JP2002085051A - Germ-free solid culture apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a conventional germ-free solid culture apparatus is limited to small size, and a conventional horizontal moving-case apparatus can perform a large scale treatment but can not perform germ-free culture. SOLUTION: An aeration-type solid culture apparatus to which germ-free or sterilized gas can be introduced, and in which the inside of the main body can be sterilized with steam or a sterilizer is constructed as follows: (1) the main body of the culture apparatus is a pressure vessel having a raw material-introducing element, an air- introducing element, an air-discharging element, a discharging element for solid culture products, and a closing door through which inner devices can be taken out; (2) the solid-culture apparatus has a transfer mechanism capable of moving plural culture vessels to specified positions inside the main body of the culture apparatus; (3) a stirring section is placed at a specified position inside the main body of the culture apparatus, a culture section is brought into the stirring section, and various operations including spawn inoculation, water supply, the addition of auxiliary materials and the discharging of the products can be performed there; and (4) the solid-culture apparatus is provided with a mechanism for vertically turning the stirring section.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an aseptic koji making apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the food industry and the pharmaceutical industry, the importance of a sterile solid culture method is increasing. That is, there is an increasing need to eliminate contamination with various bacteria and produce a pure target product. Microbial culture methods include liquid culture and solid culture. Conventional solid culture has a problem of contamination of various bacteria compared to liquid culture.

[0003] (1) Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H11-225
741) In the “sterile solid culture device”, the upper portion of the culture device main body has a structure with a canopy that can be opened and closed, a culture bed is provided inside the culture device main body, and the culture bed is integrally mounted with a perforated plate and an outer peripheral side wall. These are devices which are detachable from the main body of the device and which can supply and take out the raw material together with the culture bed. This equipment is easy to put raw materials, complete sterilization of raw materials and equipment after being put in, easy to take out after cultivation, inoculation, hydration, care, sampling, etc. during cultivation without invasion of various bacteria It is a sterile solid culture device that can be easily implemented and is easy to clean and wash. The inside of the bucket consisting of the perforated plate and the side wall is made detachable, and the culture bed is used as a container for immersion, drainage, steaming, etc. of the raw material outside the culture device main body, and the raw material after these treatments is transferred from the culture bed. It is set in the main body of the culture apparatus without the use of a single culture bed and one bucket. In this invention, there is no disclosure or suggestion of a sterile solid culture apparatus of a horizontal moving casten type.

(2) Publication of Patent Application (1979-1947)
6) In the “seed koji production apparatus”, the culture sheet on which the seed koji raw material is piled is stored in a vertically stacked manner, and the steamed processing of the seed koji raw material is performed in a sealed pressure vessel in which the seed koji raw material is subjected to the steaming processing under the stored state. A vacuum generating device for reducing the pressure inside the container and a suction pipe for sucking the original species into the container from the original species enclosing tank using the reduced pressure inside the container, and the culture is humidified at the beginning of the culture and the culture proceeds. A seed koji production apparatus provided with a jacket for cooling the inside of the container when heat generation starts is shown. This apparatus can produce seed koji which is substantially free of various germs, but cannot process large-capacity raw materials.

(3) Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication (JP-A-6-1138)
20) "Koji-making method and koji-making apparatus" A kusten in which a koji layer such as soy sauce is incorporated is configured to be movable, and koji incorporation, koji-making, koji-making, and koji care are performed while moving the kasten. Thus, the present invention provides a koji-making method and a koji-making apparatus in which the koji-making chamber can be simplified and downsized. However, this apparatus can use a large amount of raw material, but does not disclose or suggest aseptic solid culture.

[0006]

The problem to be solved by the present invention is that the conventional sterile solid culture apparatus can only be of a small scale, and the conventional horizontal mobile casten apparatus has a large capacity for processing. However, sterile culture cannot be performed.

