EP0320947A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Halogen monitoring apparatus
Assignee: Sentech Corp
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Filing: 1988-12-15
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2008-12-15
Abstract
Abstract There is disclosed apparatus for monitoring the concentration levels of halogen gas in a gaseous atmosphere as confined in an enclosure over a relatively extended period of time. Such monitoring apparatus includes a sensor including first and second electrodes disposed to define a space therebetween through which the gaseous atmosphere flows and a voltage source for applying a voltage between the first and second electrodes whereby an ionization current flows to the first electrode. A control mechanism illustratively in the form of a programmed microcontroller monitors the ionization current collected by the first electrode as the output signal of the sensor, to determine an increase therein as would be indicative of a halogen leak. Upon determining an increase of the sensor output signal above a predetermined difference, the control mechanism removes the energization from the halogen sensor whereby the ionization current is terminated and the life of the sensor extended. The control mechanism further causes an initial reading of the sensor signal to be taken and to be stored, whereby subsequent sensor readings may be compensated by subtracting the stored value therefrom to provide a compensated output indicative of the increased halogen level with respect to the initial background reading thereof. The relatively small halogen sensor output is amplified by a variable gain amplifier, whose gain setting is automatically set over a large range of sensitivities.
Inventors
- 👤 William J. Williams Ii
- 👤 Daniel M. Thorsen
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 16:49
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01N; G01N27/00; G01N27/62; G01N27/68; G01N27/70
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 27
Claim 1
Independent Claim
135 words
Apparatus for detecting a concentration of a selected level of halogen gas in a gaseous atmosphere, said detecting apparatus comprising: (a) a sensor including first and second electrodes disposed to define a space therebetween through which said gaseous atmosphere flows; (b) means coupled to said first and second electrodes for applying a voltage therebetween, whereby an ionization current flows therebetween; (c) first control means coupled to one of said electrodes for detecting an increase in said ionization current flow as would indicate that the concentration level of halogen has increased to said selected level to provide a manifestation indicative thereof; and (d) second control means responsive to said increased current manifestation for reducing said voltage between said first and second electrodes, whereby said ionization current is reduced and the life of said sensor is extended.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
135 words
Apparatus for detecting a concentration of a selected level of halogen gas in a gaseous atmosphere, said detecting apparatus comprising: (a) a sensor including first and second electrodes disposed to define a space therebetween through which said gaseous atmosphere flows; (b) means coupled to said first and second electrodes for applying a voltage therebetween, whereby an ionization current flows therebetween; (c) first control means coupled to one of said electrodes for detecting an increase in said ionization current flow as would indicate that the concentration level of halogen has increased to said selected level to provide a manifestation indicative thereof; and (d) second control means responsive to said increased current manifestation for reducing said voltage between said first and second electrodes, whereby said ionization current is reduced and the life of said sensor is extended.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
37 words
The detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is further included means coupled across said second electrode for applying a voltage thereacross to produce a current sufficient to heat said sensor to its operating temperature.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
85 words
The detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is further included means for providing a manifestation indicative of a valid halogen leak, and said actuating means actuates after a predetermined period of time said voltage applying means to increase said voltage between said first and second electrodes, whereby said detecting means may detect a repeated increase in said ionization current flow in excess of said selected level¸ said manifestation means is responsive to a plurality of such detections for providing said warning manifestation.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
25 words
The detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said actuating means is also responsive to said increased current manifestation for disabling said detecting means.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
67 words
The detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said actuating means causes said voltage applying means to increase said voltage between said first and second electrodes for a warm-up period, before re-enabling said detecting means is enable to detect said ionization current flow, wherein said sensor is permitted to stabilize before said detecting means is re-enabled to detect a repeated increase in said ionization current flow.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
118 words
The halogen detecting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 as adapted for detecting a leak of said halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere as confined in an enclosure, said halogen leak detecting apparatus further comprising memory means, and means for taking a first reading of said ionization current flow as indicative of a background level of said halogen gas within said enclosure and for storing said first reading in said memory and for taking second readings of said ionization current flows and for non-destructively accessing said memory and subtracting said first reading from each of said second readings to provide a compensated output indicative of any increase of said level of halogen gas above from said background level.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
151 words
Apparatus for monitoring a gaseous atmosphere within an enclosure over an extended period of time for an increase in the level of concentration of a halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere, said gas monitoring apparatus comprising: (a) a sensor exposed to said gaseous atmosphere for providing a signal indicative of the level of concentration of said halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere; (b) memory means; (c) first control means for initially taking a first reading of said sensor signal as indicative of a background level of said halolgen gas within said enclosure and for storing said first reading in said memory; (d) and second control means for thereafter taking second readings of said sensor signal and for non-destructively accessing said memory and subtracting said first reading from each of said second readings to provide a compensated value indicative of any increase of the level of halogen concentration from said background level.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
