Patent Grant
12179193
The application claims the benefit of Taiwan Patent Application No. 108148733, filed on Dec. 31, 2019, at the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
The present invention is related to a device for collecting a body fluid sample, and more particularly to a planar apparatus for volumetric body fluid collection and a manufacturing method thereof.
A dropper is a tool often used in the laboratory to collect body fluid samples. A traditional dropper, such as a nipple dropper, is composed of a glass or transparent plastic tube with an approximately circular cross-section and an elastic rubber spherical element with one end as a manual pneumatic pump. The structure of such a device is simple and easy to manufacture, but it is difficult to control the amount of liquid samples collected and delivered. Some biochemical analyses require volumetric body fluid sample collection to provide basic data on specific physiological parameters regarding concentration or the amount per unit volume. A traditional dropper cannot be used for volumetric collection, so it is not suitable for volumetric body fluid sample collection.
Please refer to
However, in order to achieve the effect of volumetric collection during the operation of the modified dropper 10 described above, it is inevitable that the additional sample stored in the body fluid sample collection bladder 13 will be wasted. In addition, this type of product is basically tubular in shape, has a certain thickness, and occupies significant storage space. Moreover, the design concept of this dropper is a single function device, and it cannot be provided with other extra functions such as filtering and screening or configuring to detect the reaction substance in the flow channel.
Therefore, how to avoid the above disadvantages is a technical problem that needs to be solved.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a planar volumetric device for quantifying and handling a body fluid sample is provided. The device has a planar main body, a body fluid sample flow path, an air pump and an air passage. The planar main body includes a first planar surface and a second planar surface. The body fluid sample flow path is disposed in the main body, and has a body fluid sample inlet, a middle junction and a body fluid sample outlet, wherein the middle junction and the body fluid sample outlet define therebetween a specific path segment, by which it is possible to externally observe to which extent the body fluid sample has filled up the path segment. The air pump is configured to provide an operating air pressure. The air passage has a first end and a second end, wherein the first and the second ends are connected to the air pump and the middle junction respectively, and the specific path segment has a constant volume.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method for manufacturing a planar volumetric device is provided. The method comprises steps of: providing a transparent upper plate; providing a lower plate; providing a middle plate including a body fluid sample flow path space having a body fluid sample inlet location and a body fluid sample outlet location, an air passage space and a junction located at an intersection of the body fluid sample flow path space and air passage space, wherein an area of the body fluid sample flow path space from the junction to the body fluid sample outlet location forms a volumetric passage space; and sequentially stacking the lower plate, the middle plate and the upper plate to manufacture the planar volumetric device.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a planar volumetric device for quantifying and handling a body fluid sample is provided. The device comprises an air pump configured to provide an operating air pressure, a first planar surface and a second planar surface opposite to and cooperating with the first planar surface to form the planar volumetric device, and forming therebetween: a body fluid sample flow path having a body fluid sample inlet, a middle passage and a body fluid sample outlet; and an air passage having a first end and a second end, and intersecting with the body fluid sample flow path at the middle passage. The first end is connected to the air pump, the body fluid sample outlet serves as the second end, the air passage and the body fluid sample flow path share a common region defining a volumetric passage for the body fluid sample to have a specific passage length, by which it is possible to externally observe to which extent the body fluid sample has filled up with the specific passage length.
The planar volumetric device for quantifying and handling a body fluid sample and manufacturing method proposed by the present invention allows the user to observe the degree of accumulation of the body fluid sample within the specific distance, and the operator can use the air pump to timely take out the volumetric body fluid sample to reduce waste of the body fluid sample. In addition, the configuration is simple, and can be easily equipped with other functional elements such as filtering and screening elements or configuring reaction substances in the flow channel to form a simple micro laboratory function. It is easy to store and transport, so it has industrial utilization.
The objectives and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed descriptions and accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for the purposes of illustration and description only; they are not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.
Body fluids collected from a living body are often used as analytical samples to judge the living body's physiology as well as health condition. Samples used for biochemical analysis usually need to be processed previously. For example, when the biochemical parameters of plasma in blood need to be analyzed, other components such as blood cells or blood platelets in the blood sample need to be removed in advance. Furthermore, blood samples need to be collected in a volumetric manner when determining the concentration of specific chemical components.
Please refer to
The first plane surface 112 is an operation plane. According to an embodiment, the first plane surface 112 may be equipped with an air pump 170 for providing operating air pressure and a sample carrying element 180 for carrying the body fluid sample 1. The body fluid sample flow path 140 has a body fluid sample inlet 142 and a body fluid sample outlet 144, and the body fluid sample inlet 142 is connected to the sample carrying element 180. The first end 152 of the air passage 150 is connected to the air pump 170 that provides the operating air pressure. The junction 160 is located at the other end of the air passage 150, that is, the intersection of the second end 154 and the body fluid sample flow path 140. When the user provides operating air pressure through the air pump 170 to enter the air passage 150, the body fluid sample 1 present in the volumetric path 146 can be pushed by the operating air pressure and leave the body fluid sample collection device 100 from the body fluid sample outlet 144.
