Method for continuous flow analysis of liquid sample

Claim 1

A method of flow analysis of a liquid sample, which comprises the steps of: (a) forming a stream of a carrier liquid in a main conduit which leads towards a detection zone; (b) introducing a predetermined volume of a reagent liquid into a reagent metering loop while isolating the reagent metering loop from the main conduit; (c) introducing a predetermined volume of a sample liquid into a sample metering loop while isolating the sample metering loop from the main conduit; (d) placing said reagent metering loop and said sample metering loop in a series communication with each other, thereby contacting the sample liquid in the sample metering loop with the reagent liquid in the reagent metering loop; (e) simultaneously with step (d) diverting the stream of the carrier liquid from a portion of said main stream upstream of the detection zone to inject the stream of carrier liquid in series flow through the reagent metering loop and the sample metering loop while keeping the sample liquid and the reagent liquid in contact with each other thereby displacing the reagent liquid and the sample liquid from said metering loops into the main conduit leading to the detection zone; and (f) measuring a reaction solution brought into the detection zone to detect the sample by the reaction conditions in said detection zone.

Claim 2

A method of flow analysis of a liquid sample, which comprises the steps of: (a) forming a stream of a carrier liquid in a main conduit which leads towards a detection zone; (b) introducing a predetermined volume of a reagent liquid into a reagent metering loop while isolating the reagent metering loop from the main conduit; (c) introducing a predetermined volume of a sample liquid into a sample metering loop while isolating the sample metering loop from the main conduit; (d) placing said reagent metering loop and said sample metering loop in a series communication with each other, thereby contacting the sample liquid in the sample metering loop with the reagent liquid in the reagent metering loop; (e) simultaneously with step (d) diverting the stream of the carrier liquid from a portion of said main stream upstream of the detection zone to inject the stream of carrier liquid in series flow through the reagent metering loop and the sample metering loop while keeping the sample liquid and the reagent liquid in contact with each other thereby displacing the reagent liquid and the sample liquid from said metering loops into the main conduit leading to the detection zone; and (f) measuring a reaction solution brought into the detection zone to detect the sample by the reaction conditions in said detection zone.

Claim 4

A method of continuous flow analysis of a liquid sample, which comprises the steps of: forming a main carrier stream of a carrier liquid; directing said main carrier stream through a conduit to a reaction zone and then to a detection zone; introducing a predetermined volume of a reagent liquid into a reagent metering pipe; introducing a predetermined volume of a sample liquid into a sample metering pipe; diverting said main carrier stream, upstream of said reaction zone, into one or the other of the reagent metering pipe and the sample metering pipe simultaneously placing said reagent metering pipe, said sample metering pipe and said conduit in a series communication with each other to displace said reagent liquid from said reagent metering pipe and to displace the sample liquid from said sample metering pipe; introducing the resultant stream into the conduit containing said carrier liquid to displace carrier liquid contained therein and to pass the resultant stream through the reaction zone and into the detection zone; reacting said sample liquid with said reagent liquid in said reaction zone; and detecting the sample by the reaction conditions in said detection zone.

Claim 5

A method of continuous flow analysis of a liquid sample, which comprises the steps of: forming a main carrier stream of a carrier liquid; directing said main carrier stream through a conduit to a reaction zone and then to a detection zone; introducing a predetermined volume of a reagent liquid into a reagent metering pipe; introducing a predetermined volume of a sample liquid into a sample metering pipe; diverting said main carrier stream, upstream of said reaction zone, into one or the other of the reagent metering pipe and the sample metering pipe simultaneously placing said reagent metering pipe, said sample metering pipe and said conduit in a series communication with each other to displace said reagent liquid from said reagent metering pipe and to displace the sample liquid from said sample metering pipe; introducing the resultant stream into the conduit containing said carrier liquid to displace carrier liquid contained therein and to pass the resultant stream through the reaction zone and into the detection zone; reacting said sample liquid with said reagent liquid in said reaction zone; and detecting the sample by the reaction conditions in said detection zone.