151 words
Apparatus for monitoring a gaseous atmosphere within an enclosure over an extended period of time for an increase in the level of concentration of a halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere, said gas monitoring apparatus comprising: (a) a sensor exposed to said gaseous atmosphere for providing a signal indicative of the level of concentration of said halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere; (b) memory means; (c) first control means for initially taking a first reading of said sensor signal as indicative of a background level of said halolgen gas within said enclosure and for storing said first reading in said memory; (d) and second control means for thereafter taking second readings of said sensor signal and for non-destructively accessing said memory and subtracting said first reading from each of said second readings to provide a compensated value indicative of any increase of the level of halogen concentration from said background level.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
16 words
The monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein said memory means comprises a non-volatile memory.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
17 words
The monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein said non-volatile memory comprises an electrically erasable potentiometer.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
149 words
The halogen monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 7 as adapted for monitoring said gaseous atmosphere for a given increase in the level of said halogen concentration as would indicate a valid leak of said halogen gas within said enclosure in contrast to a spurious indication thereof, wherein there is further included third control means for initially taking a first compensated value and thereafter second compensated values and for storing said first compensated value in said memory means, fourth control means for accessing said memory means for determining a difference between said stored first compensated value and each of said second values to provide an indication of said measured increase of the concentration level of said halogen gas, and fifth control means for comparing said measured increase indication with said given increase and, if greater, for providing said warning manifestation indicative of said valid leak of said halogen gas.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
180 words
Apparatus for monitoring a gaseous atmosphere for a selected increase in the level of the concentration of a halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere as would indicate a valid leak of said halogen gas in contrast to a spurious indication, said leak monitoring apparatus comprising: (a) a sensor exposed to said gaseous atmosphere for providing a signal indicative of the concentration level of said halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere; (b) memory means; (c) means for first taking an original value of said sensor signal and thereafter current values of said sensor signal and for storing said original value in said memory means; (d) means for accessing said memory means for determining the difference between said stored original value and each of said current values to provide an indication of a measured increase of the concentration level of said halogen gas; (e) means for variably selecting said increase from a range of possible increases; and (f) means for comparing said measured increase with said selected increase and, if greater, for providing an indication of a leak of said halogen gas.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
180 words
Apparatus for monitoring a gaseous atmosphere for a selected increase in the level of the concentration of a halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere as would indicate a valid leak of said halogen gas in contrast to a spurious indication, said leak monitoring apparatus comprising: (a) a sensor exposed to said gaseous atmosphere for providing a signal indicative of the concentration level of said halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere; (b) memory means; (c) means for first taking an original value of said sensor signal and thereafter current values of said sensor signal and for storing said original value in said memory means; (d) means for accessing said memory means for determining the difference between said stored original value and each of said current values to provide an indication of a measured increase of the concentration level of said halogen gas; (e) means for variably selecting said increase from a range of possible increases; and (f) means for comparing said measured increase with said selected increase and, if greater, for providing an indication of a leak of said halogen gas.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
39 words
The leak monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein there is further included means responsive to at least two of said leak indications for providing a valid warning manifestation indicative of said valid leak of said halogen gas.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
117 words
Apparatus for monitoring a gaseous atmosphere to detect a wide range of the levels of concentration of halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere as confined in an enclosure, said monitoring apparatus comprising: (a) a sensor exposed to said gaseous atmosphere for providing a signal indicative of the concentration level of said halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere; (b) means coupled to said sensor for amplifying said sensor signal, said amplifying means having a variable gain; (c) means for setting said gain of said amplifying means; and (d) means for determining whether said sensor signal is greater than a predetermined level and, if so, for causing said gain setting means to decrease said gain of said amplifying means.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
117 words
Apparatus for monitoring a gaseous atmosphere to detect a wide range of the levels of concentration of halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere as confined in an enclosure, said monitoring apparatus comprising: (a) a sensor exposed to said gaseous atmosphere for providing a signal indicative of the concentration level of said halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere; (b) means coupled to said sensor for amplifying said sensor signal, said amplifying means having a variable gain; (c) means for setting said gain of said amplifying means; and (d) means for determining whether said sensor signal is greater than a predetermined level and, if so, for causing said gain setting means to decrease said gain of said amplifying means.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
45 words
The halogen gas monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein there is further included means for causing said gain setting means to increase said gain of said amplifying means until said determining means determines that said sensor signal is greater than said predetermined level.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
