Methods and apparatus for rapid equilibration of dissolved gas composition
DCFirst Claim
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1. A cartridge for measuring the concentration of a dissolved gas in a sample fluid comprising:
- (a) a housing with a plurality of regions, including a sensor region and a calibrant fluid region which holds an aqueous calibrant fluid apart from a gas equilibration reservoir wherein said aqueous calibrant fluid has dissolved gases;
(b) a gas sensor located in the sensor region of said housing(c) at least one conduit, within said housing, wherein said conduit joins the sensor region with the calibrant fluid region of said housing; and
(d) a gas equilibration reservoir positioned in said conduit wherein said reservoir contains a predetermined composition of calibrant gases such that a calibrant fluid brought in contact with said reservoir undergoes an exchange of the calibrant fluid'"'"'s dissolved gases with calibrant gases contained in said reservoir to provide a calibrant fluid with an equilibrated dissolved gas composition that reflects substantially the predetermined composition of calibrant gases contained in said reservoir, said conduit and sensor region having a configuration which allows the displacement of said equilibrated calibrant fluid and a sample fluid across the gas sensor.
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Abstract
Disclosed is an apparatus and method of equilibrating the dissolved gas composition of an aqueous fluid to reflect the predetermined gas composition contained in a gas equilibration reservoir. The equilibrated aqueous fluid can be used in a method of determining the concentration of a dissolved gas in a fluid sample. In one embodiment, the disclosed method is used to control the equilibrated gas composition of a calibrant fluid which, in turn, is used to measure the concentration of a dissolved gas, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, in a sample fluid, such as whole blood.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A cartridge for measuring the concentration of a dissolved gas in a sample fluid comprising:
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(a) a housing with a plurality of regions, including a sensor region and a calibrant fluid region which holds an aqueous calibrant fluid apart from a gas equilibration reservoir wherein said aqueous calibrant fluid has dissolved gases; (b) a gas sensor located in the sensor region of said housing (c) at least one conduit, within said housing, wherein said conduit joins the sensor region with the calibrant fluid region of said housing; and (d) a gas equilibration reservoir positioned in said conduit wherein said reservoir contains a predetermined composition of calibrant gases such that a calibrant fluid brought in contact with said reservoir undergoes an exchange of the calibrant fluid'"'"'s dissolved gases with calibrant gases contained in said reservoir to provide a calibrant fluid with an equilibrated dissolved gas composition that reflects substantially the predetermined composition of calibrant gases contained in said reservoir, said conduit and sensor region having a configuration which allows the displacement of said equilibrated calibrant fluid and a sample fluid across the gas sensor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16)
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- 14. The cartridge of 1 in which said reservoir includes a plurality of head space elements.
Specification