Material conveying systems, computer program products, and methods

Abstract

This invention provides material conveying systems that are configured to convey substantially uniform quantities of material to and/or from the material sites and to minimize periodic variation among the conveyed quantities of material. Related computer program products and methods are also provided.

1 . A material conveying system, comprising: 
 at least one peristaltic pump having a rotatable roller support that supports at least two rollers;    at least one motor that is operably connected to the peristaltic pump to rotate the roller support; and,    at least one controller that is operably connected to the motor, which controller is configured to effect rotation of at least the roller support in at least one rotational increment that substantially corresponds to an integral multiple of an angular distance disposed between adjacent rollers supported by the roller support such that when one or more material conduits are operably connected to the peristaltic pump and the peristaltic pump conveys material through the material conduits, quantities of material that correspond to the rotational increment are conveyed to or from at least one material site.    
     
     
         2 . The material conveying system of  claim 1 , wherein identical rotational increments convey substantially uniform quantities of material to or from the material site.  
     
     
         3 . The material conveying system of  claim 1 , wherein the rotational increment is uncompensated for flow rate characteristics of the system.  
     
     
         4 . The material conveying system of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 at least one detector operably connected to the controller, which detector is configured to detect detectable signals produced at one or more material sites.    
     
     
         5 . The material conveying system of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 at least one material conduit that is operably connected to the peristaltic pump.    
     
     
         6 . The material conveying system of  claim 5 , wherein the controller is configured to effect substantially identical roller disengagements from the material conduit for each conveyed quantity of material to minimize periodic variation among the conveyed quantities of material.  
     
     
         7 . The material conveying system of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 at least one positioning component that is operably connected to the controller, which positioning component is structured to moveably position at least one material conduit and/or one or more material sites relative to one another.    
     
     
         8 . The material conveying system of  claim 7 , wherein the positioning component comprises at least one object holder that is structured to support the material sites.  
     
     
         9 . The material conveying system of  claim 7 , further comprising the material conduit operably connected to the positioning component and to the peristaltic pump.  
     
     
         10 . The material conveying system of  claim 7 , further comprising: 
 at least one cleaning component operably connected to the controller, which cleaning component is structured to clean the material conduit when the material conduit is operably connected at least to the positioning component, and the positioning component moves the material conduit at least proximal to the cleaning component.    
     
     
         11 . The material conveying system of  claim 7 , further comprising: 
 at least one mounting component that mounts at least the peristaltic pump, the motor, and the positioning component relative to one another.    
     
     
         12 . A material conveying system, comprising: 
 at least one material conduit;    at least one peristaltic pump that is operably connected to the material conduit, which peristaltic pump comprises a rotatable roller support that supports at least two rollers;    at least one feedback component that is operably connected to the peristaltic pump, which feedback component comprises at least one motor that rotates the roller support; and,    at least one controller that is operably connected to the feedback component, which controller is configured to effect rotation of at least the roller support in at least one rotational increment that substantially corresponds to an integral multiple of an angular distance disposed between adjacent rollers supported by the roller support such that quantities of material conveyed through the material conduit to or from at least one material site correspond to the rotational increment.    
     
     
         13 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the material conveying system is automated.  
     
     
         14 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the material conveying system comprises a plurality of material conduits and wherein termini of at least two of the material conduits are spaced at a distance from one another to simultaneously communicate with different wells disposed in at least one multi-well container.  
     
     
         15 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the material conveying system comprises a plurality of material conduits and wherein two or more of the material conduits communicate with different material sources.  
     
     
         16 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein a cavity disposed through the material conduit comprises a cross-sectional dimension of between 1 μm and 10 5  μm.  
     
     
         17 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the peristaltic pump generates sufficient material flow rates at least proximal to a terminus of the material conduit to effect non-contact material dispensing from the terminus.  
     
     
         18 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the peristaltic pump comprises a multi-channel peristaltic pump.  
     
     
         19 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the peristaltic pump is configured to reversibly convey the quantities of material to or from the material site.  
     
     
         20 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the roller support supports 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 30, or more rollers.  
     
     
         21 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the roller support is interchangeable with at least one other roller support.  
     
     
         22 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein a moment of inertia of the roller support is minimized to prevent a quantity of material from adhering to an external portion of the material conduit when the peristaltic pump flows material through the material conduit.  
     
