Atmospheric environment measuring apparatus, atmospheric environment measuring method and atmospheric environment measuring system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9395334-B2
Application number	US-201314018009-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 4, 2013
Priority date	Mar 30, 2011
Publication date	Jul 19, 2016
Grant date	Jul 19, 2016

Abstract

An atmospheric environment measuring apparatus including a filter disposed in a casing and adsorbing a component of a gas to be detected; a first mass sensor disposed in the casing between an inlet of the casing and the filter, including a first piezoelectric vibration element and changing a resonance frequency according to a mass of a substance adhered on a surface of the first piezoelectric vibration element; a second mass sensor disposed in a stage following the filter in the casing, including a second piezoelectric vibration element and changing a resonance frequency according to a mass of a substance adhered on a surface of the second piezoelectric vibration element; and a fan disposed in a stage following the second mass sensor in the casing and fluidizing atmosphere from the inlet toward an outlet of the casing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An atmospheric environment measuring apparatus comprising:
a first filter disposed in a casing and adsorbing a component of a gas to be detected;
a first mass sensor disposed in the casing between an inlet of the casing and the first filter, including a first piezoelectric vibration element and changing a resonance frequency according to a mass of a substance adhered on a surface of the first piezoelectric vibration element;
a second mass sensor disposed in a stage following the first filter in the casing, including a second piezoelectric vibration element and changing a resonance frequency according to a mass of a substance adhered on a surface of the second piezoelectric vibration element;
a second filter disposed in a stage following the second mass sensor in the casing and adsorbing a component of the gas to be detected;
a third mass sensor disposed in a stage following the second filter in the casing, including a third piezoelectric vibration element and changing a resonance frequency according to a mass of a substance adhered on a surface of the third piezoelectric vibration element; and
a fan disposed in a stage following the third mass sensor in the casing and fluidizing atmosphere from the inlet toward an outlet of the casing, wherein
degradation of an adsorption ability of the first filter is judged based on the amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the first mass sensor, the amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the second mass sensor and an amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the third mass sensor.

2. The atmospheric environment measuring apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a control unit intermittently operating the first mass sensor, the second mass sensor, the third mass sensor and the fan respectively.

3. The atmospheric environment measuring apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a transmission unit wirelessly transmitting measured data given by the first mass sensor, the second mass sensor and the third mass sensor.

4. An atmospheric environment measuring system comprising:
an atmospheric environment measuring apparatus including a first filter disposed in a casing and adsorbing a component of a gas to be detected; a first mass sensor disposed in the casing between an inlet of the casing and the first filter, including a first piezoelectric vibration element and changing a resonance frequency according to a mass of a substance adhered on a surface of the first piezoelectric vibration element; a second mass sensor disposed in a stage following the first filter in the casing, including a second piezoelectric vibration element and changing a resonance frequency according to a mass of a substance adhered on a surface of the second piezoelectric vibration element; a second filter disposed in a stage following the second mass sensor in the casing and adsorbing a component of the gas to be detected; a third mass sensor disposed in a stage following the second filter in the casing, including a third piezoelectric vibration element and changing a resonance frequency according to a mass of a substance adhered on a surface of the third piezoelectric vibration element; a fan disposed in a stage following the third mass sensor in the casing and fluidizing atmosphere from the inlet toward an outlet of the casing; and a transmission unit wirelessly transmitting measured data given by the first mass sensor and the second mass sensor; and
a processing apparatus obtaining the measured data transmitted from the atmospheric environment measuring apparatus via a network and measuring an atmospheric environment based on the measured data, wherein
degradation of an adsorption ability of the first filter is judged based on the amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the first mass sensor, the amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the second mass sensor and an amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the third mass sensor.

5. An atmospheric environment measuring method using an atmospheric environment measuring apparatus including a first filter disposed in a casing and adsorbing a component of a gas to be detected; a first mass sensor disposed in the casing between an inlet of the casing and the first filter, including a first piezoelectric vibration element and changing a resonance frequency according to a mass of a substance adhered on a surface of the first piezoelectric vibration element; a second mass sensor disposed in a stage following the first filter in the casing, including a second piezoelectric vibration element and changing a resonance frequency according to a mass of a substance adhered on a surface of the second piezoelectric vibration element; a second filter disposed in a stage following the second mass sensor in the casing and adsorbing a component of the gas to be detected; a third mass sensor disposed in a stage following the second filter in the casing, including a third piezoelectric vibration element and changing a resonance frequency according to a mass of a substance adhered on a surface of the third piezoelectric vibration element; and a fan disposed in a stage following the second mass sensor in the casing and fluidizing atmosphere from the inlet toward an outlet of the casing,
wherein a content level or a concentration of the gas to be detected in the atmosphere is determined based on measured data by the first mass sensor and measured data by the second mass sensor, and
wherein degradation of an adsorption ability of the first filter is judged based on the amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the first mass sensor, the amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the second mass sensor and an amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the third mass sensor.

6. The atmospheric environment measuring method according to claim 5 , wherein
the content level or the concentration of the gas to be detected in the atmosphere is measured based on a difference between an amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the first mass sensor and an amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the second mass sensor.

7. The atmospheric environment measuring method according to claim 5 , wherein
the adsorption ability of the first filter is judged to have been lost when the amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the first mass sensor and the amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the second mass sensor are equal to each other, and the amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the third mass sensor is smaller than both the amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the first mass sensor and the amount of change per unit time of the measured data given by the second mass sensor.

8. The atmospheric environment measuring method according to claim 5 , wherein
the first mass sensor, the second mass sensor and the fan are respectively operated intermittently.

9. The atmospheric environment measuring method according to claim 5 , wherein
the atmospheric environment measuring apparatus further comprises a transmission unit wirelessly transmitting the measured data given by the first mass sensor and the measured data given by the second mass sensor, and
the measured data given by the first mass sensor and the measured data given by the second mass sensor transmitted by the transmission unit of the atmospheric environment measuring apparatus are obtained via a network, and the content level or the concentration of the gas to be detected in the atmosphere is determined based on the m

Assignees

• Fujitsu Ltd

Inventors

• Takasu Ryozo

Classifications

• G01N1/2273

  Atmospheric sampling · CPC title

• G01G3/13

  having piezoelectric or piezoresistive properties · CPC title

• G01N29/022 Primary

  Fluid sensors based on microsensors, e.g. quartz crystal-microbalance [QCM], surface acoustic wave [SAW] devices, tuning forks, cantilevers, flexural plate wave [FPW] devices (microdevices per se B81B) · CPC title

• G01G3/16

  measuring variations of frequency of oscillations of the body · CPC title

• G01N5/02 Primary

  by absorbing or adsorbing components of a material and determining change of weight of the adsorbent, e.g. determining moisture content {(absorption bulbs B01D53/00)} · CPC title