Patent Publication Number: US-2021181071-A1

Title: Apparatus for sampling gas, drone therewith and control method thereof

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of priority of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0166541 filed on 13 Dec. 2019 and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0166539 filed on 13 Dec. 2019, both in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field 
     One or more example embodiments relate to an apparatus for sampling gas, a drone therewith, and a control method thereof. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     A chemical weapon is a toxic chemical agent or a weapon filled with the same. Chemical weapons are military hardware that directly uses chemical reactions for combat, such as flame throwing agents, incendiary agents, smokescreens, toxic gases, or luminescence generating agents, and specifically include gaseous materials such as adamsite, yperite, and phosgene. These toxic chemicals may interfere with pathways of neurotransmitters, invade the blood to cause chemical reactions, or induce suffocation. 
     Whether such a chemical weapon is diffused may be determined by collecting materials in the air and checking the concentrations and distribution locations of the collected materials. For example, it is necessary to apply the technology to defense articles such as automatic alarms for chemical, biological, and radiological (CBR) detection/alarming, CBR reconnaissance cars, portable chemical agent detection equipment, chemical-biological automatic detectors, and/or unmanned reconnaissance aerial vehicles used as unmanned aircraft. 
     The above description has been possessed or acquired by the inventor(s) in the course of conceiving the present invention and is not necessarily an art publicly known before the present application is filed. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to an aspect, there is provided a gas sampling apparatus having a sampling film in a cartridge, the gas sampling apparatus including the cartridge configured to store and send the sampling film out, and the sampling film detachable from the cartridge, wherein the sampling film may be configured to adsorb a target material and prevent disturbance between sampled target materials. 
     The sampling film may include a sampling section configured to adsorb a target material to be sampled, and a non-reaction section configured to not adsorb the target material to be sampled or not react with the target material to be sampled. 
     The sampling film may include an impermeable surface on the other side of a surface that is to be externally exposed. 
     The sampling section may include a plurality of sampling tapes arranged side by side in the sending-out direction of the sampling film and configured to adsorb the target material to be sampled. 
     The cartridge may be configured to store and send the sampling film out, and store the sampling film having sampled the target material in a manner that prevents disturbance between sampling sections. 
     The cartridge may include a first housing configured to store the sampling film yet to be used, a second housing configured to store the sampling film having sampled the target material, and a connector configured to expose one surface of the sampling film to the outside of the cartridge and block external exposure of the other surface of the sampling film as the sampling film is sent out, and to connect the second housing to the first housing. 
     The first housing may include a first sealing membrane provided at an outlet between the first housing and the connector to block the first housing from the outside. 
     The second housing may include a second sealing membrane provided at an inlet between the second housing and the connector to block the second housing from the outside. 
     The sampling film may include a disturbance preventing projection provided to protrude from the sampling film in a direction perpendicular to the sending-out direction of the sampling film, and configured to prevent disturbance between sampling sections. 
     The cartridge may include a sending-out roller configured to send out and externally expose the sampling film rolled up in the first housing, and a collecting roller configured to roll up and collect the exposed sampling film into the second housing, wherein the cartridge may be configured to store the sampling film having sampled the target material, rolled up around the collecting roller. 
     The cartridge may be configured to store the sampling film having sampled the target material, folded up in the form of zigzags. 
     The gas sampling apparatus may further include a coating part configured to provide a coating film to seal the adsorbed surface of the sampling film when the sampling film is collected from the outside into the cartridge. 
     The gas sampling apparatus may further include a motor configured to adjust the sending-out speed of the sampling film. 
     According to another aspect, there is provided a drone with a gas sampling apparatus having a sampling film in a cartridge, the drone including the cartridge configured to store and send the sampling film out, the sampling film provided in the cartridge, and a flying body configured to externally expose the sampling film, wherein the cartridge is attached thereto. 
     The drone may further include a position information sensor, and an information recording device, wherein the information received from the position information sensor may be recorded on the sampling film and transmitted to the gas sampling apparatus. 
     According to another aspect, there is provided a method of controlling a drone with a gas sampling apparatus, the method including receiving a gas sampling target position, moving the drone, sending out and exposing a sampling film, collecting and storing the sampling film, and matching position information and time information related to an area where the sampling film performs sampling. 
