The oscillogenic instrument

Abstract

A generalized chemical oscillator has been invented consisting of input and output interfaces to a chemical system, with the appropriate feedback external to the chemical system such that the system oscillates. The oscillation frequency can be made a function of concentration, reaction kinetics, transport phenomena, and other physical properties. The idea was reduced to practice with an electronic system coupled to an electrochemical system, and gave a frequency output linear with concentration for a number of ions in solution. A general mathematical model of the electrochemical system was devised and programmed in FORTRAN on a digital computer, and a mathematical model of the oscillogenic instrument was used to conceptually test the idea. The use of recursive parameter estimation was also considered for this instrument.