Patent ID: 6388751
Filing Date: 2002-05-14
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
An apparatus for determining optical properties of liquid samples held in transparent containers, said apparatus comprising:a housing having an opening in an upper surface thereof for receiving a carrier which is adapted to receive a plurality of said containers in a rectilinear array, the arrangement being such that when the carrier is loaded with containers and is inserted into said opening liquid samples in the containers locate in predetermined positions within the housing; an optical head mounted within said housing for rectilinear reciprocal translation along the length of said array, said optical head comprising a solid block having a recess therein which locates with said array and having a first portion on one side of the array and a second portion on the opposite side of the array; at least one light source mounted on said first portion of said solid block and separate test and reference light detectors mounted on said second portion; first and second light channels formed in said block between said at least one light source and said test and reference detectors, said channels intersecting said recess and being arranged such that in use of the apparatus a substantially parallel beam of light from said at least one source scans across the light samples as the optical head is moved and is received by said detectors after passage through the containers and the samples therein; filter means comprising a plurality of individually selectable optical filters provided in the optical path to at least said test light detector; an electric drive motor coupled to said optical head for effecting reciprocal movement thereof; and control means including data input means accessible to a user of the apparatus for enabling the operation of the apparatus to be predetermined in accordance with entered data, said control means being arranged to determine the operation of said motor and said filter means and to effect sampling of the light detector outputs to identify therein respective signal portions corresponding to each of the samples, said control means being arranged to determine the optical properties of the liquid samples by first effecting at least one reference scan by translation of said optical head along the length of the array and then effecting at least one test scan by further translation of the optical head along the length of the array.