In the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, sterile liquids must be manufactured, processed, manipulated, transported and stored. Processing includes mixing sterile liquids and/or solids in a controlled manner under sterile conditions. Mixing is a critical operation in drug production and other biopharmaceutical processes, including, for example, buffer and media preparation, cell culture growth, in-process unit operations such as low pH viral inactivation and final formulation. Processing, transport and storage may occur in enclosed processing chambers including, for example, disposable bags, biocontainers and bioreactors.
Many mixing operations require carefully monitoring of on-line parameters such as temperature, pH, conductivity, and the like. Sensor probes are used to measure the conditions in the liquid in the processing chamber. Manifolds on the exterior of the processing chamber typically have ports adapted to receive sensors and permit the sensors to access the interior of the processing chamber. A sensor probe is inserted into and through the ports so that the end of the sensor probe accesses and measures the condition of the processing chamber.
Unfortunately, when the sensor is inserted into the processing chamber, fluid from the processing chamber may leak past the sensor probe and accumulate in the sleeve surrounding the probe. The fluid product which leaks outside the chamber and into the probe sleeve may become unviable and unusable. In extreme cases, fluid which leaks past the sensor probe, may drip out of the probe sleeve during disassembly, creating a messy and other undesirable conditions.