The following figure shows a cutaway picture of a refractometer sensor. The measurement prism (6) is flush mounted to the surface of the probe tip. The prism (6) and all the other optical components are fixed to the solid core module (7), which is springloaded (9) against the prism gasket (5). The light source (3) is a yellow LED, and the receiver is a Charge Couple Device (CCD) element (10). The electronics is protected against process heat by a thermal isolator (8) and cooling fins (1). The sensor processor card (2) receives the raw data from the CCD element (10) and the Pt‑1000 process temperature sensor (4), then calculates the refractive index nD and the process temperature T. This information is transmitted to the indicating transmitter.
- 1
- Cooling fins
- 2
- Sensor processor card
- 3
- Light source
- 4
- Temperature sensor
- 5
- Prism gasket
- 6
- Prism
- 7
- CORE module
- 8
- Thermal isolator
- 9
- Disc spring
- 10
- CCD element