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US 11,079,363 B2Granted
Systems and methods for evaluating toxic gas sensors using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
AssigneeIndustrial Scientific Corporation
InventorJonathan Eric Dinsmore
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The systems and methods of this disclosure enable evaluation, verification, and testing of toxic gas sensors without the need for a target gas cylinder. The systems and methods for testing toxic gas sensors over a broad range of frequencies facilitates evaluation and diagnosis of mechanisms underlying sensor performance. The systems and methods of this disclosure may be incorporated into portable gas sensing equipment for in field diagnostics.
Claims28
A system for evaluating a toxic gas electrochemical sensor, the system comprising:
- a potentiostat circuit electrically connected to the toxic gas electrochemical sensor;
- a voltage waveform generator connected to the potentiostat circuit and enabled to apply a voltage sine wave at a plurality of selected frequencies to a reference electrode of the toxic gas electrochemical sensor;
- a current measurement circuit electrically connected to the toxic gas electrochemical sensor for measuring an amplitude and a phase of a current through the toxic gas electrochemical sensor in response to the applied voltage sine wave;
- and
- a microcontroller electrically connected to the voltage waveform generator and the current measurement circuit, wherein the microcontroller controls the voltage waveform generator, receives a corresponding output from the current measurement circuit indicative of the amplitude and the phase of the current through the toxic gas electrochemical sensor at each of the plurality of selected frequencies, and analyzes the outputs from the current measurement circuit to determine information about a response time of the toxic gas electrochemical sensor, wherein analyzing the outputs comprises calculating a real impedance and an imaginary impedance corresponding to a current measurement at each of the plurality of selected frequencies resulting in calculated real impedances and calculated imaginary impedances and comparing a Nyquist plot of the calculated real impedances and the calculated imaginary impedances with a corresponding reference Nyquist plot of reference real impedances and reference imaginary impedances.
2 more elements
A method for evaluating a toxic gas sensor using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, comprising:
- applying a current or a voltage sine wave at a plurality of selected frequencies to a reference electrode of the toxic gas sensor;
- measuring a voltage or a current response of the toxic gas sensor corresponding to each of the plurality of selected frequencies;
- and
- analyzing the measured voltage response or the measured current response over the plurality of selected frequencies to determine information about a response time of the toxic gas sensor, wherein analyzing the measured voltage response or the measured current response comprises calculating a real impedance and an imaginary impedance corresponding to a current or a voltage measurement at each of the plurality of selected frequencies resulting in calculated real impedances and calculated imaginary impedances, and comparing a Nyquist plot of the calculated real impedances and the calculated imaginary impedances with a corresponding reference Nyquist plot of reference real impedances and reference imaginary impedances.
1 more element
A system for evaluating a toxic gas electrochemical sensor, comprising:
- a galvanostat circuit electrically connected to the toxic gas electrochemical sensor;
- a current waveform generator connected to the galvanostat circuit and enabled to apply a current sine wave at a plurality of selected frequencies to a reference electrode of the toxic gas electrochemical sensor;
- a voltage measurement circuit electrically connected to the toxic gas electrochemical sensor for measuring an amplitude and a phase of a voltage across the toxic gas electrochemical sensor in response to the applied current sine wave;
- and
- a microcontroller electrically connected to the current waveform generator and the voltage measurement circuit, wherein the microcontroller controls the current waveform generator, receives a corresponding output from the voltage measurement circuit indicative of the amplitude and phase of the voltage across the toxic gas electrochemical sensor at each of the plurality of selected frequencies, and analyzes the outputs to determine information about a response time of the toxic gas electrochemical sensor, wherein analyzing the outputs comprises calculating a real impedance and an imaginary impedance corresponding to a voltage measurement at each of the plurality of selected frequencies resulting in calculated real impedances and calculated imaginary impedances and comparing a Nyquist plot of the calculated real impedances and the calculated imaginary impedances with a corresponding reference Nyquist plot of reference real impedances and reference imaginary impedances.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.