DEVICE FOR MEASURING HEAVY METALS HAVING ELECTRODE ELEMENT
20220187277 · 2022-06-16
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
G01N33/48785
PHYSICS
G01N33/48714
PHYSICS
International classification
Abstract
Provided herein is a device for measuring heavy metals having an electrode element and, most particularly, a device for measuring heavy metals having an electrode element including a device for measuring heavy metals having an electrode element including a substrate having a wireless communication electrode for wirelessly delivering an electrical variance that is measured from an electrode, when measuring heavy metals, an electrode element delivering an electrical signal for measuring heavy metals, and a controller controlling electric current application to the electrode element and detecting a quantity of electricity between electrodes being measured from a measurement object contaminated by heavy metal, or calculating a displacement between a reference quantity of electricity and a measured quantity of electricity.
Claims
1. A device for measuring heavy metals having an electrode element, the device comprising: a substrate having a wireless communication electrode for wirelessly delivering an electrical variance that is measured from an electrode, when measuring heavy metals; an electrode element delivering an electrical signal for measuring heavy metals; and a controller controlling electric current application to the electrode element and detecting a quantity of electricity between electrodes being measured from a measurement object contaminated by heavy metal, or calculating a displacement between a reference quantity of electricity and a measured quantity of electricity.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the electrode element comprises: a base substrate; and at least one or more pillar-type electrode parts protruding from the base substrate, or a flat-type electrode part.
3. The device of claim 2, wherein the electrode part is coated with a receptor reacting to each heavy metal.
4. The device of claim 2, wherein the electrode part is configured of multiple microelectrodes, wherein counter electrode groups are configured of one microelectrode being a reference electrode and other microelectrodes each being positioned at different positions at a same distance from the reference electrode, and wherein capacitance or impedance measurement values are obtained between the reference electrode and each microelectrode of the counter electrode groups.
5. The device of claim 4, wherein an average value of measurement values for each counter electrode group is obtained, or an average value of the measurement values excluding at least one of a highest value or a lowest value, among the measurement values for each counter electrode group, is obtained.
6. The device of claim 4, wherein multiple microelectrodes configure a pattern of a same number of microelectrodes or different numbers of microelectrodes being aligned along a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction.
7. The device of claim 4, wherein multiple microelectrodes are positioned at a center of multiple concentric circles and aligned along a circumference of each concentric circle, wherein a reference electrode is a microelectrode being positioned at the center, and wherein the counter electrode group is a group of microelectrodes being aligned along the circumference of each concentric circle.
8. The device of claim 4, wherein multiple microelectrodes being aligned on the substrate are divided into a predetermined plurality of sections, and wherein the microelectrodes of each section are configured to detect substances that are different from one another.
9. A method for measuring heavy metals by the measuring device of claim 1 and performing update in real time, the method comprising: transmitting measured heavy metal data by a wireless communication electrode, thereby allowing heavy metal data to be stored in a cloud or allowing heavy metal data to be stored in a cloud via a portable terminal; sorting the data per region; and marking heavy metal distribution on a map based on the data being sorted per region, wherein the heavy metal distribution is updated in real time when updating the heavy metal data.
10. The method of claim 9, comprising: counting a number of measurements of the heavy metal data; performing calculation to convert the measurement numbers to a monetary reward for each measurer; and providing the monetary reward to each measurer.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0035]
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MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
[0045] Hereinafter, in order to allow anyone with ordinary knowledge and skills in the art to easily carry out the present invention, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the appended drawings. However, the present invention may be implemented in various forms and shall not be limited only to the exemplary embodiments described herein. Additionally, in the appended drawings, for clarity in the description of the present invention, parts that are not related to the description of the present invention have been omitted from the drawings, and, throughout the entire specification, similar parts have been assigned with similar reference numerals.
[0046] Throughout the entire specification, it shall be understood that, when a particular part is said to “include” a particular component, unless specified otherwise, this means that other components may be further included and does not mean that other components are excluded.
[0047] Furthermore, terms such as “ . . . unit”, “ . . . part”, and so on, means a unit performing or processing at least one function or operation.
[0048] In the present invention, although food and drinks are mainly given as test objects for detecting heavy metals, the test objects will not be limited, as long as the test object is/has a region (or area) to which the device for measuring heavy metals (100) (or heavy metal measuring device (100)) can be equipped (or installed).
