Concentration measurement using luminescence
First Claim
1. A method of measuring the concentration of a substance, using a sensor comprising a luminescent material having a luminescent activity whose characteristics depend on the concentration of the substance, a light source which supplies a pulse of light to the sensor for a period of time sufficient to cause corresponding luminescence of the luminescent material, the luminescence rising to a peak and then decaying after the end of the pulse of light, a detector for detecting the light emitted by the luminescence of the luminescent material and generating signals in response thereto, and a data processing module for analyzing the signals and for providing data indicative of the concentration of the substance;
- wherein in a measuring sequence there is a series of pulses of light spaced apart sufficiently to permit the luminescence corresponding to each pulse in the measuring sequence to decay between pulses, the signals which are analyzed to provide the data indicative of the concentration of the substance are those generated after each pulse of light has terminated and the corresponding luminescence is decaying,wherein the data processing module comprises a plurality of accumulators which are controlled to be operable over a corresponding plurality of different periods of time during the decay of the luminescence,wherein in an acquisition phase of the measuring sequence each accumulator accumulates intensity values indicative of the intensity of the luminescence corresponding to each of the series of pulses in the measuring sequence by adding the intensity value corresponding to one pulse to the accumulated values corresponding to previous pulses, andwherein the measuring sequence further comprises read phase in which the values accumulated in the accumulators are read and a reset phase after the acquisition and read phases in which the accumulators are reset.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of measuring the concentration of a substance, using a sensor (2) comprising a luminescent material, an LED light source (14) which supplies a pulse of light to the sensor to cause luminescence of the material, a detector (26) for detecting the emitted light and a data processing module (28) for analysing the signals and indicating the concentration of the substance. In a measuring sequence there is a series of pulses of light spaced apart sufficiently to permit the luminescence to decay between pulses. The signals which are analysed are those generated after each pulse of light has terminated and the luminescence is decaying. The data processing module (28) comprises a plurality of accumulators (52A, 52B, 52C and 52D) which are controlled to be operable over a corresponding plurality of different periods of time during decay of the luminescence. Each accumulator accumulates values indicative of the intensity of the luminescence from the series of pulses in the measuring sequence. The parameters regarding the accumulators are stored in a configuration memory (42) which is part of the sensor.
12 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method of measuring the concentration of a substance, using a sensor comprising a luminescent material having a luminescent activity whose characteristics depend on the concentration of the substance, a light source which supplies a pulse of light to the sensor for a period of time sufficient to cause corresponding luminescence of the luminescent material, the luminescence rising to a peak and then decaying after the end of the pulse of light, a detector for detecting the light emitted by the luminescence of the luminescent material and generating signals in response thereto, and a data processing module for analyzing the signals and for providing data indicative of the concentration of the substance;
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wherein in a measuring sequence there is a series of pulses of light spaced apart sufficiently to permit the luminescence corresponding to each pulse in the measuring sequence to decay between pulses, the signals which are analyzed to provide the data indicative of the concentration of the substance are those generated after each pulse of light has terminated and the corresponding luminescence is decaying, wherein the data processing module comprises a plurality of accumulators which are controlled to be operable over a corresponding plurality of different periods of time during the decay of the luminescence, wherein in an acquisition phase of the measuring sequence each accumulator accumulates intensity values indicative of the intensity of the luminescence corresponding to each of the series of pulses in the measuring sequence by adding the intensity value corresponding to one pulse to the accumulated values corresponding to previous pulses, and wherein the measuring sequence further comprises read phase in which the values accumulated in the accumulators are read and a reset phase after the acquisition and read phases in which the accumulators are reset. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. Apparatus for measuring the concentration of a substance, comprising a sensor comprising a luminescent material having a luminescent activity whose characteristics depend on the concentration of the substance, a light source which supplies a pulse of light to the sensor for a period of time sufficient to cause corresponding luminescence of the luminescent material, the luminescence rising to a peak and then decaying after the end of the pulse of light, a detector for detecting the light emitted by the luminescence of the luminescent material and generating signals in response thereto, and a data processing module for analyzing the signals and for providing data indicative of the concentration of the substance;
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wherein the data processing module is configured so that in a measuring sequence there is a series of pulses of light spaced apart sufficiently to permit the luminescence corresponding to each pulse in the measuring sequence to decay between pulses, the signals which are analyzed to provide the data indicative of the concentration of the substance are those generated after each pulse of light has terminated and the corresponding luminescence is decaying, wherein the data processing module comprises a plurality of accumulators which are controlled to be operable over a corresponding plurality of different periods of time during decay of the luminescence, wherein in an acquisition phase of the measuring sequence each accumulator accumulates intensity values indicative of the intensity of the luminescence corresponding to each of the series of pulses in the measuring sequence by adding the intensity value corresponding to one pulse to the accumulated values corresponding to previous pulses, and wherein the measuring sequence further comprises a read phase in which values accumulated in the accumulators are read and a reset phase after the acquisition and read phases in which the accumulators are reset.
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15. A method of measuring a concentration of a substance, using a sensor comprising a luminescent material having a luminescent activity whose characteristics depend on the concentration of the substance, wherein there is a measuring sequence having an acquisition phase and a reset phase;
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during the acquisition phase a light source supplies a series of pulses of light to the sensor, each pulse of light causing a luminescence event in which there is luminescence of the luminescent material, the luminescence decaying over time after the pulse of light has ceased;
there being a detecting system which detects light emitted by the luminescent material during each luminescence event and generates signals indicative of the intensity of the luminescence;
whereinthere is a plurality of accumulators which are controlled to be operable over a corresponding plurality of different periods of time during the decay of the luminescence in each luminescence event in the acquisition phase; in respect of a first luminescence event in the acquisition phase, each accumulator receives and stores a value representing the intensity of the luminescence over the respective period of time for which the accumulator is operable; in respect of a second luminescence event in the acquisition phase, each accumulator receives a second value representing the intensity of the luminescence over the respective period of time for which the accumulator is operable, which second value is added to the first value stored in the accumulator so as to provide an accumulated value stored in the accumulator; in respect of each subsequent luminescence event in the acquisition phase, each accumulator receives a further value representing the intensity of the luminescence over the respective period of time for which the accumulator is operable, which further value is added to the existing stored value in the accumulator so as to provide a revised accumulated value; at intervals in the acquisition phase the accumulated value in each accumulator is sampled; for each accumulator the sampled values are processed to provide a slope; after the acquisition phase there is a reset phase of the measuring sequence, in which the accumulators are reset; and wherein the substance concentration is determined using the slopes provided in the acquisition phase. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification