Patent Application
20120325334
This application claims the priority of European patent application 09173604.1, filed Oct. 21, 2009, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The invention relates to cartridges for fluidic applications with a manifold functionality. In particular the invention relates to a cartridge for fluidic or microfluidic applications with a manifold housing and to a manifold core for inserting into a manifold housing of a cartridge.
A way of implementing multiple valve functions in a cartridge is the usage of a manifold. The advantage in this is that with limited actuation interfaces multiple connections can be made. The construction of a manifold requires special techniques and is not straightforward when using e.g. injection moulding.
However, if the manifold is shaped as a cylinder with connections hooking up to the wall of the cylinder, sliders are needed in the mould during manufacturing. Such sliders make the mould more complex, more expensive and more susceptible to wear and tear. An alternative described in the state of the art is to position the connections radial at one of the flat ends of a cylindrical manifold. However, in this configuration relatively large forces are needed to keep connections fluid-tight. Generating such forces makes a device more complex and more susceptible to leaks. In general these forces cannot be made within disposable plastic cartridges. Therefore always an additional instrument is needed to create a leak tight connection, meaning that when the disposable cartridge is unloaded, the leak tight connection is unlocked which may lead to leakages to the outside of the disposable cartridges.
It may be seen as an object of the invention to provide for a manifold having a plurality of fluid connections and being easily manufacturable on the one hand and without the need for relatively large anti-leakage forces on the other hand.
The described embodiments similarly pertain to the manifold housing, the cartridge comprising a manifold housing and to the manifold core for inserting into a manifold housing. Synergetic effects may arise from different combinations of the embodiments although they may not be described in detail.
According to a first exemplary embodiment of the invention, a manifold housing for a cartridge and for receiving a manifold core is provided. The manifold housing comprises an oblique inner surface, at least one fluidic channel wherein the fluidic channel ends with one of its ends at the oblique inner surface. Furthermore, the manifold housing together with the at least one fluidic channel has no undercut.
In other words, the way that the manifold housing is shaped and constructed, i.e. the partially oblique embodiment of the inner wall of the manifold housing and the way the fluidic channel extends, makes it possible to use a mould with simple pins to generate the fluidic channel in the oblique part of the manifold housing. Such a manifold housing can easily be released from the mould once such moulding is complete and no sliders need to be used during the cast moulding.
The oblique inner surface of the manifold housing is furthermore the sealing surface that leads to a fluid-tight connection between the manifold housing and the manifold core when the core is integrated into the manifold housing. Therefore, the connecting fluidic channels can be made from the underside. This makes it very easy for the mould, since no undercuts are present in the design of the manifold housing and the mould can be made without any sliders. Thus, a manifold housing which is constructed according to this exemplary embodiment of the invention has the easy manufacturability which is desired during cast moulding. Furthermore, there is no need for a relatively large anti-leakage force.
This means that there is no need for large external forces applied by an additional instrument. According to this embodiment of the invention these forces are generated by the combination of the manifold core and housing and are within the disposable cartridge construction. Due to the partially cylindrical shape of the housing and core, the construction may be so stiff that it may withstand the forces that are needed to make a leak tight connection and also keep the forces over a longer period of time, being e.g. shelf life of the cartridge. This, a disadvantageous, large anti-leakage forces creating instrument is not needed due to the combination of oblique parts in the manifold housing and the manifold core.
Contrary to a totally cylindrical manifold housing, the present embodiment of the invention combines a hole having an oblique surface in the manifold housing with a core having a corresponding oblique surface. The two corresponding oblique surfaces lead to a fluid-tight connection between the manifold housing and the manifold core.
