System and method for analysis of a sample
AssigneeLightwave Science, Inc.
InventorsWilliam Bryan Pierce, III, Jason D. Pierce
Life of this patent
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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.
Claims8
A portable spectrometer system for analysis of a sample, comprising:
- a portable enclosure;
- a stabilized light source mounted in the portable enclosure for delivering light to a sample, and light from the stabilized light source reflects from the sample;
- a plurality of fiber optics, each positioned to capture the reflected light from the 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 sample, said plurality of fiber optics each being arranged to receive light from the 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 sample and convert the light image into an array of numeric values that represents a fingerprint of substances within the sample achieving the best accuracy without moving parts.
A method of measuring at least one substance in a sample, the method comprising:
- for each sample of a plurality of historical samples:
- collecting a fingerprint for each sample by exposing each sample to a source of light, gathering reflected light from at least one angle, 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 matter:
- collecting a new fingerprint for the unknown sample of matter by exposing the unknown sample of matter to the source of light, gathering reflected light from at least one angle, the reflected light having been reflected from the unknown sample of 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 by running the at least one statistical model against the new fingerprint;
- displaying the concentration value for the at least one substance in the sample.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.