Reagent Wheel Oblique Placement for Capacity and Size Trade-off
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The capacity and diametric size of reagent wheels in automatic analyzers are incompatible, leading to operational inefficiencies and increased equipment size, which complicates reagent access and transportation.
Innovation Solution
The reagent wheel design features one or more rings of reagent bottle seats arranged around the circle center, with reagent containers positioned at an included angle between 0° to 180° relative to the radius, allowing oblique placement and reducing the overall diameter while maintaining capacity, and utilizing two rings with symmetrical centerlines overlapping or angled relative to the radius to balance capacity and size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the capacity of the reagent wheel is increased by adding more reagent seats and larger reagent containers, then the test item capacity and operational efficiency are improved, but the size of the reagent wheel and operation table becomes larger, making it difficult for operators to access reagents and inconvenient for transportation
Solution Approach 1:
The reagent containers are arranged obliquely at angles between 0° to 180° relative to the radius, utilizing three-dimensional space more effectively. This angular arrangement allows reagent containers to be positioned in multiple dimensions rather than simply radially, increasing capacity without proportionally increasing the wheel's diameter
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs multiple concentric rings of reagent bottle seats arranged around the circle center. Inner rings and outer rings are nested within the same radial space, allowing multiple layers of reagent storage. This nesting approach maximizes the use of available radial and axial space, fitting more reagent containers within a constrained diameter
2Ease of operation
If the reagent wheel size is reduced to improve operability and transportation, then the operation table size and equipment footprint are decreased, but the capacity for holding reagent seats and containers is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
By arranging reagent containers obliquely at various angles (0° to 180°) relative to the radius, the design exploits angular and radial dimensions simultaneously. This multi-dimensional arrangement ensures that reagents remain accessible to operators while maximizing the number of containers that can fit within a smaller wheel diameter
Solution Approach 2:
The reagent wheel is divided into multiple concentric rings of reagent bottle seats. Each ring can be independently designed with optimal spacing and angular positioning, allowing operators to access reagents from the front side while maintaining high capacity. The segmentation into rings enables efficient space utilization without requiring excessive wheel diameter
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure provides automatic analyzers and reagent wheels thereof. The reagent wheel can have one or more rings of reagent bottle seats that may be used for placing a reagent container and distributed along a circumferential direction. An included angle may be formed between a symmetrical centerline of the reagent container placed on the reagent bottle seat and a radius of a circle where the reagent wheel is located, where the included angle is not equal to zero. Compared with the situation in which the symmetrical centerline of the reagent container overlaps with the radius of the circle where the reagent wheel is located, an improved balance can be achieved between the capacity and the diametric size of the reagent wheel, thus making an improvement in meeting application requirements of the analyzers.