Patent ID: 9636680
Date: 2017-05-02
CPC Classifications: B01L,G01N

Claim:
1. A sample handling system for handling samples contained in tubes, each tube having a hollow body, a closed bottom and an open top for accessing the sample contained in the tube, the system including a micro-plate comprising: at least one separate grid insert and at least one further separate grid insert forming a stack of connected grid inserts arranged one above the other in the stack, each of the at least one separate grid insert and the at least one further separate grid insert having a plurality of compartments, each compartment including one or more side walls laterally confining a through-hole, wherein the through-hole has a top opening and a bottom opening and extends between the top opening and the bottom opening, and a frame to which only an uppermost one of the at least one separate grid insert and the at least one further separate grid insert of the stack is attached to form the microplate, the frame laterally confining a single through-opening dimensioned to allow for accessing from above each compartment of the uppermost separate grid insert in the stack of connected grid inserts that is attached to the frame and accessing from below each compartment of a lowermost separate grid insert in the stack of connected grid inserts, and to allow for moving a tube into and out of each compartment through each of the top opening and the bottom opening of the through-hole, wherein: each of the at least one separate grid insert and the at least one further separate grid insert includes one or more stacking elements for connecting the at least one separate grid insert and the at least one further separate grid insert to form the stack of connected grid inserts, each stacking element includes at least one resilient locking member extending downwardly beyond a corresponding one of the at least one separate grid insert and the at least one further separate grid insert and further includes at least one notch arranged to lockingly receive the at least one resilient locking member of an above-arranged separate grid insert that is one of the at least one further separate grid insert or the at least one separate grid insert, respectively, and each compartment in each of the at least one separate grid insert is longitudinally aligned with a compartment of the at least one further separate grid insert in the stack to form a joint through-hole through which a tube is moveable.