Agilent Technologies BenchCel User manual

BenchCel Microplate Handler

User Guide

Original Instructions

Notices

Manual Part Number

G5580-90000 Revision B

November 2020

No part of this manual may be reproduced

in any form or by any means (including

electronic storage and retrieval or

translation into a foreign language) without

prior agreement and written consent from

Agilent Technologies, Inc. as governed by

United States and international copyright

laws.

Contact Information

Agilent Technologies Inc.

Automation Solutions

5301 Stevens Creek Blvd.

Santa Clara, CA 95051

USA

Web:

https://www.agilent.com

Contact page:

https://www.agilent.com/en/contact-

us/page

Documentation feedback:

documentation.automation@agilent.com

Acknowledgments

Microsoft® and Windows® are either

registered trademarks or trademarks of the

Microsoft Corporation in the United States

and other countries.

Warranty

The material contained in this document is

provided “as is,” and is subject to being

changed, without notice, in future editions.

Further, to the maximum extent permitted

by applicable law, Agilent disclaims all war-

ranties, either express or implied, with

regard to this manual and any information

contained herein, including but not limited

to the implied warranties of merchantability

and fitness for a particular purpose. Agilent

shall not be liable for errors or for incidental

or consequential damages in connection

with the furnishing, use, or performance of

this document or of any information con-

tained herein. Should Agilent and the user

have a separate written agreement with

warranty terms covering the material in this

document that conflict with these terms,

the warranty terms in the separate agree-

ment shall control.

Technology Licenses

The hardware and/or software described in

this document are furnished under a license

and may be used or copied only in

accordance with the terms of such license.

Restricted Rights Legend

If software is for use in the performance of

a U.S. Government prime contract or

subcontract, Software is delivered and

licensed as “Commercial computer

software” as defined in DFAR 252.227-7014

(June 1995), or as a “commercial item” as

defined in FAR 2.101(a) or as “Restricted

computer software” as defined in FAR

52.227-19 (June 1987) or any equivalent

agency regulation or contract clause. Use,

duplication or disclosure of Software is

subject to Agilent Technologies’ standard

commercial license terms, and non-DOD

Departments and Agencies of the U.S.

Government will receive no greater than

Restricted Rights as defined in FAR 52.227-

19(c)(1-2) (June 1987). U.S. Government

users will receive no greater than Limited

Rights as defined in FAR 52.227-14

(June1987) or DFAR 252.227-7015 (b)(2)

(November 1995), as applicable in any

technical data.

Safety Notices

A WARNING notice denotes a haz-

ard. It calls attention to an operating

procedure, practice, or the like that, if

not correctly performed or adhered

to, could result in personal injury or

death. Do not proceed beyond a

WARNING notice until the indicated

conditions are fully understood and

met.

A CAUTION notice denotes a hazard.

It calls attention to an operating proce-

dure, practice, or the like that, if not

correctly performed or adhered to,

could result in damage to the product

or loss of important data. Do not pro-

ceed beyond a CAUTION notice until

the indicated conditions are fully

understood and met.

WARNING

CAUTION

iiiBenchCel Microplate Handler User Guide

Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

About this guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Accessing product user information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

1. Safety guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

General safety information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Safety and regulatory compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Emergency stops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Safety equipment and features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Potential safety hazards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

BenchCel Microplate Handler description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Hardware overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Integration options for workstations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Labware considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Software description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

3. Installing BenchCel Microplate Handler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Installation workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Verifying laboratory requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Unpacking BenchCel Microplate Handler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Mounting the robot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

About integrating devices in a BenchCel Workstation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Connecting the power source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Connecting the pendant directly to the BenchCel device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Connecting the pendant through the Robot Disable Hub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Connecting and disconnecting the air source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Connecting the computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Installing the shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

4. Setting up the BenchCel device. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Setup workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Starting up and shutting down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Creating BenchCel device in the VWorks software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Opening BenchCel Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Creating profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Initializing the device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Setting and managing teachpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Contents

iviv BenchCel Microplate Handler User Guide

5. Setting sensor thresholds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Overview for setting sensor thresholds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Calculating the Plate presence threshold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Determining the optimum Orientation sensor offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Calculating the Orientation threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Worksheet for setting sensor thresholds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

6. Preparing for a run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Workflow for operating the BenchCel Microplate Handler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Handling the labware racks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Filling and emptying the labware racks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Installing and uninstalling the labware racks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Performing pre-run checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

7. Maintenance and troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Routine maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Cleaning up after a protocol run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Replacing the fuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Hardware problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Software error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Diagnostic tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Adjusting the stacker gripper pressure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Reporting problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

A. Quick reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Rack-release button indicator light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

BenchCel Diagnostics - Controls tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

BenchCel Diagnostics - Jog/Teach tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

BenchCel Diagnostics - Labware tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

BenchCel Diagnostics - General Settings tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

BenchCel Diagnostics - Profiles tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Teachpoint Details dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Preface

This preface contains the following topics:

•“About this guide” on page vi

•“Accessing product user information” on page viii

Preface

About this guide

vi BenchCel Microplate Handler User Guide

About this guide

Who should read this guide

This user guide is for people with the following job roles:

What this guide covers

This guide describes the G5580A BenchCel Microplate Handler and earlier R-Series

models. This guide covers installation, setup, operation, and maintenance.

