We are currently experiencing a surge in requests from our hospital clients regarding Lab Automation for sample handling, with a lot of interest in the AUS (automatic unloading station), one of our latest models.
The first ever AUS recently installed in the UK this year at St. Mary’s Hospital Paddington is so popular with the lab staff, we will very soon be installing a second one.
As you can see in the animation, the station receives the carrier, unloads the contents, then sends the empty carrier back to its owner using RFID tagging. At St. Mary’s we have fully automated the ED with its own send and return Fastrack to the laboratory.
This not only gives the EDs (there are 3 separate departments with stations) an exclusive access zone to the lab, the return zone is independent allowing the empties to return as the next sample filled carrier arrives.
The empties shortcut back into the ED locally allowing a fast turnover and ensuring the departments never run out of carriers. A sent carrier is returned within 4 minutes or less whilst allowing sample sending priority.
A Step Further – Integration with Analysers
The AUS can be located adjacent to or even above the sorter of an analyser and can be connected with a chute, or simply with a gravity drop depending on the configuration. Phials are then delivered directly to the sorter which then organises the sample trays for the analyser, now we have full automation.
This streamlines the sample handling operation cutting out any requirement for human intervention in the PTS delivery, unloading, and return operation with the fourth labour saving operation being dropping the sample phials directly into the sorter.
Carriers with dedicated inserts are available to ensure only phials and not bagged items are delivered to the AUS. Using the RFID tagging only double end opening carriers with insert are accepted to send to the auto unloading section, and the insert tubes are designed to only allow un-bagged phials to be accepted.
When the carrier is unloaded a plunger operates the release mechanism to ensure all samples are ejected.
Many other possible automatic unloading integrations are available, for example we can also connect with lab and pharmacy sorting machinery from our supplier Graniten.