Sampling system and method of use thereof

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of virus sampling, in particular to a sampling system and a use method thereof, wherein the sampling system comprises: a collecting port used for collecting an air sample exhaled by a sampling object; a first collecting component comprising a first impact disc provided with one or more spray holes, the air sample is impacted on the first impact disc, the spray holes are used for dividing droplet transmission particles and aerosol transmission particles in the air sample, and the droplet transmission particles are collected; a cooling generating component used for increasing the particle size of the aerosol transmission particles; a second collecting component comprising a second impact disc provided with one or more spray holes, the spray holes are used for collecting the aerosol transmission particles with increased particle size; and a control component used for controlling the first collecting component, the cooling generating component and the second collecting component to work according to a sampling instruction, so as to realize sampling of virus aerosols in the air sample. Therefore, the problem that biological activity of viruses cannot be maintained in the prior art and viruses are not conducive to subsequent extraction, culture and separation and the like is solved.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of virus sampling, in particular to a sampling system and a method for using the same. BACKGROUND

[0002] In most current public health guidelines, the transmission of the virus is simplified as droplet transmission, airborne transmission and contact transmission. When a patient coughs, sneezes, talks or even breathes, due to the opening and closing of the glottis structure, high-speed airflow shear and the opening and closing of the bronchial end, the surface tension of the mucus in the respiratory tract is destroyed, and the mucus is broken into different sizes of droplets containing viruses. It is generally recognized that the droplet particles with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 5 μm are small droplets, and the droplet particles with an aerodynamic diameter of more than 5 μm are large droplets. The larger droplet particles settle quickly, are inhaled by susceptible populations within a short distance range or are directly or indirectly contacted with the mucosa to cause infection, thereby causing droplet transmission. The smaller droplet particles evaporate into droplet nuclei, which can stay in the air for a long time, thereby moving long distances with the airflow to cause airborne transmission.

[0003] However, a core problem in quantifying the relative contribution of droplet transmission and airborne transmission to the promotion of influenza pandemic, and thus proposing targeted intervention measures, is to determine the content of viruses exhaled by patients in large droplets and small droplets. So far, there is very limited direct evidence about the number, concentration and activity of viruses in different particle size droplets in the exhaled aerosol of infected persons. The main reason is the lack of a quantitative evaluation system to divide the particle size of droplets containing viruses in human exhaled aerosol according to the needs, and to achieve high-efficiency collection.

[0004] Currently, in the research of detecting and quantifying airborne viruses in the environment, widely used air samplers include Andersen, SKC, NIOSH, Coriolis, SASS-2300 and Sartorius MD8, among which the samplers capable of particle size grading are Andersen cascade impactor and NIOSH bioaerosol cyclone separator. However, they have low collection efficiency for nano-sized particles (the naked particle size of influenza virus ranges from 80-120 nm, and that of SARS-CoV-2 ranges from 60-140 nm), and their sampling flow is generally small, being 28.3 LPM and 3.5 LPM, respectively, which cannot cover a large amount of aerosol generated by patient coughing. Since there is no suitable sampling environment for maintaining virus activity, most of the collected viruses lose their infectivity, which is not conducive to quantifying the relative contribution of droplet transmission and airborne transmission to the promotion of influenza pandemic.

[0005] Related technologies combine traditional slit impactors with particle condensation growth technology to propose a device specifically for the graded collection of human exhaled bioaerosols. The aerosols exhaled by patients are collected at a sampling rate of 130 L / min, and then a traditional slit impactor is used to collect droplet particles with a diameter greater than 5 μm, completing the initial screening of the particles. For particles smaller than 5 μm, hot saturated steam is added to the sample aerosol, and then the aerosol is cooled using a heat exchanger, causing the water vapor to condense on the particle surface to increase the particle size. Finally, the enlarged particles are collected using traditional impaction methods. However, there are still many limitations. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a sampling system and a method for using the same to solve the problem that the hot saturated steam generated by heating in the related technology cannot maintain the stability of the virus capsid, maintain the biological activity of the virus, and is not conducive to the subsequent extraction, cultivation and separation of the virus.

