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US 12,710,415 B2Granted
Apparatus and method for direct nitrate sensing in soil
AssigneeWisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
InventorsJoseph Andrews, Aatresha Biswas, Jingyi Huang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A soil chemistry sensor employs a hydrophilic porous layer to adapt aqueous ion sensors to direct soil measurement by allowing transfer and concentration of water from the soil to the sensing electrodes while blocking electrically charged soil colloidal particles that can interfere with such measurements.
Claims15
A soil chemistry sensor comprising:
- a support adapted for insertion into the soil;
- a working electrode and reference electrode held in separation on the support;
- an ion selective membrane positioned above the working surface of the working electrode and configured to selectively pass an ion species of interest through the ion selective membrane;
- and
- a hydrophilic porous barrier layer positioned above the ion selective membrane of the working surface and the reference electrode, said hydrophilic porous barrier layer configured for
- allowing aqueous communication of water from the soil to the working electrode and reference electrode when the support is inserted into the soil while blocking charged soil particles, the hydrophilic porous barrier layer configured to allow passage of the ion species of interest for measurement of concentrations of the ion species of interest in the soil according to a voltage across the reference electrode and working electrode.
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A method of making direct soil chemistry measurements comprising:
- (a) installing a soil chemistry sensor into soil to be measured, the soil chemistry sensor having:
- a support adapted for insertion into the soil;
- a working electrode and reference electrode held in separation on the support;
- an ion selective membrane positioned above the working surface of the working electrode to selectively pass an ion species of interest through the ion selective membrane;
- and a hydrophilic porous barrier layer positioned above the ion selective membrane of the working surface and the reference electrode allowing aqueous communication of water from the soil to the working electrode and reference electrode when the support is inserted into the soil while blocking charged soil particles, the hydrophilic porous barrier layer adapted to allow passage of the ion species of interest from the soil to the reference electrode and working electrode;
- and (b) measuring a voltage across the reference electrode and working electrode to determine a concentration of the ion species of interest.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.