Patent Grant
8952708
The present invention relates in general to one or more methods and apparatuses for determining selected properties and various constituents concentration in liquids, gaseous and solid solutions as well as determining other properties such as density and moisture content of many varieties of solid and gaseous materials. More particularly, the present invention relates to one or more methods and apparatuses for determining concentration of individual components within a mixture by utilizing method of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy which measures the electric properties of a medium as a function of frequency.
Determination of mixture composition is a commonly encountered need. It is no wonder that huge amount of inventions are dedicated to this important task. One of possible means is to analyze electrical properties of target mixture. Most commonly means for determining mixture composition are contact electrode methods. Unfortunately, prior devices are deficient for a plurality of reasons, including, but not limited to, the fact that one or more sensors of such prior devices lack the desired sensitivity, the one or more sensors must be located in inconvenient location(s) with respect to the composition/object being evaluated or tested, etc. As such, there is a need in the art to create an improved invention with enhanced sensitivity for determining one or more mixture compositions or for otherwise obtaining data from an object under test.
It would also be desirable to provide an invention that permits the ideal location of the sensors and/or other components thereof with respect to the composition and/or the object under test.
The invention relates to electrical devices and, more particularly, to a highly sensitive impedance resonant (IR) sensor with a sensing head, which is an open-core or air core sensing inductor with excitation and sensing coils.
Several improvements of Impedance Resonance (IR) sensor apparatuses and methods of use are disclosed. One or more aspects of the present invention also may be employed in conjunction with a suitable IR sensor, including, but not limited to, the IR sensor of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/887,887, Filing Date: Sep. 22, 2010, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. These improvements of the present invention supplement basic variant with additional advanced merits and attributes. Two disclosed modifications or improvements bear a relation to one or more methods for acquiring results of measurement made by at least one sensor. Other modification(s) or improvement(s) enhance sensitivity of the at least one sensor by exploiting change of a sensing coil distributing capacitance (turn-to-turn capacitance) while immersing the sensing coil into, adjacent to, or near at least one liquid, gaseous or bulk material object under test. Another modification or improvement relates to the location of the one or more sensing and excitation coils. This additional or alternative modification or improvement unveils the possibility of placing the sensing coil into a vessel whereas the excitation coil encompasses the vessel.
In accordance with one or more purposes and/or aspects of the present invention, as embodied and/or broadly described herein, one or more embodiments of the present invention may use both modified and basic variants of the IR sensor. At least one embodiment may use the IR sensor with an immersible sensing coil for evaluating properties of a liquid, such as, but not limited to, an oil, motor oil, milk, chlorine concentration in water, moisture in soil, dextrose concentration in saline, etc. At least one embodiment of the invention may determine the presence of one or more selected, or predetermined, elements in one or more lubrication oils by means of an electromagnetic field probing same based on resonance impedance technology, and may alert an end-user of the device when a concentration of at least one of the preselected harmful constituents measured by one of the IR sensors exceeds an allowable, or a predetermined, concentration level. At least an additional embodiment of the invention may be dedicated to measuring the concentration of one or more milk ingredients. At least a further embodiment of the invention may be used to measure soil moisture. Yet a further embodiment of the invention may operate to measure a dextrose concentration in saline. Still, yet another embodiment of the invention may be dedicated to the measurement of a residual chlorine concentration in tap water.
An apparatus, method for monitoring without contact in situ and real time of selected properties and various constituents concentration in liquids, gaseous and solid solutions as well as determining other properties such as density and moisture content of many varieties of solid and gaseous materials, are disclosed. The invention also includes an Impedance Resonance (IR) sensor model for use for selected samples with the above-described aspects. In one embodiment, the invention determines presence of selected elements in lubrication oils based on an effect of resonance impedance characteristics of the solution on an electromagnetic field, and alerts an end-user when concentration of one of the preselected harmful constituents by one of the IR sensors exceeds allowable concentration levels. Change of the conductivity and dielectric properties of the solution will change the impedance of the IR sensor's excitation or sensing coil. The harmful constituent's concentration indication is determined based on one or more solution properties, temperature and quantity of the solution.
The invention relates to electrical devices and, more particularly, to a highly sensitive impedance resonant (IR) sensor with a sensing head, which is an open-core or air core sensing inductor with excitation and sensing coils.
