Temperature control for light-emitting diode stabilization

Abstract

A method for stabilizing the temperature of an LED is provided. A method is provided that includes providing a system comprising an LED, a reaction region, and a sample in the reaction region; generating excitation beams with the LED; directing excitation beams to the sample; detecting an optical property of the sample to obtain detection data; measuring the operating temperature of the light emitting diode; and adjusting the detection data of an excitation beam characteristic shift related to the operating temperature, when the LED is operated at the operating temperature to generate the excitation beams.

1 . A method for illuminating a reaction region with excitation beams, the method comprising: 
 providing a system comprising an LED, a reaction region, and a sample in the reaction region;    generating excitation beams with the LED;    directing excitation beams at the sample;    measuring an operating temperature of the LED; and    regulating the operating temperature by at least one of transferring heat from the LED and transferring heat to the LED, based on the operating temperature.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said regulating the operating temperature includes maintaining the operating temperature to be within an operating temperature range including a minimum temperature and a maximum temperature separated by about 5° C.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said regulating the operating temperature includes maintaining the operating temperature to be within an operating temperature range including a minimum temperature and a maximum temperature separated by about 1° C.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said regulating the operating temperature occurs prior in time to said generating the excitation beams.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said regulating the operating temperature comprises setting the operating temperature to be greater than an ambient environment temperature.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sample includes reagents necessary to perform a nucleic acid sequence amplification reaction.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the LED comprises a plurality of light-emitting diodes that are capable of emitting different respective wavelength ranges.  
     
     
         8 . A method for illuminating a reaction region with excitation beams, the method comprising: 
 providing a system comprising an LED, a reaction region, and a sample in the reaction region;    generating excitation beams with the LED;    directing excitation beams to the sample;    detecting an optical property of the sample to obtain detection data;    measuring the operating temperature of the light emitting diode to determine a measured temperature; and    adjusting the detection data of an excitation beam characteristic shift related to the measured temperature.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  8 , wherein the excitation beam characteristic comprises a spectrum of the generated excitation beams.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  8 , wherein the excitation beam characteristic comprises an intensity of the generated excitation beams.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the sample includes reagents necessary to perform a nucleic acid sequence amplification reaction.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the LED comprises a plurality of light-emitting diodes that are capable of emitting different respective wavelength ranges.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , adjusting the detection data comprises picking the excitation beam characteristic shift based on the position of an activated LED from the plurality of LEDs.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the LED comprise a plurality of LEDs disposed adjacent to one another and each LED has a respective operating temperature and a respective excitation beam characteristic shift.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the LED's comprise inner LEDs and outer LEDs, and the method comprises making a greater adjustment of excitation beam characteristic shift for one or more of the inner LEDs compared to the adjustment for one or more of the outer LED's.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein adjusting the detection data comprises retrieving from a memory source a respective excitation beam characteristic shift.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the LED comprises a plurality of LEDs stacked in along a path for directing excitation beams towards the reaction region and each LED has a respective operating temperature and a respective excitation beam characteristic shift.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising profiling the plurality of LEDs to obtain a calculated operating temperature based on a position of each LED in the plurality of LEDs.  
     
     
         19 . A method for maintaining emission intensity and spectral stability of an LED, the method comprising: 
 providing a system comprising an LED;    generating excitation beams with the LED;    measuring an operating temperature of the LED; and    regulating the operating temperature by at least one of transferring heat from the LED and transferring heat to the LED, based on the operating temperature, to maintain emssion intensity and spectral stability of the LED.    
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the regulating the operating temperature comprises retrieving from a memory source adjustment data corresponding to a desired operating temperature or temperature range at which emission intensity and spectral stability of the LED are maintained.