represents a signal propagating along the line, while that proportional to e j ( /c)(2L x) indicates the reected signal at the load. The ratio V(x)/I(x) calculated at x 0 provides, by denition, the input impedance of the line. The probe of our level meter is made up by a coaxial cable partially immersed in a liquid Fig. 1 a . The separating medium between the two conductors is a liquid of dielectric constant L in the portion h, and its vapor of dielectric constant V in the portion d h. This probe can be described as the connection of two lines Fig. 1 b . The rst one, surrounded only by vapor, has a length d h and a characteristic resistance R 0V . The other one, completely covered by liquid, has a length h, a characteristic resistance R 0L
1999 American Institute of Physics

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Rev. Sci. Instrum., Vol. 70, No. 2, February 1999

Bruschi, Deltto, and Mistura

1515

FIG. 2. Calculated phase delay as a function of the reduced level h/ for the liquids helium and nitrogen. FIG. 1. a Schematic diagram of the transmission line level meter; b equivalent electrical diagram of the circuit of transmission line probe.

V R0 R 0L R 0V
V L

V R0 e j V0
C C V

e e

2j 2j

L /c h L /c h

2 1 Putting V R0 V0 2 e

2j

V /c

d h

and an input impedance Z L , which is also the impedance onto which the rst one is terminated, equal to Z L R 0L and R C R 0L . R C R 0L 4 1 1
C C

1 and

2 c/ :
C

e e

2j 2j

L /c h L /c h

j4 d/

e e

j4 j4

L h/ L h/

j4

h/

A sinusoidal generator with output resistance R 0V to avoid multiple reections, is connected to the input of the cable. The output of the coaxial cable is instead terminated on the load R C . In stationary conditions, an incoming wave V D and a reected one V R are present at the input point. Thus, by particularizing the general solution 1 to the coaxial probe, the amplitudes V D0 and V R0 of the incoming and reected signals will be V D0 V0 , 2 5 V R0 where Z L R 0V Z L R 0V R 0V R 0L R 0V R 0L Solving for V R0 ,
C

V0 2

VL

2j

V /c

d h

e e
V V

2j 2j

L /c h L /c h

VL

1
L L

, 6

of the reected signal varies Since the phase angle with the liquid level h, by measuring it is possible to deduce h. The relation between and h depends on the value of R C and only in particular cases the response is linear. The most favorable condition occurs for R C R 0L . In this situation C 0, V R0 contains only the reected signal at the liquidvapor interface and the relation is rigorously linear and independent of the liquid dielectric constant. This condition is not easily met, especially for liquids with a very small dielectric constant like liquid helium ( L 1.048 at 4.2 K . For this system 0.01, which implies that it is necessary to have C 0.01. Small variations of the characteristic resistance of the line or of R C can then cause poor reproducibility in the measurements. Such a solution is thus advisable only for particular applications where the probe is xed and at a constant temperature. A device less sensitive but highly reproducible can be obtained if C 1, e.g., line with its end open. The condition 1, e.g., line with a shorted end, has to be discarded C because in proximity of the nodes of the stationary wave depends very weakly on h see Eq. 8 and Fig. 2 . With an open end line and with a signal of wavelength much greater than the length of the line, the response is practically linear. The term in square brackets in Eq. 8 is independent of h and thus it implies a constant phase shift 0 . Figure 2 shows the behavior of 0 for helium and for nitrohas been gen ( L 1.454 at 77 K as a function of h/ calculated numerically with C 1). The dependence of on h is maximum and nearly linear close to the antinodes of the stationary wave, which in this case are located around the extremities of the probe. Instead, near the nodes, the depen-

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1516

Rev. Sci. Instrum., Vol. 70, No. 2, February 1999

Bruschi, Deltto, and Mistura

FIG. 3. Schematic drawing of the transmission line probe.

dence is minimum. In order to obtain an almost linear response, it is convenient to use a probe with a length shorter than /4.
III. PROBE

