Case Study: HORIBA Medical doubles hematology measurement accuracy with COMSOL Multiphysics

Optimizing Hematology Analysis: When Physical Prototypes Fail, Simulation Provides the Answers

HORIBA Medical, a French supplier of medical diagnostic equipment, needed to optimize the impedance-based micro aperture–electrode system in its ABX Pentra Series hematology analyzers. Physical prototyping could not reveal the complex internal physics—high fluid velocity, edge effects, particle orientation and coupled electrical responses—that were causing sizing and counting errors, so HORIBA turned to Comsol (COMSOL Multiphysics) to model and understand these inaccessible behaviors.

Using Comsol’s COMSOL Multiphysics, HORIBA imported CAD geometry and ran multiphysics simulations coupling fluid flow, particle trajectories, and electric fields to evaluate design changes and hydrodynamic focusing (sheath flow). The simulation-guided redesign centered particles through the aperture, was validated experimentally, and yielded about a twofold improvement in measurement accuracy for hydrofocused devices—results that justified deploying the approach in the ABX Pentra analyzers and improved diagnostic reliability.

HORIBA Medical

Damien Isèbe

Scientific Computing Engineer