Shimadzu Corporation

Nippon Tansan Co., Ltd.

Kunihiko Okubo

Yutaka Osajima

Motoo Kinoshita

Hiroshi Nakano

Tamotu Kawano

Mituya Shimoda

Keiso Kawamoto

Jun-ichi Kita

Hisamitsu Akamaru

Ryutaro Oda

Mitsuyoshi Yoshii

An odor measuring device has a collector tube containing an adsorbent which adsorbs sample components with odor at normal temperatures and desorbs them when heated. Flow routes for a sample gas containing sample components to be detected and an inactive gas are connected through valves to this collector tube. Initially, a sample gas containing sample components with odor is introduced into the collector tube at normal temperature such that the sample components to be detected are adsorbed to the adsorbent. Thereafter, the valves are switched such that the inactive gas is introduced into the collector tube while its temperature is increased by a heater, causing the sample components to be desorbed into the inactive gas and to be transported into an odor sensor. If odor sensors requiring oxygen for detection are used, an oxygen-containing gas such as air is mixed into the inactive gas after the latter has passed through the collector tube such that deterioration of the adsorbent by oxidation can be prevented.

Devices and methods for measuring odor

A device for measurement of an odor component in a sample gas prepares many target gases to be actually measured by a plurality of sensors with different response characteristics, each containing the odor component at a different concentration. Detection signals from these sensors are analyzed by a method of multivariate analysis such as the principal component analysis, and the odor component is characterized on the basis of such an analysis. For preparing the target gases, the sample gas containing the odor component is passed through a collector tube containing an adsorbent which adsorbs this odor component at normal and subnormal temperature and desorbs it when heated. After a specified amount of the odor component is adsorbed to the adsorbent, the tube is heated and an inert gas serving as carrier gas is passed through such that the desorbed odor component is carried to the detectors as a target gas. The concentration of the odor component in such a target gas is controlled by the manner of flow of the carrier gas. In order to obtain a dependable result from such an analysis, response characteristics of each of the sensors may be analyzed by examining the relationship between the outputted detection signal and the concentration of the odor component in the target gas. Only those of the sensors which show a monotonically varying or linear response characteristics may be considered trustworthy and only the detection signals from such trustworthy detectors may be used for the analysis.

Devices for measuring gases with odors

A method of continuously de-activating enzymes, sterilizing or deodorizing a liquid material such as liquid foodstuff or liquid medicine with a supercritical fluid of carbon dioxide. The method includes the following steps: 1) the liquid material is continuously supplied from an inlet at a bottom of a processing tank; 2) micro-particles of the supercritical fluid of the carbon dioxide are formed so that a density of the supercritical fluid is smaller than that of the liquid material; 3) the micro-particles of the supercritical fluid are injected continuously into the liquid material from another inlet at the bottom of the processing tank; and 4) the liquid material and the supercritical fluid are separated into different phases at the top of the processing tank and are taken out of the processing tank separately. The method may further include the steps of: extracting volatile component included in the supercritical fluid which is taken out from the processing tank by controlling a pressure and a temperature of the supercritical fluid; and returning it to the liquid material processed (product) or using it as an independent product.

System for processing liquid foodstuff or liquid medicine with a

A system for continuously de-activating enzymes, sterilizing or deodorizing a liquid material such as liquid foodstuff or liquid medicine with a supercritical fluid of carbon dioxide. The system includes the following 1) a liquid material is continuously supplied from an inlet at a bottom of a processing tank; 2) micro-particles of the supercritical fluid of the carbon dioxide are formed so that a density of the supercritical fluid is smaller than that of the liquid material; 3) the micro-particles of the supercritical fluid are injected continuously into the liquid material from another inlet at the bottom of the processing tank; and 4) the liquid material and the supercritical fluid are separated into different phases at the top of the processing tank and are taken out of the processing tank separately.

A slit changing device for a monochrometer comprises a slit disc forming a plurality of pairs of slits each having different widths, a pulse motor for rotating the slit disc, a control circuit for activating the pulse motor, so that any pair of the pairs of slits can be selected, and a keyboard operated to enter target slit information into the control circuit. The coupling between the slit disc and the pulse motor is slipless and backlashless. The control circuit comprises a present slit pulse counter for storing the pulse number of a presently selected slit pair and a target pulse counter for storing the pulse number of a target slit pair.

Growing community of inventors

Moriyama, Japan

Kunihiko Okubo