Adipose Tissue Cryopreservation Device with Pressure Relief Valve
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for freezing adipose tissue for cryopreservation, such as direct immersion in liquid nitrogen, lack a reliable and safe device design that prevents contamination and operator safety risks while ensuring effective freezing and rapid freezing of adipose tissue.
Innovation Solution
A device comprising a first member with a manual grip and support portion for adipose tissue, and a second member with a housing and safety valve that activates if pressure exceeds a predetermined value, allowing gas discharge while retaining the tissue, ensuring operator safety and preventing tissue dispersion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If direct immersion in liquid nitrogen is used for freezing adipose tissue, then freezing speed and cryopreservation effectiveness are improved, but risk of contamination and operator safety hazards worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary container system with multiple chambers between the adipose tissue and liquid nitrogen. The tissue is placed in a first chamber that can be sealed, and liquid nitrogen is introduced through a second chamber, preventing direct contact and contamination while maintaining rapid freezing through thermal conduction via the container walls.
Solution Approach 2:
The freezing device is segmented into multiple functional chambers: a first chamber for holding adipose tissue, a second chamber for liquid nitrogen introduction, and a third chamber for vapor discharge. This segmentation allows independent control of each function while preventing cross-contamination between tissue and liquid nitrogen.
2Speed
If direct immersion in liquid nitrogen is used for freezing adipose tissue, then freezing speed and cryopreservation effectiveness are improved, but operator safety risks worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The container acts as a protective intermediary barrier between the operator and liquid nitrogen. The sealed first chamber containing tissue is immersed in liquid nitrogen via the second chamber, eliminating direct operator exposure to cold temperatures and potential splashing hazards while maintaining effective freezing.
Solution Approach 2:
The device incorporates a pressure sensor that monitors pressure differential between chambers and provides feedback control. When pressure exceeds safe thresholds, the system automatically activates a safety valve or alerts the operator, preventing dangerous pressure buildup and ensuring continuous operator safety during the freezing process.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If sealed container is used for cryopreservation, then contamination prevention is improved, but pressure buildup and safety risks worsen
Solution Approach 1:
A pressure sensor continuously monitors the pressure differential between the sealed first chamber and the external environment. When the pressure difference approaches dangerous levels, the sensor triggers an alarm or automatically opens a pressure relief valve, maintaining both contamination prevention through sealing and safety through pressure control.
Solution Approach 2:
The device utilizes the phase transition of nitrogen from liquid to gas as a pressure relief mechanism. Excess pressure is safely discharged by allowing liquid nitrogen to vaporize and escape through controlled pathways, converting potentially dangerous pressure buildup into a controlled phase change process.
4Productivity
If larger quantities of adipose tissue are frozen, then productivity is improved, but freezing uniformity and quality worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The container walls serve as an extended intermediary thermal interface, providing large surface area contact with liquid nitrogen. This allows efficient heat transfer for larger tissue quantities while maintaining uniform freezing through the intermediary conductive path, preventing direct contact irregularities that would compromise freezing uniformity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device enables reliable, safe, and efficient cryopreservation of adipose tissue using direct immersion in liquid nitrogen, preventing contamination and tissue loss, while maintaining operator safety and allowing for rapid freezing of larger tissue quantities.
Implementation Method 1
This is possible via vitrification, which is the conversion of a highly viscous liquid in its glassy state, when it is cooled below its glass transition temperature.
Implementation Method 2
The high cooling rate is guaranteed by direct immersion in liquid nitrogen
Implementation Method 3
The support for cells or tissues comprises, in turn, an elongated portion—normally made of a material with good thermal conduction (such as a metal)
Implementation Method 4
to which the cells or tissues themselves adhere
Implementation Method 5
such safety valve comprises at least one separable portion of the second member, adapted to detach, partially or completely, from the body of the second member if the difference in pressure between the inside and the outside exceeds a predetermined value
Data Source
AI summary
A device for freezing adipose tissue comprises a first member and a second member which are mutually coupleable so as to obtain at least one closed configuration; the first member comprising at least one manual grip portion and at least one support portion to which the adipose tissue adheres; the second member comprising at least one housing wherein at least the support portion of the first member is insertable. The second member comprises at least one safety valve that comprises at least one separable portion adapted to detach, partially or completely, from the body of said second member in the case the pressure difference between the inside and the outside exceeds a predetermined value. The second member comprises retention means of the separable portion once it has detached. The detachment of the separable portion creates an opening in the second member, and a gap is defined for the discharge of the gases contained within the housing.