Integrally heated electrochemical cell method and apparatus
First Claim
1. An electrochemical cell with integral heater comprising:
- a solid electrolyte having at least a hollow tubular portion with an outer tubular surface and opposing inner tubular surface; and
an integral cell electrode/heater layer covering substantially all but a pair of opposing, substantially parallel, longitudinally extending strips of the outer tubular surface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A novel electrochemical cell including a solid electrolyte heated to an elevated temperature for operation and an integral cell electrode/heater for heating the electrolyte. Solid electrolyte embodiments are described. The integral electrode/heater is applied to a surface of the solid electrolyte and is resistively heated by an alternating electric current. A portion of the solid electrolyte may also be resistively heated. The described or comparable cells may be incorporated into an oxygen detector or similar apparatus where the apparatus is operated by alternately heating the cell and measuring the emf developed by the cell across its electrode.
The invention is also, in part, a unique, solid electrolyte-integral cell electrode/heater configuration which provides a zone of uniform maximum heating at a predetermined location within the electrolyte and which, when used with a suitable resistive heating electric current, confines the current to the integral electrode/heater prolonging cell life. Another aspect of the invention is the use of a radio frequency alternating electric current for resistively heating an electrochemical cell. Preferably, the radio frequency selected is sufficiently high so as to eliminate any offsets in the emf developed by the cell which are caused by the heater current. The invention also includes an apparatus for measuring the concentration of particular gases, such as oxygen, incorporating either and, preferably, both other inventive aspects of the invention. The preferred cell configuration reduces the complexity of such an apparatus by eliminating the auxiliary heat source and provides a more accurate and reliable electrochemical sensing cell. Radio frequency heating allows the operations of cell heating and emf measurement to proceed independent and concurrently and provides a continuously responding, self-heating detection apparatus.
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Citations
90 Claims
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1. An electrochemical cell with integral heater comprising:
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a solid electrolyte having at least a hollow tubular portion with an outer tubular surface and opposing inner tubular surface; and an integral cell electrode/heater layer covering substantially all but a pair of opposing, substantially parallel, longitudinally extending strips of the outer tubular surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An electrochemical apparatus comprising:
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an electrochemical cell including an electrolyte, a first integral cell electrode and a second cell electrode means and adapted for developing an emf between the first integral cell electrode and the second cell electrode during operation of the cell; generation means for supplying radio frequency alternating current; and circuit means including a pair of leads each having an end coupled with a different part of said first integral cell electrode and an opposing end coupled with said generation means connecting said generation means in a circuit through said cell across said first integral cell electrode for resistively heating at least said first integral cell electrode portion of the cell with said radio frequency alternating electric current. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An electrochemical apparatus responding to a predetermined gaseous substance in a sample gas comprising:
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an electrochemical cell, the cell comprising; a solid electrolyte exhibiting an increased conductivity to ions of the predetermined gaseous substance when heated, first electrode means contacting the surface of the solid electrolyte at a first location for forming a gas electrode with the sample gas and the electrolyte and second electrode means contacting the surface of the solid electrolyte at a second location for generating a known, predetermined potential with said solid electrolyte, the electrochemical cell developing an emf between the two electrode means related to the concentration of the predetermined gaseous substance in the sample gas at the first electrode means; and electric current source means connected in an electrical circuit across only an electrode means portion of the cell and adapted for passing a radio frequency electric alternating current through only said electrode means portion of the cell. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An improved method of heating an electrochemical cell formed by an electrolyte and a pair of electrode means separately contacting the electrolyte for developing an emf therebetween comprising the steps of:
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generating an alternating electric current having a radio frequency level of alternation; and passing the alternating electric current through at least one of said pair of electrode means while passing no more than a negligible portion of said alternating electric current through said electrolyte. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. An improved method of heating an electrochemical cell, the cell comprising an electrolyte and a pair of cell electrodes contacting the electrolyte, the method comprising the step of:
resistively heating at least one of the two cell electrodes while no more than negligibly resistively heating the electrolyte. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. An improved method of operating a device for generating a signal related to a concentration of a particular gas in a sample gas, said device comprising an electrochemical cell having an electrolyte heated to an elevated temperature for operation, a first electrode means exposed to the sample gas and a second electrode means developing an emf with the first electrode means, sample gas and electrochemical cell having a magnitude related to the concentration of the particular gas in the sample gas, comprising the steps of:
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generating radio frequency alternating current; and passing said alternating electric current through at least a portion of one of the electrode means contacting the electrolyte for resistively heating only the one electrode means portion of the cell with said current; and generating an emf with the cell during said current generating and passing steps having a magnitude releated to the concentration of the particular gas in the sample gas. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. An electrochemical cell comprising:
