Biological Growth Plate Scanner Illumination Module
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Solution Overview
Problem
Biological growth plate scanners face challenges in achieving uniform illumination, leading to variations in illumination intensity across the plate support surface, which can affect the accuracy of bacterial colony detection and enumeration.
Innovation Solution
The illumination apparatus includes one or more illumination modules with a homogenization cavity, an extraction element, and a concentration element, arranged to ensure that light emitted reflects and converges within a controlled angular range, providing uniform illumination across the plate support surface, with optional rotation to adjust incidence angles and maintain intensity consistency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If conventional illumination sources are used directly on the plate support surface, then the device structure is simple, but the illumination uniformity across the plate surface deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a homogenization cavity as an intermediary optical element between the illumination source and the plate support surface. This cavity with diffusely reflective interior surfaces acts as a mediator that transforms the non-uniform light distribution from the source into uniform illumination across the plate, resolving the contradiction between simple structure and uniform illumination.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a concentration element that controls light emission in a specific angular range (60 degrees or less), effectively adding an angular dimension control to the illumination system. This dimensional control of light propagation angles enables uniform illumination distribution across the plate surface while maintaining a relatively compact device structure.
2Measurement precision
If illumination intensity varies across the plate support surface, then the device structure remains simple, but the detection accuracy of bacterial colonies deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality control by ensuring that each region of the plate support surface receives consistent illumination characteristics. The homogenization cavity with its diffusely reflective surfaces creates locally uniform illumination zones, while the concentration element ensures these zones are distributed uniformly across the entire plate area, thereby improving colony detection accuracy.
3Illumination intensity
If multiple reflection paths are used to homogenize light, then the illumination uniformity improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the homogenization and concentration functions into a single integrated illumination module. The homogenization cavity and concentration element work together as a unified optical system, combining multiple reflection paths within a compact structure. This merging approach achieves uniform illumination while avoiding the complexity of separate, distributed optical components.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution ensures that the biological growth plate is illuminated uniformly, reducing variations in illumination intensity by ±10% or less, thereby enhancing the accuracy of bacterial colony detection and enumeration in biological growth plate scanners.
Implementation Method 1
the interior surface is diffusely reflective, wherein the illumination source, the interior surface of the homogenization cavity, and the extraction element are arranged such that the light emitted into the homogenization cavity by the illumination source reflects from the interior surface of the homogenization cavity at least once before exiting the homogenization cavity through the extraction element
Implementation Method 2
a concentration element operably connected to the homogenization cavity and arranged such that the light exiting the homogenization cavity through the extraction element must pass through the concentration element; wherein the light passing through the concentration element from the extraction element exits from the concentration element within a selected angular range α (alpha) of 60 degrees or less
Data Source
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AI summary
Illumination apparatus for illuminating growth plates in a biological growth plate (122) scanner are described herein, the apparatus including one or more illumination modules (140) for illuminating the front surface of the biological growth plate located (122) on a plate support surface (120) in the scanner. The illumination modules may include a plurality of light emitters (142), a homogenization cavity (141), an extraction element and a concentration element to(144), e.g., improve uniformity in the illumination delivered to the biological growth plate (122).