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US 9,174,244 B2Granted
System and apparatus for separating and orienting sample containers
AssigneeNautilus Systems, Inc.
InventorsSteve Gunnerson, Eric Moore
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and apparatus for separating/sorting and orienting/aligning tubes and/or vials or other sample containers.
Claims24
An apparatus for sorting sample containers comprising:
- a hopper having a pass through opening;
- at least one selector disk having at least one opening therein, said at least one selector disk being removably secured to the hopper;
- an output member for receiving a sample container which passes through said at least one opening in said at least one selector disk and the pass through opening in the hopper;
- and
- a scanning sensor capable of determining if the sample container is in a desired orientation after being received by the output member;
- and wherein said at least one selector disk comprises a plurality of exchangeable selector disk each having different sized opening contained therein.
3 more elements
An apparatus for sorting sample containers comprising:
- a hopper having a pass through opening;
- a selector disk having at least one opening therein, said selector disk being removably secured to the hopper;
- an output member for receiving a sample container which passes through said at least one opening in the selector disk and the pass through opening in the hopper;
- a scanning sensor capable of determining if the sample container is in a desired orientation after being received by the output member;
- and
- an orientation device capable of rotating the sample container to the desired orientation if the sample container is not positioned in the desired orientation.
3 more elements
An apparatus for sorting sample containers comprising:
- a hopper having a pass through opening;
- a plurality of disk selectors each having at least one opening therein, each of said plurality of disk selectors being removably securable to the hopper;
- and
- an output member for receiving a sample container which passes through said at least one opening in the plurality of disk selectors and the pass through opening in the hopper;
- and a scanning sensor capable of determining if the sample container is in a desired orientation after being received by the output member;
- and wherein the at least one selector disk comprises a plurality of exchangeable selector disks each having a different sized opening contained therein.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.