Cell Picking Device Sucker Horizontal Sliding Collision Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing cell picking devices face challenges in preventing collisions between pipette tips and the sucker, especially when the movement in the up-and-down direction is limited, which can lead to interference with other device components.
Innovation Solution
A cell picking device with a supporter for holding pipette tips, a sucker, and a driver controlled by a controller to move the sucker in a way that the pipette tip is attached and then moved outwardly of the rack, with the lower end of the attached pipette tip located farther down than the upper end of another tip, avoiding collisions by navigating along the regions between the holes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the sucker is lifted sufficiently to prevent collision with pipette tips, then collision prevention is achieved, but the driver of the sucker interferes with other constituent elements of the cell picking device
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the movement dimension from vertical lifting to horizontal sliding. Instead of moving the sucker upward in the vertical dimension to avoid collision, the sucker is made to slide horizontally along the rack structure. This dimensional change allows the sucker to clear the pipette tips without requiring sufficient vertical lift that would cause driver interference with other device elements.
2Device complexity
If the movement amount of the sucker in the up-and-down direction is limited, then driver interference is prevented, but the pipette tip attached to the sucker collides with another pipette tip held by the rack
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction by introducing horizontal sliding movement along the rack as an alternative to vertical lifting. The sucker moves horizontally along the rack structure to a position outwardly of the rack, which allows it to clear the pipette tips without requiring large vertical movement. This maintains limited vertical movement (preventing driver interference) while still achieving collision prevention through horizontal displacement.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the collision prevention function from vertical movement and transfers it to horizontal movement along the rack. By separating the collision avoidance function from the vertical lifting function, the system can maintain limited vertical movement (avoiding driver interference) while still preventing tip collisions through horizontal extraction of the sucker along the rack structure.
Data Source
AI summary
A cell picking device includes a supporter that supports a rack having a plurality of holes for holding a plurality of pipette tips, a sucker used to suck a sample, a driver that moves the sucker in an up-and-down direction and moves the sucker and the supporter relative to each other in a horizontal direction, and a controller that controls the driver such that, any pipette tip out of the plurality of pipette tips held by the rack is attached to the sucker by movement of the sucker in the up-and-down direction and the sucker is moved to a position outwardly of the rack by movement of the sucker and the supporter relative to each other.