[0007] The first embodiment of the present application provides a sampling system, comprising: a sampling port for collecting an air sample exhaled by a sampling subject; a first collecting component, wherein the first collecting component comprises a first impact disk, wherein the first impact disk is provided with one or more nozzles having a diameter less than or equal to a first preset diameter, the air sample impacts the first impact disk, and the droplet-transmitted particles and aerosol-transmitted particles in the air sample are separated by the nozzles, and the droplet-transmitted particles are collected, wherein the particle size of the droplet-transmitted particles is larger than the particle size of the aerosol-transmitted particles; a cooling generation component, which is used to cool the air sample including the aerosol-transmitted particles to a preset saturation state, and mix water vapor with the saturated air sample. , obtaining an air sample in an oversaturated state to increase the particle size of the aerosol-transmitted particles; a second collecting component, wherein the second collecting component includes a second impact disk, and the second impact disk is provided with one or more nozzles with a diameter less than or equal to a second preset diameter. The aerosol-transmitted particles with increased particle size impact the impact disk, and the aerosol-transmitted particles are collected through the nozzles, wherein the first preset diameter is greater than the second preset diameter; a control component, used to control the operation of the first collecting component, the cooling generation component and the second collecting component according to the sampling instruction, so as to respectively collect samples of droplet-transmitted particles and samples of aerosol-transmitted particles in the air sample, thereby realizing the sampling of virus aerosols in the air sample.

[0008] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the first collection component includes: a collection tube, which is connected to the sampling port; a first impactor, which is arranged at a preset position in the collection tube, and the first impactor includes a first impactor plate and a first collection plate, and a virus preservation liquid is added to the first collection plate, and the virus preservation liquid is used to preserve samples of droplet-transmitted particles.

[0009] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the first collection assembly further includes: a first refrigerator, which is disposed at the bottom of the first collection tray and is used to reduce the temperature of the first collection tray to a first preset temperature.

[0010] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the cooling generation component includes: a microtube heat exchange subcomponent, used to cool the air sample including aerosol-transmitted particles to a preset saturation state; and a condensation growth subcomponent, mixing water vapor and the saturated air sample to obtain an oversaturated air sample.

[0011] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the microtube heat exchange subassembly includes: a heat exchanger, wherein the tube side of the heat exchanger is composed of a preset number of capillaries; a circulating pump, which is used to cool the refrigerant to a set temperature and then pump it to the tube side of the heat exchanger through an internal infusion pump, so that the refrigerant and the sample air in the tube side flow in countercurrent, thereby achieving the purpose of cooling the air sample.

[0012] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the condensation growth subassembly includes: an atomizer for humidifying to produce water mist; a low-temperature heating tube for heating the water mist to form water vapor and sending the water vapor into a condensation growth chamber; a condensation growth chamber for mixing the water vapor and the saturated air sample so that the water vapor condenses on cooler particles to increase the particle size of the aerosol-transmitted particles.

[0013] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the second collection component includes: a collection bottle for collecting aerosol-transmitted particles in air samples; a second impactor, the second impactor including a second impactor plate and a second collection plate, the second collection plate is arranged in the collection bottle, and the second collection plate is added with virus preservation fluid, and the virus preservation fluid is used to preserve the sample of the aerosol-transmitted particles.

[0014] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the second collection assembly further includes: a second refrigerator, which is arranged at the bottom of the second collection bottle and is used to reduce the temperature of the second collection tray to a second preset temperature.

[0015] Optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, the control component comprises: an air supply and exhaust module, the air supply and exhaust module comprising a steam-water separator, an air flow meter, an air vortex fan and a circulation pipeline, for realizing air circulation of the system; a monitoring module, for monitoring data corresponding to the temperature and humidity monitoring points and the air sampling points in the system; a controller, for controlling the air supply and exhaust module, the monitoring module, the first collection component, the cooling generation component and the second collection component to work according to the collection instruction.

