Pipette assembly

Abstract

The present invention relates to a pipette unit (2) comprising a pipette housing (3) having a cylinder chamber (4) and a pipette opening (5), and a piston (6) movably mounted within the cylinder chamber (4); a drive motor (8) that acts on the piston (6) to move the piston; an operating element (9) that defines the movement of the piston (6); and a sensor assembly (10) that detects the movement of the operating element (9) and provides a signal corresponding to the movement to the drive motor (8), thereby controlling the drive motor (8) based on the signal (S) and acting on the piston (6) accordingly; and a drive unit (7) comprising these components. The pipette assembly (1) comprises the drive unit (7) further comprising a mode switch (11), the mode switch (11) being shiftable from a manual mode position to a stepped mode position, the operating element (9) being operable in manual operation mode when the mode switch (11) is in the manual mode position so as to be able to dispense a pipetting amount proportional to the movement of the operating element (9), and the operating element (9) being operable in stepped operation mode when the mode switch (11) is in the stepped mode position so as to be able to dispense a predetermined pipetting amount each time the operating element (9) is operated.

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