JP2007010555A - Collector for collecting substance to be collected - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a collector for collecting substances to be collected and maintaining a surface for collecting substances to be collected uniformly with respect to the direction of gravity at all times. <P>SOLUTION: The collector 10 for collecting substances to be collected is provided with: a main body 14 of the collector for collecting substances to be collected and capable of mounting a collecting substrate 12 in an exposure state capable of collecting substances to be collected; a first ring member 16 having an inner edge larger than an outer edge of the a main body 14 of the collector for collecting substances to be collected; and a second ring member 18 having an inner edge larger than an outer edge of the first ring member 16. The main body 14 of the collector for collecting substances to be collected is mounted in such a way as to be inclined to the first ring member 16 on a first axis b-b intersecting with its center axis a-a extended in the vertical directions at right angles and has a center of gravity 14B below the first axis b-b. The first ring member 16 is mounted in such a way as to be inclined to the second ring member 18 on a second axis c-c intersecting with the center axis a-a and the first axis b-b at right angles. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a collected substance collector that can be equipped with a collection substrate capable of collecting a collected substance.

  Currently, about 4,000 to 50 million Japanese people have some kind of allergic symptoms, and the number is increasing year by year. For example, it has been reported that asthma medical expenses in Japan are about 640 billion yen per year including indirect costs such as labor loss. There are about 13 million people with hay fever nationwide, and the economic loss is estimated to be about 290 billion yen per year. In Europe and the United States, it has been reported that the incidence of allergic diseases has increased at a rate of 20 to 50% in recent 10 years, and countermeasures are urgently needed.

  In respiratory allergic diseases such as bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis, although it is said that the contribution of exposure by inhalable allergens (such as mites, molds, cedar pollen) is large, details of the pathogenesis of respiratory allergic diseases There are many unexplained parts, and it is necessary to elucidate the details of the onset mechanism by conducting extensive and systematic exposure assessment surveys and epidemiological surveys.

  The elucidation of the onset mechanism of respiratory allergic disease can be performed by collecting suspended particulate matter containing inhalable allergen by an active collector using power such as a pump. For example, multiple active collectors can be installed at various locations indoors and outdoors, and individual exposure can be estimated based on inhalable allergens collected by these multiple active collectors. It has been broken. However, such a method does not go beyond the range of estimation to the last, and does not take into consideration the extremely local air concentration surrounding the subject in the individual exposure evaluation of the inhalable allergen. In addition, it can be considered to measure the air concentration in an extremely curved area by attaching and transporting such an active collector to each subject, but it is suitable for carrying because the pump is heavy. (Patent Document 1).

  On the other hand, in addition to such an active collector, a passive collector that does not use a pump is used to collect inhalable allergens (Patent Document 2). Passive collectors are usually filled with a gas-permeable collection substrate (diffusion filter) or a collection substrate (diffusion filter) made of a gas-permeable material and coated with an adsorbent. It consists of a sampler filled with the agent, and is configured to collect the object to be collected in these filters. For gas-phase substances such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the amount of substances collected using a passive collector is compared using the diffusion coefficient specific to the substance. The concentration in the air can be calculated easily. On the other hand, solid suspended particulate matter (including inhalable allergens) has a significant difference in the contribution of inertial motion, sedimentation velocity, and Brownian diffusion in the air depending on the size of the particles. It is theoretically impossible to convert the concentration in the air from the quantity. However, exceptionally, if only coarse allergen particles are targeted, the effect of Brownian diffusion can be sufficiently ignored. Therefore, the air concentration of the suspended particulate matter can be calculated by using a relatively simplified calculation formula that considers only gravity sedimentation. Such coarse allergen particles having a particle size of 10 μm or more include mites, molds, and cedar pollen, and can be said to be particle types having an important particle size range. For this reason, coarse allergen particles can be collected by a passive collector, and the concentration in the air can be calculated.

  The calculation method of the particle number concentration in the air derived from the passively collected particles is as follows.

Assuming gravity sedimentation as the collection mechanism of allergen particles, the gravity sedimentation velocity V _TS (m · s ⁻¹ ) of particles having a particle diameter d _p (m) is expressed by the following _equation ( ¹ ).

^{_{Here, ρ p (kg · m -3}} ): particle ^{density, g (m · s -2)} : gravitational ^{acceleration, η (kg · m -1 ·} s -1): a viscosity of the air. Further, when N particles are collected by gravity sedimentation on the surface of the collection substrate having a surface area A (m ² ) arranged in a direction perpendicular to the gravity direction, the particle flux J (m ⁻² · s ⁻ by gravity sedimentation is collected. ¹ ) is expressed by Equation 2.

Here, t (s): collection time. In addition, the particle number concentration C (m
^-3 ) is expressed by Equation 3 from the information on the flux J and the gravity settling velocity _VTS .

  Therefore, the particle number concentration C is expressed by Equation 4 from Equations 1 to 3.

Here, N, η, A, t, and g can be obtained by counting the measurement conditions and the measurement particles. On the other hand, since ρ _p and d _p take different unknowns for each allergen particle, information on the particle density ρ _p is obtained from literature values (eg, pollen 850 kg · m ⁻³ ), and the particle diameter d _p Information can be obtained by observing the particles collected by gravity sedimentation under a microscope.

  Such passive collectors are lightweight because they do not require a pump. For this reason, it can be considered to be used as a personal exposure collector by carrying the subject.

