Particle sorting apparatus and particle sorting method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9855587-B2
Application number	US-201414223549-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 24, 2014
Priority date	Apr 4, 2013
Publication date	Jan 2, 2018
Grant date	Jan 2, 2018

Abstract

There is provided a particle sorting apparatus, including: an excited light irradiating unit for irradiating an excited light to particles flowing through a flow path; a light irradiating unit for detecting a speed for irradiating a light for detecting a speed to the particles at a position different from the excited light; a light detecting unit for detecting a light emitted from the particles; a calculating unit of an arrival time for individually calculating an arrival time of each particle at a sorting unit being communicating with the flow path from a detection time difference between the light derived from the excited light and the light derived from the light for detecting a speed; and a sorting control unit for controlling sorting of the particles, and a method thereof.

First claim

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. A particle sorting apparatus, comprising:
an excited light irradiating unit including a first optical system, a first mirror and a first light source for irradiating an excited light to particles flowing through a flow path;
a light irradiating unit including a second optical system, a second mirror, and a second light source configured to irradiate a light for detecting a speed of the particles;
a light detecting unit for detecting a light emitted from the particles;
a calculating unit for calculating an arrival time of each particle to a sorting unit, the arrival time is associated with a time difference between a light from the excited light irradiating unit and a light from the light irradiating unit; and
a sorting control unit for controlling sorting of the particles;
wherein the flow path and the sorting unit are provided within a microchip,
wherein the sorting control unit is configured to determine whether or not the particles are recovered based on data of the particles detected at the light detecting unit and the arrival time, and
wherein the light irradiating unit is separate from the excited light irradiating unit.

2. The particle sorting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the sorting control unit is configured to calculate an arrival time difference between former and latter particles, and to determine that the particles are not recovered when the arrival time difference is under a threshold value.

3. The particle sorting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the light irradiated from the light irradiating unit has a wavelength different from the exited light irradiated from the excited light irradiating unit.

4. The particle sorting apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the calculating unit is configured to calculate the arrival time of each particle based on the time difference between a scattered light derived from the excited light and a scattered light derived from the light for detecting a speed.

5. The particle sorting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the excited light irradiating unit includes two or more light sources emitting lights having different wavelengths.

6. The particle sorting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the sorting unit has a negative pressure suction unit being communicated with the flow path.

7. The particle sorting apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the sorting control unit is configured to control an operation of the negative pressure suction unit based on the data of the particles detected at the light detecting unit and the arrival time.

8. The particle sorting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the sorting control unit is configured to control a timing to recover the particles by the sorting unit based on the data of the particles detected at the light detecting unit and the arrival time.

9. A method of sorting particles, comprising:
irradiating an excited light from an excited light irradiating unit including a first optical system, a first mirror and a first light source to particles flowing through a flow path provided within a microchip;
irradiating a light from a light irradiating unit including a second optical system, a second mirror, and a second light source to the particles for detecting speed of the particles;
detecting a light emitted from the particles;
calculating an arrival time of each particle to a sorting unit based on a time difference between a light from the excited light irradiating unit and a light from the light irradiating unit; and
sort-controlling to determine whether or not the particles are recovered based on data of each particle detected by the light detection and the arrival time,
wherein the light irradiating unit is separate from the excited light irradiating unit.

10. The method of sorting particles according to claim 9 , further comprising calculating an arrival time difference between former and latter particles, and determining that the particles are not recovered when the arrival time difference is under a threshold value.

11. The method of sorting particles according to claim 9 , wherein the light irradiated from the light irradiating unit having a wavelength different from the exited light irradiated from the excited light irradiating unit.

12. The method of sorting particles according to claim 11 , wherein calculating the arrival time of each particle is based on the time difference between a scattered light derived from the excited light and a scattered light derived from the light for detecting a speed.

13. The method of sorting particles according to claim 9 , wherein the excited light includes different wavelengths from two or more light sources.

14. The method of sorting particles according to claim 9 , wherein
the sorting unit has a negative pressure suction unit being communicated with the flow path, and
the sort-controlling includes controlling an operation of the negative pressure suction unit based on the data of the particles detected by the light detection and the arrival time.

15. The method of sorting particles according to claim 9 , wherein the sort-controlling includes controlling a timing to recover the particles by the sorting unit based on the data of the particles detected by the light detection and the arrival time calculated by the arrival time calculation.

16. The particle sorting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the light detecting unit includes a zero-order light removing member.

17. The particle sorting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the arrival time is calculated by expression 1 below:
(Arrival time)=( L 2/ L 1)×( T 1− T 2)  (Expression 1)

wherein L 1 represents a distance from an irradiation position of the excited light to an irradiation position of the light for detecting a speed, and L 2 represents a distance from the irradiation position of the light for detecting a speed to a suction flow path of the sorting unit, T 1 represents a detection time of the light derived from the excited light, and T 2 represents a detection time of a light derived from the light for detecting a speed.

18. The particle sorting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the light irradiated from the light irradiating unit has a wavelength same as the exited light irradiated from the excited light irradiating unit.

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Ito Tatsumi

Classifications

• B07C5/34

  Sorting according to other particular properties {(material testing per se G01N; quality control G07C3/14)} · CPC title

• F16K99/0001

  Microvalves (microdevices B81B1/00; manufacture or treatment of devices or systems in or on a substrate B81C1/00; microfluidic structures B01L3/5027; micropumps F04B19/006) · CPC title

• B07C5/342 Primary

  according to optical properties, e.g. colour {(according to radiation transmittivity B07C5/3416)} · CPC title

• B07C5/3416

  according to radiation transmissivity, e.g. for light, x-rays, particle radiation (detecting hidden objects G01V) · CPC title

• B01L3/502761

  specially adapted for handling suspended solids or molecules independently from the bulk fluid flow, e.g. for trapping or sorting beads or physically stretching molecules · CPC title