FR2588663A1 - Alcohol meter calculator - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a special calculator intended to replace normal alcohol meter tables, by giving immediately and without calculation the result which these tables give only after inconvenient use of bulky books and complementary mathematical operations. The box, of reduced format, called "pocket-sized", includes a box containing a microprocessor and a self-contained energy source. One of its faces is fitted with a display screen and a keyboard. The screen is divided into two. The left part A displays the official symbol of the parameter to be entered or whose output is requested. The right part B displays the numerical values. The keys of the keyboard control, as required, general functions, the predisposition for the entering of a parameter, the calling up of the result and the entering of the numerical values. The screen displays these corresponding symbol and numbers. Operating errors display the word ERROR and force resetting. The apparatus is intended for multiple users of alcohol meter tables.

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus intended to replace the
Alcoholic Tables.

 The alcoholic strength by volume is defined worldwide by the percentage by volume, measured at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, of the pure alcohol it contains.

 Its assessment is most often made in a hydroalcoholic mixture, after distillation if necessary, from a densimetric measurement at any temperature, and from the simultaneous measurement of this temperature.

 The densimetric measurement is carried out by pycnometry, hydrostatic weighing or hydrometry, the hydrometer being graduated in density or in apparent alcoholic strength.

 The actual alcoholic strength is given by a double entry table, in which the box corresponding to the intersection of the temperature lines, on the one hand, and those of the densimetric parameters, on the other hand, gives the legal value.

 The values read on the instruments are most often intermediate of those which appear in the columns and the rows of the tables. It is therefore necessary to carry out a double interpolation calculation, the variation being considered as linear in the intervals.

These "practical" tables, established according to the Recommendation of the Council of the European Economic Community, according to the complex empirical formula and the Fundamental Tables published by the International Organization of Metrology
Legal, come in the form of three books, format 23xl6 cm., And 3 cm. thick.

 Their size, their short duration of use in an unfavorable environment (laboratories, cellars, storage stores, distillation workshops, possibly outside for roadside checks), and the need to carry out additional calculations are the disadvantages that the present invention proposes to eliminate or reduce.

 The device is in the form of a classic pocket calculator. The front of the box has a display screen and a keyboard.

The screen is divided into two areas: on the left side appear the official symbols of the input and output parameters, as they have been adopted internationally (Instruction of September 11, 1979, BODGI N0 165) namely:
- Legal alcoholic strength q
- Alcoholometric title read q *
- Volumic mass
- Temperature in Degrees Celsius t
On the right of the screen, the values entered, or the result, are written in a maximum of five digits, including two decimal places. The case of negative temperatures is not envisaged.

There are three types of keyboard keys:
The operating keys are indicated by the usual acronyms:
ON for start-up, OFF for stop, CLR for set to 0, possibly
STO for memory storage and RCL for memory recall.

 The parameters entry and result output keys are identified by their official symbol: their operation controls the appearance of this symbol on the screen, and predisposes for the entry of the corresponding parameter, or, if necessary, orders the display of the result.

 The numeric keys each carry a number from 0 to 9, and the decimal point. Their maneuver brings up the same graphics on the screen, each one placed to the right of the previous one. Exceeding the capacity of the screen brings up the word ERROR, and forces you to return to 0 for the incoming parameter. The same applies if you have previously omitted to act on a parameter key, or if a parameter of the same order as the previous one is requested.

 The entry keys can have only one densimetric parameter (Title read or density), and cannot omit random access memory.

Conversely, other keys can be added on certain models, to cover the entire field of practical alcohol tables published by the EEC
- Alcoholic strength by volume depending on the strength read and the temperature.

 - Volume at 200C of a hydro-alcoholic mixture of 1,000 liters at the temperature of t0C and of volume title read q *.

 - Alometric voluminal title according to the density read and the temperature.

 - Volume at 200C of a hydro-alcoholic mixture of. 1,000 liters at the temperature of t0C and known volume draw q.

 - Volume to 200 of ethanol contained in 100 dm3 of a hydroalcoholic mixture with tOC and of voluminal title read q *.

 - Volume at 200C of 100 kg of a hydro-alcoholic mixture at the temperature of t0C and by volume read lu q *.

 The necessary energy is supplied by an accumulator or electrochemical cells, or even a solar cell, contained in the housing.

 The calculations are carried out by a specific microprocessor incorporated in the box, exploiting either a program for solving one or more empirical mathematical formulas, or a database management system and proportional calculation in the intervals.

The device is intended for multiple users:
- Analysis and research laboratories
- Tax and Fraud Agents
- Staff of distilleries and chemical industries using ethanol
- Trade in alcoholic liquids, such as pharmaceuticals, perfumes, spirits and liqueurs, fuels, anti-freeze, etc.

 The apparatus is schematically represented on the attached plate in its simplest form, for the solution of the only problem of the definition of the alcoholic strength by volume from the title read and the temperature. At this stage, the display screen indicates that the reading of the alcohol meter (12,35) has just been entered.

Claims (4)

 ~ 1) Alcoholic Calculator, intended to replace the usual Alcoholic Tables, characterized in that, by the operation of the keys of a keyboard, with simultaneous display of symbols and numbers on a display screen, it gives the International Alcoholic Volume hydro-alcoholic liquids according to one of their densimetric characteristics and their temperature, the calculations being carried out automatically by a specific microprocessor, and the operating errors being indicated on the screen.  2) Calculator according to claim 1, characterized in that the face of the device comprises on the keyboard, in addition to the operating keys (ON, OFF, CLR, etc.), parameters input and output keys ( q *, q, t, etc.) and numeric keys (0 to 9 and,), a display screen divided into two parts: one (A) displaying the official symbol of the input or output parameter, the other (B) devoted to the figures.  ~ 3) Calculator according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that it involves a specific microprocessor operating either a program for solving one or more empirical mathematical formulas, or a database management system, with calculations proportional in the intervals.  4) Calculator according to claims 1, 2 and 3, characterized in that the microprocessor is provided with a particular function, according to which handling errors such as the attempt to introduce numbers in numbers greater than the capacity, or d he successive entry of two parameters of the same kind causes the appearance of an error signal on the screen, and forces him to return to 0 by operating the parameter key, then to enter the corrected figures.