Blood cell counter and cell counting method
AssigneeSysmex Corporation
InventorsNobuhiro Kitagawa, Masahiko Oguro, Kozo Fujii
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A blood cell counter comprises a stirrer which stirs a whole blood sample in a sample container by moving the sample container, an aspirator which aspirates the whole blood sample by penetrating a lid of the sample container with an aspiration tube after stirring by the stirrer, a detector which counts the blood cells in the whole blood sample aspirated by the aspirator, and a force applying member which applies a force to the sample container in an upright state after stirring by the stirrer so as to remove the whole blood sample from the lid of the sample container.
Claims20
A blood cell counter comprising:
- a agitation device that mixes a whole blood sample in a sample container by moving the sample container;
- an aspirator that aspirates the whole blood sample by penetrating a lid of the sample container with an aspiration tube after mixing the whole blood sample;
- a detector that counts the blood cells in the whole blood sample aspirated by the aspirator;
- and
- a force applying member that applies a force to the sample container in an upright state after mixing so as to remove the whole blood sample from the lid of the sample container,
- wherein the force applying member comprises a roller that contacts an outer surface of the sample container and rotates the sample container around an axis parallel to the longitudinal direction of the sample container, and a force applicator that pushes the sample container to the roller while the sample container is rotated, and
- wherein a distance from an outer circumferential edge of the roller to a rotational center of the roller varies.
A blood cell counter comprising:
- a sample aspirator that pierces a lid of a sample container with an aspirating tube and aspirates a whole blood sample in the sample container;
- a detector that counts the blood cells in the whole blood sample aspirated by the aspirator;
- and
- a force applying member that applies a force to the sample container in an upright state so as to remove the whole blood sample from the lid of the sample container before aspiration by the sample aspirator,
- wherein the force applying member comprises a roller that contacts an outer surface of the sample container and rotates the sample container around an axis parallel to the longitudinal direction of the sample container, and a force applicator that pushes the sample container to the roller while the sample container is rotated, and
- wherein a distance from the outer surface of the roller to the rotational axis of the roller is irregular.
A cell counting method comprising:
- mixing a whole blood sample in a sample container by moving the sample container;
- applying a force to a sample container while the sample container is upright to remove whole blood sample attached to the lid of the sample container from the lid,
- wherein applying the force comprises applying a roller that contacts an outer surface of the sample container and rotates the sample container around an axis parallel to the longitudinal direction of the sample container, and applying a force applicator that pushes the sample container to the roller while the sample container is rotated, and
- wherein a distance from an outer circumferential edge of the roller to the rotation center of the roller varies;
- piercing the lid of the sample container with an aspirating tube and aspirating the whole blood sample from the sample container;
- and
- counting the blood cells contained in the whole blood sample.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.