Fluid manifolds are used in a variety of applications. The biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry has made use of fluid manifolds to transport media used in manufacturing processes. Such manifolds may contain reactants, reaction products, solvents, diluents, buffers, or other liquids used in manufacturing. However, many manifolds used in industry experience reduced performance due to inability to efficiently transport media.
For example, FIG. 1 includes an illustration of a perspective view of a portion of a prior art mold and mandrel assembly for manufacturing a fluid manifold. As shown in FIG. 1, a mold 101 includes a mandrel 105. The mandrel 105 has a proximal end 107 and a distal end 109. The mandrel 105 is supported at the distal end 109 by a supporting pin 115. The supporting pin 115 allows the mandrel 105 to be suspended above the mold 101. The mold 101 includes a lower half and an upper half that are joined together to encase the mandrel 105, after which a polymer is introduced into the mold 101. The polymer encases the mandrel 105 and is allowed to solidify.
FIG. 2 includes an illustration of a perspective view of a cross section of a prior art mold for completing the manufacture of the fluid manifold. As shown in FIG. 2, the polymer has solidified to form a fluid manifold 217. The fluid manifold 217 and the mandrel 105 are removed from the mold 101, and the fluid manifold 217 is separated from the mandrel 105 and the support pin 115. A second mandrel 205 is then inserted into the fluid manifold 217, and the fluid manifold 217 and the second mandrel 205 are placed in a second mold 201. The fluid manifold 217 has a pinhole 219 at the distal end where the support pin 115 was previously located. The pinhole 219 is sealed by introducing a polymer into the second mold 201 to plug the pinhole 219. The second mandrel 205 and the fluid manifold 217 are removed from the second mold 201, and the second mandrel 205 is separated from the fluid manifold 217.
While the pinhole 219 has been plugged, the fluid manifold 217 may still experience reduced fluid flow in the region near the plugged pinhole. This can result in a portion of the fluid passing through the fluid manifold 217 becoming stagnant, which is a condition referred to as a “dead zone.” Accordingly, there remains a need for fluid manifolds which have improved performance in such applications.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds