Device for measurement and control of humidity in crude oil and petroleum products

A device with a frequency-modulated output signal has been developed to increase the sensitivity and accuracy of measuring moisture content in crude oil and petroleum products in the range of 0~20%. The main element of the device is a self-oscillator transducer based on a transistor structure with negative differential resistance. A capacitive sensor in the form of a capacitive cylindrical structure with cylindrical electrodes was used to determine moisture content in crude oil and petroleum products. Electric permittivity of a two-component mixture of oil and water was estimated and the capacitance of the humidity-sensitive capacitive cylindrical structure with cylindrical electrodes was calculated. An electrical diagram of the device for measuring and controlling the humidity of crude oil and petroleum products has been developed. The relative error of converting the humidity of oil and petroleum products into capacitance which was caused by the change in oil temperature, was determined to be 0.225%. Values of relative errors of the device for measuring the humidity of oil and petroleum products are as follows: 1.355 · 10-5% is caused by instability of the oscillator frequency, 0.01% is caused by fluctuations in the supply voltage of the self-oscillator transducer, 0.05% is caused by a change in ambient temperature by 1°C. For the developed device, which used errors of the first and second type, the reliability of humidity control of oil and petroleum products has been determined to be 0.9591.