Tamper-resistant chemical sampling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10371607-B2
Application number	US-201515321831-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 24, 2015
Priority date	Jun 25, 2014
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatuses are disclosed for a tamper-resistant collection and retention a chemical sample. In one embodiment, the tamper-resistant system comprises a container operable to collect and retain a chemical sample, a tamper-resistant mechanism operable to disengage at a first chemical sample to allow for a collection of a chemical sample, wherein the tamper-resistant mechanism is operable to record one or more of: a date, a time, and a location, of the chemical sample during the collection of the chemical sample, and wherein the tamper-resistant mechanism is further operable to re-engage and lock after the collection of the chemical sample to resist subsequent chemical samples after the first chemical sampling.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A tamper-resistant system for chemical sampling, comprising:
a container operable to collect and retain a chemical sample; and
a tamper-resistant mechanism, the tamper-resistant mechanism being operable to:
disengage at a first chemical vapor sampling to allow for a collection of a chemical vapor sample after disengagement;
record one or more of: a date, a time, and a location of the chemical sample during the collection of the chemical sample; and
re-engage and lock to resist subsequent chemical samples after the first chemical sampling, wherein the tamper-resistant mechanism further comprises a slide lock and a twist mechanism, the slide lock being configured to actuate to allow rotation of the twist mechanism, and the twist mechanism being configured to rotate to disengage the slide lock to allow the chemical sample to be drawn through a calibrated orifice into an interior of the container, wherein the calibrated orifice is on the twist mechanism.

2. The system of claim 1 , the container comprising a durable material, the durable material being:
non-reactive with one or more of a chemical warfare agent and a toxic industrial chemical; and
capable of retaining a chemical sample within the container after a drop shock sustained by dropping the container from a height of at least about 2 meters onto a concrete surface.

3. The system of claim 1 , one or more of:
an interior of the container comprising a passivated stainless steel configured to collect the chemical sample including one or more of: a volatile chemical vapor sample, and a non-volatile chemical sample; and
an exterior of the container comprising a surface treatment, the surface treatment being one or more of:
formed on the exterior of the container by one or more of: abrasion, chemical reaction; and coating, and
operable to accept and retain one or more of: an inked-based marking, a pigment based marking, a paint-based marking, graphite or charcoal-based marking, a wax-based marking, an abrasive-based marking, and an impact based marking.

4. The system of claim 1 , comprising within the container a chemical sample collector comprising one or more of:
a solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME), the SPME comprising a fiber coated with an extracting phase for collecting the chemical sample, the extracting phase comprising one or more of: a sorbent liquid, a sorbent solid, and a sorbent polymer; and
a sorbent tube, the sorbent tube comprising one or more of: an activated charcoal, a silica gel, and a porous polymer resin.

5. The system of claim 1 , comprising a chemical detector on a chip within the container, the chemical detector on a chip being configured to detect one or more of a presence and a concentration of a chemical.

6. The system of claim 5 , the chemical detected by the chemical detector on a chip comprising one or more of:
a vesicant, the vesicant comprising one or more of: phosgene oxime (CX); ethyldichloroarsine (ED); methyldichloroarsine (MD); phenyldichloroarsine (PD); lewisite (L); mustard gas (HD); and nitrogen mustard (HN);
a nerve agent, the nerve agent comprising or more of: tabun (GA); sarin (GB); soman (GD); cyclosarin (GF); a V-Agent; and a Novichok agent;
a blood agent, the blood agent comprising one or more of: cyanogen chloride (CK) and hydrogen cyanide (AC);
a lachrymator;
a choking agent, the choking agent comprising one or more of: chlorine gas (Cl2); chloropicrin (PS); diphosgene (DP); phosgene (CG); disulfur decafluoride; perfluoroisobutene; acrolein; and diphenylcyanoarsine; and
a toxic industrial chemical (TIC), the TIC comprising one or more of: ammonia (NH 3 ), chlorine (Cl 2 ), fluorine (F 2 ), formaldehyde (CH 2 O), hydrogen bromide (HBr), hydrogen chloride (HCl), hydrogen fluoride (HF), hydrogen cyanide (AC), nitric acid (HNO 3 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), phosgene (CG), hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ), and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ).

7. The system of claim 1 , the tamper-resistant mechanism further comprising an indicator configured to indicate a status of one or more of the disengagement and the chemical sampling, the indicator comprising one or more of: a text-based status indicator, a color-based status indicator, a tactile status indicator, an audible status indicator, and a graphic-based status indicator.

8. The system of claim 1 , the tamper-resistant mechanism further comprising a timing chip operable to automatically assign and store a first date-time group (DTG) upon disengagement of the tamper-resistant mechanism.

9. The system of claim 8 , the system further comprising a global positioning system (GPS) operatively connected to the tamper resistant mechanism, the GPS being configured to:
receive a GPS satellite signal and record a global coordinate for a location of the chemical sample; and
record a second DTG upon recording the global coordinate.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein with respect to the GPS, one or more of:
the system being configured to automatically: record a first DTG associated with a first time upon collection of the chemical sample; and record the second DTG associated with a second time upon recording the global coordinate;
the GPS further comprising a GPS button configured to acquire or attempt to acquire the GPS satellite signal, or attempts to acquire the GPS satellite signal, to assign and record the global coordinate associated with the chemical sample, and wherein the global coordinate and the second DTG are automatically assigned and recorded when the GPS acquires the GPS satellite signal;
the GPS further comprising one or more indicator lights configured to indicate one or more of acquisition of the GPS satellite signal and recordation of the global coordinate; and
the GPS being configured to automatically attempt to acquire the GPS satellite signal at a fixed or irregular interval; and the tamper resistant chemical sampling system being configured to record one or more attempt DTGs for each unsuccessful GPS satellite signal acquisition attempt.

11. The system of claim 1 , the system further comprising a memory, the memory being operable to store data related to one or more of: a chemical data associated with a chemical detection by a chemical detector on chip; a first DTG data associated with a chemical sample collection time; GPS and global coordinate data associated with a collection location of the chemical sample; a second DTG associated with an acquisition of a GPS satellite signal by a GPS and a recordation of the global coordinate data; one or more attempt DTGs associated with each of one or more attempts by the GPS to acquire the GPS satellite signal, and a temperature data associated with a temperature within the container.

12. The system of claim 11 , the system further comprising a tamper-resistant data transfer device for transferring data stored on the memory to a data receiving device external to the container.

13. The system of claim 12 , the tamper-resistant data transfer device comprising a radio frequency identification (RFID) device.

14. The system of claim 1 , the system being further operable to collect and retain one or more of: a biological sample, an isotope, a radiological sample, and a fissile material.

15. A tamper-resistant apparatus for chemical sampling, the apparatus comprising:
(1) a stainless steel canister configured to retain a chemical sample, the stainless steel canister comprising an outer surface and an inner surface:
the outer surface comprising a surface treatment configured to provide one or more of: an increased friction between the outer surface and another surface, a mark

Assignees

• Battelle Memorial Institute
• Bettelle Memorial Inst

Inventors

• Williams Pax T
• Seibert Jr David C
• Sullivan Edward J
• O'Donnell Thomas S

Classifications

• G01N2001/007

  Devices specially adapted for forensic samples, e.g. tamper-proofing, sample tracking · CPC title

• G01N1/2273 Primary

  Atmospheric sampling · CPC title

• G01N2001/021

  Correlating sampling sites with geographical information, e.g. GPS · CPC title

• B01L3/508

  Rigid containers without fluid transport within · CPC title

• G01N2001/027

  field kits / quick test kits · CPC title