CN111468202A - Pipetting method and pipetting device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a liquid transfer method and a liquid transfer device, belonging to the technical field of molecular diagnosis.A liquid transfer assembly and a bearing platform are movably arranged on a base, a plurality of liquid storage cabins and induction assemblies are arranged on the bearing platform, and the method comprises the following steps: moving the induction component to the lower part of the projection of the liquid-transfering component, making the contact end of the liquid-transfering component contact with the induction component by induction, and recording the contact position as the initial position; moving the liquid storage cabin to a position below the projection of the liquid transfer assembly, determining a first height according to a preset height and a preset liquid transfer amount, and descending, wherein the liquid transfer assembly sucks liquid in the liquid storage cabin; and controlling the liquid transfer assembly to ascend, moving the other liquid storage cabin to the position below the projection of the liquid transfer assembly, releasing the liquid sucked in the liquid transfer assembly into the liquid storage cabin, and sequentially finishing quantitative transfer of the liquid among the plurality of liquid storage cabins. Through controlling first height, can accurate control move liquid measure of liquid subassembly. The liquid transfer component does not need to be specially made, and is not interfered by bubbles on the liquid surface, the liquid transfer error is small, and the cost is lower.

Description

Pipetting method and pipetting device

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of molecular diagnosis, in particular to a liquid transferring method and a liquid transferring device.

Background

Biological macromolecular compounds, in which nucleic acids are polymerized from many nucleotides, are one of the most basic substances of life. Nucleic acid is widely present in all animal and plant cells and microorganisms, and nucleic acid in organisms is often combined with protein to form nucleoprotein. Different nucleic acids differ in their chemical composition, nucleotide arrangement order, and the like.

Molecular diagnosis based on nucleic acid amplification is to detect the existence of endogenous (genetic or variant) or exogenous (pathogen) target genes by primer-mediated specific amplification of the target genes, thereby providing information and decision basis for diagnosis and treatment of diseases. It is mainly applied to the fields of infectious disease diagnosis, blood screening, early auxiliary diagnosis of tumors, genetic disease diagnosis, prenatal diagnosis and the like. The sample pretreatment process in molecular diagnosis is complex, and not only an accurate temperature cycle control system is required, but also an accurate liquid transfer system is required.

At present, most pipetting systems of molecular diagnosis equipment adopt a method of measuring capacitance by using a pipetting head, the pipetting head is connected with a capacitance sensor, the position of a liquid level is measured by the capacitance sensor, and the volume of transferred liquid is calculated.

This approach has several disadvantages: the pipette head is connected with the capacitance sensor, so that the pipette head needs to be specially made, has higher cost, is easily interfered by bubbles on the liquid level, and generates errors on liquid level judgment, thereby causing errors in experiments; the use of capacitive sensors is required, making the measurement circuit relatively complex.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a liquid transfer method and a liquid transfer device, which can accurately control the preset liquid transfer amount of liquid, and a liquid transfer assembly does not need to be specially made and has lower cost.

The embodiment of the invention is realized by the following steps:

in one aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a liquid transfer method, in which a liquid transfer assembly and a carrier platform are movably disposed on a base, the carrier platform is provided with a plurality of liquid storage compartments and a plurality of sensing assemblies, and the method includes: controlling the bearing platform to move in a plane, moving the induction assembly to the position below the projection of the liquid transfer assembly, controlling the liquid transfer assembly to descend, enabling the contact end of the liquid transfer assembly to be in induction contact with the induction assembly, and recording the contact position as an initial position;

controlling the bearing platform to move in a plane, moving one liquid storage cabin to a position below the projection of the liquid transfer assembly, determining a first height according to a preset height and a preset liquid transfer amount, and descending, wherein the liquid transfer assembly absorbs liquid in the liquid storage cabin; controlling the pipetting assembly to ascend, controlling the bearing platform to move in a plane, moving the other liquid storage cabin to a position below the projection of the pipetting assembly, and releasing the liquid sucked in the pipetting assembly into the liquid storage cabin; and controlling the bearing platform to move in a plane, moving the induction assembly to the position below the projection of the liquid transfer assembly, controlling the liquid transfer assembly to descend, enabling the contact end of the liquid transfer assembly to be in induction contact with the induction assembly, and recording the initial position.

Optionally, a positioning column is arranged at the bottom of the liquid storage cabin, the end of the positioning column extends out of a hatch of the liquid storage cabin, a calibration piece is arranged on the base, and the calibration piece corresponds to the pipetting assembly arranged on the base;

the method comprises the following steps of controlling the bearing platform to move in a plane, moving the induction assembly to the position below the projection of the liquid-transferring assembly, descending the liquid-transferring assembly, enabling the contact end of the liquid-transferring assembly to be in induction contact with the induction assembly, and recording the contact position as an initial position, wherein the method further comprises the following steps: acquiring the height of the positioning column extending out of the hatch of the liquid storage tank as a positioning height; controlling the calibrating piece to descend until the contact end of the calibrating piece is in inductive contact with the induction assembly, and acquiring the initial height of the calibrating piece; calculating the difference between the initial height and the positioning height as a fixed value; and acquiring the height of the positioning column, and calculating the sum of the height of the positioning column and the fixed value as the preset height.

