A virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover and its use method

Abstract

The present invention discloses a virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover and a method for using the same. An inverted liquid taking device is provided in the tube body of the sampling tube. After the sampling tube is inverted, the tip of the pipette tip is inserted into the liquid taking hole that can be squeezed through the sealing ring to squeeze out the plug and absorb the protective liquid from the bottom of the inverted tube body. An isolation fence is fixedly sleeved on the outer side of the upper end opening of the hollow liquid guiding tube body to isolate the cotton swab tip from the liquid inlet of the hollow liquid guiding tube, thereby preventing the cotton swab tip from approaching the liquid inlet and preventing the liquid inlet from being blocked. In particular, when a multi-channel pipette is used, with the help of a special fixing device, it is only necessary to align the positions of multiple pipette tips with the fixed cylindrical liquid taking interfaces of the sampling tubes, so that multi-tube operation can be conveniently realized without opening the tube caps of the sampling tubes. The pipette tip does not need to penetrate into the sampling tube and does not contact the cotton swab tip in the tube, so the pipette tip will not be blocked, thereby creating conditions for realizing automated and efficient pipetting.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of sampling tubes, and more particularly to a virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening a cover and a method for using the same. Background Art

[0002] Virus sampling tubes are commonly used disposable consumables, mainly composed of sampling preservation fluid, plastic tubes, and tube caps. Before testing various types of viruses, such as the new coronavirus, influenza A and B viruses, adenovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, etc., the sampled swabs need to be placed in the virus sampling tube for storage and transportation.

[0003] The virus sampling tube usually contains one or more sampling swab heads, also known as cotton swab tips. During large-scale infectious disease virus testing, samples are often collected from multiple individuals, meaning multiple cotton swab heads are stored in the same virus sampling tube.

[0004] An important task in virus testing is to use a pipette to draw a certain amount of a mixture of virus and protective liquid (hereinafter referred to as "liquid") from the virus sampling tube into a container (hereinafter referred to as the target container) for subsequent testing. This process is called pipetting.

[0005] During pipetting, one or more cotton swabs in the same tube absorb a large amount of liquid, occupying most of the space within the sampling tube, resulting in a relatively small amount of free-flowing mixed liquid within the tube. When the pipette tip is inserted into the sampling tube, it is easy for the cotton swab to pierce the tip, blocking the pipette tip's liquid inlet. Even if the swab is not directly pierced, when aspirating the liquid within the tube, the cotton swab fibers will gather toward the pipette tip's liquid inlet as the liquid flows, further blocking the inlet and making aspiration difficult. With the inlet blocked, forcing liquid to be aspirated can easily cause the liquid within the tube to rush into the pipette, contaminating the pipette and causing pipetting failure. When manually pipetting within a single sampling tube, it is possible to manually avoid the cotton swab and obtain free-flowing liquid from the gap between the swab tips, but this process is very time-consuming and labor-intensive. Single-tube pipetting is inefficient and cannot meet the needs of large-scale testing. In order to improve the efficiency of pipetting, a multi-channel pipette is often used for pipetting. The eight-channel pipette is taken as an example below and is subsequently referred to as a "pipette" for pipetting. Pipetting can be performed manually or with automated equipment. When a pipette is used for pipetting, since the pipette tips are usually fixedly distributed and restrain each other, the pipette tips cannot avoid the cotton balls randomly distributed in the sampling tube. Often, when the liquid inlets of one or a few pipette tips are blocked among multiple pipette tips, the pipetting operation cannot be completed. In the prior art, for virus sampling tubes for mixed sampling of 5-10 people, more virus preservation solution is usually added to solve the problem of automated liquid collection for mixed sampling of multiple swabs. However, increasing the volume of the virus preservation solution will dilute the virus and reduce the concentration of the virus in the preservation solution, which is not conducive to virus detection. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The purpose of the present invention is to address the above-mentioned shortcomings and provide a virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover and a method of use thereof, in order to solve the technical problems in the prior art such as the need to open the sealing covers of the sampling tubes one by one when pipetting the solution in the sampling tubes, the easy clogging of the liquid inlet by the cotton swab, and the low pipetting efficiency.

