Pressure-Tight Storage Vessel With Reinforcement Elements
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge in miniaturized analytics and diagnostics is the inefficient and non-reproducible transfer of small liquid volumes due to non-specific adsorption and dead volumes, especially with inhomogeneous liquids like bead suspensions, which leads to inconsistencies in reagent concentration and increased susceptibility to errors in automated systems.
Innovation Solution
A pressure-tight, rotationally symmetrical storage vessel with elongated reinforcement elements allows for precise and reproducible insertion of hollow needles, facilitating the transfer of liquids by introducing a flushing liquid to expel the contents into a reaction vessel, minimizing mechanical interference and ensuring consistent wall thickness for stable needle insertion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If small liquid volumes are transferred using conventional methods, then reagent preparation is simplified, but transfer precision and reproducibility deteriorate due to non-specific adsorption and dead volumes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs pressure-tight hollow needles to transfer liquid volumes through pressure differential control. The flushing liquid is introduced under pressure to expel the liquid phase from the storage vessel through the hollow needle into the reaction vessel, enabling precise and reproducible transfer of small volumes without conventional mechanical interference.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage vessel features a thin-walled design with wall thickness between 0.15-0.30mm that maintains pressure tightness while allowing flexible deformation during needle insertion. The rotationally symmetrical shape with reinforcement elements provides structural integrity despite the thin walls, enabling reliable pressure transfer while minimizing dead volumes.
2Productivity
If inhomogeneous liquids like bead suspensions are portioned conventionally, then reagent preparation is efficient, but concentration consistency deteriorates due to sedimentation and non-reproducible bead distribution
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary flushing by introducing flushing liquid into the storage vessel before actual transfer. This pre-flushes the liquid phase including bead suspensions through the hollow needle, ensuring homogeneous distribution and preventing sedimentation effects during the main transfer operation, thereby maintaining concentration consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
Pressure-driven flow through the hollow needle ensures complete and reproducible expulsion of inhomogeneous liquid phases. The pressure differential forces consistent flow rates that prevent bead sedimentation during transfer, maintaining homogeneous bead distribution and concentration consistency across multiple portions.
3Strength
If reinforcement elements are added to the storage vessel, then structural strength is improved, but needle insertion complexity increases due to restricted access positions
Solution Approach 1:
The storage vessel features an asymmetric arrangement of reinforcement elements with specific angular spacing (e.g., 90°, 120°, or 180°) that creates predetermined optimal insertion positions. This asymmetric design maintains structural strength while providing defined access zones that simplify needle insertion by eliminating the need for precise angular positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The reinforcement elements are strategically positioned to provide localized strength enhancement only where structurally necessary, leaving other regions of the vessel wall thinner and more accessible. This creates zones of different wall thickness and accessibility, allowing easy needle insertion at specific positions while maintaining overall vessel strength.
4Ease of operation
If wall thickness is reduced for better needle insertion, then insertion ease is improved, but pressure tightness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The storage vessel is manufactured from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with optimized crystalline structure and molecular orientation that provides exceptional strength-to-thickness ratio. The material's inherent rigidity and pressure resistance allow thin walls (0.15-0.30mm) to maintain pressure tightness while facilitating easy needle insertion, effectively combining the benefits of thin walls with structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotationally symmetrical cylindrical shape with optimized curvature radii distributes stress evenly across the vessel wall, maximizing pressure resistance for a given wall thickness. The curved geometry eliminates stress concentration points, allowing thinner walls to maintain pressure tightness while improving needle insertion ease compared to angular or flat-walled designs.
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
This solution enables quantitative and reproducible transfer of small liquid volumes, reducing errors and maintaining reagent concentration consistency, even with inhomogeneous liquids, by ensuring pressure-tight insertion and minimizing mechanical stress on the vessel.
Implementation Method 1
introducing flushing liquid via a first hollow needle from a flushing liquid reservoir into the storage vessel, with expulsion of the liquid via a second hollow needle from the storage vessel into the reaction vessel
Data Source
AI summary
A pressure-tight storage vessel contains a liquid, has an elongated main body rotationally symmetrical with respect to an axis of symmetry, and forms, at least partially, a rotationally symmetrical hollow space in which the liquid is substantially received, wherein the main body is terminated at its bottom side by a base. Furthermore, at its top side, the storage vessel has an opening which is closed off in a pressure-tight manner by a closure, has a plurality of reinforcement elements, which bears against the main body at the outside, which extends parallel to the axis of symmetry of the main body, and arranged rotationally symmetrically about the axis of symmetry of the main body. In each case between adjacent reinforcement elements, respective externally exposed wall sections of the main body are formed, and the composition of the exposed wall sections permits a pressure-tight insertion by at least two hollow needles.