Pipette Tip Extension With Distance Element
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pipette tip extensions face challenges in maintaining form stability and structural robustness for reliable sealing and fluid flow during dispense and aspiration operations, particularly with plastics that interfere with DNA/RNA samples and suffer from stickiness issues, leading to dust or particle adhesion and flow irregularities.
Innovation Solution
A pipette tip extension made from a non-polar olefin-based polypropylene composition with a heterophasic polypropylene copolymer, featuring a distance element and constriction element for precise fluid uptake and control, ensuring reliable sealing and minimizing interference with biological samples.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If plastics with good sealing properties are used for pipette tip extensions, then sealing reliability is improved, but stickiness increases causing dust or particle adhesion on the surface
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by carefully selecting and optimizing the plastic material properties, specifically using materials with controlled surface energy and non-polar characteristics. This modifies the surface chemistry parameters to achieve both reliable sealing through adequate adhesion to the slide and reduced stickiness to prevent dust and particle adhesion on the outer surface.
2Ease of manufacture
If plastics are used for pipette tip extensions, then manufacturing ease is improved, but form stability and structural robustness deteriorate during dispense and aspiration operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs composite materials by combining plastic with reinforcement elements such as fibers or creating multi-layer composite structures. This allows the pipette tip extension to maintain ease of injection molding manufacturing while achieving enhanced form stability and structural robustness required for reliable dispense and aspiration operations.
3Ease of manufacture
If plastics are used for pipette tip extensions, then manufacturing ease is improved, but interference with DNA/RNA probes increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by selecting plastic materials with specific chemical properties, particularly non-polar olefin-based polymers like polypropylene. This material selection changes the chemical interaction parameters to minimize adsorption and interference with highly sensitive DNA/RNA probes while maintaining manufacturing ease through injection molding.
4Device complexity
If minor flow irregularities occur in the gap between slide and pipette tip extension, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but uniform washing and dissolving of samples deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs flexible shells by designing the pipette tip extension with a compliant sealing element or gasket that can adapt to slight variations in slide surface flatness. This flexible component maintains consistent gap geometry across the sealing surface, ensuring uniform fluid flow for washing and dissolving operations while keeping the overall structure simple.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1D
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3A~3C
AI summary
The invention refers to a pipette tip extension (1) attachable to a pipette tip (20), the pipette tip extension (1) comprising: - a proximal end (2), a distal end (3), and an exterior wall (4) extending between the proximal end (2) and the distal end (3), the exterior wall (4) having an outer side (5) and an inner side (6) and forming at the proximal end (2) a reception aperture (7) for inserting a pipette tip (14), and at the distal end a dispense aperture (8), - an inner cavity (9) enclosed by the inner side (6) of the exterior wall (4), - one or more distance elements (10) connected to the inner side (6) of the exterior wall (4), the distance element(s) (10) being configured to position a pipette tip (20) within the inner cavity (9) and to establish a fluid uptake area (11) adjacent to the inner side (6) of the exterior wall (4), the fluid uptake area (11) extending from the dispense aperture (8) towards the reception aperture (7) and being in fluid connection with the surrounding atmosphere at the reception aperture (7), the pipette tip extension being configured as an integrally produced workpiece, and being made of a non-polar olefine based polypropylene (PP) composition comprising at least 85% of a heterophasic polypropylene copolymer (h-PP), the latter comprising a propylene random copolymer matrix phase (r-PPM), an elastomeric propylene copolymer (e-PP) dispersed in the matrix, and optionally the PP composition may comprise polyethylene (PE) dispersed in the matrix, whereat the polypropylene composition has a shore hardness D from 45-60.