US20020144747A1 - Liquid sample dispensing methods for precisely delivering liquids without crossover - Google Patents
Liquid sample dispensing methods for precisely delivering liquids without crossover Download PDFInfo
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- US20020144747A1 US20020144747A1 US09/829,651 US82965101A US2002144747A1 US 20020144747 A1 US20020144747 A1 US 20020144747A1 US 82965101 A US82965101 A US 82965101A US 2002144747 A1 US2002144747 A1 US 2002144747A1
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- Prior art keywords
- target vessel
- liquid
- droplet
- sampling pipette
- target
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- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
- G01N35/00—Automatic analysis not limited to methods or materials provided for in any single one of groups G01N1/00 - G01N33/00; Handling materials therefor
- G01N35/10—Devices for transferring samples or any liquids to, in, or from, the analysis apparatus, e.g. suction devices, injection devices
- G01N35/1009—Characterised by arrangements for controlling the aspiration or dispense of liquids
- G01N35/1016—Control of the volume dispensed or introduced
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01L—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE
- B01L3/00—Containers or dishes for laboratory use, e.g. laboratory glassware; Droppers
- B01L3/02—Burettes; Pipettes
- B01L3/0289—Apparatus for withdrawing or distributing predetermined quantities of fluid
- B01L3/0293—Apparatus for withdrawing or distributing predetermined quantities of fluid for liquids
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01L—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE
- B01L9/00—Supporting devices; Holding devices
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
- G01N35/00—Automatic analysis not limited to methods or materials provided for in any single one of groups G01N1/00 - G01N33/00; Handling materials therefor
- G01N35/10—Devices for transferring samples or any liquids to, in, or from, the analysis apparatus, e.g. suction devices, injection devices
- G01N2035/1027—General features of the devices
- G01N2035/1034—Transferring microquantities of liquid
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
- Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
- Y10T436/00—Chemistry: analytical and immunological testing
- Y10T436/11—Automated chemical analysis
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
- Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
- Y10T436/00—Chemistry: analytical and immunological testing
- Y10T436/25—Chemistry: analytical and immunological testing including sample preparation
- Y10T436/2575—Volumetric liquid transfer
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- Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Analytical Chemistry (AREA)
- General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
- Biochemistry (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Immunology (AREA)
- Pathology (AREA)
- Clinical Laboratory Science (AREA)
- Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
- Automatic Analysis And Handling Materials Therefor (AREA)
Abstract
Description
- The present invention relates to liquid sample dispensing in which a sampling pipette aspirates liquids from a sample or reagent container and dispenses the aspirated liquid into a reaction vessel. More particularly, the invention relates to a system for precisely delivering an amount of liquid from a sample or reagent container into a reaction tube and for reducing carry-over of liquid from one reaction tube to the next, thereby protecting the integrity of the solution within the reaction tube.
- Various types of tests related to patient diagnosis and therapy can be performed by analysis of a sample of a patient's infections, bodily fluids or abscesses. Such samples are typically placed in sample vials, extracted from the vials, combined with various reagents in special reaction vessels or tubes, incubated, and analyzed to aid in treatment of the patient. Automated clinical analyzers adapted to perform these operations typically handle liquids by aspiration and pressurized dispensing from the sample vials into a reaction vessel using a sampling probe or pipette. In general, a sampling pipette is immersed into a liquid held in a suitable container. A partial vacuum is produced in the pipette in an amount sufficient to draw the required amount of liquid up into the pipette through its nozzle, and the pipette is taken to a station holding a pre-treatment or reaction vessel. At that station, pressure is applied to the interior of the pipette in an amount sufficient to dispense the desired amount of liquid out of the nozzle. The clinical analyzer typically uses a portion or aliquot of the patient's sample that is aspirated from the vial by a sampling pipette. The entire aspirated aliquot or a portion thereof may then be dispensed from the sampling pipette into a reaction vessel or into a sample pre-treatment vessel from which treated sample is later aspirated. Automated clinical analyzers also typically include reagent pipettes adapted to aspirate reagent from reagent containers and to dispense the entire aspirated reagent or a portion thereof into the sample pre-treatment vessel or directly into the reaction vessel.
