A THERMAL PUMP
A thermal pump for moving a sample fluid to and through an analyzer. The pump may have a lack of moving mechanical parts when pumping except for check valves. The thermal pump may have in lieu of each mechanical check valve a thermal or fluid mechanism that effectively operates as a valve without mechanical parts. The present thermal pump may be fabricated with MEMS technology. The pump may be integrated into a concentrator and/or separator of a fluid analyzer chip.
Latest HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC. Patents:
- Automated vegetation management system
- Apparatus and method for removal of a target gas from a cold storage environment
- Apparatuses, computer-implemented methods, and computer program product to assist aerial vehicle pilot for vertical landing and/or takeoff
- Systems and methods for displaying facility information
- Method and system for calibrating a gas detector
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/681,776, filed May 17, 2005. This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/743,486, filed Mar. 15, 2006.
The U.S. Government may have some rights in the present invention.
BACKGROUNDThe present invention pertains to pumps and particularly to pumps for micro fluid analyzers. More particularly, the invention pertains to thermal pumps in the analyzers.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed May 16, 2006, Attorney Docket No. H0008131 (1100.1371101), entitled “An Optical Micro-Spectrometer,” by U. Bonne et al., is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed May 16, 2006, Attorney Docket No. H0009333 (1100.1410101), entitled “Chemical Impedance Detectors for Fluid Analyzers,” by U. Bonne et al., is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed May 16, 2006, Attorney Docket No. H0010503 (1100.1411101), entitled “Stationary Phase for a Micro Fluid Analyzer,” by N. Iwamoto et al., is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed May 16, 2006, Attorney Docket No. H0012008 (1100.1413101), entitled “A Three-Wafer Channel Structure for a Fluid Analyzer,” by U. Bonne et al., is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/681,776, filed May 17, 2005, is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/743,486, filed Mar. 15, 2006, is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/909,071, filed Jul. 30, 2004, is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,894, issued May 28, 2002, is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 6,837,118, issued Jan. 4, 2005, is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 7,000,452, issued Feb. 21, 2006, is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,035, issued Jul. 24, 1990, is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,187, issued Mar. 2, 1999, is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,809, issued May 8, 2001, is hereby incorporated by reference. These applications and patents may disclose aspects of structures, components and processes related to pumps and fluid analyzers.
SUMMARYThe present invention is a thermal pump for fluid analyzers.
Initially, injecting analytes from a concentrated air sample into a non-air carrier gas stream for further analysis may run the risk of losing “focus” (i.e., diluting the sample), and require the addition of hardware but could result in such things as slow micro-valves, and still not eliminate air components that render downstream detectors less sensitive. In the case of a H2 carrier gas from a generator, it may be especially difficult to balance the H2 flow to meet the need for exact gas velocity of the preconcentrator and for velocity steadiness of the separator for an appropriate analysis. To meet such requirements, one may need a good steady and adjustable pump which the present invention may provide.
As the internal channel area 14 cools down, the channel pressure may decrease to a level less than the pressure at the inlet 15 and cause valve 11 to open and let a sample 16 enter the channel or chamber 14. When the pressures approach equal levels, then valve 11 may close. At this time, the heater 13 may be energized and heat up the sample 16 which expands and increases the pressure in chamber 14 to be greater than the pressure at an outlet 17. This may cause valve 12 to open and let the sample 16 to exit from the channel 14 via open valve 12 and outlet 17. With the heater 13 off, the sample 16 in the channel 14 may cool down and contract. This may cause the pressure in the channel 14 to be less than the pressure at the inlet 15 and thus causing valve 11 to open and let more sample 16 into channel 14. The heater may be energized again to heat up a new portion of sample 16 which expands and causes the pressure in channel 14 to increase. The pressure of channel 14 may exceed the pressure at outlet 17 thereby causing valve 12 to open and let some of the sample 16 to exit the channel 14 via valve 12 and outlet 17. Then, the heater or elements 13 may be de-energized resulting in the sample 16 in the channel 14 to contract and decrease the pressure in the channel 14. The cycle may continue to repeat as long as operation of pump 10 is desired.
