CN112696528A

CN112696528A - Hydraulic switch valve for micro-fluidic chip and micro-fluidic chip

Info

Publication number: CN112696528A
Application number: CN202011560364.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王琛瑜; 赵静; 张玙璠
Original assignee: BOE Technology Group Co Ltd; Beijing BOE Health Technology Co Ld
Current assignee: BOE Technology Group Co Ltd; Beijing BOE Health Technology Co Ld
Priority date: 2020-12-25
Filing date: 2020-12-25
Publication date: 2021-04-23

Abstract

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a hydraulic switch valve for a microfluidic chip and the microfluidic chip, the hydraulic switch valve comprises a plate body and a push rod, the plate body is provided with at least one hollow part for containing liquid, the hollow part penetrates through the plate body and is provided with a first opening end and a second opening end, a first thin film is arranged at the first opening end, a second thin film is arranged at the second opening end, the first thin film and the second thin film are used for closing the hollow part, and the push rod enables the second thin film to deform by applying pressure to the first thin film so as to block a preset position of a microchannel in the microfluidic chip. Compared with the existing air pressure valve, the hydraulic switch valve formed by the liquid force conduction property can directly control the on-off of the micro-channel in the micro-fluidic chip, reduces the requirement on the tightness between the valve body and the chip, and is convenient for controlling the on-off of a plurality of micro-channels or a plurality of positions in one micro-channel.

Description

Hydraulic switch valve for micro-fluidic chip and micro-fluidic chip

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the field of biological instruments, in particular to a hydraulic switch valve for a micro-fluidic chip and the micro-fluidic chip.

Background

In recent years, the development and application of In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) instruments and reagents are promoted and updated due to the rise and fusion of various new technologies and methods. The microfluidic chip can integrate a series of basic operation units related to sample preparation, reaction, separation, detection and the like in the fields of chemistry, biology and the like to a micron-sized chip, and meanwhile, a network formed based on microchannels can penetrate through the whole system, so that the microfluidic chip has the advantages of portability, low energy consumption, easiness in manufacturing, easiness in mastering and the like, and can easily meet the requirements of life science on low-dose, more-efficient, high-sensitivity and quick separation and analysis of biological samples. However, in the use of the micro-fluidic chip, the micro-channel is often controlled by using the air pressure valve, but the air pressure valve has a complicated mechanical structure and cannot realize good on-off control of the micro-channel.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the embodiment of the present disclosure provides a hydraulic switch valve for a micro-fluidic chip and a micro-fluidic chip, so as to solve the problem in the prior art that on-off control cannot be implemented on a micro-channel.

In one aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a hydraulic switch valve for a microfluidic chip, which includes a plate body and a push rod, where the plate body has at least one hollow portion for accommodating a liquid, the hollow portion penetrates through the plate body and has a first open end and a second open end, a first thin film is disposed at the first open end, a second thin film is disposed at the second open end, the first thin film and the second thin film are used to close the hollow portion, and the push rod applies pressure to the first thin film to deform the second thin film so as to block a predetermined position of a microchannel in the microfluidic chip.

In some embodiments, the first open end and the second open end are disposed on the same or different sides of the plate body, respectively.

In some embodiments, the mandrel has a maximum cross-sectional dimension that is less than a cross-sectional dimension of the first open end of the hollow portion.

In some embodiments, the top of the stem lifter is a sphere.

In some embodiments, the predetermined location is a corner of an inlet or an outlet of the microchannel.

In some embodiments, the hollow portion is a plurality of hollow portions corresponding to different predetermined positions in the microchannel.

In some embodiments, the first film or the second film is made of at least one of the following materials: polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene.

In some embodiments, the first film or the second film is disposed at the first open end or the second open end, respectively, by at least one of: heat sealing, ultrasonic welding, laser welding and bonding.

In some embodiments, the liquid is at least one of: water, mineral oil, vegetable oil, glycerin, and gel.

