DEVICES, METHODS, AND SYSTEMS TO COLLECT, STORE, AND ANALYZE CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure pertains to collection, storing, and analysis tools, and the like. More particularly, the present disclosure pertains to devices and systems for collecting, storing, and analyzing chemical substances, and methods for manufacturing and using such devices.

BACKGROUND

A wide variety of medical devices have been developed in the medical field for collection, storing, and analysis of samples. These devices are manufactured by any one of a variety of different manufacturing methods and may be used according to any one of a variety of methods. Of the known medical devices and methods, each has certain advantages and disadvantages.

BRIEF SUMMARY

This disclosure provides design, material, manufacturing method, and use alternatives for medical devices. Although it is noted that collection, storing and analysis approaches and systems are known, there exists a need for improvement on those approaches and systems.

An example collector includes collection component including adsorbent material, wherein the collection component is configured to collect one or more chemical substances from a target location of a subject’s anatomy.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the one or more chemical substances comprise volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the adsorbent material may be polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the collection component may be configured to include pores and the pores are sized to collect one or more chemical substances of a desired type.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the collector may further include a target facing component configured to receive the collection component and the target facing component may be configured to direct a fluid flow including the one or more chemical substances from the target location of the subject’s anatomy to the collection component.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the target facing component comprises one or more openings configured to allow the fluid flow to pass from a space between the target location of the subject’s anatomy and the target facing component to the collection component.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, one or more openings of the target facing component may define a fluid supply channel and a fluid vacuum channel.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the target facing component may be configured to contact the target location of the subject’s anatomy and includes one or more notches configured to allow ambient fluid around the target facing component to flow between the target location of the subject’s anatomy and the target facing component when the target facing component is contacting the subject’s anatomy at or adjacent the target location.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the collector may further include a cover component configured to cover at least a portion of the collection component, the cover including one or more openings and an opening of the one or more openings is configured to facilitate a release of a fluid flow that has passed through the collection component.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the one or more openings of the cover component define a fluid supply channel and a fluid vacuum channel.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the opening may define a vacuum channel and the cover may include a vacuum port in communication with the vacuum channel and configured to couple with a pump.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the collector may further include a base and a cover. The base is configured to couple to the cover and the base and the cover coupled to one another are configured to direct a fluid flow containing the one or more chemical substances from the target location of the subject’s anatomy to the adsorbent material.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the collector may further include a base and a cover, and the base may be configured to couple to the cover with the collection component located between the base and the cover.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the base may comprise one or more openings, the cover comprises one or more openings, and when the base and the cover are coupled to one another, the one or more openings in the base may be configured to direct a fluid flow containing the one or more chemical substances from the target location of the subj ect’s anatomy to the collection component, the collection component is configured to adsorb at least some of the one or more chemical substances from the fluid flow, and the one or more openings in the cover are configured to direct the fluid flow without the adsorbed chemical substances out of the collector.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the collector component may be separable from one or both of the base and the cover.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the collection component may be configured to be secured at a location relative to the target location of the subject’s anatomy.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the collector may further include a band configured to be worn by the subject against skin of the subject, and the collection component may be incorporated into the band such that the collection component is exposed to the target location of the subject’s anatomy when the band is worn by the subject.

In another example, collection system may include a collection component and a pump, and the pump may be configured to draw a fluid flow containing one or more chemical substances from a target location of a subject’s anatomy through the collection component and the collection component is configured to collect at least some of the one or more chemical substances from the fluid flow.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the collection system may further include a housing configured to house at least part of the collection component and facilitate causing the fluid flow containing one or more chemical substances from the target location of the subject’s anatomy to pass through or contact the collection component.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the collection component may be separable from the housing.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the housing may include a base and a cover in fluid communication with the pump, and the base may be configured to couple to the cover with the collection component located between the base and the cover.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the pump may be an oscillating pump.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the pump may be a manually operated pump configured to draw the fluid flow containing one or more substances from the target location of the subject’s anatomy through the collection component in response to manual actuation of the pump.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the pump may be an automated pump configured to draw the fluid flow containing one or more substances from the target location of the subject’s anatomy through the collection component in response to one or more control signals.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the pump may be a plenum and the collection component includes adsorbent material within an interior of the plenum.

In another example, a method of collection substances from a target location of a subject’s anatomy may include preparing a surface of the target location of the subject’s anatomy for collection of chemical substances from the target location, positioning a collector at a desired location to collect chemical substance from the target location, and removing the collector from the desired location after collecting chemical substances from the target location.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the collector is configured to adsorb chemical substances from skin of the subject and the target location is on a surface of the skin.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the desired location is a wound on the subject.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the method may include actuating a pump to draw a fluid flow containing the chemical substances from the target location through the collector.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, positioning the collector at the desired location may include securing the collector at the desired location.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, securing the collector at the desired location may include securing the collector at the desired location with a band.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, securing the collector at the desired location may include securing the collector at the desired location with an adhesive configured to adhere to skin of the subject.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, removing the collector from the desired location may include removing the collector after a predetermined time at which the adhesive no longer adheres to the skin.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the chemical substances collected from the target location may be indicative of bacteria in a wound.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the chemical substances collected from the target location may be indicative of the subject’s response to a therapy.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the chemical substances collected from the target location may be indicative of the subject’s wellness.

In another example, method of collection substances from a subject’s wound may include preparing a surface of the wound for collection of chemical substances from the target location, positioning a collector at a desired location to collect chemical substance from the wound, and removing the collector from the desired location after collecting chemical substances from the wound.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the method may include actuating a pump to draw a fluid flow containing the chemical substances from the wound through the collector.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, positioning the collector at the desired location may include securing the collector at the desired location.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, securing the collector at the desired location may include securing the collector at the desired location with a band.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the chemical substances collected from the wound may be indicative of bacteria in the wound.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the chemical substances collected from the wound may be indicative of the subject’s response to a therapy for treating a condition of the subject.

Alternatively or additionally to any of the embodiments in this section, the chemical substances collected from the wound may be indicative of the subject’s wellness.

The above summary of some embodiments is not intended to describe each disclosed embodiment or every implementation of the present disclosure. The Figures, and Detailed Description, which follow, more particularly exemplify these embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure may be more completely understood in consideration of the following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an illustrative collector on a subject’s anatomy;

FIG. 2 is a schematic bottom view of the illustrative collector of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the illustrative collector of FIG. 1, taken along line 3-3;

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an illustrative collector;

FIG. 5 is a schematic bottom view of the illustrative collector of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of the illustrative collector of FIG. 4 in communication with a pump;

FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of an illustrative collector in communication with a pump;

FIG. 8 is a schematic top perspective view of an illustrative collector;

FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the illustrative collector of FIG. 8, taken along line 9-9;

FIG. 10 is a schematic exploded view of the illustrative collector of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a schematic bottom perspective view of a base of the illustrative collector of FIG. 8;

FIG. 12 is a schematic bottom perspective view of a cover component of the illustrative collector of FIG. 8;

FIG. 13 is a schematic perspective of the illustrative collector of FIG. 8 in communication with a pump;

FIG. 14 is a schematic perspective view of an illustrative collector;

FIG. 15 is a schematic exploded view of the illustrative collector depicted in FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a schematic flow diagram of an illustrative method of collecting chemical substances from a target area of a subject’s anatomy; and

FIG. 17 is a schematic perspective view of an illustrative collector incorporating a band or strap.

While the disclosure is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the intention is not to limit the invention to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For the following defined terms, these definitions shall be applied, unless a different definition is given in the claims or elsewhere in this specification.

The term “fluid” is inclusive of both liquids and gases.

All numeric values are herein assumed to be modified by the term “about”, whether or not explicitly indicated. The term “about” generally refers to a range of numbers that one of skill in the art would consider equivalent to the recited value (e.g., having the same function or result). In many instances, the terms “about” may include numbers that are rounded to the nearest significant figure.

The recitation of numerical ranges by endpoints includes all numbers within that range (e.g. 1 to 5 includes 1, 1.5, 2, 2.75, 3, 3.80, 4, and 5).

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the term “or” is generally employed in its sense including “and/or” unless the content clearly dictates otherwise.

It is noted that references in the specification to “an embodiment”, “some embodiments”, “other embodiments”, etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include one or more particular features, structures, and/or characteristics. However, such recitations do not necessarily mean that all embodiments include the particular features, structures, and/or characteristics. Additionally, when particular features, structures, and/or characteristics are described in connection with one embodiment, it should be understood that such features, structures, and/or characteristics may also be used connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described unless clearly stated to the contrary.

The following detailed description should be read with reference to the drawings in which similar elements in different drawings are numbered the same or have similar tens and ones value, but a different hundreds value that is associated with a Figure number (e.g., a first configuration depicted in FIG. 1 of a component may have a reference number of 1XX and a second configuration depicted in FIG. 6 of the component may have a reference number of 6XX). The drawings, which are not necessarily to scale, depict illustrative embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Chemical substances migrate from inside a subject’s body to an exterior surface of the subject’s anatomy (e.g., a skin surface, a wound surface, or other suitable surface) by diffusion across the epidermis from cutaneous capillaries, sweat glands (eccrine, and apocrine glands), and sebaceous glands. In addition, the epidermis of the skin continuously sheds thousands of dead cells into the environment, which are replaced by differentiating cells from the layer below. These dead cells may be enveloped by the subject’s body’s own secretions and bacteria (e.g., from the air, environment outside the body, etc.), which act on the dead cells and envelope the dead cells in a minute vapor cloud to produce VOCs and/or other chemical substances. Example substances emitted, excreted, emanated, released, and/or secreted from, to, or through the exterior surface of a subject’s anatomy include, but are not limited to, sweat, water, minerals, natural compounds, xenobiotic compounds, sebum, protein degradation products, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and/or other suitable substances emitted from, to, or through the skin surface. Through changes in metabolic profiles of chemical substances produced by the body, physiological and pathological information may be identified.

VOCs are chemical compounds containing carbon that have a high enough vapor pressure under normal conditions to significantly vaporize and enter the atmosphere. VOCs and other chemical substances are produced from sweat and sebum as well as and in addition to their interactions with resident skin or wound bacteria. VOCs are continuously being produced by a mammalian body’s metabolism, including the metabolism of the human body, and released into the air predominantly via skin, breath, feces, and urine. Thus, VOCs can instantaneously reflect normal or abnormal physiological and pathological biochemical processes occurring in the body at a time of measurement.