     
         23 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein angular distances disposed between pairs of adjacent rollers supported by the roller support are substantially equal to one another.  
     
     
         24 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein adjacent rollers supported by the roller support are disposed at most 180° apart from one another.  
     
     
         25 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the feedback component comprises at least one drive mechanism that is operably connected to the motor, which drive mechanism comprises at least one control component that effects position feedback control of the motor.  
     
     
         26 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the feedback component further comprises one or more weight scales that are operably connected to the controller, which weight scales detect weights of materials disposed at one or more material sites.  
     
     
         27 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the motor comprises at least one position encoder and at least one gear reduction component.  
     
     
         28 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the motor comprises a servo motor or a stepper motor.  
     
     
         29 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured to effect substantially identical roller disengagements from the material conduit for each conveyed quantity of material to minimize periodic variation among the conveyed quantities of material.  
     
     
         30 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the rotational increment corresponds to at least a 0.1 μl material volume.  
     
     
         31 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein identical rotational increments convey substantially uniform quantities of material to or from the material site.  
     
     
         32 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the rotational increment is uncompensated for flow rate characteristics of the system.  
     
     
         33 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , further comprising: 
 at least one detector operably connected to the controller, which detector is configured to detect detectable signals produced at one or more material sites.    
     
     
         34 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the rollers are rotatable.  
     
     
         35 . The material conveying system of  claim 34 , wherein the peristaltic pump comprises a gear mechanism that effects rotation of the rotatable rollers when the motor rotates the roller support.  
     
     
         36 . The material conveying system of  claim 34 , wherein the controller is further configured to effect rotation of at least one of the rollers supported by the roller support.  
     
     
         37 . The material conveying system of  claim 36 , wherein the rollers rotate in a direction that is opposite from a direction of rotation of the roller support to minimize material conduit wear.  
     
     
         38 . The material conveying system of  claim 36 , wherein the rollers and the roller support rotate at velocities that have substantially equal absolute values.  
     
     
         39 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the controller effects at least one negative pressure pulse at least proximal to a terminus of the material conduit after effecting rotation of the roller support in the rotational increment to prevent a quantity of material from adhering to an external portion of the material conduit.  
     
     
         40 . The material conveying system of  claim 39 , wherein a moment of inertia of the roller support is minimized to further prevent the quantity of material from adhering to the external portion of the material conduit.  
     
     
         41 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein at least one terminus of the material conduit comprises at least one tip.  
     
     
         42 . The material conveying system of  claim 41 , wherein the tip is integral with the terminus.  
     
     
         43 . The material conveying system of  claim 41 , wherein a cavity disposed through the tip comprises at least two different cross-sectional dimensions.  
     
     
         44 . The material conveying system of  claim 41 , wherein at least a portion of the tip is tapered.  
     
     
         45 . The material conveying system of  claim 41 , wherein at least a portion of the material conduit proximal to the terminus is substantially linear.  
     
     
         46 . The material conveying system of  claim 45 , wherein the substantially linear portion of the material conduit comprises a length of at least 60 mm.  
     
     
         47 . The material conveying system of  claim 45 , wherein the terminus of the material conduit and the tip are connected by an insert.  
     
     
         48 . The material conveying system of  claim 47 , wherein portions of the insert are inserted into portions of the terminus and the tip.  
     
     
         49 . The material conveying system of  claim 47 , wherein portions of the terminus and the tip are inserted into portions of the insert.  
     
     
         50 . The material conveying system of  claim 47 , wherein the insert is fabricated from a less flexible material than at least the material conduit.  
     
     
         51 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , wherein the material site comprises at least one material container and/or at least one substrate surface.  
     
     
         52 . The material conveying system of  claim 51 , wherein the material container comprises a multi-well material container having 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, 192, 384, 768, 1536, or more wells.  
     
     
         53 . The material conveying system of  claim 51 , wherein the substrate surface comprises a membrane surface.  
     
     
         54 . The material conveying system of  claim 12 , further comprising: 
 at least one positioning component that is operably connected to the controller, which positioning component is structured to moveably position the material conduit and/or the material site relative to one another.    
     
     
         55 . The material conveying system of  claim 54 , wherein the positioning component comprises at least one object holder that is structured to support the material site.  
     
     
         56 . The material conveying system of  claim 54 , wherein the controller is configured to simultaneously effect rotation of the roller support and moveably position the material conduit and/or the material site relative to one another such that the quantities of material are conveyed to or from the material site synchronous with the relative movement of the material conduit and/or the material site.  
     
