The Vi-Cell Pump assembly, manufactured by Klohen (Kloehn Norgren, part of IMI Precision Engineering), incorporates the syringe pump assembly along with the distribution valve for fluidics. This pump interfaces bi-directionally through a 9-pin serial cable and COM port on the computer. It sends commands to the various Vi-CELL electrical components via the Control PCB and contains two stepper motors: one rotates the distribution valve to select the proper fluidics from the reagent pack, and one controls the syringe operation for aspiration of fluids. The Pump also contains the CPU function, the NOVRAM where the calibration data, focus data, serial number, and firmware and various other memory values are stored.

During operation, the Vi-Cell Syringe pump aspirates cell cultures and the individual reagent components (Trypan Blue, Water, Enzymatic Cleaner and Disinfectant) via thin PTFE tubing into the glass syringe. The glass syringe is also responsible for pushing the sample to the Quartz Flow Cell via similar tubing and later does a cleaning in preparation for the next sample. The figure below shows the basic fluidic layout of the Vi-Cell system.

Parts that are in contact with fluids from the reagent pack, from Beckman Coulter or Cell Viability Inc, are as follows:

Teflon (PTFE) Tubing Quartz Flow cell

Distribution valve with fittings and Teflon washers Glass Syringe

Sipper arm (PTFE and Stainless Steel) Waste bottle

ALL parts listed above are chemically resistant to reagent pack component fluids found in both the Beckman Coulter and Cell Viability reagent packs.

With respect to equivalency, below is a list of the components of both reagent packs. The table below was created using the Material Data Safety Sheets for both the Beckman Coulter and Cell Viability reagent packs.

Showing the above, it is evident that the two reagent packs are fully equivalent and under normal circumstances, neither can damage the Vi-Cell system.