FR2521104A1 - DEVICE AND METHOD FOR HANDLING HAZARDOUS FLUIDS - Google Patents

Abstract

DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONTAINING DANGEROUS FLUIDS. THE HAZARDOUS FLUID IS PUT IN A HERMETIC 10 MICROCONTAINER, PREFERRED, A HAIR TUBE. A LARGE NUMBER OF THESE TUBES 10 ARE PLACED IN A SECONDARY CONTAINER 12 AND SURROUNDED BY A CAPTURE MEDIUM INTENDED TO REACT CHEMICALLY WITH SUCH DANGEROUS FLUID IN THE EVENT OF A BREAKAGE OR LEAK OF ANY OF THE HAIR TUBES, IN ORDER TO REDUCE THE HAZARDOUS NATURE OF THE SAID FLUID. THE HAIR TUBE MAY BE PINCHED AT SPACED INTERVALS ALONG THIS TO PRODUCE ISOLATED TRUNKS WHICH CAN BE DETACHED, IF NECESSARY, TO FORM SEGMENTAL MICROCAPSULES EACH CONTAINING A FRACTION OF THE FLUID. APPLICATION: MICRO-ENCAPSULATION OF GAS OR CULTURE MEDIA.

Description

The present invention relates, in general, to

  containers or containers for fluids and more particularly relates to methods and devices for storing and / or transporting dangerous fluids, such as fluids containing microorganisms,

or gases.

  One of the aims of the invention is to provide a method and an economical, effective and safe device for enclosing,

  for storage and / or transport of hazardous fluids.

  In aiming at this object, another object of the invention is to provide, for enclosing fluids, a device and a

  which have a number of safety factors

  to reduce the risk of leakage into the environment.

  in case of failure of any of the levels

confinement.

  The invention also proposes to provide an improved method for the micro-encapsulation of fluids, and comprises

  also the product resulting from this microencapsulation.

  In summary, the present invention proposes to use

  multiple primary fluid containers housed in a container

  hermetic secondary neurons and surrounded, within the con-

  secondary content, by a capture medium capable of reacting

  chemically with the dangerous fluid and make it

  harmless in the event of leakage or rupture of a primary container The primary containers are preferably hermetic microcontainers, such as

  capillary tubes, glass, metal or plastic.

  The capture medium is chosen according to the hazardous fluid.

  This medium may be constituted by, or include, a suitable germicide when the hazardous fluid is, for example, a fluid-borne microorganism, or a suitable chemical reaction medium when the hazardous fluid is a gas. a gas, the capture medium can additionally comprise a dispersion medium

  and slowing the flow of gas, such as a structure

  open-cell foam or packing elements

microscopic wise.

  In another aspect of the invention, the microcontents

  They consist of capillary tubes, the capillary tubes constituting the primary containers could be crimped or sealed tightly at regular intervals along their length. This is not only an additional safety measure which decreases the amount of leaking fluid. in the event of a rupture of any of the segments of a capillary tube, but offers, in

  Furthermore, an economical process for manufacturing micro-fluids

  encapsulated by detaching or separating hermetic segments

of such a tube.

  Other features and advantages of the invention

  will emerge from the illustrative and nonlimiting description

  which follows, with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a perspective, partially in section, of a hazardous fluid containment device according to an embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a side view, partly in section, of a portion of a capillary tube for containing a fluid, according to an alternative embodiment of the invention; and,

  FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view of a device

  tif of confinement according to the invention which represents a

  another variant embodiment thereof.

  To avoid any ambiguity, it is necessary to specify

  in this specification and in the claims

  connected with it, the term "microcontainer" is intended to mean a receptacle or container which contains, or which

  is intended to enclose, a crippled amount of a dangerous fluid

  a lower quantity of several orders of magnitude

  the capacity or volume of the container or secondary container.

  The advantage of using microcontainers of this kind

  resides in the fact that the breaking or breaking of one or more

  one of these containers does not result in allowing an appreciable amount of hazardous fluid to escape. In addition, the term "capillary tube" refers to tubes

  having a small inside diameter but which do not need-

  have been filled by the phenomenon of capillarity, although such a method of filling can be used, where appropriate hollow spherical shells or microspheres can be advantageously used as microcontainers in the context of the invention, in particular for lock up some dangerous gaseous fluids. FIG. 1 illustrates a device for enclosing fluids, according to the invention, which comprises a multitude of primary microcontainers 10 enclosed in a container

  secondary hermetic 12 and surrounded, inside the container

  neur 12, by medium 14 of fluid capture Each

  Primary neur 10 consists of a sealed capillary tube

  at both ends and filled with the hazardous fluid in question.

