Patent ID: 8431079

Claim:
An analyzer for performing medical diagnostic analysis of biological samples, said analyzer comprising: a first disk-shaped cuvette conveyor having a first array of cuvette holders spaced along a first circle; a first drive unit which rotates said first cuvette conveyor about a rotation axis in order to position cuvettes carried by the first cuvette conveyor at a first angular position; at least a second disk-shaped cuvette conveyor having a second array of cuvette holders spaced along a second circle, said cuvette holders of said first cuvette conveyor and said cuvette holders of said at least second cuvette conveyor hold cuvettes having the same shape and dimensions, the centers of said first circle and said second circle lying on a vertical axis which is a common rotation axis of said first cuvette conveyor and said at least second cuvette conveyor, said first cuvette conveyor and said at least second cuvette conveyor being rotatable around said common rotation axis, said first array of cuvette holders and said second array of cuvette holders being spaced from each other in axial direction along said rotation axis with an air gap between said first array of cuvette holders and said second array of cuvette holders and in which said first array of cuvette holders and said second array of cuvette holders are aligned directly on top of one another; at least a second drive unit which rotates said at least second cuvette conveyor about said vertical rotation axis in order to position cuvettes carried by the at least second cuvette conveyor at a second angular position, the operation of said at least second drive unit being independent from the operation of said first drive unit, and at least one of an absorption photometer and a fluorescence polarization photometer which photometrically measures the content of a cuvette; a first cuvette transport device which is located close to a periphery of both said first cuvette conveyor and said at least said second cuvette conveyor, and which transports a cuvette from one of the cuvette holders of said first cuvette conveyor to one of the cuvette holders of said at least second cuvette conveyor and/or vice versa; a housing which defines a chamber within which air temperature is regulated and maintained at a determined value, said first cuvette conveyor and said at least second cuvette conveyor being located within said chamber; and a plurality of workstations arranged around and close to the periphery of said first cuvette conveyor and said at least second cuvette conveyor, said workstations comprising a cuvette transport device which removes a cuvette from one of said cuvette holders of said first cuvette conveyor or of said at least second cuvette conveyor, and transports the cuvette to a processing position and from said processing position to one of said cuvette holders of said first cuvette conveyor or of said at least second cuvette conveyor.