title: The temperature control system of the Cobas-Bio centrifugal analyzer.
abstract: The temperature control system of the Cobas-Bio centrifugal analyzer (Roche Analytical Instruments, Montclair, NJ) was evaluated using a calibrated thermistor probe and a solution of cresol red in tris buffer as an "optical thermometer" to measure the temperature of the cuvette contents during operation. The instrument accurately achieves a set temperature of 30 degrees C or 37 degrees C, within thermistor readability of 0.13 degrees C, and maintains that temperature within +/- 0.05 to 0.08 degrees C for at least 18 minutes. There is negligible temperature difference between cuvettes in a rotor during operation. After pipetting samples and reagents into the rotor, 1.5 minutes at 30 degrees C and 2 minutes at 37 degrees C are required to bring the cuvette contents within 0.1 degree C of the set temperature. If a second reagent representing 10% of the total volume is added to cuvettes that have been preincubated at the set temperature, up to 1.5 minutes at 30 degrees C and 2 minutes at 37 degrees C are required to reach temperature equilibrium.
mesh_terms: D002498:Centrifugation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D013696:Temperature