Patent ID: 8268251

Claim:
A sulfur detection system for detecting the presence of elemental sulfur in air, comprising: a substrate that includes a polymer-bound phosphine compound having sulfur-getting functionality; a spectrofluorometer having a sample compartment in which the substrate is mounted, wherein the spectrofluorometer is operative to monitor a fluorescence intensity of the substrate in real time to detect a change in the fluorescence intensity above a predetermined threshold; a shutter system to close the sample compartment from a surrounding environment during measurements by the spectrofluorometer of the fluorescence intensity of the substrate and to open the sample compartment to the surrounding environment during periods between the measurements; a processor; a memory coupled to the processor, the memory encoded with instructions that when executed by the processor cause the shutter system to open and close the sample compartment repeatedly and automatically such that the substrate is systematically exposed to the surrounding environment over time.