[0016] The second aspect embodiment of the present application provides a use method of a sampling system, the method is applied to the sampling system as described in the above embodiments, and the method comprises the following steps: obtaining a sampling instruction of an arbitrary sampling object;

[0017] According to the sampling instruction, the first collection component, the cooling generation component and the second collection component are controlled to work, so as to respectively collect a sample of droplet transmission particles and a sample of aerosol transmission particles in the air sample, and realize sampling of the virus aerosol in the air sample.

[0018] Therefore, the present application has at least the following beneficial effects:

[0019] The control component of the embodiment of the present application controls the first collection component and the second collection component to collect large-particle samples prone to droplet transmission and small-particle samples prone to aerosol transmission, and uses the cooling generation component to realize more moderate humidification of the sample air, so that the sample air reaches a supersaturated condensation state, can maintain the stability of the virus capsid, and create a low-temperature environment suitable for the survival of the virus, thereby maintaining the originality of the sample to the greatest extent. Therefore, the problem that the hot saturated steam generated by the heating method in the related art cannot maintain the stability of the virus capsid, maintain the biological activity of the virus, and is not conducive to subsequent extraction, culture and separation of the virus is solved.

[0020] Additional aspects and advantages of the present application will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0021] The above and / or additional aspects and advantages of the present application will become apparent and be readily appreciated from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0022] Figure 1 A block schematic diagram of a sampling system according to an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0023] Figure 2 A structural example diagram of a sampling system according to an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0024] Figure 3The present invention provides a flowchart of a method for using a sampling system according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0025] Description of reference numerals: sampling port-100, control component-200, first collection component-300, cooling generation component-400, second collection component-500. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The following describes in detail embodiments of the present application, examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals throughout represent the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are intended to be used to explain the present application, and should not be construed as limiting the present application.

[0027] The key to quantifying the relative contributions of droplet and airborne transmission to the pandemic, and thus developing targeted interventions, lies in determining the viral content of both large and small droplets exhaled by the sampler. Existing methods for collecting virus-containing droplets still have significant shortcomings. The high temperature of saturated steam generated by heating can theoretically alter the stability of the viral capsid, rendering the aerosol virus ineffective. The method of adding saturated steam followed by cooling, however, due to the greater mass diffusivity of water vapor than the thermal diffusivity of air, causes the water vapor to diffuse rapidly to cooler surfaces, thereby impairing particle growth. Alternatively, collection using a polytetrafluoroethylene filter hinders subsequent virus extraction, detection, and culture, and fails to create a low-temperature environment suitable for its survival.

[0028] The following describes the sampling system and its use method of the embodiment of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings. In response to the problems mentioned in the above background technology, the present application provides a sampling system, in which a first collecting component and a second collecting component are used to collect large particle samples that are easy to cause droplet transmission and small particle samples that are easy to cause aerosol transmission, and a cooling generating component is used to achieve more gentle humidification of the sample air, so that it reaches a state of supersaturated condensation, which can maintain the stability of the virus capsid and create a low-temperature environment suitable for its survival, thereby maintaining the originality of the sample to the greatest extent. Thus, the problem that the hot saturated steam generated by the heating method used in the related technology cannot maintain the stability of the virus capsid, maintain the biological activity of the virus, and is not conducive to the subsequent extraction, cultivation and separation of the virus is solved.

[0029] Specifically, Figure 1 A block diagram of a sampling system provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0030] like Figure 1 As shown, the sampling system 10 includes: a sampling port 100 , a control component 200 , a first collection component 300 , a cooling generation component 400 and a second collection component 500 .

[0031] Among them, the sampling port 100 is used to collect the air sample exhaled by the sampling object; the first collection component 300 includes a first impact disk, which is provided with one or more nozzles with a diameter less than or equal to a first preset diameter. The air sample impacts the first impact disk, and the droplet-transmitted particles and aerosol-transmitted particles in the air sample are separated by the nozzles, and the droplet-transmitted particles are collected, wherein the particle size of the droplet-transmitted particles is larger than the particle size of the aerosol-transmitted particles; the cooling generation component 400 is used to cool the air sample including the aerosol-transmitted particles to a preset saturation state, and mix water vapor with the saturated air sample to obtain an oversaturated air sample to increase the particle size of the aerosol-transmitted particles; the second collection component 500 It includes a second impact disk, which is provided with one or more nozzles with a diameter less than or equal to a second preset diameter. The aerosol-transmitted particles with increased particle size impact the impact disk, and the aerosol-transmitted particles are collected through the nozzles, wherein the first preset diameter is greater than the second preset diameter; the control component 200 is used to control the operation of the first collection component 300, the cooling generation component 400 and the second collection component 500 according to the sampling instruction, so as to respectively collect samples of droplet-transmitted particles and samples of aerosol-transmitted particles in the air sample, thereby realizing the sampling of viral aerosols in the air sample.

