NEAR INFRARED OPTICAL ABSORBANCE DETECTOR

摘要

34 of the Invention A method and apparatus of measuring a fuel in a fuel mixture using a beam of light having two or more wavelengths. The absorbance of the mixture is measured at each wavelength and the proportion of fuel in the fuel mixture is determined. The invention is primarily adapted to measure the amount of methanol in a mixture of gasoline and methanol. However, the device also measures the amount of ethanol in gasoline or a combination of methanol and ethanol in gasoline. Other compounds having OH groups such as higher alcohols and water may also be measured using the methods and apparatuses taught by this disclosure. The same design can be extended to measure other non-OH containing components of fuel such as the aromatic component by changing the wavelengths of light that are monitored.