Optionally, after the height of the positioning column is obtained and the sum of the height of the positioning column and the fixed value is calculated as the preset height, the method further includes: removing the positioning column; removing the calibration piece and setting the pipetting assembly.

Optionally, the controlling the carrier platform to move in a plane, moving one of the liquid storage compartments to a position below the projection of the liquid transfer assembly, determining a first height according to a preset height and a preset liquid transfer amount, and lowering the first height, wherein the liquid transfer assembly sucks liquid in the liquid storage compartment includes: acquiring the initial height of the liquid level of the liquid in the liquid storage tank; acquiring the liquid level height difference of the liquid corresponding to the preset liquid transfer amount; calculating the first height; wherein the first height is the preset height-the initial height of the liquid level + the difference in height of the liquid level.

One aspect of the embodiment of the invention provides a liquid transfer device, which comprises a base, wherein a bearing platform and a liquid transfer assembly are respectively arranged on the base, the bearing platform can move on the upper plane of the base, the liquid transfer assembly can move up and down on the base, a plurality of liquid storage chambers for bearing liquid are arranged on the bearing platform, and the liquid transfer assembly is used for quantitatively transferring the liquid among the liquid storage chambers; the device comprises a bearing table, a liquid transfer assembly and a controller, wherein the bearing table is provided with a sensing assembly, the controller is respectively electrically connected with the liquid transfer assembly and the sensing assembly, the sensing assembly is used for transmitting a trigger signal in sensing contact with the liquid transfer assembly to the controller, and the controller drives the liquid transfer assembly to move up and down and absorb and release liquid through the preset height and the preset liquid transfer amount of the liquid transfer device; wherein the pipetting assembly is lowered a first height to aspirate the liquid.

Optionally, move the liquid subassembly including establishing lift slide rail on the base and with lift slide rail sliding connection's first slide, be equipped with the arm on the first slide, first power component is connected to the arm, the arm still centre gripping has the pipette, first power component with the pipette all with the controller electricity is connected.

Optionally, the response subassembly is including establishing the response pole on the plummer, the response pole protrusion in the plummer, the response pole with the controller electricity is connected, the response pole be used for with the liquid-transfering gun triggers, with to the controller feedback the contact position signal of liquid-transfering gun.

Optionally, a Y-axis slide rail is arranged on the base, a second slide seat connected with the Y-axis slide rail in a sliding manner is arranged on the Y-axis slide rail, an X-axis slide rail is arranged on the second slide seat, and the bearing table is connected with the X-axis slide rail in a sliding manner; the second power assembly is connected with the second sliding seat, the third power assembly is connected with the bearing table, and the second power assembly and the third power assembly are respectively electrically connected with the controller.

Optionally, a plurality of limiting holes are formed in the bearing platform, and the liquid storage cabin is arranged in the corresponding limiting holes.

Optionally, the first power assembly, the second power assembly and the third power assembly are all linear motors.

The embodiment of the invention has the beneficial effects that:

according to the pipetting method and the pipetting device provided by the embodiment of the invention, the pipetting assembly moves up and down along the Z-axis direction on the base to suck liquid in one liquid storage cabin and transfer the sucked liquid into the other liquid storage cabin to finish liquid transfer. The plummer moves along X axle and Y axle direction plane simultaneously on the base, makes the stock solution cabin move to the below of pipetting the subassembly to it absorbs or releases liquid to prepare for pipetting the subassembly. The contact end of pipetting component and response subassembly response contact, the response subassembly transmits this contact signal for the controller, and this contact position of controller record is initial position, and controller control pipetting component uses this initial position as the starting point, controls and pipettes a first height of liquid subassembly decline, and wherein, first height corresponds with the predetermined volume of pipetting, through controlling first height, can the accurate control move the liquid volume of moving of liquid subassembly. Compared with the prior art, the corresponding relation through first height and the predetermined liquid volume of moving of this embodiment through control first height, makes the liquid-transfering component can accurate acquire the liquid of the predetermined liquid volume of moving, so, the liquid-transfering component need not specially make, and can not receive the liquid level bubble interference, and it is little to move the liquid error, and the cost is lower. In addition, the problem that the circuit is complicated because a capacitance sensor is used for acquiring the liquid displacement in the prior art is also avoided.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, it should be understood that the following drawings only illustrate some embodiments of the present invention and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope, and for those skilled in the art, other related drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without inventive efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a pipetting device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a second schematic structural diagram of a pipetting device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an initial position structure of a pipetting gun of the pipetting device according to the embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a pipetting method provided by an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 5 is a second flowchart of a pipetting method according to an embodiment of the invention.

