Patent ID: 9651568
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: B01J,B01L,G01N,Y10T

Claim:
1. An operating and reading instrument for performing an assay employing a portable microfluidic assay cartridge, the instrument comprising a translatable table under automated control, the translatable table carrying a receiving region for the portable cartridge and carrying a port system connectible to the cartridge, the port system having at least one remotely automated source valve arranged to apply air at positive or negative pressures at selected times to the cartridge to operate micro-valves in the cartridge to perform the assay while the cartridge is on the translatable table and is connected to the port system; a stationary planar radiant heater plate having a planar radiant heater surface mounted in close proximity to, and parallel with, a planar cartridge surface of the cartridge on the translation table, the planar cartridge surface being adjacent to enclosed microfluidic channels in the cartridge, there being an air gap between the planar radiant heating surface and the planar cartridge surface, the heater plate having a size sufficiently larger than the portable cartridge so that the fluidic portion of the cartridge is always adjacent to the radiant heater surface throughout a range of translation of the cartridge; a stationary optical system constructed to inspect the cartridge along an optical inspection axis; and the heater plate having an aperture through which the optical inspection axis extends.