Method and apparatus for analyzing the nature of a sample
AssigneeWalter C. McCrone Associates, Inc.
InventorsJack G. Dodd, Jr., Jeffrey J. Dodd
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for analyzing the absorption spectra of a minute sample. The sample is placed in a hollow enclosure which is sealed after a suitable working fluid is introduced into the enclosure. When a vapor equilibrium is reached within the enclosure creating a droplet condensate of working fluid about the sample, the sample is first irradiated with dark-field visible illumination with an image thereof stored, and is then irradiated with infrared radiation and a second dark-field image stored. The stored images are analyzed and the procedure is repeated for a plurality of different frequencies spanning the range of infrared absorption of the sample.
Claims20
An apparatus for analyzing the absorption spectra of a sample, comprising
- a. a container for retaining the sample, said container including
- i. a carrier,
- ii. a sealed, hollow sample enclosure formed in the carrier,
- iii. means forming a transparent path through said enclosure, said path being transparent to both infrared and visible radiation,
- iv. a working fluid disposed within said enclosure, said fluid being transparent to infrared radiation,
- b. a source of tunable infrared radiation oriented to pass infrared radiation through said enclosure along said path,
- c. a visible light source oriented to pass visible radiation through said enclosure, and
- d. means for capturing and storing an image of a sample within said enclosure.
A container for retaining a sample for analysis of the absorption spectra of the sample, comprising
- a. a carrier shaped for mounting in a stationary orientation,
- b. a sealed, hollow sample enclosure formed in the carrier,
- c. means forming a transparent path through said enclosure, said path being transparent to both infrared and visible radiation, and
- d. a working fluid disposed within said enclosure, said fluid being transparent to infrared radiation.
A method of determining the absorption spectra of a sample, comprising the steps of
- a. locating the sample in a hollow enclosure,
- b. introducing a working fluid into said enclosure out of direct contact with the sample,
- c. sealing said enclosure such that a vapor equilibrium is reached within said enclosure creating a droplet condensate of said working fluid about said sample,
- d. irradiating said sample with infrared radiation of a given frequency,
- e. detecting the size of said droplet,
- f. storing a representation indicative of the detected size of said droplet,
- g. repeating steps "d" through "f" for a plurality of given frequencies spanning the range of infrared absorption of the sample.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.