Method and device for transferring part of a liquid housed in a container
AssigneeBiomerieux
InventorFrederic Foucault
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A device for transferring a portion of a liquid contained in a container, the device having a hollow needle for penetrating through the plug of the container; a pressure chamber for pressurizing a fluid, the chamber having the needle passing therethrough and being provided with a septum; and an approach system for causing the hollow needle and the septum to approach each other so as to increase the pressure of the fluid as a result of the approach.
Claims20
A method of transferring a portion of a liquid contained in a container provided with a plug, the method comprising:
- using a hollow needle passing through the plug of the container to put the inside of the container into communication with a pressure chamber for pressurizing a fluid, which pressure chamber is provided with a septum that is penetrable by the hollow needle and presents a volume that is variable as a result of relative movement between the hollow needle and the septum;
- causing the hollow needle and the septum to approach each other over a determined stroke so as to increase the pressure inside the pressure chamber, and, consequently, inside the container, until a transfer pressure is reached immediately prior to the hollow needle passing through the septum;
- continuing to cause the hollow needle and the septum to approach each other so that the hollow needle passes through the septum so as to open out into a distribution chamber at a pressure that is lower than the transfer pressure so that, under the effect of this pressure difference, a portion of the liquid is transferred through the hollow needle from the container into said distribution chamber;
- flowing the liquid transferred into the distribution chamber through a filter system in order to extract a portion of the liquid;
- and
- adapting the pressure in the pressure chamber as a function of the volume of fluid contained inside the container.
A device for transferring a portion of a liquid contained in a container provided with a plug, the device comprising:
- a hollow needle provided with a proximal end and with a distal end for penetrating through the plug of the container;
- a pressure chamber for pressurizing a fluid and having the proximal end of the hollow needle passing therethrough, the chamber being provided with a septum positioned to be penetrable by the proximal end of the hollow needle after the hollow needle has moved, the pressure chamber being sealed and separated by means of the septum from a distribution chamber into which the proximal end of the hollow needle can open out;
- and
- an approach system for causing the hollow needle and the septum to approach each other so as to increase the pressure of the fluid as a result of said approach, the approach system being controlled to move over a determined stroke so that in a first stage the pressure inside the pressure chamber is increased up to a transfer pressure immediately prior to the hollow needle passing through the septum, and in a second stage the hollow needle passes through the septum to open out into the distribution chamber that is at a pressure lower than the transfer pressure so that under the effect of this pressure difference a portion of the liquid is transferred from the container into said distribution chamber;
- wherein the distribution chamber includes a filter system for ensuring that a liquid phase is extracted from the liquid transferred into said chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.