[0049] The heavy metal measuring device (100) according to the present invention is configured as described below.
[0050] Firstly, a substrate (103) having a wireless communication electrode for wirelessly delivering electrical variance (or change) that is measured from an electrode, when measuring heavy metals.
[0051] The wireless communication electrode is an electrode, e.g., antenna, for delivering data that is to be transmitted from a controller (101) to a server in a signal form.
[0052] Secondly, an electrode element delivering an electrical signal for measuring heavy metals may be configured, wherein the electrode element may be configured of multiple electrode parts (107) (which may also be shortened to “electrode”). And, herein, when power is supplied, a change in the quantity of electricity according to a medium, which exists between two electrode parts (107) is measured. This is the basic principle of heavy metal measurement.
[0053] Thirdly, a controller (101) for controlling electric current application to the electrode element and for detecting a quantity of electricity between electrode parts (107) being measured from a contaminated measurement object, or for calculating a displacement between a reference quantity of electricity and a measured quantity of electricity. The controller (101) may include a calculation module for performing calculation, and the calculation module may be mounted on a separate server (e.g., cloud or edge cloud server, and so on).
[0054] Herein, the electrode element includes a base substrate (105), and at least one or more pillar-type electrode parts (107) protruding from the base substrate (105), or a flat-type electrode part (107).
[0055]
[0056] As shown in the drawing, by invading (or inserting) an electrode part (107) directly to solid food, such as fish, the heavy metal measuring device (100) according to the present invention may easily and simply measure heavy metals inside the corresponding solid food. Since a change in the quantity of electricity between multiple electrodes, which is detected by the heavy metal measuring device (100), varies for each type of heavy metal, whether or not heavy metal is measured and a type of the heavy metal may be determined based on the corresponding change in the quantity of electricity. The heavy metal measuring device (100) according to the present invention transmits the changed quantity of electricity to a server or terminal (or user equipment) through a means of communication and, then, analyzes the transmitted information from the server or terminal (or user equipment), or, by having the controller (101) be equipped with a calculation module, the heavy metal measuring device (100) may determine whether or not heavy metals exist and the type of heavy metal based on changes in the quantity of electricity between electrodes.
[0057]
[0058] Herein, the change in the quantity of electricity denotes a change in quantity of electric current, impedance, capacitance, and so on, and the quantity of electricity includes all property values that may be measured between both ends of an electrode.
[0059]
[0060] Herein, in case one heavy metal exists, only one type of impedance change occurs. And, in case two heavy metals exist, two types of impedance change occur. For example, an electrode part (107) dedicated to measuring Mercury may be inserted so as to measure the presence or absence of Mercury, and an electrode part (107) dedicated to measuring Cadmium may be inserted so as to measure the presence or absence of Cadmium.
[0061] Alternatively, an array of multiple electrode parts (107) may be divided into multiple sections, wherein one section may be assigned with a Mercury measuring electrode part (107), and wherein another section may be assigned with a Cadmium measuring electrode part (107).
[0062] This, for example, may also be implemented by coating a receptor (109), as described above. Evidently, heavy metal measurement may also be performed, without any receptor (109), by measuring a difference in the quantity of electricity occurring between multiple electrode parts (107).
[0063]
[0064]
[0065] That is, while collecting and analyzing data on the measured heavy metal not only from just one country but also from various regions (or locations) around the world and providing such data to the aforementioned platform, a heavy metal map may be produced (or drawn) at the same time, which may be used as an important document on the current status of heavy metal contamination. This is feasible in that the heavy metal measuring device (100) according to the present invention has been devised to be conveniently used not only by a professional user (or specialist) but also by a non-professional user regardless of the properties of the measurement object, such as its liquid state or solid state, and so on. Furthermore, due to such convenience, by allowing opportunities and frequency in heavy metal measurement to be increased, and by allowing accumulated heavy metal contamination (or pollution) information to be transmitted to a central server, such as a cloud, from any location having a communication system established therein, a precise heavy metal contamination distribution map segmented per region may be configured.
[0066]
[0067] The present invention includes the steps of transmitting measured heavy metal data by a wireless communication electrode, thereby storing the data in a cloud or stored the data in a cloud via a portable terminal (or user equipment); sorting the data per region; and indicating heavy metal distribution on a map based on the data being sorted per region. Herein, in case an update in the heavy metal data occurs, the heavy metal distribution is designed to be updated in real time in accordance with the updated heavy metal data.