     The sampling film may include activated carbon fiber (ACF) fabric, fiber fabric with a metal-organic framework (MOF), fiber fabric with activated carbon, porous polymer, film-type fabric with a porous inorganic material, or an adsorptive polymer film. 
     The sampling film may further include reactive color-changing materials arranged side by side in the sending-out direction of the sampling film. 
     According to example embodiments, an apparatus for sampling gas may continuously test target materials without disturbance, and a drone with the apparatus may control detection and sampling of target materials in a target area at a predetermined time. 
     Additional aspects of example embodiments will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and/or other aspects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of example embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a gas sampling apparatus according to an example embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a sampling film according to an example embodiment; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a sampling film according to an example embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a sampling film according to an example embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a sampling film according to an example embodiment; 
         FIG. 6A  is a partially enlarged view of the portion a of  FIG. 1 , and  FIG. 6B  is a partially enlarged view of the portion b of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a gas sampling apparatus according to an example embodiment; 
         FIGS. 8 and 9  illustrate drones with gas sampling apparatuses according to example embodiments; 
         FIG. 10  is a block diagram illustrating a drone with a gas sampling apparatus according to an example embodiment; 
         FIG. 11  is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a drone with a gas sampling apparatus according to an example embodiment; and 
         FIG. 12  illustrates a gas sampling apparatus according to an example embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Hereinafter, example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Regarding the reference numerals assigned to the components in the drawings, it should be noted that the same components will be designated by the same reference numerals, wherever possible, even though they are shown in different drawings. Also, in the description of the example embodiments, detailed description of well-known related structures or functions will be omitted when it is deemed that such description will cause ambiguous interpretation of the present disclosure. 
     Also, in the description of the components, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), (b) or the like may be used herein when describing components of the present disclosure. These terms are used only for the purpose of discriminating one constituent element from another constituent element, and the nature, the sequences, or the orders of the constituent elements are not limited by the terms. When one constituent element is described as being “connected”, “coupled”, or “attached” to another constituent element, it should be understood that one constituent element can be connected or attached directly to another constituent element, and an intervening constituent element can also be “connected”, “coupled”, or “attached” to the constituent elements. 
     The same name may be used to describe an element included in the example embodiments described above and an element having a common function. Unless otherwise mentioned, the descriptions on the example embodiments may be applicable to the following example embodiments and thus, duplicated descriptions will be omitted for conciseness. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a gas sampling apparatus according to an example embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , an apparatus  1  for sampling gas may continuously sample gaseous materials. For example, the apparatus  1  for sampling gas may be utilized for defense articles such as automatic alarms for chemical, biological, and radiological (CBR) detection/alarming, CBR reconnaissance cars, portable chemical agent detection equipment, chemical-biological automatic detectors, and/or reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles used as unmanned aircraft. For example, the apparatus  1  for sampling gas that adsorbs a gaseous material may be referred to as the “gas sampling apparatus”. The gas sampling apparatus  1  may include a cartridge  11  and a sampling film  12  (hereinafter, also referred to as the “film”). For example, the film  12  that adsorbs and samples a gaseous material may be referred to as the “sampling film”. 
     The cartridge  11  may accommodate the film  12  that is detachable therefrom, and store and send out the film  12 . For example, the cartridge  11  may store the film  12  on one side, send the film  12  out from one side to the other side at a time when detection or sampling is needed, and store the film  12  having sampled a target material on the other side. The film  12  stored after the sampling operation may be detached from the cartridge  11  and passed through a gas analyzer to derive a precise analysis result for the target material in real time. Meanwhile, the cartridge  11  may store the film  12  having sampled the target material in a manner that prevents disturbance. For example, the cartridge  11  may have a structure that prevents materials adsorbed on the film  12  from moving and mixing with each other. The cartridge  11  may include a first housing  111 , a second housing  112 , a connector  113 , a sending-out roller  114 , and a collecting roller  115 . 
     The first housing  111  may store the film  12  yet to be used, and the second housing  112  may store the film  12  having sampled the target material. 
     The connector  113  may expose one surface of the film  12  to the outside of the cartridge  11  and block external exposure of the other surface of the film  12  as the film  12  is sent out, and connect the second housing  112  to the first housing  111 . 
