The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 03, 1993
Filed:
Jan. 03, 1992
Ganapati R Mauze, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Damien F Gray, Mountain View, CA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A gas sensor using optical fiber technology to measure gas concentration in a test volume. In one embodiment, the sensor incorporates a gas enriching polymer which absorbs and concentrates carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) from the test volume surrounding the sensor. The polymer is wrapped around the core of an optical fiber which guides radiation with first selected wavelengths to the polymer. The radiation propagates into the polymer and reacts with the carbon dioxide in the polymer. Determination of CO.sub.2 concentration in the test volume is made by measuring the amount of attenuation of the radiation after reacting with the carbon dioxide in the polymer. In another embodiment, the polymer is capable of absorbing oxygen from the test volume and oxygen concentration is measured using fluorescence quenching. Being added to the polymer, a special dye reacts to radiation having selected wavelengths and produces a second radiation with wavelengths which are different from the selected wavelengths and which are absorbed by oxygen. Determination of oxygen concentration in the test volume is made by measuring the degree of attenuation of the second radiation after reacting with the oxygen in the polymer.