32 words
The halogen gas monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein said setting means variably sets said gain of said amplifying means at a selected one of a plurality of discrete gains.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
70 words
The halogen gas monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein there is further included means for causing said setting means to increase said gain to the next greater discrete gain of said plurality until said determining means determines that said sensor signal is greater than said predetermined level and, thereafter, for causing said gain setting means to set said gain at said next lowest discrete gain of said plurality.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
78 words
The halogen gas monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein said sensor provides its signal in analog form, and there is further included an analog to digital converter coupled to receive said analog sensor signal for converting same into a corresponding digital signal, said determining means responsive to said digital signal for determining whether said analog to digital converter has overflowed and, if so, for causing said setting means to decrease said gain of said amplifying means.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
188 words
The halogen gas monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 13, as adapted to detect an increase in the level of the concentration of said halogen gas as would indicate a valid leak of said halolgen gas as opposed to a spurious indication thereof, wherein said gain setting means increases incrementally said gain until said determining means determines that said sensor signal is greater than said predetermined level and for causing said gain setting means to decrease said gain to a determined lower gain, memory means, means for first taking an original value of said determined gain and thereafter current values of said determined gains and for storing said original value of said determined gain in said memory means, means for accessing said memory means for determining a difference between said original value and each of said current values of said determined gains to provide an indication of the measured increase of the concentration level of said halogen gas, and means for comparing said determined gain difference with a predetermined gain difference and, if greater, for providing a warning indication indicative of said valid leak of said halogen gas.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
94 words
The halogen gas leak monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 18 wherein said taking means first takes an original value of said sensor signal and thereafter current values of said sensor signal and for storing said original value of said sensor signal in said memory means, said comparing means for comparing said determined gain difference with said predetermined gain increase and if equal and said current value of said sensor signal is greater than said orginal value of said sensor signal, for providing said warning indication of said value leak of said halogen gas.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
200 words
Apparatus disposed at a remote location for monitoring a gaseous atmosphere for a given increase in the level of the concentration of a halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere as would indicate a valid leak of said halogen gas and for transmitting a message indicative of said valid leak to a controller disposed at a central location, said leak monitoring apparatus comprising: (a) a sensor exposed to said gaseous atmosphere for providing a signal indicative of the concentration level of said halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere; (b) memory means; (c) means for taking an original value of said sensor signal and thereafter current values of said sensor signal and for storing said original value in said memory means; (d) means for accessing said memory means for determining a difference between said stored original value and each of said current values to provide an indication of a measured increase of the concentration level of said halogen gas; (e) means for comparing said measured increase with said given increase and, if greater, for providing an indication of a leak of said halogen gas; and (f) means responsive to said leak indication to be enabled for transmitting said message to the controller.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
200 words
Apparatus disposed at a remote location for monitoring a gaseous atmosphere for a given increase in the level of the concentration of a halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere as would indicate a valid leak of said halogen gas and for transmitting a message indicative of said valid leak to a controller disposed at a central location, said leak monitoring apparatus comprising: (a) a sensor exposed to said gaseous atmosphere for providing a signal indicative of the concentration level of said halogen gas within said gaseous atmosphere; (b) memory means; (c) means for taking an original value of said sensor signal and thereafter current values of said sensor signal and for storing said original value in said memory means; (d) means for accessing said memory means for determining a difference between said stored original value and each of said current values to provide an indication of a measured increase of the concentration level of said halogen gas; (e) means for comparing said measured increase with said given increase and, if greater, for providing an indication of a leak of said halogen gas; and (f) means responsive to said leak indication to be enabled for transmitting said message to the controller.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
31 words
The leak monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein said transmitting means is responsive to said leak indication for transmitting said corresponding measured increase with said message to the controller.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
177 words
The leak monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein there is included means coupled to said sensor for amplifying said sensor signal, said amplifying means having a variable gain, means for setting said gain of said amplifying means, means for first taking a first value of said set gain corresponding to said original valuie of said sensor signal and thereafter second values of said set gain corresponding to each of said current values of said sensor signal and for storing said first and second gain values in said memory means, means for accessing said memory means and for determining a gain difference between said first value and each of said second values of said set gain to provide an indication of said measured increase of the concentration level of said halogen gas, said comparing means comparing said determined gain difference with a predetermined gain difference and, if greater, for providing said leak indication, said transmitting means responsive to said leak indication to be enabled for transmitting said determined gain difference with said message to the controller.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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