Laboratory slide staining device using sample immersion

Abstract

a device for coloring laboratory slides by immersing samples, the device has an automatic and intelligent quality control system that does this according to the number of painted samples or the time elapsed since the previous quality control round. This device the form of a cylinder and includes two main parts: the coloring and quality control part and the mechanical part of this device, including the lower body, containers and a top spinner body. This device is used in the field of said types of staining and in all departments of the medical diagnosis laboratory that require multiple stages of staining with the mechanism of immersing the slides in the dye. It is also capable of programming for different types of dyes in other departments.

Description

Laboratory slide staining device using sample immersion

[0001] a device for coloring laboratory slides by immersing samples, the device has an automatic and intelligent quality control system that does this according to the number of painted samples or the time elapsed since the previous quality control round. This device the form of a cylinder and includes two main parts: the coloring and quality control part and the mechanical part of this device, including the lower body, containers and a top spinner body. This device is used in the field of said types of staining and in all departments of the medical diagnosis laboratory that require multiple stages of staining with the mechanism of immersing the slides in the dye. It is also capable of programming for different types of dyes in other departments.

[0002] G01N 1 / 30

[0003] Eight-jar automatic staining machine for hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining of biological tissue paraffin section

[0004] CN201413267Y

[0005] The utility model aims to provide an eight-jar automatic staining machine for hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining of biological tissue paraffin sections. The automatic staining machine can accomplish the mechanical automated operation through applying a microcomputer to control, and comprises a chassis body, a constant-temperature water tank and a lifting movement mechanism, wherein the chassis body is connected with the lifting movement mechanism; the chassis body comprises a chassis housing, a liquid crystal display and an electric hair dryer; the liquid crystal display is arranged on the front surface of the chassis housing; the electric hair dryer is positioned on the right side above the chassis housing; a rinsing bath is positioned in the middle of the constant-temperature water tank; four staining jars are arranged on the two sides of the rinsing bath; and a vertical motor and a horizontal motor control the lifting movement mechanism. The utility model has the advantages of less operational programs and filmmaking occupied time, energy conservation, and chemical agent and whole machine raw material consumption conservation, reduces production and processing costs of the whole machine, and increases staining speed while improves staining quality.

[0006] Automatic stainer having a heating station

[0007] US6827900B2

[0008] An automatic stainer for staining specimens that are arranged on specimen Lams and embedded in a medium, preferably in paraffin, is described. The automatic stainer has multiple reagent containers arranged one behind another for treating the specimens. During staining, the specimen Lams pass successively through the reagent containers. There are transport baskets for receiving multiple specimen Lams, multiple transport baskets being received simultaneously each in different reagent containers. A motorized transport mechanism, with a lifting device that lifts all the transport baskets simultaneously out of the respective reagent container and transports them on into the respective adjacent reagent container, is provided. A heating station for heating the specimens and melting the embedding medium is arranged in front of the row of reagent containers. The heating station has at least one melting container for simultaneously receiving multiple transport baskets.

[0009] Automatic sample staining method

[0010] US8975039B2

[0011] Provided is a system and method for staining of one or more samples, including providing one or more self-contained sample processing receptacles, each of the one or more self-contained sample processing receptacles configured to be inserted into an auto-staining instrument; and enabling one of one or more staining procedures appropriate for the one or more samples as a function of a choice of self-contained sample processing receptacle, each of the one or more self-contained sample processing receptacles configured to process each inserted sample of the one or more samples within the self-contained sample processing receptacle.

[0012] Hematoxylin staining method

[0013] EP2663852A1

[0014] The present invention relates to processes for staining biological samples, and in particular to automated processes for staining biological sample with hematoxylin stains. In the processes and systems of the invention, separate hematein and mordant solutions are provided which may be premixed prior to application to a biological sample. This method prevents precipitation common in hematein staining solutions and which fouls automated slide / sample processing equipment.

