Apparatus, systems, and methods adapted to rinse and dry clinical analyzer sample probes
US9063107B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 17, 2010 |
| Grant date | Jun 23, 2015 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 27, 2032 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01N35/1004
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A rinsing and drying apparatus of a clinical analyzer probe drain station is provided. The rinsing and drying apparatus has a group of nozzles that are offset from a longitudinal axis of a probe passage and may be inclined and oriented to provide tangentially oriented fluid-jet trajectories exiting into the sample probe passage. The offset nozzles, nozzle orientation, and cavity geometrical features of the device permit the drying capacity of probe-impinging planar air-knife jets to be maximized by stabilizing local internal fluid movement to form a swirling (e.g., helical) gas flow field directed away from a drying region and toward a vacuum exhaust. The rinsing and drying apparatus eliminates rinse water re-circulated entrainment and up-wash (spitting) during the air-knife drying operation. Therefore, the rinsing and drying apparatus significantly reduces water carryout on sampling probes thereby reducing sample/reagent dilution.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.