EP0921852B1 - Device for the mixing or separation of substances of varying mass and/or density - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a process and a device for the mixing/separation of substances of varying mass and/or density in at least one container (7, 7', 7'', 7''''), which is held in a holding device which is moved by a driving unit (12) and drives the container (7, 7', 7'', 7''''). The container (7, 7', 7'', 7'''') or the holding device is moved substantially backwards and forwards in a tangent along a cyclically passed-through, open or closed movement path with at least two areas of substantial modification of path curvature or at least two cuspidal points with high path acceleration by the driving unit (12), excluding rotation of the container (7, 7', 7'', 7'''').

Description

Technical field:

The invention relates to a device for mixing / separating substances different mass and / or density with at least one for which These substances contain certain containers in a holder is held, which is carried by a drive unit together with the motor of the container is movable, the container or the holder by means of Drive unit along an open or closed cycle Path of motion with at least two areas of strong curvature change or at least two reversal points with in these areas or reversal points the large path acceleration takes place essentially tangentially can be guided back and forth according to the preambles of claim 1.

State of the art:

For all kinds of tests in all kinds of laboratories, samples have to be examined that consist of liquids of different weights Contain particles. Often, particles of different weights must be used intimately mixed with one another or mixed particles are also separated what purpose these samples are filled into containers and according to the known State of the art stirred or whisked or shaken or when desired Separate the samples in centrifuges by moving them quickly on a Circular orbit are centrifuged. The heavier ones migrate during a separation Components outside and the lighter components remain closer to that Center of circular motion. But it is known that a long time constant Force on the samples, as is the case with centrifugation, for one Series of substances is disadvantageous.

DE-2354368-A1 describes a device for centrifugal separation Liquid is known in fractions of different density, which is a separation container has mounted on a centrifuge motor and by this is moved in an orbit around a first axis. In the separation container enclosing housing is rotatably arranged about a second axis, so that overlap both rotary movements with respect to the separation container. Everyone The point of the separation container always keeps the same distance from the first axis at.

DE-1432853-A1 describes a method and a device for separation of substances made known by gyrofugation, in which a closed Container rotates around two different axes.

A centrifuge for separation has become known from US-A-2,222,266 and regrouping of particles. The centrifuge has several drivable ones Axes around which the particles to be centrifuged can rotate simultaneously so that the particles have a superimposed, compound trajectory run through.

Furthermore, US-A-4 146 364 discloses a method for mixing substances of different mass located in at least one container and / or density is known, which is held in a holder, which is moved by a drive unit taking the container with it the container along a cyclical open movement path in these reversal points of great orbit acceleration by the Drive unit, excluding rotation of the container, essentially is moved tangentially back and forth.

Technical task:

The present invention has for its object a device for Mixing or separation of either to be mixed or separated To create substances according to the type mentioned at the outset, the one Allow improved mixing or separation of components that otherwise difficult to mix or only a slight difference when separated in specific weight, the device for many Applications should allow improved sample treatment.

Disclosure of the invention and its advantages:

This object is achieved in that the drive unit from at least two eccentrically rotatably mounted eccentric wheels or There are eccentric rollers which are driven synchronously and which are constant Form gap, within which a carrier is guided, which is on its lower end, located below the gap, is pivotally supported is and the at its upper, above the gap end Carrying holder for the container, the rotation of the eccentric wheels Gap moves back and forth with the carrier.

In an advantageous manner, the invention makes use of the effect that in Reversal points or in parts of strong changing curvatures accelerating forces acting on the particles become very large and for a reversal of movement by 180 degrees even go towards infinity, if only the time for the reversal of movement is made sufficiently short. Therefore at Use of the device even with very poorly mixing substances or in the separation of mixed substances even with small differences in the mass and / or density an optimal mixing or Separation guaranteed.

The device according to the invention is particularly suitable for mixing Suitable substances of different masses and / or densities that only difficult to mix.

In addition, the invention is also for separating substances by mass and / or density is suitable, in which case a brief application of force for the separation of particles, interrupted by phases without significant force, as is made possible by the device according to the invention, results in no or practically no negative influences, but in many cases with regard to further analyzes or aftercare of the Samples can benefit them.

In a further embodiment of the device, the container is elongated in shape of a sample glass and extends in its longitudinal extent in Direction of the path of movement on the holder, with the sample glass in Essentially tangent to an open trajectory along a part an arc with a given radius (r) and two reversal points or along a straight line with two reversal points at the ends of each Trajectory is moved back and forth. It is a particularly simple one Coupling with the drive unit possible with the conventional design for example as an electric motor, preferably causes a rotary movement.