The structure of pump 10 may have three main parts fabricated with MEMS (micromachined electromechanical systems) technology. The three main parts may be a bottom wafer 21, membrane 22, and top wafer 23. The first part may be the bottom channel wafer 21. The wafer 21 may have a recess 24 for an inlet and a recess 25 for channel 14. On the remaining portions of wafer 21, which may be the ridges 104 remaining after removal of the material for recesses 24 and 25, may be placed a membrane 22. Membrane 22 may have perforations 26 between the recess 24 of inlet 15 and channel 14, between a recess 27 and recess 25 of channel 14, and between recess 25 and a recess 28 at the outlet 17. Membrane 22 may have heater elements 13 in the middle set of perforations 26 between recesses 27 and 25. Current to drive the heater elements 13 may come in at terminals 29. Situated on membrane 22 may be remaining portions or ridges 105 of the top channel wafer 23. Wafer 23 may have recess 27 for a portion of channel 14 and recess 28 for outlet 17.
A characteristic of the pump 10 may reside in its micro-fluidic scale (facilitating a high cycling frequency), the use of low-mass, low-voltage, thin-film heater or elements 13 (for high efficiency) and a low-cost design that lends itself to monolithic integration into a micro-fluidic MEMS structure. The pump 10 may be used in conjunction with a phased heater array for enhanced detection (PHASED), which is described herein. The PHASED system may be implemented with a fluid analyzer or specifically a micro gas analyzer (MGA). It appears that the membrane-supported, low-mass, and thermally isolated heaters of the PHASED MGA structure, might lend themselves to the present gas pumping approach.
One may observe that gas expansion and contraction pulses of these heaters may generate signals in TCDs (thermal conductivity detectors) which sense such pulses as convective heat transfer changes, as shown in a graph of
The principle of operation may involve a voltage pulse to a thermally isolated membrane heater in a gas volume, V, to raise its temperature by ΔT=200° C., heat and expand the surrounding gas by a maximum factor of ΔVh/V=(273+200)/(273+25)=1.587, or 58.7%. The actual expansion may be less because only about ⅔ of the gas reaches that temperature maximum.
During cool down, the gas may maximally contract from its ideal maximum down to a fraction of ΔVc/V=(273+25)/(273+200)=0.598 of the hot and expanded volume. One may take a more conservative number of 40% for expansion and contraction of the gas volume around one heater of V=0.01·0.01·0.5=0.00005 cm3, but operate it at a frequency of f=830 Hz. By constraining or channeling this expansion and contraction action of the gas with check valves 11 and 12 as depicted in
The efficiency of such a pump 10 may be compared with that of other pumping approaches. If one defines efficiency as the ratio η=Output/Input=(ideal compression work on the gas)/(actual energy), one may identify for a gas volume V=50 nL=5·10−5 cm3 as one has in each chamber surrounding one of the PHASED heater array elements with the following factors. Ideal expansion output energy of each stroke, may be Eout=p·ΔV/(1+VDead/V)=106·0.58·5·10−5/(1+0.2)=24.17 erg, assuming a 20% dead volume, which reduces the effect of the 58% expansion. Input thermal energy into gas, may be Ein,gas=n·cp·ΔT=V/VM·cp·ΔT=5·10−5/22500·7·4.184·10−77·200=130.2 erg. The input energy into a membrane heater, steady-state, using x=430° C./W, may be Ein,htr,ss=Δt·ΔT/x=0.002·200/430=9302 erg, for each heater pulse of 2-ms duration. With the input energy into a membrane heater, transient, using ρ(Si3N4)=3.2 g/cm3 and cp=0.71-0.9 J/g/° C., one may get Ein,htr,tr=cp·ΔT·ρ·V=0.8·180·3.2·0.5·0.01·0.0001=0.23 mJ=2300 erg. This may correspond to an efficiency, η=Eout/Ein, approaching 0.2%. This would be based on the measured, presently used but still very lossy heater, which may be attached continuously to the Si substrate. An improved design ( 1/10th attachment to a polymer) may reduce this loss by ≦10 times, so that the efficiency might approach 2%. Further efficiency improvements may be achievable with shorter pulses, e.g., Δt=0.5 to 1 ms instead of 2 ms as used herein (but long enough to expel the heated gas), keeping in mind that x=430° C./W was measured under steady state conditions. The noted 2% would only be about five times lower than computations for other micropumps. Sustaining the energy input at or above 830 Hz rate could release Ein,htr·f=9302/1070.830=0.772 watts in the worst case, which may be too high for portable devices, but suitable for analyzers hooked up to line power.
