<title>Slow-wave structures application for oil monitoring</title>

Abstract

This paper presents new measuring technology based on the application of Slow-Wave Structures (SWS). The use of SWS for RF-measurement transducers makes it possible quite efficiently to monitor and measure parameters of various industrial processes and materials. Difficulties arise when monitoring and measuring parameters of oil-liquids such as the conductivity or the continuity of flow. This is caused by the strong screening action of the monitored oil-liquid on electromagnetic field of the slowed wave in the helical sensitive elements (HSE). As the conductivity increases, the screening becomes even stronger, and this leads to a reduction in the sensitivity and measurement accuracy. The solution of such problems requires the creation and modeling of more complex designs of sensitive elements in which the screening action is weakened. Such an effect can be achieved by matching the field of a hybrid slowed wave to the medium being monitored, utilizing HSE based on layered magnetic and dielectric structures with a smooth variation of the electrodynamic parameters.