Another aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides a microfluidic chip, which includes at least one microchannel, and a hydraulic switch valve according to any one of the above technical solutions is disposed at a predetermined position of the microchannel.

In some embodiments, the number of the microchannels is plural, and the plural microchannels are communicated with each other.

Compared with the existing air pressure valve, the hydraulic switch valve formed by the liquid force conduction property can directly control the on-off of the micro-channel in the micro-fluidic chip, reduces the requirement on the tightness between the valve body and the chip, is convenient to control the on-off of a plurality of micro-channels or a plurality of positions in one micro-channel, and simplifies the mechanical structure of the switch system of the micro-fluidic chip.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments described in the present disclosure, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1a and 1b are schematic structural views of a hydraulic switching valve according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2a and 2b are schematic structural diagrams of a microfluidic chip according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a hydraulic switching valve according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

4 a-4 c are schematic structural diagrams of a hydraulic switch valve according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of on-off control in a microfluidic chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Reference numerals:

1-a plate body; 2-a blocking part; 3-hollow part; 4-a first film; 5-a second film; 100-hydraulic switch valve; 200-a microfluidic chip; 300-a microchannel; 301-a first microchannel; 302-a second microchannel; 303-third microchannel.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure more clear, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that the described embodiments are only a few embodiments of the present disclosure, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the described embodiments of the disclosure without any inventive step, are within the scope of protection of the disclosure.

Unless otherwise defined, technical or scientific terms used herein shall have the ordinary meaning as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The use of "first," "second," and similar terms in this disclosure is not intended to indicate any order, quantity, or importance, but rather is used to distinguish one element from another. The word "comprising" or "comprises", and the like, means that the element or item listed before the word covers the element or item listed after the word and its equivalents, but does not exclude other elements or items. The terms "connected" or "coupled" and the like are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections, but may include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect. "upper", "lower", "left", "right", and the like are used merely to indicate relative positional relationships, and when the absolute position of the object being described is changed, the relative positional relationships may also be changed accordingly.

To maintain the following description of the embodiments of the present disclosure clear and concise, a detailed description of known functions and known components have been omitted from the present disclosure.

A first embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a hydraulic switching valve for a microfluidic chip, which may be installed in an active control type microfluidic chip for in vitro diagnosis, and is configured to control on/off of microchannels provided in the microfluidic chip, and in particular, to control on/off of different microchannels in the microfluidic chip, thereby implementing an overall function of the microfluidic chip.

Specifically, the structure of the hydraulic switch valve 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 1a and 1b, and the structure of the microfluidic chip 200 provided with the hydraulic switch valve 100 is shown in fig. 2a and 2b, where fig. 1a and 2a show a first state of the hydraulic switch valve 100, in which the hydraulic switch valve 100 does not perform the disconnection control on the microchannel 300 in the microfluidic chip 200, that is, the microchannel 300 is in an open state, fig. 1b and 2b show a second state of the hydraulic switch valve 100, in which the hydraulic switch valve 100 performs the disconnection control on the microchannel 300 in the microfluidic chip 200, that is, the microchannel 300 is in a closed state.

Specifically, referring to fig. 1a, fig. 2a and fig. 3, the hydraulic switch valve 100 includes a plate body 1 and a plunger 2, the plate body 1 has at least one hollow portion 3 for containing a liquid, the hollow portion 3 may penetrate through the plate body 1 and has two open ends, that is, a first open end is respectively provided at a first end 11 of the plate body 1, a second open end is provided at a second end 12 of the plate body 1, each hollow portion 3 corresponds to one control point in the microchannel 300, the control point is arranged at a predetermined position of the microchannel 300, of course, a plurality of hollow portions 3 may be arranged in the plate body 1, a plurality of hollow portions 3 correspond to different control points, the number of hollow portions 3 is not limited in the present disclosure, a plurality of hollow portions 3 may be arranged in sequence in the plate body 1, the hollow 3 is here intended to contain a liquid, which includes any substance having liquid properties, such as water, mineral oil, vegetable oil, glycerol or a gel. It should be noted that the predetermined position is a position of a control point that needs to be controlled to be turned on or off in any of the microchannels 300.

