APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR HOLDING RECEPTACLES ON A CARRIER

1 . An input module comprising:

a carrier shelf for receiving and supporting a carrier holding a plurality of receptacles;

a retrieval dock adjacent the carrier shelf and configured to receive one receptacle from a carrier supported on the carrier shelf and present the receptacle for removal from the input module by a receptacle transport apparatus; and

a pusher configured to push one or more receptacles held on the carrier supported on the carrier shelf to one end of the carrier and to push one receptacle at a time off the end of the carrier and onto the retrieval dock.

2 . The input module of claim 1 , wherein the pusher comprises:

a pusher carriage coupled to a pusher track and configured to translate bi-directionally along the track; and

a pusher arm projecting from the pusher carriage.

3 . The input module of claim 2 , wherein the pusher arm comprises:

an upright portion extending upwardly from the pusher carriage;

a lateral portion extending laterally from an end of the upright portion; and

a contact portion extending downwardly from the lateral portion.

4 . The input module of claim 3 , wherein a carrier supported on the carrier shelf includes a pair of parallel support rails for slidably supporting a plurality of receptacles thereon with at least a portion of each receptacle disposed between the support rails, and wherein the contact portion is aligned with a gap between the support rails so that as the pusher translates along the pusher track, the contact portion moves between the support rails and contacts the portion of the receptacle that is disposed between the support rails.

5 . The input module of claim 4 , wherein the receptacle comprises a plurality of cylindrical tubes connected to one another by a connecting rib structure defining a downwardly facing shoulder, wherein at least one of the cylindrical tubes is disposed between the support rails and a portion of the downwardly-facing shoulder is supported on top of the support rails.

6 . The input module of claim 2 , wherein the pusher further comprises:

a pusher drive belt attached to the pusher carriage; and

a pusher motor coupled to the pusher drive belt for effecting powered translation of pusher carriage along the pusher track.

7 . The input module of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor configured to detect when one of the receptacles has been pushed onto the retrieval dock.

8 . The input module of claim 1 , further comprising a guide plate adjacent the retrieval dock and configured to align the receptacle on the retrieval dock with a receptacle transport apparatus.

9 . The input module of claim 1 , further comprising at least one carrier locator pin protruding from the carrier shelf for engaging an opening formed in a carrier supported by the carrier shelf and to restrict relative movement between the carrier shelf and the carrier supported thereby.

10 . The input module of claim 1 , further comprising:

a position encoder for detecting a longitudinal position of the pusher; and

a controller configured to receive longitudinal position data from the position encoder and to determine the number of receptacles held on a carrier supported on the carrier shelf when the pusher is positioned in contact with an end-most receptacle of one or more receptacles held on the carrier.

11 . The input module of claim 1 , further comprising a pusher home sensor configured to detect when the pusher has moved to a home position.

12 . A processing instrument comprising:

the input module of claim 1 ; and

a receptacle transport apparatus configured to remove a receptacle from the retrieval dock of the input module and transport the receptacle within the processing instrument.

13 . A method for determining the number of receptacles supported by a carrier, the method comprising:

a) placing the carrier with one or more receptacles supported thereby on a carrier shelf;

b) pushing the one or more receptacles to one end of the carrier with a packer positioned adjacent the carrier shelf;

c) detecting a longitudinal position of the packer when the one or more receptacles have been pushed to the one end of the carrier; and

d) determining the number of receptacles held on the carrier based on the longitudinal position of the packer.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein step a) comprises transferring the carrier from a lift platform to the carrier shelf by:

supporting the carrier on the lift platform with opposed ends of the carrier extending beyond opposed ends of the lift platform;

with a transport elevator, positioning the lift platform above the carrier shelf;

effecting lateral movement of the lift platform with a lateral actuator so that the lift platform is disposed within an open area between a first shelf portion and a second shelf portion of the carrier shelf and the opposed ends of the carrier are positioned above the first and second shelf portions; and

with the transport elevator, lowering the lift platform until the opposed ends of the carrier are supported on the first and second shelf portions, and the carrier is not supported on the lift platform.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the packer comprises:

a packer carriage coupled to a packer track and configured to translate bi-directionally along the track;

a contact portion projecting from the packer carriage;

a packer drive belt attached to the packer carriage; and

a packer motor coupled to the packer drive belt for effecting powered translation of the packer carriage along the packer track.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein step c) comprises detecting output of the packer motor by a rotary encoder coupled to the packer motor or detecting output of the packer motor by motor steps.

