Specimen Analyzer Consumable Sorting and Error Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing specimen analyzers face challenges in efficiently sorting and managing different-shaped consumables, such as cuvettes and pipette tips, which can lead to errors and complications when loaded incorrectly, requiring complex restoration processes.
Innovation Solution
A specimen analyzer with a sorter mechanism that uses transfer rails and a guide part to differentiate between cuvettes and pipette tips based on their dimensions, automatically sorting and guiding misplaced pipette tips to storage, and incorporating sensors for immediate detection and notification, allowing for automatic stopping of operations and easy removal of incorrectly loaded consumables.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single inlet is used for loading both cuvettes and pipette tips, then the device complexity is reduced, but the reliability deteriorates due to inability to detect loading errors
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor detects the type of consumable (cuvette or pipette tip) immediately when it is loaded into the single inlet, before the analysis process begins. This preliminary detection allows the system to identify loading errors early and notify the user, maintaining reliability while using a simplified single-inlet configuration.
2Reliability
If complex sorting mechanisms are added to differentiate consumables, then the reliability improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical sorting mechanisms with a sensor-based detection system. The sensor identifies the consumable type through non-contact means (such as optical detection), eliminating the need for physical sorting structures while maintaining reliable differentiation between cuvettes and pipette tips.
Solution Approach 2:
The consumables themselves provide identification features (such as shape, size, or optical properties) that the sensor can detect automatically. This self-identifying characteristic of the consumables eliminates the need for external sorting mechanisms, as the system can autonomously distinguish between different consumable types.
3Measurement precision
If manual checking of consumable types is required, then the measurement precision improves, but the loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor provides immediate feedback about the consumable type as soon as it is loaded into the inlet. The system automatically compares the detected consumable type with the expected type and provides real-time notification to the user if an error is detected, eliminating the need for manual checking and significantly reducing the time required for consumable verification.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution simplifies the analyzer's configuration, enables quick identification and correction of loading errors, and ensures continuous operation with correctly positioned consumables, reducing user burden and preventing complications during specimen analysis.
Implementation Method 1
the guide part guides, to the storage, the second consumable sorted by the sorter, by causing the second consumable to slip down
Data Source
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Figure 2A~2D
Figure 3
AI summary
A specimen analyzer comprises a measurement mechanism section configured to measure a specimen by using a first consumable and a second consumable having a shape different from a shape of the first consumable, a first inlet for loading the first consumable, a supplying section configured to supply the first consumable loaded through the first inlet, to the measurement mechanism section, a sorter configured to sort the first consumable and the second consumable from each other, and a storage for housing the second consumable sorted by the sorter.