Discriminating samples of drinkable water by their ultrasound time-of-flight (TOF)

Quality control and the process monitoring of beverages requires the availability of inexpensive instrumentation capable of nondestructive onsite testing of aqueous solutions from both inside and outside of the water-holding containers. We investigate the use of ultrasound TOF as a parameter used to discriminate among drinkable water samples using an ultrasonic instrument previously developed for monitoring chemical reactions. After some improvements, the instrument demonstrated sensitivity to the addition of squash to deionized water in the order of 115 ppm that could be further improved by averaging.