On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 07:15:44AM -0500, Jim Lynch wrote:
> Ben Okopnik wrote:
> >
> > OK, I can see conductivity as being of marginal use if the contacts get
> > coated with oil; somewhat of a ditto for capacitance, although for
> > slightly different reasons. What's the failure mode for ultrasonic or
> > pulse radar? I can't imagine radar-absorbent foam being a common
> > component of bilge water. :)
> >
> I suspect that falls under the heading of "affordable". ;)
>
> Besides I don't need a klystron in my bilge.
[laugh] Why not? You could always mount it on a swivel and fry any
pirates that came by. :)
(Besides, IMPATT/Gunn diodes aren't _that_ expensive; neither are stable
power supplies to drive them. I designed one while working for Hughes;
as I recall, the whole trick was to use a four-layer device for fast
current rise time.)
> On a totally "blue sky" project I've thought about aiming a laser into
> the water at an angle and having a small array of sensors properly
> positioned to detect the reflection. That would be trivial to
> construct. I'm assuming the surface of the water would remain
> reflective. Oil wouldn't cause a problem but a piece of debris might.
> To avoid debris from floating by, I could put the whole thing in a wire
> cage.
The failure mode _there,_ of course, would be when the cage gets plugged
up with something. But reasonable design and keeping chunky floating
stuff out of your bilge would take care of that.
--
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