There is provided an automatic tool changer which, in a precision roll turning lathe which feeds a tool post at a high speed, can automatically change a tool, such as a cutting tool, without stopping the machine, thereby enabling highly efficient ultra-Precision machining of a roll mold for molding of a large-sized plastic sheet. The automatic tool changer includes: a change device including a vertically movable pivot arm having a pivot axis and which pivots in a horizontal plane, a hand portion, mounted at the front end of the arm, for detachably gripping a tool holder, a pivot drive section for pivoting the pivot arm, and a lifting drive section for vertically moving the pivot arm; a tool holder stocker, having a plurality of circumferentially-arranged stages disposed at a predetermined distance from the pivot axis, each stage detachably holding a tool holder; a holder base, mounted to the tool post, for fixing and unfixing a tool holder through the rotation of a clamp shaft; and a clamp shaft operating device including an operating portion for clamping/unclamping the tool holder by rotating the clamp shaft.

A machining installation for workpieces comprises a workpiece positioning device comprising a workpiece holder pivot unit as well as a tool positioning device comprising a tool holder pivot unit. The workpiece holder pivot unit is designed such that a workpiece holder is pivotable about at least three and no more than four workpiece holder pivot axes. Moreover, the tool holder pivot unit is designed such that a tool holder is pivotable about no more than two tool holder pivot axes. The machining installation has a simple design and ensures flexible and accurate machining of workpieces.

A magnetic tool to enable a robot arm to grip a metallic workpiece includes a hollow housing having a coupling member adapted to attach the tool to the robotic arm. A sleeve depends from the housing having a shaft slidably received therein. The shaft has a first end disposed in the housing and a second end extending axially outwardly from an open end of the sleeve. A magnetic member is disposed on the second end of the shaft. The magnetic member includes a main body having a cavity formed therein. A magnet is slidably disposed within the cavity and attached to an actuator adapted to adjust the distance between the magnet and an inner surface of a magnetic face of the main body of the magnetic member to vary the magnetic attraction force at the magnetic face.

A carriage is moved in a direction including a Y axis component in order to move a turning process tool that is attached to a tool spindle along a horizontal line that is perpendicular to a Z axis, and thus, a turning process is carried out on a workpiece which is attached to a workpiece spindle.

A tool magazine device includes a magazine body adapted to be disposed on a machine body of a machine tool to confront a working space, a plurality of insertion openings formed in a right side wall of the magazine body and each extending towards a left side wall of the magazine body to form a storage chamber, a plurality of gripping members fitted in the insertion openings for grippingly engage cutting tools, an inlet disposed in the magazine body for introducing therein a flow of pressurized air, and an air duct unit disposed on the left side wall and coupled to communicate the inlet with the storage chambers so as to permit the pressurized air to flow out of the insertion openings to thereby clean swarf from the cutting tools.

A shaping machine system including a shaping device and a computer is provided. The shaping device includes at least one jig mount body configured for mounting a jig; a shaping tool support body configured for supporting a shaping tool; a first drive device configured for rotating the shaping tool; and a second drive device configured for driving the shaping tool support body or the at least one jig mount body or changing a posture of the shaping tool relative to the workpiece. The computer is configured for controlling the first and second drive devices according to predetermined shaping data. The computer includes a jig position measuring unit configured for measuring a position of the jig; a position error detecting unit configured for detecting a position error of the jig, and a shaping data correcting unit configured for correcting the predetermined shaping data according to a jig position error.

A tool handling device for machine tools, comprising a tool magazine having a transfer position for the transfer of the tools, including a tool changer movable between the transfer position and an exchange position, which has a rotatable double gripper, and a supporting structure movable on a foundation, on which the tool changer is mounted. In order to achieve fast tool changes in tight spaces on the machine, the supporting structure has an upper slide and a lower slide which can both be displaced by means of spindle drives in the same direction on a foundation, wherein a single drive motor is provided for driving the two spindle drives.

A system for loading/unloading sheets is disclosed, some of which also being of metal, and handling method thereof, serving a laser cutting center. The system includes a pair of rails (1, 2), supported at a preset height above a feeding tray (T) of the cutting center, whereon at least one Cartesian robotized hand is movably mounted, capable of moving along horizontal axes X and Y as well as along a vertical axis Z, mutually orthogonal, and including at least two bridge cranes (3, 4) sliding along the rails (1, 2) each of which supports at least one pair of robotized hands (5-8), and the robotized hands (5-8) have an electromagnetic pick-up head which may be coupled with a suction-cup device (103). Feeding tray (T) consists of bars whereon small tesserae (204) of ceramic material are fitted.