In the present application, the oblique inner surface is understood as a surface that is neither a horizontal surface nor a vertical surface. In the upper embodiment of an essentially cylindrical manifold housing, the oblique inner surface neither is perpendicular to a cylindrical main axis of the cylinder nor is it parallel to such axis. The oblique inner surface shows both a vectorial component that is perpendicular to the cylindrical main axis, and a vectorial component that is parallel to the cylindrical main axis. It is noted that preferably the oblique inner surface is a surface generated by revolution of a graph/line around the cylindrical main axis. The graph may be embodied as a straight graph or a curved graph. The graph fulfils the condition that the resulting manifold housing can be injection moulded without undercuts in combination with the fluidic channel. Advantageously, the graph represents a monotonically increasing function with a starting point and an ending point wherein the starting point is closer to the cylindrical main axis than the ending point in a radial direction. Advantageously, the graph is a straight line, and the resulting inner surface determined by revolution of the graph is a conical surface or a segment of a cone. In another embodiment, the graph is a segment of a circle, and the resulting inner surface determined by revolution of the graph is a spherical segment. Note that the inner surface does not necessarily need to represent a full revolution of the graph: In embodiments, a partial revolution may be sufficient to determine an inner surface of the manifold housing.
For the reason that an outer surface of the manifold core preferably corresponds with the inner surface of the manifold housing, the above definition may also apply to the outer surface of the manifold core, and in particular, the outer surface may also have a conical shape.
The fluidic channel may be a 3-dimensional channel that is entirely defined by the outer and inner surface of the manifold housing. It may be provided for connecting, for example, storage chambers of the cartridge with the manifold core that is to be inserted and that might be interconnected with an interface to a desired instrument.
In other words, the manifold housing is used to implement multiple valve functions in a multi-chamber cartridge. Therefore, the advantage of central actuation can be used, which actuation may be directed to several chambers of the cartridge via choosing a fluidic channel by switching the manifold core inside the manifold housing from one position to another.
The oblique part that comprises the oblique inner surface may be truncated from the rest of the manifold housing. The trunctation may be made to ease the manufacturing even more. Due to the truncation, the walls of the cartridge may be kept relatively thin, which may be an essential advantage for an injection moulding process.
Besides the oblique inner surface the rest of the manifold housing may be shaped essentially cylindrically. In detail the manifold housing may have an essential shape of a hollow cylinder with a cylindrical main axis elongating along the main cavity inside the hollow cylinder. Thus an essentially annular inner surface and an essentially annular outer surface may be comprised in the manifold housing. In such a case the oblique surface has a vectorial component that is perpendicular to the cylindrical main axis. In this case the oblique surface is part of the inner surface of this hollow cylinder. In other words a plurality of fluidic channels inside the manifold housing may be used without necessitating the use of sliders during cast moulding, wherein the fluidic channels have respective openings along different positions on the annular inner oblique surface which positions may preferably also vary in their levels along the longitudinal main axis of the manifold housing. Therefore reduced production costs of the manifold housing and an increased reliability of the production of the manifold housing may be achieved by this exemplary embodiment.
The oblique inner surface of the manifold housing and the corresponding interconnection surface of the manifold core which may also be embodied as a oblique surface may both be called “sealing surfaces”. By means of the interconnection of the two surfaces, the fluid-tight connections that are necessary may be built.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the manifold housing may be an integral part of the cartridge but may also be a physically separated part or component that is to be integrated in a desired way into the cartridge. In other words, it may be possible to produce a cartridge having such a manifold housing as an integral part. But also a production process in which only the manifold housing according to this and every other exemplary embodiment is produced is possible.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the fluidic channel is integrated into the manifold housing and in the oblique surface in such a way, that no undercut during cast moulding of the manifold housing is generated.
The oblique inner surface of the manifold housing allows the design of several possible fluidic channel shapes that in turn allow the production of the manifold housing with simple pins during cast moulding. The need of using sliders is avoided by this exemplary embodiment of the invention. Thus, the production process of such a manifold housing is easy, inexpensive and the mould is reduced in its susceptibility to wear and tear. Therefore, a longer-lasting mould may be provided when such a manifold housing is constructed.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the fluidic channel separates the manifold housing in a cross-sectional view into an inner part and an outer part. Furthermore, a radial direction from a central axis of the manifold housing to the outer surface is defined. The inner part of the manifold housing extends from a first inner radial value d1 to a first outer radial value d2. The outer part of the manifold housing extends from a second inner radial value d3 to a second outer radial value d4 and wherein d2 is smaller than or is equal to d3.
