Stopping in an emergency

About this topic

This topic describes how to stop the pipette head in an emergency. The procedure can vary for an integrated device in a lab automation system. For details, see the user guide for your lab automation system, such as the BioCel System User Guide.

 

WARNING The Vertical Pipetting Station should be fitted with a robot-disable pendant positioned at the front of the device for easy access. You can acquire a robot-disable pendant from Agilent Technologies. The pendant connects to the robot-disable circuit loop on the rear panel of the Vertical Pipetting Station.

When to use the emergency stop feature

When you perform an emergency stop, the internal logic of the Vertical Pipetting Station is preserved, which makes it possible to resume a protocol. However, if you turn off the power switch, the internal logic is lost until you reinitialize the Vertical Pipetting Station.

 

CAUTION Do not turn off the power switch on the rear panel of the Vertical Pipetting Station to stop a run. When you turn on the power again, the protocol cannot resume, and the shelf movement could result in a pipette head crash.

IMPORTANT Do not use the emergency stop procedure for a normal stop or to pause and continue a run. The pipetting accuracy of the running protocol might be impaired. For a normal stop or to pause a run, use the Stop button or Pause button in the VWorks software.

Performing an emergency stop

 

CAUTION The robot-disable circuit does not turn off the air pressure. Therefore, the shelves can continue to move.

The robot-disable pendant stops the pipette head motion as follows:

•	Turns off power to all the motors

•	Activates the z‑axis brake to prevent the pipette head from falling

The air pressure remains on. Therefore, the shelves can continue to move.

To stop the pipette head motion:

1	Press the red button on the robot-disable pendant.

2	To release the button, turn it clockwise.

 

Recovering from an emergency stop

To re-enable the motors in the pipette head:

1	Ensure the robot-disable button is released. If necessary, turn the button clockwise to release it.

2	In the message dialog that appears on screen, click one of the following buttons:

•	Abort—Cancels the protocol.

•	Retry—Attempts to resume the protocol.

•	Ignore and Continue—Ignores the error condition and attempts to perform the next command.

Related topics

 

For more information about…	See…
Stopping or pausing a run	• Using diagnostics software to stop the device • VWorks Automation Control User Guide
Recovering from a crash	Recovering from a head collision
Recovering from a power outage	Recovering from a power outage
Connector locations	Hardware overview