Progress 09/01/11 to 01/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience has been the following: 1. The hydroponic community. We reached out to this community to demonstrate our technology, discuss their need and ask for guidance. We reached business owners, university professors, professionals, employees and growers in the field. As part of our efforts to reach this audience, we delivered seminars, met both informally and formally with the members of this community, participated in hydroponics tradeshows and visited universities, hydroponic stores, commercial hydroponic facilities. We also demonstrated our product and explained its capabilities. The following are some of the individuals and institutions we approached: a. Professor Terry Fujimoto of the Department of Plant Science, College of Agriculture of Cal Poly Pomona. b. Kristian Kraft, CEO of Pacific Coast Hydroponics in Culver City, CA. c. Jordan Gartenhaus of Grohaus Automation in Santa Rosa, CA. d. Golden Coast Hydroponics in Orange County. e. Professor Glaucio Cruz Genuncio from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, in the city of Seropedica, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. f. No Stress Hydroponics in Hollywood, CA. g. Prof. Joel Cuello from the Department of Agricultural and Bio-systems Engineering of the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. 2. The faculty and undergraduate and graduate students of US and Brazilian colleges and universities. We have been working with the following educational institutions: the Los Angeles Harbor College, LAHC, in Wilmington, CA; the California State University at Dominguez Hills, CSUDH, CA; the State University of São Paulo, UNESP, in the city of Araraquara, state of São Paulo, Brazil and the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Accordingly: a. LAHC is a US Department of Education accredited post-secondary Minority Serving Institution. Within this college, we have been undertaking the following activities: i. In 2012, the PI founded the LA Harbor's Physics Club which is giving opportunities for undergraduate students to do research in optical fiber sensors. In the past three years, we trained a total of 40 undergraduate students in this technology. During this period of time we tested the optical fiber colorimeter developed in this grant with the above students and were able to collect enough data to improve our device ii. We are also working with LA Harbor's full time Chemistry professors: Prof. Joachim Arias and Prof. Ibe Basil. They are working with us to incorporate a new laboratory experiment that uses the colorimeter developed under this grant into LAHC's Chemistry courses. We will be targeting the following courses: CHEM 65, 66 and 101. iii. This optical fiber colorimeter laboratory will also be implemented to the following Physics courses: Physics 18; 38; 185; 285 and 385. Physics 18 is a new course that was created to teach students about the technology we developed. Physics 38 is a regular course that is taught every year at LA Harbor and is a required course for every student that is pursuing a major in Engineering, Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics. By incorporating the technology developed during this project into courses that are taught regularly, we will be able to commercialization commercialization of this technology. Physics 185, 285 and 385 are Directed Study courses. b. CSUDH is a US Department of Education accredited post-secondary Minority Serving Institution. Within this university, we have been implementing the same programs that we are undertaking at LAHC. In this case, we approached both the Physics and Chemistry Departments. c. The PI has a long history of collaboration with researchers from the Institute of Chemistry of the Brazilian university UNESP in Araraquara. In 2003, the PI was granted an SBIR like proposal from the Brazilian Research Foundation, FAPESP (Research Foundation of the State of São Paulo). This proposal was sponsored by UNESP and, at the time we used their facilities. Again in 2013/2014, we submitted another proposal to FAPESP, through its Visiting Research Program, having UNESP of Araraquara as the host institution. This proposal was crafted as a complement to the work done during our SBIR Phase II. In the process, the PI was awarded a plane ticket to Brazil and a two months stipend between December 17th 2013 and February 15th 2014. As part of the budget of this visit, UNESP purchased three colorimeters and many other devices from the PI. Also, in this period, the PI taught a 20 hours long mini course to graduate students and a post-doc covering the basic principles of his technology. d. The Department of Chemistry of the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee is interested in purchasing some of our colorimeters to implement them into their lab course work. We are contact with its Chair and plan to implement the same program that is being implemented at LA Harbor. 