     The sending-out roller  114  may send out and externally expose the film  12  rolled up in the first housing  111 , and the collecting roller  115  may collect the exposed film  12  by rolling up the film  12  in the second housing  112 . The collecting roller  115  may store the film  12  having sampled the target material by rolling up the film therearound. For example, the sending-out roller  114  and/or the collecting roller  115  may include a motor, and the sending-out speed and the collecting speed may be adjusted by a controller  73  (see  FIG. 9 ). 
     The film  12  may adsorb the target material. For example, the film  12  may include, if being a sampling film, activated carbon fiber (ACF) fabric, fiber fabric with a metal-organic framework (MOF), fiber fabric with activated carbon, porous polymer, film-type fabric with a porous inorganic material, or an adsorptive polymer film as a material capable of adsorbing a gaseous material, and may also include various adsorptive materials not limited thereto. Further, the film  12  may include, if being a detection film, a material that changes color according to a characteristic of the gaseous material. Meanwhile, the film  12  may prevent disturbance between sampled target materials. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a film according to an example embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a film  22  may include a reaction section  221  configured to adsorb or sample a target material to be sampled, and a non-reaction section  222  configured to not adsorb the target material or not react with the target material. The reaction section  221  may be referred to as the “sampling section” depending on the function thereof. For example, the reaction section  221  and the non-reaction section  222  may include different materials. The reaction section  221  may include various adsorptive materials described above, and the non-reaction section  222  may include a material having a lower adsorbability than the reaction section  221  or a non-adsorptive material. By the above structure, it is possible to expose the reaction section  221  after arriving at a test position for sampling gas, and to prevent the reaction section  221  from being exposed during movement from the test position to another test position. Therefore, it is possible to reduce cross-contamination caused by movements between the sampled materials in the film  22  having completed detection or sampling. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a film according to an example embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , a film  32  may include a reaction section  321 , a non-reaction section  322 , and a disturbance preventing projection  323 . 
     The disturbance preventing projection  323  may be provided to protrude from the film  32  in a direction perpendicular to the sending-out direction of the film  32 . The disturbance preventing projection  323  may prevent disturbance between sampled materials. In addition, the disturbance preventing projection  323  may be in contact with a first housing  311  and a second housing  312 , thereby separating the inside and the outside of the first housing  311  and the inside and the outside of the second housing  312 , which will be described further with reference to  FIG. 6 . Therefore, the disturbance preventing effect may significantly improve. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a film according to an example embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , a film  42  may include a reaction section  421 , a non-reaction section  422 , and an impermeable surface  423 . 
     The impermeable surface  423  may be provided on the other side of a surface that is externally exposed. For example, in the case of storing the film  42  having sampled, the film  42  may be in contact with the previously stored film  42  having sampled, in the second housing  112  (see  FIG. 1 ). Such contact may cause sampled materials to be mixed and may impede accurate analysis results. The impermeable surface  423  may prevent movement of a material sampled through one surface of the film  42  having sampled. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a film according to an example embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , a film  52  may include a reaction section  521  and a non-reaction section  522 , wherein the sampling section  521  may include a plurality of sampling tapes arranged side by side in the sending-out direction of the film  52  and configured to adsorb a target material to be sampled. In addition, the film  52  may further include reactive color-changing materials arranged side by side in the sending-out direction of the film  52  and provided in parallel with the plurality of adsorptive sampling tapes. For example, gas detection materials may be arranged side by side together with sampling tapes in the sending-out direction of the film  52 , as shown in a first section  5211 , a second section  5212 , and a third section  5213 . By the above structure, it is possible to visually confirm the presence of a target material (predetermined gas) depending on whether the film  52  changes the color and to perform sampling at the same time. In other words, by simultaneously implementing different functions of adsorption and color change (detection) characteristics, gas sampling and detection for each section may be performed at the same time. Therefore, it is possible to analyze the concentrations and characteristics of different types of materials in various manners at the same time. 