A complex profile of VOCs and other chemical substances emanates from exterior surfaces of human anatomy (e.g., skin, wounds, etc.), which is altered by changes in the body’s metabolic or hormonal state, the external environment, and the bacterial species colonizing at the exterior surfaces. Based on this, bacterial biofilm formation in human ex vivo cutaneous wound models and their specific VOC profiles have been developed. These models and profiles provide a vehicle for human skin-relevant biofilm studies and VOC detection that has potential clinical translatability in efficient noninvasive diagnosis of wound infection, as discussed in Validation Of Biofilm Formation On Human Skin Wound Models And Demonstration Of Clinically Translatable Bacteria-Specific Volatile Signatures, Ashrafi M, Novak Frazer L, Bates M, Baguneid M, Alonso-Rasgado T, Xia G, Rautemaa-Richardson R, Bayat A, Sci Rep. 2018 Jun 21;8(1):9431, doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-27504-z), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for any and all purposes.

Capture and identification of VOCs and/or other chemical substances emanating from a target location of or on a subject’s anatomy (e.g., skin of a human body, wounds on the human body, ulcers, burns, etc.) may be utilized for noninvasive, objective, and measurable monitoring and/or analysis of metabolic pathways, and can also illustrate how these pathways are altered and even respond to therapy in disease processes (e.g., wound therapy, disease treatments, and/or other suitable therapy treatments). For example, a change in a human body’s metabolism equilibrium in response to a therapy can cause an alteration of VOCs and/or other chemical substances produced from the human body that is measurable and is indicative of how the human body is responding to the therapy. Further, collected VOCs and/or other chemical substances from a target location of or on a subject may result in determining a wellness of the subject (e.g., when collected VOCs and/or other chemical substances are compared to previously or future collected VOCs and/or other chemical substances, etc.) In addition, as microorganisms release VOCs and/or other chemical substances, the ability to identify these VOCs and/or other chemical substances from microorganisms in infected cutaneous wounds of a mammalian subject, such as a human being, results in efficient noninvasive diagnoses.

Diagnostic procedures using VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be noninvasive and thus are an attractive alternative for patients compared to current invasive laboratory tests performed in hospitals, which take significant time and cannot provide instant point of care testing. In one example, use of VOCs to diagnose wound infections is discussed in Volatile Organic Compound Detection As A Potential Means Of Diagnosing Cutaneous Wound Infections, Ashrafi M, Bates M, Baguneid M, Alonso-Rasgado T, Rautemaa-Richardson R, Bayat A, Wound Repair Regen, 2017 Aug;25(4):574-590. doi: 10.1111/wrr. 12563, Epub 2017 Aug 31, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for any and all purposes.

Modern analytical technology provides a reliable platform to obtain detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of VOCs and/or other chemical substances. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), for example, is a universal analytic method for studying VOC profiles due to its sensitivity and specificity. In one example, gas chromatography works to separate and identify components of a VOC sample by combining the VOC sample to be analyzed with an inert gas and introducing that mixture into a first end of a separation column, which has a detector on a second end. As the mixture moves up the column, larger molecules from the VOC sample take longer to pass through the column and reach the detector at a later time, allowing the identification of each of the VOC sample components.

Previous studies examining the skin volatilome have used a number of different sampling techniques in order to collect VOCs. These include the use of solvent extraction, dynamic headspace adsorption indirectly or directly onto adsorbent traps, trapping tubes allowing direct insertion into a gas chromatography device and Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME). Each has their advantages and limitations including isolation of unexpected VOCs, exogenous contamination, and loss of low molecular weight volatiles. However, there is a lack of a gold standard techniques for capture, detection, and analysis of VOCs and/or other chemical substances emanating from target locations of a subject’s anatomy, and thus, there remains a practical challenge in identifying the most suitable and optimal approach in detection of VOCs and/or other chemical substances from the subject’s anatomy. This disclosure provides improved techniques for capturing, storing, monitoring, and analyzing VOCs and/or other substances emanating from exterior surfaces (e.g., skin surface, wound surfaces, etc.) of a subject’s anatomy.

Although VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be collected from any suitable portion or target location of a subject’s anatomy, a target location of interest may be wounds on or of a subject’s anatomy such that collected VOCs and/or other chemical substances from wounds may be analyzed to determine bacteria in or causing the wounds, the subject’s response to wound treatments or therapy, etc. In the United States alone, chronic wounds affect 6.5 million patient per year and approximately $25 billion is spent annually on treatment of chronic wounds. Further, the need for timely and cost-effective solutions for addressing or treating post-surgical wounds and emergency wounds in acute settings (e.g., war settings, natural disaster settings, terrorism attack settings, etc.) is also prevalent. The techniques described herein may facilitate collecting VOCs and/or other chemical substances from target locations of, at, and/or around wounds of or on a subject in a timely manner that allows for efficient and accurate analysis and assessment of wound conditions, wound treatments or therapy, causes of wounds (e.g., to determine bacteria in or causing wounds), etc.

Turning to the Figures, FIG. 1 depicts a schematic perspective view of an illustrative sample collector 100 positioned on a surface 126 of a subject’s skin 124 (e.g., a target location of the subject’s anatomy). Although the sample collector 100 may be depicted as being positioned on the surface 126, the collector 100 may be positioned over a dressing (e.g., a bandage, gauze, adherent/non-adherent pads, clothing, transparent material, etc.) and adjacent to, or otherwise adjacent to (e.g., above, to the side of, etc.), the surface 126 or other suitable target location of the subject’s anatomy. Additionally or alternatively, the collector 100 may be positioned at a location spaced from a target location of the subject’s anatomy and one or more transfer components or mediums (e.g., a swab, a Q-tip, absorbent materials, tubing and a pump or vacuum, etc.) may be utilized to transfer VOCs and/or other chemical substances from the target location to the collector 100.

The sample collector 100 may be configured to collect VOCs and/or other chemical substances from a mammalian body, such as a human or other animal patient or subject. In some cases, the collected VOCs and/or chemical substances may be of the types emitted, secreted, emanated, released, and/or excreted to, from, or through skin 124 of a subj ect.

The collector 100 may include one or more components. For example, the collector 100 may include one or more of a target facing component 111, a collection component 113, a cover component 115, and/or one or more other suitable components as discussed herein or other otherwise. Further, the functions and/or configurations of the target facing component 111, the collection component 113, the cover component 115, and/or other suitable components of the collector 100 may be implemented in one or more physical components formed from one or more materials, as desired. In one example configuration of the collector 100, the collector 100 may include only or at least the collection component 113 configured to collect VOCs and/or other chemical substances emitted, secreted, emanated, released, and/or excreted to, from, or through the skin 124, wound, or other target location of or on the subject’s anatomy, where the included collection component 113 may or may not take on certain functions or configurations, discussed herein, of the target facing component 111 and/or the cover component 115.

The collector 100 may be configured in layers and may include any suitable number of layers, but this is not required and other suitable configurations are contemplated. As depicted in FIG. 1, the collector 100 may include a first layer 112, a second layer 114, and a third layer 116. In some cases, the first layer 112 may be configured as the target facing component 111, the second layer 114 may be configured as the collection component 113, and the third layer 116 may be configured as the cover component 115, but this is not required and the collector 100 may have fewer than three layers, more than three layers, and/or layers formed from sub-layers. Further, although not shown, the collector 100 may include a housing that is configured from one or more materials of the one or more layers or components or configured from one or more materials different than or separate from the one or more materials of the one or more layers or components.

As depicted in FIG. 1, the target facing component 111, the collection component 113, and the cover component 115 may form a sandwich configuration or profile, where the collection component 113 is “sandwiched” between the target facing component 111 and the cover component 115, but other configurations are contemplated. Further, the components of the collector 100 may be coupled together in any suitable manner. For example, the target facing component 111, the collection component 113, and the cover component 115 may be attached or affixed to one another by use of adhesives, bonding techniques (e.g., ultrasonic welding, laser welding, etc.), and/or other suitable coupling techniques. In one illustrative configuration, the target facing component 111 may be affixed to a first side of the collection component 113, and the cover component 115 may be affixed to a second side of the collection component 113. In another illustrative configuration, the target facing component 111, the collection component 113, and the cover component 115 may be coupled together with a housing formed with the target facing component 111 and the cover component 115 or a separate component.

When the components and/or layers of the collector 100 are affixed or coupled to one another, the components and/layers may be configured to be separated from one another. In one example configuration of the collector including the target facing component 111, the collection component 113, and the cover component 115, the collection component 113 may be separated from the cover component 115 and the target facing component 111 such that after a suitable amount of VOCs and/or other chemical substances are collected the collection component 113 may be separated from the other components of the collector 100 and analyzed or transported for analysis. Such a configuration may allow for the reuse of all or some of the components of the collector 100 and/or inserting a new collection component 113 into the collector 100.

The cover component 115 may include one or more openings 118. In some cases, the opening(s) 118 may facilitate a fluid flow (e.g., a gas flow or other suitable fluid flow) through or across the collector 100, but this is not required. As depicted in the collector 100 of FIG. 1, the cover component 115 may include a single opening 118, but configurations with additional or alternative opening configurations (e.g., shapes, dimensions, locations, etc.) are contemplated. In one example, the opening(s) 118 could be on an end (e.g., top or bottom), as depicted, and/or sides of the cover component 115.

Although not required, the opening 118 may be a vacuum port configured to engage a vacuum producing device via any suitable airtight connection. In one example, the opening 118 may be fitted or integrated with a nipple, protrusion, and/or other suitable component or configuration to facilitate connecting a vacuum tube or similar receptacle to the collector 100. The nipple, protrusion, and/or other suitable component or configuration may be made from any suitable materials including, but not limited to, polylactic acid and/or other suitable material to facilitate creating a pressure gradient that enhances flow of VOCs and/or other chemical substances from a target location of or on the subject’s anatomy (e.g., from the skin 124 or other suitable target location) to the collection component 113.