3. The private industry in general. We have been working with many companies to commercialize the colorimeter we created. Here is a partial list: Hanna Instruments, in Winsock, Rhode Island; the Nitrate Company in Lake Linden, MI; LaMotte Company in Chestertown, MD and US BioSolutions in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. We have been able to sell some of our products to Hanna Instruments and US BioSolutions. Changes/Problems: Major changes include: major problems or delays that may have a significant impact on the rate of expenditure; significant deviations from research schedule or goals; unexpected outcomes; or changes in approved protocols for the use or care of animals, human subjects, and/or biohazards encountered during the reporting period. Major changes: the original plan called for the development of a reversible nutrient sensor. However, this goal proved to be rather difficult to achieve for this reason, we concentrated our efforts in using non-reversible reagent chemistries applied to our optical fiber configuration. Unexpected outcomes: The colorimeter developed was an unexpected outcome since we did not forsee developing such a simple and powerful instrument. Another unexpected outcome was realized when we obtained data of the interaction of the optical radiation at the liquid air interface of our cuvette. We are investigating the reasons for the unexpected signal behavior. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Training opportunities were created for a total of 40 undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral students. Accordingly, we did the following: 1. We conducted weekly meetings with a group of undergraduate students, of Los Angeles Harbor College. In these meetings they were introduced to our unique colorimeter, performed experiments with this device and participated in professional conferences. 2. We also undertook a formal course of instruction at a Brazilian university, UNESP, in the city of Araraquara, state of São Paulo in Brazil. This formal course was financed by the Brazilian research foundation FAPESP and had the participation of graduate and post doctoral students and two faculty members. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results were reported in: 1. Professional meetings ofSPIE and PITTCON. 2. Publications ofconference proceedings: Pittcon and SPIE Proceedings. 3. Patent applications both domestic and overseas. 4. The website of the company Ocean Optics: this report was in the form of application notes. 5. Seminars at US and Brazilian institutions. 6. Meetings of LA Harbor'sPhysics Club. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This project addressed the important issue of determining the amount of nutrient concentration requiredto grow plants in a soilless medium that uses water. Plants, as well asany living organisms in general, require a specific set ofchemical elements, or atoms, that are referred as nutrients, to survive. These chemical elements arefound in theperiodic table andconsist ofCarbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium, Sulfur, Boron, Copper, Iron, Chlorine, Manganesium, Molybdenum and Zinc. The first three nutrients, Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen, can be found in the air and are called non-mineral nutrients. The remaining ones are called mineral nutrients: these can be mixed to water to create a nutrient solution that is used to feed plants. Among the mineral nutrients, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium are the most important ones: for this reason they are called Primary Macro-nutrients. Because of the large number of nutrients required to monitor, measurements of nutrient concentration made with currently available technology, are lengthy and time consuming. With available technology, each sample must be loaded, one by one, to a single colorimeter. One way to cut down this time is by using multiple devices to measure each nutrient separately. However, by doing so, time is saved but the instrumentation cost is increased. In order to achieve a large number of measurements at a lower cost, we developed a new colorimeter that uses optical fibers to analyze multiple samples with a single device: this was possible because side illumination allows multiple measurements with a single detection system. Currently, we are commercializing a colorimeter that can measure three different samples with a single device at a cost that is comparable to regular single sample colorimeters. For instance, depending on the detection system used, the cost to make additional sample measurements with regular colorimeters is $150 to $50K. Because our current colorimeter is, effectively, three devices in one, and has a cost that is comparable to existing commercial devices, this equates to a savings of $300 to $100K if our device is used. In addition, the number of samples that can be analyzed by our device depends on the light source diameter, the cuvette width and the length of the optical fiber. Currently, our device uses a 5 mm diameter LED, a 10 mm wide cuvette and an 18 cm long optical fiber to measure three samples. This current device can also be redesigned to accommodate 18 samples instead: one sample per centimeter of optical fiber. With this type of advanced capability, and with minor incremental cost, the savings can add up from $2,550 to $850K! Although our device was specifically developed for the hydroponic community, it can also be used in several other industries including: drinking water; environmental monitoring; to determine if the parameters of the water of a swimming pool are within their optimal range; in fertigation etc.