Icon: 11-a support plate; 12-a robotic arm; 13-a liquid storage tank; 14-a carrier table; 15-a second power assembly; 16-a base; 17-X axis slide rails; 18-Y axis slide rails; 19-an inductive component; 191-an induction rod; 110-a calibration piece; 111-a first power assembly; 112-lifting slide rails; 113-photoelectric switch; 21-a positioning column; 31-pipette tips; h-first height; h 1-height of positioning column; h 2-reset height; h 3-descending height; h 4-initial height; h 5-orientation height; h 6-initial height of liquid level; xh-liquid level height difference; c-a fixed value.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the present invention. The components of embodiments of the present invention generally described and illustrated in the figures herein may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.

Thus, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention, presented in the figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, as claimed, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

It should be noted that: like reference numbers and letters refer to like items in the following figures, and thus, once an item is defined in one figure, it need not be further defined and explained in subsequent figures.

Example one

Referring to fig. 1, the present embodiment provides a liquid transfer device, which includes a base 16, a carrying platform 14 and a liquid transfer assembly are respectively disposed on the base 16, the carrying platform 14 can move on the plane of the base 16, the liquid transfer assembly can move up and down on the base 16, a plurality of liquid storage compartments 13 for carrying liquid are disposed on the carrying platform 14, and the liquid transfer assembly is used for quantitative transfer of liquid between the liquid storage compartments 13; the liquid transferring device further comprises a controller (not shown in the figure), the controller is electrically connected with the liquid transferring assembly, a sensing assembly 19 is further arranged on the bearing platform 14, the sensing assembly 19 is electrically connected with the controller and used for transmitting a trigger signal in sensing contact with the liquid transferring assembly to the controller, the controller drives the liquid transferring assembly to move up and down and absorb and release liquid through the preset height and the preset liquid transferring amount of the liquid transferring device, and the liquid transferring assembly descends by the first height h to absorb the liquid.

The plummer 14 can move simultaneously along X axle direction and Y axle direction respectively on base 16, is equipped with backup pad 11 on base 16, moves the liquid subassembly and establishes in backup pad 11, moves the liquid subassembly and can go up and down to move along the Z axle direction of backup pad 11 on base 16, and the controller is connected with the power component and the liquid subassembly electricity of plummer 14 respectively and moves the liquid subassembly electricity for drive plummer 14 moves on base 16, and the drive moves the liquid subassembly and goes up and down on base 16.

The sensing assembly 19 is electrically connected with the controller, the sensing assembly 19 is used for triggering with the liquid-transfering assembly and transmitting a triggering signal to the controller so that the controller records the initial position of the liquid-transfering assembly, the controller drives the liquid-transfering assembly to descend by a first height h along the Z-axis direction to the liquid storage cabin 13 to suck liquid by taking the initial position as a starting point through the preset height and the preset liquid-transfering amount of the liquid-transfering device so as to control the liquid-transfering amount of the liquid-transfering assembly.

In the pipetting device provided by the embodiment, the pipetting assembly moves up and down on the base 16 along the Z-axis direction to suck the liquid in the liquid storage cabin 13 and transfer the sucked liquid into the other liquid storage cabin 13 to finish the liquid transfer. The platform 14 moves in a plane on the base 16 along the X-axis and Y-axis directions simultaneously, so that the reservoir 13 moves below the pipetting assembly for sucking or discharging liquid by the pipetting assembly. The contact end of the liquid transfer assembly is in induction contact with the induction assembly 19, the induction assembly 19 transmits the contact signal to the controller, the controller records the contact position as an initial position, the controller controls the liquid transfer assembly to use the initial position as a starting point, and the liquid transfer assembly is controlled to descend by a first height h, wherein the first height h corresponds to a preset liquid transfer amount, and the liquid transfer amount of the liquid transfer assembly can be accurately controlled by controlling the first height h. Compared with the prior art, the corresponding relation through first height h and the predetermined liquid volume of moving of this embodiment through control first height h, makes the liquid-transfering component can accurate acquisition predetermine the liquid volume of moving, so, the liquid-transfering component need not be purpose-built, and can not receive the liquid level bubble to disturb, move the liquid error little, the cost is lower. In addition, the problem that the circuit is complicated because a capacitance sensor is used for acquiring the liquid displacement in the prior art is also avoided.

