Liquid component separation device, method and apparatus

Abstract

A liquid component separation device (100), comprising: a first cavity (1), which has a first accommodating space (10); a second cavity (2), which has a second accommodating space (20), the second accommodating space (20) being in communication with the first accommodating space (10) by means of a first pipeline (4); a third cavity (3), which has a third accommodating space (30), the third accommodating space (30) being in communication with the first accommodating space (10) by means of a second pipeline (5); and a first opening (11), which is provided in the first cavity (1), wherein the second cavity (2) is located on one side of the first cavity (1) in a first direction (D1), and the third cavity (3) is located on the other side of the first cavity (1) in the first direction (D1). A liquid component separation apparatus, comprising the liquid component separation device (100) and a rotary device, wherein the rotary device drives the liquid component separation device (100) to rotate around a rotary shaft (200); and the rotary shaft (200) is farther away from the first cavity (1) than the second cavity (2) in the first direction (D1), or the rotary shaft (200) is farther away from the first cavity (1) than the third cavity (3) in the first direction (D1). A liquid component separation method, comprising: injecting a liquid to be separated into the liquid component separation device (100); and using the rotary device to drive the liquid component separation device (100) to rotate around the rotary shaft (200).

Description

Liquid component separation device, method and equipment Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of liquid component separation, and in particular to a liquid component separation device, method and equipment. Background Art

[0002] The concentrations of proteins and metabolites in the blood are often important indicators for disease diagnosis and treatment, and the detection of specific targets in the blood is also a common method for patient physical examinations. Point-of-Care Testing (POCT), which uses a small amount of blood to measure targets, can reduce patient pain and make testing more convenient.

[0003] Since blood cells in the blood seriously interfere with the determination of most proteins and metabolites, separating plasma from blood cells after obtaining a blood sample is an important step in blood testing. In in-hospital clinical treatment, several milliliters of venous blood can be obtained, and professional instruments can effectively separate plasma by centrifugation. However, in POCT systems, blood samples are often only one drop or less, making separation very difficult. At the same time, system automation often requires expensive equipment such as automatic pipettes, which increases the cost of the instrument. Therefore, for POCT instruments, especially home-use POCT instruments, separating quantitative plasma from trace amounts of blood is a major technical difficulty.

[0004] It should be noted that the above introduction to the technical background is merely intended to provide a clear and complete description of the technical solutions of this application and facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art. Simply because these solutions are described in the background technology section of this application, it should not be assumed that the above technical solutions are well known to those skilled in the art.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] The inventors of this application have discovered that various methods for separating plasma in micro-volumes have been reported in the literature, but each has certain shortcomings. For example, blood filtration membranes can rapidly filter plasma, but are relatively expensive and difficult to quantitatively process; microfluidics systems can remove blood cells, but require large amounts of plasma and a relatively large volume; sedimentation methods are time-consuming and require a long flow channel, increasing the size of the instrument; and electric fields can separate plasma in a small volume, but often leave residual blood cells, making it difficult to ensure separation purity.

[0007] To solve at least one of the above problems or similar problems, embodiments of the present application provide a liquid component separation device, method, and apparatus. The liquid component separation device is small in size, low in cost, has good separation effect, and can ensure that the volume of liquid removed is fixed.

[0008] According to one aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a liquid component separation device is provided, the liquid component separation device comprising:

[0009] A first cavity having a first accommodating space;

[0010] a second cavity having a second accommodating space, wherein the second accommodating space is connected to the first accommodating space through a first pipeline;

[0011] a third cavity having a third accommodating space, wherein the third accommodating space is connected to the first accommodating space through a second pipeline; and

[0012] a first opening, which is provided in the first cavity,

[0013] The second cavity is located on one side of the first cavity in the first direction, and the third cavity is located on the other side of the first cavity in the first direction.

[0014] According to another aspect of the embodiment of the present application, the liquid component separation device further includes:

[0015] a second opening disposed in the first cavity, wherein the first opening and the second opening are located at different positions; and / or

[0016] A third opening is provided in the second cavity; and / or

[0017] A fourth opening is provided in the third cavity.

[0018] According to another aspect of the embodiment of the present application, the first pipeline and the second pipeline are microchannels.

[0019] According to another aspect of the embodiment of the present application, a valve is provided in the first pipeline and / or the second pipeline.

[0020] According to another aspect of the embodiment of the present application, at least one of the first cavity, the second cavity, and the third cavity is tubular and extends along the first direction.

[0021] According to another aspect of the embodiment of the present application, an internal structure is provided inside at least one of the first cavity, the second cavity and the third cavity.