- Conventional pipettes suffer the disadvantage that liquid tends to remain on the exterior surface of the pipette when the pipette is withdrawn after aspiration. In cases of small volumes of aspirated liquid, any excess liquid carried on the exterior of the pipette may be a significant volume with respect to or could even exceed the volume of the aspirated liquid. Pipettes are designed to accurately dispense a predicted volume of liquid; however, any liquid on the exterior surface of the nozzle at the orifice might also be dispensed. Alternatively, the presence of the liquid on the exterior surface might cause the dispensed quantity of liquid to perfuse up the exterior surface, rather than to move into a target vessel. In either case, the volume of liquid received by the vessel is altered in an unpredictable fashion.
- Another disadvantage is that reusable probes used to deliver liquid aliquots from successive containers such as tubes or liquid reagent vessels are a source of intra-sample carryover or contamination. Regardless of application, the sampling pipette and reagent pipette must also be thoroughly cleaned and dried between aspirations of different liquids to avoid carryover contamination.
- In the prior art are various solutions to the inter-related carryover and contamination problems. To prevent cross-contamination between samples, the pipette may be provided with a removable and disposable “pipette tip” which is the sole portion of the probe to contact the sample liquid. However, disposable pipettes are costly and over a long period of time, become an unexpectedly high item of unwanted expense. Some analyzers include a wiping operation between each aspiration. However, wiping is an extra potential source of contamination, and also introduces additional automated mechanisms that lower the throughput rate and increase the expense of an analyzer.
- In order to minimize contamination and carry-over between samples, the probe may be flushed or washed with a diluent liquid such as water. It has also been proposed to utilize a separate probe wash sleeve through which a pressurized rinse liquid is flushed (U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,201). In general, a probe wash chamber is utilized including a wash fluid input into the pipette and a fluid output or exhaust for removing the fluid once the exterior of the pipette has been cleaned. Wash chambers can leak fluid and also can channel along only one side or a portion of the pipette which can leave residue on the pipette exterior. Additionally, if a last drop of wash diluent does not drop off the pipette and is carried back to an aspiration vessel, the droplets dilute the sample or reagent, introducing unwanted sources of error.
- Another technique shown, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,266,322, aspirates air through the probe by means of a vacuum pump or the aspirating pump used to withdraw the sample liquid from the sample container. Such aspiration, however, introduces the possibility of drawing the unwanted carry-over contaminants deeper into the tubing and apparatus which comprises the sampling system.
- U.S. Pat. No.: 4,347,875 discloses a “self-cleaning” nozzle for causing liquid remaining behind on the exterior surface of the nozzle to automatically locate itself other than at the aspirating and dispensing orifice. The nozzle comprises a liquid-confining wall extending about a longitudinal axis and terminating in a liquid-dispensing orifice, and an exterior surface having a portion adjacent to the aperture that is adapted to be immersed into a source of the liquid during aspiration. The wall attracts liquid remaining on the adjacent exterior surface after aspiration to loci spaced from the orifice a distance effective to prevent liquid remaining on the exterior surface from interfering with the dispensing of the liquid.
- U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,682 discloses an air knife positioned to direct a stream or blast of air across the tip of a sample probe as it is withdrawn from a vessel containing a reagent, diluent, and patient sample solution. After the probe is flushed with diluent, the air knife drives any droplets of diluent fluid off the probe tip into the vessel and thereby prevents contamination or dilution of the sample material in the sample containers.
- U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,142 discloses a wash probe in which the simultaneous introduction of pressurized air and water creates a turbulent flow including the use of a pressurized gas stream of short duration to blow the residue of the previous sample out of the probe prior to washing with additional diluent liquid. Also, a waste receptacle is provided which uses a filtered air vent and a liquid saturated material around the probe receiving opening to prevent the escape of aerosols from the receptacle.
- U. S. Pat. No. 5,506,142 provides for a probe wash in which the simultaneous introduction of pressurized air and water creates a turbulent flow including the use of a portion droplet of liquid into contact with the bottom of the target container so that the entire remaining smaller droplet is dispensed. Sensing to confirm the “touching-off” of this smaller droplet assures that the total volume of liquid dispensed in the two steps is bounded at a maximum by the originally aspirated volume and at a minimum by the volume of liquid dispensed in the first step alone.
- Briefly summarized, the invention provides a method for reducing carryover of and precisely delivering liquid from a source container to first and subsequent target containers by spinning the target containers so that any liquid within the target container is removed from the dispensing means.