[0015] Method and apparatus for automated tissue assay

[0016] US5675715A

[0017] A system which performs a plurality of independent analysis procedures simultaneously, possibly involving differing types of tissues and differing process steps, comprising a robotic device, which may cause the different tissue samples to be processed by processing stations, and a processor, which may select the next process step. The processor may direct the robotic device to interleave the differing process steps. The processor may select a next process step in response to timing information about the procedures, which may specify the start time and end time of each process step. The specified times may be exact or may be a range of times. The processor may determine the exact time for a step by generating a possible sequence of steps and examining that sequence for conflicts, adjusting that sequence in response to those steps with a specified range of times, and iterating the calculation over a plurality of possible sequences. The processor may also optimize the order in which process steps are performed to minimize the total time required by the system to complete the procedures, for example by generating a plurality of possible sequences, evaluating each sequence for total expected time, and selecting the best sequence available.

[0018] Device and methods for automated specimen processing

[0019] US20040219069A1

[0020] A device and methods for the automated histotechnological processing of a specimen are disclosed. The device comprises a microwave unit and a specimen positioning device which transports the specimen into a tank within the microwave unit where automated heating takes place. Preferably the microwave unit is controlled by a real-time microwave processor that permits control of the temperature within the microwave tank. Automated methods of dewaxing, antigen retrieval, nucleic acid retrieval, and hematoxylin and eosin staining which can be used in conjunction with the device are also provided. In one embodiment, a method is provided for simultaneous dewaxing and antigen retrieval; solutions useful for this method are also provided.

[0021] Methods and compositions for hematoxylin and eosin staining

[0022] US9423322B2

[0023] The present invention provides for solutions of a defined composition useful in a staining protocol, such as a hematoxylin and eosin staining protocol, when used at certain points of the staining protocol. The formulations of these defined solutions are such that carry-over of the solutions will not negatively impact, or preferably, will stabilize or favorably modify staining reagent solutions coming in contact with the solutions. In certain embodiments of the invention, solutions are buffered to maintain a specific pH that when carried-over—such as carried-over into hematoxylin—will not significantly influence the pH of the next staining reagent.

[0024] Automated single-slide staining device

[0025] US4029470A

[0026] A simple apparatus and method is disclosed for making individual single Gram stains on bacteria inoculated Lams to assist in classifying bacteria in the laboratory as Gram-positive or Gram-negative. The apparatus involves positioning a single inoculated slide in a stationary position and thereafter automatically and sequentially flooding the slide with increments of a primary stain, a mordant, a decolorizer, a counterstain and a wash solution in a sequential manner without the individual lab technician touching the slide and with minimum danger of contamination thereof from other Lams.

[0027] Automated staining and decolorization of biological material

[0028] US7452506B2

[0029] An improved method and apparatus for staining samples of biological material for accurate analysis of the sample. Biological material is applied to a substrate, such as a microscope slide. The biological specimen is then stained with a selected staining composition, which may be gentian violet for a Gram's Stain analysis. The stained biological material is at least partially decolorized and the level of decolorization is analyzed optically. If necessary, the decolorizing step and the optical analysis steps are repeated until a selected level of decolorization is obtained.

[0030] Our machine can be programmed in 13 other colorings including: iron staining, Jones staining, PAS staining, trichrome staining, reticulin, Concord, Elastin, Papanicolaou, frozen section, screws and acid fast staining (Ziel Nelson) and in addition to this, our device has an automatic and intelligent turbidimetric quality control system to control the color quality of colored solutions at any moment of the device's operation, as well as an electronic pH meter to measure acidity in alcoholic solutions and It is also used as a confirmation to detect whether the colors used in the device are old or new, and it also has a system to create vibration in order to reduce or prevent the effect of overlapping samples on each other in the testing process.

[0031] One of the ways to identify the cause of a disease or complication is to study the changes in the cells of the involved organ tissues to find the root cause of the disease or complication, which is done in the pathology department of the laboratory. One of the upcoming challenges for tissue preparation, for expert diagnosis, can be seen in the staining part. Since this process (tissue staining) must be done daily and in several steps for each slide, and on the other hand, it is still done manually in laboratories, it has turned this process into a long and laborious process for the laboratory expert. To solve the mentioned problems, we have mechanized all the steps and the painting process by designing a fully automatic machine to achieve two goals. The first goal is to eliminate all human errors, and the second goal is to remove the focus of specialized human resources on quality control issues and increase the quality of other steps, and also to create conditions that, in exchange for the extra time obtained, personnel can be assigned to the quality control of other departments and activities to increase the accuracy and speed of the operation and ultimately the final efficiency of the laboratory.

