Pipettor General Overview

Overview

The Pipettor module consists of the Pipettor robot and the Pipettor arms.

Pipettor Robot

The Pipettor system is a dual arm sample and reagent probe system with integrated air based Pipettor pumps. It has a common X-axis, and independent Y- and Z-axes. The robot is a Cartesian gantry with belt-driven X and Y axes, and a gear-driven Z-axis. All motors have rotary encoders and home sensors. The Pipettor robot is designed to accept TECAN 1 mL disposable tips, and access both top and mid section decks on the Panther System. It has integrated tip sensing, tip insertion depth sensing, capacitive level sensing, and pressure sensing. it can move to any point on the deck within 2 seconds. Its liquid level detection is accurate to within ± 0.5 mm axis. It requires no system fluids.

Pipettor Arms

The air Pipettor pumps are ceramic piston lead screw-driven, servomotor devices with rotary encoder feedback and home sensors. The syringe is 1.1 mL in volume and also made from ceramic. The range of dispense being 25–1,000 µL of reagents. These pumps are integrated into the extruded Z-axis of the Pipettor robot and are rated for the life of the system. All controls are integrated into this small package.

Interfacing Modules

The Pipettor module interacts with both Tip Trays, Tip Eject Chutes, the TCRTarget capture reagent—An assay-specific reagent added as part of specimen pipetting. Carousel, Sample Bay, Reagent Bay, Sample Dispense Slot, Amp Load Station, HPAHybridization protection assay—The Hologic HPA technique uses a specific DNA probe, labeled with an acridinium ester detector molecule that emits a chemiluminescent signal. Load Station, and the Endozime bottle.

Theory/Sequence of Operation

Initialization → Pick Tip → LLD → Aspirate (clot detection) → Dispense (dispense verification) → Eject Tip