- For more complete understanding of the invention reference is made to the embodiment illustrated in greater detail in the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.
- FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an automated analyzer in which the present invention may be used to advantage;
- FIGS.2-6 schematically illustrate the present invention for reducing carryover of liquid from a source container to first and subsequent target containers; and,
- FIGS.7-11 schematically illustrate an alternate embodiment of the present invention for delivering liquid from a source container to an empty target container.
- FIGS.12-17 schematically illustrate an embodiment of the present invention for delivering liquid from a source container to a target container already containing liquid.
- The method and apparatus of this invention will be described initially with particular reference to FIG. 1 of the drawings. FIG. 1 shows schematically the elements of a conventional automatic
chemical analyzer 10 comprising asample cup carousel 11 supporting a plurality ofopen sample tubes 13, atest vessel carousel 14, adapted to hold a plurality oftest vessels 12 and to provide plurality of reagentliquid cartridges 20, illustrated as disposed beneath a cut outportion 21 of alid 22, which covers various thermally controlled compartments. Thevessel carousel 14, preferably in the form of a wheel, has about one hundred separateopen cavities 17 for holdingvessels 12, the inner wall of each cavity having an opening to allow transmission of light.Vessels 12 are seen in FIG. 2 as having a generally cylindrically shape around acentral axis 36, also having anopen top 38 and a closedbottom 40.Test vessel carousel 14 is provided withmeans 34 for rotating selected ones of thetest vessels 12 around itscentral axis 36, the rotatingmeans 34 being located proximate selectedopen cavities 17holding test vessels 12.Reagent cartridges 20 may be, for example, a multi-compartment container such as those sold under the tradename FLEX® by Dade Behring Inc., Deerfield, Ill., and having a number of different reagents within the multi-compartments 23. A sampleliquid arm 24 and awash resource 26 used to clean a liquidsample aspirating probe 28 described hereinafter are located proximate thesample cup carousel 11 andvessel carousel 14. Sampleliquid arm 24 supportssample aspirating probe 28 and is mounted onto arotatable shaft 27 so that movement of sampleliquid arm 24 describes an arc intersecting thesample cup carousel 11,test vessels 12, andwash resource 26.Sample aspirating probe 28 is adapted, for example by cooperation with a peristaltic vacuum pump, to aspirate or withdraw fromsample tubes 13 all of or aliquot portions of a patient's specimen and to dispense all of or aliquot portions of a patient's specimen to be tested byanalyzer 10. - In a similar manner, a liquid
reagent aspirating probe 25 is rotatably mounted abovevessel carousel 16 and is adapted to draw reagent liquid from anappropriate compartment 23 ofreagent liquid cartridge 20 in cooperation with a peristaltic pump vacuum source and to deposit reagent liquid within apredetermined vessel 12 for processing by thechemical analyzer 10.Probe 25 optionally comprises an ultrasonic mechanism used for aspirating, dispensing and mixing reagents similar to that used in the DIMENSION® chemical analyzer. Photometic analyzing means, not shown, located beneath thevessel carousel 16 measures light absorbence through thevessels 12 at various wavelengths, from which the presence of analyte in the sample liquid may be determined. Photometic analyzing means, not shown, located beneath thevessel carousel 16 measures light absorbence through thevessel 12 at various wavelengths. The photometric analyzing means is of conventional design and includes a photometer and a source lamp that emits a light beam which passes through various lens housed in a rotatable detector arm to a photodetector which, being mounted on the outer-end of the detector arm adjacent the outer periphery of thevessels 12, rotates about thevessel carousel 16. The photodetector relays absorbence readings through the computer where the readings are converted into concentration units. Aconventional computer 18 using a microprocessor is used to control the various components of theanalyzer 10 and to store system parameter changes and test results. Thechemical analyzer 10 may be, for example, the DIMENSION® clinical analyzer sold by Dade Behring Inc., Deerfield, Ill., or another similar analyzer commercially available to clinical laboratories. - The present invention adds to analyzer10 or similar analyzers available to clinical laboratories a method to precisely deliver an amount of liquid from a
first sample tube 13 into atest vessel 12 and for reducing carryover of liquid within afirst test vessel 12 tube to either asecond test vessel 12 or to asecond sample tube 13, thereby protecting the integrity of the solution withintest vessels 12 andsample tubes 13. In a more general sense, the present invention provides an method for reducing carryover of and precisely delivering liquid from a source container to a target container by spinning the target container so that any liquid within the target container is removed from the vicinity of the dispensing means. For the purpose of describing the invention, reference will be made to theaforedescribed sample tube 13 as a source container andtest vessel 12 as a target container. - FIG. 2 illustrates a
