Automated apparatus with Petri dish holder mounted on table sliding between dish loading/unloading position and positions where dish illuminated and viewed by a CCD camera

摘要

Automated apparatus with a Petri dish holder mounted on a table that slides between a dish loading-unloading position and positions where the dish is illuminated by a light source and viewed by a CCD camera. The table may be moved by a motor driven endless belt. Another motor also rotates the dish holder. The holder can accept different sizes of dish. The camera is a linear camera and the dish is moved through several viewing positions so an image of the whole surface of the dish is captured. The light source is a fibre optic bundle illuminating a strip of the dish. The supports the for camera and/or the light source are at around 30 deg to the table. A driver engages the edge of a disc of filters. A support for the disk and disk driver is articulated to the base of the apparatus.