Hi! I left my job last year and started working on portable low cost spectrometers, SpectroSmart (patent pending) and have come up with some excellent results.
Please refer to the attached images for the resolution of the (uncalibrated) SpectroSmart. Note that there is NO averaging or any other treatment done to the spectra.
The range of the device is 350-1050nm.
Do you think such a spectrometer would find any application in academic domain or otherwise? Would anyone be interested to buy the device for 350$? Any support/suggestion appreciated.
Ph.: 91-9716608806 (India)
It is all about applications. Find the right one at the right cost and maybe you have a product.
Your estimated cost may not be taking into account the cost of running a business, liability, taxes, UL/CSA/CE Certification, sales, advertising and overhead plus the loss you incur selling to resellers/distributors. Low cost VIS wavelength spectro's are available right now (plenty of them), but the real research and academic market have always been for UV/VIS models with powerful software interfaces included. While a tungsten bulb ($20) or LED is fine for a VIS only model, the UV bulb needed to drop the range costs more than your whole device! So you can see how the price can be easily driven up from a few hundred dollars to more than $1K. If you can identify a market where only the VIS region is needed w/o any computer software interface (some already are selling versions which use smart phones for the software!) , then you might find an application, but being profitable may be a challenge. Good luck to you!
I fully agree with Bill Letter (again... :-) ) . However, what is not cheap today may become cheap, and the fad, in the future. OTOH, what is cheap today may become a norm later. Also, applicability will depend on technical requirements of your particular application. Decisions, decisions...
Thanks Bill and Jacek for sharing your views.
The price already includes ALL the expenses (including distributor's margin freight and taxes).
Yes you're right. Many labs, especially biotech ones need in UV-Vis range. But there are a lot of applications based on NIR spectroscopy, particularly diagnostic and food testing. Will extend the device to UV soon.
Congratulations Shubham! I am also designing a low cost spectrometer for a competition, its called the University Rover Challenge and we are required to develop a life detection method for soil analysis. $350 USD is a great price, honestly congratulations. I was wondering if you could shed some light on what sensor you are using along its driver circuit. Best regards!
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