Probe apparatus, assemblies, and methods for aspirating and dispensing liquids
AssigneeSiemens Healthcare Diagnostics Inc.
InventorMark Edwards
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A probe assembly for aspirating and delivering liquids includes a liquid line having a liquid line end and a pipette configured to be in fluid communication with the liquid line, the pipette configured to aspirate and dispense liquids when the probe assembly is devoid of connections to external liquid sources other than liquids being aspirated or dispensed, the liquid line end having a first portion of a dynamic coupler configured to be dynamically coupled to a second portion of a dynamic coupler, and the second portion of the dynamic coupler configured to be in fluid communication with a liquid source external to the probe assembly. Other probe assemblies, testing apparatus, and methods are disclosed.
Claims22
A probe assembly configured to aspirate and deliver liquids, comprising:
- a pump;
- a first liquid line having a first liquid line end and a second liquid line end;
- a second liquid line;
- a valve assembly coupled to the pump, the second liquid line, and the second liquid line end, the valve assembly having first and second settings;
- and
- a pipette coupled via the second liquid line to the valve assembly and in fluid communication with the first liquid line via the first setting, the pipette configured to aspirate and dispense liquids when the valve assembly via the second setting ends fluid communication between the first liquid line and the pipette and couples the pump to the pipette;
- wherein:
- the first liquid line has a first portion of a dynamic coupler at the first liquid line end configured to be dynamically coupled to a second portion of a dynamic coupler.
A testing apparatus, comprising:
- a probe assembly comprising:
- a liquid line having a liquid line end, the liquid line end having a first portion of a dynamic coupler configured to couple to a second portion of the dynamic coupler;
- a pipette fluidly coupled to the liquid line;
- and
- a pump fluidly coupled to the pipette;
- a liquid source external to the probe assembly;
- and
- a liquid delivery line external to the probe assembly and having a first end fluidly connected to the liquid source and a second end fluidly connected to the second portion of the dynamic coupler.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.