There is provided a component mounting apparatus, which includes: a nozzle which sucks a component; a nozzle supporting member, on which the nozzle is installed, which moves in a vertical direction with respect to an upper surface of a substrate on which the component sucked at the nozzle is mounted; an optical system which captures an image of a leading edge portion of the nozzle where the component is sucked in a component mounting operation, from a side direction, such that an optical axis of the optical system is inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to a sucking surface of the nozzle; and an analyzer which analyzes the image of the leading edge portion to determine whether a sucking state of the component sucked by the nozzle is normal or abnormal.

A carriage is moved in a direction including a Y axis component in order to move a turning process tool that is attached to a tool spindle along a horizontal line that is perpendicular to a Z axis, and thus, a turning process is carried out on a workpiece which is attached to a workpiece spindle.

A device and method for adjusting the magnetic strength of a magnetic end effector for lift systems is described. The magnetic end effector is capable of lifting discriminate payloads by selectively varying the strength of the magnetic forces output by the magnetic end effector. An actuator can be operatively coupled to the variable strength magnet end effector, wherein the actuator is selectively actuatable to control the adjustment of the variable strength magnet. The actuator may also be configured to maintain the variable strength magnet at a desired magnetic force output strength once achieved for any given amount of time.

A cutting device includes a support base, a first slide module, a second slide module slidably connected to the first slide module, and a cutting module. The support base includes a support surface and a slide portion on the support surface. The first slide module is slidably positioned on the slide portion. The sliding direction of the second slide module is perpendicular to the sliding direction of the first slide module. The cutting module includes a fixed frame fixed on the second slide module, a driving device fixed on the fixed frame, and a cutter connected to the driving device. The driving device drives the cutter to rotate around a central axis of the cutter and move up and down along the central axis. The central axis is perpendicular to the support surface. The cutter includes a hollow cylindrical blade. An end surface of the blade faces the support surface.

Device for managing the electrodes for electrical discharge machining EDM machine tools comprises at least one magazine (1) that has a series of individual housings (33) designed to accept and hold exchangeable elements (5) consisting of electrodes (6, 22) mounted on an electrode holder (11a, 11b), and a changer device (2) equipped with a gripper (2) intended to move the exchangeable elements (5) from the individual housings (33) towards the machine and vice versa. A first adapter piece (21) is associated with each of the exchangeable elements (5). This adapter piece (21) surrounds the electrode holder (11a, 11b) and is gripped around its periphery by the gripper (9) of the changer (2) so as to guarantee that the exchangeable element (5) is held precisely. The device further comprises a second adapter piece (32) associated with each of the individual housings (33) of the magazine (1) that are likely to be used.

A head tool changer for use with a deposition-based digital manufacturing system, the head tool changer comprising a tooling unit configured to retain a deposition head, a grip unit configured to engage with tooling unit and to relay electrical power to the tooling unit, and a master unit operably mounted to a gantry and configured to engage with the tooling unit and to relay electrical power to the tooling unit.

A welding tip replacement apparatus is used for a welding torch that includes a tubular tip connection body, a tubular retaining member fitted over the tip connection body, and a tubular welding tip fitted within the tip connection body, the welding torch being configured such that displacing the retaining member toward the proximal end of the tip connection body along the axis of the tip connection body causes the welding tip axially fastened to the tip connection body to be released. The apparatus includes a first grasping mechanism grasping the retaining member, a second grasping mechanism grasping the welding tip protruding from the retaining member in a direction away from the distal end of the tip connection body, a first driving mechanism driving the first grasping mechanism axially, and a second driving mechanism driving the second grasping mechanism axially.

A tool changing device for a cutting head of a machine for cutting flat glass sheets, the tool changing device comprising: a bridge; a carriage for supporting the cutting head, the carriage being slidingly attached to the bridge for translation along the bridge; an electric motor that provides for translational motion of the carriage with respect to the bridge; and a tool supporting slider, which is configured to support a plurality of tools such that the tools can be automatically exchanged between the tool supporting slider and the cutting head, the tool supporting slider coupled, by way of reversible fixing elements to the cutting head supporting carriage during work by the cutting head, and wherein the tool supporting slider is uncoupled from the cutting head supporting carriage during tool changing operations.