       FIG. 6A  is a partially enlarged view of the portion a of  FIG. 1 , and  FIG. 6B  is a partially enlarged view of the portion b of  FIG. 1 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 6A , the first housing  311  may include a first sealing membrane  3111 . The first sealing membrane  3111  may be provided at an outlet between the first housing  311  and a connector  313 . Referring to  FIG. 6B , the second housing  312  may include a second sealing membrane  3121 . The second sealing membrane  3121  may be provided at an inlet between the second housing  312  and the connector  313 . Meanwhile, the film  32  may include the disturbance preventing projection  323  provided to protrude from the film  32  in a direction perpendicular to the sending-out direction of the film  32 . By the above structure, two disturbance preventing projections  323  may be in contact with the first sealing membrane  3111  and the second sealing membrane  3121 , respectively, thereby separating the first housing  311  and the second housing  312  from the outside while the film  32  positioned on the connector  313  is externally exposed. Through the sealed structure as described above, it is possible to efficiently reduce the issue that a target material enters an area other than the exposed film  32 , even when the film  32  is exposed for a long time. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a gas sampling apparatus according to an example embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , a gas sampling apparatus  6  may include a cartridge  61 , and a film  62 , wherein the cartridge  61  may include a first housing  611 , a second housing  612 , a connector  613 , a sending-out roller  614 , and a collecting roller  615 . 
     The cartridge  61  may store the film  62  having sampled a target material by folding up the film  62  in the form of zigzags. The film  62  yet to be used may be stored folded up in the first housing  611 . 
     The sending-out roller  614  may send the film  62  out from the first housing  611  to the connector  613 . The sending-out roller  614  may be provided on one surface of the first housing  611  that meets the connector  613 . Meanwhile, to prevent the film  62  from contacting an inner wall of the first housing  611 , sending-out rollers  614  may be provided on both sides of the film  62 , respectively. 
     The collecting roller  615  may collect the film  62  from the first housing  611  and the connector  613  into the second housing  612 . The collecting roller  615  may be positioned on one surface of the second housing  612  that meets the connector  613 . Meanwhile, to prevent the film  62  from contacting an inner wall of the second housing  612 , collecting rollers  615  may be provided on both sides of the film  62 , respectively. 
       FIGS. 8 and 9  illustrate drones with gas sampling apparatuses according to an example embodiment, and  FIG. 10  is a block diagram illustrating a drone with a gas sampling apparatus according to an example embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 8 to 10 , a drone  10  may sample a gaseous material at a set time at set altitude and area. For example, the drone  10  may include a flying body  7 , and the gas sampling apparatus  1  attached to the flying body  7 . 
     The flying body  7  may include a position information sensor  71 , an input unit  72 , a controller  73 , a memory  74 , and a wing  75 . 
     The position information sensor  71  may include a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth-based beacon that is applicable in a short range, and a sensor configured to detect a position of the flying body  7  based on a mobile communication network. 
     The input unit  72  may receive information such as a target position and a time from the outside. For example, the input unit  72  may be construed as including various wireless communication devices configured to receive instructions or information from a user or a terminal. In addition, before the drone  10  is flown, the input unit  72  may directly receive information without wireless communication. 
     The controller  73  may control the wing  75  of the flying body  7  based on sampling plan information received from the input unit  72 , and drive the sending-out roller  114  or the collecting roller  115  at a set speed. In addition, position information received from the position information sensor  71  may be recorded on the film  12  by the information recording device  116 . The controller  73  may transmit related information including the position information and time information to the gas sampling apparatus  1 . 
     The gas sampling apparatus  1  may include the cartridge  11  and the film  12 , wherein the cartridge  11  may include the first housing, the second housing, the connector, the sending-out roller  114 , the collecting roller  115 , and an information recording device  116 . 
     For example, the cartridge  11  may be attached to the bottom of the flying body  7 , as shown in  FIG. 8 . In addition, to minimize the effect of the flow of air flowed by the wing  75  on the film  12  or to improve the efficiency of exposing the film  12  to gas, the film  12  may be provided to be exposed downward relatively to the flying body  7 . Meanwhile, the form of the gas sampling apparatus  1  connected to the flying body  7  is not necessarily limited to the example of  FIG. 8 . For example, referring to  FIG. 9 , a drone  20  may include a flying body  7  and a gas sampling apparatus  9 , wherein the gas sampling apparatus  9  may include a cartridge  91  and a film  92  that are arranged in a form different from the form shown in  FIG. 8 . 
     The sending-out roller  114  or the collecting roller  115  may include a motor configured to adjust the sending-out or collecting speed of the film  12 . 
