Method and apparatus to automatically transfer and open a reagent container

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11366131-B2
Application number	US-201716308784-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2017
Priority date	Jul 1, 2016
Publication date	Jun 21, 2022
Grant date	Jun 21, 2022

Abstract

Embodiments are directed to transferring and opening reagent containers for use in a clinical analyzer in an in vitro diagnostics (IVD) environment. Contents of a reagent container may be automatically recorded, and the container is positioned and opened, making available its contents to a transfer probe. A set of mechanical fingers open and close relative to one another, to release and grip the reagent container on opposite sides thereof for transferring the container. Once the container is positioned, the mechanical fingers raise and are positioned above a seal concealing the contents of the reagent container. The fingers are configured to close together and travel in a downward trajectory to pierce the seal. The reagent container is originally presented as an un-opened package to prevent spillage and to control reagent life expectancy. According to an embodiment, a method of performing a cycle unload, transfer, and load, without operator intervention, is provided.

First claim

We claim:

1. A reagent transfer arm apparatus in a clinical analyzer in an in vitro diagnostics (IVD) environment having a container with an opening covered by a seal, the reagent transfer arm apparatus comprising:
a gripper assembly comprising:
a pair of gripper fingers oriented vertically compared to a horizontal plane and opposite one another, the pair of gripper fingers configured to move between a release position in which the pair of gripper fingers are spread apart with respect to one another and a grip position in which the pair of gripper fingers are pushed together with respect to one another, wherein each of the pair of gripper fingers comprises a distal end configured to be in a shape of a point and form a shape of a single point configured to puncture the seal covering the opening of the container when the pair of gripper fingers are in the grip position, wherein the pair of gripper fingers are configured to selectively:
grasp a portion of the container, or
in the grip position, travel through the opening of the container and partially release from the grip position to spread apart the seal of the container;
a gripper actuator comprising a gripper motor coupled to and configured to control horizontal, gripping movement of the pair of gripper fingers to move the pair of gripper fingers between the release position and the grip position;
a vertically-extending frame to which the pair of gripper fingers and the gripper actuator are moveably coupled and along which the pair of gripper fingers and the gripper actuator move in a vertical direction; and
a vertical drive motor configured to control vertical movement of the gripper assembly along the vertically-extending frame;
a horizontally-extending transfer arm to which the gripper assembly is moveably coupled and along which the gripper assembly moves in a horizontal direction; and
a transfer arm motor configured to control horizontal movement of the gripper assembly along the horizontally-extending transfer arm;
wherein one or more controllers are configured to control operation of the gripper actuator, the gripper motor, the vertical drive motor, and the transfer arm motor to transfer the container between a load station and a storage area for access to contents of the container.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein opposing surfaces of the pair of gripper fingers comprise a plurality of protrusions and a plurality of depressions, wherein the plurality of protrusions and the plurality of depressions on one of the pair of gripper fingers is configured to mate with a plurality of opposing protrusions and a plurality of opposing depressions on the other of the pair of gripper fingers.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the gripper assembly further comprises a bar code scanner configured to read a bar code label on the container, wherein the one or more controllers are further configured to identify the contents of the container based on the bar code label for transfer of the container to the storage area.

4. A reagent handling system in a clinical analyzer in an in vitro diagnostics (IVD) environment, the reagent handling system comprising:
a reagent load station comprising a tray comprising one or more tray spaces to hold one or more reagent containers, each of the one or more reagent containers configured to hold reagent and comprising a gripping portion;
a reagent transfer arm apparatus comprising:
a gripper assembly configured to grasp, one at a time, the gripping portion of each of the one or more reagent containers and move each of the one or more reagent containers to and from a respective one of the one or more tray spaces, wherein the gripper assembly comprises: (i) a pair of gripper fingers oriented vertically compared to a horizontal plane and opposite one another, the pair of gripper fingers configured to move between a release position in which the pair of gripper fingers are spread apart with respect to one another and a grip position in which the pair of gripper fingers are pushed together with respect to one another, wherein each of the pair of gripper fingers comprise a distal end configured to be in a shape of a point and form a shape of a single point configured to puncture a seal covering an opening of each of the one or more reagent containers when the pair of gripper fingers are in the grip position, wherein the pair of gripper fingers are configured to selectively (a) grasp a gripping portion of each of the one or more reagent containers or (b) in the grip position, travel through the opening of each of the one or more reagent containers and partially release from the grip position to spread apart the seal of each of the one or more reagent containers; and (ii) a gripper actuator comprising a gripper motor coupled to and configured to control horizontal, gripping movement of the pair of gripper fingers to move the pair of gripper fingers between the release position and the grip position;
a vertically-extending transfer arm to which the gripper assembly is moveably coupled and along which the gripper assembly moves in a vertical direction;
a vertical drive motor configured to control vertical movement of the gripper assembly along the vertically-extending transfer arm;
a horizontally-extending transfer arm to which the gripper assembly is moveably coupled and along which the gripper assembly moves in a horizontal direction; and
a transfer arm motor configured to control horizontal movement of the gripper assembly along the horizontally-extending transfer arm;
a reagent server module comprising a storage enclosure comprising one or more indexing rings comprising indexed spaces to hold the one or more reagent containers; and
one or more controllers configured to control operation of the reagent load station, the gripper assembly, the vertical drive motor, the transfer arm motor, and the one or more indexing rings to provide for transfer of the one or more reagent containers between the tray and the one or more indexing rings;
wherein the horizontally-extending transfer arm of the reagent transfer arm apparatus horizontally extends along a length of the storage enclosure;
wherein a length of the tray is oriented perpendicular to a length of the horizontally-extending transfer arm.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the vertical movement of the pair of gripper fingers provides for insertion and removal of the one or more reagent containers into and out of the tray and the one or more indexing rings.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the reagent load station further comprises:
a tray motor configured to move the tray in a horizontal direction between a load point and one or more transfer points, each of the one or more transfer points corresponding to a respective one of the one or more tray spaces; wherein the move by the gripper assembly of each of the one or more reagent containers is to and from a respective one of the one or more transfer points; and
a loader track comprising a surface on which the tray is held and moves.

7. The system of claim 4 , wherein each of the one or more reagent containers include a bar code label thereon;
wherein the gripper assembly comprises a bar code scanner configured to read the bar code label on each of the one or more reagent containers, wherein the one or more controllers are further configured to identify the contents of a particular reagent container based on a corresponding bar code label and transfer the particular reagent container to a particular indexed space on one of the one or more indexing rings.

8. The system of claim 4 , wherein the reagent server module further comprises a door on an upper portion of the storage enclosure configured to move to an open position in which an interior portion of the storage en

Assignees

• Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Inc

Inventors

• Gebrian Peter L
• Brennan Joseph E
• Barlow Ronald G
• Hudson William E
• Reigle Jr William H

Classifications

• G01N35/1079

  with means for piercing stoppers or septums · CPC title

• G01N2035/00673

  of reagents · CPC title

• G01N2035/00752

  bar codes · CPC title

• G01N35/1083

  with one horizontal degree of freedom · CPC title

• G01N35/0099

  comprising robots or similar manipulators (robots per se B25J) · CPC title