The nucleic acid extractor is a core pre-processing equipment in molecular diagnosis, and its performance directly affects the purity, yield, and accuracy of subsequent detection results of nucleic acid extraction. Calibration is a crucial step in ensuring the long-term stable operation of equipment and compliance with testing standards. The core focus is on key performance indicators such as temperature control accuracy, pipetting accuracy, centrifugal/oscillation parameter stability, and cross contamination prevention capability.
Preparation before calibration:
Power off and restart the device, run it without load for 30 minutes to preheat and ensure it is in a stable state;
Clean the heating block, pipette, and sample chamber to remove residual samples or reagents (to avoid affecting temperature detection or pipette accuracy);
The calibration environment should meet the following requirements: temperature of 20 ± 5 ℃, humidity of 40% -60%, and no obvious airflow interference (such as being away from the air conditioning outlet).
Recording and tracing:
Complete preservation of calibration report, including calibration date, personnel, equipment model, calibration items, raw data, qualification judgment, and corrective measures (if not qualified);
If parameters are found to be out of tolerance during calibration (such as a temperature deviation of 2 ℃), the equipment should be temporarily suspended from use, and the manufacturer should be contacted for repair before recalibration. Only after passing the inspection can it be resumed for use.
Regular maintenance can reduce equipment parameter drift and lower the risk of calibration failure. The core maintenance measures include:
Daily: Clean the pipette (wipe with 75% alcohol to avoid cross contamination), check if there is any leakage in the sample chamber;
Weekly: Calibrate the temperature of the heating block (easy detection, quickly verified with a calibrated thermometer), replace the pipette tip box;
Monthly: Check the operating noise of the oscillation/centrifugal module (abnormal noise may indicate motor failure and require early maintenance).
Through standardized calibration and maintenance, it can be ensured that the nucleic acid extractor is always in good performance, providing key guarantees for the reliability of subsequent molecular diagnostic results.