Blade motion is via a contactless drive, ensuring a high degree of immunity from out-of-plane forces whilst allowing variable oscillation frequencies and amplitudes to be selected by the user.
6.1 General Operation During Tissue Slicing
There are many elements that must be considered to achieve consistently high-quality slices. The speed at which the blade traverses into the tissue is known as the "Advance speed". The blade advance speed is controlled by the user via the Blade Advance Dial. This rotary control enables the user to adjust the blade Advance speed (in both Forward and Reverse directions) at any point during the tissue slicing process. This is particularly useful when different areas of tissue need to be cut at different speeds. Blade Advance start/stop may be toggled by the user at any position during a slicing operation via a momentary push on the Blade Advance Dial. Upon completion of a tissue slice, the uncut tissue specimen is lowered 100 microns away from the blade to eliminating the possibility of damage to the uncut tissue by the blade being dragged across. The blade retracts at maximum speed; after which the tissue sample is raised to the level required for the user-specified slice thickness on the next slice.
Accurate control of the Tissue Mount height ensures that quality and consistency of specimen slice thickness is maintained.
Dynamic feedback on the vibration (frequency and amplitude) and Advance (speed and position) encompassing the slicing parameters eliminate extraneous variation during operation apart from what is explicitly selected by the user.
The 9000SMZ can retain user-defined start and finish points of a slice to define a
"Slice Window", allowing automatic successive slicing between these fixed points. Additionally, the 9000SMZ has the ability to remember the user-controlled blade Advance speed variations to create a
"Slice Profile" between the user-defined start and finish points, which may be auto-repeated on successive slices.
6.2 Touchscreen/Keypad Layout
A sealed Touchscreen display and membrane keypad allows the user to control the instrument and set the following parameters: blade frequency, amplitude, advance speed and slice thickness. Since the 9000SMZ can be operated under fully automatic control, an emergency stop button is provided.
To provide the user with easy to access and intuitive controls when operating in
"Slice" or "Move" modes, the Touchscreen display is divided into three dedicated vertical lanes aligned with the Keypad. Keypad and Touchscreen controls located within a lane will only control the function of that lane.
The entire instrument is enclosed in a molded enclosure giving protection against liquid ingress from spillage and thus is tolerant of most commonly used tissue bath salt solutions.