Device for the fractionation of a fluid containing particles and for the extraction of a volume of interest

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9649633-B2
Application number	US-201314406795-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 11, 2013
Priority date	Jun 11, 2012
Publication date	May 16, 2017
Grant date	May 16, 2017

Abstract

A device for fractionation of a fluid containing particles and extraction of a particle-lean volume and a particle-rich volume, including: a cylindrical reservoir including an inlet orifice to supply the reservoir with fluid in a pumping direction from first to second ends of the reservoir; a fractionation body extending along a central axis of the reservoir, an upstream end positioned in vertical alignment above the inlet orifice, a cross section of the fractionation body reducing sharply at its downstream end; the fractionation body defining, with the reservoir, a first passage opening at the downstream end onto a recirculation zone with a geometric singularity; and an extraction mechanism downstream of the fractionation body to separate and extract the lean and rich volumes, including a partition delimiting an extraction volume configured, as fluid circulates in the pumping direction, to receive the particle-lean phase formed in the recirculation zone.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A device for fractionation of a volume of fluid containing particles, and for extraction of a particle-lean volume of the fluid and of a particle-rich volume of the fluid, comprising:
a cylindrical reservoir including at a first end an inlet orifice configured to supply the reservoir with the fluid in a direction from the first end of the reservoir toward a second end of the reservoir;
a fractionation body, extending along a central axis of the reservoir and housed in the reservoir from an upstream end of the fractionation body to a downstream end of the fractionation body, the upstream end being disposed in vertical alignment with the reservoir above the inlet orifice, a cross section of the fractionation body taken in a plane substantially perpendicular to the central axis decreases at the downstream end,
the fractionation body defining, with the reservoir, a first passage opening at the downstream end of the fractionation body into a zone having a geometric singularity configured to form a recirculation zone disposed downstream of the downstream end,
the fractionation body being a solid body, configured to direct the fluid supplied at the inlet orifice along the solid body and into the first passage; and
an extractor, comprising an annular partition and having at least one end portion disposed downstream of the fractionation body, configured to separate and to extract the particle-lean volume and the particle-rich volume from the volume of the fluid, the annular partition having an end portion disposed in contact with the downstream end of the fractionation body and being configured to delimit an extraction volume of the fluid as the fluid circulates in the recirculation zone, and to receive the particle-lean volume in the delimited extraction volume at a region of the annular partition.

2. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the fractionation body comprises a substantially flat base at the downstream end.

3. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the fractionation body is of axisymmetric and paraboloidal shape.

4. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the cross section of the fractionation body increases between the upstream end and the downstream end.

5. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the cross section of the fractionation body substantially increases between the upstream end and an intermediate zone situated upstream of the downstream end, and is substantially constant between the intermediate zone and the downstream end.

6. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the annular partition comprises a plurality of through orifices disposed in a region of the recirculation zone, each of the orifices of the plurality having a diameter less than an average diameter of particles in the volume of fluid.

7. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the extractor comprises:
a first piston configured to move between an inner wall of the reservoir and the annular partition, and to recover the particle-rich volume from the volume of fluid; and
a second piston configured to move in a space delimited by the annular partition, and to recover the particle-lean volume from the volume of fluid,
the first and second pistons being further configured to move from an initial position in a direction from the first end of the reservoir toward the second end of the reservoir, and to create vortexes in the recirculation zone at an outlet of the first passage.

8. The device according to claim 7 , the first and second pistons being a single part.

9. The device according to claim 8 , wherein movement of the second piston is integral with that of the first piston in a direction from the first end toward the second end of the reservoir, the second piston configured to be separable from the first piston and movable independent of the first piston in a direction from the second end toward the first end of the reservoir, and to expulse residual particle-rich volume from the reservoir.

10. The device according to claim 7 , wherein the second piston comprises a bellows.

11. The device according to claim 7 , wherein the first piston comprises a flange disposed along the annular partition, the flange being configured to free successively the through orifices as a function of a stroke of the first piston in the direction from the first end of the reservoir toward the second end of the reservoir.

12. The device according to claim 7 , wherein the extractor is configured to be removable from the device, and to be inserted partly into the reservoir in a hollowed out portion of a base of the fractionation body.

13. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the fractionation body includes a plurality of fins fixed on a surface of the fractionation body, between the downstream end and the upstream end, each fin of the plurality of fins extending between the surface of the fractionation body and an inner wall of the reservoir, such that a space separating the inner wall of the reservoir from the fractionation body is split into a plurality of second passages, each second passage of the plurality of second passages being delimited by two adjacent fins of the plurality of fins.

14. The device according to claim 13 , wherein two adjacent fins of the plurality of fins delimit a second passage and form, between said fins, an acute angle.

15. The device according to claim 13 , wherein a cross section of a second passage, transverse to a direction of flow of the fluid, as a straight section, is of triangular shape.

16. The device according to claim 14 , wherein the thickness of the plurality of fins increases from the upstream end toward the downstream end of the fractionation body and/or the acute angle formed between the two adjacent fins delimiting the second passage decreases from the upstream end toward the downstream end of the fractionation body.

17. The device according to claim 13 , wherein each second passage of the plurality of second passages is twisted with respect to an axis parallel to a direction of flow of the fluid.

18. A device for fractionation of a volume of a blood sample into a volume of globule-lean plasma and a volume of globule-rich blood, and for extraction of the volume of globule-lean plasma from the blood sample, comprising:
a cylindrical reservoir including at a first end an inlet orifice configured to supply the reservoir with the blood sample in a direction from the first end of the reservoir toward a second end of the reservoir;
a fractionation body, extending along a central axis of the reservoir and housed in the reservoir from an upstream end of the fractionation body to a downstream end of the fractionation body, the upstream end being disposed in vertical alignment with the reservoir above the inlet orifice, a cross section of the fractionation body taken in a plane substantially perpendicular to the central axis decreases at the downstream end,
the fractionation body defining, with the reservoir, a first passage opening at the downstream end of the fractionation body into a zone having a geometric singularity configured to form a recirculation zone disposed downstream of the downstream end,
the fractionation body being a solid body, configured to direct the fluid supplied at the inlet orifice along the solid body and into the first passage; and
an extractor, comprising an annular partition and having at least one end portion disposed downstream of the fractionation body, configured to separate and to extract the globule-lean volume and the globule-rich volume from the volume of the blood sample, the annular partiti

Assignees

• Commissariat A L'Energie Atomique Et Aux Ene Alt
• Centre Nat Rech Scient
• Commissariat L Energie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives

Inventors

• Marchalot Julien
• Achard Jean-Luc
• Fouillet Yves

Classifications

• B01L2300/0832

  cylindrical, tube shaped · CPC title

• B01L3/5021

  Test tubes specially adapted for centrifugation purposes · CPC title

• B01L2200/0636

  Focussing flows, e.g. to laminate flows · CPC title

• B01L2300/044

  pierceable, e.g. films, membranes · CPC title

• B01L2200/0652

  Sorting or classification of particles or molecules · CPC title