Instruments for processing cells

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11512277-B2
Application number	US-201616065642-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2016
Priority date	Dec 22, 2015
Publication date	Nov 29, 2022
Grant date	Nov 29, 2022

Abstract

Disclosed herein is an instrument suitable for processing cells for example culturing, concentrating or washing said cells, the instrument comprising: a housing for accommodating mechanical elements including at least one fluid pump; and a disposable processing kit complementary to the mechanical elements within the housing and comprising a fluid circuit including a fluid reservoir and plural fluid paths capable of carrying fluid flow caused by said pump(s), the instrument further including a mechanism for determining the quantity, or change in quantity of the fluid in the reservoir resulting from said fluid flow, the instrument yet further comprising a controller operable to control at least the pump and operable to perform a fault determination process, which includes the steps of determining the expected flow rate of said pump(s) calculated from the speed of the pump(s) and comparing that expected flow with the change in quantity of the fluid in the reservoir as determined by said mechanism.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An instrument for processing cells including culturing, concentrating or washing said cells that is adaptable to receive a disposable processing kit comprising a fluid circuit including a fluid reservoir and plural fluid paths capable of carrying fluid flow, the instrument comprising:
a housing accommodating mechanical elements including at least one fluid pump that is adaptable to receive the disposable processing kit and provide fluid flow, by the at least one fluid pump, to the plural fluid paths;
a mechanism configured for determining a quantity or a change in quantity of the fluid in the reservoir resulting from said fluid flow, and
a controller programmed to control said at least one fluid pump and operable to perform a fault determination process, which includes steps of:
determining an expected flow rate of said at least one fluid pump calculated from the speed of said at least one fluid pump;
comparing the expected flow rate with the change in quantity of the fluid in the reservoir as determined by said mechanism; and
producing an error or fault condition based at least in part on a determination that said comparison produces a difference between the expected flow rate of said at least one fluid pump over a predetermined time period, and the change in quantity of the fluid in the reservoir over the predetermined time period, wherein the difference is above a predetermined value.

2. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined value is dependent on an average pump speed over the time period.

3. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined value increases with pump speed.

4. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein said quantity is fluid mass and said mechanism is a weighing mechanism.

5. The instrument of claim 4 , wherein said weighing mechanism includes a load cell and a support mechanically connected to the load cell for supporting the fluid reservoir and for transferring the weight of the fluid reservoir to the load cell.

6. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein said quantity is fluid volume and said mechanism determines fluid volume.

7. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein said at least one fluid pump includes a peristaltic mechanism acting on a sealed fluid tube of the processing kit circuit, and the expected mass flow from said at least one fluid pump is calculated from the speed of the peristaltic mechanism.

8. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein said disposable processing kit is insertable into and removable from the housing as an assembly, and the fluid circuit is separate from the mechanical elements of the remaining instrument.

9. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein the instrument is operable to derived the error or fault condition from equations 1 and 2, where appropriate substituting volume for mass in said equations
Absolute Value (Expected Flow Rate−Actual Flow Rate)>Error Criterion, wherein the Actual Mass Flow Rate is determined by the change in the signal from the load cell over the fixed measurement period, N seconds and  Equation 1

used to compute the flow rate error check:  Equation 2

Abs
[

∑
0

N

1
/
fs

⁢

(

Actual
⁢

⁢
Pump
⁢

⁢

Speed
DependentPump

)

N

1
/
fs

×

γ

Dependent
⁢

⁢
Pump

+

∑
0

N

1
/
fs

⁢

(

Actual
⁢

⁢

PumpSpeed

PrimaryIndependent
⁢

⁢
Pump

)

N

1
/
fs

×

γ

PrimaryIndependent
⁢

⁢
Pump

-

(

Mass
N

-

Mass
0

)

N
*

min
/
6

⁢

⁢
sec

Assignees

• Global Life Sciences Solutions Usa Llc

Inventors

• Griffin Weston Blaine
• Timmins Mark Robert
• Harris Dan
• Lovette Spencer
• Dowling Jim
• O'Sullivan Dan
• Robinson David

Classifications

• C12M47/12

  Purification (C12M47/04 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C12M41/44

  of volume or liquid level · CPC title

• C12M29/00

  Means for introduction, extraction or recirculation of materials, e.g. pumps (pumps per se F04B) · CPC title

• C12M47/02

  Separating microorganisms from the culture medium; Concentration of biomass (separating microorganisms from their culture media C12N1/02) · CPC title

• C12M41/00

  Means for regulation, monitoring, measurement or control, e.g. flow regulation (controlling or regulating chemical, physical or physicochemical processes B01J19/0006; heating or cooling apparatus for laboratory use B01L7/00; electro optical investigation of individual particles, flow cytometers G01N15/14; automatic analysis G01N35/00; controlling or regulating in general G06N) · CPC title