Surface tension driven filtration
AssigneeGattaCo Inc.
InventorsMichael Ryan McNeely, Mahmoud Zubaidi
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Abstract
Disclosed is a device for extracting a filtrate from a liquid sample that includes one or more filtration membranes and, in physical contact with a portion of the downstream surface(s) of the filtration membrane(s), a soluble matrix possessing a capillary drawing force sufficient to draw filtrate through the at least one filtration membrane and into the soluble matrix, causing the soluble matrix to at least partially dissolve or disintegrate in the filtrate, whereby the filtrate is released. Various configurations, including device configurations having two filtration membranes with a soluble matrix in between or having a tubular filtration membrane at least partially surrounding or surrounded by a soluble matrix are described.
Claims21
A device for extracting a filtrate from a liquid sample, the device comprising:
- at least one filtration membrane;
- and
- a soluble matrix in physical contact with at least a portion of a downstream surface of the at least one filtration membrane, the soluble matrix possessing a capillary drawing force sufficient to draw filtrate through the at least one filtration membrane and into the soluble matrix, causing the soluble matrix to at least partially dissolve or disintegrate in the filtrate, whereby the filtrate is released.
A device for extracting a filtrate from a liquid sample, the device comprising:
- a pair of filtration membranes facing each other with their downstream surfaces;
- and
- a soluble matrix held between and in physical contact with at least portions of the downstream surfaces of the pair of filtration membranes, the soluble matrix possessing a capillary drawing force sufficient to draw filtrate through the at least one filtration membrane and into the soluble matrix, causing the soluble matrix to at least partially dissolve or disintegrate in the filtrate, whereby the filtrate is released.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.