A high-precision automated liquid pipetting device with an interchangeable tip

Abstract

Liquid handling is a necessary act to deal with liquid samples from scientific labs to industry. However, existing pipetting devices suffer from inaccuracy and low precision when dealing with submicroliter liquids, which significantly affect their applications in low-volume quantitation. In this article, we present an automated liquid pipetting device that can aspirate liquid from microplates and dispense nanoliter droplets with high precision. Liquid aspiration is realized by using a micropump and a solenoid valve, and on-demand nanoliter droplet printing is realized by using a low-cost and interchangeable pipette tip combined with a piezoelectric actuator. Based on the microfluidic printing technology, the volumetric coefficient of variation of the dispensed liquid is less than 2% below 1 µl. A demonstration of concentration dilution for quantitative analysis has been successfully performed using the automated liquid pipetting device, demonstrating its potential in low-volume liquid handling for a wide range of biomedical applications.

Development of a New Lightweight Multi-Channel Micro-Pipette Device

“…Valve switching pipetting is accomplished by propelling the sample solution with a highprecision air pump or syringe pump, precisely controlling the liquid discharge valve switch to achieve microliter pipetting [15]. The sample solution passes through a solenoid valve and requires periodic cleaning, rendering it suitable for scenarios demanding continuous liquid transport.…”

Design and Optimization of a Robot Dosing Device for Aliquoting of Biological Samples Based on Genetic Algorithms

“…There is an invention [7], which represents a pipetting device that is highly flexible in use and has an integrated and compact design of independent pipettes, which allows aliquoting of several cells at once. In some areas, the key characteristic of a dosing device is not speed but accuracy [8][9][10]. These articles present automatic devices for dosing nanoliter droplets with high accuracy.…”

“…Figure 6. Design diagram of a pneumatic cylinder.The required torque of the screw for the movement of the pneumatic cylinder rod is determined similarly to the expression (6), then 𝑀 = (𝐹 + 𝐹 − 𝐹 ) 𝑡𝑎𝑛(𝜑 + 𝜓 )𝑅(8) …”