Reagent Bottle Docking System with Asymmetric Collar and Socket Levers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automatic analyzer systems face challenges in efficiently managing reagent containers, including misconnection risks, contamination, and compromised reagent shelf life due to inadequate container and interface designs, which lead to increased costs and complexity in logistics and user interaction.
Innovation Solution
A reagent container system with a cap and socket design featuring a movable valve and collar, along with a docking station that ensures correct container alignment and automatic liquid handling, incorporating RFID tags for identification and minimizing user contact with reagents, while maintaining an air-tight environment to prevent contamination and extend reagent stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If different containers and couplings are used to prevent misconnection, then connection reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The collar is provided with openings at specific positions that asymmetrically align with lever openings only when the container is correctly oriented. This asymmetric design ensures that the container can be connected in only one correct orientation, preventing misconnection while maintaining a relatively simple coupling structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The socket acts as an intermediary component between the container outlet and the liquid path. It provides a standardized interface with movable levers that interact with the collar openings, mediating the connection process and ensuring proper alignment without requiring complex container-specific couplings.
2Ease of operation
If pressure compensation holes are added to empty air-tight containers, then ease of operation is improved, but reagent stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The pressure compensation function is extracted from the container body and relocated to the socket component. The socket contains a needle that pierces the container seal to create a pressure equalization path, separating the air-tight container design from the pressure compensation mechanism. This allows the container to remain air-tight during storage while enabling pressure compensation during use.
Solution Approach 2:
The needle in the socket acts as an intermediary that temporarily creates a pressure compensation pathway. It pierces the container seal only when needed for pressure equalization during liquid delivery, then re-seals the container, maintaining reagent stability while enabling easy emptying operation.
3Device complexity
If manual barcode scanning is required for reagent identification, then device complexity is reduced, but loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automated identification of reagent containers through integrated RFID or barcode reading capabilities in the docking station. The container itself carries the identification information, and the system automatically reads and processes this information during the docking process, eliminating the need for manual scanning by the user.
4Ease of operation
If cleaning fluids are provided in separate containers with valve switching, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The container-coupling system is designed with universal functionality to accommodate both reagent containers and cleaning fluid containers. The same collar-and-socket interface with movable levers can connect to either type of container, allowing cleaning fluids to be provided through the same docking mechanism used for reagents, thereby eliminating the need for separate valve switching mechanisms.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for connecting a reagent container to a socket. The container has a cap with an outlet comprising a collar having an opening on its side, the collar surrounding a spout with a movable valve. The valve has a tube surrounded by a disk. A plug is centrally arranged within one end of the tube so the outer walls of the spout form-fit with the inner side of the tube and the inner walls of the spout form-fit with the outer side of the plug for closing the spout. The plug is connected to one end of the tube and a socket for accommodating the outlet of the container's cap. The socket comprises at least two movable levers to engage into openings of the collar and a socket gasket on one side for taking up the tube of the valve and tubing on the opposite side to drain liquids.