Optical Cup
AssigneePocared Diagnostics Ltd.
InventorGal Ingber
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a system for conducting the identification and quantification of micro-organisms, e.g., bacteria in biological samples. More particularly, the invention relates to a system comprising a disposable cartridge and an optical cup or cuvette having a tapered surface; wherein the walls are angled to allow for better coating and better striations of the light, an optics system including an optical reader and a thermal controller; an optical analyzer; a cooling system; and an improved spectrometer. The system may utilize the disposable cartridge in the sample processor and the optical cup or cuvette in the optical analyzer.
Claims18
The optics cup for holding a biological sample for use in an optical analysis comprising:
- a rectangular-shaped container containing the biological sample, said container including a pair of spaced-apart side walls, a pair of spaced-apart end walls, and a floor,
- said container having a rectangular opening for receiving the biological sample and a lower tapered area extending from a first end wall inwardly and downwardly relative to the rectangular opening and an inner surface at least along the tapered area coated with a layer of reflective material, and wherein each of the side walls has an angle B1, B2 of approximately 3° in a direction outwardly as the side walls extend upwardly from the floor with respect to a vertical axis extending through the rectangular opening.
The optics cup according to claim 2, wherein the layer of reflective material is aluminum and is coated to the inner surface of the container through a process selected from the group consisting of a vacuum metallization process and an electroplating process.
A disposable sample cup for containing a biological specimen for optical analysis of the bacteria in the biological specimen, comprising:
- a rectangular-shaped container having a tapered area, a rectangular-shaped top opening for receiving the biological specimen, and an inner reflective surface,
- said container further including two spaced-apart sidewalls, two spaced apart end walls and a horizontal floor, said spaced-apart side walls each extending in a direction outwardly as the side walls extend upwardly from the floor at an angle B1, B2 with respect to a vertical axis extending between said opening and a fill-line specimen location located on said side walls and end walls, and
- said two spaced-apart end walls including a first end wall having the tapered area contiguous to the horizontal floor, and a second end wall extending in a direction outwardly as the second end wall extends upwardly from the floor at an angle A5 with respect to the vertical axis extending between said opening and said fill-line specimen location.
The disposable sample cup according to claim 15, wherein the end wall opposite the tapered area lies along a single plane.
The disposable sample cup according to claim 24, wherein the inner reflective surface is selected from the group consisting of a narrow aluminum ribbon and an aluminum coating and wherein the inner reflective surface is arranged along the first end wall, the tapered area, the horizontal floor and the second end wall of the container.
The disposable sample cup according to claim 18, wherein the container is made of transparent material selected from the group consisting of plastic and glass.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.