The collector 100 may take on any suitable shape, profile, aspect ratio, and size to accommodate various usability, clinical, manufacturing, packaging, marketing, etc. factors. As depicted in FIG. 1, the collector 100 may take on a circular profile, although other suitable shapes (e.g., rectangular, hexagonal, ovoid, irregular, etc.) may be utilized.

Further, the collector 100 and/or individual components thereof may be rigid, compliant, and/or flexible. When the collector 100 is configured to create to contact the skin 124 of a subject and/or an area at or around another target location, the rigidity, compliance, and/or flexibility of the components of the collector 100 may be configured to create a desirable seal with the surface 126 of the skin 124 or area at or around another target location that facilitates capturing VOCs and/or other chemical substances from the exterior surface of the subject’s anatomy (e.g., from a cutaneous surface or other suitable surface). In one example, the target facing component 111 may be configured to be compliant so as to conform to the surface 126 of the skin 124 or other anatomy of the subj ect.

Additionally or alternatively to the configuration of the collector 100 depicted in FIG. 1, the collector 100 having the collection component 113 and/or one or more additional components may be formed as or may be incorporated in a band, strap, or other wearable component that is configured to be worn by a subject in contact with the subject’s skin 124 or otherwise such that the collector 100 receives VOCs and/or other chemical substances from a target location of or on the subject’s anatomy (e.g., the skin 124, a wound of the subject, etc.). In some cases, the band, the strap, or other wearable component may be or form one or more of the target facing component 111, the collection component 113, and the cover component 115. Example bands, straps, and wearables include, but are not limited to, wristbands, waistbands, ankle bands, arm bands, leg bands, headbands, equipment strap, watchbands, headphones, hats, eyeglasses, helmets, a wound dressing, a bandage, etc.

When the collector 100 is configured as or in a band, strap, or other wearable, the collector 100 or at least the collection component 113 may be permanently integrated with the band, strap, or other wearable such that the collector 100 or at least the collection component 113 cannot be removed from the wearable without destroying the wearable. Alternatively or additionally, the collector 100 or at least the collection component 113 may be separable from or releasably engaged with the band, strap, or wearable portion such that at least the collection component 113 may be removed from the wearable portion and the VOCs or other chemical substances collected may be analyzed.

The band, strap, or other wearable may include and/or may be formed of one or more suitable materials. For example, the band, strap, or other wearable may be formed from, among other suitable materials, an adsorbent material, a non-adsorbent material, gauze, polymers, metals, fabrics, coatings, etc. In one example configuration of a collector 100 formed as or in the band, strap, or other wearable, the band, strap, or other wearable may be formed entirely or partially from an adsorbent material or it could be made of a non-adsorbent material and coated or covered with an adsorbent material.

The band, strap, or other wearable may be comprised of various layers or components in combination as described herein. In some cases, a layer of the collector 100 formed as a band, strap, or other wearable that includes the collection component 113 may be formed with and/or utilize capillary pores or channels to draw sweat or sebum or other chemical substances from the target area of the subject wearing the band, strap, or other wearable and direct the VOCs and/or other chemical substances of the subject onto and/or into the collection component 113.

When configured as a band, strap, or other wearable, the collector 100 may have any suitable configuration and/or dimensions configured to be placed on or proximate to the target location (e.g., surface 126 of skin 124, a wound, etc.) of the subject over a short and/or an extended period of time for the purpose of extracting, trapping, collecting, and/or analyzing VOCs and/or other chemical substances emitted, excreted, secreted, emanated, or released from the target location. Example diameters or widths of the collection component 113 of the band, strap, and/or other wearable may less than or greater than 1 millimeter (mm). In some cases, the collection component 113 incorporated in or in the form of a band, strap, and/or other wearable may have a diameter or width in a range from about 1 mm to about 10 centimeters (cm), a diameter or width in a range of about 1 mm to about 1 cm, or other suitable width or diameter, as desired. In one example of setting the diameter or width, a diameter or width of the collection component 113 may be configured or set based on target area sizes and different diameters or widths of collection components may be utilized for different sizes of target locations so as to minimize or reduce the size of the collection component 113 while maximizing or increasing VOC and/or other chemical substance collection from the target location over time, but this is not required. Other factors may be utilized and are contemplated for setting widths or diameters of the collection component 113.

In one example of a collector 100 formed as or incorporated in a band, strap, or other wearable, FIG. 17 depicts an illustrative collector 1700 configured as a wearable (e.g., in band or strap form, as depicted). Among other components, the collector 1700 may include a collection component 1713 (e.g., represented by broken lines) incorporated into a band or strap 1717 configured to be worn around a subject’s arm 1703. When the band or strap 1717 is worn around the subject’s arm 1703, the collection component 1713 may be positioned at or adjacent to a target location (e.g., a skin surface, wound, etc. on the subject’s arm 1703) so as to be able to collect VOCs and/or other chemical substances from the target location. Although the collector 1700 is depicted with only the collection component 1713, the collector 1700 may include, among other components, a target facing component, a cover component, and/or a housing. Further, in some cases, the collector 1700 may be fixed at or adjacent the target location using the band or strap 1717, but this is not required.

A collector 100 incorporated into or taking the form of a band, strap, and/or other wearable may facilitate applying the collector 100 to or at the target location, facilitate comfortably wearing the collector 100 for long periods of time to accumulate a high volume of VOCs or other chemical substances from the subject, and/or may have one or more other suitable benefits. Further, once the collector 100 formed as a band, strap, and/or other wearable has trapped, collected, and/or analyzed a desired amount of VOCs and/or other chemical substances from the subject wearing the collector 100, the subject or third party (e.g., family member, health care provider, technician, friend, etc.) may remove the collector 100 from the subject and place the collector 100 or a portion of the collector 100 including or in contact with VOCs and/or other chemical substances from the subject (e.g., the collection component 113) into an appropriate container for transport to a VOC and/or chemical substance analyzer, into a VOC and/or chemical substance analyzer, into a color sensor array analyzer, or other suitable analyzer.

FIG. 2 depicts a schematic bottom view of the illustrative collector 100 shown in FIG. 1. As depicted in FIG. 2, the collector 100 may include a bottom surface 120, which may be defined by the target facing component 111. In some cases, the bottom surface 120 may be configured to contact and/or engage a surface at or adjacent to a target location, such as a subject’s skin or wound or other suitable target location. In some cases, the bottom surface 120 and/or the target facing component 111 may be flexible or pliable to facilitate conforming to a shape of a surface of a subject’s anatomy, but other configurations are contemplated including, but not limited to, target facing components 111 that are rigid and/or collectors 100 having an additional target contacting surface for conforming to a shape of the surface of the subject’s anatomy.

Although not required, the bottom surface 120 may be configured to adhere to the subject’s skin 124 or other surface at or adjacent to a target location such that the collector 100 may remain at a desired location after being initially placed. When so configured, the bottom surface 120 may have any suitable configuration for adhering to a surface at or adjacent a target location (e.g., the surface 126 of the skin 124, the surface of or adjacent to a wound, etc.) including, but not limited to, a configuration that facilitates a suction connection, an adhesive (e.g., a biocompatible adhesive attached to, impregnated in, or deposited on the bottom surface 120 and/or other suitable adhesive applied in one or more additional or alternative manners)), and/or other suitable configuration. In one example, the target facing component 111 may be or may include an adhesive layer (e.g., an adhesive-backed ring and/or other suitable adhesive layer) to adhere to the surface 126 of the subject’s skin 124 in order to create a seal and to hold the collector 100 in place during collection of VOCs and/or other chemical substances. When creating the seal, the adhesive layer may be configured to create an airtight seal (e.g., a hermetic seal) or approximately airtight seal that prevents ambient air from leaking past the seal into the collector 100 once a vacuum (e.g., negative pressure) is applied thereto. In other configurations, non-hermetic seals or couplings may be utilized.

When the collector 100 is configured to be adhered to a surface at or adjacent the target location, the surface at or adjacent the target location may be prepared to receive an adhering surface, but this is not required. Preparations for receiving adhesions include, but are not limited to, preparing the adhesion location surface(s) with an alcohol wipe, shaving hair at or around the adhesion location surface(s), washing (e.g., with water, soap, etc.) at or around the adhesion location surface(s), and/or other appropriate methods for preparing the adhesion location surface(s).

The collector 100 may be configured to adhere to a surface at or adjacent the target location (e.g., skin 124 of the subject or other surface) for any suitable length of time. In one example, the bottom surface 120 and/or other portions of the collector 100 may be configured to adhere to a subject’s skin 124 or other suitable surface for at least a duration of a period of time sufficient to allow the subject’s VOCs and/or other chemical substances to be adequately collected for analysis. In some cases, a material adhering the collector 100 to the subject’s skin 124 or other suitable surface may be configured to release or separate from the subject’s skin 124 or other suitable surface after a predetermined time, but this is not required.

As depicted in FIG. 2, the bottom surface 120 may define an opening 122 through a thickness of the target facing component 111 (e.g., first layer 112) to the collection component 113 (e.g., the second layer 114). In some cases, the collection component 113 may be porous or otherwise include one or more openings such that a fluid flow from the opening 122 in the target facing component 111, through or across the collection component 113, and to the opening 118 (shown in broken lines in FIG. 2) in the cover component 115 (e.g., the third layer 116) may be formed, but this is not required.

The opening 122 may be configured such that an inner profile or circumference of the target facing component 111 may take on a shape that complements (e.g., in the depicted example is concentric to) a shape of the outer profile or circumference of the target facing component 111 and/or the collector 100. Although FIG. 2 depicts the opening 122 as having a circular profile, other profiles or shapes for the opening 122 may be used and such profiles or shapes may or may not render or complement a similar outer profile of one or more of the target facing component 111, the collection component 113, the cover component 115, and/or the collector 100.

Further, the bottom surface 120 of the collector 100 may include one or more portions that comprise one or more holes, channels, and/or other suitable voids configured to create a capillary action during use of the collector 100 to assist in drawing fluid from the target location of or on the subject toward the collection component 113. When the target facing component 111 is so configured, negative pressure may or may not be utilized to draw fluid from the target location toward the collection component 113.

FIG. 3 depicts a schematic cross-sectional view of the collector 100, taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2. Arrows F depict a fluid flow passing over a subject’s skin 124 and through or across the collector 100.