test vessel 12 as a target container having an amount ofliquid 14 previously disposed therein, for example an amount of reagent taken from acompartment 23 and dispensed therein by liquidreagent aspirating probe 25.Test vessel 12 is shown as being generally symmetrical aroundaxis 36 for purposes of illustration only. In practicing the present invention, a target container need not be symmetrical as long as it may be rotated around a central axis as described next. Prior to the introduction intotarget test vessel 12 of additional liquid taken from a sourcecontainer sample tube 13 bysample aspirating probe 28,target test vessel 12 is caused to rotate aroundaxis 36 by asource 34 of rotational motion.Rotational source 34 may comprise a motor shaft with a tube clamp mounted thereon, a friction belt driven by a motor, or other similar mechanisms for rotatingtarget test vessel 12 aroundaxis 36 at a speed sufficient to cause liquid 14 disposed therein to move upwards from the bottom 40 oftarget test vessel 12 along theinner walls 42 and away from thecentral portion 46 thereof, as illustrated in FIG. 3. By spinning thetarget container 12, liquid therein is removed from the path of asample aspirating probe 28, as illustrated in FIG. 4, containing an amount ofsample liquid 30 aspirated therein. In the present invention,sample aspirating probe 28 may have either of a permanent type or of a disposable type aspirating probe design. - As a result of liquid within the
target container 12 being removed from the path ofsample aspirating probe 28, aspiratingprobe 28 may be inserted and lowered into the target container 12 a sufficient distance to bring a droplet of source liquid 32 formed at the nozzle of the aspiratingprobe 28 using, for example a peristaltic vacuum pump (not shown), into contact with the bottom 40 of thetarget container 12, as illustrated in FIG. 5 without the sampling pipette or the droplet touching any of the liquid 14 previously disposed therein. Physically toughing thedroplet 32 with the bottom 40 of thetarget container 12 releases surface tension energy so that thedroplet 32 cleanly flows into thetarget container 12 and not allowing any physical contact between the aspiratingprobe 28 and any liquid spun against thewalls 42 of thetarget container 12, as seen in FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, the previous droplet ofliquid 32 formed at thenozzle 33 of aspiratingprobe 28 has also spun against thewalls 42 of thetarget container 12 and admixed withliquid 14 maintained along theinner walls 42 of thetarget container 12 by the centrifugal forces generated by rotational motion of thetarget container 12. This embodiment of the present invention is thus seen to provide a simple method for eliminating contamination of the aspiratingprobe 28 dispensing means by spinning thetarget container 12 so that any liquid within thetarget container 12 is removed away from the dispensing means when liquid from the source container sample tube 15 is dispensed therein by the aspiratingprobe 28. After this dispensing of the initial droplet ofliquid 32 into thetarget container 12 by aspiratingprobe 28 without touching any of the liquid 14 previously disposed therein, the sample liquid remaining within aspiratingprobe 28 may similarly be dispensed intosubsequent target containers 12 without the aspiratingprobe 28 touching any liquids disposed therein. This may be accomplished by axially spinning a subsequent target vessel so that target vessel liquid contained therein is displaced away from the central portion of the target vessel; forming another droplet of source liquid at the nozzle of the sampling pipette and lowering the sampling pipette into the central portion of the subsequent target vessel a distance sufficient to cause the second droplet of source liquid to contact the bottom of the subsequent target vessel without the sampling pipette or the droplet touching second target vessel liquid disposed therein. Prior to the aspiratingprobe 28 being used to aspirate any additional source liquids taken from another sourcecontainer sample tube 13, the aspiratingprobe 28 is typically cleaned by insertion into aconventional wash resource 26. This embodiment of the present invention is thereby seen to provide a simple method for eliminating carryover of liquid aspirated and dispensed by the aspiratingprobe 28 between the sourcecontainer sample tube 13, the firsttarget test vessel 12 and any subsequently accessedtarget containers 12. - In an alternate embodiment, the present invention may also be useful in overcoming uncertainties associated with dispensing of a known volume of aspirated liquid that arise due to any portion of the aspirated liquid remaining behind on the exterior surface of the nozzle. This embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 7 in which a known volume of