[0032] Accurate staining of microbiology and cytology pathology Lams is always one of the most important parts of conventional medical diagnoses which, due to its long and tiring nature, is always accompanied by problems such as lack of correct staining and as a result, lack of correct diagnosis, even sometimes due to the negligence of the personnel, it can cause disease. Therefore, if there is a robot that performs all these staining steps in a closed environment, it seems very appropriate from the time and economic aspect. At first, the description of colorings is discussed:

[0033] "hematoxylin and eosin stain"

[0034] This staining is used as general staining in most pathology laboratories. The steps of this coloring are as follows:

[0035] Clarification stage:

[0036] In this step, we put the prepared Lams in 3 containers of xylene to deparaffinize them. We put the Lams in each of the xylene containers for 20 minutes so that the clarification process is done well.

[0037] Watering stage:

[0038] This step is done with the help of alcohol, so that 2 containers containing absolute alcohol and 2 containers containing 96% alcohol are prepared and the Lams are placed in the containers corresponding to high and low alcohol respectively. It is better to insert and remove slide samples in each container 10 times.

[0039] Staining step:

[0040] In this step, we first wash the slide samples with water and then place them in hematoxylin dye for 5 minutes, which is a special color for the nucleus, and wash them again with water. Then we put the Lams in an acid-alcohol solution once to remove the hematoxylin color in the cytoplasm, then we wash them with water. In the next step, we insert and remove the Lams 3 times in lithium carbonate, which fixes the color of the nucleus, and wash them again with water.

[0041] Dehydration step:

[0042] This step is completely similar to the watering process, with the difference that in the dehydration step, we first place the Lams in low-grade alcohol, then in high-grade alcohol. Also, at this stage, in addition to alcohol, we also place the Lams in 3 containers of xylene.

[0043] Gram staining

[0044] Gram staining is one of the most important and common staining methods in microbiology, which was first invented by Christian Gram. In this staining, bacteria are divided into two groups, gram positive and gram negative, based on the color of the bacteria after staining. The color of the bacteria after staining depends on the ability to retain the first color, in other words, the structure of the bacterial cell wall. In gram staining, gram-positive bacteria are seen in purple color and gram-negative bacteria in red color after staining. Although both groups, i.e. gram-positive and negative bacteria, have walls, the difference between these two groups is related to the substances that exist in the structure of their cell walls. The basis of the structure in the cell wall of gram-positive bacteria is a thick layer of peptidoglycan, but in gram-negative bacteria, its thickness is reduced to a minimum. Gram staining is used in two ways:Identifying the type of bacteria 2. Choosing the right antibiotic (gram-positive bacteria are more sensitive to penicillin G than gram-negative bacteria)

[0045] Due to the high sensitivity of staining in diagnosing the causes of complications by the pathologist, and on the other hand, staining problems have caused the chance of errors to occur at this stage compared to other parts of the sample preparation, among which the following can be mentioned:

[0046] 2. First, the sensitivity of this stage is high and all schedules must be carefully observed.

[0047] 3. Second, if the Lams are placed in the acid alcohol solution a little longer, the colors will be removed and the expert will no longer be able to distinguish different parts from each other.

[0048] 4. Thirdly, if the quality control is not done on time regarding the concentration of the solutions and colors used, the quality of the materials will drop after some time (in the term, it is said that the color has become old), and naturally, the quality of the coloring will also decrease and make the diagnosis more difficult.

[0049] 5. Fourth, after some time of use, the concentration of alcohol solutions has changed due to surface evaporation, causes defects in the coloring process.

[0050] 6.The fifth factor is the overlapping effect caused by placing solutions one after the other. So that the drops left on the slide from the previous steps cause impurity in the next solution.

[0051] 7. The time-consuming and routine nature of this staining, and on the other hand, the high frequency of this type of staining (hematoxylin-eosin) has made the staining operation a boring process that decrease the worker's level of consciousness.

[0052] 8. More importantly, this type of painting requires the constant presence of an expert. And practically, a quality force of the laboratory should be waiting and monitoring during this period in order to carry out the whole process completely and correctly.

[0053] Now, considering the defects and problems above, and the importance and sensitivity of this stage of the pathology slide preparation process, and in order to solve the aforementioned problems, we have mechanized all the steps and the staining process by designing a fully automatic machine in order to achieve two goals. To control the quality of other departments and laboratory activities to increase the accuracy and speed of operation and finally the final efficiency of the laboratory.Solution of problem

[0054] In order to reduce the time of the staining process and to save the operator's time for performing more and better quality control tasks, we designed a device to automatically perform all the staining and quality control (staining) steps in the laboratory, especially Hematoxylin, Eosin and Papanicolaou staining, which is a major part of the staining in the pathology department. Therefore, in this device and in the prototype, we have designed 15 tanks each with a volume of about 900 cubic centimeters and equivalent to 900 cc (in the current designed sample), which are placed next to each other in a circular plane on a tray that in each of the mentioned containers, there are the solutions and materials needed for the coloring steps. This machine also has a washing system (preferably connected to a deionizer device or tank under deionized water pressure or connected to tap water through its inlet and uses it) to meet the need for washing the Lams during the staining process. For this purpose, one tank out of the 15 said tanks is designed in the form of a bathroom for washing distilled water or tap water and another tank is designed for drying the Lams, which is equipped with a dryer system. This drying system includes an element and an electronic motor like a hair dryer, which has a filter of moisture absorbing materials and throws hot dry air towards the Lams. This system dries Lams quickly. The general mechanism of the device is that the mentioned dishes are placed on a circular path and it forms a ring of dishes arranged together. Two of these containers are used for washing Lams and a similar system oven drying Lams. To perform washing and drying steps according to the protocol (programming of different staining methods on the main microcontroller board of the device) previously given to the device. Other containers serve as storage tanks for paint and other dyeing detergents to form the coloring steps.

[0055] These tanks are placed on a fixed base. A tray is placed on this base on which the dishes are installed. On the top side of the device, we have a rotating disc that is open as the cross-section of a container. This part (top tray or top turntable) is connected to a shaft from the center by a base that has a gearbox. The shaft itself can be moved vertically by a DC linear motor, and as a result, the whole rotating disk can move vertically, up and down. On the other hand, a gearbox is designed in the middle of the shaft connected to this rotating disk, which has a bearing and a gear, which is engaged with a stepper motor when the entire disk of this gearbox rises, and the entire tray rotates around the axis in the vertical direction that passes through the center. So that before moving, the rotating plate is first lifted from the tanks and then rotates in the planned direction. On this rotating disc (made of zinc), a small chamber is placed as shown in, which has a hole in the bottom, and through this we have access to the space under the tray. Inside this cabin there is a basket for Lams (sample cabin) which is placed at the end of a vertical nozzle so that this arm is driven by a linear motor that can move the basket of Lams vertically up and down with the rotation of the arm motor. When the robotic arm descends from the cabin and is placed in the sample basket, the arm actually passes through the cavity of the cabin floor and enters into the tank (or container containing the solution) on top of which the cabin is placed and immerses the Lams in the solution in the container. It is necessary to mention again that before the arm goes down, the rotating plate first moves up and down and sits on the lid of the tanks, and then the arm goes down. After the end of the set time for placing the sample in this part of the staining stage, first the upper rotating plate moves vertically upwards again (it rises from the lid of the tanks) and then the arm is raised so that the entire slide basket leaves the liquid surface and stops above the liquid surface, and with the activation of the vibration system of the device located in the vertical arm, the arm first vibrates up and down for 2 to 3 seconds along the vertical axis until all the drops attached to the Lams are removed from the surface. It should be separated and poured into the liquid, and the effect of overlap caused by being placed in the liquid successively will be prevented.

[0056] After the vibration is over, the arm is fully raised and stops. Then the tray rotates again based on the program of the main microcontroller board of the device and the type of staining and the driving of its corresponding stepper motor, it rotates again and stops on top of another container. Now this process can be done several times to complete a staining cycle successfully.

[0057] If the device needs to washing Lam level, after previous level ends, the device arm goes up and the spinning disk spins so that the sample cabin stands over the washing container (for example in this sample it spins 24 degrees) then the arm comes down all the sample box goes into the washing container and the samples will be immersed in the water of washing container. The washing container is a simple stainless steel one with a thickness of one millimeter, which is similar in appearance to other tanks. with the difference that the device has an inlet duct connected to the water supply system and an outlet duct for sewage to create a flow of water. This whole process is controlled by an electro valve which is driven by a microcontroller. The other special tank that does something similar to the oven device is actually a simple tank like other stainless steel tanks, with the difference that it is double-walled and insulation is used between the two walls so that the heat caused by the element does not enter the chamber inside the device and other tanks and also prevents energy wastage.

[0058] In this tank, an electronic motor whose shaft is connected to a propeller to create air flow and an element to create heat that heats the air up to 80 degrees is installed. Because in some stages of staining based on the specific protocol of that staining, it is necessary to dry the Lams in some stages of staining, this system solves this problem. Rotating disc (the same head of the device - picture number 1, part number 2) based on this algorithm, the device rotates when needed and is placed on top of the drying chamber (or oven), then when the robotic arm descends, the entire basket is placed inside the drying chamber along with the Lams soaked in solution, and in this way, immediately after the arm is lowered and the basket for the Lams is placed and the door of the chamber is closed, a DC motor is turned on and blows air from the inside of the element towards the Lams until the Lams go dry. After the present time, the drying time ends then the arm goes up and moves the basket from inside the drying chamber up and into the sample cabin.

[0059] Next to the main systems that do the painting work, there are the quality control systems of the device, whose task is to control the quality of the colors and other solutions and detergents of the device. The process is that there is a nozzle in the vertical arm connected to the slide baskets. When the baskets are placed in the solution, some solution is drawn from the nozzle and drawn into the cuvette in the form of a cube by a hose (inside a dark chamber) and exited from the other end so that it fills the entire volume of the cube. Then the turbidimeter system is turned on, an LED is turned on in one side of the cube and its receiver, which is placed on the opposite side, measures the turbidity of the colors with the optical absorption mechanism and the last reading is recorded in the erasable memory of the device for each tank separately so that the device can control the color opacity parameter of colored solutions in addition to the dyeing process. This step is used to control solutions containing alcohol, and since there are various amounts of alcohol in all containers, the data of this section can even be used to control the quality of colors and all containers containing any type of solution. As mentioned, all readings for each container are recorded. In this part, as an example, it is described how the machine works in hematoxylin-eosin staining for the Lams of the pathology department. Before starting the operation of the device, we must make sure that the device is connected to the deionized water inlet and the position of the inlet and sewage pipes of the device.

[0060] Then we open the sample cabin door and place the Lams prepared by the expert of the pathology unit from the samples fixed by the microtome machine in the places embedded in the basket of the machine (picture 1, part no. 6). Then the door of the device is closed and the basket for deparaffinization is rotated and it goes to the top of the drying chamber or oven, then the vertical arm moves down and places the basket of Lams in the drying section of the machine. When the Lams are inserted and the door is closed, the element chamber is turned on and heated, and the air circulation system is also activated to provide the necessary temperature for melting the paraffin. This work takes about 4 minutes at a temperature of 80 degrees and the time can be reduced by raising the temperature. After this time of 4 to 5 minutes, the oven is practically turned off. Then the arm goes up and is placed in the cabin. Then, the device is placed on top of tank number 1 of the device, which contains xylene solution. Next, the arm is lowered to place the Lams in xylene solution for 5 minutes for clarification. Then the arm goes up and the rotating disc (head of the device) rotates again so that the sample cabin (picture 1, part no. 4) is placed on top of the second container that contains diluted xylene, so that the Lams are placed in container no. 2 for 5 minutes when the robotic arm goes down. After the end of this time, the robotic arm, with a mechanism similar to what was mentioned, put the Lams back into the drying chamber of the machine.

[0061] The device rotates again and is placed on top of container number 3, which contains 96% alcohol. Then it is placed in it for one minute, and in the same way, the samples are placed in containers 4 and 5, which contain 80% and 70% alcohol, respectively. Then the head of the device is rotated again and placed on top of the drying tank of the device, which is tank number 14, and after that, it is placed in hematoxylin dye, which is in house number 6, for five minutes and then it goes to house number 15 to be washed in water, and after that it is dipped in container number 7 for a few seconds and washed in container number 15 for 3 minutes. Then it is placed in the eosin solution for 30 seconds in container number 8 and after that in the washing tank for a few seconds.Advantage effects of invention

[0062] Avoid wasting the laboratory expert's time.

[0063] Facilitating the work routine of the laboratory, especially in discussing the types of staining performed in the field of medical pathology.

[0064] It has the ability to perform Papanicolaou staining, hematoxylin eosin, iron staining, Jones staining, PAS staining, trichrome staining, reticulin, concord, elastin, Papanicolaou, frozen section, screw and acid fast staining (Ziel Nelson) and...

[0065] Optimization and mechanization of the entire process of the standard reference method of staining in the laboratory.

[0066] Performing effective coloring with high accuracy and removing the overlapping effect of solutions.

[0067] Ability to schedule in advance when the user is resting

[0068] It has a vibration system (vibrator) to prevent liquid drops from remaining on the slide.

[0069] It has monitoring and quality control systems for painting processes

[0070] Quality control system of old or new color.

[0071] : This picture is the trimetric view of the device in hidden line visible mode and the technical map of the assembled mode of the device with hidden line removed view.

[0072] : The three-dimensional view of one of the tanks of the device, which are placed in a circle and side by side.

[0073] : shows the side view of the device.

[0074] : is the view of the blade basket attached to the end of the vertical arm.

[0075] : is the electronic map of the device's biometric circuit.

[0076] : is the description of the ph meter circuit of the device.

[0077] : is the main board of device.

[0078] : This picture includes the lower body of the device, which is a place for the motor of dishes and tanks, and parts such as the washing container and the dryer of the device, which are placed together in a circle, which is shown in number 1. And the upper part of the device, which is shaped like a circular tray and is the same as the lower part of the body, which is raised slightly by jacks during rotation, and then rotated 22.5 degrees until the next tank is available. Above this part of the body, there is a chamber marked with number 4 called "Sample Cabin", which we first open to place the sample in the machine and place the cytology and pathology Lams in part number 6 called "slide basket". And when the device is placed in the right position, the vertical arm moves down and the Lams are placed inside the solutions of the device, and part number 5 is also placed on the tank to act as a lid and prevent the solution from evaporating. Between parts 1 and 2 of the device, there are containers of the device that include storage tanks for solutions and a drying and washing tank, for example, one of them is marked with number 3.

[0079] : These tanks have three uses in the device and are used as storage tanks for solutions that include numbers 1 to 15. One case is used as a tank for washing, and in one case, an element for heating and a propeller for creating air flow are installed in this tank, which performs the work of the oven and is used to dry the Lams. Its size is in the form of a cube with a trapezoidal cross-section, at the base of which there are arcs from a circle with a radius of 341. It is 64 mm and its height is 10 cm which can hold a volume equivalent to one liter.

[0080] : shows the side view of the device. In this case, the jacks are activated and the device is ready to move, so the upper body has been raised by a few millimeters and has moved away from the edge of the tanks.

[0081] : The view of the Lam basket (part no. 3) is connected to the end of the vertical arm. A lid is placed on top of it (Part No. 1) which is sized and shaped in such a way that when the vertical arm is lowered, it is placed on the lid of the tanks and completely covers the surface of the tanks. Along the vertical arm and in its center, there is a small conduit, the end of which is above the Bearden door (Part No. 2), which is connected to a transparent wire in this part, and if needed, the paint and materials required for quality control are drawn from the tanks.

[0082] : This circuit has two op-amps to amplify the signal of the light sensor, the output of which goes to the microcontroller through the S2 switch. It is necessary to explain that the choice of microcontroller is completely arbitrary, that is, depending on the quality level and the features and options of the device, we can choose from the available types of microcontrollers. In the S2 key, we also have a number of resistors that we have made a block.

[0083] In fact, we can send a modified form of the signal to the output by choosing any of the resistors in the circuit. Placement of potentiometer R4 is to adjust the sensor and the sensitivity of the amplifier input to the signal difference sensed through the LDR1 piece, which is actually a photocell. When the light passes through the light source and also from the remaining cuvette, the light is absorbed by this sensor and amplified by the output circuit, and the amplified signal goes to the analog comparator input of the microcontroller to be processed there.

[0084] : This circuit has three input electrodes as well as an OP AMP (operational amplifier) in order to amplify the signal received from the electrodes. It also has three potentiometers, RV1, RV2, and RV3, one for determining the sensitivity of the pH meter, the other for adjusting the output, and the last one for calibrating this block. The final amplified output goes to the input of the microcontroller and is differentiated with the reference signal in the analog comparator section to calculate the final pH of the solution.

[0085] : In general, the main board of the device consists of blocks such as: Microcontroller (the heart of the main board), the circuit of the device (which includes a heater and fan), the alarm circuit of the device (which includes a speaker and a series of LEDs, Also, the error code is displayed on the LCD) vacuum pump circuit of the device (for emptying or aspirating materials), device sensor circuit (including humidity sensor, temperature sensor block, infrared counter sensor block, etc.), device operator circuit (including keyboard and LCD), device robotic arm circuit, linear motor and stepper motor circuit and device vibrator circuit and other accessories such as solenoid valves, relays, etc.Examples

[0086] To work with the device, the user first opens the door of the sample cabin of the device and places the slides in the places embedded in the device basket and closes the door, then the user selects the type of staining from the main menu of the device. Then, by checking the times and steps of the protocol already given to the device, she can press the confirmation button or change the phasing, parameters and times of the desired test steps. After defining new times and steps, she presses the confirmation button on the device's keyboard. Then the device checks the coloring containers embedded in the device based on the protocol approved by the user. This is done by lowering the liquid level control needle in the device's tanks. Then first, the stepper motor of the device rotates once to calibrate itself and move to its zero angle or the default location. When the stepper motor starts working again, the upper plate is rotated so that the sample cabin and slide basket are placed on top of container number one, and with a downward movement, the entire basket is immersed in the desired container and liquid until the pre-defined time of immersion in the device ends.

[0087] Then, the arm responsible for the vertical movement of the device, which is actually driven by an electronic linear motor, takes the basket out of the liquid and vibrates above the liquid surface in a vertical direction to separate the liquid droplets from the surface to prevent overlapping. Then, by activating the main stepper motor and rotating on the circular axis of the upper part, which includes the tray on the device and the sample cabin, it rotates so that the sample cabin is placed on the next container, i.e. container number 2, and then these steps are executed in order according to the pattern provided in the protocol approved by the user and in the steps that need to be dried, the device rotates on the drying container, and by turning on the element and fan (an electronic DC motor), it quickly dries the slides with the flow of dry air and prepares them for the next steps.

[0088] This device is used in the field of mentioned types of staining and in all departments of the medical diagnosis laboratory that require multiple stages of staining with the mechanism of immersing the slides in the dye. In general, wherever we need to paint samples, this device is useful. Also, as mentioned in the above sections, this device has the ability to program different types of colors in other sections including iron staining, Jones staining, PAS staining, trichrome staining, reticulin, concord, elastin, Papanicolaou, frozen section, screws and acid fast staining (Ziel Nelson).

Claims

It is a device for coloring laboratory slides by immersing samples, which is in the form of a cylinder and includes two main parts: the coloring and quality control part and the mechanical part of this device, including the lower body, containers and a top spinner body. This device is used in the field of said types of staining and in all departments of the medical diagnosis laboratory that require multiple stages of staining with the mechanism of immersing the slides in the dye. It is also capable of programming for different types of dyes in other departments.According to claim 1, the lower part of the body is a circular plate with a diameter of 40 cm, in the middle of which there is a cylinder with a diameter of 15 to 20 cm, depending on the volume of the ordered containers.According to claim 2, the upper surface of this part and around the said cylinder has grooves between which the containers are fastened and the containers are placed next to each other and on a circular line.According to claim 3, this part of the device is fixed and has bases to restrain it on the ground.According to claim 1, the containers of the device are made of stainless steel or resistant plastic, and their cross-section is in the form of a parallelogram, the two bases of which are line segments from the circumference of a circle to the center of the device for each of these containers. A door is provided to reduce the amount of evaporation when they are in the device.According to claim 5, the number of these containers can be different depending on the order. Two of these containers serve as a dry heat (oven) washing container.According to claim 6, the dry heat (oven) part of device is actually quite similar in appearance to a regular container, with the difference that it is double-walled and has an element to generate heat and a fan with a DC motor in its structure. At the same time, there is a dehumidifier pad on its wall or in the direction of the air flow to absorb the moisture of it.According to claim number 7, the washing part of the device includes a container whose appearance is the same as other containers, except that it has a water inlet and outlet that is filled and emptied by water pressure and a peristaltic pump.The inlet is connected to city water or deionized water and the outlet is connected to the sewage of the device. It includes sensors to detect levels and disconnect and connect water.According to claim number 1, the upper part of the device is circular in appearance like the lower part, and in the middle of it there is a cylinder like the cylinder mentioned in claim 2 towards the lower part. On this part, there is a small cabin, which is also called Lam's room. This part of its central cylindrical part is connected to a stepper motor, which rotates to a certain extent during painting depending on the number of containers used, which in this sample rotates by 24 degrees around its central axis, as mentioned in paragraph 3, which has 15 containers.According to claim number 9, this part has a jack system that moves the entire top plate along with the cabin up and down before and after moving so that the top surface moves down when standing and acts like a door.According to claim 10, on the lower surface of this part, there are rubber circuits in the shape of the opening of the containers, which are placed on the opening of the containers when the upper part is lowered to prevent the evaporation of solutions containing alcohol.According to claim 11, a basket is attached to the lower end of the said arm, in which slides are placed for coloring.According to Claim 12, there is a hole in the floor of this chamber that establishes the connection between the sample cabin and the containers. As the vertical arm of the slide basket goes down, it goes into the containers from inside this hole.According to claim 13, this chamber is designed in such a way that its door opens outwards and there is an arm inside it for deliberate movement. In the center and in line with the longitudinal axis, there is a nozzle whose end is level with the end of the arm and its beginning is connected to a hose at the top of the arm and it performs the sample collection for delivery to the quality control department.According to claim 14, there is a vibration system at the end of this arm, which vibrates the containers along the vertical axis after the slides are removed to shake the paint from the slides.Based on claim 1, the device has an automatic and intelligent quality control system that does this according to the number of painted samples or the time elapsed since the previous quality control round.According to claim 16, the quality control part of the device consists of two parts which includes turbidimetric system and pH measurement system of solutions in order to measure new or old colors.According to claim 17, the turbidimeter system includes a peristaltic pump, cuvette, lamp and detector, nozzle and connecting hoses.According to claim number 18, the cuvette is in the form of a cube, which only has side faces and is two centimeters long, which is placed inside a dark chamber, and the lamp and detector are placed on opposite sides. The cuvette is like a cube that has no floor or ceiling and is connected to the nozzle from one side by a hose and from the other side to the peristaltic pump by another hose.According to claim 19, the device has a PH meter module whose electrodes are located in the movement direction of the material in the turbidimetry system of the device and immediately after the cuvette.

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