Careside, Inc.

James S Hutchinson

Richard A Riedel

David E Storvick

Roger Hammer

Douglas E Boyd

Daniel L Kennedy

John Stoughton

Glen Mathews

James J Ramey

William Reid

An analytical instrument for analyzing fluids. The instrument includes a cartridge carousel assembly which receives analytical cartridges. The cartridges are self-contained units which incorporate a sample metering/separation system which is operated by centrifugal force. The cartridge carousel is composed of a cartridge rotor plate which includes a center and a plurality of cartridge ports which are located in spaced relation radially outward from the center of the plate. The analytical instrument further includes an optical detector which measures a detectable analytical property of the fluid sample which is provided by the optical element of the cartridge. The optical detector includes a radiation source which shines a beam of radiation on the optical element. The optical detector further includes a return beam detector which measures the return beam of radiation emitted by the optical element. The radiation source and return beam detector are both located on the same side of the cartridge rotor plate. The analytical instrument includes a tracking and control unit which tracks and controls the rotary drive mechanism and the detector to provide coordinated operation so that the optical detector can make measurements of the optical element while the cartridge rotor is stationary or rotating.

Cartridge-based analytical instrument with optical detector

An analytical instrument for analyzing fluids. The instrument includes a cartridge carousel assembly which receives analytical cartridges. The analytical cartridges include a centrifugal force-operated sample metering/separation system, a pressure-operated sample transport system, and a test element which provides a detectable analytical property of a fluid sample. The cartridge carousel assembly includes a cartridge rotor plate which has a plurality of cartridge ports which receive the cartridges. A rotary drive mechanism rotates the cartridge rotor plate to provide rotation of the plate which activates the centrifugal force-operated sample metering/separation system of the cartridge. The instrument includes a sample transport actuator which activates the pressure-operated sample transport system of the cartridge. In addition, the instrument includes a detector which measures the detectable analytical property of the fluid sample after the sample metering and transport systems have been activated. The instrument includes tracking and control systems which track and control the rotary drive mechanism and sample transport actuator to provide coordinated operation of the centrifugal force-operated sample metering/separation system and the pressure operated sample transport system wherein the coordinated operation provides delivery of a metered amount of sample to the test element of the test cartridge. Further, the tracking and control unit includes a user-input interface for receiving data input from a user of the instrument, a central processing unit, a real-time processor, and a data output interface which provides output of results of the measurements made by the instrument.

Cartridge-based analytical instrument using centrifugal force/pressure for metering/transport of fluids

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Indianapolis, IN, United States of America

James S Hutchinson