Method and apparatus for continuously monitoring an aqueous flow to detect and quantify ions
First Claim
1. A method for detecting at least one contaminant in an aqueous flow comprising the steps of:
- providing a conduit having at least one ion collection portion;
disposing the aqueous flow through the conduit;
attracting a plurality of target ions to said ion collection portion such that said plurality of target ions are bonded to said ion collection portion; and
detecting said at least one contaminant based upon a predetermined property of said plurality of target ions bonded to said ion collection portion.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for detecting contaminants in an aqueous flow. The method involves providing a conduit having at least one ion collection portion, disposing the aqueous flow through the conduit, attracting target ions to the ion collection portion such that they are bonded to the ion collection portion, and detecting a contaminant, or contaminants, based upon a predetermined property of the plurality of target ions bonded to the ion collection portion. In the preferred embodiment of the method, the predetermined property is a conductivity of the target ions, and the detecting step involves measuring a change in conductivity of the collection portion as ions are bonded and comparing that conductivity to a predetermined conductivity. The apparatus includes a conduit into which an ion collection portion is disposed, a sensor that senses ions collected on the ion collection portion and sends a signal corresponding to a value of a predetermined property of the ions, and a microprocessor in communication with the sensor and programmed to process the signal and determine the presence of the at least one contaminant based upon the processed signal.
19 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for detecting at least one contaminant in an aqueous flow comprising the steps of:
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providing a conduit having at least one ion collection portion; disposing the aqueous flow through the conduit; attracting a plurality of target ions to said ion collection portion such that said plurality of target ions are bonded to said ion collection portion; and detecting said at least one contaminant based upon a predetermined property of said plurality of target ions bonded to said ion collection portion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An apparatus for detecting at least one contaminant in an aqueous flow, said apparatus comprising:
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a conduit; an ion collection portion disposed within said conduit; a sensor for sensing a plurality of ions collected on said ion collection portion and sending a signal corresponding to a value of a predetermined property of said ions; and a microprocessor in communication with said sensor, said microprocessor being programmed to process said signal and determine the presence of said at least one contaminant based upon the processed signal; wherein the aqueous flow flows through said conduit, a plurality of target ions are attracted to said ion collection portion and are bonded to said ion collection portion, said sensor senses the bonding of the target ions to said ion collection portion and sends a signal to said microprocessor corresponding to the value of the predetermined property of the target ions, and said microprocessor processes the signal and determines the presence of said at least one contaminant based upon the processed signal. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification