Arrangement for operating a biosensor and arrangement for determining the glucose content in the blood
An arrangement for operating a biosensor emitting radiation includes an excitation light source, which generates at least one excitation radiation for the biosensor; a coupling fiber, at the entry surface of which the excitation radiation is coupled in; an optical Y-coupler, including an excitation arm, which is connected to the exit surface of the coupling fiber, a detector arm, which is connected to an optical detector, and a sensor foot, which can be connected to the biosensor. The excitation arm has a conical shape. The radiation axis of the excitation arm includes an angle in the range of 5° to 70° with the main radiation axis of the detector arm. The diameter of the excitation arm at the connecting point to the detector arm is less than two thirds the diameter of the detector arm. An arrangement for determining the glucose content blood is also provided.
1 . An arrangement for operating a biosensor emitting radiation, comprising:
an excitation light source, which generates at least one excitation radiation for the biosensor;
a coupling fiber, at the entry surface of which the excitation radiation is coupled in;
an optical detector; and
an optical Y-coupler, including an excitation arm, which is connected to an exit surface of the coupling fiber, a detector arm, which is connected to the optical detector, and a sensor foot configured to connect to the biosensor,
wherein the excitation arm has a conical shape, wherein the radiation axis of the excitation arm includes an angle in the range of 5° to 70° with the main radiation axis of the detector arm at a connecting point between the detector arm and the excitation arm, wherein a diameter of the excitation arm at the connecting point to the detector arm is less than two thirds a diameter of the detector arm, and wherein the excitation arm has a cross-section that tapers in a radiation direction, and
wherein the diameter of the excitation arm continuously decreases from an entry surface of the excitation arm to a connection point between the excitation arm and the detector arm, the excitation arm has a shape of an elongated frustum.
2 . The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the diameter of the excitation arm at the connecting point is less than half as large as at the entry surface thereof.
3 . The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the detector arm and the sensor foot have a shared main radiation axis.
4 . The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the excitation light source is an LED chip, the emission plane of which is positioned at a distance of 0.1 to 10 times a diameter of the coupling fiber from the entry surface of the coupling fiber.
5 . The arrangement according to claim 4 , wherein the coupling fiber has a length that is 7 times to 13 times the distance between the excitation light source and the entry surface of the coupling fiber.
6 . The arrangement according to claim 4 , wherein the entry surface of the coupling fiber is designed as a planar, spherical, aspherical or free-form surface.
7 . The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein a cut-off filter, which filters the wavelength of the radiation emittable by the biosensor out of the excitation radiation, is arranged between the exit surface of the coupling fiber and the entry surface of the excitation arm.
8 . The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the coupling fiber is designed with a rectilinearly extending longitudinal axis.
9 . The arrangement according to claim 7 , wherein the cut-off filter is composed of a carrier glass including optical filter layers applied thereon.
10 . The arrangement according to claim 7 , wherein a colored glass piece in waveguide form is arranged between the carrier glass and the entry surface of the excitation arm.
11 . The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein a lens is arranged between the exit surface of the detector arm and the detector for collimating the radiation emitted by the biosensor.
12 . The arrangement according to claim 11 , wherein an optical filter, which blocks incoming fractions of the excitation radiation, is arranged between the lens and the detector.
13 . The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein a colored glass piece in waveguide form is arranged at the exit-side end of the detector arm.
14 . The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the excitation light source, the coupling fiber, the Y-coupler and the optical detector are integrated in a shared housing.
15 . The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor foot comprises a curved section, in which a beam deflection is carried out at an angle of more than 45°.
16 . The arrangement according to claim 15 , wherein a beam-deflecting, toric surface is formed in the sensor foot.
17 . An arrangement for determining a glucose content, in particular of blood, comprising:
a biosensor, which can be implanted into tissue and emits radiation upon excitation;
an excitation light source, which generates at least an excitation radiation for the biosensor;
a coupling fiber, at an entry surface of which the excitation radiation is coupled in;
an optical detector; and
an optical Y-coupler including an excitation arm, which is connected to an exit surface of the coupling fiber, a detector arm, which is connected to the optical detector, and a sensor foot, which is connected to the biosensor,
wherein the excitation arm has a conical shape, wherein the radiation axis of the excitation arm includes an angle in the range of 5° to 70° with the main radiation axis of the detector arm at a connecting point between the detector arm and the excitation arm, wherein a diameter of the excitation arm at the position of the connecting point to the detector arm is less than two thirds a diameter of the detector arm and wherein the excitation arm has a cross-section that tapers in a radiation direction,
wherein the diameter of the excitation arm continuously decreases from an entry surface of the excitation arm to a connection point between the excitation arm and the detector arm, the excitation arm has a shape of an elongated frustum.
18 . The arrangement according to claim 17 , wherein the biosensor is formed as an optical fiber, which includes glucose-sensitive fluorescent luminophores at the exit surface thereof, which upon excitation by the excitation radiation emit fluorescent radiation having a fluorescent wavelength.