Cell Picking Device with Tilting Suction Arm
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cell-sucking systems face inefficiencies when dealing with small cells, requiring high moving resolution and often failing to efficiently suck cells due to their adhesion to the container bottom, leading to degraded efficiency and prolonged operation times.
Innovation Solution
A cell picking device equipped with a suction arm, pipette tip, and a controller that advances and tilts the suction arm to scan the container bottom, allowing efficient cell scraping and suction, even when cells are adsorbed, by adjusting the pipette tip's position and angle for effective cell collection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the moving resolution of the sucker is increased to handle smaller cells, then the ability to suck small cells is improved, but the time required to guide the tip to cells is prolonged
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a tilting mechanism that adds rotational degree of freedom to the suction arm, enabling the pipette tip to approach cells from angled directions rather than only vertical movement. This dimensional change allows faster access to cells without requiring high-resolution positional control.
2Reliability
If the pipette tip is positioned far from the bottom surface, then the risk of clogging is reduced, but the efficiency of sucking adsorbed cells is degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic adjustment of the pipette tip's tilt angle during the suction process. The tilt angle is adjusted based on the distance between the tip and the bottom surface, allowing the system to optimize both cell pickup efficiency and clogging prevention dynamically rather than using a fixed position.
3Measurement precision
If the suction arm moves slowly with high resolution, then positioning accuracy is improved, but the overall operation speed is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the cell pickup process into distinct phases: a fast approach phase where the suction arm moves quickly to near the cell location, followed by a precise positioning phase where fine adjustments are made. This segmentation allows the system to achieve both high speed and high positioning accuracy by optimizing movement parameters for each phase.
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 device enables efficient cell suction and scraping, even when cells and the pipette tip are initially far apart, and effectively strips cells from the container surface, improving the overall efficiency and speed of the cell picking process.
Implementation Method 1
a tubular tip for sucking cells contained in a container is attached to a sucker
Implementation Method 2
a sucker that causes the suction arm to perform a sucking operation such that a sample is sucked through an end of the pipette tip
Data Source
AI summary
A suction arm advances in an axial direction of a pipette tip such that an end of the pipette tip comes into contact with a bottom surface of a sample container while the pipette tip attached to a suction arm is tilted with respect to a vertical direction. Next, the suction arm is moved such that the end of the pipette tip scans the bottom surface of the sample container in a horizontal direction toward a predetermined position. Subsequently, at the predetermined position, the suction arm is further tilted by a predetermined angle such that the end of the pipette tip is lifted and a base of the pipette tip is lowered. Thereafter, the suction arm performs a sucking operation such that a sample is sucked through the end of the pipette tip.