MICROVOLUME LIQUID DISPENSING

摘要

A sealed reservoir (21) for integrated packaging, shipping, storage and precise dispensing of extremely small volumes of liquids includes an integrated metering tap. The tap has a metering tube (25), which is translatable between a fill position inside the reservoir and an expel position outside the reservoir. The metering tube (25) includes a tube end closure (31) in a lower portion of the tube, a port (32) above the tube end closure, and a piston (29) in an upper portion of the tube. The piston (29) is movable between a down position that seals the side port (32) and an up position above the port (32). Movement of the piston (29) from the up position to the down position can displace from 10 nanoliters to 20 microliters. Several such dispensers are arranged in an integrated array of reservoir/tap units (20) suitable for use in automated, multi-well formats such as those commonly used for high-throughput screening.