Conductive polymer coated fabrics for chemical sensing
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsLeonard J. Buckley, Greg Collins
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Abstract
A fabric chemical sensor, a process and an apparatus is disclosed. The sensor, process and apparatus are for the detection, classification, identification and/or quantitation of one or more component chemicals of a chemical vapor via a resistance measurment made across sensor in response to exposure of the sensor to the chemical vapor.
Claims22
A process for the detection of one or more component chemicals of a chemical vapor, said process comprising the steps of:
- (i) electrically connecting one or more fabric chemical sensors to a power source, said one or more fabric chemical sensors comprising one or more sensor elements, said sensor elements woven into a fabric of insulating fibers, said fibers being coated with one or more conductive polymers, each of said fabric chemical sensors having a baseline resistance;
- (ii) exposing at time=t.sub.0 over said one or more fabric chemical sensors a chemical vapor, said chemical vapor comprising one or more component chemicals;
- (iii) detecting and quantifying a change in said baseline resistance of said one or more fabric chemical sensors at a later time=t.sub.1 in response to exposure of said one or more fabric chemical sensors to said chemical vapor;
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- (iv) resolving and classifying from said change in said baseline resistance the identity of at least one of said one or more component chemicals of said chemical vapor.
An apparatus for the detection of one or more component chemicals of a chemical vapor, said apparatus comprising:
- (i) one or more fabric chemical sensors comprising one or more sensor elements, said one or more sensor elements being woven into a fabric of insulating fibers, said fibers being coated with one or more conductive polymers;
- (ii) a power supply being electrically connected to said one or more fabric chemical sensors, said one or more fabric chemical sensors having a measurable baseline resistance;
- (iii) a means for exposing a chemical vapor over said one or more fabric chemical sensors sufficient to measure a reproducible change in said baseline resistance, said chemical vapor further comprising one or more component chemicals;
- (iv) a means for detecting and quantifying said change in said baseline resistance in response to said exposure of said one or more fabric chemical sensors to said chemical vapor;
- and
- (v) a means for resolving from said change in said baseline resistance a classification of the identity of at least one of said one or more component chemicals of said chemical vapor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.