This exemplary embodiment of the invention may for example be seen in
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the oblique inner surface of the manifold housing is arranged in a proximal region of the manifold housing.
Thereby the term “proximal region” defines the region of the manifold housing, which is situated adjacent to the cartridge. If the manifold housing is an integral part of the cartridge a proximal region of the manifold housing is that region of the manifold housing in which the connection between the manifold housing and the cartridge is situated.
In other words, the manifold core is inserted into the manifold housing by inserting it from a region distal to the proximate region through, for example, the cavity in the hollow cylindrical shape of the manifold housing towards the proximal region. In the proximal region, the oblique outer surface of the manifold core and the oblique inner surface of the manifold housing are brought into contact, which process establishes a fluid-tight connection between these parts via the fluidic channel of the housing and the opening on the oblique surface of the manifold core. Additionally, locking mechanisms, like for example locking detents may be part of both the manifold core and the manifold housing. Also, corresponding detent pockets may be present in order to substantially fix the core in the housing in order to create the needed anti-leakage forces to establish fluid-tight connections.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the manifold housing essentially has the shape of a hollow cylinder, wherein the oblique inner surface forms an inner surface of the hollow cylinder in a proximal region of the manifold housing. The hollow cylinder has a first hole at a proximal end of the manifold housing and a second hole at the distal end of the manifold housing wherein the manifold housing is adapted for receiving the manifold core through the second hole. This embodiment of the manifold housing allows the insertion of the manifold core through the second hole at the distal end. After having inserted the manifold core into the manifold housing and after the fluid tight connection has been established via, for example, locking detents and locking pockets, the first hole of the hollow cylinder at the proximal end is entirely closed by the manifold core.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the fluidic channel extends in the manifold housing from a bottom of the cartridge to the oblique inner surface of the manifold housing.
This exemplary embodiment of the invention may for example be seen in
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the manifold housing comprises a plurality of fluidic channels wherein the oblique inner surface is an annular surface and wherein the oblique inner surface is positioned at a proximal part of an inner surface of the manifold housing. Each fluidic channel ends at the oblique inner surface with an opening into an inner hollow cavity of the manifold housing. The fluidic channels are adapted to establish different fluidic connections with the manifold core when the manifold core is inserted into the manifold housing. In a preferred embodiment, at least two of the openings into the hollow cavity are arranged at different levels of the oblique inner surface along a longitudinal axis of the manifold housing. In another preferred embodiment, at least two of the openings into the hollow cavity are arranged at different angular positions around the perimeter of the oblique inner surface.
In other words multiple valve functions are provided by means of the combination of the manifold housing with the manifold core for in particular microfluidic applications in a in particular microfluidic cartridge with several different chambers. Thus, with limited actuation interfaces multiple connections are made by this manifold system of the cartridge. For example, an actuation instrument is connected with the manifold core and has an effect on several cartridge chambers by means of the manifold functionality. Furthermore, the oblique part may be truncated.
As may be seen from
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the manifold housing is made by cast moulding.
Due to the partially oblique shape of the manifold housing and the way the fluidic channel is embodied, it is possible to use the manifold housing by means of cast moulding without having the need to use sliders in the mould.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, a cartridge for fluidic applications, and in particular microfluidic applications is provided, wherein the cartridge comprises a manifold housing according to one of the above-described embodiments.
In addition to the above said, it shall be noted that a manifold housing may be an integral part of the cartridge. The cartridge might thus be produced by cast moulding, made for example from plastic materials, such as polymers and may be entirely produced by one cast moulding process using a two part mould without having to use sliders although the manifold housing comprises a plurality of fluidic channels or microfluidic channels.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the cartridge comprises an extension of the fluidic channel of the manifold housing wherein the extension is formed inside the bottom of the cartridge.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the cartridge further comprises a manifold core according to one of the embodiments as described above or below.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the manifold housing and the manifold core are designed in combination in such a way that the manifold housing allows a rotation of the manifold core inside the manifold housing when the manifold core is inserted into the manifold housing.
