Systems and methods for characterization of materials and combinatorial libraries with mechanical oscillators
First Claim
1. A method of screening an array of liquid materials for a selected property, the method comprising:
- providing an array of liquid materials;
contacting the array of liquid materials with low frequency unimorph resonators, the resonators designed to minimize excitation of acoustic waves and calibrated against a set of standard liquids to yield calibrations relating the selected property of responses of the resonators to a stimulus;
applying a stimulus to the resonators causing the resonators to oscillate;
periodically monitoring responses of the resonator to the stimulus;
monitoring heat generated or consumed by the array of liquid materials; and
measuring the selected property of the array of liquid materials based on the monitored responses and calibrations.
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for screening diverse arrays of materials are provided. In one aspect, systems and methods are provided for imaging a library of materials using ultrasonic imaging techniques. In another aspect, systems and methods are provided for generating acoustic waves in a tank filled with a coupling liquid to form a disturbance that is representative of a library of materials. In another aspect of the invention, a mechanical resonator is used to evaluate various properties (e.g., molecular weight, viscosity, specific weight, elasticity, dielectric constant, conductivity, etc.) of the individual liquid elements of a library of materials.
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Citations
54 Claims
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1. A method of screening an array of liquid materials for a selected property, the method comprising:
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providing an array of liquid materials;
contacting the array of liquid materials with low frequency unimorph resonators, the resonators designed to minimize excitation of acoustic waves and calibrated against a set of standard liquids to yield calibrations relating the selected property of responses of the resonators to a stimulus;
applying a stimulus to the resonators causing the resonators to oscillate;
periodically monitoring responses of the resonator to the stimulus;
monitoring heat generated or consumed by the array of liquid materials; and
measuring the selected property of the array of liquid materials based on the monitored responses and calibrations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
contacting at least one sample of the array of liquid materials with at least two of the low frequency resonators.
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11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one sample of the array of liquid materials includes a catalyst.
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12. A system for determining a selected property of an array of liquid materials, the system comprising:
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an array of sample wells for containing the array of liquid materials, wherein the array of sample wells is a microtitrate plate;
low frequency unimorph resonators disposed in the array of sample wells, the low frequency resonators designed to minimize excitation of acoustic waves and calibrated against a set of standard liquids to yield calibrations relating the selected property to responses of the resonators to an oscillation stimulus;
a stimulus source coupled to the resonators for exciting oscillation of the resonators;
a receiver coupled to the resonators for periodically monitoring responses of the resonators to the stimulus; and
a processor coupled to the stimulus source and the receiver, the processor activating the stimulus source for the resonators at predefined times and calculating the selected property of the array of liquid materials based on the frequency response and calibrations. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A system for determining a selected property of an array of liquid materials, the system comprising:
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an array of sample wells for containing the array of liquid materials;
low frequency unimorph resonators disposed in the array of sample wells, the low frequency resonators designed to minimize excitation of acoustic waves and calibrated against a set of standard liquids to yield calibrations relating the selected property to responses of the resonators to an oscillation stimulus;
a stimulus source coupled to the resonators for exciting oscillation of the resonators;
a receiver coupled to the resonators for periodically monitoring responses of the resonators to the stimulus;
a processor coupled to the stimulus source and the receiver, the processor activating the stimulus source for the resonators at predefined times and calculating the selected property of the array of liquid materials based on the frequency response and calibrations; and
an array of heat regulators corresponding to the array of sample wells, wherein the array of heat regulators is coupled to the receiver, the receiver periodically monitoring an amount of energy required to maintain constant temperature, and wherein the processor calculates an amount of heat produced as a function of time within each of the sample wells from the monitored amount of required energy. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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25. A method of screening an array of liquid materials for a selected property, the method comprising:
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providing an array of liquid materials, at least one sample of the array of liquid materials containing a catalyst;
contacting the array of liquid materials with low frequency resonators, the resonators designed to minimize excitation of acoustic waves and calibrated against a set of standard liquids to yield calibrations relating the selected property to responses of the resonators to a stimulus;
applying a stimulus to the resonators causing the resonators to oscillate;
periodically monitoring responses of the resonators to the stimulus; and
measuring the selected property of the array of liquid materials based on the monitored responses and calibrations. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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28. A method of screening an array of liquid materials for a selected property, the method comprising:
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providing an array of liquid materials;
contacting the array of liquid materials with low frequency resonators, the resonators designed to minimize excitation of acoustic waves and calibrated against a set of standard liquids to yield calibrations relating the selected property to responses of the resonators to a stimulus;
monitoring heat generated or consumed by the array of liquid materials;
applying a stimulus to the resonators causing the resonators to oscillate;
periodically monitoring responses of the resonators to the stimulus; and
measuring the selected property of the array of liquid materials based on the monitored responses and calibrations. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
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31. A system for determining a selected property of an array of liquid materials, the system comprising:
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a microtiter plate having wells for containing the array of liquid materials;
low frequency resonators at least partially disposed in the wells of the microtiter plate, the low frequency resonators designed to minimize excitation of acoustic waves and calibrated against a set of standard liquids to yield calibrations relating the selected property to responses of the resonators to a stimulus;
a stimulus source coupled to the resonators for exciting oscillation of the resonators;
a receiver coupled to the resonators for periodically monitoring responses of the resonators to the stimulus; and
a processor coupled to the stimulus source and the receiver, the processor activating the stimulus source for the resonators at predefined times and calculating the selected property of the array of liquid materials based on the responses and calibrations. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33)
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34. A system for determining a selected property of an array of liquid materials, the system comprising:
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vessels for containing the array of liquid materials;
low frequency resonators at least partially disposed in the vessels, the low frequency resonators designed to minimize excitation of acoustic waves and calibrated against a set of standard liquids to yield calibrations relating the selected property to responses of the resonators to a stimulus;
a catalyst in at least one of the vessels;
a stimulus source coupled to the resonators for exciting oscillation of the resonators;
a receiver coupled to the resonators for periodically monitoring responses of the resonators to the stimulus; and
a processor coupled to the stimulus source and the receiver, the processor activating the stimulus source for the resonators at predefined times and calculating the selected property of the array of liquid materials based on the responses and calibrations. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36)
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37. A system for determining a selected property of an array of liquid materials, the system comprising:
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vessels for containing the array of liquid materials;
low frequency resonators at least partially disposed in the vessels, the low frequency resonators designed to minimize excitation of acoustic waves and calibrated against a set of standard liquids to yield calibrations relating the selected property to responses of the resonators to a stimulus;
a stimulus source coupled to the resonators for exciting oscillation of the resonators;
a receiver coupled to the resonators for periodically monitoring responses of the resonators to the stimulus;
a processor coupled to the stimulus source and the receiver, the processor activating the stimulus source for the resonators at predefined times and calculating the selected property of the array of liquid materials based on the responses and calibrations; and
heat regulators coupled to the vessels for monitoring heat generated or consumed by the array of liquid materials. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39)
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40. A method of screening an array of liquid materials for a selected property, the method comprising:
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providing an array of liquid materials;
contacting the array of liquid materials with low frequency tuning fork resonators, the resonators designed to minimize excitation of acoustic waves and calibrated against a set of standard liquids to yield calibrations relating the selected property to responses of the resonators to a stimulus;
applying a stimulus to the resonators causing the resonators to oscillate;
periodically monitoring responses of the resonators to the stimulus; and
measuring the selected property of the array of liquid materials based on the monitored responses and calibrations. - View Dependent Claims (41)
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42. A method of screening an array of liquid materials for a selected property, the method comprising:
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providing an array of diverse liquid materials supported simultaneously by a common substrate;
contacting the array of liquid materials with low frequency unimorph resonators, the resonators designed to minimize excitation of acoustic waves and calibrated against a set of standard liquids to yield calibrations relating the selected property of responses of the resonators to a stimulus;
applying a stimulus to the resonators causing the resonators to oscillate;
periodically monitoring responses of the resonator to the stimulus;
screening the array of liquid materials for the selected property based on the monitored responses and calibrations; and
comparing the selected property with respect to members of the array of materials. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
contacting at least one sample of the array of liquid materials with at least two of the low frequency resonators.
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54. The method of claim 42, wherein at least one sample of the array of liquid materials includes a catalyst.
Specification