In the configuration depicted in FIG. 3, the collection component 113 may be sized to extend at least across the opening 118 in the cover component 115 and the opening 122 in the target facing component 111 to facilitate collection of VOCs and/or other chemical substances emitted, excreted, secreted, emanated, or released from a target location of or on the subject’s anatomy (e.g., the surface 126 of the subject’s skin 124, a wound on the subject, etc.). In one example, the collection component 113 may have a circular disc-shape, but this is not required and other shapes are contemplated.

As discussed above, the collector 100 may omit one or both of the target facing component 111 (e.g., the first layer 112) and the cover component 115 (e.g., the third layer 116). In one example, the collector 100 may comprise the collection component 113, and omit the target facing component 111 and the cover component 115. In this configuration, the collection component 113 may be placed directly on a surface of the target location of or on the subject’s anatomy (e.g., the surface 126 of the subject’s skin 124, a wound, etc.) and the collector 100 may be held in place at or adjacent to the target location by an external means (e.g., via manual application of pressure by an operator or subject (e.g., hand pressure or other suitable pressure) and/or by mechanical means such as via usage of a bandage, tape, elastic, fabric band or bandage, a machine for applying pressure, or by other mechanical means, and/or combinations thereof). In another example, the collector 100 may comprise the target facing component 111 and the collection component 113, and omit the cover component 115. In such a configuration, the target facing component 111 may be or may include an adhesive or adhesive backing as described above to secure the collector 100 to the surface at or adjacent the target location, but this is not required and the collector 100 may be held in place via one or more manners discussed herein and/or other suitable manners. In the examples in which the cover component 115 is omitted, a negative pressure may not be applied to the collector 100 and the subject’s VOCs and/or other chemical substances may passively contact the collection component 113 by diffusion and/or capillary action without active techniques (e.g., without applying negative pressure through the collection component 113).

The collector 100 may have one or more components that are transparent and/or components that are opaque. In one example, the cover component 115 or other components of the collector 100 may be transparent or at least transparent at one or more locations that allows for analysis of the collected VOCs and/or other chemical substances through the cover component 115.

The components 111, 113, 115 and/or layers 112, 114, 116 of the collector 100 may be formed from any suitable materials or combinations of materials. Example materials include, but are not limited to, adsorbent materials, non-adsorbent materials, porous materials, nonporous materials, nonporous polymer, polyolefin, silicone, calcium sodium phosphosilicates (e.g., bioglass), bioceramic, polycarbonate, materials coated with a relatively porous or non-porous material, and/or composites or combinations thereof. Further, the components of the collector 100 may be configured to form a rigid collector 100, a flexible collector 100, a collector 100 having flexible portions, a collector 100 having rigid portions, and/or a collector 100 having one or more other suitably configured portions.

The components 111, 113, 115 of the collector 100 may each be formed from one or more one or more materials and may be formed from one or more sub-components or layers. In one example, a component 111, 113, 115 of the collector 100 may be formed from two or more layers (e.g., where the layers are entirely or at least partially overlapping) or adjacent sub-components (e.g., where the sub-components are entirely or at least partially non-overlapping) of a same material. In another example, a component 111, 113, 115 of the collector 100 may be formed from two or more layers or sub-components, where at least one material is different from another material of the layers or sub-components. In an example of the collection component 113 including at least two or more layers or sub-components with at least one layer or sub-component formed from a first material different from a second material of another layer or sub-component, the first material may be configured to collect a first particular VOC or other chemical substance and the second material may be configured to collect a second particular VOC or other chemical substance, but this is not required.

The target facing component 111 may be formed from any suitable material. In one example, the target facing component 111 may be formed entirely or at least partially from a reticulated foam. When used for forming the target facing component 111, the reticulated foam may be engineered to comprise a network of capillary-like pores. Illustratively, the reticulated foam may be fabricated from an adsorbent material such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which may be optionally supported by a non-adsorbent material that will draw the fluid up into contact with the collection component 113.

The target facing component 111 may be configured to be rigid, to be pliable, to be flexible, to have a rigid portion, to have a pliable portion, and/or to have a flexible portion. In one example, as discussed above, the target facing component 111 may have a flexible or pliable layer or portion to conform to the anatomy of the subject or other suitable surface, but this is not required.

The collection component 113 may be configured from one or more materials that are selected for one or more purposes including, but not limited to, facilitating collection of target gasses (e.g., target VOCs and/or other chemical substances) for analysis at a location other than the location of the collector 100 at the target location (e.g., at a GC-MS system or other suitable analysis system), facilitating collection and analysis of VOCs or other chemical substances at the collector 100, and/or for one or more other suitable purposes. The collection component 113 may be configured to be rigid, to be pliable, to be flexible, to have a rigid portion, to have a pliable portion, and/or to have a flexible portion.

In one example, the collection component 113 may be configured to collect VOCs or other chemical substances for analysis at different location through adsorption, but it is contemplated that the collection component 113 may be configured to collect VOCs or other chemical substances for analysis at another location using one or more other suitable collection or capture techniques. In another example, the collection component 113 may be configured to collect VOCs or other chemical substances at the collector 100 using an analysis component of the collector 100.

When configured to adsorb VOCs and/or other chemical substances, the collection component 113 may be formed from any suitable porous and/or nonporous material that facilitates adsorption of VOCs and/or other chemical substances. Example adsorbent materials used for the collection component 113 may include, but are not limited to, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), carbon, zeolite, other adsorbent polymers, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), divinyl benzene copolymer (DVB) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Further, the collection component 113 may be or may include an adsorbent or non-adsorbent material which may be optionally coated and/or impregnated with a layer of an adsorbent material suitable for adsorbing VOCs and/or other chemical substances. In some cases, a particular adsorbent material may be used to and/or configured to target VOCs and/or other chemical substances of clinical or other interest. Although not necessarily required, the collection component 113 may be uniform or substantially uniform and/or may comprise composites of various construction, as desired.

Further, the collection component 113 may be constructed from a fabric or mesh made from an adsorbent material or non-adsorbent material. In one example, such a fabric may be made of threads of a non-adsorbent material (such as, e.g., polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or other suitable non-adsorbent material) and coated with an adsorbent material (e.g., PDMS or other suitable adsorbent material). Such coating may be applied either before or after weaving or forming the threads into a fabric. In another example, such a mesh may be made from a solid film or sheet of material that is made into a mesh by creating pores therein. If the material of the film or sheet is not already adsorbent, the mesh may be coated after it is initially fabricated.

In some cases, the collection component 113 may be formed from or otherwise include polymeric adsorbent materials that have pores. Although not required, the pores of the polymeric adsorbent materials and/or pores of other suitable adsorbent materials may have desired sizes and/or configurations built-in during manufacturing that are optimized for entrapping VOCs and/or other chemical substances from a target location of or on a subject’s anatomy. In some cases, the optimally sized pores may be configured to entrap or collect particular VOCs and/or other chemical substances while particularly excluding collection of other VOCs and/or other chemical substances. Though not required, different portions of the collection component 113 may include different pores sized and/or configured to entrap or collect different particular VOCs and/or other chemical substances.

The pre-designed, intentionally selected and manufactured pores may range in dimensions from small molecular sizes (micro-pores) for capturing smaller sized molecules to macro-pores for capturing larger sized molecules. The pores, when included in the collection layer 28, may be greater than 0.01 microns, may range in size from 0.1 micron to 100 microns on the micro-pore level, may range in size from 100 microns to 5000 microns on the macro-pore level, and/or have one or more other suitable sizes.

To facilitate adsorption, the collection component 113 may be textured to increase the effective surface area for VOC and/or other chemical substance adsorption. In one example, the texture of a surface of the collection layer 28 may include grooves, undulations, and/or other textures. Although not required, the texture of the surface of the collection layer 28 may be similar in size and appearance to a receptor surface of the canine olfactory sense.

The cover component 115 may be formed from any suitable material. In one example, the cover component 115 may be relatively non-porous and may be formed from a relatively non-porous material including, but not limited to, non-porous polymer, polyolefin, silicone, calcium sodium phosphosilicates (e.g., bioglass), bioceramic, polycarbonate, materials coated with a relatively non-porous material, and/or composites or combinations thereof. The cover component 115 may be configured to be rigid, to be pliable, to be flexible, to have a rigid portion, to have a pliable portion, and/or to have a flexible portion.

In one example configuration of the collector 100 that is configured to collect VOCs and/ or other chemical substances through adsorption, the collector 100 may be configured entirely or nearly entirely from a non-porous or porous adsorbent material (e.g., polymeric adsorbent materials, PDMS, and/or other suitable adsorbent materials). In some cases, such a configuration of the collector 100 may include a unitary sheet or block of material that may be held against or adjacent a surface of a target location (e.g., the surface 126 of the subject’s skin 124, a surface of a wound, etc.) for a period of time sufficient to adsorb VOC’s and/or other chemical substances from the subject to an extent required to perform an analysis. Alternatively or additionally, the collector 100 may be formed from a non-adsorbent materials and coated with an adsorbent material (e.g., PDMS or other suitable adsorbent material). To facilitate coupling the collector 100 with a surface of the target location, a target-contacting surface of the collector 100 may include adhesive (e.g., a ring of adhesive, etc.) or other coupling material, but this is not required.

To increase VOC and/or other chemical substance adsorption rates and/or amounts of VOCs and/or other chemical substances adsorbed when the collector 100 is configured to adsorb VOCs and/or other chemical substances, a target-contacting or facing surface of the collector 100 may be textured (e.g., with grooves or surface topographical undulations, which may resemble a receptor surface of a canine olfactory sense) so as to increase an effective surface area for VOC and/or other chemical substance adsorption. Such texturing may be applied to the target-contacting or facing surface (e.g., the bottom surface 120) of the collector 100 in any suitable technique including, but not limited to, via etching, thermoforming, pressure forming, molding, machining, and/or other suitable techniques.