  The medium 14 is such as to "capture" the dangerous fluid, filling the container 10, by a chemical reaction with

  this fluid, in the event of a rupture or deterioration

  For example, when the hazardous fluid is constituted by a suitable culture medium containing a microorganism in dispersion, the capture fluid 14 may be constituted by, or include, an appropriate germicide toxic to the microorganism In case of hazardous gases, the capture medium may be a liquid or a gas intended to react with the dangerous gas so as to form, as a product reaction, a solid or a harmless fluid The primary containers 10 and the secondary container 12 can be made of a glass, a metal

  or a suitable plastic material, which is inert and practically

  impervious to both the hazardous material in question and the catching medium in the proposed storage and / or

  the conditions of temperature and pressure, etc., provided.

  It is conceivable that the method and the device described above

  The most important of these results, perhaps, from the fact that the invention has three levels of safety. Thus, the use of a large amount of

  number of primary microcontainers ensures that a small -

  only quantity of the hazardous fluid is exposed to the action of the capture medium in the event of the rupture of one

  This advantage can be further strengthened by

  the modification shown in FIG.

  Containers 10 of FIG. 1, which are presented as capillary tubes, are hermetically clamped at regular intervals along the tubes. This pinch ensures that, in the event of a rupture, only a small amount of the dangerous fluid will be present. In addition, it is obvious that, if the break

  produces a tightening or pinching, no dangerous fluid

  In fact, these periodic pinch points

  diques may be weak points for breaking points or locations

  predetermined and nonhazardous along the tube in the eventual-

  where it would be subjected to excessive bending

  during manipulations, for example.

  The presence of a capture medium surrounding the micro-

  primary containers constitutes a second level of safety, in accordance with the invention. Thus, any dangerous fluid that escapes from the primary containers will be rendered harmless by

  a chemical reaction (including an action

  microorganisms, if any), in the capture medium In the case of hazardous gases, consideration is given to the possibility that the capture medium contains a gas dispersion medium, in addition to the reactive fluid, to This dispersing medium could consist of an open-cell inert foam 18, as shown in FIG. 3, which is impregnated with the reactive fluid, or it can consist of an aggregate of individual microscopic beads of glass, plastic or metal, surrounded by the reactive fluid Such a filling

  foam or foam aggregate has the further advantage of preventing

  expensive or slow the propagation of shock waves to primary containers The primary microcontainers 10 and the

  secondary container 12 can be filled and closed hermetically

  (and crimped) according to traditional techniques.

  The modification of FIG. 2 is also useful in another important aspect of the invention in the manufacture of

  fluid products presented in the form of microcapsules.

  In other words, any suitable fluid, such as a

  antibodies, vitamins, enzymes etc. could be introduced

  duit into the capillary tube before closing and pinching

  ci, as it has been described The separate segments of the capillary tube

  pinned thus can then serve, by detaching them along the line 20 of Figure 2, to form containers

  of fluid similar to capsules It is conceivable that the opera-

  In such an application, the tube 10 could be made of a soluble or permeable material designed for

  to release in the desired way, the fluid which is contained there.

  It goes without saying that, without departing from the scope of the invention,

  many changes can be made to the

  device and method described and shown.

6 2521104

Claims (1)

1 Device for enclosing dangerous and other fluids, characterized in that it comprises a large number of hermetic microconteners (10) each of which contains a predetermined fluid to be trapped, a hermetic secondary container (12) enclosing said plurality of microcontainers (10), and a capture medium, surrounding the microcontainers (10) within the secondary container (12) and which is intended to chemically react with said predetermined fluid in the event of the rupture of one of said mlcrocontainers (10) to reduce the danger represented by said fluid. 2 Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said predetermined fluid is a culture medium constituting the vehicle of a microorganism, and in that said capture medium (14) is or comprises a germicide toxic for said microorganism. 3 Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the capture medium is constituted by a structure (18) similar to a predetermined fluid-permeable foam surrounding said microcontainers (10). 4 Device according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that said microcontainers (10) consist of a number of hermetic capillary tubes, each of which comprises a large number of insulated hollow segments, hermetically separated from each other. others in the direction of the length of said microcontainers by a corresponding number of narrowing or narrowing (16) of reduced size. A process for enclosing for storage and / or transport a hazardous fluid, which process comprises the steps of: (a) enclosing a quantity of said hazardous fluid in corresponding microcontents; (b) introducing a large number of said microcontrollers into a secondary container having a capture medium for chemically reacting with said hazardous fluid to mitigate its hazardous nature, and; (c) hermetically sealing said secondary container to trap all such microcontainers and said capture medium. A method for enclosing a fluid in a plurality of individual microcapsules, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) filling a tubular member with said fluid (b) to tightly constrict or clamp segments longitudinally spaced from said tubular member , in order to   1 O produce a number of physically isolated tubular sections   interconnected but each section contains fluid separated from the fluid of the neighboring section, and (c) separating or detaching said segments to form a large number of microcapsules each of which contains hermetically said fluid.