460 results about "Autosampler" patented technology

PCT No. PCT / EP95 / 02204 Sec. 371 Date Apr. 25, 1997 Sec. 102(e) Date Apr. 25, 1997 PCT Filed Jun. 7, 1995 PCT Pub. No. WO96 / 13721 PCT Pub. Date May 9, 1996Apparatus for carrying out patch clamp technique utilized in studying the effect of certain materials on ion transfer channels in biological tissue, and more particularly patch clamp apparatus utilizing an autosampler, such as those utilized with HPLC apparatus, to provide high throughput, is disclosed. The invention additionally includes novel microperfusion chamber assemblies capable of utilizing only small amounts of material to be tested and only small amounts of liquid carrier, thereby enabling many tests to be completed in a short period of time. The invention more broadly relates to a novel electrophysiology drug handling and application set up for screening of chemical substances while providing high throughput and requiring only low volume of solutions and samples to be tested. The invention also comprises several novel procedures for utilizing the apparatus of the invention.

An auto-injection system provides high throughput screening of fluidic samples. A sample injection valve has a first position which applies a reduced pressure to a sample sipper tube for aspirating a fluidic sample into the sample sipper tube, and a second position which delivers the fluidic sample to a sample supply loop. A column control valve has a first position which delivers the fluidic sample from the sample supply loop to a sample chromatography column, and a second position which reverses direction of fluid flow through the sample chromatography column to deliver the fluidic sample to a sample analyzer. A wash control valve has a first position which supplies a wash buffer solution to the sample chromatography column in a forward fluid flow direction, and a second position which supplies elution solvent to flush the sample supply loop.

A system for high throughput sample preparation and analysis. The system includes a chromatography column including an insoluble matrix. A fluidic circuit is capable of passing a fluid over the insoluble matrix in a first direction such that an analyte in the fluid binds to the insoluble matrix, and back-eluting an elution fluid over the insoluble matrix in a second direction opposite the first direction to output a sample that includes the analyte. A controller controls the fluidic circuit to periodically perform the steps of passing the fluid over the insoluble matrix and back-eluting the elution fluid over the insoluble matrix to output a plurality of samples at a periodic rate.

An automated system and process is provided for pooling samples from a multiplicity of blood or plasma donations for subsequent testing to uniquely identify any such blood or plasma donations which may be infected with a particular virus. The system includes an autosampler needle which is directly inserted into a blood or plasma sample aliquot container in order to withdraw an aliquot portion of the contents for forming a sample pool with aliquot portions of other blood or plasma samples. The autosampler comprises a tubular piercing member having a hollow interior bore and a tubular shroud surrounding the piercing member.

Apparatus and methods for high throughput mass spectrometry are provided. The methods involve sample preparation in an off-line parallel purification system. Such methods include but are not limited to the use of an appropriate buffer when generating samples or the use of a solid support for tagged components. The samples prepared in this way do not then need to be column separated. The apparatus provided includes a cell growth plate for growing cells and generating products and / or reactants, an off-line parallel purification system, a mass spectrometer, and an automatic sampler that transports samples and injects them into the mass spectrometer of the apparatus. The methods and apparatus described are used, for example, in screening enzyme reaction pathways.

Apparatus for carrying out patch clamp technique utilized in studying the effect of certain materials on ion transfer channels in biological tissue, and more particularly patch clamp apparatus utilizing an autosampler, such as those utilized with HPLC apparatus, to provide high throughput, is disclosed. The invention additionally includes novel microperfusion chamber assemblies capable of utilizing only small amounts of material to be tested and only small amounts of liquid carrier, thereby enabling many tests to be completed in a short period of time. The invention more broadly relates to a novel electrophysiology drug handling and application set up for screening of chemical substances while providing high throughput and requiring only low volume of solutions and samples to be tested. The invention also comprises several novel procedures for utilizing the apparatus of the invention.

