Chemistry analyzer
First Claim
1. A chemical analyzer system comprising:
- cuvette means including a plurality of cuvettes;
sample holding means for holding a plurality of samples;
reagent holding means for holding at least one reagent;
transfer means including a needle having an external surface and a hollow core insertable into and for receiving at least a portion of one of said samples and at least a portion of said at least one reagent and for transferring the received portions to one of said cuvettes, said transferring of each portion occurring in a period of a given duration, said received portions forming a test sample in said one cuvette;
needle washing means including means for washing the needle external surface continuously during substantially the entire duration of said transferring periods of said portions and for washing the needle core subsequent to said transferring periods of said portions;
cuvette cleaning means comprising plunger means including a single plunger for reciprocating within said one cuvette subsequent to said transferring for automatically washing, aspirating and drying the one cuvette during said reciprocating at one cleaning location;
colorimetric photometer means including light generating means and a plurality of filter means responsive to the light from the light generating means passed through the test sample for producing a plurality of signals each corresponding to a different filter means and manifesting a different wavelength of said passed through light; and
calculating means responsive to said signals for generating an output signal manifesting a calculated light absorbance value of said test sample.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A carousel receives a plurality of removable reagent containers, a turntable receives a plurality of sample fluid containers and a rotatable cuvette assembly holds an annular array of reaction and test cuvettes. A robotic arm carrying a fluid transfer needle coupled to a pair of syringes picks up one or more reagents and sample fluid for deposit into a cuvette. As the arm moves the needle tip exterior is washed and contaminants sent to a waste collector. At the end of a test cycle, the needle core is flushed and cleaned. A colorimetry photometric test is performed on the reacted fluids in each cuvette by a system employing ten interference filters, corresponding diode detectors and amplifiers employing two identical multiplexers providing identical filtered signals for logarithmic calculation of absorbance. The calculation subtracts a noise base level signal of one filter output from one multiplexer from a peak level signal produced by a second filter output from the other multiplexer for each component under test. A reciprocating plunger aspirates and cleans each cuvette at a single cleaning station employing multiple reciprocating motions. The photometric test is completed on all cuvettes in a single test cycle which are subsequently cleaned for the next test sequence.
220 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A chemical analyzer system comprising:
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cuvette means including a plurality of cuvettes; sample holding means for holding a plurality of samples; reagent holding means for holding at least one reagent; transfer means including a needle having an external surface and a hollow core insertable into and for receiving at least a portion of one of said samples and at least a portion of said at least one reagent and for transferring the received portions to one of said cuvettes, said transferring of each portion occurring in a period of a given duration, said received portions forming a test sample in said one cuvette; needle washing means including means for washing the needle external surface continuously during substantially the entire duration of said transferring periods of said portions and for washing the needle core subsequent to said transferring periods of said portions; cuvette cleaning means comprising plunger means including a single plunger for reciprocating within said one cuvette subsequent to said transferring for automatically washing, aspirating and drying the one cuvette during said reciprocating at one cleaning location; colorimetric photometer means including light generating means and a plurality of filter means responsive to the light from the light generating means passed through the test sample for producing a plurality of signals each corresponding to a different filter means and manifesting a different wavelength of said passed through light; and calculating means responsive to said signals for generating an output signal manifesting a calculated light absorbance value of said test sample. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A chemical analyzer system comprising:
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cuvette means including a plurality of cuvettes; sample holding means for holding a plurality of samples; reagent holding means for holding at least one reagent; transfer means including a needle having an external tip surface and a hollow core insertable into and for receiving at least a portion of one of said samples and at least a portion of said at least one reagent and for transferring the received portions to one of said cuvettes in a corresponding portion transfer cycle having a period of a given duration; and needle washing means including means for washing the needle external surface during substantially the entire period of each said transfer cycles and for washing the needle core after the completion of all said cycles. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A chemical analyzer system comprising:
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cuvette means including a plurality of cuvettes each having a cuvette cavity; sample holding means for holding a plurality of samples; reagent holding means for holding at least one reagent; transfer means for transferring at least a portion of one of said samples and at least a portion of said at least one reagent to one of said cuvettes; test means for testing the one sample combined with the at least one reagent for at least one parameter in said one cuvette; and cuvette washing means including plunger means comprising sealing means for sealing said one cuvette cavity during washing of said one cuvette and a single plunger for reciprocating within said one cuvette cavity subsequent to said testing at one wash location of said one cuvette for automatically aspirating, washing and drying the one cuvette sealed cavity at the one cuvette location during said reciprocating in respective aspirating, washing and drying reciprocating cycles of the one cuvette at said one wash location wherein each cycle corresponds to a selected one of said aspirating, washing and drying. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. In a chemical analyzer system comprising cuvette means including a cuvette, sample holding means for holding a sample and reagent holding means for holding at least one reagent, the combination comprising:
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transfer means including a needle having an external tip surface and a hollow core for insertion into and for receiving at least a portion of one of said samples and at least a portion of said at least one reagent and for transferring the received portions to a cuvette of said cuvette means in a corresponding portion transfer cycle having a period of a given duration; and needle washing means including means for washing the needle external surface continuously during substantially the entire period of each said transferring cycles and for washing the needle core after the completion of all said cycles.
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Specification