Sealing Apparatus Compatibility Verification for Pathological Specimens
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing sealing apparatuses for pathological specimens face issues with erroneous replacement of sealing agents, leading to incompatibility among the cover slip, sealing agent, and clearing agent, resulting in specimen drying, deterioration, and damage due to unconfirmed compatibility and inappropriate sealing agent usage.
Innovation Solution
A sealing apparatus with a recording unit to store information on the type of sealing agent, cover slip, and clearing agent compatibility, and a control unit to verify compatibility upon replacement, preventing the use of incompatible sealing agents and ensuring the sealing agent is not past its expiry date.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the sealing agent bottle is manually replaced when the sealing agent runs short, then the sealing process can be continued, but there is a high risk of erroneously replacing the bottle with a different type of sealing agent, leading to incompatibility and specimen damage
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically detects when the sealing agent bottle needs replacement and notifies the user. The control unit reads the bottle ID, checks compatibility with the cover slip and clearing agent, and provides feedback before allowing the sealing process to continue, preventing erroneous replacements while maintaining productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-verification of sealing agent compatibility automatically when the bottle is replaced. The control unit reads the recorded sealing agent type from the bottle, compares it with the required compatibility information, and confirms the replacement is appropriate without requiring manual verification, thereby ensuring reliability while allowing continuous operation
2Ease of operation
If the sealing agent type is not verified upon replacement, then the replacement process is simple and fast, but incompatible sealing agents may be used, causing sealing failure and specimen deterioration
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically performs compatibility verification when the sealing agent bottle is replaced. The control unit reads the bottle ID, retrieves the sealing agent type information, and automatically checks compatibility with the current cover slip and clearing agent configuration, eliminating the need for manual verification while ensuring reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides automatic feedback to the user about the compatibility status of the replaced sealing agent bottle. The control unit notifies the user if the sealing agent type is incompatible with the current configuration, allowing simple replacement operation while ensuring reliability through automated verification and feedback
3Reliability
If compatibility information between sealing agents, cover slips, and clearing agents is stored and verified, then sealing failures are prevented, but the device complexity increases due to recording and control units
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of physically storing compatibility information in complex databases within the device, the system uses recording units on the sealing agent bottles themselves to store identification information. The control unit reads this information and verifies compatibility, simplifying the overall system structure while maintaining high reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The recording unit on the sealing agent bottle acts as an intermediary that stores compatibility information externally. This eliminates the need for complex internal databases in the sealing apparatus, reducing device complexity while maintaining reliable compatibility verification through the bottle-based recording system
Data Source
AI summary
A sealing apparatus is provided that enables a sealing agent bottle to be replaced with input of an inappropriate sealing agent prevented, and a cover slip, a sealing agent, and a clearing agent appropriately combined. A sealing apparatus (10) includes a starting bath (22) in which a clearing agent is stored and a slide glass (12) on which a specimen before the sealing is attached is dipped in the clearing agent, a sealing agent bottle (44) that stores a sealing agent dispensed onto the slide glass (12) taken out from the starting bath (22), and includes a recording unit (62) in which at least a type of the sealing agent is recorded, a storage unit (68) storing information on compatibility of the clearing agent with respect to a cover slip (26) and the sealing agent currently applied, and a control unit (66) that performs, when the sealing agent bottle (44) is replaced, control of determining the compatibility of the sealing agent read from the recording unit (62) with respect to the cover slip (26) and the clearing agent stored in the storage unit (68), and at least when the result of the determination is incompatible, making a notification unit (20) issue a notification indicating the incompatibility.