Relative to making a pump,
Heater membrane 33 may be formed on a surface of heater wafer 35. Heater 35 may be situated on a channel wafer 36 with the membrane situated between wafers 35 and 36. A sample may be drawn in through a port 37 and a polymer check valve 38 into a channel 39 of wafer 33 via a port through heater wafer 35. Check valve 38 may be attached to cover plate wafer 31. The sample, along with thermal pump operational principles described herein for pump 10, may be moved through channel 39, past heater 32, and out of channel 39 through a port in heater wafer 35 and a check valve 41. Check valve 41 may be attached to the top of heater wafer 35 over the port leading from the chamber 39. The sample may go through a port 42 into a capillary 34 connected to a flow and/or pressure sensor. Leads 45 may provide electrical power for the heater 32.
An illustrative example thermal pump 30 in
A curious effect of steam power is that it seems to be effective on a small scale. If one could keep steam from condensing, one may push a “plug” of gas at the needed PHASED flow rate of 0.5 cm3/min by only evaporating about 6 μg/s, which should only require about 15 mW.
The present thermal pump 30 may have the following characteristics over other designs for 0.1-1 cm3/min pumps. The present pump may harness a gas property (thermal expansion) for service as a micropump under advantageous micro “surface-to-volume” ratios which enable a much higher frequency operation than larger, conventional size pumps which have much smaller and thus impractical surface/volume ratios, despite being thermodynamically similar to combustion and Carnot cycle engines. The present pump may be integrated into a MEMS micro-fluidic structure and be fabricated at the wafer-level. Fabrication of the pump may be quite simple and not be dependent on critical film material properties. The pump may operate with low-power and low-voltage. It may generate gas pressure to drive a liquid, specifically for compact, portable dosimetry and microfluidic applications.
The advantages of the illustrative examples of thermal pumps 10, 20 and 30 over other possible pumping approaches may include the following items. The pump may be more easily integrated into a MEMS micro-fluidic structure than electrostatic pumps (EPs). It may be more compact than other previously conceived pumps. The present pump may be of lower-cost but may have some higher power consumption than EPs. The pump may have a lower drive voltage than EPs.
Another illustrative example is of a thermal pump 40, shown in
In pump 40, there may be a bottom wafer 54 having a heater and check valve wafer 55 situated on the wafer 54. On wafer 55 may be situated a top wafer 56. A recess in the heater wafer 55 may be a chamber or channel 57 for heating a sample with a heater having elements 53. The chamber may, for example, have about 100 nL of volume with approximate dimensions of about 0.1 mm×0.5 mm×1 mm×2, for above and below the heater elements 53. The sample may enter a port 58 from the bottom of wafer 54 into a space provided by the heater wafer 55 as a spacer between wafers 54 and 56. The sample may proceed through valve 51, past heater elements 53 in channel 57, and through valve 52. The sample may exit through a port 59. The heater elements 53 may be of a thin-film Pt heater. The movement of the sample though pump 40 may be based on the principles of operation of pump 10 as described herein.
The valves 51 and 52 may each be, for example, an array of nine 130 by 100 micron flaps situated over 50 micron holes. A flap 61 is shown in
The pump 40 may use cyclical thermal expansion and contraction of the sample gas to be transported in a sensor by the operating two passive check valves, which may be reed-type or fluid-dynamic-type. Characteristics of this pump may include its micro-fluidic scale (facilitating high cycling frequency), the use of low-mass, low-voltage, thin-film heaters 53 (for high efficiency) and a design that lends itself to monolithic integration into a micro-fluidic MEMS structure. Integrating several of these pumps 40 along the separator (and even have the heaters support a stationary phase), opens up the prospect of overcoming one present “pressure drop” limit to microminiaturization, as the channels become ever smaller. Pump 40 may provide a low-cost and manufacturable gas sample pumping that can be integrated into micro-fluidic MEMS or PHASED structures.
