Liquid impinger sampling systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12399089-B2
Application number	US-202217848751-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 24, 2022
Priority date	Jul 9, 2021
Publication date	Aug 26, 2025
Grant date	Aug 26, 2025

Abstract

Disclosed is a liquid impinger, for example a liquid impinger, particularly a disposable liquid impinger. The liquid impinger comprises, for example, at least one nozzle positioned in the interior and attached to the bottom portion. In some aspects, the liquid impinger comprises a polymeric material. Also disclosed are methods of making the liquid impinger comprising, for example, forming at least two components, assembling the at least two components into the liquid impinger, filling the liquid impinger with liquid, and exposing the filled liquid impinger to radiation for sterilization prior to use. Also disclosed are methods of using the liquid impinger, for example, by transporting a gas comprising analytes through the liquid impinger and transferring at least a portion of the analytes from the gas into the liquid contained therein. The method further comprises, for example, after transferring analytes form the gas into the liquid, incubating and/or detecting at least a portion of the analytes in the liquid without removing the liquid from the liquid impinger.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method comprising:
flowing a gas through a liquid impinger, the gas comprising analytes, the liquid impinger comprising:
a vessel having a vertical axis, a top portion, an interior containing a liquid, and a bottom portion comprising an interior base;
a gas inlet in fluid communication with the interior via at least one nozzle positioned in the interior and attached to the bottom portion;

wherein the nozzle comprises a nozzle opening and the nozzle opening is submerged in the liquid; and
a gas outlet in fluid communication with the interior; and
wherein the gas inlet, the at least one nozzle, the interior, and the gas outlet sequentially define a gas flow path;

contacting the gas with the liquid; and
in response to the contacting, transferring at least a portion of the analytes from the gas to the liquid.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analytes are particles, molecular analytes or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the liquid impinger comprises at least two components, and the method further comprises, prior to the providing step, filling the vessel with the liquid prior to or after assembly of the at least two components.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to the transporting step, irradiating the liquid impinger in assembled form and/or filled form with radiation to sterilize at least a portion of the interior and at least a portion of the liquid contained therein, wherein at least a portion of the liquid impinger is composed of a material sufficiently transparent to the radiation to enable the sterilization.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the analytes comprise biological particles.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after the transferring step, incubating the liquid under conditions sufficient to facilitate growth of biological particles, wherein the liquid comprises a growth medium.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising detecting whether the biological particles are present in the liquid.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the detecting step comprises at least one of: (1) optical detection comprising at least one of visual inspection by eye, an optical detector, an imaging device, use of ultraviolet-visible, near infrared, infrared, or fluorescence spectroscopy; (2) perceiving a change in oxygen level or carbon dioxide level in the liquid; or (3) analysis of the liquid after extraction from the liquid impinger using an analytical laboratory technique optionally comprising the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), nucleotide sequencing, hybridization, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, flow cytometry, fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH), immunological identification, fatty acid profiling, metabolic profiling, or any combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein at least one of the incubating step or the detecting step is performed without removing the liquid from the vessel or disassembling the liquid impinger.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gas inlet is connected to the at least one nozzle by a tube extending from the top portion to the bottom portion within the interior.

11. The method of claim 1 comprising:
in response to the transferring step, removing a sample of the liquid from the interior of the vessel via a sample port.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of removing a sample comprises inserting a needle into a septum of the sample port.

13. The method of claim 7 , further comprising, after performing one cycle of the providing, transporting, transferring, incubating, and detecting steps, at least one of: (1) discarding the liquid impinger, (2) never again sterilizing the liquid impinger in preparation for a second cycle of the providing, transporting, transferring, incubating, and detecting steps, or (3) never again performing a second cycle of the providing, transporting, transferring, incubating, and detecting steps.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one nozzle comprises at least two nozzles or at least three nozzles.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein each nozzle opening has a diameter of 0.1 mm to 3.2 mm.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one nozzle comprises a shape comprising an arc, and the arc is substantially within a plane that makes an angle with the vertical axis of 85 degrees to 95 degrees.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one nozzle has a horizontal angle of 0 degrees to 40 degrees.

18. The method claim 1 , wherein the bottom portion comprises a cylindrical, spherical, or ellipsoidal shape, and the liquid impinger further comprises:
at least one expanded portion between the bottom portion and the top portion, wherein the expanded portion has a larger internal cross-sectional area at its widest point than an internal cross-sectional area of the bottom portion at its widest point, and
at least one tapered portion between the expanded portion and the top portion, wherein the at least one tapered portion tapers to a smaller internal cross-sectional area along the vertical axis toward the top portion.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bottom portion further comprises a side wall, and the nozzle opening is positioned within 10 mm of the side wall or is substantially flush with the side wall.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transporting step is performed at a flow rate of 1 L/min to 20 L/min.

Assignees

• Particle Measuring Syst

Inventors

• Scialò Giovanni
• Recchia Davide

Classifications

• G01N33/497 Primary

  of gaseous biological material, e.g. breath · CPC title

• G01N2001/227

  separating gas from solid, e.g. filter · CPC title

• G01N1/2247 Primary

  Sampling from a flowing stream of gas · CPC title

• G01N2001/2223

  aerosol sampling devices · CPC title

• G01N2001/2217

  using a liquid · CPC title