Miniaturized fluorescence analysis system

Title: Miniaturized fluorescence analysis system

Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Claims

The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060082768, Miniaturized fluorescence analysis system.

1. An apparatus for performing fluorescence analysis, comprising: light emitting diodes (LEDs) to emit excitation light having a first color and/or wavelength; control electronics to apply drive currents to the LEDs to cause the LEDs to emit the excitation light, wherein at least one of the drive currents is greater than a nominal drive current for the at least one LED, wherein at least one drive current has a low duty cycle; optics to couple the excitation light from the LEDs to a holder for a fluorophor, the fluorophor to emit light having a second color and/or wavelength in response to the excitation light; a photodetector; and optical fiber to couple the light having the second color from the fluorophor to the photodetector.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one drive current has a duty cycle between greater than zero percent and less than or equal to twelve percent.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control electronics are further to pulse at least one drive current to at least one LED.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the drive current is greater that a rated maximum current for the at least one LED.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the control electronics comprise at least one emitter follower circuit and/or at least one source follower circuit.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first color is selected from at least one of blue, green, purple, and blue-green.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the optics to couple the excitation light from the LEDs to the fluorophor comprise an individual optical fiber bundle coupled to an individual LED.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the optical fiber bundles are bundled together to aggregate the excitation light from the LEDs into a single light beam having a substantially uniform intensity profile and/or a substantially uniform wavelength distribution and coupled the single light beam to the fluorophor.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the optical fiber bundles are bundled together in a random manner.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a beam splitter to split off a small portion of the single light beam.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising circuitry to measure the intensity of the small portion of the single light beam as a function of the color and/or wavelength.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising circuitry to adjust at least one individual drive current to at least one LED in response to the measured intensity of the small portion of the single light beam.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the circuitry comprises a spectrophotometer.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising at least one individual PIN diode coupled to at least one individual LED to detect the excitation light emitted from the at least one individual LED.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising circuitry to adjust at least one individual drive current to the at least one LED in response to the detected excitation light emitted from the at least one individual LED.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the holder for the fluorophor is a cuvette.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the photodetector is selected from at least one of a photomultiplier tube, an avalanche photodiode, photodiode, phototransistor, and a charge-coupled device (CCD).

18. An article of manufacture for selecting a configuration of an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) for placement in a fluorescence analysis system, the LED array to emit light to excite a fluorophor, the article of manufacture comprising: a machine-accessible medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform the operations comprising: determining at least two possible permutations of LEDs for the LED array; for each permutation of LEDs in the LED array: determining a total excitation light that is to be emitted from the LED array; determining an amount of excitation light that is to reach the fluorophor based on the total excitation light emitted from the LED array; determining an amount of light that is to be transmitted through the fluorophor based on the amount of excitation light that is to reach the fluorophor, based on an amount of attenuation in an emission path to a photodetector from the fluorophor in the fluorescence analysis system, and based on filtering of the light that is to be transmitted through the fluorophor; determining an amount of light that is to be emitted by the fluorophor based on the amount of excitation light that is to reach the fluorophor and based on the amount of light that is to be transmitted through the fluorophor; determining an amount of light that is to reach the photodetector based on the amount of light that is to be emitted by the fluorophor; and determining a leakage penalty for the fluorescence analysis system based on the amount of light that is to be transmitted through the fluorophor and based on the amount of light that is to reach the photodetector; comparing the leakage penalties for each permutation of LEDs in the LED array; and ranking the permutations of LEDs in the LED array based on the comparison of their respective leakage penalties.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes data that cause the machine to perform operations comprising receiving information associated with a type of LEDs to be selected from a database.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes data that cause the machine to perform operations comprising receiving information associated with a number of LEDs to be placed in the LED array.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 20, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes data that cause the machine to perform operations comprising receiving information associated with the fluorophor of interest.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes data that cause the machine to perform operations comprising receiving information associated with at least one undesirable fluorophor.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 22, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes data that cause the machine to perform operations comprising receiving information associated with a minimum concentration detection capability for the fluorophor of interest.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 23, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes data that cause the machine to perform operations comprising receiving information associated with a time frame within which to perform fluorescence analysis on the fluorophor of interest.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes data that cause the machine to perform operations comprising, for each permutation of LEDs in the LED array, determining optical power and/or spectral shape of an aggregate output of the LED array.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes data that cause the machine to perform operations comprising, for each permutation of LEDs in the LED array, receiving information associated with spectral characteristics of the photodetector.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 26, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes data that cause the machine to perform operations comprising, for each permutation of LEDs in the LED array, calculating output current and/or output voltage of the photodetector based on the information associated with the spectral characteristics of the photodetector.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes data that cause the machine to perform operations comprising, for each permutation of LEDs in the LED array, determining a drive current for each LED in the LED array based on the leakage penalty.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 28, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes data that cause the machine to perform operations comprising, for each permutation of LEDs in the LED array, determining a duty cycle for the drive current based on the leakage penalty.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 28, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes data that cause the machine to perform operations comprising, for each permutation of LEDs in the LED array, determining a duty cycle in the range of one percent to twelve percent for the drive current based on the leakage penalty.

31. A method for selecting a configuration of an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) for placement in a fluorescence analysis system, the LED array to emit light to excite a fluorophor, the method: determining at least two possible permutations of LEDs for the LED array; for each permutation of LEDs in the LED array: determining a total excitation light that is to be emitted from the LED array; determining an amount of excitation light that is to reach the fluorophor based on the total excitation light emitted from the LED array; determining an amount of light that is to be transmitted through the fluorophor based on the amount of excitation light that is to reach the fluorophor, based on an amount of attenuation in an emission path to a photodetector from the fluorophor in the fluorescence analysis system, and based on filtering of the light that is to be transmitted through the fluorophor; determining an amount of light that is to be emitted by the fluorophor based on the amount of excitation light that is to reach the fluorophor and based on the amount of light that is to be transmitted through the fluorophor; determining an amount of light that is to reach the photodetector based on the amount of light that is to be emitted by the fluorophor; and determining a leakage penalty for the fluorescence analysis system based on the amount of light that is to be transmitted through the fluorophor and based on the amount of light that is to reach the photodetector; comparing the leakage penalties for each permutation of LEDs in the LED array; and ranking the permutations of LEDs in the LED array based on the comparison of their respective leakage penalties.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising, for each permutation of LEDs in the LED array, determining a duty cycle in the range of one percent to twelve percent for the drive current based on the leakage penalty.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising, for each permutation of LEDs in the LED array, determining a drive current for each LED in the LED array based on the leakage penalty, the drive current being significantly in excess of a rated maximum current for the LED.

Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Claims

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