JP2000093156A - Incubator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an incubator that can maintain the environmental conditions inside the incubator with excellent reliability. SOLUTION: The box 2 is inside maintained under prescribed conditions and the sample table 21 on which a plurality of plates 9 that include each sample each inside are placed in the box 2. The box 2 is provided with the first opening 2a equipped with the door 3, the second opening 2b that is smaller than the first opening 2a and can pass through at least one plate 9 and the automatically opening shutter 5 that closes the second opening 2b and can be opened only when the plates are taken out or taken in. Thus, the opening of the box can be minimized, when the plates 9 are taken out or taken in for testing or during the continuous culture whereby the fluctuation of the environmental conditions inside the incubator 1 can be inhibited.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an incubator used for culturing cells and microorganisms in the field of biochemistry and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An incubator is known as an apparatus used for culturing microorganisms and cells and for testing biochemical reactions. The incubator has a function of maintaining environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity in a case in a case for storing a sample to be cultured or tested. In general, to conduct experiments on many samples under the same environmental conditions,
Many samples are stored in the incubator.

[0003] The above-mentioned tests and cultures are performed continuously for a long time. During the continuation, samples are sequentially removed at predetermined time intervals for work such as analysis and observation of each sample and dispensing of reagents. You need to take it out of the incubator and back again. For this reason, the incubator is provided with an opening for taking in and out of the sample.In a conventional incubator, this opening is a large opening that is also used as a working opening for setting the sample inside, cleaning and maintaining the inside. Had become.

[0004]

However, when this large opening is opened each time a sample is taken in and out, the atmospheric gas inside the incubator flows out and outside air flows into the inside, so that environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity inside the incubator are reduced. Change. And if these environmental conditions change beyond the permissible range,
Impairs the reliability of culture and test results. As described above, the conventional incubator has a problem that the internal environmental conditions change by opening and closing a large opening at a high frequency, and the reliability of the culture and the test is not ensured.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an incubator which can maintain internal environmental conditions and has excellent reliability.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an incubator comprising a substantially box-shaped housing, a sample table disposed inside the housing, on which a plurality of containers housing samples are placed, An environment control unit for maintaining an internal environment under predetermined conditions; a first opening opened in the housing;
An openable and closable first door for closing the opening, and a second opening formed in the housing or the first door and smaller than the first opening and large enough to pass at least one of the containers. And a second door that can be opened and closed to close the second opening.

The incubator according to a second aspect is the incubator according to the first aspect, further comprising a driving means for automatically opening and closing the second door.

According to the present invention, the first opening in the main body is provided.
By providing an opening and a second opening having a size smaller than the first opening and through which at least one container can pass, the opening at the time of loading and unloading the container during the test or culture is minimized to minimize the internal space. Changes in environmental conditions can be suppressed.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an incubator and a dispensing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are plan sectional views of the incubator, FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the incubator, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control system of the injection device.

First, an incubator and a dispensing apparatus used in combination with the incubator will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, an incubator 1 comprises a substantially box-shaped housing 2, a door 3 that can be opened and closed is provided on the front surface, and a plate opening 4 is provided on a side surface.
The plate opening 4 has a shutter 5.

A dispensing device 6 is provided adjacent to the incubator 1. The upper surface of the base 7 of the dispensing device 6 is a dispensing stage 8 on which a plurality of plates 9 are placed. The plate 9 is a container provided with many wells for storing a sample containing a biochemical substance or the like. An X-axis table 10 is provided on the dispensing stage 8, and a dispensing head 11 on which a number of dispensing tips 12 are mounted is connected to the X-axis table 10. The dispensing head 11 moves inside the dispensing stage 8 by driving the X-axis table 10, aspirates a sample from one of the placed plates 9, and discharges the sample to another plate 9. I do.

On the dispensing stage 8, a plate transport mechanism 13 is provided. The plate transport mechanism 13 is X
Axis table 14, Y axis table 15, Zθ axis table 1
6 and transfer head 1 coupled to Zθ axis table 16
7. By driving the plate transport mechanism 13, the plate 9 on the dispensing stage 8 is clamped by the transfer head 17, and the loading / unloading operation to be carried into / out of the incubator 1 is performed through the plate loading / unloading port 4. It can be carried out.

