Beckman Coulter, Inc.

Beckam Coulter Inc.

Robert Torney

Creigh Thompson

Dana Noll

Christopher Mandy

Nicholas Schrag

Nicholas Hofmann

Vladimir Goldman

Steven Alseth

Jon Lindquist

Kevin Nowak

John Moyer

A gripper assembly () includes a cylinder (), a deformable gripping portion (), a piston (), and an ejector (). The gripper assembly is suitable for picking and placing a vessel () by gripping a gripped portion () of the vessel. The gripping portion extends from adjacent an end of the cylinder. The gripping portion has a spring-like property that allows deformation as the vessel is engaged thereby holding the vessel. The piston is slidably disposed inside the cylinder. The ejector includes a head portion () adjacent a first end of the ejector and a plunger portion () adjacent a second end of the ejector. The head portion of the ejector is slidably disposed inside the cylinder separately from the piston. The plunger of the ejector is partially disposed within the deformable gripping portion for engaging the vessel. The gripper assembly may be used to align an analyzer instrument ().

Methods and systems for picking and placing vessels and for aligning an instrument

The present disclosure relates to diagnosing and locating fluid leakage within a pneumatic system () using a minimal amount of pressure sensors (). In general, each branch () of a pneumatic system () includes an associated pressure sensor () and in accordance with how the pneumatic components () associated with the pneumatic branch () are toggled and monitored, leaks can be detected and located within the branch () using a minimal amount of pressure sensors (). More specifically, pressure and pressure decay may be measured by the sensors () within a branch () while the pneumatic components () are in a particular configuration. The configuration is thereafter changed, and pressure and pressure decay are again measured by the sensors (). The results of these two measurements may enable the pneumatic system () to derive the presence and location of a leak.

Pneumatics system with advanced system diagnostics capabilities

Growing community of inventors

Chanhassen, MN, United States of America

Robert Torney