The container can also be along an ellipse or along an "∞" with each two areas of strong curvature change on a closed Trajectory or along a semi-ellipse with an area stronger Path curvature change and two reversal points on an open trajectory as well as with a given radius (r) on a spherical shell be moved back and forth essentially tangentially. Preferably the long axis to short axis ratio is a large number. Likewise, the bracket can be along a semi-ellipse with an area strong change in curvature and two reversal points.

In a further embodiment, the container is elongated in the form of a sample glass designed and extends in its longitudinal extent in the direction of Trajectory on the bracket; by means of the drive unit is the container on an open trajectory along part of an arc given radius (r) and with two reversal points or along one Lines with two reversal points or along a spatial semi-ellipse with an area of strong curvature change and two reversal points or on a closed trajectory along a spatial ellipse with two areas of strong curvature change as well as a given one Radius (r) essentially tangentially back and forth.

To achieve the cyclical open or closed trajectory with at least two areas of strong curvature change or at least two reversal points with in these areas or reversal points The drive unit exists when there is a large path acceleration in an advantageous manner from at least two eccentrically rotatably mounted Eccentric wheels or eccentric rollers which are driven synchronously and which form a constant gap, a carrier is guided within it is the pivotable at its lower end located below the gap is supported and at its upper end, above the gap carries the holder for the container, the rotation of the eccentric wheels Gap moves back and forth with the carrier.

Furthermore, to achieve an open trajectory along a Part of an arc with a given radius (r) and two reversal points the drive unit consist of two gears, their axes of rotation at a distance from each other rotatably mounted in walls and by means of a Toothed belts are driven synchronously, with the same on each gear Eccentricity an eccentric is arranged between the constant ones Define gap within which the carrier is guided, which of its lower pivot point up to the holder of the container the length of the Radius (r) defined, the container being arranged tangentially to the carrier.

To achieve the cyclical closed spatial movement path with at least two areas of strong curvature change with in in these areas the major path acceleration is above the Drive unit having eccentric rollers, a second such drive unit arranged with eccentric rollers offset by 90 degrees, whereby each the carrier is guided between the lower and upper eccentric rollers, which is designed as a round bar and gimbal at its lower end is attached, the lower one formed when the eccentric rollers rotate and upper gap, mutually overlapping and partially offset by 90 degrees walk back and forth with the wearer; the roller pairs rotate on gap.

A simple control of the drive unit and a simple structure of the Device is possible if, according to a further feature, the drive unit a DC motor, preferably with speed control.

The DC motor is advantageously for speeds between 30 and 500 revolutions per minute, preferably between 60 and 300 Revolutions per minute. These speed values result in Consideration of the translation of the rotary movement into a double stroke movement of the carrier with the sample containers an optimal number of movements per unit of time, which is preferably between 100 and 200 double strokes per minute. Double stroke means the movement of one Reversal point on the open path of movement of the wearer to the other Turning point and back to the first turning point. Preferably one revolution of the engine results in a double stroke of the carrier.

To make it easy to enter process parameters, a contains Storage device a program that queries the controls and controls the drive unit according to their position.

Brief description of the drawing, in which:

Figure 1

is a schematic side view of a device

Figure 2

a front view of the device of Figure 1, in which Control elements are shown

Figure 3

a view of the drive unit

Figure 4

a view of the drive unit in three different Movement positions

Figure 5

a partial view of the plan view of the drive unit

Figure 6

a top view of the housing with the omission of the Carrier and the bracket and showing part of the Drive unit

Figure 7

another drive unit to enable an elliptical Move

Figure 8

various possible movements of the containers.

Preferred embodiment of the invention:

The device shown by way of example in FIG. 1 consists of a housing 1 with a sloping front wall la and with side walls 1b and 1c, one support 2 standing vertically upwards and one on support 2 preferably detachably mounted mounting frame 3 as a holder for Sample container 7, 7 ', 7 ", 7' '', 7" ", preferably centrifuge glasses, which are fixed but are releasably held within the receiving frame, which is horizontal is arranged. The receiving frame 3 can in principle be any Number of containers can be designed. That is preferably from light, but stable material, such as aluminum, existing housing 1 contains one Drive unit 12 for the movement of the carrier 2 and also an associated one Control, preferably on an electronic basis. The area in which the Carrier 2 protrudes from the housing 1 is to enable movement of the carrier 2 designed as an elongated hole to allow the movement of the Carrier 2 and to prevent the ingress of dirt or moisture covered with an elastic bellows 4, preferably made of rubber. The The carrier 2 is preferably driven by the drive unit 12 includes a DC motor with speed control.

