Device for determining a measurand correlated with a concentration of an analyte in a measuring medium, and a method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018172619-A1
Application number	US-201715841552-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 14, 2017
Priority date	Dec 20, 2016
Publication date	Jun 21, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a device in particular, a sensor for determining a measurand correlated with a concentration of an analyte in a measuring medium, including a housing that has a region provided for contacting the measuring medium, a fluid line arranged in the housing, an interface that is arranged within the region provided for contacting the measuring medium and has a first side which is in contact with the fluid line and a second side which is in contact with an environment of the housing in particular, with the measuring medium in contact with the housing, a first reservoir that is arranged in the housing and fluidically connected to the fluid line and which contains a reagent intended for contacting and/or interacting with the analyte, and a transport mechanism that is designed to transport reagent from the first reservoir into the fluid line.

First claim

Claimed is:

1 . A device for determining a measurand correlated with a concentration of an analyte in a measuring medium, comprising:
a housing having a region embodied for contacting the measuring medium; a fluid line disposed in the housing; an interface disposed within the region of the housing having a first side in contact with the fluid line and a second side in contact with an exterior of the housing such that the second side of the interface is arranged to contact the measuring medium in contact with the housing; a first reservoir disposed in the housing and fluidically connected to the fluid line, the first reservoir containing a reagent composed for contacting and/or interacting with the analyte; and a transport mechanism structured to transport reagent from the first reservoir into the fluid line.

2 . The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a measuring circuit configured to generate a measuring signal correlated to the measurand based upon the contact and/or interaction of the analyte with the reagent; and sensor electronics configured to determine a measured value of the measurand using the measuring signal.

3 . The device of claim 1 , further comprising a second reservoir disposed in the housing and fluidically connected to the fluid line, wherein the transport mechanism is embodied to transport the reagent from the first reservoir through the fluid line into the second reservoir.

4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the interface is a diffusion barrier that is permeable at least to the analyte, such that the analyte passes into the fluid line and there interacts with the reagent.

5 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the interface has one or more openings connecting the surroundings of the housing and the fluid line, and wherein the transport mechanism is embodied to transport the reagent from the fluid line via the interface to the surroundings of the housing.

6 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the device is an optochemical sensor, and wherein the interaction of the reagent with the analyte causes a change in an optical property of the reagent.

7 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the device is an electrochemical sensor.

8 . The device of claim 7 , wherein the device is a potentiometric or amperometric sensor.

9 . A method for operating a device for determining a measurand correlated with a concentration of an analyte in a measuring medium, comprising:
bringing a region of a housing of the device in contact with the measuring medium, the region including an interface having a first side and a second side, wherein the first side is in contact with a fluid line arranged within the housing and the second side is wetted by the measuring medium; either before or after the region is brought into contact with the measuring medium, transporting a reagent from a first reservoir arranged in the housing into the fluid line, such that the reagent contacts the first side of the interface; detecting measuring signals correlated with the measurand using a measuring circuit, the measuring signals generated from interaction of the analyte with the reagent; and continuously or intermittently replenishing the reagent in contact with the first side of the interface by subsequent delivery of reagent from the first reservoir into the fluid line.

10 . A reference half-cell for a potentiometric or amperometric sensor comprising:
a housing including a region embodied for contacting the measuring medium; a fluid line arranged in the housing; an interface arranged within the region and embodied for contacting the measuring medium, the interface having a first side in contact with the fluid line and a second side in contact with an environment of the housing and with the measuring medium in contact with the housing; a first reservoir arranged in the housing and fluidically connected to the fluid line, the first reservoir containing a first electrolyte; a reference half-cell chamber arranged in the housing and containing a second electrolyte having a composition the same as the first electrolyte; an electrically conductive reference element in contact with the second electrolyte in the reference half-cell chamber and connected to a contact site connected outside of the reference half-cell chamber; a diffusion barrier which separates the reference half-cell chamber and the fluid line, such that a first side of the diffusion barrier is wetted by the first electrolyte contained in the fluid line and a second side of the diffusion barrier is wetted by the second electrolyte contained in the reference half-cell chamber; and a transport mechanism sembodied to transport the first electrolyte from the first reservoir into the fluid line.

11 . The reference half-cell of claim 10 , further comprising a second reservoir arranged in the housing and fluidically connected to the fluid line, wherein the transport mechanism is embodied to transport the reagent from the first reservoir through the fluid line into the second reservoir.

12 . A potentiometric sensor comprising:
a reference half-cell including:
a housing including a region embodied for contacting the measuring medium;
a fluid line arranged in the housing;
an interface arranged within the region and embodied for contacting the measuring medium, the interface having a first side in contact with the fluid line and a second side in contact with an environment of the housing and with the measuring medium in contact with the housing;
a first reservoir arranged in the housing and fluidically connected to the fluid line, the first reservoir containing a first electrolyte;
a reference half-cell chamber arranged in the housing and containing a second electrolyte having a composition the same as the first electrolyte;
an electrically conductive reference element in contact with the second electrolyte in the reference half-cell chamber and connected to a contact site connected outside of the reference half-cell chamber;
a diffusion barrier which separates the reference half-cell chamber and the fluid line, such that a first side of the diffusion barrier is wetted by the first electrolyte contained in the fluid line and a second side of the diffusion barrier is wetted by the second electrolyte contained in the reference half-cell chamber; and
a transport mechanism sembodied to transport the first electrolyte from the first reservoir into the fluid line; and
a measuring half-cell including a pH glass membrane, an ion-selective membrane or an ISFET chip.

13 . The potentiometric sensor of claim 12 , wherein the measuring half-cell includes:
a housing including a region embodied for contacting the measuring medium; a fluid line arranged in the housing; an interface arranged within the region and embodied for contacting the measuring medium, the interface havings a first side in contact with the fluid line and a second side in contact with an environment of the housing and with the measuring medium in contact with the housing; a first reservoir arranged in the housing and fluidically connected to the fluid line, the first reservoir containing a reagent for contacting and/or interacting with the analyte, the reagent including an ionophore and/or a liquid membrane; and a transport mechanism embodied to transport reagent from the first reservoir into the fluid line.

Assignees

• Endress Hauser Conducta Gmbh Co Kg

Inventors

• Pechstein Torsten
• Wilhelm Thomas
• Hanko Michael

Classifications

• G01N31/221

  for investigating pH value · CPC title

• G01N27/49

  Systems involving the determination of the current at a single specific value, or small range of values, of applied voltage for producing selective measurement of one or more particular ionic species · CPC title

• B01L3/502715

  characterised by interfacing components, e.g. fluidic, electrical, optical or mechanical interfaces · CPC title

• G01N27/333 Primary

  Ion-selective electrodes or membranes (glass electrodes G01N27/36) · CPC title

• G01N27/4161

  measuring the voltage and using a constant current supply, e.g. chronopotentiometry · CPC title