     
         57 . The material conveying system of  claim 54 , wherein the positioning component comprises at least one X/Y-axis linear motion table operably connected to at least one position feedback control drive that controls movement of the X/Y-axis linear motion table along an X-axis and a Y-axis.  
     
     
         58 . The material conveying system of  claim 57 , wherein the positioning component comprises at least one object holder operably connected to the X/Y-axis linear motion table, which object holder is structured to support the material site.  
     
     
         59 . The material conveying system of  claim 54  or  58 , wherein the positioning component comprises at least one Z-axis linear motion component comprising at least one material conduit support head that supports at least a portion of the material conduit and that moves along a Z-axis.  
     
     
         60 . The material conveying system of  claim 59 , wherein the positioning component is configured to move the material conduit support head with sufficient velocity to eject adherent material that adheres to an external portion of the material conduit.  
     
     
         61 . The material conveying system of  claim 59 , wherein the Z-axis linear motion component comprises at least one solenoid.  
     
     
         62 . The material conveying system of  claim 59 , wherein the material conduit comprises a plurality of material conduits and wherein the material conduit support head supports one or more portions of each of at least two of the material conduits.  
     
     
         63 . The material conveying system of  claim 62 , wherein the portions comprise terminal portions of the material conduits, which terminal portions are spaced at a distance from one another to simultaneously materially communicate with different wells disposed in at least one multi-well container.  
     
     
         64 . The material conveying system of  claim 63 , wherein the terminal portions are substantially linear.  
     
     
         65 . The material conveying system of  claim 64 , wherein at least one of the substantially linear terminal portions comprises a length of at least 60 mm.  
     
     
         66 . The material conveying system of  claim 63 , wherein the terminal portions of the material conduits each comprise at least one tip.  
     
     
         67 . The material conveying system of  claim 66 , wherein a cavity disposed through the tip comprises at least two different cross-sectional dimensions.  
     
     
         68 . The material conveying system of  claim 66 , wherein at least a portion of the tip is tapered.  
     
     
         69 . The material conveying system of  claim 68 , wherein at least one of the material conduits and at least one corresponding tip are materially connected by an insert.  
     
     
         70 . The material conveying system of  claim 69 , wherein portions of the insert are inserted into portions of the material conduit and the corresponding tip.  
     
     
         71 . The material conveying system of  claim 69 , wherein portions of the material conduit and the corresponding tip are inserted into portions of the insert.  
     
     
         72 . The material conveying system of  claim 69 , wherein the insert is fabricated from a less flexible material than at least the material conduit.  
     
     
         73 . The material conveying system of  claim 54 , further comprising: 
 at least one cleaning component operably connected to the controller, which cleaning component is structured to clean the material conduit when the positioning component moves the material conduit at least proximal to the cleaning component.    
     
     
         74 . The material conveying system of  claim 73 , wherein the cleaning component comprises a vacuum chamber comprising at least one orifice into or proximal to which the positioning component moves the material conduit such that an applied vacuum removes adherent material from an external surface of the material conduit.  
     
     
         75 . The material conveying system of  claim 74 , wherein an outer cross-sectional dimension of the material conduit is smaller than a cross-sectional dimension of the orifice.  
     
     
         76 . The material conveying system of  claim 54 , further comprising: 
 at least one mounting component that mounts at least the peristaltic pump, the feedback component, and the positioning component relative to one another.    
     
     
         77 . The material conveying system of  claim 76 , wherein the mounting component is substantially rigid.  
     
     
         78 . A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having one or more logic instructions for: 
 receiving one or more input parameters selected from the group consisting of: 
 (i) a rotational increment that substantially corresponds to an integral multiple of an angular distance disposed between adjacent rollers supported by a roller support of a peristaltic pump;  
 (ii) a cross-sectional dimension of a material conduit;  
 (iii) a quantity of material to be conveyed to or from a material site; and  
 (iv) an angular distance disposed between adjacent rollers supported by a roller support of a peristaltic pump, and,  
   rotating a roller support of a peristaltic pump in rotational increments that substantially correspond to integral multiples of an angular distance disposed between adjacent rollers supported by the roller support of the peristaltic pump such that when one or more material conduits are operably connected to the peristaltic pump and the peristaltic pump conveys material through the material conduits, quantities of material that correspond to the rotational increments are conveyed to or from at least one material site.    
     
