Measurement Device with At Least One Sensor

• US 20090175764A1
• Filed: 06/26/2008
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micronas Gmbh (TDK Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Micronas Gmbh (TDK Corporation), Micronas Holding GmbH (TDK Corporation)
• Inventors: Mohry, Sonja, Freund, Ingo, Klapproth, Holger, Lehmann, Mirko
• Granted Patent: US 8,329,104 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 422/68.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 3/08 with provision for safeguarding the apparatus, e.g. against abnormal operation, against breakdown
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/414 Ion-sensitive or chemical field-effect transistors, i.e. ISFETS or CHEMFETS
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/4163 checking the operation of, or calibrating, the measuring apparatus G01N27/3274, G01N27/4175 and G01N33/0006 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0032 using two or more different physical functioning modes
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/54373 involving physiochemical end-point determination, e.g. wave-guides, FETS, gratings

Abstract

A measurement device has at least one sensor for detecting a parameter, a data storage unit, and a power supply for said sensor and data storage unit. In addition to the first sensor, the measurement device has at least one second sensor connected to the power supply and to the data storage unit. The second sensor is provided for detecting a physical quantity acting on the first sensor and is capable of permanently altering the measurement characteristic of the first sensor. An evaluator functions coactively with the second sensor and the data storage unit so that the permanent alteration of the measurement characteristic of the first sensor is recordable as a function of the measurement signal of the second sensor.

Claims

1. A measurement device with at least one sensor for detecting a parameter, with a data storage unit and with a power supply for said sensor and data storage unit, wherein the measurement device has, in addition to the first sensor, at least one second sensor connected to the power supply and the data storage unit, which is provided for detecting a physical quantity acting on the first sensor and capable of permanently changing the measurement characteristic of said first sensor, and further wherein an evaluator coactively functions with the second sensor and the data storage unit so that the permanent alteration of the measurement characteristic of the first sensor is recordable as a function of the measurement signal of the second sensor.

2. The measurement device as in claim 1, wherein parameters are filed in the data storage unit which comprise combinations of values which always comprise at least one measurement signal value or a range of measurement signal values of the second sensor and a value for the alteration of the measurement characteristic of the first sensor, and further wherein the evaluator for detecting the alteration of the measurement characteristic of the first sensor caused by the action of the physical quantity measurable with the second sensor is connected to the data storage unit.

3. The measurement device as in claim 1, wherein it has a timer for detecting the age of the first sensor, further wherein the parameters include combinations of values for at least two different age ranges of the first sensor, and still further wherein the combinations of values allocated to the age ranges are retrievable from the data storage unit as a function of a time measurement signal of the timer.

4. The measurement device as in claim 1, wherein the parameters are filed in the data storage unit (14) in the form of at least one response curve and/or at least one grid.

5. The measurement device as in claim 1, wherein the evaluator has an integration element for forming an integration signal from the measurement signal of the second sensor, and further wherein the evaluator is configured so that it records the alteration of the measurement characteristic of the first sensor as a function of the integration signal.

6. The measurement device as in claim 1, wherein the integration mechanism has a nonlinear, preferably progressive, and particularly logarithmic characteristic.

7. The measurement device as in claim 1, wherein it has at least one multiplication element comprising a first multiplication input connected to the measurement signal output of the second sensor or to a connector for the integration signal and a second multiplication input connected to the data storage unit.

8. The measurement device as in claim 1, wherein it comprises at least one adjustment mechanism for at least the first sensor by means of which the measurement characteristic of said first sensor is adjustable, and further wherein the evaluator is control-connected to the adjustment mechanism in such a way that when an alteration of the measurement characteristic of the first sensor is recorded, said evaluator is adjusted by means of said adjustment mechanism to compensate for this alteration.

9. The measurement device as in claim 1, wherein the at least one second sensor includes at least one temperature, humidity, and/or radiation sensor.

10. The measurement device as in claim 1, wherein the at least one first sensor is a biochip comprising a substrate on which at least one receptor that is bond-specific for a ligand to be detected is immobilized on at least one test site.

11. The measurement device as in claim 1, wherein the at least one receptor is immobilized in stabilized form on the substrate.

12. The measurement device as in claim 1, wherein the biochip has at least two test sites preferably laterally separated from each other on which a first sensor is always arranged, and further wherein at least one parameter for each of these test sites is always filed in the data storage unit.

13. The measurement device as in claim 1, wherein the substrate is a semiconductor chip in which at least one sensor element is integrated, whose measurement signal is dependent on the binding of the ligand to the receptor.

14. The measurement device as in claim 1, wherein the power supply has an electrical energy source, particularly a battery and/or a fuel cell.

15. The measurement device as in, wherein the power supply has a mechanism for generating electrical energy from optical radiation, from electromagnetic radiation, and/or from mechanical kinetic energy.