Rotating Animal Cage Fixation With Circumferential Gas Flow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing animal fixation techniques face challenges in euthanizing and biologically fixing animals instantaneously and steadily, particularly when transitioning from a microgravity to a hypergravity environment, due to the animal's active movement and potential delay in the fixation process.
Innovation Solution
An animal fixation device featuring a columnar cage with a rotation mechanism, a euthanizing gas supply mechanism that distributes gas along the cage's inner wall, and a solid refrigerant supply mechanism that prevents accumulation during rotation, ensuring rapid and uniform euthanization and fixation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the animal is kept alive before euthanasia, then the animal can be reared under the experimental environment, but the animal moves actively making instantaneous euthanasia difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The cage is rotated at high speed before euthanasia to confine the animal to the central region, creating preliminary conditions that enable instantaneous and reliable euthanasia when the euthanizing gas is supplied
2Ease of operation
If the cage is fixed during refrigerant supply, then the refrigerant can be supplied easily, but the refrigerant accumulates near the reception opening and sufficient amount cannot be supplied
Solution Approach 1:
The cage rotates during refrigerant supply to dynamically distribute the refrigerant uniformly throughout the cage, preventing accumulation at any single location and ensuring sufficient refrigerant reaches the animal
Solution Approach 2:
The rotation of the cage during refrigerant supply creates periodic motion that continuously changes the position of the reception opening relative to the refrigerant source, enabling uniform distribution of refrigerant material
3Device complexity
If the euthanizing gas is supplied without flowing along the inner wall, then the supply process is simple, but the gas does not rapidly fill the cage and euthanasia is not instantaneous
Solution Approach 1:
The euthanizing gas is supplied to flow along the inner wall of the rotating cage, utilizing the cage rotation to rapidly distribute the gas throughout the entire cage volume, achieving instantaneous euthanasia
4Ease of operation
If a long time elapses between fixation start and actual fixation, then the fixation process can be controlled, but the animal's experimental condition changes
Solution Approach 1:
The cage is rotated at high speed before refrigerant supply to preliminarily position the animal in the central region, and the refrigerant is supplied during rotation to ensure rapid and uniform distribution, achieving both control and speed in the fixation process
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 instantaneous and steady euthanization and fixation of animals, maintaining the experimental environment's conditions by rapidly filling the cage with euthanizing gas and ensuring sufficient solid refrigerant distribution, regardless of the animal's position or environmental changes.
Implementation Method 1
a solid refrigerant supply mechanism configured to supply a solid refrigerant into the cage during rotation of the cage
Implementation Method 2
The carbon dioxide gas is supplied from the carbon dioxide tank 102 into the cage 106. In this manner, the small animal is suffocated and euthanized
Implementation Method 3
cooled nitrogen gas is supplied from the liquid nitrogen tank 101 into the cage 106 via a temperature adjuster. In this manner, the small animal is cooled to be biologically fixed
Data Source
AI summary
In order to provide an animal fixation device and an animal fixation method which are able to euthanize and fix the animal instantaneously and steadily, a columnar cage in which animal is arranged, a rotation mechanism configured to rotate the cage, an euthanizing gas supply mechanism configured to supply euthanizing gas into the cage, and a solid refrigerant supply mechanism configured to supply a solid refrigerant into the cage are provided. The euthanizing gas supply mechanism includes a gas manifold for euthanizing which is connected to the cage so that the euthanizing gas flows on an inner wall of the cage along a circumferential direction. The solid refrigerant supply mechanism includes a solid refrigerant supply line which is connected to the cage so as to be abele to supply the solid refrigerant during rotation of the cage.