This guide does not provide instructions for the following:

•Agilent devices that are integrated with the BenchCel Microplate Handler in a

workstation configuration, such as the Bravo Platform, PlateLoc Thermal

Microplate Sealer, Microplate Labeler, and Labware MiniHub

•Third-party devices

For more information about these topics, see the relevant user guides for these

products.

Software version

This guide is applicable for the following software:

•BenchCel Diagnostics 21.3.0, which is included in VWorks software 14.0 and later.

•BenchCel Diagnostics versions included in VWorks software 12.3 – 13.1.x.

What is new in this edition

and

Job role Responsibilities

Installer Unpacks, installs, and tests the device before it is used.

Integrator Configures hardware and writes software.

Lab manager,

administrator, or

technician

•Manages the automation system that contains the device

•Develops the applications that are run on the system

•Develops training materials and standard operating

procedures for operators

Operator Performs the daily production work on the device and solves

routine problems.

Description See…

Added descriptions for VWorks software

14.0.

“Software description” on page 29

vii

Preface

About this guide

BenchCel Microplate Handler User Guide

Related guides

You should use this guide in conjunction with the following guides:

•Automation Solutions Products General Safety Guide. Provides general safety

information and describes potential safety hazards that you might encounter when

using Automation Solutions products. A copy of this safety guide is included with

your shipment.

•VWorks software guides:

–VWorks Automation Control Setup Guide. Explains how to define labware and

labware classes, liquid classes, and pipetting techniques.

The VWorks 14.0 version also explains the VWorks compliance features and

how to set up an experiments databases.

–VWorks Automation Control User Guide. Explains how to create protocols, and

set task parameters for each device in the system.

•BenchCel Microplate Handler Quick Guide. The quick guide summarizes the

instructions in this user guide.

•Agilent Technologies device user guides. These guides explain how to set up and

use the devices that you integrate with the BenchCel Microplate Handler, such as

the Bravo Platform User Guide.

•Third-party device user documents, if applicable. These guides explain how to set

up and use the third-party devices.

Updated the Robot Disable Hub

descriptions to specify the 3-Port Robot

Disable Hub.

•“Safety equipment and features” on

page 8

•“Connecting the pendant through

the Robot Disable Hub” on page 53

Updated the instructions for creating the

device file to include how to select the

teachpoint for an integrated device.

“Specifying BenchCel accessibility at

other devices” on page 72

Updated the profile and teachpoint

descriptions and procedures to reflect

changes introduced in VWorks software

14.0.

•“Creating profiles” on page 76

•“Setting and managing teachpoints”

on page 84

•“BenchCel Diagnostics - Profiles

tab” on page 179

Updated the fuse replacement procedure

to make the description consistent for

both 115 V and 230 V power.

“Replacing the fuse” on page 134

Added a description of the indicators on

the Controls tab.

“BenchCel Diagnostics - Controls tab” on

page 167

Description See…

Preface

Accessing product user information

viii BenchCel Microplate Handler User Guide

Accessing product user information

About this topic

This topic describes the different formats of user information and explains how to

access it for the Agilent Automation Solutions products.

Where to find user information

The user information is available in the following locations:

•Knowledge base. The help system for the Automation Solutions products is

available from:

–Help menu within the VWorks software: Select Help > Knowledge Base or press

F1.

–From the Windows desktop: Select Start ( ) > All Apps > Agilent

Technologies > VWorks Knowledge Base.

For guidelines on using the VWorks context-sensitive help and knowledge base

features, see Using the knowledge base, below.

•PDF files. The PDF files of the user guides are installed with the VWorks software

(C:\Program Files (x86)\Agilent Technologies\VWorks\UserGuides) and are

available in the VWorks Knowledge Base.

•Website. You can search the online VWorks Knowledge Base or download the latest

version of any PDF file from the Agilent website at www.agilent.com/chem/askb.

Accessing safety information

Safety information for the Agilent Automation Solutions devices appears in the

Automation Solutions Products General Safety Guide and in the corresponding device

safety guide or user guide.

You can also search the knowledge base or the PDF files for safety information.

Using the knowledge base

Knowledge base topics are displayed using web browser software such as Microsoft

Edge.

Note: If you want to use Internet Explorer to display the topics, you might have to allow

local files to run active content (scripts and ActiveX controls). To do this, in Internet

Explorer, open the Internet Options dialog box. Click the Advanced tab, locate the

Security section, and select Allow active content to run in files on my computer.

Preface

Accessing product user information

BenchCel Microplate Handler User Guide

Opening the help topic for an area in the VWorks window

To access the context-sensitive help feature:

1In the main window of the VWorks software, click the help button . The pointer

changes to . Notice that the different icons or areas are highlighted as you

move the pointer over them.

2Click an icon or area of interest. The relevant topic or document opens.

Preface

Accessing product user information

xBenchCel Microplate Handler User Guide

Features in the Knowledge Base window

Step For this task...

1Contents pane. Lists all the books and the table of contents of the books.

2Search. Allows you to search the Knowledge Base (all products or selected products) using

keywords.

3Topic area. Displays the selected online help topic.

4Navigation buttons. Enable you to navigate through the next or previous topics listed in the Contents

tab.

5Toolbar buttons: Enable you to:

•Expand or collapse all the sections in a topic that has drop-down headings.

•Print the topic.

•Send feedback by email for a given topic.

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