According to another exemplary embodiment, the manifold housing and the manifold core are designed in combination in such a way that an opening of the fluidic channel in the manifold housing is aligned with an opening in the core in at least one angular position of the core with respect to the manifold housing such that a fluidic connection is established between the fluidic channel and the core.
According to another exemplary embodiment, the manifold housing and the manifold core are designed in combination in such a way that different openings of the fluidic channel in the manifold housing are aligned with different openings in the core in different angular positions of the core with respect to the manifold housing such that different fluidic connections are established at different angular positions of the core.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, a manifold core for inserting into a manifold housing of a cartridge is provided. The manifold core comprises an opening for establishing a fluidic connection with a fluidic channel of the manifold housing when the manifold core is inserted into the manifold housing. Furthermore, the manifold core is adapted for sealing the fluid connection with an oblique inner surface of the manifold housing when the manifold core is inserted into the manifold housing.
In other words the manifold core may also be shaped quasi cylindrical and additionally having an oblique outer surface at a proximal end of the manifold core. This oblique outer surface may then be adapted to provide for the fluid-tight connection in combination with the oblique inner surface of the manifold housing when the connection between the core and the housing is established.
But it is also possible that the manifold core has per se not an oblique shape but is brought into an oblique shape when it is pressed into the proximal region of the manifold housing. In this region the inner oblique surface of the manifold housing is positioned. In other words, the manifold core takes on a oblique shape through insertion into the manifold housing.
Furthermore, the manifold core has at least a corresponding opening for the fluidic channel of the manifold housing.
If the manifold core does not per se have an oblique part, deformable material at the manifold core makes it possible to bring the manifold core into such an oblique shape when corresponding forces are applied to the manifold core during insertion of the core into the housing. In detail, the oblique inner surface of the manifold housing may be annular and may press the manifold core into such a desired oblique shape in order to provide for fluid-tight connection.
According to another exemplary embodiment, the manifold core has got no undercut.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the manifold core comprises an oblique outer surface, wherein the manifold core has no undercut.
Furthermore, the oblique outer surface comprises elastic materials wherein the oblique outer surface is adapted for sealing the fluid connection with the oblique inner surface of the manifold housing when the manifold core is inserted into the manifold housing.
In other words, the combination of a manifold housing having an oblique inner surface and a manifold core that has a corresponding oblique surface has the advantage of being able to produce such parts by cast moulding without sliders.
According to another embodiment, multiple openings are provided in the manifold core for establishing different fluidic connections with different fluidic channels of the manifold housing when the manifold core is inserted into the manifold housing. For example, at least two of the openings may be arranged at different levels of the core along a longitudinal axis of the core and/or, at least two of the openings may be arranged at different angular positions around the perimeter of the core.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the oblique surface comprises several compartments in one, more or all of which an opening may be situated respectively, wherein, preferably, the compartments are spatially separated by elastic sealing lips and wherein the compartments and the sealing lips are adapted in such a way that fluid-type connections may be established between a compartment including an opening of the manifold core and one or more corresponding openings/ends of one or more of the fluidic channels of the manifold housing when the manifold core is inserted into the manifold housing subject to the rotational position of the core with respect to the housing. In a given position of the core with respect to the housing, the core and the housing may be designed such that none, one or more fluidic channels in the housing may interact with associated openings in compartments of the core simultaneously. In addition, or alternatively, in different angular positions of the core with respect to the housing, different fluidic channels may interact with different openings of compartments. In this way, for example, by rotating the core e.g. clockwise, at each position of the core a specific fluidic channel may interact with an opening in the core such that different functions such as valve functions, mixing functions, etc. can be realized subsequently simply by rotating the core in the housing.