Specifically, the pipetting assembly comprises a lifting slide rail 112 arranged on the base 16 and a first slide seat connected with the lifting slide rail 112 in a sliding manner, the first slide seat is provided with a mechanical arm 12, the mechanical arm 12 is connected with a first power assembly 111, the mechanical arm 12 also clamps a pipetting gun, the end part of the pipetting gun is provided with a pipetting gun head 31 shown in fig. 3, and both the first power assembly 111 and the pipetting gun are electrically connected with the controller.

Liquid is sucked and released by the pipette head 31 under the control of the controller, the first power assembly 111 provides power for the mechanical arm 12, the mechanical arm 12 is driven by the first power assembly 111 to move, the sliding rail is driven by the mechanical arm 12 to move along the first sliding seat, and the pipette head 31 can be lifted and lowered along the Z-axis direction by the mechanical arm 12 for clamping the pipette head.

The sensing assembly 19 comprises a sensing rod 191 arranged on the bearing platform 14, the sensing rod 191 protrudes out of the bearing platform 14, the sensing rod 191 is electrically connected with the controller, the sensing rod 191 is triggered by the pipette tip 31, and a contact position signal of the pipette tip 31 is fed back to the controller.

The contact position is the initial position of the pipette tip 31, and the controller controls the first power assembly 111 to drive the pipette tip 31 to suck liquid by descending the first height h along the Z-axis direction with the initial position as the starting point, so as to control the liquid transfer amount of the pipette assembly.

A Y-axis slide rail 18 is arranged on the base 16, a second slide seat connected with the Y-axis slide rail 18 in a sliding manner is arranged on the Y-axis slide rail 18, an X-axis slide rail 17 is arranged on the second slide seat, and the bearing table 14 is connected with the X-axis slide rail 17 in a sliding manner; and the device also comprises a second power assembly 15 connected with the second sliding seat, and a third power assembly (not shown in the figure) connected with the bearing table 14, wherein the second power assembly 15 and the third power assembly are respectively and electrically connected with the controller.

The second power assembly 15 drives the second slide carriage to move on the Y-axis slide rail 18, and the third power assembly drives the bearing table 14 to move on the X-axis slide rail 17.

The controller controls the operation of the second power assembly 15 and the third power assembly to cooperate with the first power assembly 111. The controller controls the bearing platform 14 to move to a corresponding position on the plane of the base 16, so that the liquid storage cabin 13 correspondingly moves to the lower part of the pipette tip 31, and simultaneously, the pipette tip 31 sucks liquid from the liquid storage cabin 13 and transfers the liquid to another liquid storage cabin 13 in cooperation with the ascending or descending of the pipette tip 31.

For example, the first power assembly 111, the second power assembly 15, and the third power assembly may all be cylinders, and are driven by the cylinders; the first power assembly 111, the second power assembly 15 and the third power assembly can also be linear motors, and the linear motors drive the corresponding parts to move linearly.

In order to prevent the bearing platform 14 from moving, the liquid storage tank 13 is displaced relative to the bearing platform 14, and meanwhile, the liquid in the liquid storage tank 13 is prevented from being leaked due to the fact that the liquid storage tank 13 is overturned, and the liquid storage tank 13 needs to be limited. A plurality of limiting holes are formed in the bearing platform 14, and the liquid storage cabin 13 is arranged in the corresponding limiting holes respectively so as to limit the liquid storage cabin 13.

Each time the pipette tip 31 sucks liquid, the controller controls the pipette tip to descend by the first height h from the initial position as a starting point, so that liquid with a preset liquid transfer amount can be sucked.

Wherein, the first height h is a preset height-initial liquid level height h6+ liquid level height difference xh; the preset height is the intrinsic parameter of the pipetting device, and the initial liquid level height h6 and the liquid level height difference xh both correspond to the liquid volume.

Specifically, once the liquid storage tank 13 is manufactured, the liquid volume in the liquid storage tank 13 corresponds to the height of the liquid storage tank 13. When liquid is sucked each time, a user can predetermine a preset liquid moving amount, namely a liquid volume, and when liquid is released each time, the amount of the released liquid is equal to the amount of the sucked liquid, namely, quantitative sucking and quantitative releasing are carried out each time; thus, after the liquid is discharged into a certain liquid storage tank 13, the liquid level height of the total amount of the liquid in the liquid storage tank 13 and the liquid level height difference xh before and after the liquid is transferred are known; after the liquid is sucked from a certain liquid storage tank 13, the liquid level height of the total amount of the liquid in the liquid storage tank 13 and the liquid level height difference xh before and after the liquid is transferred can also be known.

The initial height h6 of the liquid level and the height difference xh of the liquid level can be obtained through the corresponding relation between the liquid volume and the height of the liquid storage tank 13. In this way, the first height h at which the pipette tip 31 is lowered each time is controlled.