[0068] Additionally, herein, a number of measurements of the heavy metal data measured by different measurers (or measuring people) may be counted per individual, and the counted measurements may be calculated to a monetary reward corresponding to the number of measurements, which may then be awarded (or provided) to the respective measurers. And, the calculated monetary reward may also be provided to the respective measurers on a monthly basis or a daily basis. Thus, the measurement of heavy metals may be encouraged, thereby allowing heavy metal maps to be swiftly created and updated.
[0069] That is, if the heavy metal measuring device (100) according to the present invention is distributed, for example, to residents of a particular region, and if the device is designed to provide a monetary reward for each time a heavy metal measurement is performed, the residents may actively measure heavy metals contained in various entities. And, when big data is processed from the data accumulated from various measurements, and if the processed big data is commercialized, a business program may be designed to return the profit as monetary reward to the residents who have participated in the measurement process. Accordingly, a larger number of participants may be recruited from the business program. Thus, a virtuous cycle structure for newly establishing high quality big data may be completed.
[0070] Hereinafter, an example of configuring electrodes in the form of an array, and a measurement method according to the configured array will be described in detail.
[0071]
[0072] As shown in
[0073]
[0074] The present invention is a heavy metal measuring device (100) having multiple electrode parts (107) aligned in a substrate (103). Herein, a reference electrode part (107), which is a reference electrode, and counter electrode groups provided with other electrode parts (107) located at different distances from the reference electrode part (107) are configured, and measurement values of capacitance or impedance formed in the reference electrode part (107) and the counter electrode groups may be obtained. Thus, measurement of the heavy metals may be performed.
[0075] The present invention may obtain an average of the measurement values per counter electrode group, and an average of the measurement values excluding at least one of a highest value or a lowest value among the measurement values per counter electrode group may also be obtained.
[0076] Generally, an average of the measurement values shall be obtained. However, in case an error is expected in the highest value or the lowest value, an average excluding such values may also be obtained.
[0077] An array pattern structure of the electrode parts (107) according to the present invention may be implemented according various embodiments.
[0078] According to an embodiment, it is preferable that multiple electrode parts (107) are formed in a pattern configured of the same number of electrode parts (107) along a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction, and that the reference electrode part (107) is any one of the multiple electrode parts (107).
[0079] In case of the above-described embodiment, it is preferable that a same odd number of multiple electrode parts (107) are aligned along the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction (see
[0080] According to another embodiment, the array pattern (not shown) is formed by aligning different numbers of the multiple electrode parts (107) along the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction, and the reference electrode part (107) may be any one of the multiple electrode parts (107).
[0081] Meanwhile, in the present invention, the aforementioned ‘longitudinal direction’ and ‘transverse direction’ will not be limited only to a vertical direction and a horizontal direction, and, therefore, alignment (or positioning) along a diagonal direction may also be included. That is, there is no separate limitation in directionality.
[0082] For example, the electrode parts (107) may be freely aligned (or positioned) along any of the vertical direction, horizontal direction, diagonal direction, random direction, and so on. Herein, however, a pattern may be formed so as to be provided with a plurality of other electrode parts (107) each corresponding to the same distance from the reference electrode part (107).
[0083] According to an embodiment,
[0084] In the present invention, electrode parts (107) that are located at a same distance from the reference electrode part (107) will be referred to as a counter electrode group. Accordingly, the 4 electrode parts (107) being located at a nearest distance from the reference electrode part (107) will be referred to as a first counter electrode group.
[0085] The first counter electrode group exist as the 4 electrode parts (107) (P8, P12, P18, P14) being located along line a1-a2 and line a3-a4 of
[0086] In this case, although only one measurement value of the capacitance or impedance between two electrode parts (107) existed in the conventional method, in the present invention, since 4 nearest electrode parts (107) exist, 4 measurement values exist, accordingly.