Additionally or alternatively, a resonance type impedance sensor, which is a multicoil open-core or air-core inductor, may include at least two coils, at least one coil of the at least two coils being at least one excitation coil connectable to at least one alternating current source with frequency sweep, at least one other coil of the at least two coils being at least one sensing coil connectable to at least one data processing system, wherein: (i) upon electrical connection to said current source, said at least one excitation coil is capable of propagating an energy to said at least one sensing coil, which is capable of generating a probing electromagnetic field, (ii) said at least one sensing coil is designed in such a way that intrinsic inductance L, capacitance C, and resistance R parameters of said at least one sensing coil are capable of providing resonance conditions for measuring of object under test impedance at predetermined frequency, said object under test capable of being at least one of conductive, semi-conductive and non-conductive, and (iii) said at least one sensing coil is not connected to a capacitance means located externally to said at least one sensing coil such that said at least one sensing coil is capable of measuring at least one of conductance and one or more dielectric properties of at least a part of said object under test falling within a sensing area or range of said at least one sensing coil.
For purposes of illustrating the various aspects of the invention, wherein like numerals indicate like elements, there are shown in the drawings simplified forms that may be employed, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited by or to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. To assist those of ordinary skill in the relevant art in making and using the subject matter hereof, reference is made to the appended drawings and figures, wherein:
1.1 Modification/Improvement in which Information is Obtained from Excitation Coil
A schematic electrical circuit of one embodiment of a sensor of the present invention is shown in
At least one embodiment of the sensor operates as follows: A frequency-based sweep generator 3, which functions as the source of a variable-frequency electric field, feeds the excitation coil 1. The frequency variation range of the generator includes resonance frequency of the sensing coil 2. Being in an electromagnetic coupling with the sensing coil 2, the excitation coil 1 brings the latter into a state of self-resonance. The condition of self-resonance leads to a significant increase in the intensity of the electromagnetic field induced by the inductor, e.g., by its sensing coil. A test object placed into this electromagnetic field develops eddy currents and/or vortex displacement currents, which, in turn, generate their own electromagnetic fields that are perceived by the sensing coil. Such interaction changes not only the resonance frequency but also the amount of dissipated electromagnetic energy. In order to compensate for this loss of energy, the current in the circuit comprising the frequency-based sweep generator 3 and the excitation coil automatically increases. This process is similar to transfer of a transformer from the idle mode to the under-load mode of operation. Such variation in flow of electromagnetic energy can be registered by a high-frequency ammeter 4 and a voltmeter 5, but the use of only an ammeter is sufficient.
1.2 Modification/Improvement in which Information is Obtained from at Least One Sensing Coil and at Least One Excitation Coil
As explained above, impedance of the test object affects electrical parameters not only in the sensing circuit, which is in the state of resonance, but also in the excitation circuit. The current that flows through the excitation coil grows proportionally with the amount of electromagnetic energy dissipated from the test object. Such change in the current increases voltage amplitude on a bypass resistor 15, and a data acquisition unit 14 registers the voltage increase.
Electrical characteristics of the sensing circuit of the highly sensitive IR sensor of the invention change in the same or similar manner as described in the aforementioned pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/887,887. Interaction of the sensor with the test object changes resonance frequency and resonance amplitude, which are registered by a data acquisition unit 16.
A useful measurement signal may be formed by using various combinations of data obtained by the data acquisition units 14 and 16. For example, the following data can be used:
(a) signal difference: “Vm−Vex” or “Vex−Vm” (where Vm is measurement voltage and Vex is excitation voltage); and/or
(b) signal ratio: “Vm/Vex” or “Vex/Vm”.
For example, in at least one embodiment of a CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) sensor developed by the applicant on the basis of the present invention, a useful signal (data obtained from the sensor) is formed by using an RF/IF (radio frequency/intermediate frequency) Gain and Phase Detector, which comprises a dual-channel demodulating logarithmic amplifier with a phase detector. Characteristics of this instrument are as follows: operating frequency range of about 0 to about 2.7 GHz; minimal output signal of about 30 mV, which corresponds to −20×Log(Vex/Vm)=−30 dB; and maximal output signal of about 1.8V, which corresponds to −20×Log(Vex/Vm)=+30 dB.