Example two

Referring to fig. 4, the present embodiment provides a pipetting method, in which a pipetting assembly and a carrier 14 are movably disposed on a base 16, the carrier 14 is provided with a plurality of fluid storage compartments 13 and a sensing assembly 19, and the method includes:

s100: and controlling the bearing platform 14 to move in a plane, so that the sensing assembly 19 moves to the position below the projection of the liquid transferring assembly, controlling the liquid transferring assembly to descend, enabling the contact end of the liquid transferring assembly to be in sensing contact with the sensing assembly 19, and recording the contact position as an initial position.

Specifically, the stage 14 can be moved in a plane on the base 16 in both the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, and the pipetting assembly can be raised or lowered on the base 16 in the Z-axis direction.

The bearing platform 14 is controlled to move on the plane on the base 16, the sensing assembly 19 on the bearing platform 14 is located below the projection of the liquid-transferring assembly, then the liquid-transferring assembly is controlled to descend, the contact end of the liquid-transferring assembly is in sensing contact with the sensing assembly 19, the sensing assembly 19 transmits a contact signal to the controller, and the controller records the contact position as an initial position.

S110: and controlling the bearing platform 14 to move in a plane, moving one liquid storage cabin 13 to the position below the projection of the liquid transfer assembly, determining a first height h according to a preset height and a preset liquid transfer amount, descending, and sucking the liquid in the liquid storage cabin 13 by the liquid transfer assembly.

The height of the liquid transferring assembly for descending is a first height h, wherein the first height h is determined according to a preset height and a preset liquid transferring amount.

The preset liquid transfer amount is set automatically according to the requirement, then the preset liquid transfer amount is manually input on a display screen of the controller, the controller can obtain the numerical value of the preset liquid transfer amount, the preset liquid transfer amount corresponds to the liquid level height difference before and after liquid transfer in the liquid storage tank, and the controller automatically calculates the liquid level height difference corresponding to the preset liquid transfer amount according to the height relation between the liquid volume and the liquid storage tank.

The preset height is determined during system design and calibration and recorded in the controller, belongs to intrinsic parameters in the system and does not need manual input.

The controller can calculate the first height h according to the preset height and the preset liquid transferring amount, and control the liquid transferring assembly to descend to the first height h.

When the pipetting module descends by the first height h, the pipetting module descends by the first height h along the Z-axis direction by taking the initial position as a starting point.

Referring to fig. 2, the first height h is a preset height (positioning column height h1+ fixed value c) -liquid level initial height h6+ liquid level height difference xh.

S111: the initial height h6 of the liquid level in the liquid storage tank 13 is obtained.

Assuming that the liquid in the liquid storage tank 13 has an initial liquid level at position A1, the initial liquid level h6 is the vertical distance from the bottom of the liquid storage tank 13 to the liquid level.

The initial liquid level height h6 is automatically recorded by the controller according to the preset liquid transfer amount of the liquid sucked by the liquid storage chamber 13 each time and the corresponding preset liquid transfer amount of the liquid released into the liquid storage chamber 13 each time, so as to obtain the real-time initial liquid level height h6 of the liquid storage chamber 13.

The liquid storage tank 13 of the embodiment is irregular, and the liquid level height corresponds to the liquid holding volume of the liquid storage tank 13. Of course, the reservoir 13 may also have a regular shape, the height of the liquid level of which corresponds to the liquid-carrying volume of the reservoir 13.

S112: and acquiring the liquid level height difference xh of the liquid corresponding to the preset pipetting quantity.

The preset liquid transfer amount is manually input into the controller as required, and the controller automatically calculates the liquid level height difference xh according to the preset liquid transfer amount.

Assuming that the liquid level drops from the position A1 to the position A2 after the liquid in the liquid storage compartment 13 is sucked up by the pipetting assembly, the difference between the liquid level at the position A1 and the liquid level at the position A2 is the liquid level difference xh.

The liquid level height difference xh can be corresponding to the liquid volume, namely the amount of liquid sucked or released by the liquid transfer assembly, namely the corresponding preset liquid transfer amount, and the controller automatically calculates the liquid level height difference xh according to the corresponding relation between the preset liquid transfer amount and the liquid level height.

S113: calculating a first height h; the first height h is the preset height-initial liquid level height h6+ liquid level height difference xh.

According to the first height h obtained by calculation, the controller controls the liquid transfer assembly to descend by the first height h, and the liquid transfer assembly can accurately absorb the preset liquid transfer amount corresponding to the first height h.

S120: and controlling the pipetting assembly to ascend, controlling the bearing platform 14 to move in a plane, moving the other liquid storage cabin to the position below the projection of the pipetting assembly, and releasing the liquid sucked in the pipetting assembly into the liquid storage cabin.

