Patent ID: 8696991
Filing Date: 2014-04-15
Classification: G01N,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A sensor comprising: a housing having a card slot, a heat sink opening, a knob opening and a display opening; an integrated surface plasmon resonance transducer that is disposed within said housing; a functionalized card disposed in said card slot, said functionalized card comprising a body having an upper wall having an upper outer surface and a lower wall having lower outer surface and a microfluidic channel having a sample input port that is provided with a septum, a sample input reservoir that is in fluid communication with said sample input port, a test channel and a reference channel that are in fluid communication with said sample input reservoir, a waste reservoir that is in fluid communication with said test channel and said reference channel, a hydrophobic filter that is in fluid communication with said waste reservoir, a vacuum output port that is in fluid communication with said hydrophobic filter and a chip having a metallic test surface that forms an interior wall of said test channel and an inner wall of said reference channel for producing said reflection; an index matching fluid disposed between said integrated surface plasmon resonance transducer and said lower outer surface and adjacent to said metallic test surface; a card holding mechanism for positioning said functionalized card against said integrated surface plasmon resonance transducer, said card holding mechanism comprising a spring that is operative to urge said functionalized card toward said integrated surface plasmon resonance transducer and a card releasing mechanism comprising a knob that is disposed in said knob opening, a drive shaft that is attached to said knob, a spur gear that is attached to said drive shaft, a rack gear for engaging with said spur gear, a horizontally movable wedge for engaging with said rack gear and a vertically movable wedge for engaging with said horizontally movable wedge and with said card, said card releasing mechanism being operative to reverse the motion urged by said spring when said knob is rotated; a heat storage component that is disposed adjacent to said functionalized card and is in contact with said upper outer surface, said heat storage component having a thermistor well, an insulation layer that is disposed adjacent to said heat storage component, a heat sink that is disposed in said heat sink opening, said heat sink having a cavity that is disposed adjacent to said insulation layer, a heating and cooling device that is disposed adjacent to said heat storage component and in said cavity, and a thermistor that is disposed in said thermistor well; a vacuum pump that is in fluid communication with said vacuum output port that is operative to move a sample that has been injected into said sample input port through said microfluidic channel, said vacuum pump being disposed in said housing; a power source that is disposed within said housing; a plurality of control switches that are mounted on said housing; a control circuit interface board that is disposed within said housing; a computer/controller that is disposed within said housing, said computer/controller being operative to receive signals from said thermistor and control the temperature of said heat storage component and to process signals from said integrated surface plasmon resonance transducer and to produce an output; and a display that is mounted in said display opening and that is operative to receive and display said output.