Tip Collar Structural Rigidity for Pipette Tip Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current pipette tip assembly methods require excessive downward axial force to create seals, leading to tip breakage and inefficiency, especially when handling multiple tips, and lack structural rigidity for proper alignment and sealing.
Innovation Solution
A tip collar providing structural rigidity through protruding tabs and axially placed holes allows for easy assembly and connection of multiple pipette tips using an upward lifting force, eliminating the need for downward axial force and enhancing alignment and sealing efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a large downward axial force is exerted on the pipette tips to create a tight seal, then the seal between the pipette tip and pipettor is secure, but the internal surface of the conical shaped proximal end of the pipette tips deforms and tip breakage occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a collar as an intermediary component between the pipette tip and pipettor. The collar provides structural support to the thin-walled conical tip during sealing, preventing deformation and breakage while enabling the necessary downward axial force to create a tight seal. The collar acts as a mediator that protects the fragile tip from the forces required for sealing.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates a composite structure by combining the pipette tip with a collar component. This composite assembly provides both the sealing function of the tip and the structural reinforcement needed to withstand the large axial forces without deformation or breakage.
2Productivity
If multiple pipette tips are mounted to the shaft of the pipettor simultaneously, then the productivity is improved, but the force required for mounting exceeds five hundred lbs. and misalignment causes breakage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple pipette tips into a single integrated assembly using a common collar structure. This allows multiple tips to be mounted simultaneously to the pipettor shaft, improving productivity. The collar provides a unified mounting interface that distributes the sealing force across all tips, reducing the total axial force required compared to individual mounting.
Solution Approach 2:
The collar serves multiple functions: it provides structural support to prevent tip breakage, enables simultaneous mounting of multiple tips, ensures proper alignment, and facilitates easy removal. This multi-functional component solves the contradiction between productivity and force requirements.
3Ease of operation
If a high ejecting force is used to release pipette tips from the pipettors, then the tips are ejected from the pipettors, but the force exceeds the sealing force and creates an inefficient loading and unloading process
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional sealing mechanism by using an upward lifting force instead of downward axial force. The collar engages with the pipettor shaft and provides an upward lifting force that creates the seal at the top surface of the pipette tips. This inversion allows for easy ejection with minimal force, as the same upward lifting action that creates the seal also facilitates removal, eliminating the need for high ejecting forces.
4Ease of operation
If the pipette tips are made disposable to avoid contaminants, then the ease of operation is improved, but the connection must be secure and stable enough to prevent wiggling
Solution Approach 1:
The collar acts as a stable intermediary component that provides a secure connection between the disposable pipette tip and the pipettor. The collar's engagement with the pipettor shaft creates a stable, non-wiggling connection while allowing the tip itself to remain disposable. This mediator ensures connection stability without compromising the disposable nature of the tip.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to an apparatus for assembling together a plurality of pipette tips using a tip collar that will provide structural rigidity to the plurality of pipette tips and the method of incorporating such an apparatus. Such rigidity created by the tip collar apparatus will allow for an innovative method of connecting the plurality of pipette tips to their respective pipettors that will reduce the amount of downward axial force required to impinge the plurality of pipette tips using the traditional connection method.