Further, the collector 100 may include and/or be used with skin penetrating agents, such as Transcutol®, polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG 400), polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG 200), menthol and salicylic acid, for example, may be utilized to enhance delivery of sweat stimulating chemical agents to the skin 124 of the subject. Alternatively or additionally, iontophoresis techniques can be employed to drive sweat inducing agents into the skin of a subject to increase sweat production. In some cases, gasses or other fluids may be pumped to the skin of the subject or other target location to induce a flow of VOCs and/or other chemical substances from the subject, where the gasses or other fluids pumped may be of a type that stimulates production of VOCs and/or other chemical substances.

In some cases, the collector 100 may include one or more heat producing components that may heat the surface 126 of the subject’s skin 124 or heat a portion of the collector 100 (e.g., the bottom surface 120 and/or other suitable portion of the collector 100). When the heat producing component is included in the collector 100, the heating of the collector 100 may be controlled by a control of or separate from the collector 100. Examples of heat producing components include, but are not limited to, heating coils, resistive wires, surface mount (SM) resistors, Peltier temperature control components (e.g., which may be used to heat and/or cool)), lights, and ultraviolet lights. In one example incorporation of a heat producing component, the collector 100 may utilize one or more heating coils configured to heat the bottom surface 120 of the collector and induce the subject to sweat at and proximate to the collector 100.

Further, the collector 100 may include one or more sensors, which may include or be in communication with a controller. For example, the collector 100 may include a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a pressure sensor, and/or one or more other suitable sensors. In one example, when the collector 100 includes a heat producing component, the collector 100 may include a temperature sensor and a pressure sensor, where the heat producing component may be configured to cease heating in response to a sensed temperature crossing a threshold, a sensed pressure crossing a threshold, and/or a sensed temperature crossing a temperature threshold and a sensed pressure crossing a pressure threshold.

In addition to the collector 100 being configured to facilitate applying a negative pressure to the collector 100, as discussed above, the collector 100 may be configured to facilitate applying a positive pressure (e.g., a supply of air or other fluid) to the target location to improve collection of VOCs and other chemical substances. When a positive pressure and a negative pressure are utilized with the collector 100, the positive pressure may be applied to the collector 100 and the target location (e.g., the skin 124) at a location outside of or around the opening 118 in the cover component 115 and/or at a location inside of the opening 118, but other configurations are contemplated.

FIG. 4 depicts a schematic diagram including a cross-sectional view of an illustrative configuration of a collector 400 configured to facilitate use of a flow of fluid to capture or collect VOCs and/or other chemical substances. The collector 400 may be similar to the collector 100 described above, where a target facing component 411 may be a conduit component 430 configured to direct the fluid flow to a target location (e.g., the subject’s skin 124, a wound, etc.) and to a collection component 413. FIG. 5 depicts a bottom view of the collector 400 depicted in FIG. 4. Although not depicted in FIG. 4, a pump system may be part of or coupled to the collector 400.

The collector 400 may include the collection component 413 and the conduit component 430. Although the collection component 413 is depicted as being on a top or proximal end of the conduit component 430 and at least partially defining a cover component 415, the collection component 413 may be located on a bottom or distal side of the conduit component 430, as desired, such that the conduit component 430 may form a cover component (e.g., the cover component 115) rather than the target facing component 411, as depicted in FIG. 4.

The collector 400 depicted in FIG. 4 may be placed directly on the surface of a target location (e.g., the surface 126 of the skin 124 of the subject) or could be held above (e.g., proximal) to the surface. In some cases, allowing for a space between at least a portion of the bottom surface 420 of the collector 400 and the target location of or on a subject may facilitate collecting VOCs and/or other chemical substances and maintaining cleanliness and/or sanitation of the collector 400. When a space between at least a portion of the bottom surface 420 of the collector 400 and the surface 126 is desired, the bottom surface 420 of the collector 400 may be held by a user or a mechanical support at a location spaced from the surface of the target location, a disposable or reusable component may extend between the bottom surface 420 of the collector 400 and the surface of the target location as a standoff (e.g., the standoff may be the conduit component 430 or may be a component that is used in addition to the conduit component 430), the collector 400 may be part of or placed in a wound dressing of a subject that spaces the bottom surface 420 of the collector 400 from the surface 126, and/or other suitable configuration may be used.

In some cases, the collector 400 may facilitate providing a fluid flow at positive pressure, represented by arrows P, to the surface of the target location (e.g., the surface 126 of the skin 124 of the subject, as depicted in FIG. 4) and applying a flow of fluid at a negative pressure, represented by arrows N, at a location interior of the location at which positive pressure is applied to draw the flow of fluid and VOCs and/or other chemical substances (e.g., as represented by arrows 436) from or from proximate to the surface of the target location to the collection component 413. Further, the collector 400 may include the conduit component 430 having a vacuum port or channel 432 for directing the negative pressure fluid flow toward the collection component 413 and a supply port or channel 434 for directing the positive pressure fluid flow toward the target location.

Arrows R represent a return of the flow of fluid to the collector 400 (e.g., from a pump) and arrows T represent a transition of the flow of fluid through the collector 400 from positive pressure to negative pressure. In operation, as the fluid flow transitions from being under positive pressure to negative pressure, the VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be added to and/or mixed with the fluid flow and directed toward the collection component 413. Other configurations, however, are contemplated and the negative pressure fluid flow and the positive pressure fluid flow may be located at one or other suitable locations or positions relative to one another. Further, the negative pressure fluid flow and the positive pressure fluid flow may be dependent on one another or may be independent of one another.

To create a fully closed-loop system, a seal may be formed between the bottom surface 420 of the collector 400 and a surface of or adjacent to the target location (e.g., the surface 126 of the subject’s skin 124 or other suitable surface), such that no ambient air around the collector 400 enters the flow of fluid through the collector 400. Alternatively or additionally, a cover or other suitable enclosure may be part of the collector 400 or used with the collector 400 such that the flow of fluid through the collector 400 is isolated from ambient air and a closed-loop system is created.

The conduit component 430 may be made of any suitable material and may have any suitable configuration. In some cases, the conduit component 430 may be formed from material similar to and/or configured similar to the material and/or configuration of the target facing components and/or the cover components, discussed herein.

As depicted in FIG. 5, the conduit component 430 may be formed from two concentric rings, but other designs and configurations are contemplated. The rings forming the conduit component 430 may be fixed relative to one another via other layers of the collector 400 and/or directly connected to one another. Although the collector 400 may have other configurations, an inner circumference of the outer ring and an outer circumference of the inner ring may define the supply channel 434 for receiving a fluid flow at a positive pressure and an inner circumference of the inner ring may define the vacuum channel 432 for receiving a fluid flow at a negative pressure, where the supply channel 434 and the vacuum channel may extend from the bottom surface 420 to the collection component 413.

FIG. 6 depicts a schematic illustrative configuration of the collector 400 including or otherwise in communication with a pump 640, where the collection component 413 may be in contact with and/or coupled to the proximal end of the conduit component 430, which is shown from a side view. Although only one pump 640 is depicted in FIG. 6, it is contemplated that the collector 400 may utilize two or more pumps 640. In one example, a first pump may be for pumping a fluid flow into the collector 400 (e.g., at a positive pressure) and a second pump may be for pumping fluid flow out of the collector 400 (e.g., at a negative pressure), but this is not required. In another example, a single pump may be configured to supply the positive pressure and the negative pressure.

As shown in FIG. 6, a fluid flow including VOCs and/or other chemical substances 436 may be pumped by the pump 640 from a target location (e.g., the surface 126 or adj acent the surface 126 of the skin 124, the surface or adj acent a surface of a wound, etc.), through the vacuum channel 432 (e.g., schematically depicted in broken lines), and through or along the collection component 413. As the fluid flow passes through or along the collection component 413, all or at least some of the VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be adsorbed or otherwise collected in the collection component 413. The fluid flow that has passed through or along the collection component 413 and/or other fluid may be recirculated or circulated through the supply channel 434 to the target location by the pump 640 to gather additional VOCs and/or other chemical substances from the target location. In some cases, the process may continue until a desired quantity or desired expected quantity (e.g., based on a length of time collecting) of VOCs and/or other chemical substances has been collected at the collection component 113.

The pump 640 may be any suitable type of pump. For the example, the pump 640 may be a vacuum pump, a manually-operated vacuum pump, an electric powered vacuum pump, a pneumatically powered vacuum pump, an oscillating pump, a plenum, a pump in communication with a plenum, and/or any suitable device configured to create negative pressure, positive pressure, or both negative and positive pressure to draw a fluid flow through the collection component 413. In some configurations, the pump 640 may be configured such that the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet may induce a fluid flow vortex to create turbulent flow and to more efficiently gather VOCs and/or other chemical substances and direct the mixed fluid flow more efficiently into the fluid outlet.

To increase efficiency of harvesting (e.g., removing, transporting, drawing away, transferring, exchanging, etc.) VOCs or other chemical substances from the surface of a target location (e.g., a skin surface of a subject, a wound of or on a subject, etc.), it may be advantageous to isolate the fluid flow in and out of the collector 400 such that it creates an oscillating movement of fluid flow over the surface of the target location to mix and collect the VOCs and/or other chemical substances. In one illustrative configuration, an oscillating airflow pump may be utilized. In one example, the oscillating airflow pump may have an oscillation range between approximately 0.1 Hz to approximately 1000 Hz to create oscillating movement of fluid flow over the surface of the target location for efficiently collecting VOCs and/or other chemical substances. In another example, the oscillating airflow pump may be configured to create oscillating movement of fluid flow over the surface of the target location at an oscillation of about 4 Hz to about 7 Hz to efficiently collect VOCs and/or other chemical substances. The pressure induced by the oscillating pump could be mild or strong, ranging between approximately 0.001 atm to 10 or more atmospheres. Other suitable configurations of the oscillating airflow pump are contemplated to improve an efficiency of removing VOCs or other chemical substances from around a surface of a target locations.

Although FIG. 6 depicts the pump 640 in communication with the fluid flow through the vacuum channel 432, the pump 640 may not receive an output from the vacuum channel 432. Instead, the pump 640 may be configured to evacuate a plenum. After such evacuation, the plenum may be sealed with a manual or automatic valve. The manual or automatic valve may then be used as the supply of vacuum to be applied through the vacuum channel 432. During evacuation, the fluid flow mixed with VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be passed through or along the collection component 413 to collect the VOCs and/or other chemical substances. Alternatively or additionally, the mixture of fluid flow and VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be stored within the plenum for later analysis. In some cases, the interior of the plenum may be formed of and/or coated with an adsorbing material to collect the VOCs and/or other chemical substances from which the VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be desorbed and analyzed at a later time. Such a configuration in which the VOCs and/or other chemical substances are stored in the plenum, may allow for omitting the collection component 413 from the collector 400 to the extent it is in addition to an adsorbent or other collecting-configured plenum, but this is not required.

