Patent ID: 8481302

Claim:
A system for measuring total microbiological content in an aqueous medium flowing through a circulating loop having cellular microbiological components therein and non-cellular organic components therein, comprising: a filtering module comprising a filter having a pore size between about 5 and about 50 microns for removing impurities from the aqueous medium entering said system; a sample preparation module configured to add a fluorescent dye to the aqueous medium, wherein said fluorescent dye is an asymmetrical cyanine dye; a lysing module configured to contact at least a portion of said aqueous medium and to release an intracellular content of said cellular microbiological components into the aqueous medium; a detection module having an optical measurement unit therein configured to measure a fluorescent signal from said non-cellular organic components in a sample of the aqueous medium to obtain a baseline fluorescent signal, and to measures a fluorescent signal from said non-cellular components and said intracellular content in said portion of the aqueous medium that contacts the lysing module to obtain a second fluorescent signal; a directing module operatively connected to said circulating loop, to said sample preparation module; to said lysing module; and to said detection module; said directing module configured to direct at least a portion of said aqueous medium to contact said lysing module; and a control module operatively connected to said directing module and to said detection module and configured to subtract the baseline fluorescent signal from the second fluorescent signal to obtain a net fluorescent signal and equate said net fluorescent signal with a microbiological content of the aqueous medium.