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:
Nov. 30, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 19, 2003
Tatsu Kobayakawa, Ibaraki-ken, JP;
Hiroshi Yamada, Ibaraki-ken, JP;
Hideki Toda, Ibaraki-ken, JP;
Sachiko Saitou, Ibaraki-ken, JP;
Abstract
A gas-concentration measuring apparatus for measuring the concentration variation of gas residing in a target region. The gas-concentration measuring apparatus comprises an ultrasound-transmitter adapted to transmit an ultrasound in response to an ultrasound-generating signal having a rate of voltage change equal to or greater than a slew rate of an operational amplifier, and further adapted to output the ultrasound-generating signal. An ultrasound-receiver adapted to receive the ultrasound wave passed through the gas residing in the target region, and further adapted to convert the received ultrasound into an electrical signal serving as a received ultrasound signal is provided. A gas-concentration determiner adapted to input the ultrasound-generating signal and the received ultrasound wave signal into the operational amplifier to generate an amplified transmitting-side chopping wave and an amplified receiving-side chopping wave is further provided. The gas-concentration determiner is further adapted to compare the transmitting-side and receiving-side chopping waves independently with corresponding given threshold voltages to detect a first pair of time points when the respective chopping waves become equal to or greater than the corresponding given threshold voltages or to detect a second pair of time points when the respective chopping waves become equal to or less than the corresponding given threshold voltages. The gas-concentration determiner is further adapted to determine the concentration variation in the gas based on the pair of time points.