Conductance valve and pressure-to-conductance transducer method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A conductance valve for regulating transport of charged species, comprising:
- a fluid channel comprising a fluid media, said fluid media comprising one or more charged species;
a porous hydrophobic matrix comprising a plurality of interstitial void spaces, said porous matrix filling a length of said fluid channel, wherein said fluid media fills said at least some of said interstitial void spaces;
a fluid reservoir adjacent to and in fluid communication with said porous matrix, said fluid reservoir comprising a quantity of said fluid media;
flow restriction means located at first and second ends of said porous matrix; and
means for controllably applying a differential hydraulic pressure to said fluid media in said fluid reservoir and said porous matrix.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A device for interrupting or throttling undesired ionic transport through a fluid network is disclosed. The device acts as a fluid valve by reversibly generating a fixed “bubble” in the conducting solvent solution carried by the network. The device comprises a porous hydrophobic structure filling a portion of a connecting channel within the network and optionally incorporates flow restrictor elements at either end of the porous structure that function as pressure isolation barriers, and a fluid reservoir connected to the region of the channel containing the porous structure. Also included is a pressure pump connected to the fluid reservoir. The device operates by causing the pump to vary the hydraulic pressure to a quantity of solvent solution held within the reservoir and porous structure. At high pressures, most or all of the pores of the structure are filled with conducting liquid so the ionic conductance is high. At lower pressures, only a fraction of the pores are filled with liquid, so ionic conductivity is lower. Below a threshold pressure, the porous structure contains only vapor, so there is no liquid conduction path. The device therefore effectively throttles ionic transport through the porous structure and acts as a “conductance valve” or “pressure-to-conductance” transducer within the network.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A conductance valve for regulating transport of charged species, comprising:
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a fluid channel comprising a fluid media, said fluid media comprising one or more charged species;
a porous hydrophobic matrix comprising a plurality of interstitial void spaces, said porous matrix filling a length of said fluid channel, wherein said fluid media fills said at least some of said interstitial void spaces;
a fluid reservoir adjacent to and in fluid communication with said porous matrix, said fluid reservoir comprising a quantity of said fluid media;
flow restriction means located at first and second ends of said porous matrix; and
means for controllably applying a differential hydraulic pressure to said fluid media in said fluid reservoir and said porous matrix. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A pressure sensing apparatus, comprising:
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a fluid channel comprising a fluid media, said fluid media comprising one or more charged species;
a porous hydrophobic matrix comprising a plurality of interstitial void spaces, wherein said fluid media fills said at least some of said interstitial void spaces;
a fluid reservoir adjacent to and in fluid communication with said porous hydrophobic matrix, said fluid reservoir comprising a quantity of said fluid media; and
at least first and second electrodes in electrical communication with said one or more charged species, wherein said porous matrix is disposed between said at least first and second, and where said first electrodes is disposed in said fluid reservoir. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method for regulating transport of charged species in a channel network, comprising the step of:
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providing a channel network comprising one or more flow channels, wherein said flow channels comprise a fluid media and one or more charged species;
providing a porous hydrophobic matrix filling a region in one of said flow channels, wherein said porous hydrophobic matrix comprise an interstitial void volume, said fluid media filling some fraction of said interstitial void volume;
providing a fluid reservoir comprising a quantity of said fluid media, wherein said quantity of fluid media is in fluid communication with said porous hydrophobic matrix; and
changing an hydraulic pressure in said region comprising said porous hydrophobic matrix with respect to an ambient hydraulic pressure elsewhere in said channel network, said change in hydraulic pressure in said porous hydrophobic matrix changing the fraction of interstitial void space volume filled by said fluid media thereby changing the conductance of said charges species through said porous hydrophobic matrix. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. An electrokinetic switch for gating transport of charged species, comprising:
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a fluid channel comprising a fluid media, said fluid media comprising one or more charged species;
a porous hydrophobic matrix comprising a plurality of interstitial void spaces, said porous matrix filling a length of said fluid channel, wherein said fluid media fills said at least some of said interstitial void spaces;
a fluid reservoir adjacent to and in fluid communication with said porous matrix, said fluid reservoir comprising a quantity of said fluid media;
flow restriction means located at first and second ends of said porous matrix; and
actuator means operating on said fluid media in said fluid reservoir to move said fluid media into or out from said interstitial void spaces, wherein said electrokinetic switch acts to allow conductance of said charged species through said hydrophobic matrix when said fluid media fills said interstitial void spaces, and wherein said electrokinetic switch acts to block conductance of said charged species through said hydrophobic matrix when said interstitial void space are void or nearly void of said fluid media.
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Specification