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:
May. 11, 1999
Filed:
Jun. 04, 1996
John H Ballard, Clinton, MS (US);
Ernesto R Cespedes, Vicksburg, MS (US);
Dan Y Eng, Vicksburg, MS (US);
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as represented by the Secretary of the Army, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
The present invention pertains to a direct push small diameter fluorescence ased penetrometer system for performing in situ spectral analysis on subsurface liquid or gaseous samples. The invention is configured to collect liquid or gaseous analyte samples within the penetrometer's sample chamber through a port that is juxtaposed to a heating element that accelerates the separation of volatile chemical materials from the soil matrix. Fiber optic cables are linked to surface mounted real-time data acquisition/processing equipment from the sample chamber. The penetrometer sampling device is also equipped with a standard penetrometer electric cone sensor module containing cone and sleeve strain sensors that are used to calculate soil classification/layering in real-time during penetration. The invention integrates soil classification/layering data with spectral signature data of suspect subsurface liquid or gaseous fluids for assessing whether the subsurface soil and ground water regions are contaminated without the requirement of transporting the sample and/or analyte to the surface for analysis. Moreover, the system integrates a means for grouting the bore hole upon retrieval of the penetrometer.