Method and apparatus for detecting and locating explosives, biological, and chemical substances in ducts and structures using tracers
First Claim
1. A method for characterizing a contaminant in a structure, comprising the steps of:
- (a) injecting at a first location an interactive tracer into or onto a region where the contaminant may be located;
(b) extracting at a second location the tracer used to interrogate the contaminant region, wherein the second location may be collocated with the first location;
(d) measuring the concentration of the extracted tracer at one or more periods in time; and
(e) characterizing the contaminant from the concentration of the tracer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and an apparatus for detecting, locating, and quantifying explosive materials and devices, and naturally occurring and man-made dangerous or hazardous biological and chemical materials and devices in ducts or piping systems, or other fluid flow systems in buildings such as residential, office, industrial, and power plants, transportation systems such as ships, airplanes, subways, and trains, and various types of infrastructure such as dams, tunnels, or bridges, and in the rooms, compartments, enclosures, containers, or difficult to access areas in these buildings, transportation systems, and structures. The preferred embodiment of this detection and location method uses a conservative tracer and one or more interactive tracers that are injected into the duct or area to be searched at one location and then monitored at the same or another location in the duct or area. Alternative embodiments, which are quicker and just as accurate for detection and location, require only the use of interactive tracers. Detection, location, and quantification are accomplished by analysis of the characteristic features of measured curves of tracer concentration. Various types of interactive tracers may be used, including partitioning and reactive tracer gaseous tracers.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. A method for characterizing a contaminant in a structure, comprising the steps of:
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(a) injecting at a first location an interactive tracer into or onto a region where the contaminant may be located;
(b) extracting at a second location the tracer used to interrogate the contaminant region, wherein the second location may be collocated with the first location;
(d) measuring the concentration of the extracted tracer at one or more periods in time; and
(e) characterizing the contaminant from the concentration of the tracer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23)
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21. A method for characterizing a contaminant in a fluid flow system, comprising the steps of:
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(a) injecting a conservative tracer and an interactive tracer into the flow system at a first location;
(b) advecting the tracers along the flow system with a fluid that does not interact with the contaminant;
(c) extracting the tracers at a second location in the flow system;
(d) measuring the concentration of the extracted tracers over a period of time; and
(e) characterizing the contaminant using the measured concentrations of the conservative and interactive tracers.
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24. A method for determining the location of a contaminant in a flow system, comprising the steps of:
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(a) injecting a conservative tracer and a partitioning tracer into the flow system at a first location;
(b) advecting the tracers along the flow system at a first speed to create an advection flow field;
(c) extracting the tracers at a second location in the flow system;
(d) introducing a perturbation to the advection flow field at a perturbation time by changing and then re-establishing the advection flow at a second advection speed, which may be different than the first advection speed, creating a unique change in the concentration of the partition tracer;
(e) extracting the partitioning tracer as a function of time relative to the perturbation time;
(f) measuring the concentration of the partitioning tracer as a function of the time; and
(g) determining the location of contamination from the time of arrival of the partitioning tracer relative to the perturbation time and the advection flow speed. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for characterizing a contaminant in a fluid flow system, comprising the steps of:
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(a) injecting a partitioning tracer into the flow system containing the contaminant;
(b) allowing sufficient time for the partitioning tracer to interact with and partition into the contaminant;
(c) removing the partitioning tracer from the system;
(d) establishing a flow field at one location in the structure with a fluid that does not interact with the contaminant to advect the partitioning tracer being emitted from the contaminant to a second location;
(e) extracting the partitioning tracer at a second location in the flow structure;
(f) measuring the concentration of the extracted tracers over a period of time; and
(g) characterizing the contaminant from the concentration of the partitioning tracer.
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30. An apparatus for characterizing a contaminant in a structure, comprising:
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(a) a tracer injection system for injecting known amounts of conservative and interactive tracers into the flow system;
(b) an advection driving system for moving the tracers along the flow system;
(c) a tracer extraction system for removing the tracers from the structure;
(d) a measurement system for determining the concentration of the tracers extracted from the structure; and
(e) a processor for analyzing the concentration measurements. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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- 32. A method for determining the quantity of a contaminant in a structure comprising the method of 47, wherein the quantity of extracted tracer, which is related to the quantity of contaminant, is related to the concentration of the conservative tracer.
Specification