[0022] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a liquid component separation device is provided, which includes a liquid component separation device as described in the aforementioned embodiment, and a rotating device, which drives the liquid component separation device to rotate around a rotation axis, wherein the rotation axis is farther away from the first cavity than the second cavity in the first direction, or the rotation axis is farther away from the first cavity than the third cavity in the first direction.

[0023] According to another aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a method for separating liquid components is provided, the method comprising:

[0024] injecting the liquid to be separated into the liquid component separation device as described in the above embodiment; and

[0025] The liquid component separation device is driven to rotate around a rotation axis using a rotation device, wherein the rotation axis is farther from the first cavity than the second cavity in the first direction, or the rotation axis is farther from the first cavity than the third cavity in the first direction.

[0026] According to another aspect of the embodiment of the present application, the method further includes:

[0027] The liquid after component separation is extracted from the first cavity of the liquid component separation device.

[0028] The beneficial effects of the present application are that the liquid component separation device is small in size, low in cost, has a good separation effect, and can ensure that the volume of liquid removed is fixed.

[0029] With reference to the following description and accompanying drawings, specific embodiments of the present application are disclosed in detail, indicating the manner in which the principles of the present application can be employed. It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application are not limited in scope. Within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the embodiments of the present application include many variations, modifications and equivalents.

[0030] Features described and / or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same or similar manner in one or more other embodiments, combined with features in other embodiments, or substituted for features in other embodiments.

[0031] It should be emphasized that the term "include / comprising" when used herein refers to the presence of features, integers, steps or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps or components. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] The included drawings are used to provide a further understanding of the embodiments of the present application, which constitute a part of the specification, are used to illustrate the implementation methods of the present application, and together with the text description, explain the principles of the present application. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without inventive work. In the drawings:

[0033] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a liquid component separation device according to the present embodiment;

[0034] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of liquid component separation using the liquid component separation device 100 shown in FIG1 ;

[0035] FIG3 is a schematic diagram showing the relative positional relationship between the liquid component separation device 100 and the rotating shaft;

[0036] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a modified example of the liquid component separation device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] The above and other features of the present application will become apparent through the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description and the accompanying drawings, specific embodiments of the present application are disclosed in detail, which illustrate some embodiments in which the principles of the present application can be adopted. It should be understood that the present application is not limited to the described embodiments. On the contrary, the present application includes all modifications, variations and equivalents that fall within the scope of the appended claims.

[0038] In the description of each embodiment of the present application, for the convenience of description, the direction parallel to the surface of the substrate is called "horizontal", and the direction perpendicular to the surface of the substrate is called "longitudinal", where the "thickness" of each component refers to the size of the component in the "longitudinal" direction.

[0039] Example 1

[0040] The embodiments of the present application provide a liquid component separation device that can be used to separate plasma from blood cells; in addition, the liquid component separation device can also be used in other scenarios where suspended components are separated from a liquid.

[0041] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a liquid component separation device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG1 , the liquid component separation device 100 includes a first cavity 1 , a second cavity 2 , a third cavity 3 and a first opening 11 .

[0042] As shown in Figure 1, the first cavity 1 has a first accommodating space 10; the second cavity 2 has a second accommodating space 20, and the second accommodating space 20 is connected to the first accommodating space 10 through a first pipeline 4; the third cavity 3 has a third accommodating space 30, and the third accommodating space 30 is connected to the first accommodating space 10 through a second pipeline 5; a first opening 11 is set in the first cavity 1 for liquid to enter the first cavity 1 or liquid to be discharged from the first cavity 1.

[0043] As shown in FIG1 , the second cavity 2 is located on one side of the first cavity 1 in the first direction D1 (e.g., the left side as shown in FIG1 ), and the third cavity 3 is located on the other side of the first cavity 1 in the first direction D1 (e.g., the right side as shown in FIG1 ). The second cavity 2 is connected to the first cavity 1, and the third cavity 3 is connected to the first cavity 1.

[0044] In at least one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 , the liquid component separation device 100 may further include: at least one of a second opening 12 , a third opening 21 and a fourth opening 31 .

[0045] The second opening 12 is provided in the first cavity 1, and the first opening 11 and the second opening 12 are provided at different positions in the first cavity 1. For example, the first opening 11 is located on the upper side of the first cavity 1, and the second opening 12 is located on the lower side of the first cavity 1. In addition, the present application is not limited thereto, for example, the first opening 11 and the second opening 12 can both be located on the upper side or the lower side of the first cavity 1, with one located on the left side and the other located on the right side, etc.

[0046] As shown in Figure 1, the third opening 21 is provided in the second cavity 2. The fourth opening 31 is provided in the third cavity 3. Thus, liquid can enter and exit the corresponding cavity of the liquid component separation device 100 through more openings, improving the convenience of using the liquid component separation device 100.