Further, as shown in fig. 1a and 2a, a first thin film 4 is disposed at the first opening end of the hollow portion 3, a second thin film 5 is disposed at the second opening end of the hollow portion 3, and the first thin film 4 and the second thin film 5 are used for respectively closing the two opening ends of the hollow portion 3, so that the liquid can be filled in the hollow portion 3 and can be closed by the first thin film 4 and the second thin film 5. Further, the first film 4 or the second film 5 may be disposed at the first opening end or the second opening end respectively in various ways according to requirements, such as heat sealing, ultrasonic welding, laser welding, bonding, etc., and the disposing is performed in such a way that the liquid can be completely contained in the hollow portion 3 without leaking. In the first state of the hydraulic switch valve 100, neither the first diaphragm 4 nor the second diaphragm 5 is deformed.

Continuing with fig. 1b and 2b, the ram 2 cooperates with the plate body 1, which serves to transmit pressure through a liquid to one membrane on the plate body 1 by applying pressure to the other membrane, so that the other film is deformed, for example by applying pressure on the first film 4 on one side by means of the ejector pins 2, and then transmits pressure through the liquid contained in the hollow portion 3 by using the force transmission property of the liquid, so that the second film 5 positioned at the other side is deformed, it is, of course, also possible to deform the first membrane 4 by applying pressure to the second membrane 5, no further description is given here, and only one embodiment is used for explaining the present disclosure, that is, in this embodiment, whether the pressure is applied to the first film 4 or the second film 5 may be used, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

When the top rod 2 applies pressure to the first thin film 4 on the plate body 1, the first thin film 4 deforms and presses the liquid filled in the hollow part 3, and the liquid can transmit pressure based on the force transmission property of the liquid, namely, the liquid applies pressure to the second thin film 5 on the other side and deforms the second thin film 5. In this way, when the hydraulic switch valve 100 is in the second state, the first film 4 and the second film 5 are deformed, as shown in fig. 2b, when the hydraulic switch valve 100 of the embodiment of the present disclosure is installed at a predetermined position of the micro channel 300 of the microfluidic chip 200, the deformation of the second film 5 may block the flow of fluid at the predetermined position in the micro channel 300, thereby implementing a control valve function.

Considering that both the first film 4 and the second film 5 need to be deformed, the first film 4 and/or the second film 5 need to be made of a polymer material to have a strong deformability, and may be made of at least one of the following materials: polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene.

Further, in order to ensure that the movement of the push rod 2 can accurately transmit the pressure applied to the first film 4 to the second film 5, the direction of the pressure applied by the push rod 2 is perpendicular to the first film 4.

Further, in view of better applying pressure to the first film 4, the top of the mandrel 2 may be selected to be a sphere to press the first film 4 by forming a circular arc contact between the mandrel 2 and the first film 4, so that the pressure transmission can be more accurate.

Further, when the push rod 2 applies pressure to the first film 4, depending on the magnitude of the applied pressure, particularly when the applied pressure is large and the deformability of the first film 4 is good, the first film 4 may deform greatly, so that the top of the push rod 2 may penetrate into the hollow portion 3, which requires that the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the push rod 2 and the cross-sectional dimension of the hollow portion 3 match each other, for example, the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the push rod 2 should be smaller than the cross-sectional dimension of the hollow portion 3, particularly smaller than the cross-sectional dimension of the second opening end of the hollow portion 3, so that the push rod 2 can apply larger pressure.