Resonance frequency can be determined by means of:
In our pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/887,887, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference, we focused on the fact that in order to improve sensitivity of the IR sensor to dielectric properties of the test object, it is useful to minimize natural capacitance of the sensing circuit. The sensing circuit of aforementioned sensor comprises the sensing coil only, and turn-to-turn capacitance of the sensing coil is considered as a “parasitic” one. The demand for minimization of turn-to-turn capacitance is absolutely justifiable for all the examples used in the aforementioned patent application. In examples of that patent application, a substance that fills the space between the turns and layers of the sensing coil before beginning the measurement process remains the same during the measurement process. For a sensor of this application (e.g., where the sensing coil is immersed into a test object), measurement conditions are quite different since in this case the useful signal includes changes caused in the turn-to-turn and in the interlayer capacitance of the sensing coil by the material of the test object that fills the spaces between the turns of the coil. In order to enhance this effect, a coil with a rectangular rather than a circular cross-section is preferably used, as shown in
An excitation coil may have different positions relative to a sensing coil:
Any of the three methods (two of which are described above in Sections 1 and 2 and one in our aforementioned patent application Ser. No. 12/887,887, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) can be used to obtain information from the IR sensor of the invention.
In Section 2.1 an example of one or more possible applications for these kinds of sensors is discussed below, and given measurements results therefor correspond to, and indicate, degradation of motor oil.
1.4 Modification/Improvement of at Least One IR Sensor of the Present Invention Wherein at Least One Sensing Coil is Immersed into or Near a Test Object Material Located in a Tube (or Vessel) and with an Excitation Coil Located Outside the Tube (or Vessel)
In at least one embodiment, the sensing coil 32 is located inside a tube or vessel, while the excitation coil 31 is located outside the tube or the vessel (
While not intended to be an exhaustive list of the structural arrangements of, or ways to use, one or more IR Sensors of the present invention, several embodiments of one or more IR Sensors are disclosed herein to illustrate how the one or more IR Sensors may be used to evaluate one or more properties of various types of object(s) under test (whether liquid, solid, gaseous or otherwise), such as, but not limited to, oil, motor oil, milk, chlorine in water, slurry, etc.
Description of experiment:
1. Three samples of motor oil were obtained from auto repair shop:
2. The samples were placed in three vials of 15 cc volume.
3. An IR sensor having a sensing coil of the type shown in
Results of the measurement are shown in
At least one embodiment of the invention is directed to real time monitoring quality of slurry during a CMP process. It is critical to reduce wafer defects during the polishing process and lower cost of ownership in current and next generation CMP tools. To maintain CMP slurry health during usage, it is essential to monitor and control slurry's chemical (e.g., oxidizer and additive levels and their decay behavior), as well as abrasive properties, including particles size distribution (PSD), large particle counts (LPC), density, etc. The method allows in real time monitoring of the oxidizer concentration as well as the abrasive particle information in CMP slurry blends. This works on the principles of chemometrics, which is a two-phase process. In the first “calibration” phase, samples with known property values are measured by the system. A mathematical procedure then determines the correlation between the measured spectra and true property values. The output of this phase is a “model” that optimally calculates the parameter values from the measured spectra of the calibration samples. In the second “measurement” phase, unknown samples are measured by the system employing the model to produce estimates of the property values.
The system may comprise of various types of IR sensors designed for measurement of liquids. The system may include one or more sensors that have no contact with the slurry as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/887,887, sensors as described in U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/566,267, such as in paragraph 1.3 thereof, as described herein, etc.
Using a standard potentiostat we identified areas where an electrical field influences various milk components.
In order to identify the best fitted frequencies, we used three milk samples with the minimum and maximum concentrations of target constituent: 1) skim milk (about 0% fat) and 3.2% pasteurized milk to identify the frequency of monitoring fat content; 2) pasteurized 3.2% fat milk and farm milk with fat about 3.2% but with great difference in Somatic Cell Count (SCC) to define the frequency where SCC has the strongest response; and 3) 3.2% pasteurized milk with lactose free milk and the second sample with lactose and about the same fat content (3.2%) to define the frequency where lactose has the strongest response.
Using data from the potentiostate we defined that at frequency of about ˜126 MHz we got sufficient sensitivity for measuring SCC, at frequency of about ˜117 MHz to lactose, and at frequency of about ˜131 MHz to milk fat. Those data permitted us to calculate measuring circuits' parameters at frequencies close to those identified. We constructed measuring circuits (coils) and mounted them on a fixture (
In our experiments, the concentration of lactose was changed by dilution of whole milk with lactose free milk, and the concentration of milk fat was changed by dilution of 3.2% milk with skim milk. In the experiments shown in series 1, no lactose or fat were present in the milk samples. Contrary, the experiments in series 4 scans showed maximum content of lactose (
The process of measuring fat content in milk is similar to measuring SCC (
The mathematical simulation of constituents measuring where probing with IR yields non-monotonic graphs help to define two frequencies for building sensors.
Thus, we have identified new problems in the analytic arts, and have provided new solutions for these as well as for known problems in the art. Using a multiple-sensor system of this invention, it is now possible to measure multiple different constituents simultaneously, in real-time, and without increasing risks associated with either removing samples from a stream of production or from contaminating the stream with unwanted materials introduced during sampling.
