A compatible pipetting module and liquid handling station

Abstract

The application discloses a compatible pipetting module and a liquid workstation, and the compatible pipetting module comprises a liquid suction cavity and an adapter, a plurality of groups of air chambers with different inner diameters are arranged on the liquid suction cavity, one group of the air chambers penetrates the liquid suction cavity, the air chambers of the remaining groups are communicated one by one with the air chambers penetrating the liquid suction cavity, a piston which can move along the axial direction is arranged in the air chamber, the pistons in the same group of air chambers can move synchronously, the pistons in different groups of air chambers can move independently, the adapter is fixedly connected to the bottom end of the liquid suction cavity, the adapter is provided with a plurality of through holes corresponding to the air chambers penetrating the liquid suction cavity, and the connection part of each through hole and the corresponding air chamber is kept in a sealed state in the circumferential direction with the outside. Compared with the prior art, the application can meet the pipetting volume and pipetting precision requirements of different types of experiments, the structure of the liquid workstation becomes more compact, and the overall manufacturing cost of the liquid workstation and the difficulty and cost of later maintenance and repair are reduced.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of pipetting equipment, in particular to a compatible pipetting module and a liquid workstation. BACKGROUND

[0002] As one of the most advanced experimental methods in modern biotechnology, molecular biotechnology has been widely used in clinical detection, basic medical research, drug development, epidemic prevention and control, and food safety and health fields. The liquid workstation is a commonly used instrument for molecular biotechnology experiments. Among them, the pipetting module is one of the necessary modules of the liquid workstation.

[0003] The pipetting volume and pipetting precision of most existing pipetting modules are generally fixed. However, for different experiments, the pipetting volume and pipetting precision of reagents in the experiment will have different requirements. Therefore, in order to meet the pipetting volume and pipetting precision requirements of different types of experiments, the liquid workstation needs to be equipped with several pipetting modules with different pipetting volumes and pipetting precisions. This will not only increase the overall manufacturing cost of the liquid workstation, but also increase the overall volume of the liquid workstation, making the overall structure of the liquid workstation more complex, increasing the difficulty and cost of maintenance of the liquid workstation in the later period. SUMMARY

[0004] The purpose of the present application is to provide a compatible pipetting module and a liquid workstation that can meet the pipetting volume and pipetting precision requirements of different types of experiments, making the structure of the liquid workstation more compact, thereby reducing the overall manufacturing cost of the liquid workstation and the difficulty and cost of maintenance in the later period.

[0005] To achieve the above purpose, the present application adopts the following technical solutions:

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides a compatible pipetting module, comprising:

[0007] A liquid suction cavity is provided with a plurality of groups of air chambers with different inner diameters, the number of air chambers in different groups is the same and one-to-one corresponding, one group of air chambers penetrates the liquid suction cavity, the air chambers in the remaining groups are in one-to-one communication with the air chambers penetrating the liquid suction cavity, a piston is arranged in the air chamber, a sealing element is arranged between the inner wall of the air chamber and the outer side wall of the piston, the pistons in the same group of air chambers can move synchronously along the air chamber axis, and the pistons in different groups of air chambers can move independently along the air chamber axis.

[0008] An adapter is fixedly connected to the bottom end of the liquid suction cavity, and the adapter has a plurality of through holes corresponding to the air chambers penetrating the liquid suction cavity, and the connection between each through hole and the corresponding air chamber is kept in a sealed state with the outside world.

[0009] Preferably, the liquid absorption cavity comprises two cavities connected with each other, a group of the air chambers are arranged on each of the two cavities, the air chambers on one of the two cavities are arranged through, the two cavities are provided with a plurality of radial channels respectively corresponding to the air chambers on the two cavities, the radial channels on the two cavities are communicated one by one, and the connection part of the two corresponding radial channels is in a sealed state with the outside in a circumferential direction.

[0010] Preferably, the pistons in the same group of the air chambers are driven to move synchronously along the air chambers by a driving mechanism.

[0011] Preferably, the driving mechanism comprises a through-type stepping motor and a driving block, the rotating shaft of the through-type stepping motor is fixedly connected with the driving block, and the top end of the piston in the same group of the air chambers is fixedly connected with the driving block.

[0012] Preferably, the bottom surface of the adaptor is a plane, and the size of the through hole is greater than the size of the liquid storage cavity of the liquid storage container.

