Pathogen and particle detector system and method

• US 7,430,046 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2005
• Issued: 09/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Azbil Corporation (Azbil BioVigilant Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: BioVigilant Systems Incorporated (Azbil BioVigilant Incorporated)
• Inventors: Morrell, Michael, Jiang, Jian-Ping, Babico, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Hoa Q
• Application Number:
  US11/193,204
• Publication Number:
  US 20070013910A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,159 Days
• Field of Search: 356335-343, 356/73, 356/39
• US Class Current: 356/336
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 15/0205 by optical means
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2015/019 Biological contaminants; Fouling
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/05 Flow-through cuvettes G01N21/09 takes precedence; handling fluid samples G01N1/10
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/53 within a flowing fluid, e.g. smoke
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/6486 Measuring fluorescence of biological material, e.g. DNA, RNA, cells G01N21/6428 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 5/04 by increasing duration; by decreasing duration

Abstract

A particle detector has a sample area of cross section no in excess of about 2 mm for containing environmental fluid, a light source on one side of the sample area for directing a collimated or nearly collimated beam of light through the sample air or water so that part of the light beam will be scattered by any particles present in the air or water while the remainder remains unscattered, and a beam diverting device on the opposite side of the sample area for diverting or blocking at least the unscattered portion of the beam of light and directing at least part of the scattered light onto a detector. The detector produces output pulses in which each pulse has a height proportional to particle size and a pulse height discriminator obtains the size distribution of airborne particles detected in the air or water sample at a given time from the detector output. The detector may also include a device for discriminating between biological agents and inorganic particles.

Claims

1. A detector system for detecting biological organisms or biological agents of predetermined particle size in a fluid comprising:

a housing having a passageway to allow for a fluid to flow through the housing;

a first light source for sending a light beam through the fluid in the passageway, whereby portions of the light beam are scattered at various angles by particles of various sizes present in the fluid, and wherein an unscattered portion of the light beam remains unscattered;

a first detector positioned to receive scattered portions of said light beam after said passageway for detecting and discriminating between particles of a selected size range in the fluid;

a lens receiving the light beam as it exits the passageway; and

a reflector placed behind the lens to reflect the unscattered portion of the light beam and a portion of light beam scattered at a low angle, whereby the unscattered portion of the light beam and the portion of the light beam scattered at a low angle are received by a low angle detector;

a second light source for sending light through said fluid passing in the passageway for exciting fluorescence in the particles in said fluid; and

a second detector positioned to receive light from said second light source for detecting fluorescence of said particles.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first light source and a second light source comprise a single light source.

3. The fluorescence/particle detection system of claim 1, wherein each light source produces light with a different wavelength.

4. The fluorescence/particle detection system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a light beam modulator in the path of the light before the fluid in the passageway to modulate the first and second light beams at different frequencies; and

an control mechanism to differentiate the first and second light beams based on the modulation frequency of the light beams and to produce measurement of multiple fluorescence signals.

5. The fluorescence/particle detection system of claim 4, wherein a portion of the beam is split off at the light beam modulator to create a reference signal for measuring the fluorescence of said biological organisms or biological agents.

6. The fluorescence/particle detection system of claim 4, further comprising a control mechanism to differentiate the first and the second light beams based on the modulation frequency of the beams and to produce measurement of multiple fluorescence signal.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fluid comprises air.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fluid comprises water.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fluid comprises air and the particles are of size from about 1 to about 7 microns.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fluid comprises water and the particles are of size from about 1 to about 20 microns.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second light source operates at a wavelength of about 270 nm to about 410 nm.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second light source operates at a wavelength of about 370 nm to about 410 nm.

13. The fluorescence/particle detection system of claim 1, wherein each light source is tuned to produce light of an optimal excitation wavelength of one or more metabolites.

14. The fluorescence/particle detection system of claim 1, wherein the wavelength of one light source is suitable for detecting riboflavin.

15. The fluorescence/particle detection system of claim 1, wherein the wavelength of one light source is suitable for detecting NADH.

16. The fluorescence/particle detection system of claim 1, further comprising a long-wavelength optical pass filter in the path of the light beam before the fluorescence sensor to eliminate excitation laser light.

17. The fluorescence/particle detection system of claim 1, wherein said detector contains wavelength-selective elements for spectral analysis of the light.

18. The fluorescence/particle detection system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of sensors measure the fluorescence of the same batch of fluid.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an elliptical mirror for collecting fluorescence light signals generated at one of the foci of the ellipsoid and directing the collected fluorescence light signals to a photo-detector located at the other focus of the ellipsoid.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a control circuit connecting to outputs from said first and second detectors for generating an alarm output signal under selected conditions.

21. A detector system for detecting biological organisms or biological agents of predetermined particle size in a fluid comprising:

a housing having a passageway to allow for a fluid to flow through the housing;

a first light source for sending a light beam through the fluid in the passageway, whereby portions of the light beam are scattered at various angles by particles of various sizes present in the fluid, and wherein an unscattered portion of the light beam remains unscattered;

a first detector positioned to receive scattered portions of said light beam after said passageway for detecting and discriminating between particles of a selected size range in the fluid;

a lens receiving the light beam as it exits the passageway; and

a reflector placed behind the lens to reflect the unscattered portion of the light beam and a portion of light beam scattered at a low angle, whereby the unscattered portion of the light beam and the portion of the light beam scattered at a low angle are received by a low angle detector.

22. The fluorescence/particle detection system of claim 21, further comprising:

a second light source for sending light through said fluid passing in the passageway for exciting fluorescence in the particles in said fluid; and

a second detector positioned to receive light from said second light source for detecting fluorescence of said particles.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the fluid comprises air.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the fluid comprises water.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the fluid comprises air and the particles are of size from about 1 to about 7 microns.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the fluid comprises water and the particles are of size from about 1 to about 20 microns.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising an elliptical mirror for collecting fluorescence light signals generated at one of the foci of the ellipsoid and directing the collected fluorescence light signals to a photo-detector located at the other focus of the ellipsoid.

28. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a control circuit connecting to outputs from said first and second detectors for generating an alarm output signal under selected conditions.