Patent attributes
A device for aspirating and dispensing liquid samples comprising a pump that comprises a cylindrical chamber, a piston movable in this cylindrical chamber, and a piston drive that engages the piston. The device further comprises a tip connected to the cylindrical chamber with a line, and a channel system that discharges into the cylindrical chamber for flushing or rinsing the latter. The device is characterized in that the piston entirely seals this cylindrical chamber from the channel system, if the piston is positioned in the cylindrical chamber in such a way that a free piston end comes to rest between the channel system and the line. Preferably, the cylindrical chamber is located in a cylinder block, which comprises two parts that are separated by and enclosing an intermediate channel system. The channel system most preferably is implemented as a coherent cavity. According to a first embodiment, the cylindrical chamber is implemented as a sleeve that is inserted in a boring located in a cylinder block. According to a second embodiment, the cylindrical chamber is implemented as a boring located in a cylinder block. Furthermore, the invention also concerns systems with, for example, 384 or more such devices that are arranged in an array.