After the liquid in the liquid storage cabin 13 is sucked by the liquid transferring assembly, the controller controls the liquid transferring assembly to ascend and move out of the liquid storage cabin 13. Then the carrier 14 is controlled to move in a plane, so that another liquid storage cabin on the carrier 14 is positioned below the projection of the pipetting assembly, and then the liquid sucked in the pipetting assembly is released into the liquid storage cabin 13.

The predetermined amount of liquid transfer corresponds to the first height h, so that lowering the pipetting assembly by the first height h draws liquid in the predetermined amount of liquid transfer accordingly. Through controlling first height h, can accurate control move liquid assembly and absorb the volume of liquid, that is control and move liquid measure promptly.

S130: and controlling the plane of the bearing platform to move, moving the induction assembly to the lower part of the projection of the liquid transfer assembly, controlling the liquid transfer assembly to descend, enabling the contact end of the liquid transfer assembly to be in induction contact with the induction assembly, and recording the initial position.

And returning to the step S100 again, and repeating the steps to complete the quantitative transfer of the liquid among the plurality of liquid storage chambers in sequence.

When liquid in a certain liquid storage cabin needs to be sucked again, the contact end of the liquid transfer assembly is firstly in induction contact with the induction assembly, the initial position is recorded, the initial position is taken as a starting point, the liquid transfer assembly is lowered to a corresponding first height according to the preset height and the preset liquid transfer amount, the liquid with the preset liquid transfer amount is sucked, and the steps are repeated in this way, so that quantitative transfer of the liquid among the liquid storage cabins is sequentially completed.

In the pipetting method provided by the embodiment, the pipetting assembly sucks the liquid in one liquid storage cabin 13 and transfers the sucked liquid into the other liquid storage cabin 13 to finish the sampling and transferring of the liquid. The contact end of the liquid transfer assembly is in induction contact with the induction assembly 19, the contact position is recorded as an initial position, the liquid transfer assembly is controlled to descend by a first height h with the initial position as a starting point, the first height h corresponds to a preset liquid transfer amount, and the liquid transfer amount of the liquid transfer assembly can be accurately controlled by controlling the first height h. Compared with the prior art, the corresponding relation through first height h and liquid transfer amount of this embodiment through control first height h, makes liquid transfer assembly can accurate acquisition move liquid measure, so, liquid transfer assembly does not need the special system, and does not receive the liquid level bubble to disturb, and the error is little, and the cost is lower. In addition, the problem that the circuit is complicated because a capacitance sensor is used for acquiring the liquid displacement in the prior art is also avoided.

It should be noted that, before the step S100, the method of this embodiment further includes calibration, in this embodiment, after the device is calibrated in advance before the device leaves a factory, the calibration component 110 is used to obtain the preset height, and the preset height is recorded in the controller, so that the preset height becomes a system intrinsic parameter, and then leaves the factory for a customer to use.

The preset heights of all the devices are different, the preset height detection calibration needs to be carried out before the devices leave a factory, each device only needs to be detected before leaving the factory, and a customer does not need to measure the preset height after leaving the factory.

Specifically, calibration requires the use of calibration piece 110 and positioning post 21, the arrangement of calibration piece 110 and pipetting gun of pipetting assembly on base 16 is corresponding, and the arrangement of pipetting gun and calibration piece 110 on base 16 is corresponding, and they can be replaced with each other in different testing and working periods. Namely, in the calibration stage, the pipette is replaced by the calibration piece 110, and the preset height of the device is calibrated through the calibration piece 110; in the end product use stage, the calibration piece 110 is replaced by a pipette tip, and liquid is sucked up through the pipette tip 31 and transferred.

In fact, the position of the calibration piece 110 has been replaced with a pipetting assembly after calibration of the device by the calibration piece 110 before shipment of the device. The customer can use the liquid-transfering component directly.

The calibration process is as follows: the bottom of the liquid storage tank 13 is provided with a positioning column 21, the end part of the positioning column 21 extends out of the hatch of the liquid storage tank 13, the base 16 is provided with a calibration piece 110, and the calibration piece 110 corresponds to the arrangement of the liquid transfer assembly on the base 16.

Referring to fig. 5, S100-1: the height of the positioning column 21 extending out of the hatch of the liquid storage tank 13 is taken as the positioning height h 5.

The positioning height h5 can be measured by a measuring method, and the vertical distance from the port of the positioning column 21 extending out of the hatch of the liquid storage tank 13 to the hatch of the liquid storage tank 13 is measured, so that the positioning height h5 can be obtained.

S100-2: and controlling the calibration member 110 to descend until the contact end of the calibration member 110 is in sensing contact with the sensing assembly 19, and acquiring the initial height h4 of the calibration member 110.