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an electrolyte; integral cell electrode/heater means contacting the electrolyte and adapted for heating at least a portion of the electrolyte to an elevated temperature for ionic conduction operation; and a pair of lead means each extending from a different location on the integral cell electrode/heater means for coupling said integral cell electrode/heater means in a circuit across an electric current source; and a second cell electrode means separately contacting the electrolyte and adapted for developing an ionic conduction across the heated electrolyte and a related emf with the integral cell electrode/heater. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 69, 70)
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60. An electrochemical apparatus responding to a predetermined gaseous substance in a sample gas comprising:
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an electrochemical cell, the cell comprising; a solid electrolyte exhibiting a conductivity to ions of the predetermined gaseous substance when heated above room temperature, first electrode means contacting the surface of the solid electrolyte at a first location for forming a gas electrode with said sample gas and the electrolyte, and second electrode means contacting a surface of the solid electrode at a second location for forming a reference electrode generating a known, predetermined ionic potential with said solid electrolyte; and an electric current source means electrically connected across one of the two electrode means for resistively heating at least a portion of the one electrode means sufficiently for the cell to develop an ionic emf between the two electrode means related to the concentration of the predetermined gaseous substance in the sample gas. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 71)
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72. A method of heating an electrolyte of an electrochemical cell to an elevated cell ionic conduction operating temperature, the electrochemical cell being formed by the electrolyte, a first cell electrode and a second cell electrode, the method comprising the step of:
circuiting an alternating electric current through only a cell electrode portion of the cell. - View Dependent Claims (73)
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74. A method of heating an electrolyte of an electrochemical cell to an elevated cell ionic conduction operating temperature, the electrochemical cell being formed by the electrolyte, a first cell electrode and a second cell electrode, the method comprising the step of:
resistively heating at least a portion of one of the two cell electrodes contacting the electrolyte to at least said elevated cell ionic conduction operating temperature. - View Dependent Claims (75, 76, 77)
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78. A method of operating an apparatus for sensing a particular gaseous substance, the apparatus comprising an electrochemical cell heated to an elevated temperature for ionic conduction operation and circuit means for responding to an ionic emf developed by the electrochemical cell, the electrochemical cell comprising a solid electrolyte exhibiting increased conductivity to ions of the gaseous substance when heated to the elevated temperature, a first cell electrode contacting the electrolyte and exposed to a sample gas and a second cell electrode also contacting the electrolyte at a separate location and generating a predetermined potential, the electrochemical cell developing an ionic emf between the two cell electrodes related to the concentration of the particular gaseous substance in the sample gas, comprising the steps of:
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resistively heating at least a portion of one of the two electrodes to said elevated temperature; and measuring the ionic emf developed between the two cell electrodes after the electrolyte has been heated to said elevated temperature. - View Dependent Claims (79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86)
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87. A method of operating an apparatus for sensing a particular gaseous substance, the apparatus comprising an electrochemical cell heated to an elevated temperature for ionic conduction operation and circuit means for responding to an ionic emf developed by the electrochemical cell, the electrochemical cell comprising a solid electrolyte exhibiting increased conductivity to ions of the gaseous substance when heated to the elevated temperature, a first cell electrode contacting the electrolyte and exposed to a sample gas and a second cell electrode also contacting the electrolyte at a separate location and generating a predetermined potential, the electrochemical cell developing an ionic emf between the two cell electrodes related to the concentration of the particular gaseous substance in the sample gas, comprising the steps of:
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circuiting an alternating electric current through only a cell electrode portion of the cell sufficient to heat said cell; and measuring the emf developed between the two cell electrodes after the electrolyte has been heated to said elevated temperature.
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88. An improved method of operating a device for generating a signal related to the concentration of a particular gas in a sample gas, said device comprising an electrochemical cell heated for ionic conduction operation, exposed to the sample gas and developing an ionic emf having a magnitude related to the concentration of the particular gas in the sample gas comprising the steps of:
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generating an alternating electric current in a substantially constant voltage band; passing said alternating current through at least a portion of the electrochemical cell for resistively heating the cell; and cyclicly switching the alternating electric current off during said generating and passing steps for irregular portions of a series of consecutive, predetermined cycle intervals. - View Dependent Claims (89)
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90. An electrochemical cell with integral heater comprising:
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a solid electrolyte; an integral cell electrode/heater means comprising an electrically conductive layer contacting and covering a portion of the solid electrolyte; and an electric current source means electrically connected across only the electrode/heater means for resistively heating at least a portion of the electrode/heater means.
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Specification