Patent ID: 9163869
Filing Date: 2015-10-20
Classification: A01N,F25D,G01N

Abstract:
1. A tube picking mechanism comprising: a refrigerated chamber containing a lower compartment refrigerated to a temperature of between −50° C. and −196° C. when the tube picking mechanism is in operation; an upper compartment having a temperature warmer than the temperature of the lower compartment when the tube picking mechanism is in operation, a bottom portion of the upper compartment being adjacent to a top portion of the lower compartment; a picker plate located in the refrigerated lower compartment for holding at least one tube storage rack containing sample storage tubes; a picker head having two or more gripping fingers extending vertically downward in the refrigerated lower compartment, said pair of gripping fingers being able to grip and lift a single tube from a receptacle in a tube storage rack located on the picker plate in the refrigerated lower compartment; a presenter push pin located in the refrigerated lower compartment below the picker plate and aligned vertically with the pair of gripping fingers so that sufficient upward vertical movement of the presenter push pin pushes on a bottom of a storage tube held in a tube receptacle in a tube rack on the picker plate to facilitate lifting of the storage tube from the receptacle in the tube rack by the gripping fingers on the picker head; a first motorized drive mechanism for opening and closing the gripping fingers located in the warmer, upper compartment at least when the gripping fingers are not in use; a second motorized drive mechanism for lifting and lowering the gripping fingers located in the warmer, upper compartment at least when the gripping fingers are not in use; and a third motorized drive mechanism for lifting and lowering the presenter push pin located in the warmer, upper compartment at least when not in use.