Sampling and determination of diffusible chemical substances

Claim 1

A method for determining the concentration of diffusible gaseous substances in a fluid matrix comprising: (a) introducing a probe into said fluid matrix, said probe containing an outer membrane permeable to the substances being determined and consisting of interconnected outer and inner chambers, the walls of said inner chamber being less permeable to the substances being determined than said membrane, (b) introducing an equilibration liquid of limited solubility to the substances being determined into said outer chamber in contact with said membrane, (c) allowing said gaseous substances to diffuse across said membrane and equilibrate with said equilibration liquid, (d) withdrawing said equilibration liquid equilibrated with said gaseous substances from said outer chamber through said inner chamber and introducing it to a sensor chamber containing sensors which are specific for the substances being determined, the electrical output of a specific sensor being representative of the concentration of a particular gaseous substance in said fluid matrix, (e) relaying the electrical output obtained at each sensor to controller means wherein it is stored. (f) utilizing the stored signals in said controller means to actuate a chemical feeding means such that the chemical feeding means introduces a known concentration of gases being determined into a calibration chamber such that the concentration of each gas in the calibration chamber is known (g) passing said equilibration liquid from said sensor chamber to a hollow fiber means within the calibration chamber wherein the equilibration liquid equilibrates with the known concentrations of gaseous substances in said calibration chamber (h) passing the equilibration liquid from the hollow fiber means within the calibration chamber by reverse flow back to the sensor chamber whereby said sensors are calibrated with the equilibration liquid equilibrated with known concentrations of the gaseous substances being determined and the electrical output of each sensor calibrated is relayed to said controller means and stored.

Claim 2

A method for determining the concentration of diffusible gaseous substances in a fluid matrix comprising: (a) introducing a probe into said fluid matrix, said probe containing an outer membrane permeable to the substances being determined and consisting of interconnected outer and inner chambers, the walls of said inner chamber being less permeable to the substances being determined than said membrane, (b) introducing an equilibration liquid of limited solubility to the substances being determined into said outer chamber in contact with said membrane, (c) allowing said gaseous substances to diffuse across said membrane and equilibrate with said equilibration liquid, (d) withdrawing said equilibration liquid equilibrated with said gaseous substances from said outer chamber through said inner chamber and introducing it to a sensor chamber containing sensors which are specific for the substances being determined, the electrical output of a specific sensor being representative of the concentration of a particular gaseous substance in said fluid matrix, (e) relaying the electrical output obtained at each sensor to controller means wherein it is stored. (f) utilizing the stored signals in said controller means to actuate a chemical feeding means such that the chemical feeding means introduces a known concentration of gases being determined into a calibration chamber such that the concentration of each gas in the calibration chamber is known (g) passing said equilibration liquid from said sensor chamber to a hollow fiber means within the calibration chamber wherein the equilibration liquid equilibrates with the known concentrations of gaseous substances in said calibration chamber (h) passing the equilibration liquid from the hollow fiber means within the calibration chamber by reverse flow back to the sensor chamber whereby said sensors are calibrated with the equilibration liquid equilibrated with known concentrations of the gaseous substances being determined and the electrical output of each sensor calibrated is relayed to said controller means and stored.

Claim 10

A system for determining the concentration of diffusible gaseous substances in a fluid matrix comprising: (a) a probe containing consentric outer membrane permeable to the substances being determined and consisting of an interconnected outer and inner chambers, the walls of said inner chamber being less permeable to the substances being determined than said membrane, the outer chamber containing liquid inlet means and the inner chamber containing liquid outlet means, (b) a sensing chamber in liquid communication with said inner and outer probe chambers containing sensors electrically sensitive to the gaseous substances in proportion to the concentrations thereof, (c) controller means adapted to receive, store and compare signals received from said sensors and issue commands responsive thereto, (d) hollow fiber means in liquid communication with the sensing chamber and surrounded by a calibration chamber, (e) chemical feeding means in electrical communication with said controller means adapted to feed variable known concentrations of the gaseous substances being determined into the calibration chamber as commanded by said controller means in response to the signals received from said sensors, and (f) bidirectional means interconnecting the liquid inlet to the probe to the hollow fiber means and adapted to regulate the direction and flow rate of liquid through the system.

Claim 11

A system for determining the concentration of diffusible gaseous substances in a fluid matrix comprising: (a) a probe containing consentric outer membrane permeable to the substances being determined and consisting of an interconnected outer and inner chambers, the walls of said inner chamber being less permeable to the substances being determined than said membrane, the outer chamber containing liquid inlet means and the inner chamber containing liquid outlet means, (b) a sensing chamber in liquid communication with said inner and outer probe chambers containing sensors electrically sensitive to the gaseous substances in proportion to the concentrations thereof, (c) controller means adapted to receive, store and compare signals received from said sensors and issue commands responsive thereto, (d) hollow fiber means in liquid communication with the sensing chamber and surrounded by a calibration chamber, (e) chemical feeding means in electrical communication with said controller means adapted to feed variable known concentrations of the gaseous substances being determined into the calibration chamber as commanded by said controller means in response to the signals received from said sensors, and (f) bidirectional means interconnecting the liquid inlet to the probe to the hollow fiber means and adapted to regulate the direction and flow rate of liquid through the system.