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SEMI-AUTOMATED
BIOCHEMISTRYANALYZER
ISSUES AND TROUBLESHOOTING

Presented By Reviewed by

Mr. Abdulla E K PPT Review Committee

Assistant Professor YSAHS

Medical Laboratory Technology
2 LESSON PLAN
3 SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• As a laboratory technician studying semi-auto

analyzers is very important, at the end of this section
students should be able to understand
• What is semi auto analyzer, different parts of the
analyzer
• Advandage and disadvandage of analyser
• And how to troubleshoot the analyzer
4 HISTORY

 Colorimeters
 Semi auto analysers

 Fully automated analyzers

5 COLORIMETER
 Basic equipment for photometric measurement.
 Based on the measurement of colored compounds
in solution.
 Suitable for the majority of chemistries.
6 DISADVANTAGES:

• High sample & reagent requirement

• Calibration facility not available
• Kinetic assays are not feasible
• No data storage facility
• Frequent change of filters
• Result calculation facility not available
 7 SEMI AUTO-ANALYSER
• Initial part of the procedure i.e. pipetting of reagent and
specimen, mixing, and incubation is carried out externally by
the technician.
• Rest of the procedure i.e. setting of incubation temperature
(for kinetic determinations), zero setting, photometric
readings, result display, automatic printing, and data
management and processing is carried out by the analyzer.
8 ADVANTAGE OF
SEMIAUTOANALYSERS
• Requires less quantity of reagent & sample. Hence economical.
• Calibration facility, calibration data storage
• Enzyme determinations by kinetic methods are performed
accurately.
• Data storage and data transfer to an external computer, printers, etc
are available
• Tests are programmed in advance & hence are automatically
selected.
• Automated calculation of results.
• Use of noncorrosive & mono step reagents
• Cheap and compact
 9 DISADVANTAGES OF
SEMIAUTOANALYSERS
• Sample & reagent requirement is more than fully
automated analyzers.
• Multistep calibration not feasible
• Limited data storage facility
• Time-consuming
• Lot of human intervention & hence more errors
10 CONT…

• Works as a batch analyzer & not a random axis.

• Difficult to process stat samples
• Limited capacity to handle the workload
• Auto dilution facility not available
• QC data analysis i.e. LJ charts, Westgard multirole
applications – Not available on the equipment.
11 SOLUTION

• Fully automated random chemistry analyzer.

• Workload

• Cost
12

ISSUES AND
TROUBLESHOOTING OF SEMI-
AUTOMATED ANALYZERS
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Reagent
Errors
Poor quality of
Reagents/
Controls
/Calibrators
Equipment failures
Human Errors • Aspiration error
• Incorrect programming • Weak lamp
• Pipetting errors • Weak peristaltic tubings
• Wrong calibrations • Dirty cuvette
or controls • Carryover
14 REAGENT ERRORS
Reagent means all – Reagent, Controls, Calibrators
or Standards

reagent deterioration - Expired

reagents

Improper reconstitution & stability

Poor reagent quality
15 HUMAN ERRORS

• Mismatched patient identity

• Pipetting errors
• Routine assay or dilution
• Wrong Programming
• Sample volume
• Reagent volume
• Factor
• Incubation period
• Assay type
• etc, etc, etc…….
 16 EQUIPMENT ERRORS
Aspiration Probe Lamp
• Improper cleaning problems
Inadequate probe wash Aged lamp
Blocked probe Fog in lamp
Damaged lamp
• Temperature
control problems Bad Cuvette:
• Too high ambient
Accumulation of dirt
temperature
Bubble in the flow
• Poor ventilation
• Exhaust fan not
cell
working
17 UNSTABLE RESULTS
 Check whether the
🞑 analyzer is powered by the demanded
voltage
 analyzer
Problems
🞑 withisflow
properly grounded
cell: Solutio
Dirty flow cell Cleaning n
Problem Cause not enough Soak flow cell with
or thorough cleaning solution
Leaking flow Bad flow cell quality Replac
cell or maintainance
poor e
Clogged flow cell Bad cleaning or Bad Soaking or pressurized
Serum washing
Flow cell cant Aged pump Replace pump
exclude bubbles hose hose
18 TROUBLESHOOTINGS…..
Proble Recommended
m action
No screen Check power,
display Fuse
No sample Check peristaltic tubings,
sucking flowcell
Abnormal Inadequate warming up time, Air
result bubbles in flow cell, High or low
environmental temperature, voltage
fluctuation

Abnormal QC Poor reagent

result quality Check Test
Program Check
QC material Check
water quality
19 IMPORTANT PARTS TO BE
TAKEN CARE OF
• Peristaltic tubing
• Aspiration tubing
• Peristaltic pump
• Internal tubings
• Flow cell
• Lamp
20 TAKE HOME MESSAGE

• Semiautoanalysers are good equipment for small set up.

• They have precision & accuracy as good as an
autoanalyzer
• Understanding the principles of estimation,
programming, and basic troubleshooting is a must for
trouble-free & accurate analysis.
21 CONT…

• Routine equipment maintenance is the duty of a

technologist & should be done very efficiently.
• It is advisable to enlist all the problems faced &
discuss them in routine departmental/ Laboratory
meetings.
• If the facility is available, then inter-instrument
comparison with similar or high-end analyzers should
be routinely carried out.
22 SUMMARY

• Semi auto analyzer is used widely in laboratory and

research field
• setting of incubation temperature (for kinetic
determinations), photometric readings, result display,
automatic printing, and data, are the important process
of the semi analyzer
• Errors and troubleshooting is important to be
discussed when we are talking on semi analyzer
23 REFERENCE

• https://tmc.gov.in/tmh/PDF/CEM_Dec2013/17..Semi-
automated_Biochemistry_Analyzer.pdf
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