A reflectance photometer with a square photodiode array detector for use on multilayer dry-film slides

This semiautomated prototype reflectance photometer measures reflected light from multilayer dry-film slides. The instrument makes use of a square photodiode array detector, a Hewlett-Packard desktop computer, and a modified mechanical transport mechanism from an Ektachem DT60 analyzer. When 2 microL of serum is placed on a dry-film slide, a colored spot is formed. The slide is automatically transported to an incubation area and then to the photometer area. There the spot is illuminated with dual tungsten lamps, and the reflected light passes through an interference filter, where it is focused on a square photodiode array containing 10,000 individual detectors. The analog signal from each detector is digitized and transmitted to a computer for calculation of the percentage of reflectance. I used a series of algorithms to locate the spot, estimate spot area, correct for minor variations in sample volume, and compute the average reflectance from a central spot area. To evaluate the instrument's performance, I ran parallel glucose determinations in the Beckman Astra; results correlated well. The small sample size along with no dead sample volume makes the system useful for small sample volumes.