Becton, Dickinson and Company
Biological Fluid Collection Device

Abstract:

A biological fluid collection device (10) that produces a stabilized biological sample with head-to-tail uniformity through the capturing of a high concentration front and subsequent redistribution of the high concentration front throughout a biological fluid is disclosed. The biological fluid collection device includes an inline mixer (16) used for head-to-tail mixing of a concentrated flow front. The mixing is achieved via a two-stage process. First, a front fraction of the flow is captured within a centered mixing chamber (30) via capillary assisted flow action. Second, the captured front volume is then slowly released throughout a small exit hole (36) and recombined with the rest of the flow volume that was diverted around the centered mixer chamber.