[0007]

The present invention has the following means. In a ventilated solid culture device in which a sterilized or sterilized gas can be introduced and the inside of the culture device can be sterilized with steam or a bactericide, (1) the culture device body has a raw material introduction section, an air introduction section, and air discharge. Part, a discharge part of the solid culture product, a pressure vessel having a removable opening and closing door of the internal device,
(2) It has a transport mechanism capable of moving a plurality of culture vessels to a predetermined position in the main body. (3) A stirring chamber is provided at a specific location in the culture apparatus main body, and the culture chamber is carried into the stirring chamber. The aseptic solid cultivation apparatus is capable of performing operations such as inoculation of seed bacteria, replenishment of water, addition of auxiliary materials, and carrying out of products, and (4) a mechanism for inverting the stirring chamber upside down.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (1) In the present invention, a sterilized or sterilized gas can be introduced into a pressure vessel.
However, it is also possible to install a disinfecting device such as a heat-resistant disinfecting filter in the pressure vessel. In the present invention, the inside of the culture device main body can be sterilized with steam or a germicide. (2) The raw material introduction section that can be used in the present invention is, for example, a tank for adding a raw material installed on the upper part of the main body, an apparatus for introducing seed microorganisms, and the like. In addition, known devices can be used for the air introduction unit and the air discharge unit used in the present invention. The solid culture product discharge portion that can be used in the present invention can be achieved by installing a tank or the like below the main body. Further, a clutch door or the like can be used as an opening / closing door from which the internal device can be taken out. (3) In the present invention, the culture vessel can be moved vertically and horizontally to a predetermined position in the main body by a transport device such as a conveyor. It is preferable that the culture vessel has a vent that allows the culture medium to vent. In the embodiments of the present invention, it is referred to as kasten. (4) In the present invention, the culture chamber is carried into a stirring chamber installed at a predetermined place in the main body, and the stirring chamber is turned upside down there. Thereby, the mixing of the raw materials, the inoculum and the like is sufficient, and the production efficiency can be improved. When the inside of the stirring device is provided in the stirring chamber, the efficiency is further improved. ,

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these examples.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a sterile solid culture apparatus according to the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a culture tank, which constitutes a space for performing solid culture, and can be heat-sterilized by steam. 2 is an air inlet for taking in outside air into the culture tank,
3 is a heat-resistant sterile filter that withstands heat sterilization by steam and removes bacteria. 4 is a humidity control tower for adjusting the humidity in the culture tank. 5 is an air duct that distributes sterilized air taken from outside. Reference numeral 7 denotes a movable casten which constitutes and moves a container for solid culture, 6 denotes a caster elevator which moves the casttain placed in the upper and lower stages from the lower stage to the upper stage, and 8 denotes an outlet of the air introduced into the culture tank. is there. Reference numeral 9 denotes a caste elevator for moving the upper castene to the lower stage, 10 a clutch door for opening the castin into or out of the culture tank, and 11 a discharge door for discharging the cultured koji. The screw conveyor 12 is an auxiliary material addition tank for additionally supplying an auxiliary material to the casten during culturing or the like. 13 is a seed koji inoculation tank for storing the seed koji to be inoculated into the kasten at the start of cultivation, 14 is a double door opening a stirring chamber for loading the screw conveyor for discharging the koji when harvesting the koji to the outside after completion of the cultivation. , 15 is a stirring chamber for drawing in the castin and stirring the koji, 16 is a shaft for transmitting the power of a motor for operating the stirring chamber, and 17 is a dekoji decomposition tank for storing harvested koji. . 18 is a kasten air chamber, 1
Reference numeral 9 denotes a kasten koji room. Numeral 20 denotes a kasten horizontal moving machine for horizontally moving the kasten at the upper stage of the culture tank, and reference numeral 21 denotes a kasten horizontal moving machine for horizontally moving the kasten at the lower stage of the culture tank.

An embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The casten 7 is stored in the culture tank 1 after the solid medium is put in the koji chamber 18 outside the culture tank 1. After storing all the casten, the clutch door 10 is closed and the inside of the culture tank 1 is sterilized with a sterilizing agent or steam. When the raw material has been treated (steamed) outside the culture tank 1 in advance, the sterilization inside the culture tank can be performed with a bactericide. When the culture tank is sterilized by heating using steam, the solid medium is sterilized together with the culture tank 1. After the heat sterilization, the solid medium is cooled by introducing external air or applying a vacuum. When seed koji is inoculated, the kasten 7 is moved horizontally to the position M and integrated with the stirring chamber 15. The seed door 14 at the top or bottom of the stirring chamber 15 is opened to inoculate the solid medium from the seed koji inoculation tank 13 with the seed koji. The auxiliary material is supplied from the auxiliary material addition tank 12 as needed. The integrated casten 7 and the culture chamber 15 are turned upside down by rotating the operation shaft 16 so that the stirring chamber 15 is rotated.
To the lower side to mix the medium and the seed koji. After that, the operating shaft 16 is rotated again, and the casing 7 and the stirring chamber 15 are turned upside down to return the casing 7 to the original position. The same procedure is used to inoculate all the kastens in the culture tank with the seed koji.

