Breath Condensation Capture Using a Supercooled Surface
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current breath sample collection methods are inefficient and time-consuming, often requiring extended periods to collect small volumes, and are impractical for large-scale rapid testing due to the need for cooling mechanisms like freezers, limiting their applicability for widespread viral, bacterial, and chemical analysis.
Innovation Solution
A device and method utilizing a supercooled surface to capture breath samples as liquid or ice by exhaling through a tube or straw, allowing rapid collection of up to 4 µL/s, with a shielded surface to prevent ambient air contamination, and enabling analysis within minutes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional breath collection systems are used, then a cooling sleeve cooled in a freezer is required to condense breath samples, but this makes the system impractical for large-scale use and requires extended collection time of 5-10 minutes
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the cooling function from a complex freezer-based cooling sleeve system and implements it through a simple ice-filled container. The cooling mechanism is reduced to its essential function (providing cold temperature) using readily available materials (ice) rather than complex mechanical cooling systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses ice, a cheap and readily available material, to provide cooling instead of expensive, complex freezer-based cooling systems. The ice serves as a temporary, disposable cooling source that eliminates the need for sustained mechanical cooling infrastructure.
2Quantity of substance
If conventional breath collection methods are used, then 5-10 minutes of breath collection is required to obtain 1 mL of liquid sample, but this extended timeline is too slow for rapid testing purposes
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the temperature parameter of the collection environment by introducing ice to create a cold surface. This temperature change accelerates the condensation process, allowing sufficient liquid sample volume to be collected in under 2 minutes instead of the conventional 5-10 minutes.
3Productivity
If breath collection devices collect only 1-2.4 µL/s liquid from breath, then the collection rate is too slow to obtain adequate sample volumes for processing in reasonable time
Solution Approach 1:
The invention utilizes phase transition (condensation of water vapor to liquid) on a cold surface created by ice. This phase transition occurs rapidly at the cold interface, dramatically increasing the liquid collection rate from breath compared to ambient temperature collection methods.
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
Efficient capture of breath samples in less than 2 minutes, allowing for rapid processing and detection of nucleic acids or other biological materials with minimal sample preparation, suitable for diagnostics and research.
Implementation Method 1
a surface and chamber space that condenses or freezes the biological sample when a user exhales one or more breaths through the device
Implementation Method 2
The chamber space within the device may freeze liquid breath particles and vapor to collect them
Implementation Method 3
a shielded surface to prevent ambient air contamination
Data Source
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AI summary
Breath liquid particles and vapor are captured in a device presenting a surface and chamber space that condenses or freezes the vapor and aerosol particulates. One or more breaths are exhaled through the device. Capture can be performed on the freezing surface immobilizing water upon contact. The chamber space within the device may freeze liquid breath particles and vapor to collect them. After collection, the liquid is gathered and collected either by draining, pushing, or centrifugal force into a vial. The liquid may be collected and combined with a sample preparation reagent such as a virus lysing reagent, an internal standard, etc. After collection, the sample is analyzed. Analysis may be performed by PCR, qPCR RT-PCR, RT-qPCR, LAMP or any nucleic acid detection method, mass spectrometry, spectrophotometry or any analytical tool or method. Nucleic acid amplification reagents may contain a lysing reagent such as acetonitrile.