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Mechanical and Fluid Systems
System and Method for Fluid Dynamic Mass Gauging
System and Method for Fluid Dynamic Mass Gauging
Fluid Dynamic Mass Gauging (FDMG) is a microgravity-compatible system that applies principles of fluid dynamics, the ideal gas law, and thermodynamics to determine the volume of an incompressible fluid within a tank by measuring the compressible volume in the same tank. In a simplified embodiment, the determination of the remaining volume of the fluid within a given storage tank can be calculated from a time measurement of a pressure change during a filling or venting process applied to the storage tank. The process may be automated and features low mass and volume requirements, enabling its use in any gravitational or inertial environment with minimal hardware modifications. The novel system can determine the volume of a non-condensing, incompressible fluid within a rigid tank of known or unknown volume without requiring the use of bulky equipment in microgravity locations with fixed or limited free space.
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