Provided is a module for automatic tool exchange device of novel structure wherein electric signals can be transmitted with high reliability while preventing transmission efficiency from deteriorating between a first coupling member and a second coupling member. An electromagnetic shielding member is arranged on an outer circumference of a core member except for a transmission surface, a gap member having electromagnetic shielding effect lower than that of the electromagnetic shielding member is interposed between the core member and the electromagnetic shielding member, and a first module and a second module are provided, respectively, with coil units equipped with coil heads which are constituted to include a coil member, the core member and the gap member.

The disclosure provides a method and a system for detecting a fiber fault in a Passive Optical Network (PON). The system comprises an optical path detection device, a Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) coupler, a wavelength selection coupler, a branch fiber selector and a wavelength selection router. The detection system is attached to an original PON system, without influencing the operation of the original system while performing the detection. With the disclosure, the problem of being unable to determine whether there is a fault in a branch fiber due to the loss of an optical path detection reflection signal is solved, the branch fiber with a fault can be quickly located and fixed, thus the operational and maintenance costs of an operator are reduced.

A system and method are disclosed for transporting deterministic traffic in a gigabit passive optical network. A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an Optical Line Termination (OLT) for exchanging data traffic in a Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) having a controller programmed to generate a timeslot schedule for transport of a desired bandwidth of constant bit rate (CBR) data traffic by selecting one or more timeslots from periodic frame clusters operating according to a GPON Transmission Convergence (GTC) protocol. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

A method and apparatus for controlling update of digital pre-distortion (DPD) coefficient is provided. The apparatus is applicable to a digital power control system, wherein the apparatus comprises: an update controlling unit configured to determine a group of fully-trained DPD coefficients among a plurality of DPD coefficients; and a DPD coefficient generating unit configured to update adaptively the group of fully-trained DPD coefficients according to the result of judgment of the update controlling unit. The DPD coefficients are allowed to be updated after being judged as being able to be fully trained according to power distribution information of DPD input signals, or according to address distribution information of an LUT, or according to average power of output of an HPA; otherwise, they may not be updated, thereby efficiently preventing DPD abnormality resulted from unfull training of coefficients in being updated.

The disclosure discloses an apparatus and method for rerouting multiple traffics. The apparatus includes a path computation unit and a traffic path incorporation unit, the path computation unit forwards a received uniform route computation notification message including multiple pieces of failed traffic connection information to the traffic path incorporation unit, and also forwards a route inquiry request transmitted from the head node of the fault traffic to the traffic path incorporation unit; the traffic path incorporation unit analyzes and detects the failed traffic connection information according to traffic incorporating and route inquiry statistic algorithm, and uniformly obtains and records the recovery route information from the path computation unit; when receiving the route inquiry request forwarded by the path computation unit, the traffic path incorporation unit is further configured to search the record according to the route inquiry request, and return the found corresponding recovery route information to the head node which requests the recovery through the path computation unit. The disclosure uses a incorporating and uniform route inquiry method, the resource loss of the path computation unit is reduced, and the efficiency of link restoration is improved.

An optical transceiver has a communications mode and an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) mode. The transceiver comprises a transmitter channel and a receiver channel operable, in the communications mode, to respectively transmit and receive communications signals through respective external optical fibers. The transceiver also comprises a guide arrangement for guiding, in the OTDR mode, a reflected OTDR signal along a path from the transmitter channel into the receiver channel. A method of obtaining test data for an optical fiber in an optical data communications subsystem is also disclosed.

Methods and systems for decoding a signal include compensating for impairments in a received signal using at least carrier phase estimation, where residual phase error remains after compensation; calculating symbol log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) for symbols in the compensated signal using Monte Carlo integration; demapping the symbols in the compensated signal using the symbol LLRs and extrinsic information from signal decoding to produce one or more estimated codewords; and decoding each estimated codeword with a decoder that generates a decoded codeword and extrinsic information.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods for allocating bandwidth to a plurality of traffic containers of a passive optical network. The method comprises receiving upstream data from a plurality of traffic containers of the passive optical network and passing the upstream data to a traffic manager. The method further comprises dynamically changing the allocated bandwidth based at least in part on the amount of the upstream data stored in one or more queues of the traffic manager.

