Mar. 2, 2011
Rainin Instruments, a provider of pipettes used in laboratories around the world, has launched an RFID-enabled family of products. Pipettes—cylindrical laboratory instruments composed of glass or other materials—are utilized by lab workers to manually extract and transfer liquids used for molecular biology, chemical and medical tests. The RFID functionality in the new Pipet-Lite XLS pipettes enables Rainin, as well as its customers (biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms) to track the pipettes’ calibration in order to ensure that they meet regulatory compliance. The new offering includes RFID-tagged pipettes, a desktop RFID reader and Rainin’s LabX Direct Pipette-Scan software to store data about each pipette as it is used and maintained.
Pipettes are employed not only for transferring liquids from one place to another, but also to measure the exact amount being transferred. Because the equipment requires very precise measurements, pipettes must be calibrated prior to being put into service, in order to comply with standard operating procedures (SOPs) and regulatory agencies. To track the pipettes’ calibration and other maintenance processes, labs traditionally use bar-coded labels attached to the devices, text printed on labels that workers must then key into a PC, or handwritten records regarding the pipettes’ use and servicing.
Source: http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/8256/1/1/
