 | Why do you used air displacement technology and why is it better than conventional dispenser technology? |
With traditional dispenser technology you have pumps mounted at the rear of the instrument and tubing leading to the pipette tips. This tubing is filled with "system liquid" to avoid errors caused by compressed air in the tubing. The sample is aspired into that tubing through a fixed steel needle in the standard case. The system liquid does not touch the sample directly but both the sample and the system liquid pass the same parts in the tubing while a sample is aspired and diluted. They are just separated by an air gap. This causes immense problems with cross contamination. The air displacement technology works like your hand pipettes. The sample is only ever in the disposable tip, never in the pipetting channel. If you like to even avoid contamination caused by aerosols you can use filter tips as with your hand pipettes. All you know about manual pipetting also applies to air displacement technology.
| What is a multi-functional robotic arm? |
The primary task of our robotic arm is to bring the motor driven pipette to the point where it should aspire or dilute a sample or reagent. Beside of that pipetting functional our pipetting channels can be used for carrying the Plate-GripX, a plate handling tool to enable the system to transport micro lates or other similarly shaped components over the platform of the robot. They can also take the barcode reading camera and bring it to the reading position to read barcode labelled tubes.
| Why do you use disposable tips and not steel needles? |
For most applications in biological or clinical environments the issue of avoiding cross contamination is a very important and serious one. With disposable tips you are always on the safe side. With filter tips you even avoid aerosol problems. As soon as you have a fixed needle you have to intensively wash these needles after each aspiration. Washing not only needs time but also money if you have to use reagents or deionised water.
| Do you have to use the expensive black conductive tips for detecting the liquid level in vials? |
No, Xiril uses a pressure based detection method for detecting the liquid level in vials and other containers. This pressure based method works in the way that by lowering the channel to the vial the system slowly blows air out of the pipette tip. Due to the geometry of the tip this creates a certain counter pressure in the system. As soon as the tip approaches the liquid level this pressure will increase. The change in the slope of the pressure increase is detected and the system uses the height to calculate the volume in the given container. This technology can also be used for detecting clogged tips or clots in serum or blood samples for example. Because we do not have to use conductivity tips the costs for tips are much lower on Xiril systems compared to others.
| Which vials and containers can I use? I did not find a compatibility list or list of available racks. |
Our system can use every type of container which fits on the robot and is not too high to allow the tips to travel over it.
All standard lab ware including microfuge tubes, micro plates, deep well plates, micro tube racks, reagent tubes of different diameters, reagent bottles and even 250 ml wide bore bottles can be used on our systems. For special applications we develop solutions with 2 or 3 litre reservoirs or unlimited refillable reservoirs. Your distributor can provide a list of standard racks which are suitable for most of the common lab ware.
| How flexible and user friendly is your software? |
The Lirix software is as flexible as you need. Due to its architecture with different access level for external programming interfaces you can literally do everything with the software which the system can do mechanically and electronically. However, if you do not want to go too deep into the software we can set up the system in a way that you have a push button and walk away system. You will only see what is important for your application without losing the ability of programming other processes. The sophisticated implemented user access management system allows you to control exactly who can do what with the software. You can determine for every user what they can do and what not.
| Your systems have a built in computer, why can't I use an external computer? |
The built-in computer has a series of advantages. We use a high quality industrial PC. Those PCs are much more stable than typical commercial PCs designed for home, especially Multi Media use. We have full control over the used hardware and can rely on getting the same parts for a few years. This leads to a tremendously reduced level of IT-support issues with our systems. We know exactly how our robot in connection with the built-in computer behaves and if something is wrong there is no discussion if it might be "our" hardware or the third-party computer or even the software or its settings on that computer only. The built-in computer guarantees more robustness and reliability without adding costs. We think it is the better solution for both our customers and us.
However, if for some reason you need an external computer you can simply hook it up via the USB connectors and control the system completely from this external computer.