FIG. 7 depicts a schematic illustrative configuration of the collector 700 including or otherwise in communication with a pump 640 similar to as in FIG. 6, where a collection component 713 is in contact with and/or coupled to a distal end of a conduit component 730 (e.g., the collection component 713 may form a target facing component 711). The conduit component 730 may be similar to the conduit component 430, where the conduit component 730 may be considered a cover component 715 of the collector 700.

In the collector 700 depicted in FIG. 7, the collection component 713 may be in contact with or located proximate to the surface of the target location (e.g., the surface 126 of the skin 124, as depicted in FIG. 7, a surface of a wound, etc.) and collect VOCs and/or other substances 436 emitting, excreting, secreting, emanated, released from the target location. Similar to as discussed above with respect to FIG. 6, a fluid flow including VOCs and/or other chemical substances 436 may be pumped by the pump 640 from the surface or adjacent to the surface of the target location, to and through or along the collection component 713, and through the vacuum channel 732. As the fluid flow passes through or along the collection component 713, all or at least some of the VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be adsorbed or otherwise collected in the collection component 713. The fluid flow that has passed through or along the collection component 713 or other fluid flow may pass through the supply channel 734 of the conduit component 730 and may be recirculated or circulated to the surface of the target location of or on the subject by the pump 640 to gather additional VOCs and/or other chemical substances. In some cases, the process may continue until a desired quantity or desired expected quantity (e.g., based on a length of time collecting) of VOCs and/or other chemical substances has been collected at the collection component 713.

Once a desired amount of VOCs and/or other chemical substances has been collected, the pump 640 may be removed or turned off. In some cases, the pump 640 may be removed or turned off manually and/or may be automatically turned off (e.g., in response to a time expiring, a sensed measure reaching a threshold, etc.)

Once a desired amount of VOCs and/or other chemical substances has been collected, the collector 700 may be removed from a location adjacent the target location. Further, the collection component 713 may be removed from the collector 700 and analyzed, placed in a VOC or other chemical substance sensing device for desorbing and/or analyzing the VOCs or other chemical substances, packaged for transport or analysis, and/or stored for later transport or analysis, but this is not required.

When positioning the collectors 400, 700 depicted in FIGS. 4-8 relative to the target location of or on the subject, an adhesive may be exposed to either the collection component 413, 713 and/or the conduit component 430, 730. The adhesive may be utilized to secure the collector 400, 700 to the surface at or adjacent to the target location of or on the subject, as discussed herein.

FIG. 8 depicts a schematic view of an illustrative configuration of the collector 800. The collector 800 depicted in FIG. 8 may include a base 842 and a cover 844. The base 842 may be a target facing component 811 and the cover 844 may be a cover component 815.

Although not required in all configurations, the collector 800 may include a vacuum port 846 formed from or otherwise extending from the cover 844. The vacuum port 846 may define a vacuum channel 832 configured for fluid communication with a pump, but this is not required.

The collector 800 may take on any suitable shape or configuration. For example, the collector 800 may have a circular profile (e.g., as depicted in FIG. 8), a rectangular profile, a square profile, an amorphous profile (e.g., in response to be flexible and/or pliable), and/or one or more other suitable profiles.

FIG. 9 depicts a cross-sectional view taken along line 9-9 of the illustrative configuration of the collector 800 depicted in FIG. 8. As depicted in FIG. 9, the collector 800 may include the base 842, the cover 844, and a collection layer 845, where the collection layer 845 may be a collection component 813. In some cases, the collection layer 845 may be positioned between the cover 844 and the base 842, such that a fluid flow of air and VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be forced through or otherwise move through the base 842 and the collection layer 845 prior to exiting the collector 800 through the vacuum channel 832 and the vacuum port 846.

The collection layer 845, the base 842, and the cover 844 may be formed from any suitable materials and may have any suitable configuration. In some cases, one or both of the base 842 and the cover 844 may be entirely or at least partially formed from elastomeric materials to provide compliance when placed with pressure into contact with the surface (e.g., the surface 126 or other suitable surface) of or adjacent to the target location (e.g., the skin 124, wound, or other suitable target location) of the subject, but this is not required and one or both of the base 842 and the cover 844 may be made from rigid materials such as plastics, polycarbonates, polypropylene, polyethylene, ABS, and/or the like. In one example, the collection layer 845, the base 842 and the cover 844 may be formed of similar materials and in similar configurations as the collection components, the target facing components, and the cover components, respectively, discussed herein, but this is not required and one or more of the collection layer 845, base 842, and the cover 844 may take on one or other suitable configurations.

Although the collector 800 is depicted as including a collection component 813 that is a single collection layer 845, two or more collection layers 845 may be utilized. For example, two collection layers 845 may be positioned in contact with one another or may be spaced apart from one other by spacers or other suitable components of the collector 800. In some cases, the two collection layers 845 may positioned so as to partially overlap one another, entirely overlap one another, or be spaced such that there is no overlap between the two collection layers 845. As discussed above, when two or more collection layers 845 are utilized, one or more may be configured to collect a particular VOC and/or other chemical substance, as desired. FIG. 10 depicts a schematic exploded view of the collector 800 depicted in FIG. 8. The collection layer 845 is depicted in FIG. 10 as having a disc-like form, but other configurations are contemplated.

As depicted in FIG. 10, the collector 800 may be assembled by placing the collection layer 845 into the base 842 and the cover 844 may be placed over the collection layer 845. In some cases, a friction fit, a snap connection, and/or other suitable connection may be made between the base 842 and the cover 844 to assemble the collector 800. The components of the collector 800 may be separated (e.g., to remove the collection layer 845 for analysis, to sanitize the collector 800, etc.) by separating the cover 844 from the base 842 and removing the collection layer 845 from the base 842. Alternatively, the components of the collector 800 may be sealed such that the components of the collector 800 may not be separated without destroying the collector 800.

Once a desired amount of VOCs and/or other chemical substance are collected, the collection layer may be separated from other components of the collector 800 and positioned in an analyzer to desorb VOCs and/or other chemical substances therein. Alternatively or additionally, an entirety of or additional portions of the collector 800 may be positioned in an analyzer to desorb VOCs and other chemical substances for analysis.

Other configurations of the collector 800 are contemplated and the configuration depicted in FIG. 10 is not required. Other alternative or additional assembly steps may be utilized to form the collector 800 and/or to remove the collection layer 845 from the collector 800.

As depicted in FIG. 10, the base 842 may include one or more ridges 848 facing the collection layer 845. In some cases, the ridges 848 in the base 842 may be configured to position or maintain the collection layer 845 above a surface of the base 842 defining openings 850 in the base 842 to allow fluid flow through the openings 850, between the base 842 defining the openings 850, and through or along the collection layer 845. As such, upon creation of a negative pressure with a pump (e.g., the pump 640 or other suitable pump), a fluid flow with VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be drawn through the base 842, via the openings 850, and through or along the collection layer 845. As the fluid flow passes through or along the collection layer 845, VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be extracted and the fluid flow may pass into contact with the cover 844 and out through the vacuum port 846.

Although the ridges 848 are depicted in FIG. 10 as elongated raised surfaces being circumferentially equally space and extending radially outward from a center portion of the base 842 to a portion of the base 842 near an outer circumference, the ridges 848 may take on any suitable configuration to create a space between the base 842 and the collection layer 845 that facilitates fluid flow through the openings 850, between the base 842 defining the openings 850, and through the collection layer 845. Example ridge 848 configurations include, but are not limited to, elongated raised surfaces, continuous raised surfaces, non-continuous raised surfaces, grid-like raised surfaces, concentric circle raised surfaces, depressed surfaces, etc. Additionally or alternatively, ridges 848 may extend from the collection layer 845 and/or may be formed from a component separate from the base 842 and the layer 845. In some cases, the ridges 848 may be omitted.

Although the openings 850 are depicted in FIG. 10 as being circumferentially equally spaced and having a triangular shape extending radially inward toward the center portion of the base 842 from a portion of the base 842 near the outer circumference, the openings 850 may take on any suitable configuration to create an opening between a bottom surface 820 of the base and an interior surface 880 of the base 842 that facilitates fluid flow through the base 842. Example configurations for the openings 850 include, but are not limited to, configurations with triangular profiles, circular profiles, elongated profiles, rectangular profiles, oval profiles, square profiles, etc.

FIG. 11 depicts a bottom perspective view of the base 842. In addition to the openings 850, the base 842 may be configured to define or otherwise include one or more notches 852. The notches 852 may be configured to allow ambient airflow to be drawn through the base 842 and into a space 854 underneath the bottom surface 820 of the base 842 that is in fluid communication with the openings 850. Further, the notches 852 may facilitate preventing surface of the target location or liquid (e.g., sweat and/or other liquids) from being drawn into the collection layer 845.

In some cases, utilizing the notches 852 in the base 842 may mitigate a need to provide a fluid flow at a positive pressure to an area proximate the surface (e.g., the surface 126 or other suitable surface) of the target location (e.g., the skin 124, a wound, or other suitable target location) of or on the subject (e.g., the fluid flow supply from the pump may be omitted, as desired). For example, in operation of the collector 800, the base 842 may be placed on or adjacent the target location of the subject, and a negative pressure fluid flow may be created by a pump connected to or otherwise in fluid communication with the collector 800 that draws fluid through the notches 852, into the space 854 adjacent the target location and allows the fluid flow to mix with VOCs and/or other chemical substance, then draws the mixed fluid flow through the openings 850 into contact with the collection layer 845 to extract at least some of the VOCs and/or other chemical substances from the fluid flow, after which the fluid flow (e.g., without the VOCs and/or other chemical substances or at least without at least some of the VOCs and/or other chemical substances) exits the collector 800 through the cover 844. Other operational configurations are contemplated.

