Automatic mixing and dilution methods and apparatus for online characterization of equilibrium and non-equilibrium properties of solutions containing polymers and/or colloids

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A device is developed that is capable of automatically and continuously extracting fluid from a polymer-containing vessel and mixing this with a solvent such that the final fluid is dilute enough that single particle light scattering, spectrophotometric and other measurements can be made on it. Whereas many sampling and dilution devices exist the novelty of this , invention consists in its ability to deal with very high viscosities including those laden with bubbles, and to introduce only a short delay time between sampling and measurement. The device is ideally suited for situations where the viscosity of the polymer-containing vessel changes over a wide range during the course of a …