Side-Tapped Blood Separation Chamber for High Purity
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional blood separation methods, such as differential centrifugation, often fail to achieve optimal purity levels for blood components, leading to suboptimal therapeutic efficacy and reduced yield, necessitating the use of complementary techniques like filtration and affinity-based methods that can further reduce component quality.
Innovation Solution
A centrifugal blood processing system with a cell separation chamber that allows for the extraction of white blood cells from the bottom and plasma/platelets from the top, utilizing an optical monitoring system to control the separation and collection process, thereby reducing platelet contamination and improving purity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional differential centrifugation is used for blood separation, then separation speed and throughput are improved, but component purity is degraded due to contamination from adjacent phases
Solution Approach 1:
The separation chamber is divided into multiple distinct zones: a plasma/platelet collection zone, a white blood cell removal zone with side-tap port, and a red blood cell zone. This segmentation allows simultaneous collection of different blood components with high purity by physically separating their collection pathways, preventing cross-contamination while maintaining continuous high-speed centrifugation
Solution Approach 2:
A side-tap port is introduced as an intermediary extraction mechanism between the plasma/platelet phase and the white blood cell layer. This side-tap port enables selective removal of white blood cells without disrupting the plasma/platelet collection, acting as a mediator that extracts the intermediate density fraction while allowing the upper and lower phases to remain separated and pure
2Productivity
If extraction ports are positioned to maximize throughput, then collection speed is improved, but phase boundary control becomes difficult leading to contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The side-tap port is positioned radially outward from the central axis at a specific radius where the white blood cell layer forms during centrifugation. By utilizing the radial dimension of the rotating separation chamber, the side-tap port can selectively access the white blood cell phase without interfering with the axial positioning of the plasma/platelet collection port, enabling independent control of multiple phase boundaries simultaneously
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
The system enables the collection of white blood cells or mesenchymal stem cells with fewer platelets, maintaining continuous flow and reducing losses during processing, resulting in higher purity and yield of blood components.
Implementation Method 1
a centrifugal blood separator which includes a cell separation chamber... The centrifugal force generated upon rotation separates particles suspended in the blood sample into discrete phases having different densities
Implementation Method 2
An optical monitoring system is provided which monitors the position of phase boundaries within the separation chamber
Data Source
AI summary
A disposable blood separation set and a centrifugal blood processing system comprising a blood processing chamber adapted to be mounted on a rotor of a centrifuge; a frustro-conical cell separation chamber in fluid communication with the processing chamber, the cell separation chamber having an inlet, and outlet and a side tap outlet adjacent the inlet. The inlet may protrude into the cell separation chamber forming a circumferential well surrounding the protruding inlet. The side tap outlet may connect to the well. The set and system comprise means for selectively drawing fluid from either the outlet or the side tap outlet.