Optofluidic flow meter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10151681-B2
Application number	US-201715673299-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 9, 2017
Priority date	Mar 27, 2017
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

An optofluidic flow meter to determine a rate of fluid flow in a flow member includes: the flow member; a primary fluid conduit disposed in the flow member and that receives a fluid; a secondary fluid conduit disposed in the flow member; and a fiber optic comprising a fiber Bragg grating interposed between a first flow region of the primary fluid conduit and a second flow region of the secondary fluid conduit and that: physically distorts relative to a pressure differential between the primary fluid conduit and the secondary fluid conduit; and produces a shift in a Bragg wavelength in response to a physical distortion due to the pressure differential.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optofluidic flow meter to determine a rate of fluid flow in a flow member, the optofluidic flow meter comprising:
the flow member;
a primary fluid conduit disposed in the flow member and that receives a fluid;
a secondary fluid conduit disposed in the flow member; and
a fiber optic comprising a fiber Bragg grating interposed between a first flow region of the primary fluid conduit and a second flow region of the secondary fluid conduit and that:
physically distorts relative to a pressure differential between the primary fluid conduit and the secondary fluid conduit; and
produces a shift in a Bragg wavelength in response to a physical distortion due to the pressure differential.

2. The optofluidic flow meter of claim 1 , wherein the secondary fluid conduit is in fluid communication with the primary fluid conduit and receives the fluid from the primary fluid conduit.

3. The optofluidic flow meter of claim 1 , wherein the secondary fluid conduit is isolated from fluid communication with the primary fluid conduit and receives a second fluid.

4. The optofluidic flow meter of claim 1 , further comprising a flexible membrane interposed between the first flow region and the second flow region and that physically distorts relative to the pressure differential between the primary fluid conduit and the secondary fluid conduit.

5. The optofluidic flow meter of claim 4 , wherein the fiber Bragg grating is disposed in the flexible membrane.

6. The optofluidic flow meter of claim 4 , wherein the fiber Bragg grating comprises a silica, an organic polymer, a sapphire, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing materials.

7. The optofluidic flow meter of claim 1 , wherein the flow member comprises an elastomer, an acrylic, an adhesive, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing materials.

8. The optofluidic flow meter of claim 1 , wherein the primary fluid conduit comprises a cross-sectional area orthogonal to a direction of the fluid flow at the first flow region from 1 micrometers squared to 1000000 micrometers squared.

9. The optofluidic flow meter of claim 1 , wherein the secondary fluid conduit comprises a cross-sectional area orthogonal to a direction of the fluid flow at the second flow region from 1 micrometers squared to 1000000 micrometers squared.

10. The optofluidic flow meter of claim 1 , wherein the pressure differential is from 50 milliNewton to 3 Newtons.

11. The optofluidic flow meter of claim 10 , wherein the shift in the Bragg wavelength is from 0.001 nanometers to 0.5 nanometers.

12. The optofluidic flow meter of claim 1 , wherein the fluid comprises a liquid.

13. The optofluidic flow meter of claim 12 , wherein the fluid further comprises a plurality of solid particles disposed in the liquid.

14. The optofluidic flow meter of claim 13 , wherein the shift in the Bragg wavelength is in response to a presence of the solid particles.

Assignees

• Us Commerce

Inventors

• Ahmed Zeeshan
• Cooksey Gregory A

Classifications

• G01F15/185 Primary

  Connecting means, e.g. bypass conduits · CPC title

• G01F15/006

  characterised by the use of a particular material, e.g. anti-corrosive material (G01F15/14 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B01L3/502761

  specially adapted for handling suspended solids or molecules independently from the bulk fluid flow, e.g. for trapping or sorting beads or physically stretching molecules · CPC title

• G02B6/02076

  Refractive index modulation gratings, e.g. Bragg gratings · CPC title

• G01F1/386

  with mechanical or fluidic indication · CPC title