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US 12,140,511 B2Granted
Contactless mixing using modulated air jets
AssigneeVentana Medical Systems, Inc.
InventorNathaniel Crum
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is a device for contactlessly mixing fluid present on the upper surface of the slide, where the device comprises a first nozzle array and a second nozzle array, the first nozzle array adapted to impart a bulk fluid flow to the fluid present on the upper surface of the slide, and the second nozzle array adapted to impart at least a first regional fluid flow to at least a portion of the fluid present on the upper surface of the slide.
Claims18
An automated slide processing apparatus comprising:
- at least one fluid dispenser configured to dispense a fluid onto an upper surface of a specimen-bearing slide;
- and
- a contactless mixer for mixing fluid present on the upper surface of the slide, where the contactless mixer comprises a first nozzle set and a second nozzle set, the first nozzle set adapted to impart a first motion to the fluid present on the upper surface of the slide, and the second nozzle set adapted to impart at least a second motion to at least a portion of the fluid present on the upper surface of the slide, wherein the at least the second motion enables cross-mixing of the fluid, wherein the first motion is one of a clockwise or counter-clockwise stirring, and wherein the second motion is the other of the clockwise or counter-clockwise stirring.
An automated slide processing apparatus comprising:
- at least one fluid dispenser configured to dispense a fluid onto an upper surface of a specimen-bearing slide;
- and
- a contactless mixer for mixing the fluid present on the upper surface of the slide, where the contactless mixer comprises a first nozzle array and a second nozzle array, the first nozzle array adapted to impart a bulk fluid flow to the fluid present on the upper surface of the slide, and the second nozzle array adapted to impart at least a first regional fluid flow to at least a portion of the fluid present on the upper surface of the slide, wherein the bulk fluid flow is in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, and wherein the first regional fluid flow is the other of the clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.
A method of processing a specimen-bearing slide comprising:
- (i) depositing a first reagent on the specimen-bearing slide;
- and (ii) uniformly distributing the deposited first reagent on the specimen-bearing slide, wherein the deposited first reagent is distributed by introducing a first set of pulsed gas jets to the deposited first reagent to effectuate a first fluid motion to a first portion of the deposited first reagent for a predetermined first period of time, and introducing a second set of pulsed gas jets to the deposited first reagent to effectuate at least a second fluid motion to at least a second portion of the deposited first reagent for a predetermined second period of time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.