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. 01, 2000
Filed:
Nov. 24, 1998
Lucian E Scripca, San Diego, CA (US);
Mark K Goldstein, Del Mar, CA (US);
Quantum Group, Inc., San Diego, CA (US);
Abstract
The concentration of a target gas is determined in an optical gas sensor system having an array of optical gas sensors wherein each sensor has a different sensitivity range for a target gas. An active sensor is selected from the array of optical gas sensors by determining which sensor has an optical transmittance value between 0% and 100%. Optical transmittance values of the active sensor are differentiated with respect to time. Concentration of the target gas is calculated as a function of both the rate of change of optical transmittance and the value of the optical transmittance at the beginning of the period over which the transmittance is differentiated. When a hazardous gas such as carbon monoxide is the target gas an alarm can be given when a threshold concentration is exceeded. Preferably, the transmittance values are converted to digital signals and processed in an eight-bit microprocessor to determine target gas concentration.