Patent · US Expired

Multichannel optical monitoring system

US5002392A · kind A · utility

15Cited by
2References
30Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 1, 1989
Grant dateMar 26, 1991
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 1, 2009

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01N2021/0325
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A multichannel optical monitoring system for monitoring the spectral transmission of a plurality of samples. A plurality of light beams are generated and a plurality of optical monitoring stations are arranged along a pathway, each station having an optical path formed by one of the light beams transverse to the pathway and along which optical characteristics are monitored. A drive mechanism moves a plurality of reaction wells, each containing a reaction volume, along the pathway from station to station so that respective reaction volumes dwell periodically in each optical path for transmitting a respective one of the light beams. A diffraction grating is arranged for diffracting the beams transmitted by respective ones of the reaction volumes. The diffracted beams are focussed and at least one array of photodetectors is positioned for receiving the diffracted and focussed beams for producing electrical signals representing the spectral content of the diffracted beams. An electronic circuit detects the electrical signals of the array, which signals may be stored for further processing and evaluation.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.