Optical detection of oxygen

Claim 1

Apparatus for detecting the presence of gaseous oxygen and measuring the amount present, comprising: a) means for producing substantially monochromatic excitation light; b) a sensing element comprised of: (1) a polar substrate having free hydroxyl groups at its surface; (2) a luminophor compound, which is a conjugated aromatic carbonyl compound, deposited on the surface of said substrate wherein said luminophore compound is N-methylacridone; and, (3) a halogenated hydrocarbon compound deposited on the surface of said substrate at locations adjacent to said carbonyl compound, wherein the halogenated hydrocarbon compound contains at least one halogen selected from the group consisting of chlorine, bromine, and iodine; c) means for exposing said sensing element to said excitation light; d) means for collecting light emitted by said carbonyl compound; e) means for filtering said collected light to remove scattered excitation light and stray light which is collected along with said emitted light; f) means for measuring the intensity of said filtered light; g) means for exposing said sensing element to a sample environment comprising gaseous oxygen; h) means for exposing said sensing element to calibration environments; and, i) means for determining oxygen concentration in said sample environment by comparing light intensity measured while the sensing element is exposed to said sample environment to light intensities measured while the sensing element is exposed to said calibration environments.

Claim 15

A method for detecting the presence of gaseous oxygen and measuring the amount present comprising: a) exciting a luminophor compound with substantially monochromatic light having wavelengths effective for absorption by said luminophor, wherein the luminophor is located on a polar substrate having free hydroxyl groups, wherein a halogenated hydrocarbon compound containing at least one halogen selected from the group consisting of chlorine, bromine, and iodine is located on the substrate at locations adjacent to the luminophor, and wherein the luminophor is N-methylacridone; b) collecting light emitted by the luminophor at wavelengths different from those of said excitation light; c) measuring the intensities of said collected light when said luminophor is located in a calibration environment comprising gaseous oxygen of at least two different concentrations, thus providing at least two intensity measurements; d) measuring the intensity of said collected light when said luminophor is located in a sample environment comprising gaseous oxygen; and, e) determining the oxygen concentration of said sample environment by comparing said sample environment intensity to said calibration environment intensities.

Claim 16

A method for detecting the presence of gaseous oxygen and measuring the amount present comprising: a) exciting a luminophor compound with substantially monochromatic light having wavelengths effective for absorption by said luminophor, wherein the luminophor is located on a polar substrate having free hydroxyl groups, wherein a halogenated hydrocarbon compound containing at least one halogen selected from the group consisting of chlorine, bromine, and iodine is located on the substrate at locations adjacent to the luminophor, and wherein the luminophor is N-methylacridone; b) collecting light emitted by the luminophor at wavelengths different from those of said excitation light; c) measuring the intensities of said collected light when said luminophor is located in a calibration environment comprising gaseous oxygen of at least two different concentrations, thus providing at least two intensity measurements; d) measuring the intensity of said collected light when said luminophor is located in a sample environment comprising gaseous oxygen; and, e) determining the oxygen concentration of said sample environment by comparing said sample environment intensity to said calibration environment intensities.