Aspiration system for aspirating a biological sample
AssigneeBeckman Coulter, Inc.
InventorsBart J. Wanders, Marco Zuleta
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aspiration system for a biological analyzer includes: an aspiration needle configured to aspirate a blood sample from a specimen vial, wherein the aspiration needle includes a distal aperture; a motor operatively connected to the aspiration needle, the motor configured to control an elevation of the aspiration needle; an air pump configured to expel air from a distal region of the aspiration needle; and a controller configured to detect a change in pressure associated with the distal aperture of the aspiration needle.
Claims20
An aspiration system for a biological analyzer, comprising:
- an aspiration needle configured to aspirate a blood sample from a specimen vial, wherein the aspiration needle includes a distal aperture;
- a motor operatively connected to the aspiration needle, the motor configured to control an elevation of the aspiration needle;
- an air pump configured to expel air from a distal region of the aspiration needle;
- and
- a controller configured to detect a change in pressure associated with the distal aperture of the aspiration needle.
An aspiration system for a biological analyzer, comprising:
- an aspiration needle configured to aspirate a blood sample from a specimen vial, wherein the aspiration needle includes a distal aperture;
- a motor operatively connected to the aspiration needle, the motor configured to control an elevation of the aspiration needle;
- a controller configured to:
- detect a pressure associated with the distal aperture of the aspiration needle to associate an elevation of the distal aperture relative to the blood sample;
- cause the motor to lower the elevation of the aspiration needle ;
- and
- after the aspiration needle is lowered, cause aspiration of a predetermined volume of the blood sample.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.