[0013] Preferably, a round corner is further processed at the edge of the through hole of the bottom surface of the adaptor.

[0014] Preferably, each group of the air chambers is provided with one or more air chambers.

[0015] Preferably, the spacing of each group of the air chambers is 0.1mm-100mm.

[0016] Preferably, the spacing of each group of the air chambers is one of 2.25mm, 4.5mm, 9mm and 18mm.

[0017] In the second aspect, the application further provides a liquid workstation comprising the compatible pipetting module as described in the first aspect.

[0018] Compared with the prior art, the application has the following beneficial effects:

[0019] The liquid suction cavity of the present application is provided with several groups of air chambers with different inner diameters, and different groups of air chambers cooperate to form a pipetting channel. The pipetting volume of the pipetting channel can be adjusted by controlling the stroke of the piston in different air chambers. This allows the present application to control the stroke of the piston in different air chambers of the pipetting channel according to the required pipetting volume and pipetting accuracy of different types of experiments, so that different air chamber groups of the pipetting channel form the required pipetting volume and pipetting accuracy. Therefore, the present application can be compatible with the pipetting volume and pipetting accuracy required by different types of experiments, which makes the liquid workstation not need to be equipped with multiple pipetting modules with different pipetting volumes and pipetting accuracies to meet the requirements of different types of experiments, thereby reducing the overall volume of the liquid workstation and simplifying the structure of the liquid workstation, and further reducing the overall manufacturing cost of the liquid workstation and the difficulty and cost of later maintenance and repair. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0020] In order to more clearly illustrate the specific embodiments of the present application, the drawings required in the specific embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It should be noted that in all the drawings, the elements or parts are not necessarily drawn according to the actual scale.

[0021] Figure 1 The overall structure of the compatible pipetting module described in the embodiments of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0022] Figure 2 The front view of the overall structure of the compatible pipetting module described in the embodiments of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0023] Figure 3 The A-A sectional view in the figure is shown in the figure. Figure 2

[0024] The B-B sectional view in the figure is shown in the figure. Figure 4 The side view of the overall structure of the compatible pipetting module described in the embodiments of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0025] Figure 5 The B-B sectional view in the figure is shown in the figure. Figure 4

[0026] In the figure:

[0027] 1, liquid suction cavity; 11, air chamber; 12, piston; 13, cavity; 14, radial channel; 2, adapter; 21, through hole; 22, round corner; 3, driving mechanism; 31, through-type stepping motor; 311, shaft; 32, driving block. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] ​In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the technical solutions of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, but not all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort should fall within the scope of the present application.

[0029] In the description of the present application, it should be noted that the terms "upper", "lower", "inner", "outer" and the like indicate the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the systems or elements referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the present application. In addition, the terms "first", "second" and the like are used to distinguish parts, and have no special meaning unless otherwise stated. They cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0030] In the description of the present application, it should be noted that unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "mounting", "connecting", "connecting" should be understood broadly, for example, it can be fixedly connected, or it can be detachably connected, or integrally connected; it can be mechanically connected, or it can be electrically connected; it can be directly connected, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium; it can be the communication inside two elements. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0031] In order to meet the pipetting volume and pipetting accuracy of different types of experiments, most of the existing liquid workstations generally need to be equipped with several different pipetting modules. On the one hand, this will increase the overall manufacturing cost of the liquid workstation, and on the other hand, it will increase the overall volume of the liquid workstation, making the overall structure of the liquid workstation more complex, increasing the difficulty and cost of maintenance of the liquid workstation in the later period. Therefore, the present application provides a compatible pipetting module and liquid workstation, which can meet the pipetting volume and pipetting accuracy requirements of different types of experiments, so that the structure of the liquid workstation becomes more compact, thereby reducing the overall manufacturing cost of the liquid workstation and the difficulty and cost of maintenance in the later period.

[0032] Exemplary embodiments of the present application will be described in greater detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although exemplary embodiments of the present application are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present application can be implemented in various forms and should not be limited by the embodiments described herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided so that the present application can be more thoroughly understood and the scope of the present application can be fully conveyed to those skilled in the art.

