Patent ID: 11964278
Assignee: DARTMOUTH OCEAN TECHNOLOGIES INC.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC A  B  C  F  G

Claim 0:
1. A microfluidic system, comprising:
an environmental sample inlet port;
a preservative reagent inlet port;
a waste outlet port;
one or more discrete filter membranes for particle concentration;
at least one fluid access port that permits control of a sample fluid stream through a selected filter membrane of the one or more discrete filter membranes;
at least one optical flow cell that enables at least one of light microscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, light attenuation measurements, and scattered light intensity measurements, situated before the one or more discrete filter membranes to interrogate the sample fluid stream;
at least one bypass channel to enable disposal of the sample fluid stream and avoid capturing suspended microbes and/or particles on the one or more discrete filter membranes;
a photodetector positioned at the at least one optical flow cell and configured to measure absorbance or fluorescence changes in the sample fluid stream; and
a processing unit configured to receive data from the photodetector and analyze the absorbance or fluorescence changes to enable intelligent fluid routing to the one or more discrete filter membranes and/or the at least one bypass channel.