It may be noted that the membrane-supported, low-mass, and thermally isolated heaters 53 of a PHASED MGA structure, might lend themselves to a different gas pumping approach. The pump 40 may be such that no pump cavity wall needs to be sealed against a flexible membrane. It may increase the efficiency by at least two times by allowing a sample gas to contact the heater elements 53 from top and bottom sides, as is revealed by cavity or channel 57 in
In summary, the thermal pump 40 over other designs for 0.1-1 cm3/min pumps may involve the following items. The pump 40 may harness a gas property (thermal expansion) for service as a micropump under advantageous micro “surface-to-volume” ratios which can enable much higher frequency operation than larger, conventional size pumps which have much smaller and thus impractical surface/volume ratios, despite thermodynamically being similar to combustion and Carnot cycle engines. This pump 40 may be integrated into a MEMS micro-fluidic structure and be completely fabricated at the wafer-level. The pump 40 may require just very simple fabrication and not be dependent on critical film material properties, such as an EP. It may operate with low-power at low-voltage. Pump 40 may generate gas pressure to drive a liquid, specifically for compact, portable dosimetry and microfluidic applications.
Pump 40 may have good manufacturability. This thermal pump may be distributed as elements along a GC separator. Such pump elements may do double duty by serving as coated GC separator elements of a PHASED MGA, despite their pulsations. The MGA may save significant energy by the elements doing such double duty.
In the lower left corner of
The thermal pump 50 of
Module 79 may be programmed in various ways to provide effective pumping by thermal pump 50. The region of the thermal valve 103, for instance, between heaters 72 and 73 (just as in a three or more heater thermal pump 50) may be made more effective by making the region cross-section smaller and flow governing, and length short relative to the region's distance from the heaters, or the distance between adjacent heaters of the pump, to minimize energy losses. The region's shape may be designed to emulate a fluidic diode which can be heated to enhance its “closed” period effectiveness, and/or have a cross-section shrink which is a coating with a film that expands with temperature. The coating may be on the channel wall at the region of the thermal valve 103 which may upon expansion, due to temperature change, narrow the passage of the channel for fluid. Also, electronics module 79 may be connected to thermal conductivity detectors (TCDs) situated in analyzer 60 as needed.
The pump 50 may use reciprocating thermal expansion and contraction of the same sample gas to be transported to a sensor or device. This pump 50 may leverage temperature-dependent, variable gas viscosity in a first approach, augmented by a fluidic diode effect in a second approach, and by thermal expansion films to pinch off flow in a third approach as fixed fluidic (leaky) check valves.
In addition to the characteristics of the thermal micro-pump 10 with its micro-fluidic scale (facilitating high cycling frequency), the pump 50 may likewise use low-mass, low-voltage, thin-film heaters (for high efficiency), and with a design that may lend itself to monolithic integration into a micro-fluidic MEMS structure. However, the pump 50 does not necessarily require the mechanical check valves, 11 and 12, 38 and 41, 47 and 48, or 51 and 52, as pumps 10, 20, 30 and 40 may need, respectively. Because of a lack of mechanical valves, pump 50 may provide very low-cost and long-life as a gas sampling pump which may be integrated into micro-fluidic MEMS structures.
It seems that the membrane-supported, low-mass, and thermally isolated heaters of the PHASED MGA structure, may lend themselves to a gas pumping scheme of pump 50. One might observe that gas expansion and contraction pulses of the heaters in the MGA structure may generate signals in TCDs (thermal conductivity detectors), which sense such pulses as convective heat transfer changes, as shown in
As to the principle of operation of thermal pump 50, it may help to note that a voltage pulse to a thermally isolated membrane heater in a gas volume, V, to raise its temperature by ΔT=200° C., will heat and expand the surrounding gas by a maximum factor of ΔVh/V=(273+200)/(273+25)=1.587, or 58.7%. However, the actual expansion may be less because only about ⅔ of the gas may reach that temperature maximum, or about 39%.