[0033] Embodiment one

[0034] As Figures 1-5 shown, the embodiment of the present application provides a compatible pipetting module, comprising:

[0035] The liquid suction cavity 1 is provided with a plurality of groups of air chambers 11 with different inner diameters. The number of air chambers 11 in different groups is the same and one-to-one corresponding. One group of air chambers 11 penetrates the liquid suction cavity 1, and the air chambers 11 in the remaining groups are in one-to-one corresponding communication with the air chambers 11 penetrating the liquid suction cavity 1. A piston 12 is arranged in the air chamber 11. A sealing element such as a sealing ring is arranged between the inner wall of the air chamber 11 and the outer side wall of the piston 12. The pistons 12 in the same group of air chambers 11 can move synchronously in the axial direction of the air chamber 11. The pistons 12 in different groups of air chambers 11 can independently move in the axial direction of the air chamber 11.

[0036] The adaptor 2 is fixedly connected to the bottom end of the liquid suction cavity 1. The adaptor 2 has a plurality of through holes 21 corresponding to the air chambers 11 penetrating the liquid suction cavity 1. The connection between each through hole 21 and its corresponding air chamber 11 is kept in a sealed state with the outside world in the circumferential direction. The through hole 21 at the bottom surface of the adaptor 2 can be used to load a pipette tip or other workpieces.

[0037] Optionally, a sealing element such as a sealing gasket is arranged between the bottom surface of the liquid suction cavity 1 and the top surface of the adaptor 2 to ensure that the connection between each through hole 21 and its corresponding air chamber 11 is kept in a sealed state with the outside world in the circumferential direction.

[0038] As Figure 5 shown, the air chambers 11 corresponding between different groups in the embodiment form a pipetting channel. During pipetting, a pipette tip is first loaded at the through hole 21 at the bottom surface of the adaptor 2, and then the piston 12 is moved upward in the axial direction of the air chamber 11. The upward movement of the piston 12 generates negative pressure inside the air chamber 11 and the through hole 21. The pipette tip sucks in liquid under the action of atmospheric pressure. After the liquid suction is completed, the piston 12 is moved downward to generate positive pressure in the air chamber 11. The liquid sucked by the pipette tip flows out of the pipette tip into a reagent box or a reagent tube under the action of the positive pressure in the air chamber 11.

[0039] Since the pipetting channel of the embodiment is formed by different air chambers 11 with different inner diameters, the pipetting volume of the pipetting channel can be adjusted by controlling the stroke of the piston 12 in the different air chambers 11. This enables the embodiment to control the stroke of the piston 12 in the different air chambers 11 of the pipetting channel according to the required pipetting volume and pipetting accuracy of different types of experiments when in use, so that the different air chambers 11 of the pipetting channel are combined to form the required pipetting volume and pipetting accuracy. Therefore, the embodiment can be compatible with the pipetting volume and pipetting accuracy required by different types of experiments, which enables the liquid workstation to not need to be equipped with multiple pipetting modules with different pipetting volumes and pipetting accuracies to meet the requirements of different types of experiments, thereby reducing the overall manufacturing cost of the liquid workstation and the difficulty and cost of later maintenance and repair.

[0040] Meanwhile, the embodiment can also be used for liquid outlet of a multi-well plate or a reagent tube provided with a diaphragm that can be vented or liquid-passed under pressure when in actual application. Specifically, in application, the adapter 2 is first pressed to the top end of a multi-well plate or a reagent tube provided with a diaphragm that can be vented or liquid-passed under pressure, and then the piston 12 is moved downward, a positive pressure is generated in the air chamber 11 during the downward movement of the piston 12, and the reagent in the multi-well plate or the reagent tube flows out from the bottom thereof under the action of the positive pressure in the air chamber 11.

[0041] Further, as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 5 , the liquid suction cavity 1 includes two cavities 13 connected to each other, and a set of air chambers 11 is arranged on each of the two cavities 13. The air chambers 11 on one of the two cavities 13 are throughly arranged, and the two cavities 13 have a plurality of radial passages 14 corresponding to the air chambers 11 thereon and in communication therewith. The radial passages 14 on the two cavities 13 are in one-to-one correspondence and communication, and the connection between the two corresponding radial passages 14 is circumferentially sealed from the outside.

[0042] Optionally, a sealing member such as a gasket is arranged between the two cavities 13 to ensure that the connection between the two corresponding radial passages 14 is circumferentially sealed from the outside.