[0007] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0008] The present invention provides a virus sampling tube for liquid transfer without opening the cover, comprising a tube body, which is a hollow circular tube with an open end and a bottom at the other end, a tube cap corresponding to a detachable cover for sealing the opening of the tube body, a gasket placed on the top inner side of the tube cap corresponding to the opening of the tube body, and an inverted liquid collection device arranged in the tube body, wherein the inverted liquid collection device comprises a hollow liquid guide tube, a plug, and a sealing ring, a cylindrical liquid collection interface facing into the tube body is provided at the center of the bottom of the tube body, the sealing ring is fixedly arranged at the lower section of the cylindrical liquid collection interface and leaves a liquid collection hole that can be squeezed through, one end of the hollow liquid guide tube is tightly inserted into the upper section of the cylindrical liquid collection interface and fixed, the other end of the hollow liquid guide tube extends to the upper end of the tube body, and the plug is fixedly plugged in the opening at the upper end of the tube body of the hollow liquid guide tube.

[0009] Furthermore, a fixing clip is fixedly provided in the middle of one side of the inner wall of the tube body, and the middle part of the hollow liquid guiding tube is fixed by being clipped into the fixing clip.

[0010] Furthermore, an isolation fence is fixedly sleeved on the outer side of the upper end opening of the hollow liquid guiding tube body, and a gap larger than the plug is left between the inner side of the isolation fence and the upper end opening of the hollow liquid guiding tube body.

[0011] Furthermore, the isolation fence is a cylindrical hollow grid structure with multiple meshes arranged on the top and sides.

[0012] Furthermore, the sealing ring is an annular elastic body with a semicircular cross section.

[0013] Furthermore, it also includes a protective film attached to the outer side of the bottom of the tube body.

[0014] Another aspect of the present invention provides a method for using any of the above-mentioned virus sampling tubes without opening the cover and transferring liquid, the method comprising:

[0015] Step S1, injecting a protective liquid into the virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover, and sealing the tube with a cap;

[0016] Step S2: Take a virus sampling tube with no need to open the cap, open the cap, collect a nasopharyngeal swab according to the prescribed method, break the swab handle and tighten the cap. The number of swabs collected is one or more. After tightening the cap, vibrate the virus sampling tube with no need to open the cap and place it in the sampling tube tray for transportation.

[0017] Step S3: After reaching the detection position, take out the virus sampling tube without opening the cap and repeatedly vibrate it, then insert the virus sampling tube without opening the cap into the corresponding fixing device upside down and let it stand for a while;

[0018] Step S4, tearing off the protective film at the bottom of the virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover to expose the bottom of the cylindrical liquid collection interface;

[0019] Step S5: The pipette is equipped with a pipette tip and aspirates air equal to the volume of the liquid to be extracted. The tip of the pipette tip is then inserted into the liquid extraction hole of the sealing ring through which the air can be squeezed. The pipette slowly injects air equal to the volume of the liquid to be extracted into the non-opening pipette virus sampling tube, squeezing out the plug at the lower end of the hollow liquid guide tube after the tube body is inverted.

[0020] Step S6: According to the predetermined solution extraction volume, the solution in the virus sampling tube for non-opening pipetting is sucked into the liquid storage cavity of the pipette tip through the hollow liquid guide tube using a pipette, and the pipette tip is pulled out to continue the pipetting operation and subsequent detection procedures.

[0021] Furthermore, the fixing device in step S3 includes a slot, a tube pressing plate support plate, and a tube pressing plate; the slot is provided with a jack corresponding to the size of the virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover, and the number of the jacks is one or more; the tube pressing plate support plate is fixed on both sides of the slot and is provided with a slot corresponding to the tube pressing plate; after the tube pressing plate is inserted into the slot, the position presses the bottom of the virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover, and a corresponding notch is provided to expose the cylindrical liquid extraction interface at the bottom of the virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover.

