Automatic chemical analyzer with selective removal of reaction vessels

Abstract

An automatic chemical analyzer including a cuvette wheel having a number of cuvette holding recesses formed along a periphery thereof, a driving unit for rotating the cuvette wheel in a stepwise manner, an automatic cuvette loader for supplying cuvettes into cuvette holding recesses of the cuvette wheel, a sample delivery device for supplying samples into cuvettes held on the cuvette wheel, a reagent delivery device for supplying reagents into cuvettes held on the cuvette wheel, a colorimeter for measuring an optical density of test liquids contained in cuvettes, a washing device for washing cuvettes, and an automatic cuvette unloader for removing cuvettes out of the cuvette wheel. The analyzer further comprises a central control device for controlling the automatic cuvette loader and unloader such that after a cuvette has been repeatedly used a predetermined maximum number of times, the relevant cuvette is removed from the cuvette wheel and a new cuvette is supplied into the cuvette holding recess from which the cuvette has been just removed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.