Publications
- Type:
Books
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Side Illuminated Optical Fiber: Lab Manual, ebook available for download at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SI16M6O.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
"Simultaneous Concentration Measurements of Multiple Samples with a Single Spectrometer"; Session # 2180; Abstract # 2180-2; Pittcon 2015, New Orleans, March 2015.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
"Side Illuminated Optical Fiber as a Multiplexing Element for Spectroscopic Systems"; Photonic Fiber and Crystal Devices: Advances in Materials and Innovations in Device Applications VII, edited by Shizhuo Yin, Ruyan Guo, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 8847, Paper # 88470I; 2013.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
"Multipoint side illuminated absorption based optical fiber sensor for relative humidity"; Photonic Fiber and Crystal Devices: Advances in Materials and Innovations in Device Applications VII, edited by Shizhuo Yin, Ruyan Guo, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 8847, Paper # 88471H; 2013.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
"Ultraviolet side illuminated optical fiber nitrate sensor", Poster Presentation on Instrumentation, 2014 SCIX Conference, Reno, NV, September 29, 2014.
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
"AXIAL VERSUS SIDE ILLUMINATION OF A FLUORESCENT CLADDING OPTICAL FIBER", http://oceanoptics.com/wp-content/uploads/Claudio-Egalon-Axial-VS-Side-Illumination-of-a-Fluorescent-Cladding-Optical-Fiber.pdf.
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
"MULTIPLE SAMPLE FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY USING A SIDE ILLUMINATED OPTICAL FIBER", http://oceanoptics.com/wp-content/uploads/Claudio-Egalon-Multiple-Sample-Fluorescence-Spectroscopy-Using-A-Side-Illuminated-Optical-Fiber.pdf.
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
"SIMULTANEOUS SENSING OF MULTIPLE SAMPLES WITH A SINGLE SPECTROMETER", http://oceanoptics.com/wp-content/uploads/Claudio-Egalon-Simultaneous-Sensing-Of-Multiple-Samples-With-A-Single-Spectrometer.pdf.
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
"SIDE ILLUMINATED OPTICAL FIBER SENSOR FOR NITRATE USING UV ABSORPTION", http://oceanoptics.com/wp-content/uploads/Claudio-Egalon-Side-Illuminated-Optical-Fiber-Sensor-For-Nitrate-Using-Uv-Absorption.pdf.
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Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Activities: 1. Built a setup to taper different optical fibers using commercially available devices. This setup has been automated with programmable step motors and will be further improved. 2. Built a setup to measure the diameter of the tapered fiber along its length. 3. Tested the tapered fibers with different configurations of the side illuminated optical fiber. 4. Identified proper reversible reagents for the detection of Temperature, Nitrate, Phosphate, Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium ions in water. Coated these reagents over the fiber and tested them in water. 5. Identified and tested commercially available RGB (Red, Green and Blue) LED strips from Eagle Light, OMNI Light and Environmental Light. 6. Built a colorimeter and tested it with different reagents and food dies. 7. Characterized the tapered optical fiber in terms of its light intensity response against the angle of illumination with respect to the optical fiber axis. 8. Networked two optical fiber sensors with Radio Shack's switch. 9. Los Angeles Harbor College, LAHC, is sponsoring this research by providing lab space and student workforce. A total of 12 students from LAHC is helping this research through LAHC's Physics Club which was recently founded by the PI and several of his students. 10. Created the Los Angeles Harbor College's Physics Club which has been conducting weekly meetings and optical fiber sensor experiments. Events: 1. Attended the Commercialization Training Assistance Program in Washington, DC, organized by LARTA. 2. Attended the SCAAPT (Southern California American Association of Physics Teachers), in Northridge, CA, in November 2012 and made a presentation of the side illuminated optical fiber sensor capabilities. 3. Organized a workshop for the students of the Physics Club at LA Harbor College teaching them how to work with the side illuminated optical fiber sensor. 4. Deployed the liquid level optical fiber sensor at a creek in the Ballona Wetlands in Los Angeles, CA. 5. Participated in the Maximum Yield's Indoor Garden Expo in the Long Beach Convention Center, November 3-4, 2012. Service: 1. Provided consulting work to Technical Associates on the side illuminated optical fiber sensor for nuclear radiation detection. Products: 1. Entered the National Phase of a new patent application in the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Patent Organization (EPO), India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Russia and Singapore. 