Instrumentation Laboratory Company

Fitel USA Corporation

International Technidyne Corporation

Henry D Huang

James A Mawhirt

Anthony F Kuklo, Jr

Gregory M Colella

Dimitri Shishkin

Maria Figueroa

An apparatus for measuring blood clotting time includes a blood clot detection instrument and a cuvette for use with the blood clot detection instrument. The cuvette includes a blood sample receptor-inlet; a channel arrangement including at least one test channel for performing a blood clotting time measurement, a sampling channel having at least one surface portion that is hydrophilic, communicating with the blood sample receptor-inlet and the at least one test channel, and a waste channel having at least one surface portion that is hydrophilic, communicating with the sampling channel; and a vent opening communicating with the sampling channel. The sampling channel, the vent opening and the waste channel, coact to automatically draw a requisite volume of a blood sample deposited at the blood receptor-inlet, into the sampling channel. More specifically, air compressed within the blood clot detection instrument, the at least one test channel of the cuvette, and the section of the sampling channel extending beyond the vent opening of the cuvette, coacts with the waste channel to cause a leading edge of the blood sample drawn into the sampling channel from the blood receptor-inlet, to pull back within the sampling channel and uncover an optical sensor in of the blood clot detection instrument. The uncovering of the optical sensor activates a pump module of the blood clot detection instrument, which draws the requisite volume of the blood sample into the at least one test channel.

Cuvette-based apparatus for blood coagulation measurement and testing

An apparatus for measuring blood clotting time includes a blood clot detection instrument and a cuvette for use with the blood clot detection instrument. The cuvette includes a blood sample receptor-inlet; a channel arrangement including at least one test channel for performing a blood clotting time measurement, a sampling channel having at least one surface portion that is hydrophilic, communicating with the blood sample receptor-inlet and the at least one test channel, and a waste channel having at least one surface portion that is hydrophilic, communicating with the sampling channel; and a vent opening communicating with the sampling channel. The sampling channel, the vent opening and the waste channel, coact to automatically draw a requisite volume of a blood sample deposited at the blood receptor-inlet, into the sampling channel.

A passive temperature-compensated optical grating arrangement includes a housing of low CTE material, with the optical grating stretched across the housing between a first, fixed sidewall and a lever arm, the lever arm also being formed of a low CTE material. An expansion element of high CTE material is attached to the frame and disposed to contact the lever arm, resulting in rotating the lever arm as changes in temperature change the dimensions of the expansion element. By properly sizing the lever arm and the expansion element, changes in grating wavelength as a function of temperature can be compensated for by adjusting the strain applied to the grating as it is pulled or compressed as the lever arm is moved.

Growing community of inventors

Edison, NJ, United States of America

Henry D Huang