System for transporting containers between different stations and a container carrier

摘要

A system for transporting containers between different stations is presented. The containers are accommodated in container carriers. The system comprises a control unit for controlling the transport of the container carriers, a transport area divided into subareas and on which the container carriers can be movably arranged, and a drive. The drive is activated by the control unit and each subarea is assigned a respective drive. Each drive applies a drive force to an associated container carrier.

主权项

1. A laboratory analysis system, the system comprising:
a plurality of containers containing samples to be analyzed; a plurality of container carriers for receiving the containers, each container carrier includes a ferromagnetic material; a plurality of different stations for analyzing the samples; and a system for transporting the container carriers between different stations, the system for transporting the container carriers comprising: a control unit for controlling the transport of the container carriers; a plurality of drives, wherein the drives are activated by the control unit, wherein each drive generates a variable magnetic field to apply a drive force to an associated container carrier, a transport area, wherein each drive is assigned to a respective subarea of the transport area creating a path, wherein subareas adjoining stations serve as transfer areas to the stations, wherein the container carriers can be movably arranged on the transport area, wherein the containers or the container carriers include transponders, wherein the system further includes at least three transponder readers configured to perform identification of the container or container carrier and position fixing of the container or container carrier by triangulation performed by the controller.