2. Was awarded an European patent on December 2011. 3. European patent validated in the following European countries: Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Greece, Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Portugal, Cyprus and Luxembourg. 4. Developed a device that can make absorption, fluorescence and scattering measurements using the side illuminated optical fiber. 5. Developed a liquid level sensor using the side illuminated optical fiber. Dissemination: 1. Made a poster presentation on this technology at Pittcon 2012 in Orlando, FL, a oral presentation at the Fall 2012 meeting of the SCAAPT and another oral presentation at Medtronics, in Northridge, CA. PARTICIPANTS: The Principal Investigator, Dr. Claudio O. Egalon, is an Individual who worked more than 1,400 hours in this project. Among other activities, he planned and conducted experiments, identified chemical reagents and proper optical techniques, purchased materials, built the optical fiber sensor, tested different sensor configurations, analyzed the resulting data, mentored and supervised undergraduate, graduate and post doctoral students in this technology, worked closely with collaborators, identified Partner Organizations, attended tradeshows and workshops, made presentations and reported the results of this project to the USDA. The Partner Organizations in this project are 1. Los Angeles Harbor College, LAHC, in Wilmington, CA. LAHC's Mathematics, Physical Sciences & Technology Division is providing access to its classrooms, fume hoods, undergraduate students, the Chemistry and Physics stockrooms and the laser cutter and the 3D printers in the Technology Building. 2. Loyola Marymount University (LMU), in Los Angeles, CA and the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Committee, SMBRC, at LMU. SMBRC and LMU allowed S&ST access to a creek in the Ballona Wetlands which was used to for preliminary testing of S&ST's sensors. 3. Boston Electronics, in Boston, MA, advised on the use of UV sensitive photodiodes. 4. The Department of Chemistry of the University of California of Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, provided lab access to one of its post doctoral students. 5. Grohaus Automation, in Santa Rosa, CA, is testing S&ST liquid level sensor for their Hydroid product. Grohaus also graciously provided a pH and Electrical Conductivity sensor for our own tests. 6. Ventura Precision, Thousand Oaks, CA, is helping commercialize the sensor. 7. HM Digital, Culver City, CA, is suggesting different types of sensors that the market is interested. 8. BP Home Systems, Torrance, CA, is helping design the electronics components of the sensor. 9. Parallax, Inc., in Rocklin, CA, provided valuable information on electronics components for this sensor. 10. Seiho International, in Pasadena, CA, allowed the receipt of mailing packages for the Principal Investigator. Collaborators and contacts for this project include: LAHC: Prof. Lauren Mckenzie, Alfredo Martinez and Angelica Vega. LAHC's undergraduate students: Delbert Lavezari, Michael Matta, Robert Y. Insley, Luis Elias, Kirk Duran, Carolyn Chua Jaring, Marie Quiday, Paul Delgado, Raymond Duenas, Lidia Lee, Suzana Ceja, Paul Ferrier, Cristian Guzman, Bianca Gonzaga, Blanca Sanchez, Princess Ortiz and Gildardo Pena. Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Post Doctoral student Dr. Bryana Henderson. Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission: Elena Turtle, Karina Johnston, Ivan Medel and Diana Hurlbert. The Nitrate Elimination Co.: Ellen Campbell and Wilbur Campbell. Arizona State University: Dr. Joel Cuello. Seiho International: Miss Reiko Taylor. BP Home Systems: Ubirajara Pecanha. Training or professional development. This project is offering training and professional development undergraduate, graduate and post doc students. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audiences for this project are hydroponics and agricultural businesses, sensor manufacturers and ethnic minorities who are socially, economically and educationally at disadvantage. Extensive interview with owners of many hydroponic stores have uncovered the need for a simple technique to determine nutrient concentration in hydroponics solutions. Such a sensor would decrease the amount of nutrients discarded into the environment and optimize plant growth. Sensor manufacturers are always looking for other and better ways of detecting nutrients and we have demonstrated new optical techniques for this objective. In addition to that, we have also targeted an educational minority serving institution, Los Angeles Harbor College, by working with its undergraduate students and employees and introducing them to this new technology. Using the facilities of Los Angeles Harbor College, a minority serving institution, the Principal Investigator recruited the help of sixteen undergraduate students who gained practical experience in this sensor. In the process, a new college club, the Physics Club, was founded which is now part of the college community. Accordingly the PI has, so far, dedicated more than 100 hours of his project time to advise the members of this club. Through informal education, this Effort delivered science-based knowledge to these students. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: No major modifications were made to the project. Any modifications were minor and are related to unexpected outcomes that greatly improved the project value. For instance, it was not expected that the bare core tapered fiber would provide superior results over the cylindrical bare core fiber. These unexpected results proved that the tapered optical fiber configuration deserved far more attention than what has been given. For this reason, some of the resources of this project have been diverted to study into more detail the manufacturing of this device and the light propagation characteristics in a tapered optical fiber. Another modification is related to another unexpected outcome: the response of the side illuminated liquid level sensor. This type of sensor was demonstrated to have a huge impact in terms of resolution. So far, we have demonstrated resolutions on the order of 30 microns for our current prototype however, even better resolutions, on the order of 1 nm, can be easily envisioned with more advanced configurations of this sensor.
Impacts
A change in knowledge occurred when 1. It was demonstrated three additional sensing configurations for the side illuminated optical fiber sensor. 2. It was demonstrated that tapered optical fibers propagate more light than their regular cylindrical counterpart and 3. The trainees of this project learned about the side illumination technique. In the first case, the previous sensing configurations required that the sensor be in direct contact with the analyzing medium. During this project, it was demonstrated this is not necessary: instead, the fiber can be used as a light collection medium once the original probing light has been modified by the analyzing medium. For instance, in regular spectroscopy the probing light initially passes through an analyzing medium, enclosed by a cuvette, before it hits a detector. By adding the side illuminated fiber after the cuvette, it is possible to monitor multiple cuvettes along the fiber length with a single detector greatly decreasing the costs of analyzing multiple samples. This configuration can be used for absorption, fluorescent and scattering resulting now in eight different optical fiber sensor configurations: two side illuminated sensitive cladding optical fiber (fluorescent and absorption); three side illuminated bare core fiber (fluorescent, absorption and scattering) and three bare core fibers that act as a collection medium for fluorescent, absorption and scattering signals coming from an enclosed medium such as a cuvette. In the second case, the bare core side illuminated tapered fiber opens the doors for more advanced sensor configurations that will allow the coupling of light from higher to lower order modes that have a much lower loss. In the third case, the trainees of this project, the undergraduate students of LA Harbor College's Physics Club, were made aware of the side illuminated technique which, at the time, was unknown to them. They also discovered that Beer's Law does not hold for this type of sensor due to the multitude number of propagating modes in an optical fiber. The above discoveries resulted in the use of the side illuminated technique in an actual colorimeter. Since the side illuminated fiber can easily accommodate several sensing points, it acts as a multiple colorimetric instrument in a single compact device. Because of this unique characteristic, we have been able to easily justify the purchase of our new colorimetric device versus commercially available colorimeters that can accommodate only one sample for measurement. As a result of the PI's action, we have made the scientific and commercial communities aware of the fact that there are other low cost alternatives detection for Nitrate, Phosphate and Potassium: this resulted in a change of conditions. As an example, Grohaus Automation and the Nitrate Elimination Co., were made aware of this new optical technique capable of sensing multiple parameters with a single device. As a result, Grohaus is evaluating our technology and Nitrate Elimination is looking forward to test our colorimeter.
Publications
- C.O. Egalon, Side Iluminated Optical Fiber Sensor Array for Relative Humidity, PITTCON 2012, Orlando, FL.
- C.O.Egalon, M.P. Matta, D.C. Lavezzari, R.Y.Isley, E.R. Campbell, W.H. Campbell, New Colorimeter Using a Side Illuminated Optical Fiber, PITTCON 2013 to be held in Philadelphia, PA, March 2013.
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