liquid 30 is shown as aspirated into aspiratingprobe 28 using, for example a precisely metered peristaltic vacuum pump (not shown), and the aspiratingprobe 28 has been inserted a distance above the bottom 40 of an empty andstationary target vessel 12. The peristaltic vacuum pump is operated to dispense a major portion, for example about 98%, of the known volume ofliquid 30 into the stationary target vessel 12., as shown in FIG. 8, leaving aminor droplet portion 32, in this example about 2% ofliquid 30 within thenozzle 33 of the aspiratingprobe 28. The peristaltic vacuum pump is operated so that the size of the minor portion is sufficiently small to ensure that surface tension forces within thedroplet 32 will retain thedroplet 32 at thenozzle 33 of the aspiratingprobe 28. - As described before,
target test vessel 12 is next caused to rotate aroundaxis 36 by asource 34 of rotational motion at a speed sufficient to cause liquid 30 dispensed therein to move upwards from the bottom 40 oftarget test vessel 12 along theinner walls 42 and away from thecentral portion 46 thereof, as illustrated in FIG. 9. After the dispensed major portion ofliquid 30 into thetarget container 12 is moved upwards from the bottom 40 to theinner walls 42 by centrifugal forces generated by the rotational motion of thetarget test vessel 12, aspiratingprobe 28 may be lowered into thetarget vessel 12 to bringminor droplet portion 32 at the nozzle of the aspiratingprobe 28 into contact with the bottom 40 of therotating target container 12, as illustrated in FIG. 10, thereby releasing surface tension energy so that thedroplet 32 cleanly flows into the target vessel minimizing the amount of any aspirated liquid remaining behind on the exterior surface of the nozzle. Theminor droplet portion 32 then admixes with the major portion ofliquid 30 along theinner walls 42 of thetarget vessel 12, illustrated in FIG. 11. - In this embodiment, the present invention ensures that the total amount of
liquid 30 dispensed into thetarget vessel 12 is less than the total volume ofliquid 30 originally aspirated into aspiratingprobe 28 and, at the same time, is greater than the major portion of the known volume ofliquid 30. It should be noted by the reader that while this alternate embodiment may be practiced when thetarget vessel 12 is originally empty, as described above, in an instance that thetarget vessel 12 originally contains a liquid 14, like shown in FIG. 2, then as described in conjunction with FIGS. 3 and 4, thetarget test vessel 12 may be rotated to cause liquid 14 disposed therein to move from the bottom 40 oftarget test vessel 12 along theinner walls 42 and away from thecentral portion 46 thereof, as illustrated in FIG. 3 and away from the path of thesample aspirating probe 28, as illustrated in FIG. 4. - Such an embodiment is illustrated in FIGS.12-17 where, beginning with FIG. 12, a
target vessel 12 containstarget fluid 30 therein a and a known amount of source liquid 32 has been aspirated from a source vessel into an aspiratingprobe 28. The target vessel is spun around itsaxis 36, FIG. 13, so thattarget liquid 30 contained therein is displaced away from thecentral portion 46 and the bottom portion 40 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) of thetarget vessel 12. - Next, the
sampling pipette 28 is lowered into thecentral portion 46 of the target vessel 12 a distance sufficient to cause amajor portion 50 of the volume of source liquid 32 to contact the bottom of thetarget vessel 12, FIG. 14, without themajor portion 12touching target liquid 30 disposed therein, so that themajor portion 50 of source liquid 32 is spun off from thesampling pipette 28 into thetarget vessel 12. Thetarget vessel 12 continues to spin so that thetarget liquid 30 and themajor portion 50 of source liquid 32 contained therein are displaced away from the central portion of the target vessel, FIG. 15, and admixed together, illustrated asmixture 51. - Subsequently, a
minor droplet 52 of the remaining portion of source liquid 32 is formed at the nozzle of thesampling pipette 28 and thesampling pipette 28 is again lowered into thecentral portion 46 of the target vessel 12 a distance sufficient to cause the remainingminor droplet portion 52 of source liquid 32 to contact the bottom of thetarget vessel 12 without the remainingminor droplet portion 52 touchingliquid mixture 51 disposed therein, FIG. 16, so that the remainingminor droplet portion 52 of source liquid is spun off from the sampling pipette into thetarget vessel 12, FIG. 17, and admixed together withmixture 51, illustrated asmixture 53. - It is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention disclosed herein are illustrative of the principles of the invention and that other modifications may be employed which are still within the scope of the invention. For example, if small amounts of liquid are involved, rather than spinning the target vessel to remove liquid therein from the path of the aspirating probe, the target vessel may be inclined at an angle to remove liquid from the bottom portion of the target vessel so that the aspirating probe may be lowered into the target container to bring the droplet of liquid at the nozzle of the aspirating probe into contact with the bottom of the target container without touching any of the liquid previously disposed therein. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to those embodiments precisely shown and described in the specification but only by the following claims.