A method of controlling consumer devices using an infrared dongle coupled to a mobile device includes receiving power for the infrared dongle from the mobile device. The infrared dongle includes an infrared transmitter coupled to a microcontroller. One or more instructions are received in the microcontroller from the mobile device. The received one or more instructions are generated from codes stored in a memory of the mobile device. In response to the receiving, one or more infrared signals are transmitted via the infrared transmitter to at least one of the consumer devices.

A transmitter and a receiver for an optical telecommunication system of the WDM type are disclosed. In one aspect, the transmitter uses a chromato-temporal encoder which, with each block of symbols to be transmitted, associates a code matrix, where each element of the matrix corresponds to a wavelength and a use of the channel. The transmitter includes multiple modulators, where each modulator modulates a laser beam at a wavelength during a use of the channel by an element corresponding to the code matrix. The beams modulated in this manner are multiplexed in an optical fiber. Another embodiment using both a wavelength and a polarization encoding is also proposed.

Techniques are provided describing a first connector unit that receives first data from a first transceiver and a second connector unit that receives second data from a second transceiver. A switch unit is configured to receive first switch data from the first connector unit at a first data rate and second switch data from the second connector unit at the first data rate. A third connector unit receives the first switch or the second switch data from the switch unit and a second portion of the second data from the second connector unit. The third connector unit also sends the first switch data to a host port when the first connector unit receives the first data and to send the second switch data and the second portion of the second data to the host port when the second connector unit receives the second data.

This invention concerns real-time multi-impairment signal performance monitoring. In particular it concerns an optical device, for instance a monolithic integrated photonics chip, comprising a waveguide having an input region to receive a signal for characterization, and a narrow band CW laser signal. A non-linear waveguide region to mix the two received signals. More than one output region, each equipped with bandpass filters that extract respective discrete frequency bands of the RF spectrum of the mixed signals. And, also comprising (slow) power detectors to output the extracted discrete frequency banded signals.

An apparatus and method for fault indication and localization in a Passive Optical Network (PON) comprising a multistage power splitter (100, 200, 300) with at least one 1:N splitter (120, 221, 222, 321, 322) followed by N items of 2:M splitters (131, 132, 231-233, 331-336), wherein N and M are integers greater than 1. The apparatus also comprises an Optical Time Domain Reflectometry (OTDR) device (110, 210, 310) capable of inserting an OTDR signal into the power splitter (100, 200, 300), and adapted to insert the OTDR signal between the first stage of the at least one 1:N splitter (120, 221, 222, 321, 322) and the second N items of 2:M splitters (131, 132, 231-233, 331-336).

The present invention refers to a method for adjusting power levels of channels (15) in an optical link (7) of an optical network comprising at least one optical amplifier (9) wherein the power distribution among the channels (15) of the optical link (7) is achieved in function of: target power levels based on the features of corresponding connections and of link physical features,total available power in said at least one amplifier (9),features of control means allowing the power distribution, and wherein for a channel corresponding to a connection having a higher vulnerability characterizing parameter, the tolerated difference between an actual channel power level and the target power level is lower than for a channel corresponding to a connection having a lower vulnerability characterizing parameter.

Additional bandwidth is provisioned to layer 2/3 networks by initially provisioning optical wavelength channels to meet incremental needs for additional capacity. When bandwidth requirements grow large enough, a wavelength-sized channel is provisioned to meet the bandwidth needs, and the previously provisioned optical wavelength channels are freed up to be reused for additional growth. The optical wavelength channels may be channelized VLANs mapped to resizable optical channel data units such as ODUflex units.

A method for adjusting an optical signal includes determining a polarization dependent loss (PDL) value associated with the optical signal, determining an angle between the optical signal and one or more axes of PDL, determining an amount of nonlinear phase noise due to PDL and nonlinear effects upon the optical signal based upon the PDL value and the angle, determining a phase rotation based upon the amount of nonlinear phase noise, and applying the phase rotation to the optical signal.

A laser relay module for free space optical communications including an optical telescope for receiving and transmitting optical beams; an optical diplexer for separating transmitting and received optical beams; an optical amplifier; a modulated beacon laser for line of sight control of a plurality of communicating remote network nodes; a beacon beam detector for detecting an incoming beacon optical beam for line of sight control of the optical telescope and receiving data from other network nodes; and means for inserting an output of the modulated beacon laser into the optical telescope for transmission to another network node, and for transporting the incoming beacon optical beam to the beacon detector.

