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US 7,842,237 B1Granted
Automatic analyzer and rack transfer device
AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.
InventorsTakeshi Shibuya, Hiroyasu Uchida, Katsuhiro Kanbara
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An automatic analyzer which is applied to a device for analyzing specimen by the transfer of a specimen holding rack to an analysis unit and designed not to complicate the transfer system of the rack even if the number of the analysis units is one or increased to two or more, wherein a rack standby disk capable of rotating and stopping under the condition that a plurality of racks are waiting is installed, an exclusive rack reciprocatingly transfer line is provided between each analysis unit and the rack standby disk, only a single rack is led to each rack reciprocatingly transfer line, and the rack is returned to the rack standby disk after the sampling and treatment of the specimen have been completed.
Claims10
An automatic analyzer comprising:
- an analysis unit for analyzing specimens;
- a plurality of common racks holding patient specimens to be sampled for analysis by the analysis unit;
- a plurality of specific racks holding specific liquids to be repeatedly sampled as needed for analysis of the patient specimens by the analysis unit;
- a rack supply section that supplies the common racks and the specific racks to be used in analysis by the analysis unit;
- a rack feed line, connected to the rack supply section, that receives the common racks and the specific racks from the rack supply section;
- a rack standby disk, connected to the rack feed line, that receives the common and specific racks from the rack feed line and supplies the common racks and specific racks to the analysis unit;
- a rack transfer means that transfers the common and specific racks from the rack standby disk to a specimen sampling position on the analysis unit and returns the common racks and the specific racks, from which the specimens and specific liquids have been sampled in the specimen sampling position, to the rack standby disk,
- a rack recovery line, connected to the rack standby disk, that receives the common racks having been analyzed by the analysis unit from the rack standby disk;
- a rack recovery section, connected to the rack recovery line, that receives the common racks having been analyzed by the analysis unit from the rack recovery line;
- a control unit connected to the rack supply section, the rack feed line, the rack standby disk and the rack recovery line controlling transfer of the common racks and the specific racks from the rack supply section to the rack standby disk, controlling rotating and stopping of the rack standby disk in a state such that the common racks and the specific racks are made to stand by thereon in a mixed state, and controlling transferring of the common racks on the rack standby disk towards the rack recovery section after treatment;
- a reading device which reads discriminating information of the common and the specific racks prior to the rack standby disk receiving the common and specific racks from the rack feed line, and disposed proximate to the rack feed line;
- wherein said control unit controls transfer of the common racks and specific racks based on the discriminating information read by the reading device such that the common racks are carried toward the rack recovery section after having been analyzed by the analysis unit, and the specific racks are kept standing by on the rack standby disk.
9 more elements
An automatic analyzer comprising:
- an analysis unit for analyzing specimens;
- a plurality of common racks holding patient specimens to be sampled for analysis by the analysis unit;
- a plurality of specific racks holding specific liquids to be repeatedly sampled as needed for analysis of the patient specimens by the analysis unit;
- a rack supply section that supplies the common racks and the specific racks to be used in analysis by the analysis unit;
- a rack feed line, connected to the rack supply section, that transfers the common racks and the specific racks from the rack supply section;
- a rack standby disk, connected to the rack feed line, that receives the common racks and the specific racks from the rack feed line, rotating and stopping in a state such that the common racks and specific racks are made to stand by thereon in a mixed state;
- a rack recovery line that receives the common racks from the rack standby disk;
- a rack recovery section that receives the common racks from the rack recovery line;
- a reading device which reads discriminating information of the common racks and the specific racks prior to the rack standby disk receiving the common racks and the specific racks from the rack feed line, and disposed proximate to the rack feed line;
- a rack transfer means which operates to transfer the common racks and the specific racks from the rack standby disk to a specimen sampling position on an analysis unit and to return the common racks and the specific racks, from which the specimens and specific liquids have been sampled in specimen sampling position, to the rack standby disk;
- and
- a control unit controlling transfer of the common racks and the specific racks based on the discriminating information read by the reading device and after one of either the common racks or specific racks is returned to the rack standby disk from the specimen sampling position, another one of either the common racks or specific racks is transferred to the sampling position via the rack transfer means.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.