Claims (14)
Priority Applications (7)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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US09/829,651 US6463969B1 (en) | 2001-04-10 | 2001-04-10 | Liquid sample dispensing methods for precisely delivering liquids without crossover |
PCT/US2002/008597 WO2002083499A1 (en) | 2001-04-10 | 2002-03-20 | Sample dispensing with liquid delivery without crossover |
JP2002581270A JP2004519685A (en) | 2001-04-10 | 2002-03-20 | Liquid sample dispensing method for precise liquid delivery without crossover |
ES02719293T ES2250634T3 (en) | 2001-04-10 | 2002-03-20 | DISPESITION OF SAMPLES WITH LIQUID SUPPLY WITHOUT POLLUTION |
DE60207372T DE60207372T2 (en) | 2001-04-10 | 2002-03-20 | LIQUID DISPENSER FOR SAMPLES WITHOUT CROSS CONTAMINATION |
EP02719293A EP1335853B1 (en) | 2001-04-10 | 2002-03-20 | Sample dispensing with liquid delivery without crossover |
US10/862,911 USRE39600E1 (en) | 2001-04-10 | 2004-06-07 | Liquid sample dispensing methods for precisely delivering liquids without crossover |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US09/829,651 US6463969B1 (en) | 2001-04-10 | 2001-04-10 | Liquid sample dispensing methods for precisely delivering liquids without crossover |
Related Child Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
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US10/862,911 Reissue USRE39600E1 (en) | 2001-04-10 | 2004-06-07 | Liquid sample dispensing methods for precisely delivering liquids without crossover |
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US20020144747A1 true US20020144747A1 (en) | 2002-10-10 |
US6463969B1 US6463969B1 (en) | 2002-10-15 |
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US10/862,911 Expired - Lifetime USRE39600E1 (en) | 2001-04-10 | 2004-06-07 | Liquid sample dispensing methods for precisely delivering liquids without crossover |
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US10/862,911 Expired - Lifetime USRE39600E1 (en) | 2001-04-10 | 2004-06-07 | Liquid sample dispensing methods for precisely delivering liquids without crossover |
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EP (1) | EP1335853B1 (en) |
JP (1) | JP2004519685A (en) |
DE (1) | DE60207372T2 (en) |
ES (1) | ES2250634T3 (en) |
WO (1) | WO2002083499A1 (en) |
Cited By (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20080218731A1 (en) * | 2006-12-29 | 2008-09-11 | Paul Duesbury | Diagnostic test device |
US20080224719A1 (en) * | 2006-12-29 | 2008-09-18 | Paul Duesbury | Diagnostic test device |
US20080253931A1 (en) * | 2006-12-29 | 2008-10-16 | Paul Duesbury | Diagnostic test device |
Families Citing this family (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
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JP5691178B2 (en) * | 2010-01-22 | 2015-04-01 | 凸版印刷株式会社 | Dispensing method and dispensing apparatus |
US9844781B2 (en) | 2012-08-20 | 2017-12-19 | Biochemical Diagnostics, Inc. | Microwell covers for microplates |
US8808644B2 (en) | 2012-08-20 | 2014-08-19 | Biochemical Diagnostics, Inc. | Methods for dispensing fluids into microplates utilizing microwell covers |
US8741236B2 (en) | 2012-08-20 | 2014-06-03 | Biochemical Diagnostics, Inc. | Microwell covers for microplates |
WO2016123713A1 (en) * | 2015-02-04 | 2016-08-11 | Ats Automation Tooling Systems Inc. | System and method for testing or calibrating in a pressurized and/or wet environment |
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US3266322A (en) | 1964-06-15 | 1966-08-16 | Technicon Instr | Automatic liquid sample supply and wash apparatus for automatic analysis system |