Further, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the movement of the stem 2 to apply pressure to the first film 4 to control the on/off of the micro channel 300 may cause a limitation to the movement of the stem 2 due to a spatial factor in some usage environments, and in order to enable the hydraulic switching valve 100 of the embodiment of the present disclosure to have greater applicability based on different positions of the micro channel 300 and enable the stem 2 to more conveniently apply pressure to the first film 4, the first open end and the second open end of the hollow portion 3 may be respectively disposed on the same or different sides of the plate body 1.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 4a, 4b and 4c, in order to more conveniently control the on/off of the micro-channel 300 in the microfluidic chip 200 through the hydraulic switch valve 100 based on the structure or position of the micro-channel 300 in the microfluidic chip 200, so that the ejector rod 2 can apply pressure to deform the second thin film 5, the first open end 11 and the second open end 12 can be disposed on the same side of the plate body 1, and the first thin film 4 and the second thin film 5 can also be disposed on the same side of the plate body 1, for example, as shown in fig. 4a, and the first open end 11 and the second open end 12 can also be disposed on different sides of the plate body 1, for example, opposite sides or adjacent sides, so that the first thin film 4 and the second thin film 5 can also be disposed on different sides of the plate body 1, for example, as shown in fig. 4b and 4c, a plurality of on-off control methods such as a top pressure type, a bottom pressure type, a side pressure type, etc. can be implemented, so that for a control point at the same predetermined position in the microchannel 300 that needs to be on-off controlled, that is, for the deformation of the second film 5 at the same control point, the second open end 12 of the hollow portion 3 can be disposed on a plurality of sides of the plate body 1, so that the lift pin 2 can press the first film 4 on the plurality of sides of the plate body 1, and the situation that the on-off control of the microchannel 300 cannot be implemented due to space factors can be avoided.

Further, in the case where a plurality of control sites at predetermined positions are present in the microchannel 300 to be on-off controlled, as shown in fig. 5, a plurality of hollow portions 3 may be provided in the hydraulic switching valve 300, each hollow portion 3 and the associated push rod 2 and second thin film 5 corresponding to a control site at a predetermined position to be on-off controlled, so that, as described above, for example, in the case where a plurality of control sites at predetermined positions are determined, that is, a plurality of second thin films 5 are provided on the side surface of the plate body 1, a plurality of corresponding push rods 2 may apply pressure from the same direction of the plate body 1 to achieve pressing of a plurality of first thin films 4 to achieve on-off control of the corresponding control sites, so that a plurality of first thin films 4 may be provided on the same side surface of the plate body 1, so that the directions in which the plurality of push rods 2 apply pressure are the same, thus, the push rod 2 can be uniformly controlled to realize the on-off control of a plurality of control points at preset positions.

According to the embodiment of the disclosure, compared with the existing air pressure valve, the hydraulic switch valve formed by utilizing the force transmission property of liquid can directly control the on-off of the micro-channel in the micro-fluidic chip, and meanwhile, the requirement on the tightness between the valve body and the chip is reduced.

A second embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a microfluidic chip, where the microfluidic chip may be, for example, an active control type microfluidic chip for in vitro diagnosis, the structure of the microfluidic chip is shown in fig. 2a and 2b, the microfluidic chip 200 includes at least one micro channel 300, a fluid flows in the micro channel 300 to implement a corresponding control function, the hydraulic switch valve 100 in the above embodiment is disposed at a predetermined position of the micro channel 300, the hydraulic switch valve 100 may be disposed at a control position of the predetermined position of the micro channel 300 that needs to be on-off controlled, and the second membrane 5 in the hydraulic switch valve 100 is disposed proximate to the micro channel 300, so that deformation of the second membrane 5 can block the micro channel 300 at the first predetermined position.

Of course, the number of the micro channels 300 in the micro fluidic chip 200 may be multiple, and the number, structure and arrangement of the micro channels 300 in the micro fluidic chip 200 need to be set according to actual requirements, and further, when the number of the micro channels 300 is multiple, the multiple micro channels 300 are mutually communicated. For example, in the example of fig. 2a, the microfluidic chip 200 includes a first microchannel 301, a second microchannel 302, and a third microchannel 303, and the first microchannel 301, the second microchannel 302, and the third microchannel 303 form a U-shaped structure, where the first predetermined position 310 may be an outlet position of the first microchannel 301.