[0032] It is understandable that if Figure 2 As shown, the collection system of the present embodiment also includes a test subject compartment, which is fully enclosed with a transparent PVC curtain. The compartment contains a height-adjustable chair, which can be adjusted to position the patient's breathing zone at the sampling inlet. The sampling port 100 of the present embodiment is conical and made of 304L sanitary-grade stainless steel. Its size is based on the human head size statistically analyzed in relevant literature, and sufficient margin is left to ensure that the patient's head can be completely placed in the sampling inlet. During the actual implementation process, the sampling subject can enter the closed test subject compartment and adjust the seat height so that the patient's breathing zone is facing the conical sampling inlet. The control component 200 controls the operation of the first collection component 300, the cooling generation component 400 and the second collection component 500. The air sample exhaled by the sampling subject can hit the first impact disk of the first collection component 300, and the droplet-transmitted particles and aerosol-transmitted particles in the air sample are separated through the nozzles on the first impact disk, and the droplet-transmitted particles are collected. The cooling generation component 400 mixes the saturated sample air with hot saturated steam to make the sample air reach an oversaturated state, thereby achieving the purpose of increasing the aerosol particle size. After the increase, the aerosol particle size will hit the second impact disk of the second collection component 500, and the aerosol-transmitted particles are collected through the nozzles on the second impact disk, thereby realizing the sampling of viral aerosols in the air sample.

[0033] The first preset diameter of the spray hole on the first impact disk is greater than the second preset diameter of the spray hole on the second impact disk. The first preset diameter and the second preset diameter can be set according to actual conditions and are not specifically limited.

[0034] In practice, the test subject compartment is fully enclosed, preventing the influence of external particulate matter on the sampling results while maintaining a relatively high relative humidity within the compartment, thereby preserving the initial particle size distribution of the sampler's exhaled droplets as much as possible and preventing the impact of droplet evaporation on the test results. This embodiment of the present application can use 5μm as a cutoff point to separately collect large particles that are prone to droplet transmission and small particles that are prone to aerosol transmission. This allows for the efficient collection of virus-containing particles down to the nanometer scale, and enables the measurement of viral load and viral activity through subsequent viral nucleic acid extraction, culture, and separation.

[0035] In one embodiment of the present application, the first collection assembly 300 includes: a collection tube, a first impactor, and a first refrigerator.

[0036] Among them, the collection tube is connected to the sampling port 100; the first impactor is arranged at a preset position in the collection tube, and the first impactor includes a first impact plate and a first collection plate. Virus preservation liquid is added to the first collection plate, and the virus preservation liquid is used to preserve samples of droplet-transmitted particles; the first refrigerator is arranged at the bottom of the first collection plate, and is used to reduce the temperature of the first collection plate to a first preset temperature.

[0037] like Figure 2 As shown, the collection tube in this embodiment of the present application can be a sanitary stainless steel quick-release elbow. The first impactor, the core component of the first collection assembly 300, can be fixed within the stainless steel straight tube section. The first impactor comprises a first impactor plate with a tiny spray hole and a first stainless steel collection plate at the bottom. A small amount of virus preservation fluid is added to the first collection plate to maximize the preservation of the sample's original quality. The first collection plate can also be used for viral nucleic acid extraction, virus culture, and isolation. A first refrigerator is attached to the bottom of the first collection plate to reduce the temperature of the first collection plate, thereby creating a low-temperature environment suitable for virus survival.

