Patent ID: 6960476
Filing Date: 2005-11-01
Classification: G01N,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method for calculating the concentration of at least two individual analyte gas components in a multi-component gas mixture having a temperature of about 400° C. or more, comprising: (a) providing within the gas mixture an array of at least three chemo/electro-active materials, each chemo/electro-active material having a different electrical response characteristic upon exposure to each of the individual analyte gas components than each of the other chemo/electro-active materials, wherein at least one chemo/electro-active material, when at a temperature of about 400° C. or more, (i) has an electrical resistivity in the range of about 1 ohm-cm to about 10 (ii) exhibits a change in electrical resistance of at least about 0.1 percent upon exposure of the material to an analyte gas component, as compared to the resistance before exposure; (b) heating the array to a temperature above 500° C.; (c) determining an electrical response of each chemo/electro-active material upon exposure of the array to the unseparated components of the gas mixture; (d) inputting the electrical responses of the chemo/electro-active materials, but not a baseline response value, a comparison response value or a reference gas value, to a pattern recognition technique; and (e) calculating the concentration of each of the individual analyte gas components from the inputs in step (d).