Patent ID: 8225824

Claim:
An automated pharmaceutical processing system comprising: a compounding chamber; a syringe manipulator station disposed in the compounding chamber, the syringe manipulator station being configured to hold a syringe with a needle directed in a generally downward orientation for drawing fluid through the needle from an IV bag into the held syringe; and a controller comprising a processor to receive instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising identifying a type or characteristic associated with the IV bag, wherein the type or characteristic is associated with an IV bag volume capacity or a bag size, identifying a plunger motion profile to create a partial vacuum in the syringe to extract substantially all air from the IV bag without extracting a substantial quantity of fluid from the IV bag, wherein the plunger motion profile is based in part upon the identified type or characteristic of the IV bag and comprises one or more of a plunger acceleration phase, a plunger constant velocity phase, and a plunger deceleration phase, identifying a disengagement motion profile comprising at least one of a disengagement acceleration phase, a disengagement constant velocity phase, and a disengagement deceleration phase, actuating the syringe manipulator station to engage a fill port of the IV bag with the needle of the syringe, actuating the syringe manipulator station to pull the plunger of the syringe according to the plunger motion profile, and actuating the syringe manipulator station to move the fill port and the needle of the syringe out of engagement according to the disengagement motion profile.