You Can Analyze Four Water Samples at a Time With This Device
September 29, 2022 By Raulf Hernes
(Image Credit Google)
David Wahman, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency engineer, has built and patented a device that can analyze four types of water simultaneously: a cup with walls to divide the different types of water.
The device is a handheld mobile analysis tool that helps the users test the water in the field and helps in taking real-time readings. It is simple to use with no delays in providing the task and with no mistakes by sample prep or other handling errors.
The Hach SL1000 Portable Parallel Analyser has mobile capabilities and can also analyze water quality measurements at once but cannot test multiple water quality at a go. Wahman created the device to analyze many water samples simultaneously with another device like Hach SL1000.
The device acts like an extended part of the mobile water analysis device, a cup with walls to divide multiple water samples. This device shows the quantification of chlorine in four models at once.
Wahman’s device explains a method to analyze one or more analyte concentrations. EPA contractor and Wahman colleague Matthew Pinelli created a 3D-printed prototype of the divided sample cup to be used with the Hach device allowing the user to use this new method.
Wahman states, “The device was created due to a real-world sampling gap problem. While onsite at a water treatment plant, the team needed to measure free chlorine from parallel filters. The idea evolved to fill the need of analyzing multiple samples for a single analyte, cutting down on the wait time between samples.”
And added, “Expanding the capability of the mobile sample device makes a field device a little more lab-friendly by adding versatility.”
The device is easy to use and load and does not require tools. In the preliminary testing, the device reduced the analysis time to 75% while testing samples simultaneously. In addition, the device reduces the time from each sample testing as four models can be tested simultaneously.
By commercializing this device, organizations and municipalities can save money, maximize precision, and speed up data collection.
The EPA researchers invent dynamic technologies available to the companies to sell after licensing through agencies. EPA can also partner in collaborative research with companies or other outside parties on cooperative research and agreements on the development or with CRADAs.
The Device for Mobile Water Analysis was awarded U.S. patent number 11,311,875 on April 26, 2022.