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US 12,496,577 B2Granted
Pipetting apparatus and methods
AssigneeRevvity Health Sciences, Inc.
InventorsThomas Perroud, Thomas Rawlins, Hans-Juergen Tiedtke, Kai Hassler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An automated pipetting system includes a pipettor. The pipettor includes a pipetting channel, a first plunger mechanism operable to change a pressure in the pipetting channel to aspirate or dispense a liquid, and a second plunger mechanism operable to change the pressure in the pipetting channel to aspirate or dispense the liquid.
Claims16
An automated pipetting system, comprising:
- a pipettor comprising a channel therein and a pipette tip having an opening therein;
- a pressure sensor coupled to the channel;
- and
- at least one controller circuit configured to perform operations comprising:
- receiving, from the pressure sensor, a signal indicating pressure in the channel of the pipettor;
- and
- based on the pressure indicated by the signal:
- detecting evaporation of a liquid in the pipette tip;
- controlling movement of a plunger in the channel after removal of the pipette tip from a liquid volume and prior to dispensing the liquid;
- calculating an evaporation rate based on a change in the pressure indicated by the signal responsive to controlling the movement of the plunger;
- and
- performing one or more evaporation compensation operations responsive to detecting the evaporation of the liquid in the pipette tip, based on comparison to a threshold.
9 more elements
A method of operating an automated pipetting system, the method comprising:
- executing, by at least one controller circuit, computer readable instructions stored in a non-transitory storage medium to perform operations comprising:
- receiving, from a pressure sensor, a signal indicating pressure in a channel of a pipettor comprising a pipette tip having an opening therein;
- and
- based on the pressure indicated by the signal:
- detecting evaporation of liquid in the pipette tip;
- controlling movement of a plunger in the channel after removal of the pipette tip from a liquid volume and prior to dispensing the liquid;
- calculating an evaporation rate based on a change in the pressure indicated by the signal responsive to controlling the movement of the plunger;
- and
- performing one or more evaporation compensation operations responsive to detecting the evaporation of the liquid in the pipette tip, based on comparison to a threshold.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.