System and method for controlled intensity illumination in a bioanalysis or other system
First Claim
1. A system for providing metered dosage illumination for use in a bioanalysis or other system, comprising:
- a light engine including a plurality of color channels wherein each color channel includes an LED light source, a band pass filter, and an electronic circuit to power the LED light source, whereby each color channel provides light of a different specific wavelength band;
an optical system comprising a plurality of reflective elements internal to the system configured to direct light from each color channel into a light beam;
a beam splitter positioned in the light beam and configured to split said light beam into an output light beam for illuminating said sample and a redirected light beam internal to the system;
a light-to-frequency converter positioned internal to the system to receive said redirected light beam from the beam splitter and generate a pulse train having a frequency proportional to an intensity of said redirected light beam;
a counter that maintains a count of pulses in the pulse train when a particular color channel of the plurality of color channels is turned on and turns off the particular color channel when the count of pulses reaches a reference count.
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Abstract
A system and method for metered dosage illumination in a bioanalysis or other system. In accordance with an embodiment, an illumination system or subsystem is described that can provide optimized amounts of excitation light within the short exposure times necessary to measure fast biological activity. The amount of light can be precisely measured to provide quantitative results. The light flux can also be precisely controlled to generate only a prescribed minimum amount of light, in order to reduce adverse lighting effects on both fluors and samples. Although the examples herein illustrate the providing of metered dosage illumination in the context of a bioanalysis system, the techniques can be similarly used to provide metered dosage illumination in the context of other types of system. In accordance with various embodiments, the technique is particularly useful in any quality-control, analysis, or assessment-based environment. Typical research and development applications can include quality control, instrument calibration, and light output standardization; while clinical and diagnostics applications can include clinical monitoring, bioassay calibration and control for diagnostics, treatment and or therapeutic evaluation.
225 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for providing metered dosage illumination for use in a bioanalysis or other system, comprising:
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a light engine including a plurality of color channels wherein each color channel includes an LED light source, a band pass filter, and an electronic circuit to power the LED light source, whereby each color channel provides light of a different specific wavelength band; an optical system comprising a plurality of reflective elements internal to the system configured to direct light from each color channel into a light beam; a beam splitter positioned in the light beam and configured to split said light beam into an output light beam for illuminating said sample and a redirected light beam internal to the system; a light-to-frequency converter positioned internal to the system to receive said redirected light beam from the beam splitter and generate a pulse train having a frequency proportional to an intensity of said redirected light beam; a counter that maintains a count of pulses in the pulse train when a particular color channel of the plurality of color channels is turned on and turns off the particular color channel when the count of pulses reaches a reference count. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for providing metered dosage illumination in a bioanalysis or other system, comprising:
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providing a light engine comprising, a plurality of color channels wherein each color channel includes an LED light source, a band pass filter, and an electronic circuit to power the LED light source, whereby each color channel provides light of a different specific wavelength band, an optical system comprising a plurality of reflective elements internal to the system configured to direct light from each color channel into a light beam, a beam splitter positioned in the light beam and configured to split said light beam into an output light beam for illuminating said sample and a redirected light beam internal to the system, a light-to-frequency converter positioned internal to the system to receive said redirected light beam from the beam splitter, and a counter turning on a particular color channel of the plurality of color channels; generating with the light-to-frequency converter a pulse train having a frequency proportional to an intensity of said redirected light beam; maintaining with the counter a count of pulses in the pulse train; and turning off the particular color channel when the count of pulses reaches a reference count. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification