A flowmeter comprising means (12) for conducting fluid the rate of flow of which is to be measured, flexure means (15) arranged to undulate in response to fluid flow, whereby a travelling wave is propagated along the flexure means, and means (23, 24) for detecting a parameter of the travelling wave which is a function of the rate of flow of the fluid. The parameter of the travelling wave may be the frequency or the velocity of propagation thereof, for example.

A counter (32) counts the time intervals of falling instilled drops in response to a signal issue each time a falling instilled drop is detected. A memory (33) is supplied with data representing the quantities of falling instilled drop corresponding to the time intervals at which the drops fall. The data corresponding to the time intervals thereof which have been counted by the counter (32) are read out of the memory (33). The data thus read out are accumulated to determine the total quantities of the drops.

A battery safety evaluation apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes a battery characteristic estimator, a heat amount estimator and safety index calculator. The battery characteristic estimator estimates an estimation value of an inner state parameter of a first battery on the basis of data on voltage and current of the first battery measured in charging or discharging. The heat amount estimator estimates a heat amount of the first battery upon change of an external temperature on the basis of first reference data which is at least indicating relationship between a heat amount of a secondary battery and the external temperature and is set to correspond to the first battery on the basis of the estimation value. The safety index calculator calculates a safety index regarding a temperature of the first battery upon change of the external temperature on the basis of the estimated heat amount.

The invention refers to a fluid flow device (200), e.g. used in intravenous therapy, for determining a fluid flow rate, including: a drop chamber (202), having an interior (204), a fluid input (208), and a fluid output (210); a drop detector (212) coupled to the drop chamber and configured to detect a fluid drop (214) at the fluid input; a pressure sensor (216) configured to monitor a pressure in the interior of the drop chamber; and a flow rate device (218) configured to determine a fluid flow rate based on a number of fluid drops detected over a time period, and the pressure in the interior of the drop chamber. A flow control device (224) (e.g. a magnetic valve) may preferably be coupled to the drop chamber and configured to increase or decrease the number of fluid drops detected over a time period in response to a signal from the flow rate device. Optionally, a communications unit (222) configured to control the flow control device (224) may be included.

A dispensing apparatus in which product is dispensed by moving, preferably by manually applied forces from a user, an actuation mechanism, preferably a lever, from a first position to a second position and in which a potentiometer sensor, preferably a rotary potentiometer sensor, senses the relative movement of the actuation mechanism with time and permits the amount of fluid dispensed to be accurately calculated.

The present invention discloses a refrigerator which can precisely adjust and display not only an ice making and storing amount but also an ice dispensing amount. As an ice level sensing unit (150) provided at an ice storage unit (130) for storing ice senses the ice storage amount by light, it is possible to adjust and display the ice storage amount. Moreover, as an ice sensing unit (150) provided at an ice guide unit (140) for dispensing ice senses the ice dispensing amount by light, it is possible to adjust and display the ice dispensing amount.

A rugged, all-electronic fluid dispensing system for use with pipettes or in other contexts indirectly measures fluid flow by using a non-linear system model to correlate vacuum existing at the top of a column of suspended fluid. Non-contact operation is provided to eliminate the need for contact-type closed-loop fluid flow sensing and associated potential cross-contamination risks. In one particular exemplary non-limiting illustrative implementation, an electronic controller within a gun-shaped, cordless self-contained pipetter housing dynamically calculates valve opening time based on a non-linear equation. Calibration is used to derive equation constants, and column vacuum pressure before the valve is opened is used as the independent variable to derive a valve opening time that will result in accurate dispensing of a desired programmed fluid quantity. Repetitive automatic dispensing with accuracies greater than 1% are possible within the context of a relatively inexpensive portable pipette or device without the need for mechanically-complex positive displacement arrangements.

A rugged, all-electronic fluid dispensing system for use with pipettes or in other contexts indirectly measures fluid flow by using a non-linear system model to correlate vacuum existing at the top of a column of suspended fluid. Non-contact operation is provided to eliminate the need for contact-type closed-loop fluid flow sensing and associated potential cross-contamination risks. In one particular exemplary non-limiting illustrative implementation, an electronic controller within a gun-shaped, cordless self-contained pipetter housing dynamically calculates valve opening time based on a non-linear equation. Calibration is used to derive equation constants, and column vacuum pressure before the valve is opened is used as the independent variable to derive a valve opening time that will result in accurate dispensing of a desired programmed fluid quantity. Repetitive automatic dispensing with accuracies greater than 1% are possible within the context of a relatively inexpensive portable pipette or device without the need for mechanically-complex positive displacement arrangements.