17 . A method for packing a plurality of receptacles supported by a carrier, the method comprising:

a) placing the carrier with a plurality of receptacles supported thereby on a carrier shelf;

b) contacting an end-most one of the receptacles with a packer positioned adjacent the carrier shelf, wherein the packer comprises a packer carriage coupled to a packer track and configured to translate bi-directionally along the track and a contact portion projecting from the packer carriage; and

c) pushing the plurality of receptacles to one end of the carrier with the packer to pack the receptacles in a stack.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein a carrier supported on the carrier shelf includes a pair of parallel support rails for slidably supporting a plurality of receptacles thereon with at least a portion of each receptacle disposed between the support rails, and wherein step c) comprises contacting an end-most one of the receptacles with the packer by aligning the contact portion with a gap between the support rails so that as the packer carriage translates along the packer track, the contact portion moves between the support rails and contacts the portion of the end-most receptacle that is disposed between the support rails.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the carrier includes a hard stop at an end of each support rail, and wherein step c) comprises pushing the plurality of receptacles against the hard stops.

20 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the receptacle comprises a plurality of cylindrical tubes connected to one another by a connecting rib structure defining a downwardly facing shoulder, wherein at least one of the cylindrical tubes is disposed between the support rails and a portion of the downwardly-facing shoulder is supported on top of the support rails.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the packer further comprises a horizontal portion that contacts a portion of the end-most receptacle extending above the support rails to keep the receptacles generally perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the support rails.

22 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the packer further comprises:

a packer drive belt attached to the packer carriage; and

a packer motor coupled to the packer drive belt for effecting powered translation of packer carriage along the packer track.

23 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising

detecting a longitudinal position of the packer during step c); and

determining the number of receptacles held on the carrier based on the longitudinal position of the packer.

24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the packer further comprises a packer drive belt attached to the packer carriage; and a packer motor coupled to the packer drive belt for effecting powered translation of packer carriage along the packer track, and wherein detecting the longitudinal position of the packer during step c) comprises using a home sensor to detect an initial position of the packer along the packer track and an encoder coupled to the packer motor to detect a number of encoder counts associated with a motorized packer movement from the initial position.

25 . A method for presenting multi-receptacle units for retrieval by an automated receptacle distributor of a processing instrument, each multi-receptacle unit including a plurality of receptacles connected to each other in a side-by-side arrangement, the method comprising:

a) placing a carrier with one or more multi-receptacle units held thereon on a carrier shelf, wherein the carrier comprises a pair of parallel support rails for slidably supporting the multi-receptacle units thereon with at least one of the receptacles of each multi-receptacle unit disposed between the support rails;

b) contacting an end-most one of the receptacles with a pusher positioned adjacent the carrier shelf, the pusher comprising a contact portion configured to move between the support rails and contact the receptacle disposed between the support rails; and

c) pushing the plurality of multi-receptacle units along the support rails toward one end of the carrier with the pusher until an end-most one of the multi-receptacle units is pushed off the support rails and onto a retrieval dock adjacent to the carrier shelf.

26 . The method of claim 25 , further comprising:

detecting when the one of the plurality of multi-receptacle units is pushed off the support rails and onto the retrieval dock; and

stopping the pusher from further pushing the one or more multi-receptacle units toward the one end of the carrier.

27 . The method of claim 25 , further comprising retrieving the one multi-receptacle unit from the retrieval dock with a receptacle transport mechanism of the processing instrument.

28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the receptacle transport mechanism comprises an extendible and retractable hook and the multi-receptacle unit comprises a manipulating structure, and wherein retrieving the one receptacle from the retrieval dock with a receptacle transport mechanism comprises extending the hook, engaging the manipulating structure with the extended hook, and retracting the hook to pull the multi-receptacle unit from the retrieval dock into a housing of the receptacle transport mechanism.

29 . The method of claim 25 , further comprising:

during step c), detecting a longitudinal position of the pusher when the multi-receptacle unit is pushed off the support rails; and

determining the number of multi-receptacle units held on the carrier based on the longitudinal position of the pusher.

30 . The method of claim 25 , wherein step a) comprises transferring the carrier from a lift platform to the carrier shelf by:

supporting the carrier on the lift platform with opposed ends of the carrier extending beyond opposed ends of the lift platform;

with a transport elevator, positioning the lift platform above the carrier shelf;

effecting lateral movement of the lift platform with a lateral actuator so that the lift platform is disposed within an open area between a first shelf portion and a second shelf portion of the carrier shelf and the opposed ends of the carrier are positioned above the first and second shelf portions; and

with the transport elevator, lowering the lift platform until the opposed ends of the carrier are supported on the first and second shelf portions, and the carrier is not supported on the lift platform.

31 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the pusher further comprises:

a pusher carriage coupled to a pusher track and configured to translate bi-directionally along the track;

a pusher arm comprising the contact portion and projecting from the pusher carriage;

a pusher drive belt attached to the pusher carriage; and

a pusher motor coupled to the pusher drive belt for effecting powered translation of pusher carriage along the pusher track.

32 . The method of claim 25 , further comprising, prior to step c), retaining the one or more multi-receptacle units on the support rails with spring-biased retainer tabs that releasably engage the end-most one of the multi-receptacle units, wherein the spring-biased retainer tabs are configured to deflect laterally during step c) to permit the end-most one of the multi-receptacle units to be pushed off the support rails.