Description
The PL-200 Slide Loader is an advanced system for automatic slide handling in a variety of microscope applications. The PL-200 is now fully supported by both Objective Imaging's Surveyor software with Turboscan as well as Molecular Devices MetaMorph image acquisition and analysis software.
For 1x3 slides, the PL-200 accommodates up to four removable slide racks, each of which houses up to 50 slides. The PL-200 is also capable of handling up to 100 - 2x3 slides which are housed in two racks of fifty. Sensors on the PL-200 monitor the presence of the slide 2x3racks so the system can intelligently respond when racks are changed in the middle of a run for example. Installation of a rack on the loader initiates a unique slide detection system which automatically identifies the location of the slides. Prior has optimized both to provide the highest productivity with a complete system capable of performing load/unload cycles in as little as 24s. The PL-200 can be used with existing microscopes simply by adding the appropriate Prior scanning stage.
Prepared specimen slides are precious, often unique, and need to be handled with care. In addition to the slide retaining design of the slide racks, a range of further safety features have been included in the PL-200 to minimize the risk of damage to slides. The slide gripper includes a sensor to detect the presence of a slide. If the state of this sensor changes due to an absent slide for example, the system will stop and report an error message. A similar approach is taken on the scanning stage where a sensor identifies if a slide is present on the stage. Slide scanning will not take place for example, if a slide is not successfully placed onto the stage. A third sensor is used to monitor the position of the slide relative to the stage. If the user inadvertently moves the scanning stage in the Z axis, collisions are avoided by this sensor.
Features:
- 200 slide capacity - 1x3 slides
- 100 slide capacity - 2x3 slides
- Compact design
- Easy software integration
- Compatible with ProScan stages
- Supported by Turboscan, MetaMorph and ImagePro image acquisition and analysis software