Tissue Treatment Tank Liquid Supply Drain Cycle Agitation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tissue piece treating apparatuses face challenges in effectively agitating liquid chemicals during immersion treatments, leading to inadequate penetration and treatment of tissue specimens, especially with soft tissues having many gaps, and result in increased running costs due to the need for frequent and short liquid supply/drain cycles to maintain chemical concentration and remove air bubbles.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that repeatedly drain and supply liquid chemicals in a predetermined cycle, exposing the entire basket to prevent air from entering the treatment tank, using sensors to control the liquid level and pressure, ensuring the liquid chemical is agitated without fully draining, thus maintaining effective treatment and preventing tank deformation and filter exhaustion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a stirrer is driven by a magnet through the tank wall or the sample basket is rotated, then the liquid chemical can be agitated, but the driving force is poor and sufficient agitation cannot be achieved especially near the center of the treatment tank
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the agitation function from complex mechanical stirring mechanisms and implements it through a simple liquid supply/drain cycle. Instead of using a stirrer driven by magnets or rotating the sample basket, the system agitates the liquid chemical by repeatedly supplying and draining liquid, which creates natural convection and circulation without requiring complex driving mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The liquid chemical itself performs the agitation function through the supply and drain cycles. The liquid supplied into the treatment tank flows naturally and creates circulation patterns that agitate both the liquid chemical and the tissue pieces without requiring external stirring devices. The system uses the liquid's own movement to achieve the agitation effect.
2Reliability
If frequent and short liquid supply/drain cycles are performed to maintain chemical concentration and remove air bubbles, then treatment effectiveness is improved, but running costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention implements periodic liquid supply and drain cycles at optimized intervals. Instead of frequent short cycles, the system performs supply/drain operations at longer, more efficient intervals that still achieve effective agitation and air bubble removal. This periodic action reduces pump operation frequency and energy consumption while maintaining treatment effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system optimizes the parameters of liquid supply and drain cycles, including the timing, volume, and pressure parameters. By carefully controlling these parameters, the system achieves effective agitation and air bubble removal with fewer and more efficient cycles, reducing the overall energy consumption and running costs.
3Reliability
If the liquid chemical is drained completely to expose the basket for agitation, then liquid circulation is improved, but air enters the treatment tank causing tank deformation and filter exhaustion
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies partial drainage instead of complete drainage. The liquid supply/drain cycles are designed to drain only a portion of the liquid chemical from the treatment tank, sufficient to expose the basket for effective agitation, but not so much that air enters the tank. This partial action achieves the desired liquid circulation and agitation while preventing the harmful effects of air entry.
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 approach ensures reliable agitation of liquid chemicals close to the tissue piece, enhancing treatment efficacy while reducing the frequency of liquid supply/drain cycles, thereby lowering operational costs and preventing tank deformation and filter exhaustion.
Implementation Method 1
the treatment tank can be brought into a pressurized or depressurized state by a pump, and when the treatment tank is brought into the depressurized state, the liquid chemical or paraffin can be supplied into the treatment tank from any one of the liquid chemical tanks and the paraffin tank selected by the rotary valve
Implementation Method 2
In order to promote penetration of the liquid chemical to the tissue piece and substitution with a liquid contained in the tissue, concentration of the liquid chemical close to an interface between the tissue piece and the liquid chemical needs to be kept high
Implementation Method 3
the liquid chemical supplied into the treatment tank is agitated during the immersion treatment in order to keep the concentration of the liquid chemical close to the interface between the tissue piece and the liquid chemical high
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention addresses a problem of providing a tissue piece treating method and a tissue piece treating apparatus by which treatment of a tissue piece by each of liquid chemicals can be favorably performed and a running cost can be reduced. In order to address the problem, in a tissue piece treating method in a tissue piece treating apparatus (30) for executing an immersion treatment process by each of the liquid chemicals by supplying the liquid chemicals with different types into a treatment tank (40) in which a basket (42) accommodating the tissue piece is disposed in a predetermined order, a liquid supply/drain cycle in which the liquid chemical in such an amount that the entire basket (42) is exposed in the treatment tank (40) is drained from the treatment tank (40) during the execution of the immersion treatment process by each of the liquid chemicals, and the drained liquid chemical is supplied into the treatment tank (40) so that the entire basket (42) is immersed is repeatedly performed so as to agitate the liquid chemical.