Abstract:
This invention relates to a disposable reaction module, capable of permitting small amount of test agents to mix with a reaction agent, having at least one test agent room, a reaction chamber capable of making fluid communication with said test agent rooms, and at least a gate room, situated between the reaction chamber and the corresponding test agent room. A piston is provided for controlling the flow of test agent into the reaction chamber. Being portable, the module is suitable for field test applications, especially without direct human contact, the module offers safer operations over those using conventional tubes and glasses.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to a disposable reaction module and particularly to a reaction module for small amount of fluid that includes a plural number of test agent rooms which are able to communicate fluidly with a reaction chamber for performing tests with a high degree of safety, convenience and mobility. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Traditionally when there is a need to do chemical or biochemical testing, particularly field testing, people have to carry a variety of test glasses, tubes, graduated cup, burette, etc. These facilities and equipments are fragile and should be handled with great care. Moreover the chemicals and agents being used are mostly hazardous to human beings and their disposal after the test could easily produce a pollution problem. All this makes field testing tedious and high risk work begging for improvement. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the aforesaid disadvantages, it is therefore an object of this invention to provide a disposable reaction module that holds required test agents in the module and releases the test agents to mix with a reaction agent when needed, thus offering a safe, convenient and mobile chemical and biochemical testing tool. 
     It is another object of this invention to provide a disposable reaction module that is portable to facilitate field testing. 
     It is a further object of this invention to provide a disposable reaction module that dispenses with measuring test agent procedure so that testing time may be greatly shortened. 
     It is yet another object of this invention to provide a disposable reaction module that can hold required test agents in advance in the module for shorting the total test cycle. 
     It is still another object of this invention to provide a disposable reaction module that can hold required test agents in the module according to desirable test procedures. 
     It is a yet further object of this invention to provide a disposable reaction module that is compact and small in size to facilitate carrying for field testing. 
     It is a still further object of this invention to provide a disposable reaction module that may be made by an integral molding process so that it may be mass produced at low cost with fewer components to enhance its mobility and convenience. 
     It is one more object of this invention to provide a disposable reaction module that is able to free people from direct contact with test agents for enhancing safety. 
     In order to achieve the objects set forth above, the reaction module according to this invention includes a reaction chamber and at least one test agent room that may be fluidly communicating with the reaction chamber. The reaction chamber and the test agent room are separated by a gate room which has a piston disposed therein for controlling fluid flow between the reaction chamber and the test agent room. The reaction chamber and the test agent room have respectively a reaction agent inlet and a test agent inlet to allow reaction agent and test agent be poured therethrough into the reaction chamber and the test agent room. 
     The piston has a piston passage to enable test agent to flow from the test agent room to the reaction chamber. 
     In the reaction agent inlet there is provided a check valve which includes an elastic arm to allow reaction agent to flow into the reaction chamber in only one way. 
     The gate room has a reaction chamber passage and a test agent room passage which are able to communicate with the piston passage to allow test agent to flow into the reaction chamber. 
     This invention also provides a method for making a disposable reaction module. The method includes the following steps: a) sealing a cover on a top of a body, b) placing a check valve in a check valve opening of the cover for allowing reaction agent to flow only one way into a reaction chamber, 
     c) disposing at least one piston in a gate room located in the body, 
     d) pouring test agent through at least one test agent inlet in the cover into a plural number of test agent rooms, and 
     e) sealing the test agent inlet with a sealing member for preventing the test agent from spilling out. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention, as well as its many advantages, may be further understood by the following detailed description and drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a sectional view of this invention. 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded sectional view of this invention. 
     FIG. 3A is a sectional view of a body of this invention. 
     FIG. 3B is a top view of a body of this invention. 
     FIG. 4A is a sectional view of a cover. 
     FIG. 4B is a top view of a cover. 
     FIG. 5A is a side view of a check valve. 
     FIG. 5B is a top view of a check valve. 
     FIG. 6A is a side view of a piston. 
     FIG. 6B is a front view of a piston. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The disposable reaction module according to this invention includes a reaction chamber which has a check valve located in a reaction agent inlet to enable reaction agent be poured into the reaction chamber in only one way, at least one test agent room which has a test agent inlet to receive test agent, a gate room located between the reaction chamber and the test agent room for holding a piston therein to control the flow of test agent from the test agent room to the reaction chamber, and a cover for sealing the test agent inlet to prevent the test agent from spilling out. 
     This invention may contain one or more test agents, and enables the required test agent to mix with a reaction agent to perform desired testing without people contacting the agents directly so that people are better protected from the agents. This module may be integrally made by an injection molding process so that it may be mass produced at low cost. The module may be made small in size and portable so that it is convenient to carry around for field testing and is easy to dispose after testing is completed. 
     Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the reaction module according to this invention includes a body  10  having a reaction chamber  12  for holding a reaction agent, at least one test agent room  14  holding a testing agent and at least one gate room  16  located between the reaction chamber  12  and the test agent room  14 . There is a cover  20  located at the top of the body  10 . The cover  20  has a check valve opening  22  and at least one piston opening  24  and at least one test agent inlet  26 . In the check valve opening  22 , there is a check valve  30  which has a reaction agent inlet  32  to receive reaction agent  122  one way into the reaction chamber  12 . Each gate room  16  has a piston  40  disposed therein for controlling flow of the test agent from the test agent room  14  to the reaction chamber  12 . There is a sealing member  50  covering the test agent inlet  26  for preventing the test agent in the test agent room  14  from spilling out. The bottom  121  of the reaction chamber  12  is lower than that of the test agent room  14 . The bottom  141  of the test agent room  14  is inclined toward the reaction chamber  12 . Each gate room  16  has a reaction chamber passage  161  and a test agent room passage  162  formed respectively at both sides communicating with a through piston passage  48  (shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B) in the piston  40 . Therefore when the piston  40  is turned to align the piston passage  48  with the passages  161  and  162 , test agent held in the test agent room  14  may flow into the reaction chamber  12  and mix with the reaction agent  122  for performing the desired testing. However the reaction agent  122  which has a lower level than the bottom  141  of the test agent room  14  cannot flow into the test agent room  14 . 
     The following offers a more detailed description of the structure of this module. FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate an embodiment of a body  14  which has one reaction chamber  12 , three test agent rooms  14 A,  14 B,  14 C, and three cylindrical gate rooms  16 A,  16 B and  16 C. Each gate room is located between the reaction chamber and a test agent room and mates with the test agent room, and has a reaction chamber passage and a test agent room passage such as  161  and  162  for the gate room  16 A,  163  and  164  for  16 B, and  165  and  166  for  16 C. The reaction chamber  12  has a lower bottom than that of the test agent room  14  which has the bottom inclined toward the reaction chamber  12  so that test agent may flow into the reaction chamber  12  from the test room, but not vice versa. 
     FIGS. 4A and 4B show an embodiment of a cover  20  which has a check valve opening  22 , three round piston openings  24 A,  24 B,  24 C and three test agent inlets  26 A,  26 B and  26 C. 
     FIGS. 5A and 5B show a check valve  30  which has a funnel type reaction agent inlet  32  and an elastic arm  34  which may be opened under pouring pressure of the reaction agent but will be closed when the reaction agent stops pouring in. Once the reaction agent is held in the reaction chamber  12 , it may be prevented from flowing out through the check valve  30 . 
     FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrates that the piston  40  is substantially a T-shaped cylindrical bar with a pair of holding stubs  42  to engage with the top surface of the cover  20  at the piston opening  24  to prevent the piston  40  from sinking into the gate room  16 , an O-ring  44  to seal the gate room  16  for preventing test agent from leaking out, and a barrel  46  which engages tightly but is still able to rotate in the gate room  16 . In the barrel  46 , there is a through piston passage  48  which may align with the reaction agent passage  161  and the test agent passage  162  to form a faucet-like relationship to enable the test agent to flow or stop. The holding stubs  42 , O-ring  44  and barrel  48  may be integrally formed with the piston  40 . This invention also includes a manufacturing method for the reaction module as follow: 
     a) sealing the cover  20  over the top of the body  10 ; 
     b) installing the check valve  30  in the check valve opening  22  of the cover  20 ; 
     c) placing at least one piston  40  in at least one gate room  16  through at least one piston opening  24  in the cover  20 ; 
     d) pouring test agent into the test agent room  14  through the test agent inlet  26  until all test agent rooms containing required test agents. 
     e) placing the sealing member  50  over the test agent inlet  26 . 
     Then the reaction module is ready to carry away for field test use. When in use, turn the piston  40  to align the piston passage  48  with the passages  161  and  162 , test agent held in the test agent room may flow into the reaction chamber  12  to perform test desired. When the module contains more than one test agent rooms (such as  14 A,  14 B, and  14 C shown in FIG.  3 B), it may contain different test agents for a series of testing. The test may be done by turning the piston  40  without people being exposed to the reaction and test agents directly. It is therefore much safer than conventional testing using testing glass and tubes. The module may be integrally formed through an injection molding process. It may be produced at low cost in mass quantity. The module may be made compact and light weight, it is easier and safer to carry around for field test without the need to carry a lot of fragile and bulky testing tubes and glasses. 
     The body  10  may be made of light-permeating material and thus may be placed in a photometer or spectrograph for optical testing. 
     This invention may also perform biochemical tests for water, blood, urine and the like. A series of tests with different types of test agents may be held in this reaction module. The module is rugged to move and use, and safe to people who do the test. Disposal of this module is also much easier and convenient than conventional glass testing tools. 
     It may thus be seen that the objects of the present invention set forth herein, as well as those made apparent from the foregoing description, are efficiently attained. While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been set forth for purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiment of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.