Next, the internal structure of the incubator 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG. In FIG. 2, the housing 2 has a heat insulating wall with a built-in water jacket (not shown), and the temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration inside the housing 2 are controlled by an environment controller (not shown) which is an environment control unit. And other environmental conditions are maintained at predetermined conditions.

A first opening 2a is provided on the front surface of the housing 2, and the first opening 2a can be opened and closed by a door 3, which is a first door. A second opening 2 is provided on a side surface of the housing 2.
b is provided. The second opening 2b has a size that allows at least one plate 9 to pass through, and is used as the plate entrance 4. The second opening 2b is provided with a shutter 5, which is a second door that can be opened and closed in the vertical direction. The shutter 5 has a cylinder 19 as a driving means.
(Refer to FIG. 4). FIG. 3 shows that the door 3 is opened, the first opening 2a is opened, and the second opening 2a is opened.
The state where the opening 2 b is closed by the shutter 5 is shown.

Next, the internal structure of the housing 2 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, a circular sample table 21 is provided in the housing 2. The sample table 21 is an annular member provided with a circular hole 21a at the center thereof. On the upper surface of the sample table 21, a plurality of mounting portions 21b for mounting the plate 9 are radially arranged. Each mounting part 21b
The plate 9 is placed on the. That is, a plurality of (twelve in the present embodiment) plates 9 are placed on the sample table 21. As shown in FIG. 2, a number for specifying the position of each mounting portion 21b is assigned to each mounting portion 21b of the sample table 21 in a clockwise direction.

As shown in FIG. 4 (A-B-C section of FIG. 2), a plurality of sample tables 21 are vertically connected by a connecting member 26 inside It has become. .., A, B, C,... Are assigned to the sample tables 21 constituting the rotating shelf 20 in order from the bottom, and the sample tables 21 are specified by the codes. The symbols A, B, C,...
A number (hereinafter referred to as a shelf number) for specifying each mounting portion 21b of the rotating shelf 20 is set by combining the numbers of the mounting portions 21b (for example, A-01).

The rotary shelf 20 is connected via a connecting member 26 to a spline bearing 27 rotatably supported on an elevating plate 28. A spline shaft 25 is inserted through the spline bearing 27, and a pulley 34 is coupled to the spline shaft 25. A pulley 32 is coupled to an R-axis motor 30 disposed on a top plate 29 that partitions an upper part in the housing 2, and a belt 33 is adjusted between the pulley 32 and the pulley 34. Therefore, by driving the R-axis motor 30, the spline shaft 25 rotates, thereby
0 performs a rotational movement around the spline shaft 25.

Two nuts 24 are connected at two diagonal positions of the elevating plate 28, and the two nuts 24
, A feed screw 23 is screwed up and down. Top plate 29
A pulley 38 is connected to the upper end of the feed screw 23 which is pivotally supported by the pulley 38. Z-axis motor 3 arranged on top plate 29
A pulley 37 is connected to 5, and a belt 39 is adjusted between the pulley 37 and the pulley 38. By driving the motor 35, the feed screw 23 rotates, and the elevating plate 28 performs an elevating operation. This elevating operation is guided by two slide guides 22 (see FIG. 2).

When the lifting plate 28 is moved up and down, the rotating shelf 20 is also moved up and down in the same manner. At this time, since the rotating shelf 20 can always be rotated by the spline shaft 25, the rotating shelf 20 performs the rotating operation and the elevating operation at the same time. Can be. The R-axis motor 30 and the Z-axis motor 35 are encoders 31,
36, and the encoders 31 and 36 each have R
A pulse signal indicating the amount of rotation of the shaft motor 30 and the Z-axis motor 35 is generated. Therefore, by counting these pulse signals, it is possible to identify the current position of the mounting portion 21b to which each shelf number is assigned, and to move the plate 9 mounted on the mounting portion 21b with an arbitrary shelf number to It can be located at the plate entrance 4.

