Optical detectior including an optical alignment block and method
AssigneeAffymax Technologies N.V.
InventorHaim Kedar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A device and method for efficiently synthesizing diverse molecular products on substrates. A parent vessel 200 contains a suspension of substrates. The suspension is pressurized with argon and transferred to a plurality of reaction vessels 201-209 in one or more reaction vessel banks where monomer addition reactions take place. Optionally, the substrates may be tagged with a tag monomer. A vortexing motor 300 vortexes the contents of reaction vessels 201-209 during monomer addition reactions to enhance synthesis. After the desired monomer and/or tag monomer addition reaction, the suspension is pressurized with argon and transferred back to parent vessel 200 for mixing. Thereafter, the suspension may be pressurized with argon and reallocated among reaction vessels 201-209 for further synthesis.
Claims14
An optical alignment block for use with an optical detector in detecting the presence of a liquid within a substantially translucent tube, said optical detector comprising a forked body having spaced apart first and second prongs, said first prong including a transmitter and said second prong including a collector, said optical alignment block comprising:
- an opaque body defining a channel having two open ends and an open face so that said tube may be press fit into said channel by pressing said tube into said open face;
- wherein said opaque body further defines a pinhole aperture extending therethrough, said aperture being orthogonal to a radial axis of said tube when said tube is within said channel;
- and
- wherein said opaque body is sized and shaped to be removably held between said prongs of said optical detector with said tube being positioned in close proximity to said transmitter and said pinhole aperture being positioned in close proximity to said collector.
A detection system comprising:
- an optical detector comprising a detector body having a first surface and a second surface spaced apart from said first surface, said first surface including a transmitter and said second surface including a collector;
- and
- an optical alignment block defining a channel having a pair of spaced apart walls and an open face so that a tube may be placed into said channel through said open face, said block further defining an aperture extending through said block, said aperture being orthogonal to a radial axis of said tube when said tube is within said channel;
- wherein said alignment block is held between said surfaces of said detector body with said aperture being optically aligned with said transmitter and said collector.
A method of detecting the presence or absence of a liquid within a substantially translucent tube, said method comprising:
- providing an optical detector having a pair of spaced apart surfaces, with one surface including a transmitter and one surface including a collector;
- providing an optical alignment block which defines a channel having a pair of spaced apart walls and an open face, said alignment block further including an aperture extending therethrough;
- pressing a side portion of said tube into the channel through the open face so that said tube is held between said walls and is orthogonal to said aperture;
- inserting said alignment block between said surfaces of said optical detector so that said aperture is aligned with said transmitter and said collector;
- and
- transmitting light through said aperture from said transmitter and collecting light with the collector to produce a signal indicative of whether fluid is present within the tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.