[0038] In one embodiment of the present application, the cooling generation component 400 includes: a microtube heat exchange subcomponent for cooling an air sample including aerosol-transmitted particles to a preset saturation state; and a condensation growth subcomponent for mixing water vapor and the saturated air sample to obtain an oversaturated air sample.

[0039] It can be understood that the embodiments of the present application can cool the air sample of aerosol-transmitted particles to a saturated state through the microtube heat exchange subassembly, and mix it with the cooled sample air upstream in the condensation growth chamber, thereby inducing water vapor to condense on the colder particles, causing the particles to increase in size and reach a supersaturated state, so as to efficiently collect virus-containing particles as low as nanometer level.

[0040] In one embodiment of the present application, the micro-tube heat exchange subassembly includes: a heat exchanger and a circulation pump.

[0041] The heat exchanger's tube loop is composed of a preset number of capillaries. The circulating pump is used to cool the refrigerant to a set temperature and then pump it to the heat exchanger's tube loop through an internal infusion pump, so that the refrigerant and the sample air in the tube loop flow in countercurrent, thereby achieving the purpose of cooling the air sample.

[0042] Specifically, the heat exchanger of the embodiment of the present application can be a shell and tube heat exchanger, the whole of which can be made of stainless steel, and the tube side is composed of several stainless steel capillaries; the circulating pump can cool the refrigerant to a set temperature and pump it to the shell side of the microtube heat exchanger through an internal infusion pump, so that the refrigerant and the sample air in the tube side flow countercurrently, thereby cooling the sample air and maintaining the particles in the sample at a lower temperature, thereby reaching a saturated state.

[0043] In one embodiment of the present application, the condensation growth subassembly includes: an atomizer, a low-temperature heating tube, and a condensation growth chamber.

[0044] Among them, the atomizer is used for humidification to produce water mist; the low-temperature heating tube is used to heat the water mist to form water vapor, and send the water vapor into the condensation growth chamber; the condensation growth chamber is used to mix water vapor and saturated air samples so that the water vapor condenses on cooler particles to increase the particle size of aerosol-transmitted particles.

[0045] In an embodiment of the present application, the condensation growth chamber can be made of anti-static acrylic material, which can effectively prevent the impact of static electricity on particle sampling. The atomizer can be placed in a water storage bottle filled with ultrapure water. The water mist generated by ultrasonic humidification is heated by a low-temperature heating tube to achieve more gentle humidification of the sample air, causing it to reach a supersaturated condensation state, which is beneficial for maintaining the stability of the viral capsid and thus maintaining its activity. At the same time, the condensation growth chamber can also be used to mix the saturated sample air with hot saturated steam, thereby inducing water vapor to condense on the cold particles. The condensation growth chamber wall has a small temperature difference with the steam, thereby avoiding excessive condensation of water vapor on the wall and affecting the particle growth effect.

[0046] It should be noted that the power of the atomizer and the low-temperature heating tube in the embodiment of the present application can be adjusted according to actual conditions to control the humidification amount and the temperature of the water vapor delivered to the growth chamber, so that it can be adjusted according to the temperature and humidity of the sample air at the outlet of the microtube heat exchange subassembly to achieve the optimal supersaturation ratio, thereby achieving better particle growth effect.

[0047] In one embodiment of the present application, the second collection assembly 500 includes: a collection bottle, a second impactor, and a second refrigerator.

[0048] Among them, the collection bottle is used to collect aerosol-transmitted particles in the air sample; the second impactor includes a second impact plate and a second collection plate, the second collection plate is arranged in the collection bottle, and the second collection plate is added with virus preservation liquid, and the virus preservation liquid is used to preserve the sample of aerosol-transmitted particles; the second refrigerator is arranged at the bottom of the second collection bottle, and is used to reduce the temperature of the second collection plate to a second preset temperature.

