Fluid Sampling Device With Mechanical Panels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional fluid sampling methods using containers with rigid or flexible walls face issues such as high costs, bulkiness, contamination risks, and the need for external pumps and tubing, which can lead to inaccurate sampling and high maintenance requirements.
Innovation Solution
A device comprising mechanical panels that expand and deflate sampling bags to create a pressure differential, allowing for fluid sampling without external pumps or tubing, with features like hinged panels, adhesives, and shape memory materials for easy operation and minimal contamination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If containers with rigid walls are used for fluid sampling, then the structural strength and pressure containment are improved, but the cost, bulkiness, and maintenance requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs flexible sampling bags made of inert, low-permeability materials (such as Kynar and Tedlar) that can withstand the required mechanical stresses while maintaining structural integrity. These flexible containers eliminate the need for rigid walls, thereby reducing cost, bulkiness, and maintenance requirements while preserving the necessary strength for pressure containment and sample integrity.
2Productivity
If external pumps and tubing are used for fluid sampling, then the sampling capability is improved, but the risk of contamination and sorption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes external pumps and tubing from the sampling system entirely. Instead, the sampling bag itself is expanded using a simple mechanical device that creates a pressure differential, allowing the fluid to be drawn directly into the bag through an opening without contacting external components that could cause contamination or sorption.
Solution Approach 2:
The sampling bag performs the sampling function autonomously through self-expansion. When the mechanical device creates a pressure differential, the bag expands and draws in the fluid sample without requiring external pumping equipment, thereby eliminating the harmful interface between external components and the sample.
3Measurement precision
If strong vacuum pumps are used to create vacuum within containers, then the fluid sampling accuracy is improved, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical vacuum pumping systems with a simpler mechanical expansion device. This device creates a pressure differential by expanding the sampling bag, which naturally draws fluid into the bag without requiring strong vacuum pumps, thereby maintaining sampling accuracy while reducing device complexity.
4Reliability
If sampling bags are flushed and evacuated multiple times, then the purity of the sample is improved, but the time required for preparation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a flushing mechanism that allows the sampling bag to be flushed with inert gas before actual sampling. This preliminary action removes adsorbed residues from the bag interior, ensuring sample purity, while the entire process can be completed quickly through efficient design.
Solution Approach 2:
The sampling bag can be rapidly cycled through expansion and deflation phases, allowing multiple flushing cycles to be performed in succession. This periodic action enables thorough purification of the sampling bag interior without significant time loss, as each cycle is rapid and sequential.
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 fast, accurate, and cost-effective fluid sampling with high recovery rates, reduced sorption, and simplified operation, making it suitable for industrial hygiene sampling and easy transportation.
Implementation Method 1
mechanical means to expand the sampling bag thereby creating a reduced pressure inside the sampling bag relative to the environment to be sampled. The expansion of the sampling bag creates the driving force for a fluid to be sampled to fill the bag.
Implementation Method 2
containers with flexible walls have variable or changeable volumes
Data Source
Figure 1~1-C
Figure 2
Figure 3~3-B
AI summary
The disclosure is directed to a device for fluid sampling. The device may have two panels that are or may be adhered, attached or otherwise connected to opposite sides of a sampling bag having flexible walls. The panels may be used for conveniently inflating or deflating the sampling bag and obtaining fluid samples.