Preferably, the carrier 2 is mounted in the housing 1 such that the Recording frame 3 on a section of an arc always between two opposite reversal points moved back and forth. Here act in the reversal points depending on the speed of the reversal of movement very high Forces on the particles in the liquids that are in the sample containers can be located, ensuring a good mix of different Substances or liquids is guaranteed.

The carrier 2 is pivotable at its lower end about a pivot point 8 stored and by means of a drive unit 12, which consists essentially of two there are synchronously driven drive wheels 10, 11, drivable. Thereby the container 7 on a circular arc with the radius r back and forth pivoted, the container 7 tangentially and horizontally in the rest position with respect to its trajectory.

On the sloping front wall 1a, the controls can advantageously be provided. These are, as shown in Fig. 2, for easy Entry of any desired number of engine revolutions or double strokes of the wearer per unit of time as a numeric keypad 5 with keys from 0 to 9 executed. The correct input can then be made via a separate input key 5a beeing confirmed. Furthermore, in the example shown an on / off switch 5 b in the keyboard integrated.

To switch between different operating modes - operation via the keyboard 5, 5a or control via an interface, for example via a computer - to be able to switch, a shift key 5c is provided. The actuation a mode button 5d causes the device to switch to a mode in the desired number of revolutions per via the numeric keypad 5 Minute or the number of double strokes per minute can be entered.

Additional operating status buttons 5e, 5f allow switching to Operating states for test runs via a keyboard 5 selectable again Number of revolutions or over a certain period of time, as well as one Switching to the input and editing mode for the number of Revolutions or time for the actual operation with the respective Samples, the values entered via the keyboard 5 to 5f, the respective current Operating state of the device, possibly error messages, etc. can be read on an optical display unit 6.

FIGS. 3 to 6 show a technical configuration of the drive unit 12, as used in the device within the housing 1. Ball bearings 25 are held within two walls 26, 26 ' axes 22, 23 are guided at a distance from one another, on which the wall 26 adjacent gears 15, 16 are arranged, over which a toothed belt 18 runs for synchronous drive of the gears 15, 16, one of which by means of a Motor (not shown) is drivable. On the gears 15, 16 is one Eccentric 19, 20 rotatably arranged, the eccentricity by Distance of the pivot points 19 ', 20' of the eccentric wheels 19, 20 from the axes of rotation 15 ', 16' of the gears 15, 16 is indicated. The eccentricity of the two Eccentric wheels 19, 20 are the same, which means that between the eccentric wheels 19, 20 gap 21 is formed in the clear width.

There is a center between the gears 15, 16 and within the gap 21 elongated cuboid 14 arranged below the gear wheels 15, 16th Reaches and which is parallel to the axes of rotation 22, 23 of the gears 15, 16th extends. An axis of rotation leads through the cuboid 14 at its lower end 24, which is suitable by means of ball bearings 25 within the walls 26, 26, ' is mounted and which runs parallel to the axes of rotation 22, 23. From the cuboid 14 project upward support rods 13 which correspond to the carrier 2 of Figure 1.

When the gears 15, 16 rotate, the eccentric wheels 19, 20 taken, so that the gap 21 back and forth in a vertical projection emotional. The cuboid 14 is carried along through this gap 21 and thus out and pivoted about the axis of rotation 24. To minimize friction is on the eccentric wheels 19, 20 each have a ball bearing outer slewing ring 27 arranged, the rotation of the eccentric wheels 19, 20 on the opposite surfaces of the cuboid 14 rolls. In this way the cuboid 14 or the support rods 13 describes a movement path, the part is an arc with a reversal point at each end; this Movement is in FIG. 4 for three different deflections of the cuboid 14 around its fulcrum (17).

Figure 7 shows an embodiment of the drive unit which is used to achieve a cyclic closed trajectory with at least two Areas of strong curvature change and with in these areas Large path acceleration taking place with a given radius on a Ball cup is used. The drive unit consists of two gear wheels 28, 29 which again synchronously, as in the previous example, supported and driven are. On the gear wheels 28, 29 there is an eccentric roller 30, 31 with the same Eccentricity arranged, which in turn a rotation of the gears 28, 29 form a constant driving gap in width, as it is for the previous example is described. Above the eccentric rollers 30, 31 there are likewise eccentric rollers 30 ', 31' held on gear wheels, which are identical to the lower pair of eccentric rollers 30, 31. On in this way, the eccentric rollers 30 ', 31' also define a driving gap constant width between them. Through the overlapping column between the lower eccentric rollers 30, 31 and the upper, 90 ° here turned eccentric rollers 30 ', 31' is a carrier 32, which acts as a round rod is formed to the movements of the eccentric roller pairs 30, 31 and 30 ', 31 'to be able to follow. The lower end of the carrier 32 is gimbaled.

