Device for gas analysis

• US 5,326,973 A
• Filed: 12/31/1992
• Issued: 07/05/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., Ltd. (Excelsior Union Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Artema Medical AB (Getinge AB)
• Inventors: Eckerbom, Anders, Zyzanski, Robert, Hamilton, Carl
• Primary Examiner(s): Dzierzynski, Paul M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dunn, Drew A.
• Application Number:
  US07/999,203
• Time in Patent Office: 551 Days
• Field of Search: 250/343, 250/345, 356/246, 356/440, 128/719
• US Class Current: 250/343
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/05 Flow-through cuvettes G01N21/09 takes precedence; handling fluid samples G01N1/10
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/3504 for analysing gases, e.g. multi-gas analysis

Abstract

A device for gas analysis, which determines the content of two or more gases in a gas flow. The device includes at least one source for emission of two or more ray paths of radiation of a detectable wavelength, a cuvette device having an inlet and an outlet for uninterrupted gas flow, and a detector device for conversion of the radiation into an electrical signal. The source(s), cuvettes, and detectors are arranged such that ray paths emitted from the source pass through cuvettes containing gas and to detectors to permit analysis of two or more gases in a gas flow. In a preferred embodiment, the cuvette device includes a block having cuvettes positioned in each of the ray paths, which cuvettes are interconnected to form an unbroken conduit for gas flow from inlet to outlet.

Claims

1. A device for analyzing at least two gases in a gas flow comprising:

cuvette means having an inlet, an outlet and an unbroken gas flow conduit between the inlet and the outlet, the cuvette means including a cuvette block containing at least two cuvettes, which at least two cuvettes are interconnected end to end by channels to form the unbroken as flow conduit, and further including first and second cuvette windows, which cuvette windows are transparent to radiation,

radiation source means for emitting at least two parallel and spaced apart ray paths of detectable wavelength radiation;

filter means for transmitting radiation of a specific wavelength; and

detector means comprising at least two detectors for converting the radiation into an electrical signal,

wherein said first cuvette window is positioned between the radiation source means and the at least two cuvettes, and said second cuvette window is positioned between the at least two cuvettes and the at least two detectors;

and wherein the at least two cuvettes and at least two detectors are positioned relative to the ray paths so that the radiation in each ray path passes through a cuvette to a corresponding detector for analysis of gas in the cuvette.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the connecting channels are substantially perpendicular to the direction of the ray paths.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the connecting channels are formed between the cuvette block and one of the cuvette windows by grooves in the surface of the cuvette block and covered with one of the cuvette windows.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least two cuvettes are arranged around a central axis in the cuvette block, which axis is parallel to the direction of the ray paths.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the central axis is co-axial with the rotational axis of a cutter wing, which cutter wing intermittently breaks the ray paths.

6. A device for analyzing at least two gases in a gas flow comprising:

cuvette means having an inlet, an outlet and an unbroken gas flow conduit between the inlet and the outlet, the cuvette means including at least two cuvettes for containing gas flowing through the conduit;

radiation source means for emitting at least two non-intersecting ray paths of detectable wavelength radiation; and

detector means comprising at least two detectors for converting the radiation into an electrical signal,

the at least two cuvettes and at least two detectors being positioned relative to the at least two ray paths so that the radiation in each ray path passes through a cuvette to a corresponding detector for analysis of gas in the cuvette.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the number of cuvettes is four or a multiple thereof.

8. The device of claim 6, wherein the at least two detectors are pyro-electric detectors.

9. The device of claim 6, wherein the detector means comprises a temperature-controlled plate on which the at least two detectors are attached.

10. The device of claim 6, further comprising a signal processing means wherein the signals are adaptively filtered by software based on the appearance of the signal.

11. The device of claim 6, further comprising filter means for transmitting radiation of a specific wavelength.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the filter means is attached to the at least two detectors.

13. The device of claim 6, wherein said cuvette means further includes first and second cuvette windows, which cuvette windows are transparent to the radiation, said first cuvette window positioned between the radiation source and the at least two cuvettes, and said second cuvette windows positioned between the at least two cuvettes, and the at least two detectors.