Sensor for analyzing molecular species
First Claim
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1. A respiratory oxygen sensor comprising:
- a first laser diode emitting a first light beam having a first emission wavelength;
tuning means for tuning said first emission wavelength to an absorption resonance of oxygen;
means for providing a first respiratory gas sample;
first directing means for irradiating said respiratory gas sample with said light beam;
a first detector which receives at least a portion of said light beam and emits signals in response thereto; and
means for interpreting said signals to measure the concentration of oxygen in said respiratory gas sample.
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Abstract
An on-airway breath-by-breath oxygen sensor is described which has the necessary low weight, fast response and high precision required for oxygen consumption measurement. A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is continuously tuned to emit light at the resonance of oxygen, or more generally, the molecular species of interest. The light beam is directed through a sample containing the molecular species of interest onto a detector. The amount of light absorbed is approximately proportional to the concentration of the molecular species of interest in the sample.
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Citations
60 Claims
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1. A respiratory oxygen sensor comprising:
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a first laser diode emitting a first light beam having a first emission wavelength; tuning means for tuning said first emission wavelength to an absorption resonance of oxygen; means for providing a first respiratory gas sample; first directing means for irradiating said respiratory gas sample with said light beam; a first detector which receives at least a portion of said light beam and emits signals in response thereto; and means for interpreting said signals to measure the concentration of oxygen in said respiratory gas sample. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An optical sensor comprising:
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at least a first light source, said first light source being continuously tunable and having a frequency linewidth of less than 3 gigahertz, said first light source being operable to emit a first light beam having a first wavelength of less than 1.2 micrometers; at least a first power supply for applying power to said first light source; first tuning means for tuning said first wavelength; means for providing a first sample containing a target species; first directing means for irradiating said first sample with said first light beam; at least one detector which receives at least a portion of said first light beam and emits signals in response thereto; and means for interpreting said signals. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. An optical sensor for determining oxygen concentration in a sample of respiratory air from a subject, said sensor comprising:
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a sampler adapted to be mounted on the subject'"'"'s airway, said sampler having a chamber in which to receive the sample of respiratory air; a radiation source which comprises a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) operable to emit a quantity of radiation, said radiation being optically directed toward said sample of respiratory air; and a detector optically disposed to receive said radiation after said radiation passes through the sample of respiratory air, said detector being operable to generate an output signal corresponding to the concentration of oxygen in the sample of respiratory air based on the intensity of the radiation received by said detector. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47)
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45. An optical sensor for determining oxygen concentration in a sample of respiratory air from a subject, said sensor comprising:
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a sampler adapted to be mounted on the subject'"'"'s airway, said sampler having a chamber in which to receive the sample of respiratory air; a radiation source comprising a laser diode operable to emit a quantity of radiation, said radiation being optically directed toward the sample of respiratory air; a detector optically disposed to receive said radiation after said radiation passes through the sample of respiratory air, said detector being operable to generate an output signal corresponding to the concentration of oxygen in the sample of respiratory air based on the intensity of said radiation received by said detector; and wherein said laser diode is not coupled to a heat sink. - View Dependent Claims (58)
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46. An optical sensor for determining oxygen concentration in a sample of respiratory air from a subject, said sensor comprising:
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a sampler adapted to be mounted on the subject'"'"'s airway, said sampler having a chamber in which to receive the sample of respiratory air; a radiation source operable to emit a quantity of radiation, said radiation being optically directed toward the sample of respiratory air; a detector optically disposed to receive said radiation after said radiation passes through the sample of respiratory air, said detector being operable to generate an output signal corresponding to the concentration of oxygen in the sample of respiratory air based on the intensity of the radiation received by said detector; and wherein said radiation source is continuously tunable.
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48. An optical sensor for determining oxygen concentration in a sample of respiratory air from a subject, said sensor comprising:
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a sampler adapted to be mounted on the subject'"'"'s airway, said sampler having a chamber in which to receive the sample of respiratory air; a radiation source operable to emit a quantity of radiation, said radiation being optically directed toward the sample of respiratory air; a detector optically disposed to receive said radiation after said radiation passes through the sample of respiratory air, said detector being operable to generate an output signal corresponding to the concentration of oxygen in the sample of respiratory air based on the intensity of said radiation received by said detector; and means for interpreting said output signal, said means for interpreting said output signal operable to interpret said output signal at a rate of at least 20 times per minute. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50)
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51. An optical sensor for determining oxygen concentration in a sample of respiratory air from a subject, said sensor comprising:
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a sampler adapted to be mounted on the subject'"'"'s airway, said sampler having a chamber in which to receive the sample of respiratory air; a radiation source operable to emit a quantity of radiation, said radiation being optically directed toward the sample of respiratory air; a detector optically disposed to receive said radiation after said radiation passes through the sample of respiratory air, said detector being operable to generate an output signal corresponding to the concentration of oxygen in the sample of respiratory air based on the intensity of said radiation received by said detector; means for interpreting said output signal, said interpreting means operable to detect the difference between the oxygen concentration in the sample of respiratory air, and a second oxygen concentration in a second sample of air, the difference being less than 3 volume percent of said oxygen concentrations.