[0087] Subsequent to the first counter electrode group, 4 electrode parts (107) (P7, P9, P17, P19) being located at a second nearest distance from the reference electrode part (107) are configured as a second counter electrode group. The second counter electrode group may exist as the 4 electrode parts (107) being located along line b1-b2 and line b3-b4 of
[0088] Subsequent to the second counter electrode group, 4 electrode parts (107) (P3, P11, P15, P23) being located at a third nearest distance from the reference electrode part (107) are configured as a third counter electrode group. The third counter electrode group may exist as the 4 electrode parts (107) being located along line a1-a2 and line a3-a4 of
[0089] Subsequent to the third counter electrode group, 8 electrode parts (107) (P6, P20, P2, P24, P4, P22, P10, P16) being located at a fourth nearest distance from the reference electrode part (107) are configured as a fourth counter electrode group. The fourth counter electrode group may exist as the 8 electrode parts (107) being located along line c1-c2, line c3-c4, line c5-c6, and line c7-c8 of
[0090] Subsequent to the fourth counter electrode group, 4 electrode parts (107) (P1, P5, P21, P25) being located at a fifth nearest distance from the reference electrode part (107) are configured as a fifth counter electrode group. The fifth counter electrode group may exist as the 4 electrode parts (107) being located along line b1-b2, and line b3-b4 of
[0091] To summarize, in case electrode P13 is configured as the reference electrode part (107), change values in capacitance or impedance between the total of 24 electrodes may be obtained, and, in comparison to the conventional measurement method, property values having much higher precision and reliability may be obtained.
[0092]
[0093] By using this method, measurement values of the variance (or change) between a total of 25 electrode parts (107) and electrode parts (107) being adjacent to each position may be obtained, And, as described above, in case 25 electrode parts (107) exist, a total of 300 measurement values may be obtained in one measurement. Thus, precise and reliable measurement values may be obtained.
[0094] In case the number of electrode parts (107) is equal to n, the total number of measurement values that may be obtained from a single measurement may be equal to n(n−1)/2. And, therefore, in case 100 electrode parts (107) exist, a total of 4,950 measurement values may be obtained from a single measurement.
[0095] Meanwhile,
[0096] In case of
[0097] Subsequent to the first counter electrode group (d1), 4 electrode parts (107) (P6, P7, P8, P9) located at a same second nearest distance (d2) from the reference electrode part (107) (P1) configure a second counter electrode group.
[0098] Subsequent to the second counter electrode group (d2), 4 electrode parts (107) (P10, P11, P12, P13) located at a same third nearest distance (d3) from the reference electrode part (107) (P1) configure a third counter electrode group.
[0099] Subsequent to the third counter electrode group (d3), 8 electrode parts (107) (P14, P15, P16, P17, P18, P19, P20, P21) located at a same fourth nearest distance (d4) from the reference electrode part (107) (P1) configure a fourth counter electrode group.
[0100] As proposed in the various embodiments, which are described above, the present invention may indicate a distribution map of numerous measurement values, and a more precise comparison of the variance between the electrodes according to the measurement object heavy metals may be carried out. Thus, precise heavy metal detection may be performed.
[0101]
[0102] Referring to
[0103] According to the conventional method shown in
[0104] However, in an actual state, since the forms of the electrodes are not completely consistent, there are limitations in making an accurate diagnosis based on only one data variation value.
[0105] However, since the present invention uses a multi-electrode array, and since multiple electrode parts (107) (first counter electrode group) are located at a nearest distance from a single reference electrode part (107), more reliable measurement values may be obtained from multiple average values.
[0106] Additionally, since an electrode array is used, as shown in the examples of
[0107] Moreover, since the variance of the impedance or capacitance according to each position may be indicated in a graph, the variance (or change) may be indicated by a change in inclinations in the graph, and not by a simple change (or variance) in the constant.
[0108]
[0109]
[0110] As described above, depending upon the type of heavy metal, the impedance or capacitance measurement value may be varied. And, in this case, the electrode array may be divided into multiple arbitrary sections. And, by adjusting the electrode structure or the receptor (109) attached to the electrodes so that different heavy metals can be detected from each divided section, various heavy metals may be simultaneously detected at once.
[0111] In
[0112] In
[0113] Additionally, in case of the embodiment of
[0114] As described above, the heavy metal measuring device (100) according to the present invention may obtain highly precise and reliable data. Moreover, a heavy metal measuring device (100) and a measurement method using the same that can simultaneously detect various heavy metals from a single measurement may be implemented.
[0115] It shall be noted that the embodiments set forth herein are provided to describe the embodiments according to the present invention, and not to limit the present invention. Furthermore, it may be understood by anyone with ordinary skills in the field that other various embodiments may also be implemented without deviating from the technical scope and spirit of the present invention.
TABLE-US-00001 Description of reference numerals 100: measuring device 101: controller 103: substrate 105: base substrate 107: electrode part 109: receptor