Cepheid Corporation

Tien Phan

Matthew Piccini

David Fromm

Doug Dority

Dustin Dickens

Stuart Morita

Douglas Bryan Dority

Richard J Casler, Jr

Rick Casler

Improved sub-assemblies and methods of control for use in a diagnostic assay system adapted to receive an assay cartridge are provided herein. Such sub-assemblies include: a brushless DC motor, a door opening/closing mechanism and cartridge loading mechanism, a syringe and valve drive mechanism assembly, a sonication horn, a thermal control device and optical detection/excitation device. Such systems can further include a communications unit configured to wirelessly communicate with a mobile device of a user so as to receive a user input relating to functionality of the system with respect to an assay cartridge received therein and relaying a diagnostic result relating to the assay cartridge to the mobile device.

Molecular diagnostic assay system

A DC electric motor having a stator mounted to a substrate, the stator having a coil assembly having a magnetic core, a rotor mounted to the stator with permanent magnets distributed radially about the rotor, the permanent magnets extending beyond the magnetic core, and sensors mounted to the substrate adjacent the permanent magnets. During operation of the motor passage of the permanent magnets over the sensors produces a substantially sinusoidal signal of varying voltage substantially without noise and/or saturation, allowing an angular position of the rotor relative the substrate to be determined from linear portions of the sinusoidal signal without requiring use of an encoder or position sensors and without requiring noise-reduction or filtering of the signal.

Encoderless motor with improved granularity and methods of use

Thermal control devices adapted to provide improved control and efficiency in temperature cycling are provided herein. Such thermal control device can include a thermoelectric cooler controlled in coordination with another thermal manipulation device to control an opposing face of the thermoelectric cooler and/or a microenvironment. Some such thermal control devices include a first and second thermoelectric cooler separated by a thermal capacitor. The thermal control devices can be configured in a planar configuration with a means for thermally coupling with a planar reaction vessel of a sample analyzer for use in thermal cycling in a polymerase chain reaction of the fluid sample in the reaction vessel. Methods of thermal cycling using such a thermal control devices are also provided.

Thermal control device and methods of use

A DC electric motor having a stator mounted to a substrate, the stator having a coil assembly having a magnetic core, a rotor mounted to the stator with a first set of permanent magnets distributed radially about the rotor to facilitate rotation of the rotor and a second set of permanent magnets on the rotor to facilitate determination of an absolute position of the rotor. The motor further includes first and second set of sensors for detection of the magnets of the inner and outer rings. During operation of the motor passage of the permanent magnets over the sensors produces a substantially sinusoidal signal of varying voltage substantially without noise and/or saturation, allowing an absolute position of the rotor relative the substrate to be determined from the sinusoidal signals without requiring use of an encoder or position sensors and without requiring noise-reduction or filtering of the signal.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Tien Phan