Disposable pipette tip management
AssigneeGen-Probe Incorporated
InventorsDavid H. COMBS, Norbert D. HAGEN, Ayra BAKER, Joseph Reed ELLIS
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
After disposable pipette tips are used by an automated pipettor, they are released by the pipettor and fall into a waste container. When the waste container is removed to be emptied, the pipette tips are temporarily sequestered in a pipette tip holding station so that the automated pipettor may operate uninterrupted. After the waste container is replaced, the sequestered pipette tips are released by the holding station into the waste container.
Claims21
1-24. (canceled)
A device to capture one or more pipette tips that are released from an automated pipettor at a tip release location, the device comprising:
- a tip holder conveyor comprising or supporting a plurality of tip holders, each tip holder being configured to receive and releasably hold a single pipette tip;
- a drive mechanism configured to index the tip holder conveyor to sequentially place each of one or more of the plurality of tip holders in the tip release location to receive a pipette tip released by the automated pipettor into each tip holder placed at the tip release location;
- and
- a tip ejector positioned to engage a pipette tip held in each of one or more of the plurality of tip holders when the tip holder conveyor is moved by the drive mechanism with respect to the tip ejector, the tip ejector being configured to remove each pipette tip that it engages from an associated tip holder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.