[0047] In at least one embodiment, the first pipe 4 and the second pipe 5 may be microchannels. For example, the diameter of the microchannel is 1 micrometer to 10 millimeters.

[0048] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of liquid component separation using the liquid component separation device 100 shown in FIG1. ​​As shown in FIG2, the liquid component separation method includes:

[0049] Operation 201: injecting the liquid to be separated into the liquid component separation device 100; and

[0050] In operation 202 , a rotating device is used to drive the liquid component separation device 100 to rotate around a rotation axis.

[0051] In operation 201, the liquid to be separated can be injected into the liquid component separation device 100 through at least one of the first opening 11, the second opening 12, the third opening 21 and the fourth opening 31, so that the liquid basically fills the first storage space 10, the second storage space 20 and the third storage space 30.

[0052] For example, the first opening 11 and the second opening 12 can be closed, while the third opening 21 and the fourth opening 31 remain open, and the liquid to be separated can be injected into the liquid component separation device 100 through the third opening 21 and / or the fourth opening 31. In this way, the entry of bubbles into the liquid component separation device 100 can be reduced. In addition, if a small amount of bubbles enter the liquid component separation device 100 during the liquid injection process, it will not affect the component separation effect.

[0053] In operation 201 , the liquid to be separated may be blood or diluted blood.

[0054] After operation 201 is completed, all openings may be closed, for example, the first opening 11 , the second opening 12 , the third opening 21 , and the fourth opening 31 may be closed.

[0055] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the relative positional relationship between the liquid component separation device 100 and the rotation axis. As shown in Figure 3, in operation 202, the rotation axis 200 can be positioned farther from the first cavity 1 than the second cavity 2 in the first direction D1, or the rotation axis 200 can be positioned farther from the first cavity 1 than the third cavity 3 in the first direction D1.

[0056] Thus, in operation 202, after the liquid component separation device 100 rotates about the rotation axis 200 for a predetermined time, the components in the liquid are separated under the action of centrifugal force. For example, when the liquid to be separated is blood or diluted blood, after operation 202, the blood cells in the blood are concentrated in the third chamber 3, which is farther away from the rotation axis 200 than the first chamber 1, and the separated plasma is located in the first chamber 1. In addition, if there are bubbles in the liquid to be separated, the bubbles will be concentrated in the second chamber 2, which is closer to the rotation axis 200 than the first chamber 1. In addition, other components with lower density will also be concentrated in the second chamber 2. Thus, after operation 202, the first chamber 1 is filled with separated plasma.

[0057] As shown in FIG2 , the method may further include:

[0058] Operation 203 : extracting the liquid after component separation from the first cavity of the liquid component separation device.

[0059] In operation 203, the first opening 11 and the second opening 12 can be opened, the third opening 21 and the fourth opening 31 can be closed, and the liquid in the first cavity 1 can be squeezed out by suction or gas injection. Because the connecting pipes (e.g., the first pipe 4 and the second pipe 5) between the first cavity 1 and the second cavity 2 and the third cavity 3 are small, it is difficult for gas to enter the first pipe 4 and the second pipe 5 due to surface tension. Therefore, the components in the second cavity 2 and the third cavity 3 will not flow out. Therefore, only the liquid (e.g., plasma) after the components in the first cavity 1 are separated is removed.

[0060] Since the size of the first chamber 1 is fixed, the amount of liquid (e.g., plasma) removed from the first chamber 1 after component separation is also fixed, regardless of the percentage of blood cells or injection errors, because excess blood cells and bubbles are discharged to the second chamber 2 and the third chamber 3. Therefore,

[0061] The liquid component separation device 100 of the present application provides highly efficient, highly accurate, and automatable separation of microplasma. In this embodiment, centrifugation effectively ensures blood cell separation. Furthermore, the three-chamber design ensures accurate sampling volume while eliminating air bubbles and operational errors. Because an automated pipetting system is not required, this design can be directly integrated with other components of the fluid circuit, achieving automation requirements at a very low cost.

[0062] The liquid component separation device 100 of the present application is not limited to separating plasma, and can be applied to other similar liquids in situations where certain components need to be separated by external force (eg, centrifugal force) and a fixed volume of clear liquid is taken out.

[0063] In the liquid component separation device 100 of the present application, the size, shape, opening position, and material of each chamber (e.g., the first chamber 1, the second chamber 2, and the third chamber 3) can be varied to meet actual needs. For example, the material can be rubber, resin, etc.; for another example, at least one of the first chamber 1, the second chamber 2, and the third chamber 3 can be tubular and extend along the first direction D1. Furthermore, the length, material, thickness, and presence of valves of the connecting pipes between the chambers can be adjusted.