[0049] Specifically, the second collection component 500 is used to collect the grown aerosol particles, and includes a collection bottle, a second impactor, and a second refrigerator. The second impactor is the same as the first impactor in the above embodiment. The top of the second impactor is a second impactor plate with a tiny spray hole, and the bottom is a second stainless steel collection plate with a small amount of virus preservation liquid added. It can impact the enlarged aerosol particles onto the second collection plate. In the actual implementation process, the cold sample air and saturated water vapor mix to produce tiny condensation droplets. The wall surface of the heat exchanger tube will also produce condensation water because it is lower than the dew point temperature of the sample air. These condensation water first impacts the second collection plate and finally overflows into the collection bottle filled with a large amount of virus preservation liquid, thereby maintaining the originality of the sample to the greatest extent and facilitating the subsequent nucleic acid extraction, virus culture and separation of the virus. At the same time, the second refrigerator is attached to the bottom of the collection bottle to reduce the temperature of the preservation liquid and maintain it in a low temperature environment suitable for the survival of the virus.

[0050] In one embodiment of the present application, the control component 200 includes: an air supply and exhaust module, a monitoring module and a controller.

[0051] Among them, the supply and exhaust air module includes a steam-water separator, an air flow meter, a vortex fan and a circulation pipeline, which are used to realize the air circulation of the system; the monitoring module is used to monitor the data corresponding to the temperature and humidity monitoring points and air sampling points in the system; the controller is used to control the supply and exhaust air module, the monitoring module, the first collection component, the cooling generation component and the second collection component according to the collection instructions.

[0052] like Figure 2As shown, the air inlet of the steam-water separator is connected to the side opening of the collecting bottle, and its outlet is connected to an air mass flow meter for detecting the real-time sampling flow. The end of the sampling system is a vortex fan. The sampling flow of the entire sampling system is provided by the suction flow of the fan, and the flow at the fan outlet is filtered and humidified and then sent back to the vicinity of the sampling port through a circulation pipeline. The humidified air can maintain the initial particle size distribution of the sampler's exhaled droplets as much as possible, avoiding the impact of the evaporation of the droplet droplets on the test results.

[0053] Due to individual differences in patients and differences in the course of the disease, patients have different abilities to exhale virus-containing droplets, and their abilities to cause infection are also different. Therefore, it is particularly important to quantify the number, concentration, and activity of viruses in droplets of different particle sizes in the patient's exhaled aerosol. The sampling system of the embodiment of the present application can be used to efficiently and grade the droplets containing viruses in the patient's exhaled sol, maintaining the originality of the sample to the greatest extent, facilitating subsequent viral nucleic acid extraction, virus cultivation, and separation, and providing more realistic data support for researchers to quantify the risk of virus transmission. The sampling system of the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below through a specific embodiment.

[0054] Before conducting the sampling experiment, the embodiment of the present application first debugs the system. Due to the constant changes in indoor temperature and humidity, the temperature and humidity of the sample air and the temperature of the pure water in the ultrasonic atomizer bottle become variables, which will cause the temperature of the air at the outlet of the microtube heat exchanger and the temperature of the hot saturated steam to deviate from the system set value. During debugging, first operate the entire system normally, monitor the reading of the thermometer and hygrometer downstream of the heat exchanger, and adjust the set temperature of the cold machine in the low-temperature coolant circulation pump so that the air temperature at the outlet of the heat exchanger is slightly higher than the dew point temperature of the sample air at its inlet. Then adjust the power of the low-temperature heating tube and the atomizer so that the outlet temperature reaches the optimal supersaturation ratio for particle growth, thereby completing the system debugging.

[0055] Before the sampling experiment begins, the embodiment of the present application can add a small amount of virus preservation liquid to the collection trays of the 5μm and 1μm impactors, and add an appropriate amount of virus preservation liquid to the collection bottle. The patient then enters the closed test subject compartment and adjusts the seat height so that the patient's breathing area is facing the conical sampling inlet. After the experiment begins, depending on the specific experimental research, the patient is required to speak, breathe, cough, sneeze and other activities, and the sampling lasts for 30 minutes or longer. After the experiment is over, the patient leaves the test compartment, turns off the system power, and then quickly removes the collection trays of the two impactors and the collection bottle at the end of the system. The virus preservation liquid extracted from the collection tray of the 5μm impactor is placed in a sterile tube, and the virus preservation liquid extracted from the collection tray and collection bottle of the 1μm impactor is placed in another sterile tube, and then immediately placed in an incubator at 2-8°C and transported to the testing laboratory within 48 hours for testing of virus quantity, concentration and activity. Finally, the system is disinfected and cleaned as a whole to avoid the influence of residual particles on subsequent experiments.

