Near-Infrared Temperature Measurement Technique for Water Surrounding an Induction-heated Small Magnetic Sphere.

A technique to measure the temperature of water and non-turbid aqueous media surrounding an induction-heated small magnetic sphere is presented. This technique utilizes wavelengths of 1150 and 1412 nm, at which the absorption coefficient of water is dependent on temperature. Water or a non-turbid aqueous gel containing a 2.0-mm- or 0.5-mm-diameter magnetic sphere is irradiated with 1150 nm or 1412 nm incident light, as selected using a narrow bandpass filter; additionally, two-dimensional absorbance images, which are the transverse projections of the absorption coefficient, are acquired via a near-infrared camera. When the three-dimensional distributions of temperature can be assumed to be spherically symmetric, they are estimated by applying inverse Abel transforms to the absorbance profiles. The temperatures were observed to consistently change according to time and the induction heating power.

Temperature imaging of water in a microchannel using thermal sensitivity of near-infrared absorption.

This paper presents a remote and preparation-free method of temperature imaging of aqueous solutions in microchannels of microfluidic chips. The principle of this method is based on the temperature dependency of the near-infrared (NIR) absorption band (ν(2) + ν(3) band) of water. Temperature images were constructed from absorbances in a narrow wavelength range including 1908 nm, the most sensitive to temperature in the band, measured by using an NIR camera and an optical narrow-bandpass filter. Calculation and calibration results demonstrated a linear relationship between the absorption coefficient and temperature with a temperature coefficient of 1.5 × 10(-2) K(-1) mm(-1). Temperature images of 50 µm thick water in a Y-shaped PDMS microchannel locally heated by a neighboring hot wire were obtained, in which thermal diffusion processes in the microchip were visualized. Temperature resolution was estimated to be approximately 0.2 K according to the temperature coefficient and noise level.

Removal of a hydrogenated amorphous carbon film from the tip of a micropipette electrode using direct current corona discharge.

Micropipette electrodes are fabricated by coating glass micropipettes first with metal and then with hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) as an electrical insulator. Furthermore, at the tip of the micropipette electrode, the deposited a-C:H film needs to be removed to expose the metal-coated surface and hollow for the purposes of electrical measurement and injection. This paper describes a convenient and reliable method for removing the a-C:H film using direct current corona discharge in atmospheric air. The initial film removal occurred at an applied voltage of 1.5-2.0 kV, accompanied by an abrupt increase in the discharge current. The discharge current then became stable at a microampere level in the glow corona mode, and the removed area gradually extended.

Temperature measurements of turbid aqueous solutions using near-infrared spectroscopy.

We report a method that uses near-infrared spectroscopy and multivariate analysis to measure the temperature of turbid aqueous solutions. The measurement principle is based on the fact that the peak wavelength of the water absorption band, with its center near 1440 nm, shifts with changes in temperature. This principle was used to measure the temperatures of 1 mm thick samples of aqueous solutions containing Intralipid (2%), which are often used as optical phantoms for biological tissues due to similar scattering characteristics. Temperatures of pure water and aqueous solutions containing glucose (100 mg/ml and 200 mg/ml) were also measured for comparison. For the turbid Intralipid solutions, the absorbance spectrum varied irregularly with time due to the change in scattering characteristics. However, by making use of the difference between the absorbance at 1412 nm and the temperature-independent absorbance at 1440 nm, we obtained SEPs (standard error of prediction) of 0.3 degrees C and 0.2 degrees C by univariate linear regression and partial least squares regression, respectively. These accuracies were almost the same as those for the transparent samples (pure water and glucose solution).

Measurement of Temperature Differences between Micro-regions in Water Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.

We have developed a method for measuring the temperature of micro-regions in aqueous solutions using near-infrared spectroscopy that enables us to measure the temperature of biological cells, tissues, and biochemical solutions in vitro. The measurement principle is based on the fact that the peak wavelength of the water absorption band with its center near 1450 nm shifts with changes in temperature. The measurement system, which consists of a biological microscope and two spectrophotometers, can measure respective absorbance spectra for two areas that are each 80 microm in diameter. We formed the temperature distribution in a 500-microm thick water film by heating an immersed Nichrome wire and measured the temperature difference between the two areas. The results of the measurement were compared to a calculated temperature distribution.

Prediction computer program for whole body temperatures and its application under various working level and thermal environmental condition combinations.

We introduced a computer program developed for the numerical analysis of thermal conditions of all segments and blood circulatory systems in the human body to precisely evaluate human thermal physiological responses. In this program, a cylindrical model consisting of internal multi-layers is adapted for the segment of the human body. For the multi-layered concentric cylindrical model we adopted a new numerical solution method. By using this computer program the internal tissue temperatures, heat fluxes and blood temperatures of all segments in the human body could be calculated simultaneously. This program also included a subroutine for calculation of thermoregulatory response. This paper describes the improvements made to this computer program for simulating individual physical differences and its application to various working levels. The main points for improvement were the assigning procedures of physical characteristics of individuals and local muscle heat production. The improved computer program was used to simulate the whole body temperatures of the subjects during exercise described in Gagge, Stolwijk and Saltin (1969) were simulated. The calculated results were agreed with the measured results under the combination of the three kinds of exercise and the three types of environmental condition.

Simulations of airflow and substance concentration around a human body.

In order to predict airflow and suspended substance concentration around a human body, we developed a geometric model of the human form and generated grids around it for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). According to a CFSV model proposed by us we made a domain that included a geometric human model and generated the grids within this domain. By using this model with the grids and the developed CFD program, it is possible to simulate the airflow and the transfer of a suspended substance around the body. The simulated airflow provided a different velocity profile for each region of the body due to the characteristics of the body shape. The simulated distribution of the suspended substance concentration demonstrates how usable the present model is for quantifying a substance in any exposed region of the body.