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Sample collector and components thereof

  • US 8,883,090 B2
  • Filed: 05/09/2006
  • Issued: 11/11/2014
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2006
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A positioning system comprising:

  • a microcontroller;

    a distributer arm;

    at least one bottle;

    a stepping motor configured for positioning said distributor arm;

    an index disk coupled to said distributor arm and configured to rotate with said distributor arm, said index disk having a plurality of code locations formed of light passing portions and opaque portions oriented in a single radius at a periphery of said index disc, each of said plurality of code locations indicating a unique position on said index disk, said light passing portions further including narrow light passing slots and wide light passing slots, said narrow light passing slots are code identification characters and said wide light passing slots are code characters, said code identification characters indicating a presence of at least one code character, said at least one code character having one code identification character angularly positioned on a first side of said at least one code character and one code identification character angularly positioned on an opposite side of said at least one code character; and

    a single index position sensor configured for;

    transmitting a light signal through said periphery of said index disk;

    sensing said light passing portions; and

    transmitting said indicator to said microcontroller;

    wherein a size of said narrow light passing slots corresponds to a number of pulses applied to said stepping motor as said narrow slot moves through said index position sensor, a size of each wide light passing slot corresponds to a multiple of said number of pulses, at least one code character generates said unique position on said index disk;

    wherein said microcontroller is configured for;

    receiving said indicator;

    determining, from said indicator, said presence of at least one code character, said presence of at least one code character identified by said indicator sensing said code identification character followed by said code character;

    determining, from said indicator, a numeric value of said code character;

    determining said unique position on said index disk from said numeric value receiving a command to move said distributer arm over a bottle;

    determining a unique position on said index disk associated with said bottle;

    controlling each step of said stepping motor via issuing a signal for said each step;

    calculating a distance between said unique position on said index disk and said unique position on said index disk associated with said bottle;

    issuing a signal to said stepping motor to rotate said index disk directly to said unique position on said index disk associated with said bottle.

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