Annular Protrusion Nozzle for Large Volume Pipette Tip Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automated liquid handling systems face challenges in efficiently mounting and ejecting large volume pipette tip columns with high backpressure, requiring complex mechanical constructions and high forces, which can lead to leakage and premature loss.
Innovation Solution
An automated separation system with nozzles featuring annular protrusions for easy mounting and ejection of pipette tip columns, allowing for manageable forces and secure sealing, even with large volumes, using a piston pump with flexible sealing lips to manage pressure and vacuum.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If conventional pipette tips are used in automated liquid handling systems, then the system can handle small volumes efficiently, but the system cannot handle large volumes (5 mL and above) without requiring complex mechanical constructions and high forces for mounting and ejection
Solution Approach 1:
The pipette tip is segmented into functional zones: a sealed distal end forming a closed chamber, an enlarged central chamber for volume expansion, and a proximal opening for liquid introduction. This segmentation allows the tip to handle large volumes while maintaining structural integrity and compatibility with standard automated liquid handlers.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention expands the pipette tip capacity in the radial dimension by creating an enlarged central chamber, rather than increasing length. This dimensional change allows volume expansion from conventional sizes to 5 mL and above while maintaining compatibility with standard nozzle dimensions and avoiding the need for complex mechanical adaptations.
2Ease of operation
If pipette tips are designed to be easily ejected with minimal force, then manual operation is simplified, but sealing reliability deteriorates leading to leakage and premature loss
Solution Approach 1:
The nozzle is nested within the sealed distal end of the pipette tip, creating a hierarchical sealing structure. The nozzle fits into the closed chamber, ensuring reliable sealing through geometric interlocking rather than relying solely on friction or compression forces, thereby maintaining both ease of ejection and sealing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of relying on friction or compression to maintain sealing, the invention inverts the approach by using a closed chamber geometry where the nozzle is nested within the sealed end. This geometric constraint provides inherent sealing without requiring high mounting forces, allowing easy ejection while preventing leakage during operation.
3Quantity of substance
If the central portion of pipette tips is enlarged to hold larger volumes, then volume capacity increases, but the tips become difficult to fit next to each other in parallel processing
Solution Approach 1:
The volume expansion is achieved in the radial dimension through an enlarged central chamber, not by increasing the longitudinal length or outer diameter. This allows the pipette tips to maintain a compact footprint suitable for parallel processing in automated liquid handlers while providing increased volume capacity of 5 mL and above.
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 system enables efficient sealing and automated ejection of large pipette tip columns without manual intervention, maintaining pressure and vacuum sealing for extended periods with minimal leakage, supporting the separation of biomolecules in large volumes.
Implementation Method 1
The pump is of a type which creates pressure and vacuum with flexible sealing lips
Implementation Method 2
at least one pipette tip column comprising separation media, wherein the liquid handling device is equipped with one or more nozzles... enabling aspiration and dispensing into and out of each pipette tip column
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention is an automated separation system comprised of a liquid handling device and one or more pipette tip columns, wherein the liquid handling device is equipped with two or more nozzles arranged to respectively receive a pipette tip column comprising separation media. Further, the system includes means for applying either high positive or negative pressure to the column inside chamber above the column bed, enabling aspiration and dispensing into and out of each pipette tip column. To enable sealing to the pressures used to move liquid through the column bed without inadvertently ejecting the column from the nozzle during the separation process, each nozzle has been provided with at least one annular protrusion arranged to engage with the inside of a substantially evenly tapered pipette tip column, without any corresponding recess. Each nozzle may be provided with slide ejector to enable the removal of a pipette tip column.