Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01L—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE
  • B01L9/00—Supporting devices; Holding devices
  • B01L9/54—Supports specially adapted for pipettes and burettes
  • B01L9/543—Supports specially adapted for pipettes and burettes for disposable pipette tips, e.g. racks or cassettes
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01L—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE
  • B01L2200/00—Solutions for specific problems relating to chemical or physical laboratory apparatus
  • B01L2200/02—Adapting objects or devices to another
  • B01L2200/025—Align devices or objects to ensure defined positions relative to each other
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01L—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE
  • B01L2300/00—Additional constructional details
  • B01L2300/08—Geometry, shape and general structure
  • B01L2300/0848—Specific forms of parts of containers
  • B01L2300/0858—Side walls
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01L—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE
  • B01L2300/00—Additional constructional details
  • B01L2300/08—Geometry, shape and general structure
  • B01L2300/0893—Geometry, shape and general structure having a very large number of wells, microfabricated wells

Definitions

• the invention relates to the field of sampling cone support housings for pipetting systems such as robots, automata, or sampling pipettes. These boxes are conventionally called "racks”.
• Such boxes are intended to carry sampling cones before they are fitted on the pipetting system, for example on the tips of a pipetting robot or on the tips of a multichannel sampling pipette, manual or motorized.
• the pitch between the housing of the sampling cones is such that it coincides with the pitch of the tips of the pipetting system, to allow easy insertion of these tips into the cones.
• cases with cones are stacked on top of each other.
• the hollow housing is removed from the stack and gives way to a lower housing filled by other cones.
• the stack of boxes is brought to be handled by the operator, so that it is usually preferable to provide means for coupling between the boxes. bunk.
• the passage of a housing to another by the operator is effected by actuating the coupling means to unlock them, and thus allow the extraction of one of the two housings.
• the invention therefore aims to at least partially address the problem identified above, relating to the achievements of the prior art.
• the subject of the invention is a sampling cone holder housing for a pipetting system, the casing being intended to be stacked with other identical casings in a stacking direction, and comprising:
• each of the first and second opposite flanks is equipped with a female coupling member as well as a male coupling member arranged substantially symmetrically on either side of said median fictitious plane, the two female members coupling the first and second opposing flanks being arranged on the same side of the median fictitious plane and the two male coupling members of the first and second opposite flanks being arranged on the other side of the median fictitious plane, and said male members and coupling females are designed so that when two identical support housings are stacked in the direction of emulsion with an upper housing and a lower housing both having their male members on the same side of the median fictitious plane, the upper case adopts a positioned position in which it is not retained by the lower housing in the stacking direction, and also designed such that when the upper housing and the lower housing have their mating male members respectively on either side of the imaginary plane median, the upper housing adopts a retained position in which its two male coupling members cooperate respectively with the two female coupling members of the lower housing.
• the invention proposes an original solution to maintain a single and unique design of housings, while being able to arrange them in the seated position or in the selected position, depending on the intended use.
• This feature makes it easier to manufacture the boxes and simplifies the management of the latter by the users.
• it is no longer necessary to identify the type of housing manufactured, nor to choose from two distinct ways of stacking. This results in a great simplification of the production operations, and this generates substantial gains in terms of production time and development of programming, etc.
• the invention furthermore exhibits at least any of the following optional technical characteristics, taken alone or in combination.
• Each male coupling member comprises a tab pivotally mounted on its associated side via a pivot link axis substantially orthogonal to the stacking direction, the tab having on both sides of the pivot link a gripping portion, and a snap portion ending in a notch.
• Said pivot connection is made by two elastically torsionally deformable material cords, the two strings of material being aligned with each other along the axis of the pivot connection.
• the gripping portion protrudes upwardly beyond its associated flank, and said notch is arranged substantially at a lower end of this flank.
• the female member has in the upper part a ramp allowing, during a relative movement of the upper housing towards the lower housing in the direction stacking, rotate its associated male member around said pivot connection by moving the notch along the ramp, before automatic insertion of the notch in the female member after this notch has left said ramp.
