SE8100494L - KYVETTVETTNINGSAPPARAT - Google Patents

Abstract

In automatic analysis apparatus in which photometric measurements are made through translucent wall portions of reaction vessels or cuvettes, there is provided a cuvette washing system for sequentially washing and testing the cleanliness of the reaction vessels or cuvettes. The cuvette washing system 10 comprises probes 22 depending from plate 24 which is associated with vertically movable plate 26. Oscillatable temperature measuring probe 40 may be included. Probes 22 are operable to evacuate each cuvette, to wash it, and to dispense into the washed cuvette a blank sample, when the optical characteristics are tested at the just completed test wavelength and compared with the stored results of that cuvette tested at the same test wavelength prior to the introduction of the sample and reaction fluids. If the vessel fails the comparison test, the analyzer will inhibit the use of the cuvette until it is cleaned again or until it has been replaced and passes the cleanliness test. Once the cuvette passes the comparison test at the old test wavelength, the cuvette is tested at the wavelength at which the next reaction in that particular cuvette will be tested and then the blank is removed and the cuvette dried by evacuating through a probe 22 in preparation for receiving the new sample and reaction fluids. The probes may have substantially the same outer configuration as the inside wall configuration of the cuvettes with the washing fluids flowing between the outsides of the probes and the inside walls of the cuvettes. <IMAGE>