SBIR Phase I: Acoustic Size Fractionation of Chromatography Column Particles

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是创造一种技术，使用声波按大小分离小颗粒，其效率水平远远超过目前商业上可用的水平。这种粒度控制对于提高诸如层析等分离技术的效率很重要。层析在科学和生产中广泛用于分离混合物中的组分。这项技术可能在工业、制药和生物医学的广泛应用中具有适用性。这一第一阶段研究项目的技术目标是开发一种新型的大流量、两级声学分馏技术。利用压力迫使细胞和颗粒穿过流动的流动中的声学集中已经被很好地建立起来。目前的系统通过在发射器和反射器之间建立相距数十至数百微米的超声波驻波，产生足够的声力来集中生物细胞和小颗粒。系统中小通道的这些尺寸将样品流速限制在每分钟数百微升。拟议的研发将采用由声学生物系统公司开发的新的专有技术，在宽阔的矩形通道中生产单个平面声学节点。矩形流动截面支持通过共振声波的高样品流速。设想的声学分馏技术将在流体层流分布中使用两个精确对准的声压节点。第一个声学区域将对齐溶液中的所有颗粒，第二个声学区域将粒子按大小分布在流体中。层流切片的收集将产生较小尺寸的颗粒

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is the creation of technology that uses sound waves to separate small particles by size with a level of effectiveness that far surpasses what is currently available commercially. Such particle size control is important for enhancing the efficiency of separation techniques such as chromatography. Chromatography is broadly used in science and manufacturing to separate components in a mixture. The technology could have applicability in a broad array of uses both industrial, pharmaceutical and biomedical. The technical objectives in this Phase I research project are the development of a novel high-flow, two-stage acoustic fractionation technology. Acoustic concentration in a flow stream using pressure to force cells and particles across a flow has been well established. Current systems generate sufficient acoustic force to concentrate biological cells and small particles by establishing an ultrasonic standing wave between transmitters and reflectors that are tens to hundreds of microns apart. These dimensions of a small channel in the systems limit the sample flow rate to hundreds of microliters per minute. The proposed R&D will employ novel proprietary technology developed by Acoustic Biosystems for producing a single planar acoustic node in a wide rectangular channel. The rectangular flow cross section supports high sample flow rates through the resonant acoustic waves. The envisioned acoustic fractionation technology will use two precisely aligned acoustic pressure nodes within a fluid laminar flow profile. The first acoustic zone will align all the particles in the solution and the second zone will spread the particles across the flow by size. Collection of slices of the laminar flow will yield narrow size fractions of the particles