Disposable test sensor with improved sampling entrance

摘要

A disposable electrochemical test sensor designed to facilitate sampling of fluid samples. It has a fluid chamber having a novel extra wide sampling entrance, but no additional air escape vent. The chamber provides a reservoir from which a sample fluid can be drawn into the chamber through capillary action. The extra wide sampling entrance provided by the present invention can draw blood into the chamber through any part of the opening, thus it allows easy targeting the samples with small volume, picking up smeared samples and it is more tolerant to users who jam the tip of the sensor into users' finger.

主权项

1. An electrochemical test sensor comprising:
a continuous rectangular base layer having a front sampling end and an electric contact end and being coated with a conductive coating, the base layer having electrodes at the front sampling end, and electric contacts at the electric contact end; a middle layer formed of an electrically insulating material having a width approximately equal to a width of the base layer, and having a front sampling end and an electric contact end, the middle layer being attached to the base layer such that a portion of the electric contact end of the base layer extends beyond the electric contact end of the middle layer, the middle layer forming a cutout region defined by a portion of a front edge being recessed from the middle layer front sampling end along nearly the entire width of the middle layer; a continuous rectangular upper layer having a front sampling end and an electric contact end, the continuous upper layer being attached to the middle layer such that the electric contact end is aligned with the electric contact end of the middle layer the rectangular base layer and rectangular upper layer forming a rectangular shaped test sensor such that a first and second side edge of the test sensor is approximately perpendicular to a front sampling end; wherein the front sampling end of the middle layer is recessed from a front edge of the upper layer front sampling end and a front edge of the base layer front sampling end the middle layer recession defining two side openings on the first and second side edge of the test sensor; a fluid chamber defined on a top by the continuous upper layer, on a bottom by the continuous base layer, on one side by the recessed edge of the middle layer defining the cutout region, and having a sampling entrance defined by the two side openings and an open side opposite to the one side, the fluid chamber sized and configured to receive a fluid by capillary action, and sized and configured to expose the electrodes of the base layer to the fluid; andwherein the two side openings are configured to allow a fluid to enter the fluid chamber through one of the two side openings when the first or second side edge is parallel to a surface that the fluid is on.