Patent ID: 9410894
Filing Date: 2016-08-09
CPC Classification: B01D,B01L,G01N

Claim Text:
1. A microfluidic device for analyzing water present in a pipe under a first pressure, comprising: a sampling channel having a protruding upstream end configured to be sealingly inserted into the pipe and to draw water from the pipe, the rest of the microfluidic device being located outside of the pipe, a downstream portion of the sampling channel comprising: a first branch, and a second branch, a tank comprising: a water compartment in fluid connection with the second branch of the sampling channel, a reactant compartment configured to contain a volume of a chemical reactant, and a separator arranged between the water compartment and the reactant compartment, wherein said separator is selected from the group consisting of a piston, a flexible membrane, and a reactant flexible bag; a mixer in fluid connection with the first branch of the sampling channel, and in fluid connection with a conveying channel arranged to convey chemical reactant from the reactant compartment of the tank to the mixer, the mixer configured to receive an amount of the water from the second branch of the sampling channel and an amount of the reactant from the conveying channel, and to mix together the received water and the received chemical reactant to form a mixture, so that the chemical reactant can react with the water, an analyzer in fluid connection with the mixer and configured to receive and analyze the mixture from the mixer, wherein: the separator is configured to be displaceable by the water under a first pressure such that the water compartment is configured to pressurize the reactant compartment and passively move the chemical reactant from the reactant compartment to the mixer through the conveying channel without any pumping device, the microfluidic device having no pumping device, and the analyzer has a downstream outlet port configured to be subjected to a second pressure lower than the first pressure, the first branch and the second branch are arranged such that the water passively moves from the pipe towards the analyzer via the mixer, and also towards the tank, and the first and second branches are further respectively arranged such that the water compartment and the mixer are configured to be subjected to the first pressure.