Portable X-ray Irradiation Platform with Integrated Gas Supply
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current commercial hypoxia chambers are expensive, large, and lack the ability to rapidly change gas environments, making it difficult to maintain hypoxic conditions during radiation exposure for cell cultures, which can lead to severe consequences for the cells.
Innovation Solution
A portable system with a platform and gas-supply system that maintains a controlled gas environment, allowing for the irradiation of biological materials with X-ray, ultraviolet, or particle radiation without external gas sources, ensuring consistent conditions during irradiation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If commercial hypoxia chambers are used to maintain controlled gas environment, then gas environment control is achieved, but the device becomes large, expensive, and slow to stabilize gas environment changes
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the hypoxia chamber into modular components: a culture chamber for cell cultures, an integrated radiation source, and a gas supply system with separate gas reservoirs. This segmentation allows the device to be compact while maintaining reliable hypoxic conditions during irradiation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple functions into a single integrated device: the hypoxia chamber, radiation source, and gas supply system are merged into one portable unit. This eliminates the need for separate commercial hypoxia chambers and radiation equipment, reducing overall device complexity and cost while maintaining reliability.
2Manufacturing precision
If cell culture is moved out from hypoxia chamber for irradiation, then radiation exposure is achieved, but oxygen concentration disappears rapidly and gas environment stability is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The radiation source is integrated directly inside the hypoxia chamber, allowing irradiation to be performed without moving the cell culture out of the controlled gas environment. This maintains oxygen concentration stability while delivering the required radiation dose.
Solution Approach 2:
The gas supply system is pre-configured with reservoirs containing controlled gas mixtures (including hypoxic conditions). During irradiation, the system maintains these pre-established gas conditions continuously, preventing rapid oxygen concentration changes that would occur if the culture were moved between separate chambers.
3Reliability
If commercial hypoxia chambers are used, then hypoxic conditions are maintained, but fast dynamic changes in gas environment cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The gas supply system incorporates dynamic control capabilities with valves and flow regulators that can rapidly adjust gas flow rates and compositions. This allows fast dynamic changes in the gas environment while maintaining reliable hypoxic conditions, unlike bulk commercial chambers with slow stabilization times.
Solution Approach 2:
The gas supply system is segmented into multiple independent gas lines with individual control valves for each gas type (oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide). This segmentation enables rapid, independent adjustment of each gas component without affecting the entire chamber, achieving fast response times while maintaining hypoxic condition reliability.
4Ease of operation
If portable system is designed without external gas sources, then device portability is improved, but gas supply complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gas supply system is segmented into compact, modular gas reservoirs that can be independently managed. Each reservoir is a self-contained unit with integrated pressure regulation and flow control, making the overall system portable while managing complexity through standardized modular components.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated gas supply system is designed to be self-regulating with automatic pressure均衡 and flow control mechanisms. The system monitors and adjusts gas delivery without external intervention, reducing operational complexity despite the portability requirements. Gas reservoirs automatically maintain pressure balance, eliminating the need for complex external regulation equipment.
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 the examination of radiation effects on cell cultures under hypoxic conditions without disrupting the gas environment, even when moving the device, thus preserving the integrity of the biological samples.
Implementation Method 1
irradiate a cell culture with electromagnetic radiation such as e.g. X-rays or ultraviolet rays
Implementation Method 2
with particle radiation such as e.g. α- or β-radiation
Data Source
Figure 1a~1b
Figure 2a
Figure 2b~2c
AI summary
A system for irradiating biological material comprises a platform (101) for holding the biological material and a radiation source (160) for directing X-ray radiation to the biological material. The platform comprises platform elements (102) each comprising a chamber (220) for containing the biological material. The platform comprises a frame structure (103) for mechanically supporting the platform elements and for mechanically supporting a gas-supply system (111) for supplying gas to the platform elements. The gas-supply system can be for example a gas cartridge. The frame structure comprises gas channels (104) for receiving the gas from the gas-supply system and for conducting the gas to the platform elements so as to provide a desired gas composition in the chambers during irradiation of the biological material.