At the time of culturing, fresh air is blown from the air inlet 2 by using a blower or a compressor,
Next, the air passes through the humidity control tower 4, passes through the air duct 5 disposed inside or outside the culture tank 1, and is introduced into the air chamber 18 below the casten 7. The introduced air passes through the solid medium in the koji chamber 19 and is discharged from the air outlet 8 to the outside. When the ventilation condition becomes worse during the culture or when the temperature of the culture medium rises, the casten 7 is moved to the position M, integrated with the stirring chamber 15, and the same operation as the mixing of the seed koji is performed. All the castenes 7 are sequentially moved to the location M and mixed similarly.

Next, in order to take out the cultured medium from the culture tank, the casten 7 is moved to the position M, and the operating shaft 16 is rotated integrally with the stirring chamber 15 by turning the operating shaft 16 so that the medium is stirred and the stirring chamber is stirred. 15 The door 14 at the bottom is opened, and the medium is transferred via the screw conveyor 11 to the koji decomposing tank 17 outside the culture tank 1. By the same operation, all the kasten culture media are sequentially discharged to the dekoji decomposition tank 17. When the koji start operation is completed, the clutch door 10 is opened, and the kasten horizontal moving mechanisms 20, 21 and the kasten elevator 6,
The empty casten 7 is carried out of the culture tank 1 by using 9. The transported kasten is separated into an air chamber 18 and a koji chamber 19, and the inside and outside of each are washed. The inside of the culture tank 1 is washed from the opened clutch door 10.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, a description will be given of a state in which a culture medium is put in a koji room of a kasten outside the culture tank and all the kastens are introduced into the culture tank. All castes are
Initially, the culture medium is placed in the koji room of each casten, which is outside the culture tank. Open the clutch door of the culture tank and introduce the first castene into location A. The first castin introduced at the point A is moved to the point 1 'by the horizontal moving mechanism. Next, the second castene is introduced into the point A and is moved to the point 1 'by the horizontal moving mechanism. At this time, the first castene has moved to the point 2 '. In this manner, the third, fourth, and so on are successively introduced into the culture tank, and when the first castene moves to the place C, it is moved to the place D by the kasten elevator. In this manner, in this drawing, ten castens are introduced into the culture tank. After that, the clutch door is closed and the seed koji is inoculated, the supplementary materials are added, and the culture is performed.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment in which the number of casts is increased to increase the processing amount. In order to increase the amount that can be processed in one culture tank, it can be realized by lengthening the culture tank and increasing the number of castins to be introduced. FIG.
Is an example of a culture tank that handles 20 castens, 10 castes, and 1 caste in order from the top.

[0016]

As described above, by using the aseptic koji making apparatus of the present invention, the processing capacity can be dramatically increased by increasing the number of culture vessels, as compared with the conventional solid culture apparatus. It is. In addition, the product can greatly reduce contamination of various bacteria.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing names and descriptions of respective parts of an embodiment of the present apparatus.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of one embodiment of the present apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a processing amount of one embodiment of the present apparatus.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 4B029 AA03 BB08 CC02 CC07 EA14 EA16 EA18 EA20

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A ventilated solid culture apparatus into which a sterilized or sterilized gas can be introduced and the inside of the culture apparatus main body can be sterilized with steam or a germicide. A pressure vessel having an introduction part, an air discharge part, a discharge part of a solid culture product, and an opening / closing door from which an internal device can be taken out. (2) A plurality of culture vessels can be moved to a predetermined position in the main body. (3) A stirring chamber is provided at a specific location in the main body of the culturing apparatus, the culturing chamber is carried into the stirring chamber, and inoculation of seed bacteria, hydration, addition of auxiliary materials, and unloading of products are performed. (4) A sterile solid culture apparatus having a mechanism for turning the stirring chamber upside down.