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Autosampler Service Manual v1.3
Autosampler Service Manual v1.3
Service Manual
v1.3
DIATRON MI PLC
39 Táblás street, Budapest, H-1097, HUNGARY
Tel.: +36 1 436 9800
Fax: +36 1 436 9809
www.diatron.com
E-Mail: support@diatron.com
Revision 1.3
2016-JUL-18
1
SM-Autosampler-1.3
Revision history
The racks are specially designed to allow feeding the samples into the Abacus 5 and to allow mixing
the samples one by one.
The 10 racks are seated on a sample tray that can be moved back and forth by the Auto Sampler.
The Auto Sampler has a transparent plastic cover equipped with a safety switch feature. Opening the
cover will stop Auto Sampler operation to prevent injury to the operator.
The Auto Sampler can be powered on and off independently, but power is fed through the Abacus 5.
Auto Sampler is not capable of independent operation.
Built-in sample mixer and bar code reader allow walk-away operation of the Auto Sampler.
Plexi glass
cover
Tube cap
support
Sample vial
holder
Sample
rack for 10
Sample
vials
rack feeder
wheel
Power switch and
control LED’s
Sample tray
base plate Sample tray
5
Sample
mixer
Connector
to A5
Left side has the electric connector to interface to the Abacus 5. Communication is realized through
serial communication. The Auto Sampler is connected to the low level PC of the Abacus 5 (see Abacus
5 service manual for details)
The left side has a protruding, elevated part housing the sample mixing mechanics and the bar code
reader along with the electronic board. The Auto Sampler
Bar code AS microcontroller
has its own
reader board
microcontroller.
Sample
mixer
Rack feeding
wheels
6
Status lights
Power
3 Operation
3.1 How does it work?
The Auto Sampler receives movement commands from the Abacus 5. It is able to feed any sample to
the sampling position. It is also able to detect tube types (Vacutainer or compatible, Sarstedt
Monovette or compatible). It can also detect whether there is a cap on the tube.
Sample tube type detection is important so that Abacus 5 will know how deep the sampling needle
can go into the sample tube without damaging the tube itself.
If no cap is detected the Auto Sampler will not mix the sample to avoid spilling blood samples into
the Auto Sampler.
When a sample is at the mixing position (right before the sampling position) it is mixed by gentle
tilting the sample down to -110 degrees to allow homogenous mixing. The sample is inverted 8 times
by the Auto Sampler before measurement.
To connect the Auto Sampler, the opening on the Abacus 5’s right side must be removed. Retain the
plate fixing screws (5pcs) for future use.
Slide the Auto Sampler into the opening on the side of the Abacus 5 – guiding rods will help mechanic
alignment and electronic connection. The Auto Sampler, when connected is secured by plastic lock
pieces.
3.2.3 Power on
The Auto Sampler can be turned on by flipping the power switch to the “I” position. The Abacus 5 will
either recognize it during startup or, if the Abacus5 is running, the SW will recognize the presence of
the Auto Sampler and enable its icon.
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3.2.4 Initializing
The Auto Sampler, when powered on will not move by itself. All operations are controlled by the
Abacus5. The Abacus5 has a menu to control the Auto Sampler. To access it, double click on the AS
State area in the bottom left corner of the screen. This will bring up the Auto Sampler control menu.
Pressing the “Reset” button will initialize the Auto Sampler. During init, the tray will be moved back
and forth to identify home position of the tray.
Use the “Reset” command when the Auto Sampler gets to a state when it would not move. The SW
will instruct the Auto Sampler to move motors to their home positions. If there is a mechanical jam,
the SW might not be able to perform the reset action. This will be signaled by a grinding noise from
the motors, but it does not damage the unit.
When a sample is filled with vials, the rack has to be placed on the black tray. When loading the tray
is finished, the tray has to be put onto the Auto Sampler.
The Auto Sampler can only be operated with its cover closed. Opening the cover during operation
will interrupt sample processing. Closed state of the cover is indicated by a micro switch. The cover,
when closed pushes the metal pin of the switch down.
front, “J” is the rack in the rear. During initialization the Auto Sampler locates the A rack position.
Rack positions are identified by small openings in the bottom of the tray support plate’s slides. A pair
of opto sensors is responsible for making sure that the specific rack is aligned with the sampling path.
An opto sensor is looking for the rack. If it is sensed, the sampler will load it into the loading bay. If
the opto sensor cannot see the rack in position, the rack will be reported missing and will be skipped.
When the rack is present and it’s in position, the rack lock is released. The rack lock keeps the sample
vial holders in the sample vial rack bay. The rack lock is opened by a small pin on the right side of the
Auto Sampler. When the rack slides this pin, the rack lock is lifted up and the sample vial holders are
released. Now the Auto Sampler’s feeding mechanics can pull the vial holders into the Abacus 5 one
at a time.
Rack lock
Sample
vial rack
Sample
bay
vial holder Sample
in mixing vial holder
position
the same time, a latch is pushed into the sample tray support plate to avoid accidental movement of
the tray while the vial holders are inside the Auto Sampler.
The vial holders are pulled in one by one. As the 10 vial holders are fixed to one another by a long axis,
they all move together. When the vial holders have been released and pulled out of the vial bay, they
are free to rotate along the axis that holds them together. This is important for the mixing and barcode
reading feature.
This allows loading open vials to the Auto Sampler by accident. The system will recognize vials
without caps and will skip them.
Vertical
position
1 sec -45°
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 -110°
Barcode reading is performed when the vial is tilted from 0° to -110° (mixing start) and from -
110° to 0° (mixing stop). These stages are marked with red arrows. Total time of mixing one
vial is approximately 26 seconds.