[0022] Furthermore, the pipette in step S5 is a multi-channel pipette, which is provided with one or more pipette tips. After the pipette tips are fixed in corresponding positions, they correspond to the cylindrical liquid extraction interfaces of the virus sampling tubes that do not need to be opened for pipetting and are fixed on the fixing device.

[0023] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: an inverted liquid collection device is provided in the tube body, and after the virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover is inverted, the tip of the pipette tip is inserted into the liquid collection hole that can be squeezed through the sealing ring to squeeze out the plug, and the protective liquid is sucked from the bottom of the inverted tube body; and an isolation fence is fixedly provided on the outer side of the upper end opening of the hollow liquid guide tube body to isolate the cotton swab head from the liquid inlet of the hollow liquid guide tube, thereby preventing the cotton swab head from approaching the liquid inlet and preventing the liquid inlet from being blocked;

[0024] Especially when using a multi-channel pipette, in conjunction with a special fixing device, it is only necessary to align multiple pipette tips with the fixed cylindrical liquid extraction interface of the sampling tube, which can easily realize multi-tube operation without opening the tube cap of the sampling tube. The pipette tip does not need to go deep into the sampling tube and does not touch the cotton swab head in the tube, which will not clog the pipette tip, creating conditions for realizing automated and efficient pipetting. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the upright structure of a virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the inverted pipetting structure of the virus sampling tube without opening the cover in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 3 This is a schematic structural diagram of a fixing device in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the top view of the structure after the fixing device is inserted into the sampling tube in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of the tube plate structure of the fixing device in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 6 Schematic diagram of pipetting virus sampling tubes using a multi-channel pipette without opening the cover in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0031] The following are the descriptions of the reference numerals:

[0032] 1 is the tube body, 2 is the tube cap, 3 is the gasket, 4 is the hollow liquid guide tube, 5 is the plug, 6 is the sealing ring, 7 is the cylindrical liquid collection interface, 8 is the pipette tip, 9 is the fixing card, 10 is the isolation fence, 11 is the fixing device, 12 is the slot, 13 is the tube pressing plate support plate, 14 is the tube pressing plate, 15 is the jack, 16 is the card slot, 17 is the notch, and 18 is the cotton swab head. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0034] refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, an embodiment of the present invention is a virus sampling tube for liquid transfer without opening the cover, comprising a tube body 1, which is a hollow round tube with an open end and a bottom at the other end, a tube cap 2 corresponding to the opening of the tube body 1 that can be detachably covered, and a gasket 3 placed on the top inner side of the tube cap 2 corresponding to the opening of the tube body 1. Generally, the inner side of the tube cap 2 is provided with an internal thread that corresponds to the external thread on the upper end of the tube body 1. When the gasket 3 is pressed against the opening of the tube body 1 when it is tightly connected, a closed system is formed so that the liquid in the tube cannot flow out. This is the existing basic structure of the virus sampling tube. The tube cap 2 can be opened for liquid transfer, but there are technical problems such as the liquid inlet being easily blocked by a cotton swab and low liquid transfer efficiency.

[0035] Importantly, the invention also includes an inverted liquid collection device disposed in the tube body 1, which includes a hollow liquid guide tube 4, a plug 5, and a sealing ring 6. A cylindrical liquid collection interface 7 facing into the tube body is provided at the bottom center of the tube body 1. The sealing ring 6 is fixedly disposed at the lower section of the cylindrical liquid collection interface 7 and has a liquid collection hole that can be squeezed through. When the pipette tip 8 is inserted into the cylindrical liquid collection interface 7, the sealing ring 6 is squeezed toward the periphery to form a sealed condition, and air can be injected to squeeze out the plug 5 or to aspirate the liquid in the sampling tube.

[0036] One end of the hollow liquid guiding tube 4 is tightly inserted into the upper section of the cylindrical liquid collection interface 7 and fixed, and the other end of the hollow liquid guiding tube 4 extends to the upper end of the tube body 1. The plug 5 is fixedly plugged in the upper end opening of the tube body 1 of the hollow liquid guiding tube 4. During the early sampling, the liquid is prevented from entering the hollow liquid guiding tube 4. During the later detection, the air can be injected by the pipette tip 8 to squeeze out the liquid inlet to form a liquid inlet. With this design, when the detection requires pipetting, there is no need to open the tube cap 2. After the sampling tube is inverted, the tip of the pipette tip 8 is inserted into the liquid collection hole that can be squeezed through the sealing ring 6, squeeze out the plug 5, and absorb the liquid from the bottom of the inverted tube body 1.