As to the basic pump 50 operation, the non-mechanical check valves (i.e., of valveless pumps) schematically indicated in
The chart of
The second approach of pump 50, in the lower left part of
During cool down, the gas volume may contract from its maximum down to a fraction of ΔVc/V=(273+25)/(273+200)·(2/3)=0.39 of the hot and expanded state. This 39% expansion and contraction of the gas volume around one heater of V=0.01·0.01·0.5=0.00005 cm3, may operate at a frequency of f=830 Hz. By constraining or channeling this expansion and contraction action of the gas with non-mechanical check valves as depicted in
One approach may consist of two pumps 50 in series, so that a “contraction period” of the upstream one may coincide with an expansion period of the downstream one, while the “valve” in between the two is “open”. Similarly, the effectiveness of this valve may be improved by making its cross section small and “flow-governing”, its length short to minimize energy losses and its shape to emulate fluidic diodes 96 and 97 as indicated in
One may look at the above improvement possibilities from the ground up by first considering the basics. To start, as to viscosity temperature dependence, 66% of the maximum temperature and viscosity change would be equivalent to a valve flow ratio of η/ηo=(T/To)0.7={(273+25+200(2/3))/(273+25)}0.7=1.295. As to valve coating thermal expansion, the strong influence of a channel cross section on the laminar flow rate, V in cm3/s, may make for a potentially very effective contribution, since V=π·Δp·r4/(8·L·η). One may view r as a hydraulic radius, r=h/(1+1·h/w), with h=height and w=width. A rectangular channel beginning at ho=wo/2 and ending at h=wo/10 would result in a drop in V of V/Vo=[{h/(1+1·h/wo)}/{ho/(1+1·ho/wo)}]4=(2/10)4·(1.5/1.1)4=0.0055, which may be regarded as favorable for control of a fluid.
One may seek a material with a needed thermal expansion. If one starts with a rectangular channel with ho=wo/2, it may be one of the following alternatives. One may be of thin film where an approximate so=1 μm film that expands 25 times to 25 μm in a channel with wo=60 μm and ho=30 (including the film at To) and decreases to h=6 μm. However, materials with a temperature coefficient of expansion (TCE)=24/200=120,000 ppm/° C. might not be available. Another alternative may be a thick film where so=25 μm film that expands about two times (TCE=5000 ppm/° C.) to 49 μM causing again a decrease to h=6 μm. Or one may have a channel with ho=wo/10 that narrows to h=wo/100, where ho=6 μm, h=0.6 μm, so=25 μm, s=30.4, which may have a TCE=30.6/25−1=1120 ppm/° C. (e.g., polyethylene is 120-200 ppm/° C., PDMS=310 ppm/° C., and plastic wood=1230 ppm/° C.).
One may calculate the time needed to heat up a 25 μm film of thermal conductivity of k=0.01 J/(s·cm·K) and specific heat, cp=1.67 J/(g·K), ρ=1.14 g/cm3. Thus, ν=k/cp/ρ=0.01/1.67/1.14=0.00525 cm2/s, which means that a temperature rise of the heater will propagate across a film thickness of s=0.0025 cm in a time, t=s2/(2ν)=0.00252/2/0.00525=0.00060 s, i.e., fast enough.
One may compare the efficiency of such a pumping approach (or pump 50) with that of other approaches. If one defines efficiency as the ratio η=Output/Input=(ideal compression work on the gas)/(actual energy), one may identify for a gas volume V=50 nL=5·10−5 cm3, in each chamber surrounding one of the PHASED heater array elements.
An ideal expansion output energy of each stroke may be Eout=p·ΔV/(1+VDead/V)=106·0.39·5·10−5/(1+0.2)=16.3 erg, assuming a 20% dead volume, which reduces the effect of the 39% expansion. The input thermal energy into the gas may be Ein,gas=n·cp·ΔT=V/VM·cp·ΔT=5·10−5/22500·7·4.184·107·120=78.1 erg, where ΔT=(200−20)(2/3)=120. This energy may be provided by the membrane heaters and should not be counted. The input energy into membrane heater, using x=430° C./W, may be Ein,htr=Δt·ΔT/x=0.002·180/430·107=8370 erg, for each heater pulse of 2 ms duration. The inputs into two ˜0.5 mm “check valve” heaters, using x=430° C./W, may be Ein,htr=Δt·ΔT/x=0.002·180/430/5·107=1674 erg, for heater pulses of 2 ms duration.
