Patent · US Expired

Photo-ionization detector for volatile gas measurement

US5773833A · kind A · utility

34Cited by
4References
25Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateMar 22, 1996
Grant dateJun 30, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 22, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01J41/02
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A photo-ionization detector (PID) which measures volatile organic gas uses electrically insulated parallel plates to energize a miniaturized gas discharge UV lamp and an energy efficient method to modulate the UV lamp intensity and reduce power consumption. A miniaturized centrifugal pump is integrated into the PID to provide active sampling for fast response to volatile gas. An ionization chamber in the PID includes a UV shield which protects a measurement electrode from UV light and a UV monitor which measures changes in UV intensity due to external interferences and UV lamp variations. A microprocessor in the PID uses measurements from the measurement electrode and from the UV monitor to accurately account for UV intensity variations when determining a volatile gas concentration.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.