The Application

Robotic lab automation is a growing market worldwide. Testing labs handle some of our most precious materials and through automation, minimize the chance of human error.

For example, let’s look at a blood sorting and testing line used in a lab to analyze patient specimens. As one might imagine, keeping track of these blood samples is vital. The last thing a lab would want is to wrongly diagnose a patient.

The Goal

The specimen sorting line connects a series of machines with unique jobs. The machines range from AutoSorters, Centrifuges, Recappers, to Bulk Loaders. All of these machines are connected by an extensive conveyor system. Typically patient samples are carried on the conveyor, from one process to the next, in a small plastic puck.

The lab must ensure each sample will be associated with the correct patients throughout the entire conveyor line process.

The Solution

This is where Pepperl+Fuchs comes in. A small RFID tag is embedded in the base of each plastic puck. The IO-Link RFID system is used to track each blood sample, from start to finish. Because RFID can read through plastic the read heads have no issue successfully reading through the puck. There are also hundreds of miniature photoeyes along this conveyor to tell the system when and where test tubes are present.

With a combination of barcode scanners, photoelectric sensors, and RFID readers the lab can ensure each blood sample will be associated with the correct patient.