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US 9,039,970 B2Granted
Automatic analyzer
AssigneeHitachi High-Technologies Corporation
InventorsHitoshi Tokieda, Isao Yamazaki, Masaaki Hanawa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An automatic analyzer having reagent disks disposed inside and outside a reaction disk. A plurality of reagent probes are alternately accessed one by one to each of the reagent disks per cycle. Each reagent probe comprises two arms rotatable independently of each other so that the reagent probe is able to access a plurality of points and interference between the plurality of reagent probes can be avoided. A first reagent and a second reagent can be loaded on each of the reagent disks.
Claims6
An automatic analyzer comprising:
- a plurality of reagent disks, with rotary axes of said reagent disks being different from each other;
- a plurality of reagent containers being arranged along a circumference of each of said reagent disks;
- a reaction disk on which a plurality of reaction cuvettes are arranged along a circumference;
- a plurality of reagent dispensing probes arranged on each of said reagent disks, each of said reagent dispensing probes including a first arm rotatable about a first rotary shaft and a second arm rotatable about a second rotary shaft arranged on said first arm, said first arm and said second arm being rotatable independently of each other,
- each of said reagent dispensing probes movable to suck a reagent contained in said reagent containers and to eject the sucked reagent into a reaction cuvette, and
- where at least one pair of said plurality of reagent dispensing probes is arranged so that one reagent dispensing probe of said pair of reagent dispensing probes is disposed at one of said reagent disks and the other reagent dispensing probe of said pair of reagent dispensing probes is disposed at another of said reagent disks and is movable along a working path, and both dispensing probes are movable to eject the sucked reagents from the reagent containers on the reagent disks into the reaction cuvette at a same dispensing position on the reaction disk;
- an optical detector to analyze reactions of said reagents and samples in said reaction cuvettes;
- a washing port for washing the reagent dispensing probes;
- and
- a controller configured to control each of the reagent dispensing probes, wherein when the second arm of the one reagent dispensing probe of said pair is to be moved to the washing port and interferes with the other reagent dispensing probe of said pair by obstructing the working path, the controller moves the first arm of the one reagent dispensing probe of said pair to a position where the second arm of the one reagent dispensing probe of said pair does not interfere with the other reagent dispensing probe of said pair, and thereafter, the controller moves the second arm of the one reagent dispensing probe of said pair to the washing port without interfering with the other reagent dispensing probe of said pair.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.