FIG. 12 is a bottom perspective view of the cover 844. As depicted in FIG. 12, the cover 844 may include one or more ridges 856 facing the collection layer 845. In some cases, the ridges 856 in the cover 844 may be configured to maintain, position, or orient the collection layer 845 below an interior or bottom surface 882 of the cover 844 defining an opening 818 that may lead to the vacuum channel 832 defined by the vacuum port 846. Such a configuration of the ridges 856 may allow for the negative pressure fluid flow to pass through the collection layer 845, through a space between the collection layer 845 and the cover 844 that may be at least partially defined by the ridges 856 contacting the collection layer 845, and exit the collector 800 through the vacuum port 846.

Although the ridges 856 are depicted in FIG. 12 as elongated raised surfaces being circumferentially equally spaced and extending radially outward from a center portion of the cover 844 to a portion of the cover 844 near an outer circumference, the ridges 856 may take on any suitable configuration to maintain, position, or orient the collection layer 845 relative to the cover 844 and the opening 818. Example configurations of the ridges 856 include, but are not limited to, elongated raised surfaces, continuous raised surfaces, non-continuous raised surfaces, grid-like raised surfaces, concentric circle raised surfaces, etc. Additionally or alternatively, ridges 856 may extend from the collection layer 845 and/or may be formed from a component separate from the cover 844 and the layer 845. In some cases, the ridges 856 may be omitted.

FIG. 13 is a schematic perspective view of the collector 800 including or otherwise coupled (e.g., hermetically coupled or coupled in one or more other suitable manners) to a pump 840 via the vacuum port 846. As depicted in FIG. 13, the pump 840 may be a hand activated pump, but this is not required and the pump may be any other suitable pump discussed herein or otherwise.

Among other components, the pump 840 may include a vacuum bulb 858, a fluid inlet 860, and a fluid outlet 862. In some cases, the fluid inlet 860 and/or the fluid outlet 862 may be or may include one-way valves to facilitate one-way directional flow through the pump 840 (e.g., fluid may flow in through the fluid inlet 860 and fluid may flow out through the fluid outlet 862). In operation, a user may manually squeeze the vacuum bulb 858 to push fluid out of the fluid outlet and release the vacuum bulb 858 to draw fluid into the pump 840 through the fluid inlet 860, such that fluid may be drawn into the collector 800, pass through the collector 800, as described herein, pass into the pump 840 through the fluid inlet 860, and move out of the pump 840 through the fluid outlet 862. Other suitable manual and/or automated pump configurations are contemplated.

The vacuum bulb 858 may formed from any suitable material. Example materials include, but are not limited to, elastomeric materials, rubber, silicone, and/or other suitable medical grade materials.

The fluid inlet 860 and/or the fluid outlet 862 may be formed from any suitable materials and have any suitable configuration that may be the same, similar, or different than a configuration of the other of the fluid inlet 860 and the fluid outlet 862. Example materials for forming the fluid inlet 860 and/or the fluid outlet 862 include, but are not limited to, plastics, metals, ceramics, and/or other suitable materials. In one example configuration of the fluid inlet 860 and the fluid outlet 862, each may have a port or nipple to facilitate fastening and/or connecting directly to the vacuum port 846 of the collector 800 and/or tubing (e.g., rigid tubing, flexible tubing, elongated tubing, etc.) defining a flow channel. Alternatively or additionally, the tubing may be used as an intermediary between the fluid inlet 860 and the vacuum port 846 and/or the fluid outlet 862 and a further device or system, such that the fluid inlet 860 is in fluid communication with the vacuum port 846 and/or the fluid outlet 862 is in fluid communication with a further device or system.

When using the configuration of the collector 800 with the pump 840 depicted in FIG. 13, as fluid flow passes through the collector 800 in response to actuation of the pump 840, the VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be collected in the collection layer 845. Alternatively or additionally, in one example, the fluid flow with VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be passed through the collector 800, into the pump 840 through the fluid inlet 860, out the fluid outlet 862, and into an analyzer for analyzing the VOCs and/or other chemical substances in the fluid flow. In such an example, the collection layer 845 of the collector 800 may be omitted, but this is not required as VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be collected and sent to an analyzer simultaneously.

Further, VOCs and/or other chemical substances from a target location may be transferred to a remotely positioned collector 800 (e.g., where the collector 800 may be spaced from the target location). In one example, the VOCs and/or other chemical substances at a target location may be transferred to the remote collector 800 using tubing, the pump 840, and/or other suitable components configured to create vacuum that moves a fluid flow containing VOCs and/or other chemical substances from the target location to the remote collector 800. Other suitable concepts for transferring VOCs and/or other chemical substances from the target location to a remotely positioned collector are contemplated.

FIG. 14 depicts a schematic top perspective view of an illustrative configuration of a collector 1400. As depicted in FIG. 14, the collector 1400 may include a base 1442 (e.g., a target facing component 1411) and a cover 1444 (e.g., a cover component 1415) defining a vacuum port 1446 and a vacuum channel 1432. In some cases, the vacuum port 1446 may be configured to engage a fluid inlet 860 of the pump 840 similar to as depicted in FIG. 13, but this is not required.

FIG. 15 depicts a schematic exploded bottom perspective view of the configuration of the collector 1400 depicted in FIG. 14. In addition to the base 1442 and the cover 1444, the collector 1400 depicted in FIG. 15 may include a collection tube 1464 (e.g., a collection component 1413) and an end cap 1466. In operation, the collector 1400 depicted in FIGS. 14 and 15 may operate in a similar manner to the other configurations of collectors described herein and/or in one or more other suitable manners.

The cover 1444 may include a tube support 1470. The tube support 1470 may be configured to support or otherwise provide stability to the collection tube 1464 when the collector 1400 is fully assembled. In some cases, the tube support 1470 may include one or more openings or slots 1472 that may be positioned to allow a fluid flow to pass therethrough to or from the collection tube 1464 and out of the collector 1400 through the vacuum channel 1432.

The collection tube 1464 may be a collection component 1413 and may be configured to collect VOCs and/or other chemical substances from the fluid flow. As such, the collection tube 1464 may be configured from similar materials as the materials used to form the collection components described herein. Further, although the collection tube 1464 is described as a tube, the collection tube 1464 may be considered a layer and/or take on one or more other suitable shapes or other configurations.

The end cap 1466 may be configured to be secured to the tube support 1470. For example, the end cap 1466 may be secured to the tube support 1470 using a snap connection, a Luer lock connection, a threaded connection, and/or one or more other suitable types of connections. In one example, when the cover 1444 is in contact with the base 1442, the tube support 1470 may extend through the collection tube 1464 and the end cap 1466 may extend through the base 1442 such that the tube support 1470 and the end cap 1466 engage one another with a snap connection to couple the components of the collector 1400 to one another.

The end cap 1466 may be formed from any suitable material. In some cases, the end cap 66 may be formed from a similar or different material than the base 1442 and/or the cover 1444. In some cases, the end cap 1466 may be made of a suitable elastomeric material, a rigid material, and/or other suitable materials. In one example, a portion 1466a of the end cap 1466 configured to engage the tube support 1470 may be formed from a substantially rigid material and a portion 1466b of the end cap 1466 configured to engage the base 42 may be formed from an elastomeric material, but this is not required.

In addition to the notches 1452, the base 1442 may include one or more openings 1450 extending thorough the bottom surface 1420 of the base 1442. When the collector 1400 is assembled, the openings 1450 may create a flow path for a fluid flow that extends from a space defined by the base 1442 and the target location of or on the subject (e.g., the skin 124, a wound, etc.), through the openings 1450 and into a space defined by an exterior surface of the collection tube 64 and an inner surface of the cover 1444. Once the fluid flow is in the space between the cover 1444 and the collection tube 1464, the fluid flow may be suctioned through the collection tube 1464, through the slots 1472 in the tube support 1470, and out of the vacuum channel 1432. In another example flow path, the openings 1450 may be configured in the base 1442 and relative to the cover 1444 such that the flow path extends through the openings 1450 and into a space defined by an interior circumference of the collection tube 1464, through the collection tube 1464 to the space between the collection tube 1464 and the cover 1444, and out of the collector 1400, where the vacuum channel 1432 is configured in the cover 1444 to evacuate the fluid flow from the space between the collection tube 1464 and the cover 1444. Other suitable configurations are contemplated.

The collectors 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400 and/or the components thereof described herein may be manufactured by any suitable techniques. In some cases, the collector and/or the components thereof may be manufactured by techniques to optimize desired properties including, but not limited to, adhesiveness, flexibility, porosity, non-porosity, adsorbent properties, compatibility with adjacent layers, tear-resistance, tensile strength, durability, shear strength (between components), and/or other suitable properties. In one example, advanced three-dimensional printing or deposition techniques may allow for customized properties for each component or layer, such that the components or layers may take on a uniform or predetermined composition or a gradient composition depending on the property for and within a component, as desired. Such techniques and considerations may be utilized when considering the overall desired properties of collector 10, including but not limited to the mechanical properties, cost, usability, manufacturability, durability, biocompatibility, etc. of collector.

The collectors 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400 described herein may be utilized in one or more methods of collecting VOC and/or other chemical substances from the target location of a subject. In one example, a method 1600 of using a collector for collecting VOCs and/or other chemical substances emitted, excreted, and/or secreted from a target location (e.g., skin, a wound, etc.) of or on a subject is provided, as depicted in FIG. 16.

The method 1600 may include cleaning or otherwise preparing 1602 a target location surface of the subject for use with the collector (e.g., where the collector is in contact with or spaced from the surface of the subject from which VOCs and/or other chemical substances are to be collected). In some cases, the target location may be a wound on or in a subject’s anatomy, other location on or in the subject’s anatomy, and/or other suitable target location for collection VOCs and/or other chemical substances. In one example, the target location may be a wound on or in a subject and the surface of the wound may be cleaned or otherwise prepared for use with the collector, but this is not required. Cleaning or otherwise preparing the target location surface for use with the collector may include alcohol-swabbing the target location surface, wiping the target location surface with an alcohol wipe, shaving hair at or adjacent the target location surface, washing the target location surface (e.g., with water, soap, etc.), applying a sweat inducer to the target locations, and/or otherwise cleaning or preparing the target location surface in one or more other suitable manners.