The invention relates to an automatic injection device (1) including: a container (6) provided with a needle (8); a housing (3) receiving a container (6) movable relative to the housing (3) between an initial position to an insertion position; a needle shield (12) for receiving the needle (8) and in which the needle (8) is embedded prior to use of the device (1); and, a deshielder (33) coupled to the needle shield (12) by a first connecting arrangement (51) and removably assembled to the distal part of the housing (3) by a second connecting arrangement (44, 45a, 45b, 57). The first and second connecting arrangements are designed so that a rotational movement of the deshielder (33) about the device axis (2) of the device (1) with respect to the housing (3) causes an axial displacement of the needle shield (12) in the distal direction with substantially no rotational movement of the needle shield (12) with respect to the needle (8).

A system for automatically performing liquid chromatography analysis of low volume liquid chemical samples at nanosecond flow rates using an analysis column that integrates a pre-concentration trapping column and a chromatography separation column terminating at an electrospray nozzle of an online mass spectrometer. The analysis column consists of a capillary having an inside diameter of between 75 and 125 microns packed throughout with a porous bed of micron particles. A branch outlet positioned 10 to 16 centimeters upstream from the nozzle divides the analysis column into an upstream pre-concentration trap and a downstream separation column. An autosampler delivers low volume liquid samples to the upstream inlet via a two-position valve. Feed connections couple the autosampler to upstream inlet when the valve is open to inject a liquid sample into the pre-concentration trap at a maximum loading flow rate in the range from 0.5 to 50 microliters / minute. Thereafter, when the valve closes, it terminates the further injection the sample, and a concentrated portion of the sample then passes though the chromatography separation column at a much slower flow rate between 10 and 1,000 nanoliters per minute. Throughput can be doubled by coupling two such analysis columns to a single autosampler using a ten-port, two position valve. A single column can be supplied through a six port two-position valve.

The present invention facilitates improvements in laser ablation of solid samples to be analyzed by an external inductively coupled plasma (ICP) emission spectrometer, ICP / mass-spectrometer (ICP-MS), or flowing afterglow (FAG) mass spectrometer (FAG-MS) for elemental analysis (ICP and ICP-MS) or molecular analysis (FAG-MS). A novel invention mirror-with-hole beam combiner eliminates chromatic aberration in the invention sample view and allows rad-hardening the laser ablation invention for use in a radiation hot cell for analysis of high activity nuclear waste. Many other novel invention rad-hardening attributes facilitate a comprehensive rad-hardened laser ablation system (the world's first). In other embodiments, invention novelties include unusually large homogeneous focused laser spot diameters, unusually long laser objective lens focal length, wide range operationally variable laser path length with built-in re-alignment, operationally variable demagnification ratio and diameter of the focused laser spot, the use of significantly higher powered SMR lasers in a large spot diameter to facilitate high sensitivity bulk analysis of solid samples, a demountable and gravitationally self-sealing stack assembly laser ablation cell, and the world's first auto-samplers (mechanized sample changers) for analytical laser ablation.

The invention relates to an auto-injector (1) with a delay mechanism (36) for slowing down motion of a retraction sleeve (10) in axial direction of the auto-injector (1), the delay mechanism (36) comprising a circumferential outer wall (37) with a back collar (38) attached to a housing (2) of the auto-injector (1) and a circumferential inner wall (39) with a front collar (40) attached to the retraction sleeve (10) wherein a cavity is defined between the outer wall (37) and inner wall (39), the cavity sealed by the back collar (38) against the inner wall (39) and by the front collar (40) against the outer wall (37), the cavity filled with a viscous fluid, wherein at least one orifice is arranged in the delay mechanism (36) for allowing the viscous fluid to be pushed out as the volume of the cavity decreases due to axial motion of the component with respect to the housing. The retraction sleeve (10) is axially movably arranged in the housing (2) and serves for retracting the syringe (3) with the needle (4) into the covered position after delivering the medicament (M).

The invention provides an automatic sample injector, which comprises a base turntable device, a lifting device, a needle tube clamping device, a sample injection needle and a pump. The base turntable device comprises a base, a first motor and a support disk, wherein the first motor is arranged in the base and connected with the support disk. The lifting device comprises a mounting cover, a sleeve, a second motor, a lead screw and a nut. The needle tube clamping device comprises a holder and a fastener, the sample injection needle is inserted into a clamping open groove, positioned between twoarc grooves and connected with the pump through a guide tube, and the holder is fixedly arranged on a shaft of the nut. The base turntable device can be used for bearing a test tube, and the lifting device drives the needle tube clamping device to move up and down, so that the sample injection needle on the needle tube clamping device is inserted into the corresponding test tube, the pump sucks test fluid through the sample injection needle and can directly deliver the test fluid to a chromatographic analyzer for chromatographic analysis, samples are automatically injected to the chromatographic analyzer by the aid of the automatic sample injector, and chromatographic analysis efficiency is improved.

