Research and Application of Pressure Swirl Spray Technique for Blood Smear Staining
Wang Guowei1,2, Li Wangxin3*, Mei Qian1,2*, Dong Wenfei1,2
1(School of Biomedical Engineering (Suzhou), Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China) 2(Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215163, Jiangsu, China) 3(Jinan Guoke Medical Technology Development Co., Ltd, Jinan 250101, China)
Abstract To solve the problems of uneven staining and low efficiency of manual staining blood smear, a method of blood smear spraying based on pressure swirl atomizing nozzle was proposed. Numerical simulation and experiments were performed to analyze the atomization process of Wright-Giemsa stain and investigate the best spray parameters. Firstly, ANSYS software was used to numerically simulate the flow state of the staining solution in the nozzle. Then, the external atomization field test platform of the nozzle was built using a spray laser particle size analyzer and camera. When the external inlet pressure of the nozzle was 0.10, 0.12, 0.14, 0.16, 0.18, 0.20, 0.22 and 0.24 MPa, the spray angle of the staining solution and the atomization particle size parameters (Dv10,Dv90 and droplet volume median diameter Dv50) of the measuring point in the atomization area from 10 mm to 50 mm directly below the nozzle were measured respectively. Afterwards, the distribution span of particle size S was calculated. In addition, blood smear spray staining experiment was carried out to compare the background grayscale parameters of the cell images after drip staining and spray staining. The simulation results showed that staining solution forms a high-speed liquid film at the outlet of the pressure swirl atomizing nozzle, which provided a theoretical basis for the formation of atomization field. The experimental results demonstrated that the best atomization quality was achieved when the nozzle inlet pressure was 0.20 MPa and the spray interface was located 35 mm below the nozzle. The spray angle of the nozzle was 76.13°, the droplet volume median diameter was 75 μm, and the distribution span of particle size was 1.72. Under this condition, the gray parameters of cell image background after spray staining and drip staining were significantly different (P＜0.01), and the gray of cell image background after spray staining was significantly reduced. In conclusion, the pressure swirl atomizing nozzle can be used in blood smear staining to improve the staining efficiency and obtain the uniform staining, which provides a new solution for blood smear staining.
Wang Guowei,Li Wangxin,Mei Qian, et al. Research and Application of Pressure Swirl Spray Technique for Blood Smear Staining[J]. Chinese Journal of Biomedical Engineering, 2022, 41(2): 195-203.