When sampling is over, the sample vial is fed into the Abacus5’s sample bay. The sample bay
prevents the vial holders from tilting. It is a narrow bay accepting the vial holders.
The Auto Sampler needs to be connected to the Abacus 5 to receive power and communication
commands.
4 Adjustments
4.1 Removing the plexi-glass and curved metal cover
The cover can be removed along with the curved metal cover of the Auto Sampler.
Open the cover, remove the tray. Remove the middle screw from top, 2x1 screws from both sides,
and 3 screws from next to the sample tray. Use screwdriver Torx size 9 (Tx9).
The front cover of the sample mixer is secured with 6 screws, 2 of them is covered by the tray. Pull
the tray to the front to access screws. Remove all screws fixing the front plate to the body of the
Auto Sampler to access opto sensors and the electronic boards. Use screwdriver Torx size 9 (Tx9).
15
Remove the 6+4 screws which hold the plate below the tray. The plate below the tray needs to be
removed to access the moving mechanics. Use Allen (hex) screwdriver size 2.5mm.
16
With the tray still on, turn the AS around and stand it on its rear side.
Remove the 4 screws indicated on the image below to release the slide mechanism. Use Allen (hex)
screwdriver size 2.5mm.
17
The tray can now be removed and you can access the timing belts and the opto boards beneath.
When reinstalling the slide mechanism, be careful not to cut or kink the electrical wires.
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With the tray in its place but the front cover removed you can access the X sensor. This sensor is
checking for the presence of openings on the sample moving tray.
K opto – for sensing the home and Y opto – for sensing the home and
end positions of the mixer end positions of the vial holders
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To adjust the tray position sensing X board, move the tray so that one of the sample rack positions
are aligned with the sampling path position. Start rotating the outer vial holder feeding disc
clockwise to push the latch into the opening on the bottom of the tray. If it’s difficult to move the
feeding disc, rotate the cogwheel to counter-clockwise. See that the latch is moving right to secure
the tray.
Now open the two screws fixing the opto board, and move the optoboard by hand towards the front
until both LEDs on the X opto board go on. Then slowly move it backwards until both LEDs go off.
When done, tighten the screws.
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D1 pin
vial holder
feeding disc
D2
latch
operating
D3 cogwheel
latch
The home position of the latch must be verified by manually turning the cogwheel. When the latch is
in its HOME position, D1 must be ON. When the latch operating wheel is in its END position D2 will
turn ON.
During the rotation of the feeding discs, D3 will turn on at each complete round (when sample is in
the mixer).
The home position of the latch must be verified by manually turning the cogwheel. When the latch is
in its HOME position, D1 must be ON. When the latch operating wheel is in its END position D2 will
turn ON.
During the rotation of the feeding discs, D3 will turn on at each complete round (when sample is in
the mixer).
„Inner” wheel
„Outer” wheel
Alignment of the 2 discs is also important to make sure that the pins catch the sample racks correctly.
To verify alignment, rotate the discs so that the pins are aligned parallel. Verify synchronous state by
placing e.g. a screw driver over the two pins.
It is possible that the inner wheel gets misaligned. In this case you will have rack moving errors. The
inner wheel can be aligned to the outer wheel in the following way:
Remove the Auto Sampler from the A5. Turn the wheels so that the outer wheel is aligned as shown
on the image above. From the Abacus5 side, you can access the inner wheel’s set screw. Open it, and
align the wheel parallel with the outer wheel. Tighten the set screw.
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Be careful when moving the inner wheel. When the set screw is opened, the wheel can “fall down”
along the axis it is fixed to. Correct vertical position of the wheel must be ensured: the upper plane of
the wheel must be level, or slightly below the plastic part’s upper plane.
END LED
D2
HOME
LED D1
Plane of the
bottom of the
mixer arm and
the plastic
support plate of
the vial rack
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Both position of the arm has to be verified: Use the AS menu in A5 service menu to load one tube
into the mixer, observing the LEDs on the board. The arm must not get in contact with the bottom
plate of the Auto Sampler when the lower LED is ON.
First, make sure that the barcode reader can turn on and the red scanning beam is present.
It is also important that the beam must be in the correct position. The barcode reader flashes
the beam only for a few seconds. If you missed the beam and it’s already turned off, just turn
the sampler off and on to make the beam visible again. If the beam is not scanning the proper
direction, there will be no or only a few barcodes scanned during running.
mixer’s plate with two round headed screws (Allen hex 2.0mm). This attachment is fixes and does not
require any adjustments, unless barcode unit replacement.
5 Maintenance
Auto sampler does not require many maintenance. The system’s mechanics are simple without too
many moving parts. Although, a minimal maintenance is required.
The wheel is pushing the sample vials directly. If the vials has barcode
stickers, it can happen that the rubber wheel is picking up paint from
the barcode printout. This paint can make the wheel slip during mixing
and it will not rotate the vial properly. Because the wheel is also in
contact with the inner side of the sampler’s back wall, it’s necessary to
check the wall and remove the paint if there is any.
If the paint is not removed from the wall, the wheel will pick it up
again.
If barcodes on the vials are not too close to the cap, the rubber wheel will not get in contact with the
barcode and it won’t pick up the paint. Placing the barcode on the vials properly will avoid this
problem.
6 Appendix
6.1 Recommended kit of tools
Screwdrivers:
AS 160
ROS 3
BARCODE READER
VXBARIS4125
AS-RA
AS 163
K MOTOR ROS2 AS-RA
ASK-opto
cable
AS-TA
ROS1
Y MOTOR
AS 161 AS 162
ASYplus ASY-opto AS 501X
opto cable
cable Micro switch
X MOTOR
AS158 LED 2
AS158 LED 1
AS164 ASX-
opto cable
AS157 Power switch
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