These parameters may correspond to an efficiency of 16.3/(8370+1674)=0.16%. During a proposed Δt=4 second analysis time and a flow of V=0.5 cm3/min (driven by a pump element volumetric displacement of Vp=0.39·50·10−6), which requires a frequency of f=V/Vp=0.5/60/(0.39·50·10−6)=427 Hz, the total pump energy per one analysis period may thus be E(pump)=E(stroke)·f·Δt=(8370+1674)·427·4·10−77=1.71 J.
The latter approach may use the measured (430° C./W), still very lossy, long and narrow heater, which is attached continuously to the Si substrate. Another approach ( 1/10th attachment to a polymer) may reduce this loss by 10 times, so that the efficiency might then increase to 1.6% and the energy needed per analysis drop to 0.171 J. Further efficiency improvements may be achievable with shorter pulses, e.g., Δt=0.5 to 1 ms instead of 2 ms, as used above, keeping in mind that x=430° C./W was measured under steady state conditions. The 1.6% would only be about six times lower than the latest computations for an EP stack. The 171 mJ amount of energy per analysis appears to compare favorably with earlier estimates.
Having PHASED chips available, in view of a
For a demonstration, the check valves may be fabricated by staking a thin-film polymer film on 2-3 points around the PHASED outlet orifice.
The second approach in
In summary, the characteristics of the valve-less thermal pump 50 over other 0.1-1 cm3/min pumps may include the following items. The pump may have more reliable and efficient (higher on/off flow ratio) than micropumps dependent on mechanical check valves. Such pump may be less prone to failure caused by small particulate matter. The pump may harness well known gas properties (thermal expansion and temperature-dependence of viscosity) for service as a micropump under advantageous micro “surface-to-volume” ratios, which may enable much higher frequency operation than conventional size pumps, which would not even be practical, despite being thermodynamically similar to combustion and Carnot cycle engines. Pump 50 may be integrated into a MEMS micro-fluidic structure and be completely fabricated at the wafer-level. It may involve very simple fabrication. The illustrative examples (of
A fluid analyzer which may be used in conjunction with the thermal pump may include a channel or channels for a flow of a sample along a membrane that supports heaters and a stationary phase for sample analysis. The channel or channels may be an integral part of the micro fluid analyzer. The analyzer may have the pre-concentrator (PC) 101 (viz., concentrator) and chromatographic separator (CS) 102 that incorporates the channel or channels.
Sample stream 111 may enter input port 112 to the first leg of a differential thermal-conductivity detector (TCD) (or other device) 115. A pump 116 may effect a flow of fluid 111 through the apparatus 110 via tube 117, though pump 116 may be a thermal pump or be replaced by a thermal pump. There may be additional pumps, and various tube or plumbing arrangements or configurations for system 110 in
Substrate 130 may have a well-defined single-channel phased heater mechanism 131 having a channel 132 for receiving the sample fluid stream 111, as shown in
The sensor apparatus 110 may also include a number of interactive elements inside channel 132 so that they are exposed to the streaming sample fluid 111. Each of the interactive elements may be positioned adjacent, i.e., for closest possible contact, to a corresponding heater element. For example, in
Controller 119 may be electrically connected to each of the heater elements 125, 126, 127, 128, and detectors 115 and 118 as shown in
In the example shown, controller 119 (
Controller 119 may next energize second heater element 126 to increase its temperature as shown at line 152, starting at or before the energy pulse on element 125 has been stopped. Since second heater element 126 is thermally coupled to second interactive element 136, the second interactive element also desorbs selected constituents into streaming sample fluid 111 to produce a second concentration pulse. Controller 119 may energize second heater element 126 such that the second concentration pulse substantially overlaps first concentration pulse 161 to produce a higher concentration pulse 163, as shown in
Controller 119 may then energize third heater element 127 to increase its temperature as shown at line 153 in
Controller 119 may then energize “N-th” heater element 128 to increase its temperature as shown at line 154. Since “N-th” heater element 128 is thermally coupled to an “N-th” interactive element 138, “N-th” interactive element 138 may desorb selected constituents into streaming sample fluid 111 to produce an “N-th” concentration pulse. Controller 119 may energize “N-th” heater element 128 such that the “N-th” concentration pulse substantially overlaps larger concentration pulse 165 provided by the previous N−1 interactive elements. The streaming sample fluid may carry the resultant “N-th” concentration pulse 167 to either a separator 102 or a detector 118.