The present invention relates to an autosampler device useful in high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), and more particularly to a device useful for the automated introduction of small sample volumes into a HPLC system. Methods of analyzing low abundant protein samples using such a device are also included.

The invention discloses an on-line analysis system for automatic pretreatment by adopting an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography / mass spectrum. The on-line analysis system has an automatic pretreatment mode and a post-column compensation mode, and comprises four chromatography pumps, two high-pressure switch valves, an automatic sample injector, an on-line diluter, an extraction column, an on-line filter, two sample rings, a miniature mixer, a chromatographic column, a tee joint, a mass spectrometry detector and the like. On-line dilution, extraction, desorption, separation, detection and post-column compensation analysis can be carried out on a target analyte in a liquid sample by combination of an on-line dilution / extraction / desorption device, a stigma focusing device, a post-column compensation device and an ultra high performance liquid chromatography / mass spectrum device, the overall analysis process is automatically controlled, and is high in accuracy and precision, and the on-line analysis system can be effectively applied to the analysis detection on trace organic compounds in a complicated liquid sample or a liquid extracting solution.

In injecting a sample sucked into a sample loop in an autosampler from an injection needle into an analytical flow path via an injection port by a mobile phase, a sending flow rate of the mobile phase is reduced from a certain flow rate determined in an analysis condition to reduce pressure applied on a joint section between the needle and the injection port to thereby reduce the sample remaining in the injection port.

An automatic sampler for automatically sampling liquid samples to be introduced into apparatuses that analyze liquid samples, such as liquid chromatographs, includes a needle with a tapered tip end for suctioning and ejecting liquid, a mechanism for moving the needle in the horizontal and vertical directions, and an injection port having an insertion hole into which the tip end of the needle can be inserted. The outer diameter of the tip end of the needle is at least 0.1 mm and at most 0.6 mm. By reducing the needle-to-port contact area, the automatic sampler facilitates high-sensitivity and high-precision analyses by significantly reducing the amount of cross-contamination, regardless of the type of samples.

An internally cooled solid phase microextraction device that provides for quantitative sampling of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in complex samples. The device temperature is controlled the device design enables repeated use without failure. The device is miniaturized allowing it to be used with autosamplers known in the art.

An method for optimizing operation of an autosampler coupled to a liquid chromatography (LC) system comprises: reading, from electronic memory storage, a pre-injection time corresponding to the time required for the autosampler to perform operations preparatory to injecting a sample; calculating an autosampler delay time from the pre-injection time and from a sample analysis time; performing the autosampler operations preparatory to injecting the sample after delaying said autosampler operations for the autosampler delay time; measuring a time value for the preceding performing of autosampler operations; replacing the pre-injection time value stored on the electronic memory storage with the measured time value for the preceding performing of autosampler operations if the measured value is greater than the pre-injection time value stored on the electronic memory storage; and injecting the sample from the autosampler into the LC system after receipt of a signal from the LC system by the autosampler.

An auto-sampler cleaning mechanism is provided, which is capable of maintaining the supply of a liquid in a non-time-consuming manner when a cleaning solution is supplied. The auto-sampler cleaning mechanism of the present invention includes: a sample-metering sample loop 14 having a sample-injecting needle 15 at a front end thereof, a metering pump 24, a multi-ported valve 11a, a multi-position valve 11b, and a liquid-supply valve 11c. A diaphragm pump 25 is disposed between the port of the multi-position valve 11a and the port of the liquid-supply valve 11b, and used to supply a cleaning solution 26 or a mobile phase 20 to the sample loop 14.

