Emergency Efflux

Overview

Purpose

Long have we been plagued by vial overflows. Certainly, many were our fault when we pumped too much in during setup or made unscrupulous changes to code. However, not always! And the cost was always too high for the magnitude of the mistake. Testing vials, rebuilding, and recalibration took weeks of our time.

No longer! We can seal our vials, so that even if we make a mistake* and pump too much, it will flow out through an emergency tube into a secondary receptacle.

*Mistakes that cause overflows are the most common and most catastrophic

How It Works

1. Vials are sealed using O-ring, a plug for the sampling port, and caps with no air leaks

2. One fluidic port in the cap has a line connected that goes to a secondary container

3. If you pump too much fluid in or knock the vial over:

   1. Fluid follows the path of least resistance out into the secondary container

A basic eVOLVER vial setup with emergency efflux. Top, red emergency efflux line; center, capped fluidic port; bottom, black rubber plug in sampling port.

Parts

1. Emergency efflux enabled vial cap
2. O-ring - for air-tight fit of cap onto vial
3. Rubber plug - for sealing sampling port
4. Luer caps - for sealing unused vial cap ports
5. Emergency efflux tubing (semi-clear is ideal)

6. Connector - Male luer lock, 1/16" ID
7. Sterile beaker or other container to drape efflux tubes into

8. Glass vial

Guide

Construct emergency efflux tubing

1. Place a capped vial in your eVOLVER as far away from your beaker as possible

2. Cut tubing to a length that comfortably drapes into your beaker from your vial

3. Use this tubing as a metric to cut tubing for the rest of your smart sleeves

4. Make a few extra just in case

5. Insert male luer locks into your tubing

Additions to Experiment Setup

1. Vial construction

   1. Put O-ring in the slot in underside of cap

   2. Put rubber stopper in sampling port

   3. Cap any unused ports

2. Autoclave emergency efflux tubing in an aluminum foil pouch

3. While setting up fluid lines during experimental setup:

   1. Attach emergency efflux lines onto unused port

4. Drape ends of emergency efflux lines into sterile beaker

   1. You can use the beaker you used in sterilization of fluid lines, but make sure it no longer has bleach or any other fluid in it

   2. Tape lines in place, far from the bottom of the beaker

Emergency efflux lines must be far away from the bottom of the beaker. Efflux pumping will suck air and any liquid in from the emergency efflux port.