Blood Collection Tube Sorting and Centrifugal Balancing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In medical laboratories, the imbalance of blood collection tubes in centrifuges due to varying examination requirements often leads to equipment malfunction, especially during unattended night shifts when human intervention is not possible, causing disruptions in automated examination workflows.
Innovation Solution
A device comprising a body frame with vacuum blood collection tube and centrifugal balancing tube mechanisms, a sorting mechanism, scanning identification mechanism, and a test tube transporting mechanism, which identifies and sorts tubes, ensuring balanced centrifugation and preventing errors by separating tubes with incorrect labels, allowing for continuous automated operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If human intervention is used to balance blood collection tubes for centrifugation, then the centrifuge can operate properly, but the automatic examination flow line is blocked during unattended night shifts
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-balancing of blood collection tubes through automated detection and sorting mechanisms. The scanning identification mechanism reads tube labels, the sorting mechanism categorizes tubes based on examination requirements, and the transporting mechanism delivers balanced sets to centrifuges, eliminating the need for human intervention during night shifts
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary sorting and balancing of blood collection tubes before they are delivered to centrifuges. By pre-categorizing tubes based on their examination requirements and pre-assembling balanced sets, the system ensures centrifuges receive properly balanced loads without requiring real-time human intervention
2Productivity
If blood collection tubes with different examination requirements are processed together, then processing efficiency is improved, but centrifugal balancing is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments blood collection tubes into different categories based on their examination requirements using the scanning identification mechanism. The sorting mechanism then separates tubes into distinct groups (e.g., centrifugation required vs. no centrifugation needed), allowing each group to be processed independently while maintaining overall processing efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies different handling procedures to different types of blood collection tubes based on their specific examination requirements. Tubes requiring centrifugation are routed to the centrifugal balancing mechanism, while tubes without centrifugation needs follow a different pathway, ensuring each tube type receives appropriate local processing
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a blood collection tube sorting and centrifugal balancing device including a body frame. A vacuum blood collection tube mechanism, a centrifugal balancing tube mechanism, a sorting mechanism, a scanning identification mechanism, a test tube transporting mechanism, and a collection box are arranged on the body frame. The vacuum blood collection tube mechanism and the centrifugal balancing tube mechanism are parallelly arranged on an upper part of the body frame. The scanning identification mechanism is connected to the vacuum blood collection tube mechanism. The sorting mechanism is connected to the vacuum blood collection tube mechanism and the centrifugal balancing tube mechanism at two ends of the sorting mechanism, respectively. The test tube transporting mechanism is connected to the centrifugal balancing tube mechanism. The collection box is disposed in a middle part of the body frame and located directly below the vacuum blood collection tube mechanism.