Dewar Flask Cassette Handling for Automated Cryogenic Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing storage arrangements for laboratory objects at very low temperatures, such as below −196° C, are complex and difficult to automate, with high energy consumption and limited effectiveness in maintaining low temperatures.
Innovation Solution
A storage arrangement featuring a chamber with Dewar flasks and vertically movable storage cassettes, utilizing a picking device with cassette lifts and a handling device to automate the storage and retrieval of objects, while maintaining low temperatures within the Dewar flasks and minimizing energy consumption by keeping the chamber temperature above freezing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If the chamber is kept at extremely low temperatures to store laboratory objects, then the storage temperature is maintained, but energy consumption increases and ice formation occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The storage system is divided into two distinct thermal zones: the chamber maintained at moderate temperatures (above freezing) and the Dewar flasks maintaining extremely low temperatures (below -196°C). This segmentation allows each component to operate at its optimal temperature, reducing overall energy consumption while preventing ice formation in the chamber.
2Extent of automation
If the picking device is placed inside the Dewar flasks to access storage cassettes, then automated retrieval is enabled, but the device components are exposed to extremely low temperatures causing ice formation
Solution Approach 1:
A door mechanism serves as an intermediary between the chamber and the Dewar flask interior. The door can be opened to allow the picking device to access storage cassettes in the Dewar flask, then closed to isolate the picking device from the extremely low temperatures, preventing ice formation on device components.
3Quantity of substance
If large Dewar flasks are used to store many laboratory objects, then storage capacity increases, but the cost and complexity of the system increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple smaller Dewar flasks are arranged within the chamber, each containing storage cassettes. This nested arrangement provides large total storage capacity while using multiple manageable, smaller units rather than one large complex system, reducing individual flask complexity and cost.
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
Enables efficient, automated storage and retrieval of laboratory objects at very low temperatures with reduced energy consumption and minimized heat equalization between the chamber and Dewar flasks, preventing ice formation and allowing for the use of smaller, less expensive Dewar flasks.
Implementation Method 1
The Dewar flasks are embodied to store the laboratory objects at a storage temperature Ts
Implementation Method 2
It has at least one cassette lift, in order to remove storage cassettes in the vertical direction from the Dewar flasks and to replace them therein
Data Source
AI summary
The storage arrangement has a chamber. Several Dewar flasks are arranged in the chamber and above them a picking device. The picking device has at least one cassette lift, with which storage cassettes can be removed from above from the Dewar flasks. This arrangement is suitable for storing laboratory objects at very low temperatures.