Conductivity measuring device

• US 5,068,619 A
• Filed: 10/25/1988
• Issued: 11/26/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/1987
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Akira Matsushita, Nihon System Research Institute Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Akira Matsushita, Nihon System Research Institute Incorporated
• Inventors: Matsushita, Akira, Nakano, Shohkichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Wieder, Kenneth A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Solis, Jose M.
• Application Number:
  US07/261,871
• Time in Patent Office: 1,127 Days
• Field of Search: 324/65 P, 324/65 R, 324/354, 324/357, 324/358, 324/365
• US Class Current: 324/715
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 27/02 Measuring real or complex resistance, reactance, impedance, or other two-pole characteristics derived therefrom, e.g. time constant by measuring phase angle only G01R25/00

Abstract

A conductivity measuring device comprises a low-potential intermediate electrode which is capable of being in connected state by a switch and which is disposed between a couple of measuring electrodes for transmitting and receiving. Each of said electrodes is made contact with a body to be tested so that the conductivities of the surface and the inner portion of said body to be tested can be measured, respectively.

Claims

1. A conductivity measuring device for measuring the conductivity at the surface and at an inner portion of a body to be tested, comprising:

two measuring electrodes, including one transmitting electrode and one receiving electrode;

an intermediate electrode disposed between said measuring electrodes;

a circuit including a switch which connects the intermediate electrode to the receiving electrode, wherein the switch is changeable between two states,

said switch in its first state connecting the intermediate electrode to a low-potential, so that current in the inner portion of the body between the transmitting electrode and the receiving electrode is measured,

said switch in its second state being open to disconnect the intermediate electrode from the circuit so that a composite current in the body between the transmitting electrode and the receiving electrode in the body is measured.

2. A conductivity measuring device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said measuring electrodes for transmitting and receiving and said intermediate electrode are disposed concentrically or in a series to each other and these electrodes are unified into a probe.

3. A conductivity measuring device according to claim 1 wherein the measuring device includes a current meter and wherein the internal current of said body to be tested is measured by disposing the intermediate electrode between said measuring electrodes for transmitting and receiving, and subsequently the surface current is measured by making said intermediate electrode in open state by the switch, and the both measured values are operated thereby to exactly determine the conductivity of the surface of said body to be tested.

4. A conductivity measuring device according to claim 2, wherein an FM transmitter and a power supply battery are loaded in said probe so that the measured results can be determined by an FM receiver.

5. A conductivity measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the frequency of a power supply, when the conductivity of the inner portion of said body to be tested is measured, is set higher than that in a case when the conductivity of the surface is measured.

6. A conductivity measuring device according to claim 1, wherein each of said electrodes consists of a conductive soft material so as to contact the surface of said body to be tested in accordance with the shape of the surface of said body to be tested.

7. A conductivity measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the measurements are performed on a living body.

8. A method of measuring the conductivity at the surface and within a body to be tested comprising the following steps;

(a) providing a circuit including a transmitting electrode, a receiving electrode, and an intermediate electrode disposed along a common surface of said body;

(b) providing said intermediate electrode with a switch which electrically connects the intermediate electrode to the circuit and electrically disconnects the intermediate electrode from the circuit;

(c) measuring a composite current that includes (i) a surface current component and (ii) an inner current component in the body when the switch is in a position that disconnects the intermediate electrode from the circuit;

(d) storing a value representing said composite current in a memory;

(e) measuring said inner current component in the body when the switch is in a position that connects the intermediate electrode to the circuit;

(f) subtracting a value representing said inner current component from said value representing said composite current to obtain a value for the surface current component.