S100-3: the difference between the initial height h4 and the positioning height h5 is calculated as a fixed value c.

The initial height h4 is the distance from the hatch of the liquid storage cabin 13 to the sensing end of the sensing rod 191 of the sensing assembly 19, and the initial height h4 is a certain value.

The initial height h4 is calculated as: the vertical distance between the port of the hatch of the tank 13 and the contact end of the calibration piece 110, i.e. the height h2 of the reset, is measured. The base 16 is provided with a photoelectric switch 113, the calibration piece 110 can move up and down along the Z-axis direction on the base 16, when the calibration piece 110 rises to a reset position, the photoelectric switch 113 is triggered, the photoelectric switch 113 transmits a signal of the position to the controller, and the controller records the position and controls the calibration piece 110 to stop moving at the position, which is called resetting. I.e., the calibration member 110 stops rising when it rises to the reset position. Then the calibration piece 110 descends from the position until the induction component 19 is triggered, so that the induction component 19 generates an induction signal and sends the induction signal to the controller, the controller acquires the induction signal, and the controller acquires the distance between the contact ends of the induction component 19 and the calibration piece 110 descends from the reset position, namely the descending height h3, and the initial height h4 can be obtained by calculating the reset height h 2-the descending height h 3. A fixed value c is thus calculated.

S100-4: and acquiring the height h1 of the positioning column, and calculating the sum of the fixed value c and the height h1 of the positioning column as a preset height.

It can be seen that once the device is set, the preset height is a fixed value, the preset height is recorded in the controller as an inherent parameter of the device, then the positioning post 21 is removed, the calibration piece 110 is removed and the position of the calibration piece 110 is replaced by the pipette tip 31, and the device is shipped to the customer.

It should be noted that the ports of the multiple liquid storage tanks are all located on the same plane, so that the parameters of the multiple liquid storage tanks are the same, and only the positioning column needs to be arranged in one of the liquid storage tanks for calibration. When liquid is taken from other liquid storage cabins, the initial position is taken as the starting point, the first height corresponding to the preset liquid-moving amount is lowered, the liquid with the preset liquid-moving amount can be obtained, and quantitative liquid moving is achieved.

Meanwhile, the preset movement amount of the liquid to be sucked each time can be unequal, but the preset movement amount of each time corresponds to a first height.

The following illustrates the use of the pipetting device, taking a nucleic acid sample as an example:

the bearing platform 14 is provided with a plurality of liquid storage chambers 13, and the plurality of liquid storage chambers 13 are respectively a reagent chamber for storing nucleic acid samples, a reaction chamber for reacting with the nucleic acid samples, and a waste liquid chamber for storing reaction waste liquid. Granular magnetic beads are arranged in the reaction cabin and are used for reacting with the liquid nucleic acid sample.

First, the pipette tip 31 and the sensing assembly 19 are brought into contact, and the controller records the contact position as the initial position.

The reagent cabin moves to the lower part of the liquid-transfering gun head 31, the liquid-transfering gun head 31 takes the initial position as the starting point, and descends by a first height h, and the first height h is determined according to the preset height and the preset liquid-transfering amount of the nucleic acid sample to be sucked from the reagent cabin.

After the absorption, the pipette tip 31 ascends, moves out of the reagent chamber, moves the reaction chamber to the lower part of the pipette tip 31, the pipette tip 31 releases the absorbed nucleic acid sample into the reaction chamber, the nucleic acid sample reacts with the magnetic beads in the reaction chamber, and waste liquid is generated after the reaction.

The reaction time is preset, after the reaction is finished, the controller controls the pipette tip 31 to be in induction contact with the induction assembly 19 again according to the reaction time, the initial position is calibrated again, then the reaction cabin moves to the lower part of the pipette tip 31, the pipette tip 31 descends by a corresponding first height h according to the preset liquid transfer amount of the waste liquid, and the quantitative waste liquid in the reaction cabin is sucked.

After the suction, the pipette tip 31 is raised and moved out of the reaction chamber, and the waste liquid chamber is moved below the pipette tip 31, and the pipette tip 31 releases the sucked waste liquid into the waste liquid chamber.

The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. A liquid transfer method is characterized in that a liquid transfer assembly and a bearing platform are movably arranged on a base, a plurality of liquid storage cabins and induction assemblies are arranged on the bearing platform, and the method comprises the following steps:

controlling the bearing platform to move in a plane, moving the induction assembly to the position below the projection of the liquid transfer assembly, controlling the liquid transfer assembly to descend, enabling the contact end of the liquid transfer assembly to be in induction contact with the induction assembly, and recording the contact position as an initial position;

controlling the bearing platform to move in a plane, moving one liquid storage cabin to a position below the projection of the liquid transfer assembly, determining a first height according to a preset height and a preset liquid transfer amount, and descending, wherein the liquid transfer assembly absorbs liquid in the liquid storage cabin;

controlling the pipetting assembly to ascend, controlling the bearing platform to move in a plane, moving the other liquid storage cabin to a position below the projection of the pipetting assembly, and releasing the liquid sucked in the pipetting assembly into the liquid storage cabin;

and controlling the bearing platform to move in a plane, moving the induction assembly to the position below the projection of the liquid transfer assembly, controlling the liquid transfer assembly to descend, enabling the contact end of the liquid transfer assembly to be in induction contact with the induction assembly, and recording the initial position.