     
         79 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one logic instruction for: 
 moving an X/Y-axis linear motion table and a Z-axis motion component synchronous with rotating the roller support.    
     
     
         80 . A method of conveying material, the method comprising: 
 providing a material conveying system comprising at least one controller that is operably connected to at least one motor that is operably connected to at least one peristaltic pump, which peristaltic pump comprises a rotatable roller support that supports at least two rollers and is operably connected to at least one material conduit; and,    conveying the material through the material conduit, wherein the controller effects rotation of the roller support in at least one rotational increment that substantially corresponds to an integral multiple of an angular distance disposed between adjacent rollers supported by the roller support such that quantities of material conveyed to or from at least one material site correspond to the rotational increment.    
     
     
         81 . The method of  claim 80 , wherein the material is selected from the group consisting of: a cell suspension, a reagent, a buffer, and a solid support suspension.  
     
     
         82 . The method of  claim 80 , wherein the controller effects rotation of the roller support such that shearing effects on material conveyed in the material are minimized.  
     
     
         83 . The method of  claim 80 , wherein the material is conveyed to the material site without the material conduit contacting the material site.  
     
     
         84 . The method of  claim 80 , further comprising: 
 effecting at least one negative pressure pulse at least proximal to a terminus of the material conduit with the controller after effecting rotation of the roller support in the rotational increment to prevent a quantity of material from adhering to an external portion of the material conduit.    
     
     
         85 . The method of  claim 80 , further comprising: 
 moving the material conduit with sufficient velocity to eject adherent material, if any, that adheres to an external portion of the material conduit.    
     
     
         86 . The method of  claim 80 , further comprising: 
 contacting adherent material, if any, that adheres to an external portion of the material conduit with at least one other object to remove the adherent material from the external portion of the material conduit.    
     
     
         87 . The method of  claim 80 , wherein the material site comprises at least one multi-well container and the method comprises: 
 conveying at least a first quantity of material into at least a first well of the multi-well container;    moving the material conduit and/or the material site relative to one another such that the material conduit is in communication with at least a second well of the multi-well container; and,    conveying at least a second quantity of material into the second well of the multi-well container.    
     
     
         88 . The method of  claim 87 , wherein the moving step and at least one conveying step are substantially simultaneous with one another.  
     
     
         89 . The method of  claim 87 , wherein the moving step comprises positioning a portion of the material conduit above or in the second well.  
     
     
         90 . The method of  claim 80 , wherein the system comprises a plurality of material conduits that are operably connected to the peristaltic pump and wherein the method comprises conveying multiple quantities of material to or from the material site through the material conduits.  
     
     
         91 . The method of  claim 90 , wherein the multiple quantities of material are conveyed substantially simultaneously.  
     
     
         92 . The method of  claim 90 , wherein the material site comprises at least one multi-well container and wherein termini of at least two of the material conduits are spaced at a distance that corresponds to a distance between at least two wells disposed in the multi-well container, and wherein the method comprises simultaneously conveying the material through the two material conduits to or from the two wells.  
     
     
         93 . A method of conveying material to a material site, the method comprising: 
 providing a material conveying system comprising: 
 at least one material conduit;  
 at least one pump that is operably connected to the material conduit, which pump conveys the material through the material conduit;  
 at least one positioning component that is operably connected to the material conduit, which positioning component moves the material conduit; and  
 at least one controller that is operably connected to the pump and the positioning component, which controller effects the pump to convey the material through the material conduit and the positioning component to move the material conduit;  
   conveying the material through the material conduit such that a quantity of the material adheres to a terminal portion of the material conduit, thereby forming an adherent material quantity;    accelerating at least the terminal portion of the material conduit towards the material site with the positioning component; and,    decelerating the terminal portion of the material conduit with the positioning component such that the adherent material quantity is conveyed from the terminal portion of the material conduit to the material site.    
     
     
         94 . The method of  claim 93 , wherein the decelerating step comprises ejecting the adherent material quantity from the terminal portion of the material conduit.  
     
     
         95 . The method of  claim 93 , wherein the adherent material quantity is conveyed to the material site without contacting the terminal portion of the material conduit and the material site.  
     
     
         96 . The method of  claim 93 , wherein the material comprises a cell suspension and the method minimizes shearing effects on conveyed cells.