There is provided a cassette unit suitable for use with an auto-injector. The cassette unit comprises a cassette unit housing and a removable cap that in a capping position fits over and thereby, acts to close off, a needle projection aperture of the housing. The cassette unit housing has one or more first engagement features arranged for reversibly engaging one or more second engagement features of the removable cap for reversible lock engagement of the removable cap to the housing; and a shuttle lock control defining one or more blocking elements for selectively blocking movement of said first engagement features relative to said second engagement features. The shuttle lock control is axially movable relative to the cassette unit housing between a first ‘cassette unused’ position; a second ‘cassette unlocked’ position; and after replacement of the removable cap, a third ‘cassette used’ position, locating intermediate the first and second positions.

The invention relates to a traditional Chinese medicine material odor distinguishing method based on a simulating olfaction and a device thereof. The distinguishing method of the invention includes the following steps: 1) an odor tested object of traditional Chinese medicine material samples is prepared; 2) the odor fingerprint of the simulating olfaction method is established; 3) the odor fingerprint is standardized; 4) the odor fingerprint of the traditional Chinese medicine materials to be tested and the standard odor fingerprint are compared and a distinguishing result is obtained. The distinguishing device of the invention comprises an automatic injector, a metal oxidizing gas sensor array, a weak signal conditioning circuit, an analog-to-digital conversion circuit, a computer for information process and a monitor, wherein, the output end of the automatic injector is connected with the input end of the metal oxidizing gas sensor array; the output end of the metal oxidizing gas sensor array is connected with the input end of the weak signal conditioning circuit, the output end of the weak signal conditioning circuit is connected with the input end of the analog-to-digital conversion circuit, the output end of the analog-to-digital conversion circuit is connected with the input end of the computer for information process, and the output end is connected with the monitor. The traditional Chinese medicine material odor distinguishing method and the device thereof conform to the traditional medicine theoretical practicable method, and are convenient and practical.

The present invention facilitates improvements in laser ablation of solid samples to be analyzed by an external inductively coupled plasma (ICP) emission spectrometer, ICP / mass-spectrometer (ICP-MS), or flowing afterglow (FAG) mass spectrometer (FAG-MS) for elemental analysis (ICP and ICP-MS) or molecular analysis (FAG-MS). A novel invention mirror-with-hole beam combiner eliminates chromatic aberration in the invention sample view and allows rad-hardening the laser ablation invention for use in a radiation hot cell for analysis of high activity nuclear waste. Many other novel invention rad-hardening attributes facilitate a comprehensive rad-hardened laser ablation system (the world's first). In other embodiments, invention novelties include unusually large homogeneous focused laser spot diameters, unusually long laser objective lens focal length, wide range operationally variable laser path length with built-in re-alignment, operationally variable demagnification ratio and diameter of the focused laser spot, the use of significantly higher powered SMR lasers in a large spot diameter to facilitate high sensitivity bulk analysis of solid samples, a demountable and gravitationally self-sealing stack assembly laser ablation cell, and the world's first auto-samplers (mechanized sample changers) for analytical laser ablation.

The invention discloses a multifunctional gas-chromatograph automatic sample injector comprising a rotary tower base, one side of the rotary tower base is provided with a sample disk assembly, a rotary tower is arranged on the rotary tower base, and an injector assembly is arranged on the rotary tower and comprises an injector and a needle core assembled with the injector; the needle core is arranged on a needle core fixing block driven by a vertically arranged synchronous belt and a synchronous belt of the needle core fixing block, the synchronous belt of the needle core fixing block and a sample disk are respectively driven by a stepping motor with a feedback encoder connected with a central processor, and the central processor is also connected with a human-computer interface. The multifunctional gas-chromatograph automatic sample injector has the advantages of convenient installation and use, strong university, 24-hour uninterrupted work when unattended, high sampling volume and repeatability precision, high degree of automation, manpower saving, alleviation of labor intensity of workers, enhancement of working efficiency and improvement on the accuracy of the sample analysis result of a gas chromatograph.