[0056] According to the sampling system proposed in the embodiment of the present application, by using the first collection component and the second collection component to collect large particle samples that are prone to droplet transmission and small particle samples that are prone to aerosol transmission, the cooling generation component is used to achieve more gentle humidification of the sample air, so that it reaches a supersaturated condensed state, which can maintain the stability of the viral capsid and create a low-temperature environment suitable for its survival, preserving the originality of the sample to the greatest extent. This solves the problem that the hot saturated steam generated by the heating method in the related art cannot maintain the stability of the viral capsid and the biological activity of the virus, which is not conducive to the subsequent extraction, cultivation and separation of the virus.

[0057] Next, a method for using a sampling system according to an embodiment of the present application will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which is applied to the sampling system of the above embodiment.

[0058] Figure 3 This is a flowchart of a method for using a sampling system according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0059] like Figure 3 As shown, the method of using the sampling system includes the following steps:

[0060] In step S301, a sampling instruction of any sampling object is obtained;

[0061] In step S302, the first collection component, the cooling generation component and the second collection component are controlled to work according to the sampling instruction to respectively collect samples of droplet-transmitted particles and samples of aerosol-transmitted particles in the air sample, thereby realizing the sampling of viral aerosols in the air sample.

[0062] It should be noted that the above explanation of the sampling system embodiment is also applicable to the method of using the sampling system of this embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

[0063] According to the method for using the sampling system proposed in the embodiment of the present application, by using the first collection component and the second collection component to collect large particle samples that are prone to droplet transmission and small particle samples that are prone to aerosol transmission, the cooling generation component is used to achieve more gentle humidification of the sample air, so that it reaches a supersaturated condensed state, which can maintain the stability of the viral capsid and create a low-temperature environment suitable for its survival, preserving the originality of the sample to the greatest extent. This solves the problem that the hot saturated steam generated by the heating method in the related art cannot maintain the stability of the viral capsid and the biological activity of the virus, which is not conducive to the subsequent extraction, cultivation and separation of the virus.

[0064] In the description of this specification, the description with reference to the terms "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "example", "specific example", or "some examples" means that the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present application. In this specification, the schematic representations of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described can be combined in any one or N embodiments or examples in a suitable manner. In addition, those skilled in the art can combine and combine different embodiments or examples described in this specification and features of different embodiments or examples without contradiction.

[0065] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood to indicate or imply relative importance or implicitly specify the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature specified as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of this application, "N" means at least two, for example, two, three, etc., unless otherwise specifically defined.

[0066] Any process or method description in a flowchart or otherwise described herein may be understood to represent a module, fragment or portion of code comprising one or more executable instructions for implementing the steps of a custom logical function or process, and the scope of the preferred embodiments of the present application includes alternative implementations in which functions may be performed out of the order shown or discussed, including performing functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in reverse order depending on the functions involved, which should be understood by those skilled in the art to which the embodiments of the present application belong.

[0067] It should be understood that various parts of the present application can be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. In the above embodiment, the N steps or methods can be implemented using software or firmware stored in a memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system. For example, if implemented using hardware, as in another embodiment, any one of the following technologies known in the art or a combination thereof can be used: a discrete logic circuit having a logic gate circuit for implementing a logic function on a data signal, an application-specific integrated circuit having a suitable combination of logic gate circuits, a programmable gate array, a field programmable gate array, etc.

[0068] Those skilled in the art will understand that all or part of the steps in the method of the above embodiment can be completed by instructing related hardware through a program, and the program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, it includes one or a combination of the steps of the method embodiment.

