Device and method for the gravimetric determination of liquid volumes and analyzer system comprising such a device

Abstract

A device for the gravimetric volume determination of liquid volumes comprises a housing (11) having the shape and dimensions of a standard rack used in a clinical diagnostic analyzer system for holding sample or reagent containers, and the following components contained in housing (11): a load cell (12) for gravimetric volume determination, a weighing container (13) for receiving a liquid to be weighed with said load cell (12), a windbreak (14) which shields said weighing container from air flow, an evaporation trap (15) which prevents evaporation of liquid loaded into said weighing container, a temperature sensor, an air-pressure sensor and a humidness sensor for sensing temperature, air pressure and humidness respectively at predetermined points within said housing, and an electronic processing unit for processing electrical output signals delivered by said load cell and by said sensors.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for gravimetric volume determination of liquid volumes. [0002] The invention further relates to an analyzer system comprising a device of the type described above. Background technique [0003] In the field of clinical and molecular chemistry, for example in clinical diagnostic analyzer systems like clinical chemistry analyzer systems and molecular clinical diagnostic analyzer systems, it is necessary to measure with sufficient accuracy very Small liquid volumes, eg for calibrating automatic pipetting devices that are an integral part of analyzer systems of the type described above. Gravity volume determination is the preferred method for this purpose. Conventional methods of this type require extensive manual processing and are thus time-consuming. This is in particular because the various instruments required for performing gravimetric volume determination are not part of an automated syst...

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Problems solved by technology

Also, because the location and environment of the analyzer system may change from time to time, the associated temperature, air pressure and humidity data cannot be assumed to have stable values

[0004] A further disadvantage of conventional devices for gravimetric volume determination is that the required additional equipment must be located around the analyzer equipment and thus increase the size of the space required for analyzer operation

Furthermore, the additional conventional instruments required for gravimetric volume determination are of such a size that they cannot be located within the analyzer instrument

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