Electrochemical gage for measuring partial pressures of oxygen
AssigneeAgence Nationale de Valorisation de la Recherche (ANVAR)
InventorsCharles Henri Deportes, Marc Patrice Sylvain Henault, Francis Tasset, Gerard Raymond Robert Vitter
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electrochemical gage for measuring partial pressures of oxygen. The gage is preferably in miniaturised form and uses an internal reference or standard of palladium: palladium oxide. The internal reference is disposed in a compartment defined by walls of solid electrolyte.
Claims23
In an electrochemical gage for measuring partial pressures of oxygen, said gage comprising a solid electrolyte and an internal reference, the improvement whereby the internal reference consists essentially of a palladium:palladium oxide redox couple.
An electrochemical oxygen gage, said gage including an internal reference compartment with a hermetic seal, said compartment being substantially filled with an internal reference consisting of solid material selected from the class consisting of palladium, palladium oxide and mixtures thereof, said compartment being defined at least in part by a solid electrolyte, and at least one electronic conductor leading into said compartment and electronically connected within said compartment both with the reference material and said electrolyte.
An oxygen gage comprising a sheath which is closed at one end and which is formed of solid electrolyte, said sheath having interior and exterior surfaces,
- an internal reference material within said sheath, said material consisting essentially of palladium and palladium oxide in intimate association,
- a thermocouple including a pair of leads within said internal reference material, and making electrical contact with said reference material and said interior surface of said sheath, at least one of said leads constituting an internal electrode,
- said sheath being hermetically sealed around said leads and
- an exterior electrode attached in electrically conductive contact with the exterior surface of said electrolyte.
A system for measuring partial oxygen pressures in cold enclosures, said system comprising a gage which includes a solid electrolyte and an internal reference consisting essentially of a palladium:
- palladium oxide redox couple, and means for raising the temperature of said gage to operating levels.
A system for measuring partial oxygen pressure in a liquid bath, said system comprising a gage for insertion in said bath including a solid electrolyte and an internal reference consisting essentially of a palladium:
- palladium oxide redox couple, and conductor means external of said gage for contacting said bath.
An electrochemical gage for measuring the partial pressure of oxygen in a medium, which comprises:
- a solid oxide electrolyte having ionic conduction and forming at least part of the walls of a compartment;
- a chemical system within said compartment effective for providing a reference pressure of oxygen at a determined temperature;
- an inner electronic conductor electrode in contact with said solid electrolyte within said compartment, an outer electronic conductor electrode outside said compartment for providing electric contact to said outside, both said electrochemical gage and said outer electronic conductor being adapted to be brought in contact at an operative temperature with the medium containing the oxygen under partial pressure to be measured;
- and
- said chemical system consisting essentially of a palladium:
- palladium oxide redox couple.
An electrochemical gage for measuring the partial pressure of oxygen in a medium, said gage comprising:
- a solid oxide electrolyte having ionic conduction and forming at least part of the walls of a compartment,
- a solid chemical system substantially filling said compartment, said system being responsive to the application of predetermined electrical energy to form a redox-mixture of a metal and an oxide of the same metal providing a reference pressure of oxygen at a determined temperature,
- an inner electronic conductor electrode in contact with said solid electrolyte within said compartment,
- an outer electronic conductor electrode outside said compartment for providing electric contact to said outside, both said electrochemical gage and said outer electronic conductor being adapted to be brought in contact at an operative temperature with the medium containing the oxygen under partial pressure to be measured, and
- said solid chemical system being formed of palladium, palladium oxide, or a mixture thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.