US 12,228,743 B2
Test strip reader device and a method for detecting a test result
Pauli Salmelainen, Turku (FI)
Assigned to UNIOGEN OY, Turku (FI)
Appl. No. 17/430,632
Filed by Uniogen Oy, Turku (FI)
PCT Filed Nov. 14, 2019, PCT No. PCT/FI2019/050812
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 12, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/165488, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 20, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 20195109 (FI), filed on Feb. 13, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0179224 A1, Jun. 9, 2022
Int. Cl. G02B 27/09 (2006.01); G01N 21/64 (2006.01)
CPC G02B 27/0955 (2013.01) [G01N 21/6428 (2013.01); G02B 27/0994 (2013.01); G01N 2021/6439 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A reader device for detecting a test result from a testing element carrying a sample, the reader device comprising:
a radiation source configured to emit first electromagnetic radiation;
an optical system configured to direct the first electromagnetic radiation to the testing element; and
a detector configured to receive second electromagnetic radiation from the testing element and to produce a detection signal responsive to the second electromagnetic radiation,
wherein the optical system is configured to direct the second electromagnetic radiation from the testing element to the detector, the optical system comprising
a guide rod configured to conduct the first electromagnetic radiation in a longitudinal direction of the guide rod, the guide rod including an egress end-surface, and
a lens system configured to focus the first electromagnetic radiation coming out via the egress end-surface of the guide rod to the testing element so that the egress end-surface of the guide rod is imaged on a surface of the testing element,
wherein the egress end-surface of the guide rod has an elongated shape and a ratio of a length of the egress end-surface to a width of the egress end-surface is at least two,
a cross-sectional shape of the guide rod is one of: a rectangle, a hexagon, and an octagon to homogenize intensity of the first electromagnetic radiation on the egress end-surface of the guide rod, and
wherein the length of the guide rod is selected so that the intensity distribution of the first electromagnetic radiation is sufficiently flat on the egress end-surface of the guide rod to homogenize the intensity of the first electromagnetic radiation on the egress end-surface of the guide rod, thereby minimizing the peak-to-average ratio of the intensity distribution on the radiation pattern.