No maintenance/solid state pH meter?

[redbone]

Doing some research for no maintenance pH meters, I ran across a company called Senova Systems that was set to launch the world’s First Calibration-Free pH Meter in 2013. Here is a little quote I found about that company:

https://www.americanpharmaceuticalr...st-Calibration-Free-pH-Meter-at-Pittcon-2013/

Senova Systems develops, manufactures and sells next-generation sensor systems based on coupling its patented chemistries with advanced materials and proprietary microelectronics. Senova Systems’ first focus is a revolutionary new pH sensor platform, which replaces current glass electrodes with solid-state, smart sensors that require no user calibration. This breakthrough offers significant operational and economic benefits in the life science, food and beverage, dairy, petrochemical, water and environmental sectors, and will ultimately enable advances in healthcare and other specialized applications.

Trying to find out more - their website is 404, facebook doesn't exist, and their twitter/linkedin hasn't been updated since 2013. I then found another quote:

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-...ll-for-Shareholders-on-Friday-March-17-2.html

Senova Systems, Inc., sold substantially all of its assets to an undisclosed buyer for an upfront payment and potential future milestone payments. Even if all of the milestone payments are received in full, we do not expect to recover our cost basis of approximately $4 million. The Company received proceeds of $356,336 as repayment of the principal and accrued interest of its outstanding bridge notes of Senova Systems.

So, it looks like to me that maybe a "big boy" bought them out because of industry disruption. That sucks. I guess solutions and electrode replacements are big business?

Have any of you ever heard of this company or know of any other pH meter that has no maintenance and can be stored dry?

 

[passedpawn]

Sounds like one of those "too good to be true" devices, like the many non-intrusive glucose monitors that never quite worked out. Maybe AJ has input here.

@ajdelange

 

[redbone]

Sounds like one of those "too good to be true" devices, like the many non-intrusive glucose monitors that never quite worked out. Maybe AJ has input here.

@ajdelange

Looking further, Harris and Harris Group, Inc. was the investor/owner of Senova Systems. Harris group "builds transformative companies from disruptive science."

I'd say a technology like this would be a "disruptive science". Think.... no more solutions for storage/calibration and no more probe replacements. Wouldn't that be nice!

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Nearly 50 years ago when I worked in a lab that tested Hydrofluoric Acid and many of its derivative compounds we used antimony electrodes in our pH meters. No glass wetted parts. Built to last.

https://corrosion-doctors.org/Corrosion-Thermodynamics/Measuring-pH-antimony.htm

 

[ajdelange]

ISFET (Ion Selective Field Effect Transistor) pH electrodes have been around for quite a while now. When they first came out I thought goodby to fill and storage and cleaning solutions, broken glass and short electrode life. I figured that by now there would be no glass electrodes left on the market. I had a couple of them over the years and found, much to my surprise, that they didn't last as long a the traditional glass design. Apparently there is an internal wire of exceeding thinness that breaks under less of a shock than it takes to shatter the membrane of a glass electrode. So I don't really know what the story with these is. I would think the wire problem would be one that was solvable but they have hardly taken over the market. They were cool in that you cleaned them with a toothbrush and stored them dry but they just didn't last. They did require calibration, however

A quick DuckGo search (no Googling here) reveals that there is a Sentron ISFET meter out there today. Is this close enough to Senova to suggest a connection? They do require calibration, however. I cannot imagine any piece of laboratory equipment that does not require calibration from time to time. I don't recall whether the ISFETS were more stable than the glass electrodes in this regard. It seems that they might be however.