An optical transceiver of one embodiment includes a transmitter optical subassembly to transmit an optical signal, a receiver optical subassembly to receive an optical signal, a mother board, a daughter board, and a housing. The mother board mounts electronic circuits that electrically communicate with the optical transmitter optical subassembly and the receiver optical subassembly. The daughter board mounts other electronic circuits that electrically communicate with the optical transmitter optical subassembly and the receiver optical subassembly. The daughter board has an extra area mounting a portion of the other electronic circuits. The housing defines a space for installing the optical transmitter optical subassembly, the receiver optical subassembly, the mother board, and the daughter board. The extra area is disposed outside the space.

In the present invention, wasted power consumption caused when a clock and data recovery unit in an optical network unit in a PON system is activated from a power-saving state is reduced and rapid, secure communication is performed. A clock and data recovery unit includes a phase-locked loop that can be set to normal mode or power-saving mode and that includes a voltage-controlled oscillator and recovers a clock signal and a data signal from input signals. The clock and data recovery unit includes a reference clock multiplier circuit that multiplies a reference clock signal and outputs the multiplied reference clock signal; and a frequency training loop that includes the same voltage-controlled oscillator and performs synchronous oscillation training by the voltage-controlled oscillator using the reference clock multiplier circuit before the phase-locked loop transitions from power-saving mode to normal mode.

The invention relates to embedding data symbols of a data signal into a luminance output of an illumination device. The device includes a controller configured for receiving a first base pattern and a second base pattern within a frame period, and generating a shifted second pattern by phase shifting the second base pattern within the frame period with respect to the first base pattern in response to the data signal such that the data symbols are embedded in the luminance output of the device. The device also includes a first light source configured to generate a first luminance output in response to the first base pattern and a second light source configured to generate a second luminance output in response to the shifted second pattern. The first and second luminance outputs have different output spectra and the luminance output of the illumination device comprises both the first and second luminance outputs. With this approach, the short-time average light output of the illumination device remains constant, decreasing the visible flicker and allowing the use of lower switching frequencies relative to the prior art approaches.

A cutting insert (130) is formed to be rotationally symmetric with respect to an axis line (C3) of a height direction and to be planarly symmetric with respect to a virtual plane of the insert (VS1), an axis line (C2) of a traverse direction is gradually inclined toward the front of a rotational direction around which a workpiece (W) rotates moving toward a first traverse direction (C2A), an axis line (C1) of a longitudinal direction extends toward a lower surface side of an insert body (131) so as to approach a virtual plane of the tool moving toward a first longitudinal direction (C1A), and one corner portion (143C) in the other cutting edge (132B) is disposed further toward a first traverse direction (C2A) than one corner portion (143A) in one cutting edge (132A).

Milling cutter and method of operating same, and other machine tools, and an adjustment mechanism therefor. A cutting insert is adjusted by moving a resilient web with an adjusting screw.

A cutting insert has at least first and second side surfaces, with a chip-control arrangement. The chip-control arrangement includes at least one projection disposed at an intersection of a corner of the cutting insert. When the chip-control arrangement includes two projections they can be disposed symmetrically on both sides of the intersection. Each of the at least one projections is elongated and extends longitudinally along an associated side surface.

A cutting tool includes a polygonal cutter body and an end cutting insert for chipforming machining mounted in a serrated seat disposed at an axial end of the cutter body. A bottom surface of the insert has a plurality of parallel serrations meshing with corresponding serrations of the seat. The serrations extend transversely relative to the longitudinal axis for resisting axially rearward cutting forces applied to the insert. The seat is formed directly by the cutter body, or by a shim disposed beneath the insert. The shim is provided with a downward lip to transfer axial forces to the cutter body. The insert can be square or triangular, wherein the serrations are in the form of a plurality of sets of parallel serrations disposed adjacent respective cutting edges.

In a cutting tool for chip removing machining a holder for a cutter has a body received therein and movable with surfaces to bear against the cutter for defining the position of the cutter in the direction of an intended axis of rotation of the holder as well as a screw which may be screwed in a threaded bore in the holder. Spring members are arranged to act between the holder and the body for biasing the body against said screw portions.