US4210724A (en) * | 1977-03-28 | 1980-07-01 | Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. | Apparatus for liquid disposal and distribution in automatic culture system |
US4347875A (en) | 1980-07-14 | 1982-09-07 | Eastman Kodak Company | Self-cleaning nozzle construction for aspirators |
JPS57156543A (en) | 1981-03-24 | 1982-09-27 | Olympus Optical Co Ltd | Device for chemical analysis |
JPS6029901B2 (en) * | 1981-05-06 | 1985-07-13 | 株式会社島津製作所 | Dispensing device |
JPH0690211B2 (en) | 1984-09-21 | 1994-11-14 | オリンパス光学工業株式会社 | Immunological analyzer and method thereof |
US4756201A (en) | 1985-09-03 | 1988-07-12 | Technicon Instruments Corporation | Apparatus and method for combined closed and open tube sampling |
US4871682A (en) | 1986-04-30 | 1989-10-03 | Baxter Travenol Laboratories, Inc. | Diluent carryover control |
CA2101950A1 (en) | 1991-12-13 | 1993-06-14 | Richard C. Mahaffey | Probe wash for liquid analysis apparatus |
US5536471A (en) | 1992-03-27 | 1996-07-16 | Abbott Laboratories | Syringe with bubble flushing |
US5380487A (en) | 1992-05-05 | 1995-01-10 | Pasteur Sanofi Diagnostics | Device for automatic chemical analysis |
US5270210A (en) * | 1992-07-16 | 1993-12-14 | Schiapparelli Biosystems, Inc. | Capacitive sensing system and wash/alignment station for a chemical analyzer |
US5823744A (en) | 1996-05-15 | 1998-10-20 | Environamics Corporation | Centrifugal pump with means for preventing impeller from unscrewing off of shaft |
US5721141A (en) | 1996-06-28 | 1998-02-24 | Dpc Cirrus Inc. | Tube washing system |
US6076565A (en) * | 1997-08-08 | 2000-06-20 | Theodore Sweeney & Company | Adhesive fastener and method |
US6098852A (en) | 1999-01-27 | 2000-08-08 | Automatic Liquid Packaging, Inc. | Tip for liquid drop dispensing container |
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2001
- 2001-04-10 US US09/829,651 patent/US6463969B1/en not_active Ceased
-
2002
- 2002-03-20 WO PCT/US2002/008597 patent/WO2002083499A1/en active IP Right Grant
- 2002-03-20 DE DE60207372T patent/DE60207372T2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2002-03-20 ES ES02719293T patent/ES2250634T3/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 2002-03-20 JP JP2002581270A patent/JP2004519685A/en not_active Abandoned
- 2002-03-20 EP EP02719293A patent/EP1335853B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
2004
- 2004-06-07 US US10/862,911 patent/USRE39600E1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
Cited By (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20080218731A1 (en) * | 2006-12-29 | 2008-09-11 | Paul Duesbury | Diagnostic test device |
US20080224719A1 (en) * | 2006-12-29 | 2008-09-18 | Paul Duesbury | Diagnostic test device |
US20080253931A1 (en) * | 2006-12-29 | 2008-10-16 | Paul Duesbury | Diagnostic test device |
US7622729B2 (en) * | 2006-12-29 | 2009-11-24 | Church & Dwight Co., Inc. | Diagnostic test device including photodetector for scanning detection region |
US7772578B2 (en) * | 2006-12-29 | 2010-08-10 | Church & Dwight Co., Inc. | Diagnostic test device including photodetector and tether |
US7799275B2 (en) | 2006-12-29 | 2010-09-21 | Church & Dwight Co., Inc. | Diagnostic test device |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
JP2004519685A (en) | 2004-07-02 |
US6463969B1 (en) | 2002-10-15 |
USRE39600E1 (en) | 2007-05-01 |
EP1335853A4 (en) | 2004-03-24 |
EP1335853B1 (en) | 2005-11-16 |
DE60207372T2 (en) | 2006-07-06 |
ES2250634T3 (en) | 2006-04-16 |
WO2002083499A1 (en) | 2002-10-24 |
DE60207372D1 (en) | 2005-12-22 |
EP1335853A1 (en) | 2003-08-20 |
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