[0037] A fixing clip 9 is fixedly provided at the middle of one side of the inner wall of the tube body 1 , and the middle of the hollow liquid guiding tube 4 is fixed by being clipped into the fixing clip 9 , so as to fix the hollow liquid guiding tube 4 .

[0038] A further design is that an isolation fence 10 is fixedly sleeved on the outer side of the upper end opening of the hollow liquid catheter 4 tube body 1. A gap larger than the plug 5 is left on the inner side of the isolation fence 10 from the upper end opening of the hollow liquid catheter 4 tube body 1, so that the plug 5 can be squeezed out. The isolation fence 10 is a cylindrical hollow grid-like structure with multiple meshes on its top and sides, which isolates the cotton swab head from the liquid inlet of the hollow liquid catheter 4, preventing the cotton swab head from approaching the liquid inlet and blocking the liquid inlet, while the solution in the tube can freely enter the liquid inlet of the hollow liquid catheter 4.

[0039] The sealing ring 6 is an annular elastic body with a semicircular cross section. The tip of the pipette tip 8 is inserted into the middle of the sealing ring 6 to squeeze the sealing ring 6 and form a sealed condition with the hollow part of the hollow catheter 4.

[0040] A further design is that it also includes a protective film attached to the outer side of the bottom of the tube body 1, and the protective film can further protect the cylindrical liquid extraction interface 7 to prevent liquid from flowing out.

[0041] refer to Figure 2 、 Figure 3 、 Figure 4 、 Figure 5 、 Figure 6 As shown, another aspect of the present invention provides a method for using a virus sampling tube that does not require opening the cover for liquid transfer, the method comprising the following steps:

[0042] Step S1, injecting protective liquid into the virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover, and sealing it with a cap 2;

[0043] Step S2: Take a virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover, open the cap 2, collect a nasopharyngeal swab according to the prescribed method, break the swab handle and tighten the cap. The number of swabs collected is one or more. After tightening the cap, vibrate the virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover and place it in the sampling tube tray for transportation.

[0044] Step S3: After reaching the detection position, the virus sampling tube without opening the cap is taken out and repeatedly vibrated to allow possible viral components on the cotton ball to dissolve into the protective solution. The virus sampling tube without opening the cap is then inverted and inserted into the corresponding fixing device 11. It is left to stand for a while to allow the solution in the tube to flow to the bottom of the sampling tube. At this time, the sampling tube is in an upside-down and bottom-up position.

[0045] Step S4, tearing off the protective film at the bottom of the virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover, so that the bottom of the cylindrical liquid extraction interface 7 is exposed;

[0046] In step S5, the pipette gun is equipped with a pipette tip 8 and aspirates air of the same volume as the liquid to be extracted. The tip of the pipette tip 8 is then inserted into the liquid extraction hole of the sealing ring 6 through which the air can be squeezed. The pipette gun slowly injects air of the same volume as the liquid to be extracted into the non-opening pipette virus sampling tube, squeezing out the plug 5 at the lower end of the hollow liquid guide tube 4 after the tube body 1 is inverted.

[0047] In step S6, according to the predetermined solution extraction volume, the solution in the virus sampling tube for non-opening pipetting is sucked into the liquid storage cavity of the pipette tip 8 through the hollow liquid guide tube 4 using a pipette, and the pipette tip 8 is pulled out to continue the pipetting operation and subsequent detection procedures.