A milling cutter for chip removing machining, including a basic body rotatable in a predetermined direction around a center axis and having a front end surface and an envelope surface that extends axially backward from the front end surface and is concentric with the center axis. A number of indexable milling inserts are mounted in respective peripherally spaced-apart seats having a mutually fixed pitch, each milling insert including an upper side, an under side and at least one clearance surface, the clearance surface together with the upper side delimiting at least two alternately active cutting edges that are uniform in their extension between first and second end points. The cutting edges of each milling insert are situated on different levels in relation to the under side of the milling insert to alter the effective pitch between the active cutting edges of the milling inserts by indexing of at least one of the milling inserts.

A roughing end mill comprises an end mill body and plural inserts which are placed on an outer circumference of the end mill body with a predetermined distance apart from each other in the axial direction of the end mill body, wherein the plural inserts form plural insert rows which are provided in a circumferential direction of the end mill body, where the inserts are offset in the axial direction from each other between the different insert rows which are adjacent in the circumferential direction. The inserts have waveform cutting edges which face towards an outer circumferential side of the end mill body. One insert of one insert row and an insert of another insert row are positioned such that the waveform cutting edges of each of these inserts make up a waveform cutting edge row whose phase is continuous on a rotation trajectory around the axis.

A cutting insert (14) is formed with an insert aperture (32) opening out to insert top and bottom surfaces (14A, 14B) of the cutting insert (14). In a plan view of the insert top surface (14A), the cutting insert (14) and the insert aperture (32) both have oblong shapes which are elongated along a common insert longitudinal axis (AIL). The aperture (32) includes first and second side surfaces (32A1, 32A2) which each extend along the insert longitudinal axis (AIL), and aperture first and second end surfaces (32B1, 32B2) which each extend transverse relative to the insert longitudinal axis (AIL). At least one of the aperture first and second end surfaces (32B1, 32B2) is formed with a clamping lip (32C1, 32C2).

A cutting tool used for grooving and turning operations where a cutting insert is resiliently securable in a holder blade. The cutting insert includes an insert central lower surface located between, and recessed with respect to, two insert lower component surfaces, each having an insert lower abutment surface. At least one of the two insert lower component surfaces includes an insert inner curved ramp extending from its insert lower abutment surface to the adjacent insert lower intermediate surface and at least the other of the two insert lower component surfaces includes an insert outer curved ramp extending from its insert lower abutment surface to an adjacent end surface.

Method and apparatus for performing a discrete glucose testing and bolus dosage determination including a glucose meter with bolus calculation function are provided.

A MEMS sensor includes at least one closed nodal anchor along a predetermined closed nodal path on at least one surface of a resonant mass. The resonant mass may be configured to resonate substantially in an in-plane contour mode. Drive and/or sense electrodes may be disposed within a cavity formed at least in part by the resonant mass, the closed nodal anchor, and a substrate.

An apparatus for storing and dispensing a test strip includes a container configured to store a stack of test strips. The container maintains appropriate environmental conditions, such as humidity, for storing the test strips. An engaging member is disposed in the container and is adapted to contact one test strip of the stack of test strips. An actuator actuates the engaging member to dispense the one test strip from the container. Since one test strip is dispensed at a time, the remaining test strips are not handled by the user. Accordingly, the unused test strips remain free of contaminants such as naturally occurring oils on the user's hand.

The present invention extends to a disinfection cap for disinfecting a male luer end of an infusion therapy device. The disinfection cap can include an internal reservoir containing an antimicrobial or saline solution which is sealed with a flexible septum to prevent the solution from evaporating. The septum can include one or more slits or pierceable seams that allow a male luer end of an infusion therapy device to be inserted through the septum and into the solution. While the male luer is inserted through the septum, the solution contacts both the inner and outer surfaces of the male luer. Because the septum reduces evaporation of the solution and prevents the solution from leaking out of the cap, the solution remains in contact with the male luer for a longer duration then when typical disinfection caps are used thereby increasing the effectiveness of the disinfectant.

A centrifuge to which sample tubes can be introduced while the centrifuge is in motion. The centrifuge comprises a carousel having an upper portion and a lower portion. The upper portion of the carousel has a plurality of positions for sample tubes for a centrifugation operation, a plurality of drive mechanisms attached to the upper portion of the carousel, a movable element mounted upon each drive mechanism, the movable element capable of traversing the length of the drive mechanism when the drive mechanism is actuated, a sample tube-holding assembly comprising a sample tube holder and a bearing attached to each movable element, and at least one balancing element capable of contributing to a force vector that cancels an imbalance vector generated by rotation of the centrifuge.