Miniature Residual Life Indicator

Impregnated ASZM-TEDA carbon employed as highly adsorptive materials in Collective Protection (ColPro) systems loses the ability to adsorb toxic chemicals because of exposure to temperature, humidity, battlefield contaminants, and other pollutants. To address the Chemical and Biological Defense (CBD) need for a residual life indicator (RLI) capable of probing the degradation in physical adsorption and reactive capacity arising from battlefield contaminants and exposure to the elements, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes developing a new Miniature Residual Life Indicator (MRLIN). This proposed MRLIN is based on impedance spectroscopy measurements performed directly on the filtering system adsorptive material. MRLIN’s innovative algorithm for performing impedance spectroscopy will enable the MRLIN to probe directly the contamination of the active carbon material, with increased accuracy, without the undue complications of readout electronics. This development, as a result, offers a novel system for assessing the residual life of sorbent-based air purification systems that are integrable into ColPro systems. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate the feasibility of MRLIN by assembling and testing a bench-top prototype with three battlefield contaminants representing different poisoning mechanisms. In Phase II, POC plans to develop a field-ready prototype for integration into existing filtration systems and evaluation in relevant conditions.