Careside, Inc.

Roger Hammer

Richard A Riedel

David E Storvick

Daniel L Kennedy

Glen Mathews

John Stoughton

James J Ramey

James S Hutchinson

Douglas E Boyd

James S Hutchison

William O Reid, Jr

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

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 cartridge ports include a cartridge dock which is shaped to receive the cartridges and a balance weight dock which is located radially inward from the cartridge dock. The cartridge dock is shaped to receive a balance weight. A locking mechanism is provided which holds the cartridge in the cartridge dock during rotation of the cartridge rotor plate. A balancing mechanism is provided which includes a balance weight which is movable to the balance weight dock when a cartridge is inserted into the cartridge dock. An ejection mechanism is provided which ejects the test cartridge from the cartridge port after processing of the test cartridge is completed.

Cartridge-based analytical instrument with rotor balance and cartridge lock/eject system

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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Knightstown, IN, United States of America

Roger Hammer