Patent ID: 6890761

Claim:
A method for detecting a surface position of liquid of an automatic analyzer comprising, means for moving down a pipetting probe to immerse into said liquid in a first container, means for pipetting liquid from said first container to a second container by said pipetting probe, means for measuring the content of said second container, and electrostatic capacitance measuring means for measuring electrostatic capacitance between said pipetting probe and said liquid in said first container, said method for detecting said surface position comprising the steps of: stopping said pipetting probe once after moving down said pipetting probe to a position previously set, measuring a standard electrostatic capacitance between said pipetting probe and said liquid in said first container relating to said position previously set, and detecting a surface position of said liquid by comparing said electrostatic capacitance obtained while said pipetting probe is moved down with said standard electrostatic capacitance.