METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USE IN LOW-TEMPERATURE STORAGE

摘要

2106488 9216800 PCTABS00016 A thawing system comprises a storage unit (121) for maintaining a plurality of biological specimens (16) within a predetermined low temperature range, a plurality of thawing chambers (127), and a heat exchange assembly (131) for implementing a temperature change in each of the chambers independently of temperature changes in the other chambers. A servomechanism (123) is provided for retrieving selected specimens from the storage unit (121) and transferring the retrieved specimens (16) to respective thawing chambers (127), while a control unit (CC1) is operatively connected to the heat exchange assembly (131) and the servomechanism (123) for operating the heat exchange assembly (131) to control rates of temperature changes in the thawing chambers (127) and for activating the servomechanism (123) to transfer the selected specimens (16) from the storage unit (121) to the respective chambers (127).