Compared with the existing air pressure valve, the hydraulic switch valve formed by the liquid force transmission property can directly control the on-off of the micro-channel in the micro-fluidic chip, and meanwhile, the requirement on the tightness between the valve body and the chip is reduced. In addition, the force transmission property of the liquid can be utilized, the control point of the switch can be arranged at a preset position where on-off control is needed, on-off control can be conveniently carried out on a plurality of micro-channels or a plurality of positions in one micro-channel, and the mechanical structure of the switch system of the micro-fluidic chip is simplified.

Moreover, although exemplary embodiments have been described herein, the scope thereof includes any and all embodiments based on the disclosure with equivalent elements, modifications, omissions, combinations (e.g., of various embodiments across), adaptations or alterations. The elements of the claims are to be interpreted broadly based on the language employed in the claims and not limited to examples described in the present specification or during the prosecution of the application, which examples are to be construed as non-exclusive. It is intended, therefore, that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims and their full scope of equivalents.

The above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or more versions thereof) may be used in combination with each other. For example, other embodiments may be used by those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the above description. In addition, in the foregoing detailed description, various features may be grouped together to streamline the disclosure. This should not be interpreted as an intention that a disclosed feature not claimed is essential to any claim. Rather, the subject matter of the present disclosure may lie in less than all features of a particular disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description as examples or embodiments, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment, and it is contemplated that these embodiments may be combined with each other in various combinations or permutations.

The scope of the disclosure should be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. The above embodiments are merely exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, which is not intended to limit the present disclosure, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the claims. Various modifications and equivalents of the disclosure may occur to those skilled in the art within the spirit and scope of the disclosure, and such modifications and equivalents are considered to be within the scope of the disclosure.

Claims

1. A hydraulic switch valve for a microfluidic chip comprises a plate body and a push rod, wherein the plate body is provided with at least one hollow part for containing liquid, the hollow part penetrates through the plate body and is provided with a first opening end and a second opening end, a first thin film is arranged at the first opening end, a second thin film is arranged at the second opening end, the first thin film and the second thin film are used for closing the hollow part, and the push rod enables the second thin film to deform by applying pressure to the first thin film so as to block a preset position of a microchannel in the microfluidic chip.

2. The hydraulic switching valve according to claim 1, wherein the first open end and the second open end are respectively provided on the same or different sides of the plate body.

3. The hydraulic switching valve according to claim 1, wherein a maximum cross-sectional dimension of the stem is smaller than a cross-sectional dimension of the first open end of the hollow portion.

4. The hydraulic switch valve according to claim 1, wherein the top of the stem is a sphere.

5. The microfluidic chip according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined location is a corner of an inlet or an outlet of the microchannel.

6. The hydraulic switching valve according to claim 1, wherein the hollow portion is plural, and plural hollow portions correspond to different predetermined positions in the microchannel.

7. The hydraulic switching valve according to claim 1, wherein the first diaphragm or the second diaphragm is made of at least one of the following materials:

polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene.

8. The hydraulic switching valve according to claim 1, wherein the first diaphragm or the second diaphragm is disposed at the first open end or the second open end, respectively, by at least one of:

heat sealing, ultrasonic welding, laser welding and bonding.

9. The hydraulic switching valve according to claim 1, wherein the liquid is at least one of:

water, mineral oil, vegetable oil, glycerin, and gel.

10. A microfluidic chip comprising at least one microchannel, wherein a hydraulic switching valve according to any one of claims 1 to 9 is provided at a predetermined position of the microchannel.

11. The microfluidic chip according to claim 10, wherein the number of the microchannels is plural, and the plural microchannels are connected to each other.