It has to be noted that the embodiments of the invention are described with reference to different aspects of the invention. In particular, some embodiments are described with reference to manifold housing claims whereas other embodiments are described with reference to manifold core or cartridge claims. However, a person skilled in the art will gather from the above and the following description that unless otherwise notified, in addition to any combination of features belonging to one type of aspect, also any combination between features relating to different aspects is considered to be disclosed with this application.
The aspects defined above and further aspects, features and advantages of the present invention can also be derived from the examples of embodiments to be described hereinafter and are explained with reference to examples of embodiments. The invention will be described in more detail hereinafter with reference to examples of the embodiments but to which the invention is not limited.
Similar or relating components in the several figures are provided with the same reference numerals. The view in the figures is schematic and not fully scaled.
It can be seen that the manifold housing 101 has a conical inner surface 103 that is an annular surface spanning around the inner wall of this hollow cylinder that is formed by the manifold housing 101. Further, a fluidic channel 104 inside the manifold housing 101 can be seen wherein the fluidic channel 104 ends with one of its ends 105 at the conical inner surface 103. As can be seen from
Furthermore, it can be seen that the conical inner surface 103 is arranged in a proximal region 110 of the manifold housing 101, i.e. at a lower end of the manifold housing 101, which builds the transmission to the rest of the cartridge 100. The manifold housing 101 is an integral part of the microfluidic cartridge 100 and may thus be produced within one process step together with the rest of the cartridge 100. Nevertheless the housing 101 may also be a physically separate component.
Furthermore, it can be seen that the manifold housing 101 essentially has a shape of a hollow cylinder 111 with a first hole 112 at the proximal end and the second hole 113 at the distal end, i.e. the upper end, of the manifold housing 101. The manifold core 102 is inserted into the manifold housing 101 through the second hole 113 on the distal end.
Additionally, the shown manifold core 102 has an opening 118 for establishing a fluid connection with the fluidic channel 104 when the manifold core 102 is inserted. Furthermore, the manifold core 102 is adapted for sealing the fluid connection with the conical inner surface 103 of the manifold housing 101 in an inserted position. In this embodiment of the manifold core 102, this adaption is made by the conical shape of the conical outer surface 119 of the manifold core 102. This manifold core 102 also comprises elastic materials 121 supporting sealing which might for example be a rubber material or any other polymer elastic material. Thus a deformation of the shape of the manifold core 102 is caused when pressure is applied accordingly. Therefore, fluid type connections are sealed by the conical outer surface 119 of the manifold core 102.
Furthermore, the conical outer surface 119 of the manifold core 102 comprises several compartments 122, 123 and 124 in which an opening 118 may be situated respectively. Furthermore, the compartments 122, 123 and 124 are especially separated by elastic sealing lips 125 and 126 (see
It can be seen in
Furthermore, the truncated conical outer surface 119 comprises several compartments 122 to 124 and has elastic sealing lips 125 and 126. Compartment 123 is arranged in an upper ring of compartments. Compartment 124 is arranged in a lower ring of compartments. Compartment 122 with opening 188 extends between the upper and the lower ring of compartments. By means of rotating such a manifold core 102 several different valve functions can be provided to the microfluidic cartridge 100 by means of limited actuation interfaces. This is achieved by way of making different openings in different compartments interact with different fluidic channels 104. By means of designing the ends 105 of the fluidic channels 105 and the compartments 122-124 and its openings respectively, subject to the rotational position of the core 102, none, one or more fluidic channels 104 may interact with associated openings 118 simultaneously. In this way, for example, by rotating the core 102 e.g. clockwise, at each position of the core 102 a specific fluidic channel 104 may interact with an opening 118 in the core such that different functions such as valve functions, mixing functions, etc. can be realized subsequently simply by rotating the core 102 in the the housing 101.
Locking detents 127 and 128 are used to fix the core 102 in the housing 101.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09173604.1 | Oct 2009 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CH2010/000264 | 10/20/2010 | WO | 00 | 9/10/2012 |