[0048] More specifically, in step S3, the fixing device 11 includes a slot 12, a tube pressing plate support plate 13, and a tube pressing plate 14; the slot 12 is provided with a jack 15 corresponding to the size of the virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover, and the number of the jacks 15 is one or more; the tube pressing plate support plate 13 is fixed on both sides of the slot 12 and is provided with a slot 16 corresponding to the tube pressing plate 14; after the tube pressing plate 14 is inserted into the slot 16, it presses the bottom of the virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover, and is provided with a corresponding notch 17 to expose the cylindrical liquid extraction interface 7 at the bottom of the virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover, and the width of the notch 17 is greater than the diameter of the cylindrical liquid extraction interface 7 and smaller than the outer diameter of the sampling tube, that is, the pipette tip 8 can move freely up and down in the notch 17, but the sampling tube is blocked under the notch 17. When the pipette moves upward, the blocked sampling tube will be separated from the pipette tip 8, thereby achieving the purpose of taking off the pipette tip 8.

[0049] More specifically, in step S5, the pipette gun is a multi-channel pipette, which is provided with one or more pipette tips 8. After the pipette tips 8 are fixed in corresponding positions, they correspond to the cylindrical liquid extraction interfaces 7 of each cover-free pipetting virus sampling tube fixed on the fixing device. It only takes a plurality of pipette tips 8 to align the positions of the fixed sampling tube cylindrical liquid extraction interfaces 7 to conveniently realize multi-tube operation without opening the tube cap 2 of the sampling tube. The pipette tip 8 does not need to go deep into the sampling tube, does not touch the cotton swab head in the tube, and will not clog the pipette tip 8, thereby creating conditions for realizing automated and efficient pipetting.

[0050] In addition to the above, it should be noted that references to "one embodiment," "another embodiment," "an embodiment," and the like in this specification refer to specific features, structures, or characteristics described in conjunction with that embodiment as included in at least one embodiment generally described in this application. The appearance of the same expression in multiple places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a specific feature, structure, or characteristic is described in conjunction with any embodiment, it is intended that such feature, structure, or characteristic, when implemented in conjunction with other embodiments, also falls within the scope of the present invention.

[0051] Although the present invention has been described herein with reference to a number of illustrative embodiments thereof, it will be understood that numerous other modifications and implementations may be devised by those skilled in the art that fall within the scope and spirit of the principles disclosed herein. More specifically, within the scope of the present disclosure, the drawings, and the claims, numerous variations and modifications may be made to the components and / or layout of the subject combination arrangement. In addition to variations and modifications to the components and / or layout, other uses will also be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cap, comprising a tube body, which is a hollow circular tube with an open end and a bottom at the other end, a tube cap corresponding to a removable cover for the tube body opening, and a gasket placed on the top inner side of the tube cap corresponding to the tube body opening, characterized in that: The device further comprises an inverted liquid collection device disposed within the tube body, the inverted liquid collection device comprising a hollow liquid collection tube, a plug, and a sealing ring; a cylindrical liquid collection interface facing into the tube body is disposed at the center of the bottom of the tube body; the sealing ring is fixedly disposed at the lower section of the cylindrical liquid collection interface and has a liquid collection hole that can be squeezed through; one end of the hollow liquid collection tube is tightly inserted into the upper section of the cylindrical liquid collection interface and fixed; the other end of the hollow liquid collection tube extends to the upper end of the tube body; the plug is fixedly plugged into the upper end opening of the hollow liquid collection tube body; An isolation fence is fixedly sleeved on the outer side of the upper end opening of the hollow liquid guiding tube body, and a gap larger than the plug is left between the inner side of the isolation fence and the upper end opening of the hollow liquid guiding tube body.

2. The virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover according to claim 1, characterized in that: A fixing clip is also fixedly provided at the middle portion of one side of the inner wall of the tube body, and the middle portion of the hollow liquid guiding tube is fixed by being clipped into the fixing clip.

3. The virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover according to claim 1, characterized in that: The isolation fence is a cylindrical hollow grid structure with a plurality of meshes arranged on the top and side surfaces.

4. The virus sampling tube for liquid transfer without opening the cover according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sealing ring is an annular elastic body with a semicircular cross section.

5. The virus sampling tube for pipetting without opening the cover according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a protective film attached to the outside of the bottom of the tube body.

Images