REAL-TIME MONITORING OF MATERIAL COMPOSITION FOR QUALITY CONTROL

• US 20160377535A1
• Filed: 06/23/2015
• Published: 12/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: Gu, Yansong
• Granted Patent: US 10,197,496 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/3133 with selection of wavelengths before the sample
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/8557 Special shaping of flow, e.g. using a by-pass line, jet flow, curtain flow
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/3577 for analysing liquids, e.g. polluted water
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/85 Investigating moving fluids or granular solids
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2201/0627 Use of several LED's for spectral resolution
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/025 Fruits or vegetables
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/14 Beverages

Abstract

Technologies are generally described for determination and analysis of an optical profile of a liquid-based material to implement real-time monitoring of a composition of the liquid-based material for quality control. An imaging sub-system may include a plurality of illumination sources configured to illuminate the liquid-based material with light, and one or more detectors. The detectors may be configured to detect light reflected from a first surface of the liquid-based material, light reflected from a second surface of the liquid-based material, and/or light transmitted through the first surface and the second surface of the liquid-based material in response to the illumination. An analytics sub-system coupled to the imaging sub-system may be configured to analyze the detected light to determine an optical profile of the liquid-based material, and monitor the optical profile in real-time to detect changes in the optical profile indicative of corresponding changes to a composition of the liquid-based material.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of illumination sources configured to illuminate a container with light, the container configured to contain a liquid-based material;

a controller configured to activate one or more of the plurality of illumination sources according to a predefined sequence, wherein each activated illumination source has a different emission wavelength; and

one or more detectors configured to detect light transmitted through the liquid-based material in response to the illumination when the liquid-based material is contained in the container.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the container has a first portion through which the light is incident on the liquid-based material, wherein the plurality of illumination sources and the one or more detectors are positioned proximal to the first portion of the container.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the container has a second portion through which transmitted light leaves the liquid based material after passing through the liquid based material, wherein the one or more detectors are positioned proximal to the second portion of the container such that the transmitted light is detected at the one or more detectors.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of illumination sources and the one or more detectors are aligned in a same horizontal plane and a same vertical plane, and a distance between the plurality of illumination sources and the one or more detectors is less than or equal to 1 centimeter.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more detectors are positioned adjacent to the plurality of illumination sources in a single imaging device.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising a reflective material configured to reflect light from each of the plurality of illumination sources back to at least one of the one or more detectors.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to activate each of the plurality of illumination sources sequentially.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to select one or more of the plurality of illumination sources for activation based on a range of wavelengths transmitted by the liquid-based material.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configured to select an activation sequence for the selected one or more of the illumination sources based on a range of wavelengths transmitted by the liquid-based material.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of illumination sources and the one or more detectors are integrated in an imaging sub-system.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is communicatively coupled to an analytics sub-system through wired or wireless communication media, the analytics sub-system configured to analyze detected light to determine a optical profile of the liquid-based material.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the analytics sub-system is further configured to monitor the optical profile of the liquid-based material in real-time to detect a change in the optical profile.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the analytics sub-system is integrated with the plurality of illumination sources and the one or more detectors, and the apparatus further comprises a display device configured to display the monitored optical profile.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of illumination sources include light emitting diodes (LEDs), wherein the LEDs have different emission wavelengths.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more detectors are one or more of photodiodes, photomultiplier tubes, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors, charged coupled devices (CCDs), and micro-channel plates.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the liquid-based material comprises one or more of a fruit juice and a vegetable juice.

17. A system configured to monitor composition of a liquid-based material, the system comprising:

an imaging sub-system comprising;

a plurality of illumination sources configured to illuminate the liquid-based material with light;

a controller configured to activate one or more of the plurality of illumination sources according to a predefined sequence, wherein each activated illumination source has a different emission wavelength;

one or more detectors configured to detect one or more of light reflected from a first surface of the liquid-based material, light reflected from a second surface of the liquid-based material, and light transmitted through the first surface and the second surface of the liquid-based material in response to the illumination; and

an analytics sub-system coupled to the imaging sub-system, the analytics sub-system comprising one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to;

analyze detected light to determine an optical profile of the liquid-based material; and

monitor the optical profile of the liquid-based material in real-time to detect one or more changes in the optical profile indicative of one or more corresponding changes to a composition of the liquid-based material.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the one or more detectors is an image sensor, the image sensor configured to capture an image of the light transmitted through the first surface and the second surface of the liquid-based material in response to the illumination.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the liquid-based material is contained within a container that comprises at least one wall substantially transparent to the light.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the container is an extension of a vessel containing the liquid-based material.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the plurality of illumination sources and the one or more detectors are joined through a connector, the connector configured to enable the imaging sub-system to attach onto the container.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the liquid-based material is contained within a vessel, and the imaging sub-system is immersed in the liquid-based material within the vessel.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising a display device is integrated with an external surface of the vessel.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the controller is configured to select the one or more of the plurality of illumination sources for activation based on a range of wavelengths reflected by the liquid-based material.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the controller is further configured to select an activation sequence for the selected one or more of the illumination sources based on the range of wavelengths reflected by the liquid-based material.

26. A method to monitor composition of a liquid-based material, the method comprising:

illuminating the liquid-based material with light from a plurality of illumination sources;

detecting one or more of light reflected from a first surface of the liquid-based material, light reflected from a second surface of the liquid-based material, and light transmitted through the first surface and the second surface of the liquid-based material in response to the illumination at one or more detectors;

analyzing detected light to determine an optical profile of the liquid-based material; and

monitoring the optical profile of the liquid-based material in real-time to detect one or more changes in the optical profile indicative of one or more corresponding changes to a composition of the liquid-based material.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

determining an intensity of the light reflected from the first surface of the liquid-based material and the light reflected from the second surface of the liquid-based material in response to the illumination; and

determining the optical profile based on a comparison of the intensity of the light reflected from the first surface of the liquid-based material and the light reflected from the second surface of the liquid-based material to an intensity of light transmitted from the plurality of illumination sources.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

determining an intensity of the light transmitted through the first surface and the second surface of the liquid-based material in response to the illumination;

determining a transmittance based on the intensity of the light transmitted through the first surface and the second surface of the liquid-based material and an intensity of the light emitted from the one or more plurality of illumination sources; and

determining an absorbance based on the transmittance.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

evaluating one or more characteristics of the liquid-based material based on the optical profile.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein evaluating the one or more characteristics of the liquid-based material comprises:

comparing the optical profile of the liquid-based material and an optical profile of a reference liquid-based material.