Crane arm pulley system over the horizontal manufacturing plane for microfluidic extrusion

A method of producing collagen biopolymer fibers, comprising the steps of:

• dissolving collagen in an acid solution to form a collagen solution;
• extruding the collagen solution into at least one formation buffer bath to form a plurality of groups of sub-fibers at a fiber formation speed;
• combining the sub-fibers in each group of sub-fibers together to form starting ends for each one of a plurality of collagen fibers;
• attaching each starting end in a set of starting ends to each one of a plurality of pulley arms positioned above a horizontal processing facility;
• and
• feeding the collagen fiber for each starting end in the set of starting ends into the horizontal processing facility by moving the plurality of pulley arms across the horizontal processing facility at a fiber feeding speed equal to the fiber formation speed.

A crane arm pulley system for use in producing collagen biopolymer fibers, the crane arm pulley system comprising:

• a fixed frame positioned above a horizontal processing facility for processing collagen fibers formed at a fiber formation speed by combining groups of sub-fibers created by extruding collagen that was in an acid solution to form a collagen solution into a formation buffer bath;
• an adjustable assembly mounted to the fixed frame and comprising a moveable crane arm, the adjustable assembly moveable within the fixed frame to position the moveable crane arm in three dimensions with respect to the horizontal processing facility;
• and
• a pulley arm connected to the moveable crane arm at an attachment point and rotatable with respect to the moveable crane arm around the attachment point in a plane that is perpendicular to the horizontal processing facility, the pulley arm comprising:
• a driven pulley rotatably attached to the pulley arm on an end opposite the attachment point;
• and
• a drive pulley in communication with the driven pulley to rotate the driven pulley.