In the present specification, some of the matter may be of a hypothetical or prophetic nature although stated in another manner or tense.
Although the invention has been described with respect to at least one illustrative example, many variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the present specification. It is therefore the intention that the appended claims be interpreted as broadly as possible in view of the prior art to include all such variations and modifications.
Claims
1-10. (canceled)
11. A valveless thermal pump comprising:
- a channel having an inlet and an outlet;
- a first heater situated in the channel;
- a second heater situated in the channel downstream from the first heater;
- a thermal control region situated in the channel between the first heater and the second heater; and
- a controller connected to the first heater and the second heater to provide a sequence of heater energizing signals to the first and second heaters to provide a reciprocating expansion and contraction of a fluid to result in the pumping of the fluid in the channel; and
- wherein the thermal control region biases the fluid downstream.
12. The thermal pump of claim 11, wherein:
- the thermal control region comprises an improvement; and
- the improvement comprises: a reduced cross section in the channel at a location of the thermal control region; and/or a short length relative to a distance between the first and second heaters.
13. The thermal pump of claim 11, wherein the thermal control region comprises a film that reduces an area of a passageway of the channel upon a change of temperature of the film.
14. The thermal pump of claim 11, further comprising at least another heater in the channel proximate to the first and second heaters.
15. The thermal pump of claim 11, wherein the channel is a part of a fluid analyzer.
16. A thermal pump comprising:
- a channel;
- a first fluidic diode structure situated in the channel;
- a second fluidic diode structure situated in the channel; and
- a heater situated in the channel proximate to and between the first fluidic diode structure and the second fluidic diode structure.
17. The pump of claim 16, further comprising a controller connected to the heater for energizing the heater according to a sequence of signals for pumping a fluid through the channel.
18. The pump of claim 16 further comprising:
- a second heater proximately associated with the first fluidic diode structure; and
- a third heater proximately associated with the second fluidic diode structure; and
- wherein the first and second heaters are energized at certain times to increase the effectiveness of the first and second fluidic diode structures.
19. The pump of claim 16, wherein the channel is a part of a fluid analyzer.
20. The pump of claim 19, wherein the fluid analyzer is a phased heater array for enhanced detection (PHASED) fluid analyzer.
21. A valveless thermal pump comprising:
- a channel having an inlet and an outlet;
- a first heater situated in the channel;
- a second heater situated in the channel downstream from the first heater;
- a thermal control region situated in the channel between the first heater and the second heater; and
- a controller connected to the first heater and the second heater to provide a sequence of heater energizing signals to the first and second heaters to provide a reciprocating expansion and contraction of a fluid to result in the pumping of the fluid in the channel; and
- wherein the expansion and contraction of the fluid moves the fluid in downstream direction and substantially prevents the fluid from moving in an upstream direction without moving parts in the thermal control region.
22. The thermal pump of claim 21, wherein:
- the thermal control region comprises an improvement; and
- the improvement comprises: a reduced cross section in the channel at a location of the thermal control region; and/or a short length relative to a distance between the first and second heaters.
23. The thermal pump of claim 21, wherein the thermal control region comprises a film that reduces an area of a passageway of the channel upon a change of temperature of the film.
24. The thermal pump of claim 21, further comprising at least another heater in the channel proximate to the first and second heaters.
25. The thermal pump of claim 21, wherein the channel is a part of a fluid analyzer.
Type: Application
Filed: May 16, 2006
Publication Date: Sep 23, 2010
Applicant: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC. (Morristown, NJ)
Inventors: Ulrich Bonne (Hopkins, MN), Robert Higashi (Shorewood, MN), Tom Rezachek (Cottage Grove, MN)
Application Number: 11/383,663
International Classification: F04B 19/24 (20060101);