       FIG. 11  is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a drone with a gas sampling apparatus according to an example embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIG. 11 , a method of controlling the drone  10  may include operation  81  of receiving a target position, operation  82  of moving the drone, operation  83  of sending out and exposing the film  12 , operation  84  of collecting and storing the film  12 , operation  85  of matching position information and time information related to an area where the film performs sampling, and operation  86  of verifying whether sampling is completed at all target positions. 
     In operation  81 , the input unit  72  may receive target position and time information. For example, the input unit  72  may receive sampling conditions such as a sampling count or frequency together. 
     In operation  82 , the controller  73  may compare the target position received by the input unit  72  to current position information collected by the position information sensor  71 , and move the drone  10  to the target position by driving the wing  75  if the current position does not match the target position. For example, if the current position of the drone  10  does not match the target position, the controller  73  may expose the non-reaction section  222  of the film  22  to the outside. 
     In operations  83  and  84 , the gas sampling apparatus  1  may drive the sending-out roller  114  or the collecting roller  115  through the controller  73 . Based on the time information received through the input unit  72 , the sending-out roller  114  may send the film  12  out, the film  12  sent out may sample a gaseous material, and the collecting roller  115  may collect the film  12  having sampled. Meanwhile, the reaction section  221  and the non-reaction section  222  of the film  22  may have the same width, wherein the controller  73  may control the exposure of the reaction section  221  or the non-reaction section  222  by sending the film  22  out as much as the section width, and may recognize whether a section exposed to the outside is the reaction section  221  or the non-reaction section  222 . For example, when the drone  10  arrives at the target position received in operation  81 , the controller  73  may externally expose the reaction section  221  by sending the film  22  out by the width of each section. Meanwhile, alternatively, the controller  73  may verify whether the reaction section  221  is externally exposed or the non-reaction section  222  is, by sensing whether the disturbance preventing projection  323  of the film  32  is in contact with the sealing membrane  3111  of the cartridge  11  or the inlet of the cartridge  11 . For example, to sense whether there is a contact, a pressure sensor or a capacitive sensor may be used, but is not limited to, and all types of sensors capable of determining whether there is a contact may be applicable thereto. 
     In operation  85 , the position information collected by the position information sensor  71  may be matched to the position information related to the area where the film  12  samples a target material and/or to the time information, and the matched information may be stored in the memory  74 . In the future, a user may obtain position information for each section of the film  12  based on the information stored in the memory  74 , such that the user may not need to record the collection positions and the collection order one by one in the collection process. Although it is shown in  FIG. 11  that operation  85  is performed in parallel with operations  83  and  84 , operation  85  may be performed between operation  82  and operation  83  or between operation  84  and operation  86 . 
     In operation  86 , whether detection or sampling is completed for all target positions may be verified. If detection or sampling is not performed yet for all target positions, operation  82  may be performed again to move the drone to another target position and sample the target material. If sampling is performed for all target positions, the control method is terminated. 
       FIG. 12  illustrates a gas sampling apparatus according to an example embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIG. 12 , the gas sampling apparatus  1  may include the cartridge  11 , the film  12 , and a coating part  13 . The coating part  13  may include a third housing  131  and a coating film  132 . 
     The coating film  132  may seal the adsorbed surface of the film  12  when the film  12  is collected from the first housing  111  into the second housing  112  along the connector  113 . For example, the coating film  132  may include acrylic resin or polymeric resin, but is not limited thereto, and may include all materials that may form a sealed structure when compressed by the film  12  or in contact with the film  12 . In addition, the coating film  132  may be thermoplastic and thermoformable and may form a sealed structure with the disturbance preventing projection  323  (see  FIG. 3 ) of the film  12  when compressed at the inlet between the second housing  112  and the connector  113 . 
     The third housing  131  may store the coating film  132  therein, and send the coating film  132  out by means of a driving device such as a coating roller provided therein, at a speed the same as the speed at which the film  12  is collected. Meanwhile, the drive may be physically performed by a frictional force between the coating film  132  and the film  12 , as well as the control by an electrical signal. 
     A number of example embodiments have been described above. Nevertheless, it should be understood that various modifications may be made to these example embodiments. For example, suitable results may be achieved if the described techniques are performed in a different order and/or if components in a described system, architecture, device, or circuit are combined in a different manner and/or replaced or supplemented by other components or their equivalents.