Systems and methods for continuous measurement of an analyte

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10486991-B2
Application number	US-201715827681-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2017
Priority date	Nov 30, 2016
Publication date	Nov 26, 2019
Grant date	Nov 26, 2019

Abstract

Described herein is a system to provide continuously measurements of an analyte present in a fluid sample, particularly dissolved oxygen in wastewater. The system comprises a sample chamber absent of ambient light to contain the sample and in many embodiments employs a non-invasive method of measuring the analyte and determining the change over time in the concentration of the analyte. It is also an aspect of the invention to deliver analyte measurements in real-time and provides the operator with feedback in substantially less time after sample collection than previously accomplished in the field. It is another aspect of the invention to simultaneously or at least in a substantially short period of time thereafter measure temperature to remove initial error encountered at the start of analyte measurement at least until the sample chamber reaches thermal equilibrium.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system to measure the concentration of an analyte parameter in a sample, comprising:
at least one sample chamber comprising a vessel with an inlet outlet mechanism and a sealing mechanism configured to produce a sealed sample chamber;
an analyte detection site attached to the sample chamber, adapted to be in contact with the sample, and configured to generate a first signal in response to an analyte;
a thermal sensing mechanism configured to measure temperature at the analyte detection site, and generating an associated second signal;
a signal detector configured to receive and transmitting said first signal;
an electronics module programmed to receive both the first and second signals; and,
a sample chamber retainer that holds the sample chamber, wherein the sample chamber retainer aligns the sample chamber and analyte detection site with the signal detector and thermal sensing mechanism, and wherein the first and second signals provide input for computation by the electronics module to determine analyte parameter measurements.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the signal detector and thermal sensing mechanism are configured to produce said first and second signals multiple times at intervals greater than two seconds without breaking the sample chamber seal.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said analyte is oxygen or carbon dioxide and at least two analyte parameter measurements are used to calculate Biological Oxygen Demand of said sample.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein said analyte is selected from the group consisting of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, methane, silver, barium, lead, arsenic, chromium, cadmium, manganese, aluminum, copper, pathogens, sterols, hormones, polychlorinated biphenyl, dioxins, plasticizers, flame retardants, and microplastics.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein the system further comprises an ambient light blocking mechanism, configured to block at least a portion of electromagnetic spectrum from reaching the sample chamber.

6. The system of claim 2 , wherein the thermal sensing mechanism comprises an infrared sensor.

7. The system of claim 2 wherein the analyte detection site comprises an optode, and the signal detector comprises a fluorometric system with an excitation capacity and ability to measure emission from the analyte detection site.

8. The system of claim 2 wherein the sample chamber retainer is configured to hold and measure a plurality of samples.

9. The system of claim 2 wherein the sample chamber retainer comprises a plurality of signal detectors, wherein the sample chamber retainer is configured to hold a plurality of sample chambers and each sample chamber aligns with a signal detector, and wherein the plurality of signal detectors are connected to the electronics module.

10. The system of claim 2 , wherein the sample is collected from a source selected from the group comprising wastewater for facility operation control, wastewater for release into the environment, wastewater inflow, seawater, fresh water, well water, lake water, bioreactors, ballast water, and brewery effluent.

11. The system of claim 2 , further comprising a temperature control mechanism that can achieve and maintain a temperature range of the sample chamber.

12. The system of claim 2 , further comprising an identifier reader and wherein the sample chamber further comprises a sample chamber identifier, wherein the temperature and analyte signals are associated with the sample chamber identifier, and wherein the sample chamber identifier is selected from an electronic identifier tag, a barcode, rotary encoder, a chip, the specific order of signal measurement, or a combination thereof.

13. The system of claim 3 wherein said interval following a first analyte parameter measurement is less than five days and a third analyte parameter measurement of said sample is determined five days after said first analyte parameter measurement and the first analyte parameter measurement and third analyte parameter measurement are used to calculate the five day Biological Oxygen Demand of said sample.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the temperature is maintained to within 2/100ths of a degree Celsius of a set point temperature.

15. A method for measuring an analyte parameter in a sample, the steps comprising:
(a) providing an apparatus comprising:
at least one sample chamber comprising a transparent vessel with an inlet outlet mechanism and a sealing mechanism configured to produce a sealed sample chamber;
an analyte detection site attached to the sample chamber, adapted to be in contact with the sample, and generating a first signal in response to an analyte;
a thermal sensing mechanism for measuring temperature at the analyte detection site, and generating an associated second signal;
a signal detector for receiving and transmitting said first signal;
an electronics module adapted to receive both the first and second signals; and
a sample chamber retainer that holds the sample chamber, wherein the retainer aligns the sample chamber and analyte detection site with the signal detector and thermal sensing mechanism, and wherein the first and second signals provide input for computation by said electronics module to determine analyte parameter measurements;

(b) receiving and sealing the sample in said sample chamber;
(c) utilizing the analyte detection site to generate said first signal;
(d) employing a signal detector to receive said first signal;
(f) communicating the first and second signals to an interconnected electronics module to determine at least one parameter of the analyte.

16. The method of claim 15 , further controlling the temperature of the sample chamber within a specific temperature range.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the temperature is maintained at or near 2/100ths of a degree Celsius of the temperature range.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising an identifier reader and wherein the sample chamber further comprises a sample chamber identifier, wherein the temperature and analyte signal are associated with the sample chamber identifier, and wherein the sample chamber identifier is selected from an electronic identifier tag, a barcode, rotary encoder, a chip, the specific order of signal measurement, and a combination thereof.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the analyte is selected from oxygen, CO 2 , a gas, a surrogate to allow oxygen consumption measurement, and a combination thereof.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the analyte measurement is used to determine a measurement of BOD.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising the steps of controlling the level of aeration in a wastewater treatment facility based on the analyte measurement.

Assignees

• Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst

Inventors

• Van Mooy Benjamin
• Fucile Paul D
• Mcdonald Glenn E

Classifications

• C02F2209/006

  comprising a software program or a logic diagram · CPC title

• C02F2209/24

  CO2 · CPC title

• C02F2209/003

  Downstream control, i.e. outlet monitoring, e.g. to check the treating agents, such as halogens or ozone, leaving the process · CPC title

• B01L3/5027

  by integrated microfluidic structures, i.e. dimensions of channels and chambers are such that surface tension forces are important, e.g. lab-on-a-chip · CPC title

• C02F2209/001

  Upstream control, i.e. monitoring for predictive control · CPC title