The probe, see Fig. 3, is made up of a stainless steel tube o.d. 8 mm and wall thickness 0.25 mm which acts as an outer conductor for the line. The inner one is instead formed by a s.s. capillary, 1.2 mm in diameter. The total length of the probe is 115 cm. The inner conductor is kept concentric by ve triangular Teon spacers and taut by a spring mounted at the line input. The bottom part of the capillary is xed to a macor spacer. These spacers have large holes to allow the liquid to easily move. A vent pipe is soldered to the probe top, see Fig. 3. In this part, the electrical contact to the inner conductor is realized by a sealed feedthrough. The measured characteristic resistance and attenuation coefcient are respectively equal to 110 and 0.005 m 1 .
IV. ELECTRONICS

FIG. 4. a Block diagram of the electronics used to measure the phase delay; b its detailed electrical scheme.

bridge used to obtain the reected signal V R of the probe, see Fig. 4 a . The other two arms are formed by the probe itself and by the resistance R R (R Rmax 2R0V). The phase difference between V ref and V R is measured by means of the phase comparator LM3089N. Also this component, easy to nd and inexpensive, is commonly used in the FM receivers. The differential amplier INA114 amplies the phase comparator output signal. Its amplication is varied by the resistance R1. In our case, we have chosen R1 , which corresponds to an amplication factor equal to 1. The potentiometer P, together with the op-amp TL081, controls the offset voltage of the differential amplier. Normally, the output of the differential amplier is zeroed by P when the probe is surrounded

Figure 4 a shows the block diagram of the electronic circuit, while Fig. 4 b displays its detailed scheme. The whole circuit is contained in a small shielded box mounted directly on top of the probe. It is important that the connections be small and rigid. It is preferable to mount the circuit on a printed board. As for the components, we have used good quality metal lm resistors and polycarbonate capacitors with a low series resistance. The 10 MHz signal is generated by an oscillator based on a JFET 2N3819. The feedback is provided by a parallel resonant circuit made up by a medium frequency transformer MF , commonly used in commercial frequency modulation receivers, and a quartz crystal. The MF transformer and the quartz crystal have a resonance frequency of 10 MHz. The low impedance secondary of the MF coil drives a wide-band transformer wound around a toroidal ferrite core. The inductance of the primary is about 350 H. This transformer has two secondaries, one to provide the reference signal V ref , the other one, with central plug, makes up the two arms of a

FIG. 5. Experimental results of the dc output of the circuit of the transmission line probe as a function of the liquid level obtained for the liquids helium and nitrogen.

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Rev. Sci. Instrum., Vol. 70, No. 2, February 1999

Bruschi, Deltto, and Mistura

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only by vapor. Finally, the thermistor NTC 4.7 k at room temperature is used to compensate small drifts of the comparator due to temperature variations. The adjustment is achieved by trial and error by changing R. The required supplies are 12 V 30 mA and 12 V 10 mA . The amplitude of the input signal is about 0.4 V. The dissipated power in the probe is estimated to be much smaller than 1 W. Such a small value is of paramount importance for the application of this device to cryogenic liquids, notably liquid helium.

V. TUNING AND RESULTS

Tuning the device is simple. With the probe in air, the signal present in the central plug of the secondary of the transformer T is observed with an oscilloscope. By shorting and opening the end of the probe, the resistance R R is varied in order to see two signals of equal amplitude but phase shifted of . At this point, the detected signal is the reected signal V R and R R corresponds to the characteristic line resistance R 0V . Pin 8 of the comparator allows to observe the signal V R amplied and squared.

Figure 5 shows the results of the height measurements in liquid helium and nitrogen as a function of the phase comparator output. The level h is determined by submerging the probe and measuring the distance from the position corresponding to the liquid interface with a meter stick. The resolution of these calibrations is essentially limited by the determination of the liquid level which is estimated to be about 1 mm. The stability of the output voltage over 24 hours is approximately 0.2 mV. This means that the liquid level can be measured within 0.2 mm for nitrogen and within 2 mm for helium. Overall, this device is resulted very reliable, the probe is particularly easy to make and the dissipated power is exceedingly small. The working frequency used in this study is not particularly suitable to accurately measure maximum levels of only a few centimeters. This however is not a problem if faster electronic components are used.
1

See, e.g., G. K. White, Experimental Techniques in Low-Temperature Physics, 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, New York, 1989 . 2 F. Pobell, Matter and Methods at Low Temperatures Springer, Berlin, 1992 . 3 See, e.g., R. N. Ghose, Microwave Circuit Theory and Analysis McGrawHill, New York, 1963 , Chap. 5.

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