Microarrayer with Dual Cameras for Real-Time Spot Inspection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current microarray printing technologies face challenges with print variation issues such as misplaced, malformed, or missing spots due to factors like nozzle blockages or unsuitable sample viscosity, requiring costly and time-consuming quality checks only after the print job is completed.
Innovation Solution
A microarrayer with a dispensing print head and dual cameras that move in tandem with the print head, allowing for real-time image capture and processing to inspect spot quality during printing, enabling immediate corrective actions and improving print quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If quality check is performed only after print job completion, then device complexity is reduced, but loss of time and productivity decrease due to inability to perform real-time corrections
Solution Approach 1:
The inspection system performs quality checks during the printing process rather than after completion, allowing preliminary detection and correction of printing defects before the entire print job finishes, thereby improving productivity without requiring complete reprints
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors print quality during operation and provides real-time feedback to the control system, enabling dynamic adjustments to printing parameters to correct defects as they occur, improving both productivity and print quality
2Loss of time
If real-time inspection is implemented during printing, then productivity improves through immediate corrections, but device complexity increases due to additional cameras and processing systems
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a second camera positioned to capture images from a different spatial perspective (ahead of the print head versus behind it), enabling simultaneous pre-printing and post-printing inspection without requiring sequential operations, thus reducing inspection time without proportionally increasing complexity
3Manufacturing precision
If print quality is inspected after completion, then manufacturing precision can be verified, but loss of substance increases due to inability to prevent reagent wastage from defective printing
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary quality inspection before the print job completes, identifying spots with incorrect placement, size, or formation early in the process, allowing corrective actions to prevent further reagent wastage from defective nozzles or printing issues
Solution Approach 2:
Real-time inspection feedback enables the system to identify and compensate for printing defects during the process, adjusting printing parameters or skipping defective spots to maintain manufacturing precision while minimizing reagent wastage
Data Source
AI summary
A microarrayer for dispensing reagent onto a substrate, comprising a dispensing print head adapted to load reagent and provided with a plurality of nozzles to dispense said at least reagent on the substrate, wherein the print head is mounted in the microarrayer to allow the print head to move with respect to the substrate in subsequent, essentially, parallel print passes, wherein the print head moves during a first print pass between a first end of the substrate toward a second end of the substrate and during a subsequent printpass in the opposite direction, the microarrayer being characterised in that the microarrayer comprises a first camera adapted to move behind the print head during a print pass and a second camera adapted to move ahead of the print head during said print pass, the first and second camera being adapted to obtain images of the substrate.