2. A pipetting method according to claim 1, wherein the bottom of the liquid storage cabin is provided with a positioning column, the end part of the positioning column extends out of the hatch of the liquid storage cabin, a base is provided with a calibration piece, and the calibration piece corresponds to the pipetting assembly arranged on the base;

the method comprises the following steps of controlling the bearing platform to move in a plane, moving the induction assembly to the position below the projection of the liquid-transferring assembly, descending the liquid-transferring assembly, enabling the contact end of the liquid-transferring assembly to be in induction contact with the induction assembly, and recording the contact position as an initial position, wherein the method further comprises the following steps:

acquiring the height of the positioning column extending out of the hatch of the liquid storage tank as a positioning height;

controlling the calibrating piece to descend until the contact end of the calibrating piece is in inductive contact with the induction assembly, and acquiring the initial height of the calibrating piece;

calculating the difference between the initial height and the positioning height as a fixed value;

and acquiring the height of the positioning column, and calculating the sum of the height of the positioning column and the fixed value as the preset height.

3. A pipetting method as recited in claim 2 wherein after the acquiring the height of the positioning column and calculating the sum of the height of the positioning column and the fixed value as the preset height, the method further comprises:

removing the positioning column;

removing the calibration piece and setting the pipetting assembly.

4. A pipetting method according to claim 2, wherein the controlling of the planar movement of the carrier stage moves one of the stock tanks below the projection of the pipetting module, determines a first height based on a preset height and a preset pipetting amount, and descends the pipetting module pipetting the liquid in the stock tank comprises:

acquiring the initial height of the liquid level of the liquid in the liquid storage tank;

acquiring the liquid level height difference of the liquid corresponding to the preset liquid transfer amount;

calculating the first height; wherein the first height is the preset height-the initial height of the liquid level + the difference in height of the liquid level.

5. A liquid transfer device is characterized by comprising a base, wherein a bearing platform and a liquid transfer assembly are respectively arranged on the base, the bearing platform can move on the upper plane of the base, the liquid transfer assembly can move up and down on the base, a plurality of liquid storage cabins for bearing liquid are arranged on the bearing platform, and the liquid transfer assembly is used for quantitative transfer of the liquid among the liquid storage cabins;

the device comprises a bearing table, a liquid transfer assembly and a controller, wherein the bearing table is provided with a sensing assembly, the controller is respectively electrically connected with the liquid transfer assembly and the sensing assembly, the sensing assembly is used for transmitting a trigger signal in sensing contact with the liquid transfer assembly to the controller, and the controller drives the liquid transfer assembly to move up and down and absorb and release liquid through the preset height and the preset liquid transfer amount of the liquid transfer device; wherein the pipetting assembly is lowered a first height to aspirate the liquid.

6. The pipetting device of claim 5, wherein the pipetting assembly comprises a lifting slide rail arranged on the base and a first slide connected with the lifting slide rail in a sliding manner, a mechanical arm is arranged on the first slide, the mechanical arm is connected with a first power assembly, the mechanical arm also holds a pipetting gun, and the first power assembly and the pipetting gun are both electrically connected with the controller.

7. The pipetting device of claim 6, wherein the sensing assembly comprises a sensing rod disposed on the carrier, the sensing rod protrudes from the carrier, the sensing rod is electrically connected with the controller, and the sensing rod is used for triggering the pipetting gun to feed back a contact position signal of the pipetting gun to the controller.

8. The pipetting device of claim 7, wherein the base is provided with a Y-axis slide rail, the Y-axis slide rail is provided with a second slide connected with the Y-axis slide rail in a sliding manner, the second slide is provided with an X-axis slide rail, and the bearing platform is connected with the X-axis slide rail in a sliding manner;

the second power assembly is connected with the second sliding seat, the third power assembly is connected with the bearing table, and the second power assembly and the third power assembly are respectively electrically connected with the controller.

9. The pipette device according to claim 5, wherein the carrier is provided with a plurality of limiting holes, and the liquid storage compartments are provided in the corresponding limiting holes.

10. The pipetting device of claim 8, wherein the first power assembly, the second power assembly, and the third power assembly are all linear motors.

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