[0043] It should be noted that in some other embodiments of the present application, when two or more sets of air chambers 11 are arranged on the liquid suction cavity 1, the number of cavities 13 can be correspondingly arranged according to the specific number of air chambers 11. For example, when three sets of air chambers 11 are arranged on the liquid suction cavity 1, the liquid suction cavity 1 can be arranged by connecting three cavities 13, and then one set of air chambers 11 is arranged on each cavity 13. The communication structure between the air chambers 11 on different cavities 13 is the same as that when the liquid suction cavity 1 includes two cavities 13 connected to each other.

[0044] In addition, in some embodiments of the present application, all air chambers 11 can be arranged on a cavity 13, and then the cavity 13 is processed to form a communication channel for communicating between corresponding air chambers 11 of different groups of air chambers 11.

[0045] Further, the pistons 12 in the same group of air chambers 11 are driven to move synchronously along the air chambers 11 by the driving mechanism 3. In this embodiment, the driving mechanism 3 is arranged to drive the pistons 12 in the same group of air chambers 11, so that the stroke of the pistons 12 can be accurately controlled during pipetting, thereby ensuring that the pipetting volume of each pipetting operation can be accurately controlled, and the pipetting accuracy of this embodiment is improved.

[0046] Specifically, as shown in Figure 1 The driving mechanism 3 includes a through-type stepping motor 31 and a driving block 32, the rotating shaft 311 of the through-type stepping motor 31 is fixedly connected with the driving block 32, and the top end of the piston 12 in the same group of air chambers 11 is fixedly connected with the driving block 32. When the driving mechanism 3 of this embodiment works, since the rotating shaft 311 of the through-type stepping motor 31 is fixedly connected with the driving block 32, when the through-type stepping motor 31 works, the rotating shaft 311 generates a linear motion to drive the driving block 32 to rise or fall, and the driving block 32 rising or falling drives the piston 12 in the corresponding group of air chambers 11 to rise or fall.

[0047] It should be noted that the driving mechanism 3 of the present application is not limited to the above-mentioned form of driving mechanism 3, and in some other embodiments, other forms of driving mechanism 3 can also be arranged. For example, in some specific embodiments, a general motor can be used in combination with a screw nut transmission structure to realize the axial movement of the piston 12.

[0048] Further, the bottom surface of the adapter 2 is a plane, and the size of the through hole 21 is greater than the size of the liquid storage cavity of the liquid storage container.

[0049] Through the above configuration, when the liquid storage container needs to be sealed after pipetting is completed, the pipetting module can be arranged on the liquid workstation in a lifting manner, the pipetting module is moved upward after pipetting is completed, the pipetting gun head is removed, then the adhesive sealing film is placed on the liquid storage container, and then the pipetting module is moved downward, so that the adhesive sealing film is tightly fixed on the liquid storage container by the adapter 2. The size of the through hole 21 is greater than the size of the liquid storage cavity of the liquid storage container, which can ensure that the adapter 2 tightly fixes the adhesive sealing film along the top edge of the liquid storage cavity of the liquid storage container.

[0050] Further, in the process of sealing the film by the adapter 2, the piston 12 can also be moved downward to generate a positive pressure in the air chamber 11, thereby enhancing the sealing effect.

[0051] Further, the edge of the through hole 21 of the bottom surface of the adapter 2 is also processed with a round corner 22.

[0052] For the multi-well plate or reagent tube with the orifice flange, the embodiment processes a fillet 22 at the edge of the through hole 21 on the bottom surface of the adaptor 2. When the adhesive sealing film is pressed, the fillet 22 can improve the pressing effect of the adaptor 2 on the adhesive sealing film, so that the adhesive sealing film can be reliably fixed on the orifice flange of the multi-well plate or the orifice of the reagent tube.

[0053] It can be understood that for some multi-well plates or reagent tubes that are sealed by heat sealing, the embodiment can also be provided with a corresponding heat sealing assembly on the bottom surface of the adaptor 2 to heat seal the multi-well plate or the reagent tube.

[0054] Further, each group of air chambers 11 is provided with one or more air chambers 11.

[0055] In actual application, the number of air chambers 11 in each group can be flexibly set according to actual application requirements. For example, when only single-channel pipetting is required, only one air chamber 11 can be provided in each group of air chambers 11, and when multi-channel pipetting is required, a plurality of air chambers 11 can be provided in each group of air chambers 11.

[0056] Preferably, each group of air chambers 11 is provided with 8 air chambers 11.