[0064] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a modified example of the liquid component separation device.

[0065] As shown in FIG4A , the position of the first opening 11 is changed relative to FIG1 , and the shapes of the first cavity 1 , the second cavity 2 and the third cavity 3 are changed relative to FIG1 ;

[0066] As shown in FIG4B , the shape and length of the first pipeline 4 and / or the second pipeline 5 are changed. In addition, a valve 6 may be provided in the first pipeline 4 and / or the second pipeline 5 ;

[0067] As shown in C of Figure 4 , the shapes of the first cavity 1, the second cavity 2 and the third cavity 3 have changed relative to Figure 1. In addition, at least one of the first cavity 1, the second cavity 2 and the third cavity 3 is provided with internal structures 71 and 72. For example, the internal structure 71 can serve as a supporting structure to ensure the mechanical stability of the cavity. Specifically, the internal structure 71 can be a cylindrical structure; the internal structure 72 can be used to divert liquid to reduce blockage. Specifically, the internal structure 72 can be a rectangular parallelepiped or a cube structure. In addition, the internal structure can also have other designs, for example, coating the internal structure with chemicals, or guiding the fluid through the shape of the internal structure to mix the fluid, or using the internal structure to divide the interior of the cavity into multiple parts.

[0068] As shown in FIG4D , the shapes of the first cavity 1 , the second cavity 2 and the third cavity 3 are changed relative to FIG1 . In addition, the positions of the first opening 11 and the second opening 12 are changed.

[0069] As shown in FIG4E, the shapes of the first cavity 1, the second cavity 2 and the third cavity 3 are changed relative to FIG1. ​​In addition, the positions of the first opening 11 and the second opening 12 are changed, and the first pipeline 4 and / or the second pipeline 5 are changed;

[0070] The structure shown in FIG. 4E can be further modified by setting all the cavities and connecting pipes to be thinner, thereby forming a shape as shown in FIG. 4F , that is, the liquid component separation device 100 as a whole is close to the shape of a capillary tube.

[0071] Embodiments of the second aspect

[0072] The second embodiment provides a liquid component separation device comprising the liquid component separation apparatus 100 described in the first embodiment and a rotating device that drives the liquid component separation apparatus 100 to rotate around a rotation axis 200 .

[0073] For the description of the liquid component separation device 100 and the rotating shaft 200 , reference can be made to the embodiment of the first aspect, and the relevant descriptions are incorporated herein and will not be repeated.

[0074] The present application has been described above in conjunction with specific embodiments. However, those skilled in the art should understand that these descriptions are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application. Those skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations to the present application based on the spirit and principles of the present application, and such modifications and variations are also within the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A liquid component separation device, characterized in that: The liquid component separation device comprises: A first cavity having a first accommodating space; A second cavity having a second accommodating space, wherein the second accommodating space is connected to the first accommodating space through a first pipeline; A third cavity having a third accommodating space, wherein the third accommodating space is connected to the first accommodating space through a second pipeline; and a first opening, which is disposed in the first cavity, The second cavity is located on one side of the first cavity in the first direction, and the third cavity is located on the other side of the first cavity in the first direction.

2. The liquid component separation device according to claim 1, characterized in that The liquid component separation device also includes: A second opening is disposed in the first cavity, and the first opening and the second opening are located at different positions; and / or A third opening is provided in the second cavity; and / or A fourth opening is disposed in the third cavity.

3. The liquid component separation device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first pipeline and the second pipeline are microchannels.

4. The liquid component separation device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A valve is arranged in the first pipeline and / or the second pipeline.

5. The liquid component separation device according to claim 1, characterized in that: At least one of the first cavity, the second cavity, and the third cavity is in a tubular shape extending along the first direction.

6. The liquid component separation device according to claim 1, characterized in that: An internal structure is disposed inside at least one of the first cavity, the second cavity, and the third cavity.

7. A liquid component separation device, characterized in that: The liquid component separation device comprises a liquid component separation device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, and a rotating device, wherein the rotating device drives the liquid component separation device to rotate around a rotation axis. The rotation axis is further away from the first cavity than the second cavity in the first direction, or the rotation axis is further away from the first cavity than the third cavity in the first direction.

8. A method for separating liquid components, characterized in that: The method comprises: injecting the liquid to be separated into the liquid component separation device according to any one of claims 1 to 6; and The liquid component separation device is driven to rotate around a rotation axis by a rotating device, The rotation axis is further away from the first cavity than the second cavity in the first direction, or the rotation axis is further away from the first cavity than the third cavity in the first direction.

9. The liquid component separation method according to claim 8, characterized in that: The method further comprises: The liquid after component separation is extracted from the first cavity of the liquid component separation device.

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