Tissue Embedding Cassette with Sliding Base for Automation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current tissue processing and embedding methods require manual handling, leading to reduced efficiency and blade wear due to the need for manual orientation and transfer of tissue samples, which affects the quality of sectioning and blade longevity.
Innovation Solution
A cassette with a frame, cover, and base that allows for detachable and sliding components to hold and orient tissue samples, facilitating automation by enabling easy removal and reorientation of the sample, and allowing for the passage of reagents, which adapts to different tissue thicknesses and enhances the embedding process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual handling and orientation of tissue samples is used, then flexibility in sample processing is maintained, but working efficiency is reduced and manual errors increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cassette is divided into separate components: a base for holding the tissue sample, a frame structure, and a cover. This segmentation allows automated systems to manipulate individual components (particularly the base) while maintaining sample integrity, thereby improving working efficiency without sacrificing operational control.
Solution Approach 2:
The cassette base acts as an intermediary device between the tissue sample and the automated embedding system. By providing a standardized interface (the base with guide portions and limit portions), it enables automated handling while maintaining precise sample orientation and positioning, thus improving productivity without increasing manual handling complexity.
2Reliability
If the cassette base is fixed and non-removable, then structural stability is maintained, but blade wear increases due to continuous cutting of the base material
Solution Approach 1:
The base is designed as a detachable component that can be removed from the frame after the tissue sample has been embedded. This extraction of the base from the permanent structure allows the blade to cut only the necessary tissue sample and embedding material, not the entire cassette base, thereby extending blade lifetime while maintaining section quality during the embedding process.
Solution Approach 2:
The cassette base is designed as a disposable or reusable component that serves its purpose during embedding and then can be discarded or recovered. This approach separates the functional requirement for stability during embedding from the requirement for long-term blade durability, allowing the blade to interact only with the temporary base structure rather than permanent cassette components.
3Manufacturing precision
If the tissue sample is held firmly in place, then orientation consistency is maintained, but ease of removal from cassette is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The cassette base incorporates guide portions that interact with guide grooves in the frame, and limit portions that engage with limit grooves. These dynamic elements allow the base to be firmly positioned during embedding (maintaining orientation consistency) while still being easily removable by sliding the base laterally to disengage the guide and limit portions, thus facilitating automated sample removal.
4Reliability
If the cassette structure is rigid and closed, then sample protection is improved, but automation compatibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The cassette is segmented into a frame, base, and cover, where the base can be independently manipulated. This segmentation allows automated systems to access and remove the tissue sample by sliding the base laterally, while the frame and cover remain in place to protect the embedding cavity, thus achieving both sample protection and automation compatibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The detachable base serves as an intermediary between the protected embedding cavity and the automated handling system. It provides a standardized interface with guide portions and limit portions that enable automated robots to reliably grasp, slide, and remove the base with the embedded sample, while the main cassette structure remains closed and protective.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a cassette and a tissue embedding method using the cassette. The cassette includes a frame, a cover and a base. The frame defines an accommodating cavity through a first face and a second face of the frame arranged oppositely in a first direction. The cover is detachably mounted to the frame. The base is detachably mounted to the frame, and the base and the cover are configured to hold and orient a tissue sample therebetween. The base is slidable relative to the frame in a second direction different from the first direction to open and close the accommodating cavity.