B4.1 - Small Optical Measurement System for Stable Detection of Mold Growth
- Event
- SMSI 2025
2025-05-06 - 2025-05-08
Nürnberg - Band
- Lectures
- Chapter
- B4 - Optical Sensor Systems
- Author(s)
- V. Rathnayake, T. Schweizer, S. van den Driesche, M. Vellekoop - University of Bremen, Bremen (Germany)
- Pages
- 97 - 98
- DOI
- 10.5162/SMSI2025/B4.1
- ISBN
- 978-3-910600-06-5
- Price
- free
Abstract
A small, stable sensor system is proposed to detect mold growth. The system measures the pH change in culture medium using the corresponding colour shift of pH indicator dyes in response to mold metabolism. The system employs a spectral sensor and a LED that measures the transmittance across 150 μl of culture media. The configuration of the optical system assures the accuracy of the measurements with a fixed optical path with no mold colony hindrance. A calibration method was introduced to calibrate small volumes of dyed culture medium.The system allows the detection of mold growth and identification of growth phases of mold measuring the pH value of the culture medium.