Further, the method 1600 may include positioning 1604 the collector at a desired location relative to the prepared surface of the target location of or on the subject (e.g., on, or adjacent to and spaced from, the wound and/or skin surface of the subject that has been prepared for use with the collector). In some cases, the collector may be positioned at a location that will facilitate receiving VOCs and/or other chemical substances at or through the collector from the target location. To facilitate positioning the collector, the collector may be affixed at a desired location, may be held at a desired location by a person, may be held at a desired location by a support, may be held at a desired location by a band or strap, and/or secured at a desired position in one or more other suitable manners.

When the collector includes an adhesive backing or is otherwise configured to be used with adhesive, the adhesive may be exposed to the surface at or adjacent to the target location of or on the subject and/or a standoff positioned adjacent to the target location to secure the collector at the desired position. In one example, an adhesive cover may be removed from the adhesive and a side of the collector having adhesive may be applied to the skin surface. In another example, a first adhesive cover may be removed from a first side of the adhesive and the exposed adhesive side may be applied to the skin surface or to the collector. Then, a second adhesive cover may be removed from a second side of the adhesive and the second side of the adhesive may be applied to the other of the skin surface and the collector. When applying the collector to the skin surface at a desired location, an adequate level of pressure may be applied to the collector to create a seal between a bottom side of the collector and the skin surface.

Although not required, after the collector has been positioned at a desired location relative to the prepared surface of the target location, a pump may be utilized to facilitate collection of VOCs and/or other chemical substances. When using the collector with a pump, negative pressure and/or a positive pressure may be applied to the collector. For example, a pump may be connected to a vacuum port of the collector and a negative pressure may be applied across the middle layer (e.g., the middle layer 14) or other suitable porous adsorbent membrane. In some cases, the negative pressure may be applied at a level and for a period of time to allow a suitable amount of VOCs or chemical substances to emit, excrete, and/or secrete from the target location, be drawn into a collection component, and become trapped in the collection component of the collector.

Further, the collector may be removed 1606 from the desired location relative to the prepared surface. In one example, after a desired amount of time collecting VOCs or other chemical substances and a suitable amount of VOCs and/or other chemical substances have been collected for subsequent analysis, the collector may be removed from the desired location.

An amount of time the collector is at the desired location collecting VOCs and/or other chemical substances may depend on one or more parameters. Example parameters include, but are not limited to, a type of VOCs and/or other chemical substances targeted and collected, properties of interest from analyses of collected VOCs and/or other chemical substances, a period of time and amount of negative pressure applied to the collector, a temperature at the desired location, a pressure on a surface of the desired location, and/or other suitable parameters.

Once the collector has been removed from the desired location, the collector or at least a collection component of the collector may be analyzed and/or transported for analysis. In some cases, the collection component of the collector may be removed from the collector after collection VOCs and/or other chemical substances, packaged in a tamper-proof package, and sent to a lab for analysis of the collected VOCs and/or other chemical substances. Alternatively or additionally, the collected VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be analyzed at the collector.

This method 1600 and/or other methods of use may be performed entirely or partially by one or more of the subject whose VOCs or other chemical substances are being collected, another person such as a health care provider (e.g., medical doctor, nurse practitioner, physician’s assistant), technician, or other suitable person. The methods may also be entirely or partially robotically performed or assisted by a machine or device. Such machine-assisted techniques may improve VOC and/or other chemical substance collection outcomes through more consistent application of pressure to create the desired seal between the collector and the surface of or adjacent the target location and/or through other suitable techniques.

The various methods of using the collector 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400 described herein to collect VOCs and other chemical substances as described herein may be augmented or supplemented by increasing VOC emittance, excretion, and/or secretion by the body of the subject whose VOCs and/or other chemical substances are being collected. Because it is known that VOCs and chemical substances can reside in sweat, VOC and chemical substance emittance, excretion, and/or secretion may be increased by stimulating sweat glands to increase sweat production. One way to induce or otherwise increase sweat by the subject may be to heat all or portions of collector 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400, particularly portions in contact with the skin surface. Another option for inducing a subject to sweat is by applying chemical agents (e.g., gaseous and/or liquid chemical agents), for example carbachol and pilocarpine, to the skin surface.

In some configurations, the collector 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400 may include or may be used with one or more electrodes that are to be applied to the skin of the subject as part of or an accompaniment to the collector 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400 to create a voltage gradient, for instance at the microampere level of current, not only to create heat but also generate a vibrational element through the subj ect’s skin. Such use of electrodes may drive sweat stimulating agents more effectively through skin. A similar process could be employed to increase sebum production by sebaceous glands to additionally drive sebum to the skin surface, such that the collector 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400 may extract and trap VOCs and/or other chemical substances emitting, excreting, or secreting from the sebum of a mammalian subject, including a human subject. Additionally or alternatively, other suitable mechanical elements, electronic elements, electromechanical elements, and/or other suitable elements (e.g., ultrasound elements, radio frequency elements, tapping elements, etc.) may be applied to stimulate the production of VOCs. All of these methods may be employed singly or in combination.

When collecting VOCs and/or other chemical substances from a wound, some of the VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be related to a bacterial infection, and others may be the result of the subject’s own metabolism, including from external sources such as metabolized chemicals from food, drinks, and/or pharmaceuticals. It may be desirable to minimize the effect of the VOCs and/or other chemical substances that are not produced by the bacteria in the wound. Accordingly, it may improve accuracy of analysis to take a “control” collection of VOCs and/or other substances on healthy skin (e.g., a target location) away from the wound site. Then, during analysis of the VOCs and/or other chemical substances taken from the wound site, the reading from the healthy skin may be subtracted from the reading on the wound site, substantially canceling out VOCs and/or other chemical substances that are unrelated to the wound itself. Alternatively or additionally, the readings from the wound site may be normalized in one or more other suitable manners.

Once VOCs and/or other chemical substances have been collected, it may be necessary and/or desirable to transport the collector 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400 to an analysis location. The analysis location may be local to a collection location or remote from the collection location. When the collector 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400 is to be transported to a location away from the subject after collecting VOCs and/or other chemical substances, the collector 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400 may be placed into a sealed container for storage so as to prevent contamination, to control humidity, and/or prevent the escape of the collected VOCs and/or other chemical substances from the collector’s adsorbent material. After collection, it may be also desirable to protect the collector from exposure to elevated temperature that could induce desorption of the collected VOCs and/or other substances. Other considerations such as UV exposure, etc. may also be taken into consideration.

A nonporous container for defining, holding, or storing the collector 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400 after collection may be desirable to achieve these ends. Such a container could comprise, for example, a metallized plastic envelope, a solid box or cylindrical hollow tube made of nonporous material such as steel, aluminum, other metal, glass, coated plastic, etc.

It will be understood that in any of the embodiments described above, the VOC and/or other chemical substance analysis can be used to identify bacteria in a wound and/or to identify illnesses that alter the patient’s metabolism in a way that causes them to elute patterns of VOCs and/or other chemical substances specific to that particular illness. For example, the collected VOC and/or other chemical substances and analyses thereof can be used to identify bacteria in a wound, identify illnesses that alter the subject’s metabolism in a way that causes them to emit, secret, emanate, release, and/or excrete patterns of VOCs and/or other chemical substances specific to that particular illness, identify a wellness of the subject (e.g., one or more analyses results in a measurement within a healthy range for the subject), and/or make one or more other suitable identifications or determinations.

A variety of methods may be utilized to analyze VOCs and/or other chemical substances collected with the collector 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400. For example, the VOCs and/or other chemical substances may be desorbed from the collector 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400 and carried through a detection device for analysis. Example detection devices include, but are not limited to, a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) sensor-based device, a gas chromatography device (GC), a mass spectroscopy device (MS), GCMS, Raman spectroscopy device, near-infrared spectroscopy device (NIRS), a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy device (FTIR spectroscopy), a terahertz spectroscopy device, a chemical detector, a detector array, a UV, Visible, Near-Infrared (NIR) or Short-Wave-Infrared (SWIR) spectrometer, Colorimetric Sensor Arrays (CSA), a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy device (SERS), other suitable detection devices, and/or combinations thereof.

Hyperspectral imaging techniques and devices, similar to other spectral imaging techniques and devices, collect and process information from across the electromagnetic spectrum and may be useful for the analysis of collected VOCs and/or other chemical substances. The goal of such imaging is to obtain spectra for each pixel in an image, with the intent of finding objects, identifying materials, or detecting processes. Whereas the human eye sees color of only the visible light spectrum, in mostly three bands (long wavelengths - red, medium wavelengths - green, and short wavelengths - blue), hyperspectral imaging sees a broader range of wavelengths extending beyond the visible spectrum.

MS devices used to analyze VOCs and/or other chemical substances collected by the collector 100, 400, 700, 800, 1400 and methods described herein may require ionization of the collected substances. Example ionization techniques include, but are not limited to, electron impact (EI), thermal desorption (TD), electrospray ionization (ESI), atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI), and any other suitable ambient ionization techniques such as DART and DESI after VOC and/or chemical substance desorption in order to analyze the collected sample.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, it is in no way intended that any method set forth herein be construed as requiring that its steps be performed in a specific order. This holds for any possible non-express basis for interpretation, including matters of logic with respect to arrangement of steps or operational flow, plain meaning derived from grammatical organization or punctuation, and the number or type of embodiments described in the specification

It should be understood that this disclosure is, in many respects, only illustrative. Changes may be made in details, particularly in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of steps without exceeding the scope of the disclosure. This may include, to the extent that it is appropriate, the use of any of the features of one example embodiment being used in other embodiments. The invention’s scope is, of course, defined in the language in which the appended claims are expressed.

Number	Date	Country
63087128	Oct 2020	US
63111077	Nov 2020	US
63114734	Nov 2020	US
63128048	Dec 2020	US
63128050	Dec 2020	US

	Number	Date	Country
Parent	PCT/US2021/053167	Oct 2021	WO
Child	18129676		US

DEVICES, METHODS, AND SYSTEMS TO COLLECT, STORE, AND ANALYZE CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES

Information

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Abstract

Description

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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Provisional Applications (5)

Continuations (1)