• said automatic insertion of the notch in the female coupling member is effected by pivoting the male coupling member caused by a release of energy previously stored by the pivot connection, while moving. guts along the ramp.
• this insertion can be done not automatically, but manually by pressing on the gripping portions of the legs, then releasing them.
• Each female coupling member is arranged substantially at an upper end of its associated side, near a junction with the support of sampling cones.
• the support has 96 holes for housing the sampling cones.
• the support may be provided a different number of orifices, without departing from the scope of the invention.
• the invention also relates to an assembly comprising a plurality of identical housings such as that described above, said housings being stacked in the stacking direction, in the seated position or in the selected position.
• the assembly preferably comprises a hollow bottom arranged at the base of the stack of housings, said hollow bottom comprising female coupling members with the lowest housing in the stack.
• FIG. 1 represents a front view, partially in section, of a stacked set of sampling cone support boxes, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention
• FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of one of the housings of the stack shown in the previous figure
• FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the housing shown in the previous figure, passing through one of its male coupling members;
• FIG. 4 is a top view of the housing shown in FIGS.
• FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a stack of two housings in the seated position
• FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a stack of two housings in the retained position
• FIG. 5a is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the stack shown in Figure 5, passing through the male coupling members;
• FIG. 6a is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the stack shown in Figure 6, passing through the male and female coupling members;
• FIGS. 7a to 7c illustrate various assembly steps of the housings of the stack shown in FIGS. 6 and 6a;
• FIG. 8 illustrates a way of disconnecting the two housings shown in FIGS. 6, 6a and 7a to 7c;
• FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a hollow bottom cooperating with the lowest housing in the stack.
• FIG. 10 is a view similar to that of Figure 9, without the housing.
• FIG. 11 is a cross sectional view taken in Figure 9, and passing through the male coupling member of the housing.
• FIG. 1 there is shown a set 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, this set corresponding to a stack of support boxes for sampling cones for pipetting system.
• the housings 1 are superimposed in a stacking direction 2, here corresponding to the vertical direction. According to a specificity of the invention which will be detailed below, the casings 1 of the stack can be either simply placed on one another or held together in the stacking direction 2.
• the housings 1 are intended to contain sampling cones (not shown), also called consumables.
• sampling cones also called consumables.
• FIGS 2 to 4 illustrate one of the casings 1 of the stack, which all have an identical design.
• the housing 1, made in one piece, has a parallelepipedal overall shape, hollow and comprising an upper partition which serves a support function for consumables.
• This support 10 is arranged in a plane orthogonal to the stacking direction 1, and equipped with orifices 12 for housing the sampling cones.
• it is for example 96 orifices 12 distributed in rows and columns, in the manner of a matrix.
• the pitch between the orifices 12 is provided to coincide with the pitch of the tips of the pipetting system, to allow easy insertion of these tips into the cones.
• the housing 1 extends in length in a longitudinal direction 6 and in width in a transverse direction 8, the three directions 2, 6, 8 being orthogonal to each other.
• the casing 1 comprises four flanks, of which first and second opposite flanks 14a, 14b, integral with the support 10 and traversed by a median fictitious plane P integrating the stacking direction 2. Therefore, each of these two flanks 14a, 14b opposite in the direction 6 extends in a transverse plane, defined by the two directions 2 and 8. Two others flanks 16a, 16b opposite in the direction 8 complete the contour of the support 10, each extending in a longitudinal plane defined by the two directions 2 and 6.
• Each of the first and second opposite flanks 14a, 14b is equipped with a female coupling member 18, in the form of a simple slot opening outwards in the direction 6.
• the female member 18 is arranged substantially at the level of an upper end of the flank on which it is located, near a junction with the support 10.
• the slot is delimited in the upper part by a ramp 19 which extends outwards in the direction 6, going towards the bottom.
• Each of the first and second opposite flanks 14a, 14b is also equipped with a male coupling member 20, in the form of a tab pivotally mounted on its associated side, via a pivot link 22.
• the link pivot 22 has a pivot axis 23 substantially orthogonal to the stacking direction 2, and parallel to the transverse direction 8. It is formed by two beads of material 26 deformable elastically in torsion along the axis 23, and aligned one with the other. with the other along the same axis.