List of reference numerals:

1

casing

1a

sloping side wall

1b, c

vertical side walls

2, 32

carrier

3rd

Bracket, like mounting frame

4th

Rubber bellows

5a

Enter key

5b

On-off switch

5c

Shift key

5d

Fashion button

5e, f

Operating status buttons

6

Display unit

7, 7 ', 7 ", 7' '', 7 '' ''

Sample tubes or centrifuge tubes

8th

pivot point

9

axis

10, 11

Drive wheels

12th

Drive unit

13, 13 ', 13 "

Support rods in various deflections

14

elongated cuboid

15, 16, 28, 29

Gears

15 ', 16'

Axes of rotation of the gears

17th

Pivot of the cuboid

18th

Timing belt

19, 20

Eccentric wheels

19 ', 20'

Pivots of the eccentric wheels

21

movable gap

22, 23

Axes of rotation of the gears

24th

Block axis of rotation

25th

ball-bearing

26, 26 '

Walls

27

Outside slewing ring

30, 31

Eccentric rollers

Claims (5)

1. A device for mixing or separating substances having differing masses and/or densities with at least one container (7, 7', 7", 7''', 7"") that serves to receive these substances, said container being held in a holder (2, 3) that can be moved by a drive unit (12) with a motor, while driving the container (7, 7', 7", 7''', 7""), whereby the drive unit (12) can move the container (7, 7', 7", 7''', 7"") and the holder (2, 3) back and forth substantially tangentially along a cyclically traversed, open or closed movement path with at least two areas of substantial modification in the path curvature or at least two cuspidal points with a high path acceleration occurring in these areas or in these cuspidal points, characterized in that
   the drive unit (12) consists of at least two eccentrically pivoted eccentric wheels (15, 16) or eccentric rollers (30, 31), which are driven synchronously and that form a constant gap (21) within which a carrier (2, 32) is positioned that is held at its lower end located below the gap (21) so as to swivel, and that carries the holder (3) for the container (7, 7', 7", 7''', 7"") at its upper end located above the gap (21), whereby the gap (21) moves back and forth, driving the carrier (2, 32), when the eccentric wheels (15, 16) rotate.
2. The device according to Claim 1, characterized in that
   the drive unit (12) consists of two gear wheels (15, 16) whose rotational axes (22, 23) are pivoted at a distance from each other in walls (26, 26') and that are driven synchronously by means of a toothed belt (18), whereby an eccentric wheel (19, 20) with the same eccentricity is mounted on each gear wheel (15, 16), both of which together define the constant gap (21) within which the carrier (2, 32) is positioned which defines the length of the radius (r) from its lower pivot point (17) to the holder (3) of the container (7, 7', 7", 7"', 7""), whereby the container (7, 7', 7", 7''', 7"") is arranged tangentially to the carrier (2, 32).
3. The device according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that,
   in order to achieve the cyclically traversed, closed spatial movement path on a space between two concentric spheres with at least two areas of substantial path curvature modification with a high path acceleration occurring in these areas, above the drive unit which has eccentric rollers (30, 31), there is a second such drive unit with eccentric rollers (30, 31) that are offset by 90 degrees, whereby the carrier (32) is positioned between the upper and lower eccentric rollers (30, 31), said carrier being configured as a round rod and being mounted cardanically at its lower end, whereby, when the eccentric rollers (30, 31) are rotated, each of the upper and lower gaps formed here, offset by 90 degrees with respect to each other, partially cover each other and move back and forth, driving the carrier (32) and the roller pairs rotate on the gap.
4. The device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the motor of the drive unit (12) is a direct-current motor, preferably with speed control, that is dimensioned for speeds between 30 and 500 rpm, preferably between 60 and 300 rpm, whereby the carrier (2, 32) or the holder (3) is capable of performing between 100 and 200 double strokes per minute.
5. The device according to Claim 1, characterized in that
   the container has an elongated design in the shape of a test tube (7, 7', 7'', 7''', 7'''') and its lengthwise dimension lies in the direction of the movement path on the holder (2, 3), whereby the test tube is moved back and forth substantially tangentially on an open movement path along a segment of an arc of a circle with a predefined radius (r) and with two cuspidal points or along a straight line with two cuspidal points or along a half-ellipse with one area of substantial path curvature modification and two cuspidal points or on a closed movement path along an ellipse with two areas of substantial path curvature modification as well as each with a predefined radius (r) on a space between two concentric spheres.

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