It can be understood from the figure that the specific distance L between the body fluid sample flow path 140 from the junction 160 to the body fluid sample outlet 144 can make the path 146 a volumetric one, and an angle θ is formed between the volumetric portion of the body fluid sample flow path 140 and the air passage 150. According to an embodiment of the present invention, in order to prevent the body fluid sample 1 from entering the air passage 150 from the body fluid sample flow path 140 via the junction 160, the angle θ should be greater than 90 degrees, that is to say the angle θ is an obtuse angle.
According to an embodiment, in order to prevent the body fluid sample 1 in the body fluid sample flow channel 140 from flowing through the junction 160 into the air passage 50, a vent hole 116 can be provided at the position of the junction 160 near the air passage 150 to stop the capillary effect in the air passage 150, so the body fluid sample 1 will not be affected by the capillary force and flow into the air passage 150. The planar-type volumetric body fluid sample collection device 100 equipped with the vent hole 116 allows all the filtered body fluid samples 1 to be confined in the body fluid sample flow path 140, which is helpful for the accuracy in terms of volume control.
Referring again to
Based on the illustrations of
Referring again to
The air passage 150 is directly connected to and disposed below the air pump 170. When a user (not shown) squeezes the button housing 172 of the air pump 170 by hand, the volume of the air pump 170 shrinks and the air pressure inside the air pump 170 rises. The air in the air pump 170 flows along the air passage 150 in the direction of the junction 160 (not shown) to form an operating air pressure. According to an embodiment, the body fluid sample 1 can be collected from a person to be examined, and the plasma after passing through the filter membrane 182 enters the body fluid sample flow path 140. In different embodiments, the body fluid sample 1 may also be gastric fluid, saliva, lymph fluid, or urine. In addition to the manual air pressure button described above, the embodiment of the air pump 170 may also be a self-powered electric air pump.
Please refer to
The opening 114 on the upper plate 110 corresponds to the outline and location of the opening 132 on the middle plate 130, and is configured to provide a mounting space for the sample carrying element 180. The size of the opening 114 on the upper plate 110 may be smaller than that of the opening 132 on the middle plate 130. After the filter membrane 182 is disposed in the opening 132 of the middle plate 130, the upper plate 110 is placed, and thus the filter membrane 182 is restricted at the position of the sample carrying element 180. A pump through hole is located at the position corresponding to one end of the air passage space 136 of the middle plate 130, which is the position of the air pump 170, and is configured to be combined with the flexible button housing 172 so as to form the manual air pump 170. The remaining spaces on the middle plate 130 such as the body fluid path space 134, the air passage spaces 136 and the junction opening 137 define the positions of the body fluid sample path 140, the air passage 150 and the junction 160, respectively.
According to one embodiment, the vent hole 116 can be disposed on the upper plate 110. In other embodiments, the vent hole 116 can be disposed on the lower plate 120. The volumetric passage space 138 has a first longitudinal direction, the air passage space 136 has a second longitudinal direction, and the first and the second longitudinal directions form an angle θ which is an obtuse angle.
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Based on the illustrations in
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An angle θ is formed between the volumetric passage 246 and a portion of the air passage 250 near the first end 252. The air passage 250 and the body fluid sample flow path 240 form another angle α before the junction 260. According to an embodiment of the present invention, in order to prevent the body fluid sample 1 from entering the body fluid sample flow path 240 into a section of the air channel 250 closer to the first end 252 through the junction 260, the angle θ should be greater than 90 degrees, that is, the angle θ is an obtuse angle. According to another embodiment of the present invention, for the same reason, the angle α should be an acute angle which is less than 90 degrees.
The volumetric passage 246 has a specific distance L, a width W, and a height D. Therefore, the volume of the volumetric passage 246 is fixed at L×W×D. The height D of the volumetric passage 246 can be determined by the thickness of the middle plate 230. The designer can adjust the size of L according to the actual specific needs to determine the volume of the volumetric passage 246 in the body fluid sample collection device 200, so that the volume of body fluid collected at each time is a constant.
Please refer to
The concept of the element configuration shown in
In different embodiments, the portion of the volumetric passage 346 for configuring the reaction material 391,392 has a larger width, which is beneficial to the storage of the reaction material 391/392 and the reaction with the body fluid sample 1. According to another embodiment, the width of the rear end path 348 in the volumetric passage 346 that is multiple curved or polygonal curved is smaller, which can cause turbulence or convection when the body fluid sample passes the turning points, which helps the sample and the reaction material 391, 392 to mix well and fully react.
Through the above-mentioned embodiments, the planar volumetric apparatus provided by the present invention can volumetrically collect body fluid samples in the simplest way, is easy to manufacture and easy to store, and it is easy to add functions for other needs, which can be a major innovation in the art.
While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 108148733 | Dec 2019 | TW | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180345288 | Belotserkovsky | Dec 2018 | A1 |
| 20200030792 | Kirakossian | Jan 2020 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20210197190 A1 | Jul 2021 | US |