Claims

1. A sampling system, characterized in that: include: A sampling port, used to collect air samples exhaled by the sampling subject; a first collecting assembly, the first collecting assembly comprising a first impact disk, the first impact disk being provided with one or more nozzle holes having a diameter less than or equal to a first preset diameter, the air sample impacting the first impact disk, the droplet-transmitted particles and aerosol-transmitted particles in the air sample being separated by the nozzle holes, and the droplet-transmitted particles being collected, wherein the particle size of the droplet-transmitted particles is larger than the particle size of the aerosol-transmitted particles; a cooling generating assembly for cooling the air sample including the aerosol-borne particles to a preset saturation state, and mixing water vapor with the saturated air sample to obtain a supersaturated air sample, thereby increasing the particle size of the aerosol-borne particles; a second collection assembly, the second collection assembly comprising a second impact disk, the second impact disk being provided with one or more nozzle holes having a diameter less than or equal to a second predetermined diameter, the aerosol particles having increased particle size impacting the impact disk and being collected by the nozzle holes, wherein the first predetermined diameter is greater than the second predetermined diameter; The control component is used to control the operation of the first collection component, the cooling generation component and the second collection component according to the sampling instruction, so as to respectively collect samples of droplet-transmitted particles and samples of aerosol-transmitted particles in the air sample, thereby realizing the sampling of viral aerosols in the air sample.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein: The first collecting component includes: a collecting tube connected to the sampling port; The first impactor is arranged at a preset position in the collection tube. The first impactor includes a first impact plate and a first collection plate. Virus preservation liquid is added to the first collection plate, and the virus preservation liquid is used to preserve samples of droplet-transmitted particles.

3. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that The first collecting component further includes: A first refrigerator is provided at the bottom of the first collecting tray and is used to reduce the temperature of the first collecting tray to a first preset temperature.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein: The cooling generation component includes: a micro-tube heat exchange subassembly for cooling the air sample including aerosol-borne particles to a preset saturation state; The condensation growth subassembly mixes the water vapor and the air sample in the saturated state to obtain an air sample in a supersaturated state.

5. The system according to claim 4, characterized in that The micro-tube heat exchange subassembly includes: A heat exchanger, wherein the tube side of the heat exchanger is composed of a preset number of capillaries; The circulation pump is used to cool the refrigerant to a set temperature and then pump it into the pipe side of the heat exchanger through the internal infusion pump, so that the refrigerant and the sample air in the pipe side flow in countercurrent, thereby achieving the purpose of cooling the air sample.

6. The system according to claim 4, characterized in that The condensation growth subassembly includes: Atomizer, used for humidification to produce water mist; A low-temperature heating tube, used for heating the water mist to form water vapor, and sending the water vapor into the condensation growth chamber; A condensation growth chamber is used to mix the water vapor with the saturated air sample so that the water vapor condenses on cooler particles to increase the particle size of the aerosol-borne particles.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein: The second collecting component includes: Collection bottles for collecting aerosol-borne particles from air samples; The second impactor includes a second impactor plate and a second collection plate. The second collection plate is arranged in the collection bottle, and the second collection plate is added with a virus preservation liquid, and the virus preservation liquid is used to preserve the sample of the aerosol-transmitted particles.

8. The system according to claim 7, characterized in that The second collecting component further includes: The second refrigerator is arranged at the bottom of the second collecting bottle and is used to reduce the temperature of the second collecting plate to a second preset temperature.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein: The control component includes: An air supply and exhaust module, comprising a steam-water separator, an air flow meter, a vortex fan, and a circulation pipeline, for realizing air circulation of the system; A monitoring module, used to monitor the data corresponding to the temperature and humidity monitoring points and air sampling points in the system; The controller is used to control the operation of the air supply and exhaust module, the monitoring module, the first collection component, the cooling generation component and the second collection component according to the collection instruction.

10. A method for using a sampling system, characterized in that: The method is applied to the sampling system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the method comprises the following steps: Get the sampling instructions of any sampling object; The first collecting component, the cooling generating component and the second collecting component are controlled to work according to the sampling instruction to respectively collect samples of droplet-transmitted particles and samples of aerosol-transmitted particles in the air sample, thereby realizing the sampling of viral aerosols in the air sample.

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