GAS SENSOR TEST AND CALIBRATION SYSTEM

• US 20090019913A1
• Filed: 07/20/2007
• Published: 01/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Yang, Wei, Gu, Yuandong, Tobias, Peter, Peterson, Alex L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,661,290 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/1.60
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0006 Calibrating gas analysers

Abstract

A system for testing and calibrating gas sensors with gas stored in a strip of packets. The strip may be fed into a chamber having a defined volume of air. A packet may be punctured with a mechanism to release one or more gases into the volume of air to result in an air-gas mixture. New air may be moved into the chamber to push the mixture out of the chamber to a sensor for testing and/or calibration. Then another packet may be punctured to release one or more gases into the volume of new air in the chamber for another air-gas mixture. This mixture may be moved out of the chamber, in the same manner as the previous mixture, to another sensor for testing and/or calibration. This procedure may be repeated with additional packets on the strip.

Claims

1. A test and calibration system comprising:

a housing comprising;

a chamber;

a plurality of gas-filled packets; and

an opener for releasing gas from a packet of the plurality of gas-filled packets, into the chamber.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the chamber has a fixed amount of air;

the packet has a fixed amount of gas; and

the fixed amounts of gas and air become an air-gas mixture having a determined ratio of gas to air; and

the determined ratio of gas to air is for testing and/or calibrating one or more sensors.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of gas-filled packets is attached to a strip that goes into the chamber.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising an air mover connected to the input port.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein:

the air mover provides air into the chamber; and

a releasing of gas from a packet provides gas to be mixed with the air in the chamber as an air-gas mixture.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein a gas sensor is tested with the air-gas mixture from the chamber.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein a testing of one or more gas sensors is on a one-to-one basis relative to each releasing of gas from a gas-filled packet of the plurality of gas-filled packets.

8. A method for testing sensors comprising:

providing a plurality of blister packs wherein each blister pack contains one or more gases;

releasing the one or more gases from a blister pack in a chamber having air resulting in an air-gas mixture in the chamber; and

moving the air-gas mixture from the chamber to a sensor for testing and/or calibration of the sensor.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the releasing of one or more gases of specific amounts from a blister pack and a mixing of the one or more gases with a specific amount of air provides an air-gas mixture sufficient for testing and/or calibration of one sensor.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of blister packs is on a strip feed-able into the chamber.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the releasing of one or more gases is effected by a mechanism which punctures a blister pack.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein one or more sensors are tested per releasing the one or more gases from a blister pack.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the releasing of one or more gases from N blister packs individually into N first quantities of air is for tests and/or calibrations of N sensors; and

N is a positive integer.

14. A system for test and calibration comprising:

a plurality of packages containing one or more gases;

a chamber having a defined volume;

a mechanism for releasing a defined amount of one or more gases from a package of the plurality of packages into the defined volume; and

wherein the chamber has an output port for providing an air-gas mixture.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

an air mover connected to an input port of the chamber; and

wherein the air mover provides a volume of air approximately equivalent to the defined volume for mixture with the defined amount of one or more gases released from a package of the plurality of packages to result in an air-gas mixture.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the air-gas mixture is for testing and/or calibrating at least one gas sensor.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein each air-gas mixture includes one package of one or more gases and the air in the chamber.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein each package is a blister pack which has an aluminum base with aluminum or an aluminized polymer formed like a bubble, including space for the one or more gases, having a border sealed to the aluminum base.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of packages is situated on a strip which is fed into the chamber to the mechanism for a releasing of the defined amount of one or more gases from a package.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the strip is in a form of a roll on a spool which is fed into the chamber.