Cuvette Module Having an Electrically Conductive Cuvette Carrier

• US 20140090465A1
• Filed: 06/22/2012
• Published: 04/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Holger Behnk
• Original Assignee: Holger Behnk
• Inventors: Behnk, Holger
• Granted Patent: US 9,623,416 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/304.R
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/508 rigid containers not provided for above
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 9/06 Test-tube stands; Test-tube holders
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 23/24 by measuring variations of resistance of resistors due to contact with conductor fluid
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/4905 Determining clotting time of blood by chemical methods G01N33/86, C12Q1/56

Abstract

A cuvette module comprises a cuvette carrier and a cuvette held by the cuvette carrier. An intermediate chamber is formed in the cuvette carrier. The cuvette carrier comprises an electrically conductive plastic material. The cuvette has a different material than the cuvette carrier and the wettability of the cuvette carrier is greater than the wettability of the cuvette. A method transfers a predetermined amount of liquid from a transport container to a cuvette, employs a cuvette module. The method makes it easier to check whether the intermediate chamber still contains a sufficient amount of liquid.

Claims

1. A cuvette module, comprising a cuvette carrier and a cuvette held by the cuvette carrier, with an intermediate chamber formed in the cuvette carrier, characterized in that the cuvette carrier is made of an electrically conductive plastics material, in that the cuvette is made of a different material than the cuvette carrier, and in that the cuvette carrier and the cuvette each have a wettability and the wettability of the cuvette carrier is greater than the wettability of the cuvette.

2. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the electrically conductive plastics material has a resistivity and the resistivity of the electrically conductive plastics material at room temperature is less than 10⁶Ω

cm.

3. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the cuvette carrier comprises two intermediate chambers lying next to each other, and in that the cuvette carrier has a surface resistance and the surface resistance of the cuvette carrier, measured by two electrodes inserted into the intermediate chambers, is between 1 kΩ

and 50 kΩ

.

4. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the electrically conductive plastic material is formed from a plastics starting material and has increased wettability by comparison with the plastics starting material.

5. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that the electrically conductive plastics material has a filler and the filler of the electrically conductive plastic plastics material is graphite or conductive carbon black.

6. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the cuvette carrier and the cuvette each have a wetting angle and the wetting angle of the cuvette carrier is smaller than the wetting angle of the cuvette by at least 10°

.

7. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of intermediate chambers and a plurality of cuvettes.

8. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the intermediate chamber has a volume and the volume of the intermediate chamber is between 1 μ

l and 500 μ

l.

11. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the cuvette carrier comprises two intermediate chambers lying next to each other, and in that the cuvette carrier has a surface resistance and the surface resistance of the cuvette carrier, measured by two electrodes inserted into the intermediate chambers, is between 5 kΩ

and 30 kΩ

.

12. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the cuvette carrier comprises two intermediate chambers lying next to each other, and in that the cuvette carrier has a surface resistance and the surface resistance of the cuvette carrier, measured by two electrodes inserted into the intermediate chambers, is between 9 kΩ

and 14 kΩ

.

13. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the cuvette carrier and the cuvette each have a wetting angle and the wetting angle of the cuvette carrier is smaller than the wetting angle of the cuvette by at least 30°

.

14. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the cuvette carrier and the cuvette each have a wetting angle and the wetting angle of the cuvette carrier is smaller than the wetting angle of the cuvette by at least 45°

.

15. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the intermediate chamber has a volume and the volume of the intermediate chamber is between 50 μ

l and 250 μ

l.

16. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the cuvette carrier comprises two intermediate chambers lying next to each other, and in that the cuvette carrier has a surface resistance and the surface resistance of the cuvette carrier, measured by two electrodes inserted into the intermediate chambers, is between 1 kΩ

and 50 kΩ

.

17. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the electrically conductive plastic material is formed from a plastics starting material and has increased wettability by comparison with the plastics starting material.

18. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the electrically conductive plastic material is formed from a plastics starting material and has increased wettability by comparison with the plastics starting material.

19. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the cuvette carrier and the cuvette each have a wetting angle and the wetting angle of the cuvette carrier is smaller than the wetting angle of the cuvette by at least 10°

.

20. The cuvette module as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the cuvette carrier and the cuvette each have a wetting angle and the wetting angle of the cuvette carrier is smaller than the wetting angle of the cuvette by at least 10°

.

9. A method for transferring a predefined amount of liquid from a transport container to a cuvette, with the following steps:

a. transferring from the transport container to an intermediate chamber an amount of liquid greater than the predefined amount of liquid, wherein the intermediate chamber is made of an electrically conductive plastics material;

b. determining the filling level in the intermediate chamber by inserting an electrical sensor into the intermediate chamber and establishing a change of the electrical signal when the electrical sensor dips into the liquid;

c. establishing whether the amount of liquid in the intermediate chamber is greater than the predefined amount of liquid, and outputting an error message if this is not the case;

d. removing the predefined amount of liquid from the intermediate chamber and transferring the predefined amount of liquid to the cuvette, wherein the cuvette is made of a different material than the cuvette carrier, and wherein the wettability of the cuvette carrier is greater than the wettability of the cuvette.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that the predefined amount of liquid is removed from the intermediate chamber by means of a hollow needle, and in that the hollow needle serves at the same time as an electrical sensor.