Compact Dissolved Methane and Gas Sensor

Inventors: Jason Kapit, Anna Michel
Intellectual Property: Patent Pending

Overview: Industrial, environmental, and biomedical applications require the determination of dissolved gas concentrations. The most common measurement forms are gases in gas phases and aqueous states. The most common measurement method is absorption spectroscopy because of the high sensitivity and selectivity traits, often essential aspects when taking measurements. However, it can be challenging to reach the high sensitivity needed because, often, these measurements require precise components, large sample sizes, and complex fabrication for analysis. Because of these requirements, current sensors are not ideal for field portable or in-situ applications. To develop a field-portable or in-situ solution, significantly decreasing the size of sensors is essential, and smaller sample sizes will be necessary.

Technology: The Dissolved Gas Sensor supports field-portable, in-situ, space-constrained applications and bench-top measurements. The sensor can measure dissolved gases in liquids using only milliliters of the sample, producing a sample analysis time of only minutes, and can reach single ppm-level detection limits. In addition, using a hollow-core fiber optic sensor allows analysis to be simple, robust, and conducted with a compact configuration.