System and Method for Analysis of A Sample

• US 20180306827A1
• Filed: 04/24/2018
• Published: 10/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lightwave Science, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Lightwave Science, Inc.
• Inventors: Pierce, III, William Bryan, Pierce, Jason D.
• Granted Patent: US 10,451,642 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0218 using optical fibers
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/2803 using photoelectric array detector
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/4742 comprising optical fibres
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/8466 Investigation of vegetal material, e.g. leaves, plants, fruits
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/255 Details, e.g. use of specially adapted sources, lighting or optical systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/35 using infrared light G01N21/39 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/3554 for determining moisture content
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/3563 for analysing solids; Preparation of samples therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/474 Details of optical heads therefor, e.g. using optical fibres
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/84 Systems specially adapted for particular applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2201/0221 Portable; cableless; compact; hand-held
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2201/0692 Regulated sources; stabilised supply
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2201/0833 Fibre array at detector, resolving
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2201/0846 Fibre interface with sample, e.g. for spatial resolution
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2201/129 Using chemometrical methods
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/5097 involving plant cells immunoassays of plant cells G01N33/56961
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/948 Sedatives, e.g. cannabinoids, barbiturates opiates G01N33/9486

Abstract

A system including a light source, sampling tray, and a plurality of fiber optics positioned to achieve high contrast to improve accuracy and eliminate the need to rotate the sample. A composite light image from the fiber optics is fed to a spectrometer which converts the reflected light into a fingerprint corresponding to the concentration of at least one substance in the sample. The fingerprint is processed by a statistical model to determine concentration level of the at least one substance in the sample and the concentration level is then displayed.

Claims

1. A portable spectrometer system for analysis of a plant-based sample, comprising:

a portable enclosure;

a stabilized light source mounted in the portable enclosure for delivering light to a plant-based sample, and light from the stabilized light source reflects from the plant-based sample;

a plurality of fiber optics, each positioned to capture the reflected light from the plant-based sample then combined to produce a composite image with high contrast improving accuracy by eliminating errors due to sample surface roughness and the need for rotating the plant-based sample, said plurality of fiber optics each being arranged to receive light from the plant-based sample at a different angle than a second angle at which another of said plurality of fiber optics receives light, said angles being selected to enhance optical image contrast of said composite image; and

a spectrometer configured to receive the high contrast image of reflected light from the fiber optics and convert the light image into an array of numeric values that represents a fingerprint of substances within the plant-based sample achieving the best accuracy without moving parts.

2. The portable spectrometer system of claim 1, wherein the plant-based sample is cannabis-based and wherein the one or more targeted substances of the cannabis-based sample is selected from a set of substances comprising tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), cannabidiol (CBD), cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), cannabinol (CBN), moisture, and mold.

3. A method of measuring at least one substance in a plant-based sample, the method comprising:

for each sample of a plurality of historical plant-based samples;

collecting a fingerprint for each sample by exposing each sample to a source of light, gathering reflected light from at least two angles, the reflected light having been reflected from each sample, transmitting the reflected light to a spectrometer, and generating the fingerprint from the reflected light by the spectrometer;

measuring the concentration of at least one substance within each sample;

associating the fingerprint with the concentration of the at least one substance in a database;

generating at least one statistical model based on the fingerprint and the concentration of at least one substance;

for each unknown sample of plant-based matter;

collecting a new fingerprint for the unknown sample of plant-based matter by exposing the unknown sample of plant-based matter to the source of light, gathering reflected light from at least three angles, the reflected light having been reflected from the unknown sample of plant-based matter, transmitting the reflected light to the spectrometer, and generating the new fingerprint from the reflected light by the spectrometer;

determining a concentration value for the at least one substance in the unknown sample of plant-based matter by running the at least one statistical model against the new fingerprint;

displaying the concentration value for the at least one substance in the plant-based sample.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one statistical model is a Partial Least Square (PLS) algorithm.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one substance in the plant-based sample is selected from a set of substances comprising tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), cannabidiol (CBD), cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), cannabinol (CBN), moisture, and mold.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one substance in the plant-based sample is selected from available terpenes selected from the set of terpenes comprising Alpha-pinene, Myrcene, Limonene, Linalool, and Beta-caryophyllene.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the source of light emits light at wavelengths in the range of 900 to 2300 nanometers.