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52. An optical sensor for determining oxygen concentration in a sample of respiratory air from a subject, said sensor comprising:
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a sampler adapted to be mounted on the subject'"'"'s airway, said sampler having a chamber in which to receive the sample of respiratory air; a radiation source operable to emit a quantity of radiation, said radiation being optically directed toward the sample of respiratory air; a detector optically disposed to receive said radiation after said radiation passes through the sample of respiratory air, said detector being operable to generate an output signal corresponding to the concentration of oxygen in the sample of respiratory air based on the intensity of said radiation received by said detector; means for interpreting said output signal, said interpreting means operable to detect the difference between the oxygen concentration in the sample of respiratory air, and a second oxygen concentration in a second sample of air, said difference being less than 0.5 volume percent of said oxygen concentrations.
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53. An optical sensor for determining oxygen concentration in a sample of respiratory air from a subject, said sensor comprising:
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a sampler adapted to be mounted on the subject'"'"'s airway, said sampler having a chamber in which to receive the sample of respiratory air; a radiation source operable to emit a quantity of radiation, said radiation being optically directed toward the sample of respiratory air; a detector optically disposed to receive said radiation after said radiation passes through the sample of respiratory air, said detector being operable to generate an output signal corresponding to the concentration of oxygen in the sample of respiratory air based on the intensity of said radiation received by said detector;
wherein the sensor is operable to have a response time of less than 15 seconds.
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54. An optical sensor for determining oxygen concentration in a sample of respiratory air from a subject, said sensor comprising:
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a sampler adapted to be mounted on the subject'"'"'s airway, said sampler having a chamber in which to receive the sample of respiratory air; a radiation source operable to emit a quantity of radiation, said radiation being optically directed toward the sample of respiratory air; a detector optically disposed to receive said radiation after said radiation passes through the sample of respiratory air, said detector being operable to generate an output signal corresponding to the concentration of oxygen in the sample of respiratory air based on the intensity of said radiation received by said detector;
wherein the sensor is operable to have a response time of less than 1 second.
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55. An optical sensor for determining oxygen concentration in a sample of respiratory air from a subject, said sensor comprising:
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a sampler adapted to be mounted on the subject'"'"'s airway, said sampler having a chamber in which to receive the sample of respiratory air; a radiation source operable to emit a quantity of radiation, said radiation being optically directed toward the sample of respiratory air; a detector optically disposed to receive said radiation after said radiation passes through the sample of respiratory air, said detector being operable to generate an output signal corresponding to the concentration of oxygen in the sample of respiratory air based on the intensity of said radiation received by said detector; and a transmission calibrator operable to detect one or more occlusions of said radiation, said occlusions having one or more causes other than absorption by said oxygen.
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56. An optical sensor for determining oxygen concentration in a sample of respiratory air from a subject, said sensor comprising:
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a sampler adapted to be mounted on the subject'"'"'s airway, said sampler having a chamber in which to receive the sample of air; a radiation source operable to emit a quantity of radiation, said radiation having an emission wavelength and being optically directed toward the sample of respiratory air; a detector optically disposed to receive said radiation after said radiation passes through the sample of respiratory air, said detector being operable to generate an output signal corresponding to the concentration of oxygen in the sample of respiratory air based on the intensity of said radiation received by said detector; and at least a second radiation source, said second radiation source being operable to emit a second quantity of radiation with a second emission wavelength approximately equal to the emission wavelength of said quantity of radiation, and said second quantity of radiation being optically directed toward the sample of respiratory air.
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57. An optical sensor for determining oxygen concentration in a sample of respiratory air from a subject, said sensor comprising:
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a sampler adapted to be mounted on the subject'"'"'s airway, said sampler having a chamber in which to receive the sample of respiratory air; a radiation source operable to emit a quantity of radiation, said radiation having an emission wavelength and being optically directed toward the sample of respiratory air; a detector optically disposed to receive said radiation after said radiation passes through the sample of respiratory air, said detector being operable to generate an output signal corresponding to the concentration of oxygen in the sample of respiratory air based on the intensity of said radiation received by said detector; and at least a second radiation source, said second radiation source being operable to emit a second quantity of radiation with a second emission wavelength different from the emission wavelength of said quantity of radiation, and said second quantity of radiation being optically directed toward the sample of respiratory air.
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59. An optical sensor for determining a gaseous component'"'"'s concentration in a sample of air from a subject, said sensor comprising:
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a sampler having a chamber in which to receive the sample of air; a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser operable to emit a quantity of radiation, said radiation being optically directed toward the sample of air; a detector optically disposed to receive said radiation after the radiation passes through the sample of air, the detector being operable to generate an output signal corresponding to the concentration of said gaseous component in the sample of air based on the intensity of the radiation received by the detector.
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60. A method for determining a gaseous component'"'"'s concentration in a sample of air from a subject, said method comprising the steps of:
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collecting the sample of air; emitting a quantity of radiation optically directed toward the sample of air, wherein said step of emitting is performed using a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser; receiving the radiation in a detector, after the radiation passes through the sample of air; generating an output signal, using the detector, corresponding to the concentration of said gaseous component in the sample of air based on the intensity of the radiation received by the detector.
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Specification