[0057] It should be noted that the spacing of each group of air chambers 11 can be set according to actual factors such as the spacing between the wells of the multi-well plate, and the present application does not make any limitation thereon.

[0058] Alternatively, the spacing of each group of air chambers 11 is 0.1mm-100mm.

[0059] Specifically, the spacing of each group of air chambers 11 is one of 2.25mm, 4.5mm, 9mm and 18mm.

[0060] Embodiment two

[0061] The liquid workstation provided by the embodiment of the present application comprises any one of the pipetting modules as described in embodiment one.

[0062] Since the liquid workstation provided by the embodiment is equipped with the pipetting module as described in embodiment one, the pipetting amount and pipetting precision required by different types of experiments can be met by only one pipetting module, and there is no need to configure multiple pipetting modules to meet the pipetting amount and pipetting precision required by different types of experiments. This can reduce the overall volume of the liquid workstation and simplify the structure of the liquid workstation, thereby reducing the overall manufacturing cost of the liquid workstation and the difficulty and cost of later maintenance and repair.

[0063] It should be pointed out finally that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, but not to limit the same; and although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the technical solutions recorded in the foregoing embodiments can be modified, or some technical features thereof can be replaced equivalently; and these modifications or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A compatible pipetting module, characterized in that, it comprises: a suction cavity (1) provided with a plurality of groups of air chambers (11) with different inner diameters, the number of air chambers (11) in different groups being the same and corresponding one by one, wherein one group of air chambers (11) penetrates through the suction cavity (1), and the air chambers (11) in the remaining groups are in communication with the air chambers (11) penetrating through the suction cavity (1) one by one, a piston (12) is arranged in each air chamber (11), a sealing element is arranged between the inner wall of the air chamber (11) and the outer side wall of the piston (12), the pistons (12) in the same group of air chambers (11) can move synchronously along the air chambers (11) in the axial direction, and the pistons (12) in different groups of air chambers (11) can move independently along the air chambers (11) in the axial direction; an adapter (2) fixedly connected to the bottom end of the suction cavity (1), the adapter (2) having a plurality of through holes (21) corresponding to the air chambers (11) penetrating through the suction cavity (1), and the connection between each through hole (21) and the corresponding air chamber (11) is kept in a sealed state with the outside world in the circumferential direction; the suction cavity (1) comprises two cavities (13) connected to each other, each of the two cavities (13) is provided with a group of air chambers (11), the air chambers (11) on one of the two cavities (13) are provided in a penetrating manner, and the two cavities (13) have a plurality of radial passages (14) corresponding to the air chambers (11) thereon in communication, respectively, the radial passages (14) on the two cavities (13) are in one-to-one correspondence and communication, and the connection between the two corresponding radial passages (14) is kept in a sealed state with the outside world in the circumferential direction; the bottom surface of the adapter (2) is a plane, the size of the through hole (21) is greater than the size of the liquid storage cavity of the liquid storage container, which can ensure that the adapter can press and fix the adhesive sealing film along the top edge of the liquid storage cavity of the liquid storage container; during the sealing process of the adapter (2), the piston (12) is also moved downward to generate a positive pressure in the air chamber (11), thereby enhancing the sealing effect. 2.The compatible pipetting module according to claim 1, characterized in that, the pistons (12) in the same group of air chambers (11) are driven to move synchronously along the air chambers (11) in the axial direction by a driving mechanism (3). 3.The compatible pipetting module according to claim 2, characterized in that, the driving mechanism (3) comprises a through-type stepping motor (31) and a driving block (32), the rotating shaft (311) of the through-type stepping motor (31) is fixedly connected with the driving block (32), and the top end of the piston (12) in the same group of air chambers (11) is fixedly connected with the driving block (32). 4.The compatible pipetting module according to claim 1, characterized in that, a round corner (22) is further processed at the edge of the through hole (21) on the bottom surface of the adapter (2). 5.The compatible pipetting module according to claim 1, characterized in that, each group of air chambers (11) is provided with one or more air chambers (11).

6. The compatible pipetting module of claim 1, wherein, The distance between each group of said air chambers (11) is 0.1mm-100mm.

7. The compatible pipetting module of claim 5, wherein, The distance between each group of said air chambers (11) is one of 2.25mm, 4.5mm, 9mm and 18mm.

8. A liquid handling station, comprising, The compatible pipetting module of any one of claims 1-7.

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