Next, a control system of the incubator 1 and the dispensing device 6 will be described with reference to FIG. First, functions provided in the incubator 1 will be described. The cylinder drive unit 40 drives the cylinder 19 that vertically moves the shutter 5 that opens and closes the plate slot 4. The motor drive unit 41 drives the R-axis motor 30 that rotates the rotating shelf 20 and the Z-axis motor 35 that moves the elevating plate 28 up and down. The environment controller 42 holds environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity inside the housing 2. The communication unit 43 sends and receives signals necessary for controlling each unit on the incubator 1 side.

The dispensing device 6 includes a control unit 50. The control unit 50 controls not only each unit of the dispensing device 6 but also via the communication unit 43 of the incubator 1 that transmits and receives signals via the communication unit 53. Controls the operation of each part of the incubator 1. The control unit 50 stores an assay program indicating each step of the biochemical processing performed using the dispensing device 6 and the incubator 1, and the operations of the dispensing device 6 and the incubator 1 are controlled according to the assay program. You. Dispensing head drive unit 51 is X-axis table 1
0 and the dispensing head 11 are driven. The plate transport mechanism driving unit 52 includes an X-axis table 14 and a Y-axis table 1 that move the plate transport mechanism 13, that is, the transfer head 17.
5 and the Zθ axis table 16 are driven.

This incubator is configured as described above, and its operation will be described below. First, prior to the start of the biochemical treatment operation, the plate 9 is set inside the incubator 1. In this setting operation, the operation of placing the plate 9 containing the predetermined sample on the predetermined mounting portion of the sample table 21 is performed. At this time, the door 3 is opened and the first opening 2a is opened. Therefore, a wide opening range is secured, and a large number of plates can be placed at predetermined positions with good workability. In addition, good workability is similarly secured during maintenance such as cleaning of the inside of the housing 2 and maintenance inspection.

Next, after the setting is completed, the door 3 is closed and the environment controller 42 is operated. Thereby, the environmental conditions inside the housing 2 are kept at predetermined conditions. After this,
Biochemical treatment is performed according to the assay program. In the course of this process, it is repeated to take out the plate 9 from which the predetermined culture time has elapsed from the incubator 1, perform various operations such as analysis and dispensing, and then return it to the incubator 1 again.

The loading and unloading of the plate 9 at this time is performed via the plate loading and unloading port 4 provided on the side wall separating the incubator 1 and the dispensing device 6. The plate opening 4 has a small opening size that allows the plate 9 to pass through, and is automatically opened only when it is necessary to put the plate 9 in and out according to a command from the dispensing device. Disturbance of environmental conditions due to the outflow of the environmental gas or the inflow of the external air into the incubator 1 can be minimized. Therefore, compared with the conventional incubator which opens the door 3 every time the plate 9 is taken in and out, the fluctuation of the internal environmental condition is extremely small, and stable and reliable biochemical treatment quality can be maintained. In the above embodiment, the second
Although the example in which the opening 2b is formed on the side surface of the housing 2 has been described,
The second opening may be formed in the door 3.

[0025]

According to the present invention, the first opening provided in the main body and the second opening having a size smaller than the first opening and capable of passing at least one container are provided. Minimize the opening of the container during loading and unloading during cultivation and testing to minimize fluctuations in internal environmental conditions, thereby improving the reliability of processing results, and requiring manual work such as sample setting and maintenance and inspection. In this case, workability can be ensured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an incubator and a dispensing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view of the incubator according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan sectional view of the incubator according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of an incubator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control system of the incubator and the dispensing device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Incubator 2 Housing 2a 1st opening 2b 2nd opening 3 Door 4 Plate entrance 5 Shutter 6 Dispensing device 9 Plate 19 Cylinder 21 Sample table 42 Environmental controller

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A substantially box-shaped housing, a sample table arranged inside the housing, on which a plurality of containers containing samples are placed, and an environment for maintaining an environment inside the housing under predetermined conditions. A control unit, a first opening formed in the housing, a first door that can be opened and closed to close the first opening, and a first opening formed in the housing or the first door, A second, small and large enough for at least one said container to pass through;
An incubator comprising: an opening; and a second door that can be opened and closed to close the second opening. 2. The incubator according to claim 1, further comprising driving means for automatically opening and closing said second door.