Apparatus and method for automated biomonitoring of water quality

US6058763A · kind A · utility

Assignees

• GEO-CENTERS, INC. · US
• The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army · US

Inventors

• Tommy R. Shedd · Middletown, US
• Mark W. Widder · Waynesboro, US
• Jeffery Daniel Leach · Frederick, US
• William H. VAN DER SCHALIE · Walkersville, US
• Robert Charles Bishoff · Boonsboro, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 16, 1998
• Grant date: May 9, 2000
• Expiry date: Mar 16, 2018

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N33/186
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An automated biomonitoring system for monitoring water quality includes an exposure chamber for housing an aquatic organism having ventilatory behavior and body movement sensitive to water quality. Electrodes sense electrical signals produced by the organism during its ventilatory behavior and body movement, and a controller responsive to signals from the electrodes determines a plurality of ventilatory parameters based on the signals. The ventilatory parameters are compared with corresponding thresholds to determine when the water to which the organism is exposed has caused physiological stress to the organism.