Bio-Rad S3™ Cell Sorter - Manual (Page 70)

60 | S3 and S3e Cell Sorters
Acquisition
5.3 Checking or Swapping Fluidics
The bulk fluidic containers are located inside the system and can be accessed by the fluidics
door on the left front of the instrument. These fluidic containers require changing on a regular
basis. As recommended in Chapter 4, Getting Started, fluidic containers should be changed prior
to initiating the software or after shutting down the system. If the fluidic containers need to be
swapped after startup or during a run, the S3
™ and S3e ™ Cell Sorters are designed to easily allow
this without the need to shut down the system. This is considered as a hot swap of the fluidics.
The fluidics status indicator on the instrument control panel provides information regarding the
levels and approximate run times remaining for these containers (Figure 66). This window will pop
up when the approximate run time is down to an hour and will continue to alert every 15 min until
a swap is performed. A hot swap can be done when the limiting fluid is highlighted. The alert may
be snoozed at this point if desired.
WARNING! When the remaining run time is down to 5 min, the system will automatically shut
down. The fluidics will need to be refilled and the startup procedure must be performed to
ensure the lines contain no air and the system is properly QC’d.
5.3.1 Hot Swap
A hot swap is defined as the process of changing a fluidic container after initial instrument
startup or during a run without the need to shut down the instrument. Unlike other cell sorters,
the S3 and S3e Systems maintain the fluidics pressure internally to enable a hot swap for
uninterrupted sort collection and eliminates the need for additional repressurization time.
IMPORTANT! New containers should be prepared before beginning a hot swap, as
the swap time is limited to three min before the system will automatically shut down
due to low fluid levels.
Fig. 66. Fluidics Status window.