• the tab 20 has a height greater than that of the housing 1.
• the notch 34 projects towards the interior of the housing 1, in the direction 6 as opposed to the tab 20 which extends generally in the stacking direction 2.
• the female member 18 and the male member 20 are arranged substantially symmetrically on either side of the median fictitious plane P.
• the two members coupling females 18 of the first and second opposite flanks 14a, 14b are arranged on the same side of the median fictitious plane P, and the two male coupling members 20 of these same flanks are arranged on the other side of the fictitious plane median P.
• FIGS. 5 and 6 it is possible to stack two housings 1 in two different ways, shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.
• the upper casing 1 adopts a position placed on the lower casing, without being retained in the stacking direction 2.
• the male members 20 of the two housings are on the same side of the median fictitious plane P, and thus overlap in pairs in the direction 6, as is also visible in Figure 5a.
• This type of stack in which the housings 1 adopt the same angular position with respect to a central stacking axis, is preferably retained in the case of the use of the assembly 100 by robots / automata, allowing the realization Automated pipetting operations.
• the upper housing 1 adopts a position retained relative to the lower housing 1, the retention being effected by means of the aforementioned coupling means.
• the two housings 1 instead of adopting the same angular position, have an angular position offset by 180 ° relative to each other with respect to the central axis of stacking, which leads the organs males of the two housings to be located respectively on either side of the median fictitious plane P.
• This allows the upper housing 1 to have its two male members 20 cooperating respectively with the two female members 18 of the lower housing, as is also shown in Figure 6a at the flanks 14a.
• This type of stack is preferably retained in the case of manual pipetting operations with a sampling pipette. This allows the operator to move the stack of boxes 1 without the risk of accidentally detach them from each other.
• FIGS. 7a to 7c illustrate a way of automatically assembling two housings 1 one on the other, simply by moving them towards each other in the direction of stacking 2. They are first aligned according to the direction 2 as shown in Figure 7a, until the notch 34 abuts against the ramp 19 of the female member 18, as shown in Figure 7b. Continued relative movement, for example made by simply pressing the upper housing downwards, causes the notch 34 to move along the ramp 19 provided for this purpose. This ramp 19 is intended to move the attachment portion 32 outwardly in the direction 6, as shown in Figure 7c. This is possible thanks to the pivoting of the tab 20 around the link 22, along the axis of pivoting 23.
• the two strings of material forming the pivot connection 22 deform elastically in torsion along the axis 23.
• this notch 34 automatically engages in the female member 18 through the release of energy previously stored by the pivot connection.
• the selected position is then obtained, which is also called the clipped position.
• the coupling of the two housings 1 can be effected by exerting pressure on the gripping portions 30 so as to bring them back inwards, then releasing this pressure after bringing the notches facing the female members.
• the same pressure 40 shown schematically in Figure 8 can be exerted on the gripping portions 30, to remove the notches outside the female members. Once the clearance is achieved, the upper housing can be pulled up, or the lower housing can be pulled down, so as to unstack.
• Figures 9 to 11 illustrate that the upper edge of the hollow bottom 4 has female coupling members 18 'identical or similar to those housings 1, so as to cooperate with the male members 20 of the lower housing 1 in the stack.
• a ramp system 19 'allows the automatic insertion of the notches of the members 20 in the female members 18'.

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• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Clinical Laboratory Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• Stackable Containers (AREA)
• Sampling And Sample Adjustment (AREA)
• Devices For Use In Laboratory Experiments (AREA)

Priority Applications (8)

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Publications (1)

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Citations (5)

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• 2016
  • 2016-05-12 FR FR1654249A patent/FR3051125B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2017
  • 2017-05-10 WO PCT/EP2017/061121 patent/WO2017194575A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 2017-05-10 KR KR1020187032627A patent/KR20190008217A/ko not_active Abandoned
  • 2017-05-10 CN CN201780028265.4A patent/CN109070085B/zh active Active
  • 2017-05-10 US US16/099,092 patent/US10835902B2/en active Active
  • 2017-05-10 ES ES17721739T patent/ES2789677T3/es active Active
  • 2017-05-10 JP JP2018558763A patent/JP6929303B2/ja active Active
  • 2017-05-10 EP EP17721739.5A patent/EP3454989B1/fr active Active
  • 2017-05-10 CA CA3024403A patent/CA3024403A1/fr active Pending
  • 2017-05-10 PL PL17721739T patent/PL3454989T3/pl unknown

Patent Citations (5)

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