For identifying areas of electrical field frequencies where soil moisture gives good response, a potentiostate has been used.
Using data from the potentiostate we defined that at frequency from about 170 MHz to about 190 MHz we got sufficient sensitivity for measuring moisture. Those data permitted us to configure one or more IR sensor operating frequencies substantially close to those identified. Gain-frequency variations of the IR sensor are shown in
One of the key components of intravenous solutions/drips (IVs) is saline, which is also known as, for example, the 0.9% sodium chloride (NaCl) solution. It is used frequently in IVs for patients who cannot take fluids orally and have developed or are in danger of developing dehydration or hypovolemia. Saline is typically the first fluid used when hypovolemia is severe enough to threaten the adequacy of blood circulation, and has long been believed to be the safest fluid to give quickly in large volumes. Also, saline solution could be used to deliver various drugs intravenously. Because Normal Saline is a close approximation to the osmolarity of NaCl in blood, we used it to conduct our experiments to verify if IR sensor technology could be used for identification of glucose concentration and, most importantly, to verify the possibility of using IR sensors for contactless identification of harmful levels of glucose in blood in real time.
Description of experiment:
1. We prepared saline solution by adding 9 g of NaCl to 1000 ml of distilled water.
2. In the saline solution was added glucose to make the following samples with glucose concentration of: 5000, 2000, 1000, 500, 250 and 125 mg/dL.
3. The samples were placed by turns in an IR sensor test fixture as shown in
4. All measurements were conducted by sweeping frequency in a range from 96 to 100 MHz.
The below presented measurements from our experiments show quite promising results that give us a high degree of confidence that development of non-direct contact with a blood medical device to measure the level of glucose in the blood is possible when using IR sensor technology.
Results of the measurement are shown in
A monitoring device measures the concentration of glucose in a patient's tissue, blood, or other bodily fluids; provides an indication of the rate of change of such concentration; and determines whether the measured concentration and rate of change are within certain preset or predetermined limits. If not, an audible and/or visual alarm signal is generated. The patient monitoring system includes at least one IR sensor that is placed on the patient, where it produces sensor signals related to the concentration of the glucose in the blood that is being measured. The sensor's signals are displayed on the device's screen, or are delivered through a suitable interconnect cable to a monitor. The device interprets the sensor signals by applying a previously determined calibration to quantitatively determine the glucose concentration value. The glucose concentration value thus determined is then processed in order to determine the rate of change, is stored (to create a history or record), and may also be displayed in large, easy-to-read numerals. Rate of change information (trend) may also be numerically or graphically displayed.
As of today, we have conducted a number of experiments to identify frequencies at which we can distinguish different concentrations of glucose in the 0.9% sodium chloride solution that is also known as, for example, a Normal Saline (“NS”)*. The output voltage of the IR sensor in relationship to the glucose concentration of 5000, 2000, 1000, 500, 250, and 125 mg/dl at a selected range of frequencies is presented in
All experiments were conducted with the sodium chloride 0.9% solution in order to eliminate the influence of any other liquid parameters and because most of intravenous glucose solutions are using similar concentrations of the sodium chloride (NaCl).
In order to test effectiveness of the IR sensor for measuring residual chlorine in tap water we used a solution of POWER POWDER® PLUS containing Calcium Hypochlorite—73% as active ingredient (according to specification for that product which when mixed with water provides at least 70% Available Chlorine). To prevent contamination of water by residual chlorine in tap water, we used Alhambra® drinking water that we normally drink in our lab. For measuring residual chlorine concentration, we used SenSafe™ Free Chlorine Water Check Test Strips (USEPA Approved), which are sold by Industrial Test Systems, Inc., located in Rock Hill, S.C. (www.sensafe.com), with detection range: 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.2, 1.5, 2, 2.6, 4, 6 ppm (mg/L). During our experiment, we used prior configured IR sensor. While various arrangements of the IR sensor's sensing element may be used, the IR sensor's sensing element used for this example is shown in
Results of the measurements are represented in Table 2 and in
At least one embodiment of the sensor that pertains to the present application is similar to one disclosed in our pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/887,887, Filing Date: Sep. 22, 2010, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Although the invention herein has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and applications of the present invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerous modifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that other arrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
This application is a non-provisional patent application that claims the benefit of the filing date of, and priority to, pending U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/566,267, filed Dec. 2, 2011, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| 61566267 | Dec 2011 | US |