The invention discloses a multifunctional gas-chromatograph automatic sample injector comprising a rotary tower base, one side of the rotary tower base is provided with a sample disk assembly, a rotary tower is arranged on the rotary tower base, and an injector assembly is arranged on the rotary tower and comprises an injector and a needle core assembled with the injector; the needle core is arranged on a needle core fixing block driven by a vertically arranged synchronous belt and a synchronous belt of the needle core fixing block, the synchronous belt of the needle core fixing block and a sample disk are respectively driven by a stepping motor with a feedback encoder connected with a central processor, and the central processor is also connected with a human-computer interface. The multifunctional gas-chromatograph automatic sample injector has the advantages of convenient installation and use, strong university, 24-hour uninterrupted work when unattended, high sampling volume and repeatability precision, high degree of automation, manpower saving, alleviation of labor intensity of workers, enhancement of working efficiency and improvement on the accuracy of the sample analysis result of a gas chromatograph.

The invention discloses an elemental analyzer for testing organic carbon and nitrogen in soil and plants. The operation method of the elemental analyzer comprises the following steps that plant and soil samples are purified through an automatic sample injector, and then are fed into a combustion reactor along with oxygen, a small amount of pure oxygen is fed into an oxidation furnace to promote samples combustion, the samples after combustion convert into various oxides of carbon and nitrogen and water vapor, the carbon and nitrogen oxides and water vapor are fed into a reduction furnace and the carbon and nitrogen oxides are reduced to detectable gas of CO2 and N2, the detectable gas is dehydrated through an electron sink and then is separated by a chromatographic column, and the separated gas is introduced into a gas isotope mass spectrometer by an open shunt port and then is detected. The elemental analyzer disclosed by the invention realizes the analysis and measurement of isotope abundance of organic carbon and nitrogen in soil and plants, improves analytical precision, effectively guarantees the repeatability, reduces material consumption, reduces consumable replacement frequency thereby improving the efficiency of detection, and has precise gas circuit control and convenient leakage detection functions so that the control precision and reliability of the instrument is improved. Moreover, the elemental analyzer uses oxygen as the purge gas instead of helium so that helium consumption is reduced and can save both gas and a filler.

A pump portion for taking in and discharging solutions includes a first plunger pump with a small capacity and a second plunger pump with a large capacity. Intake ports of both the plunger pumps are connected in parallel to a common port of a switching valve with a first three-way valve interposed therebetween. The first three-way valve connects the intake port of one of the plunger pumps to the switching valve. Discharge ports of both the plunger pumps are connected in parallel to one port of the switching valve with a second three-way valve interposed therebetween. The second three-way valve connects the discharge port of one of the plunger pumps to the switching valve.

A function of automatically performing a pretreatment process on a sample is provided in an autosampler of a total volume injection method that can realize high measurement accuracy even when an amount of the sample is small. A multi-port valve and a multi-position valve are connected to each other, and a plurality of kinds of cleaning solutions and also a mobile phase are connected to the multi-port valve. By providing a certain volume in a tube connected to a measuring pump for suctioning the sample, the pump can suction a sufficient amount of the cleaning solution or a diluent solution at one suction operation. Consequently, an apparatus according to the invention can deal with the pretreatment such as cleaning and dilution, without repeating the same suction / discharge operations.

The invention discloses an automatic sample injector which is used for provides a sample to be tested for an analytic instrument in test sample analysis process. The sample injector comprises a sample bottle, a sample bottle support, a sample injection needle, a mechanical arm and a control system. The sample bottle is used for containing the sample to be tested. The sample bottle support is used for supporting the sample bottle. The sample injection needle is used for acquiring the sample to be tested and delivers the sample to be tested to the analytic instrument through a sample sending pipeline. The mechanical arm is used for mounting the sample injection needle and can move in a certain space, so that positioning of the sample injection needle at different positions is achieved. The control system controls the mechanical arm to move and controls sampling of the sample injection needle. Therefore, manual replacement of the sample to be tested is not required in test sample analysis, and accordingly sample injection efficiency is improved. Based on the sample injector, the invention further comprises a sample injection testing system comprising the automatic sample injector and the analytic instrument, and automation and unattended management of a laboratory in sample injection testing process are achieved.

In a direct injection type automatic sampler, a sampling needle having a liquid sample collected from a sample vessel by using suction force of a pump is inserted into an injection port. Then, a flow path-switching valve is rotated to switch a flow path to make a flow of mobile phase liquid pass through a loop to thereby introduce the collected sample into a column. The injection port is directly incorporated in the flow path-switching valve.