JP 2004-37230 A JP 2004-191120 A

  However, when the subject is equipped with a passive collector, the surface of the collection substrate that collects particles may be tilted due to the movement of the subject, and the tilt is calculated to the calculated concentration of particles in the air. There is a problem that an error occurs. In other words, it is possible to calculate the concentration in the air from the particles that have been collected by gravity sedimentation on the collection substrate as described above, but in order to increase the calculation accuracy, the gravity of the collection substrate surface at the time of measurement It is necessary to maintain the inclination with respect to the direction at a constant angle. Even when collecting substances other than suspended particles that are gravity settled, such as gases such as aldehydes and ketones, the inclination of the collection substrate surface during the measurement with respect to the direction of gravity is maintained at a constant angle. There is a need.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of such problems, and is passive enough to be as light as portable for a subject and to prevent errors due to movement of the subject as much as possible. The object is to provide a collector for collecting substances.

  In order to achieve the above object, the trapped substance collector according to the present invention can be mounted with a trapped substance that can be mounted in a state where a trapping substrate capable of trapping the trapped substance is exposed. A collector main body, a first ring member having an inner edge larger than the outer edge of the collected substance collector main body, and a second ring member having an inner edge larger than the outer edge of the first ring member, The trapped substance collector body is attached to the first ring member so as to be tiltable about a first axis orthogonal to a central axis extending in the vertical direction, and from the first axis. And the first ring member is attached to be tiltable with respect to the second ring member about the central axis and a second axis orthogonal to the first axis. Features.

  As described above, according to the trapped substance collector according to the present invention, the trapped substance collector body has a center of gravity below and can be tilted with the first ring member. Since the member can tilt with the second ring member, the collected substance collector main body is always maintained in a constant direction with respect to the direction of gravity, so that the surface of the attached collection substrate is moved to gravity. A constant angle with respect to the direction can be maintained.

In the trapped substance collector according to the present invention, it is preferable that the trapped substance collector main body can be mounted in a state where the trapping substrate is exposed upward. In the case where the substrate is mounted with the substrate exposed upward, suspended particles that are gravity-settling can be collected as a substance to be collected. That is, by placing the values of A in the above formulas 2 and 4, the conversion from the passively collected particle amount to the concentration in the air is performed analytically based on mass transfer theory and the like, not empirically or statistically. be able to.
In addition, the collection substrate may be attached so that the angle of the surface of the collection substrate may be various angles, for example, when the collection substrate is attached so that the surface of the collection substrate is vertical. It can be used for collecting gas and the like.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the to-be-collected substance collector which concerns on this invention is equipped with at least 1 or more attachment members which make it possible to attach the said 2nd ring member to another member, and provide an attachment member in this way. Can be attached to the subject. Furthermore, the trapping substance trapping group according to the present invention may be used while being carried by a subject, or may be left standing. In this case, since the surface of the collection substrate can be maintained at a constant angle as described above, a desired angle such as an angle perpendicular to the gravitational direction can be maintained even when installed on an inclined surface. .

  As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a passive-type collected substance collector that is light enough to be carried by a subject and can prevent errors caused by the movement of the subject as much as possible. be able to.

  In this way, by making this passive collector portable, it is possible for the subject to always carry it, thereby constantly measuring the very local air concentration surrounding the subject. It is possible to evaluate individual exposure to the target substance in a more realistic manner. As a result, more detailed exposure assessment surveys and epidemiological surveys on allergic patients are promoted, and it becomes possible to obtain new knowledge about the details of the onset mechanism of allergic diseases that have been unresolved so far. In addition, if a passive type collector that is several centimeters in size that can be carried by an infant is developed, data can be collected in the early childhood that is important in the development of allergic diseases.

  Next, a first embodiment of the trapped substance collector according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The collected material collector according to the first embodiment collects suspended particles that are gravity settled. 1 is a front view of a trapped substance collector according to a first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof, FIG. 3 is a side view thereof, and FIG. 4 is a plan view of FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG.

  The trapped substance collector 10 according to the first embodiment includes a trapped substance collector main body 14 to which a trapping substrate 12 can be attached and an outer edge of the trapped substance collector main body 14. A first ring member 16 having a larger inner edge, and a housing member 18 having an opening 18 </ b> A formed of an inner peripheral surface having a diameter larger than the outer edge of the first ring member 16.

  The collected substance collector main body 14 is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape having a circular opening 14A on the upper side, and a disk-shaped collection substrate 12 is provided in the opening 14A so as to cover the entire area. Can be installed. That is, a step 15 having a larger diameter than the opening 14A is formed at the upper end of the inner peripheral surface of the opening 14A, and the outer edge of the collection substrate 12 is placed on the upper surface of the step 15. Therefore, it is preferable that the diameter of the collection substrate 12 is the same as the inner diameter of the step 15, and it is necessary to be at least smaller than the inner diameter of the step 15 and larger than the inner diameter of the opening 12A. A disc-shaped mesh member 22 having substantially the same diameter as the collection substrate 12 is placed above the collection substrate 12 via a ring-shaped rubber packing 20. Further, the mesh member 22 and the rubber packing 20 are pressed in the direction of the step 15 by screwing the ring-shaped lid member 24 to the collected substance collector main body 14, and thereby the collection substrate 12 is covered. It can be fixed to the collection substance collector main body 14. The mesh member 22 is configured to allow airborne particles such as mites, molds, and cedar pollen to be collected to pass therethrough.

  The collected substance collector main body 14 has a protruding portion 14B that protrudes downward in the vertical direction. The collected substance collector main body 14 is attached to the first ring member 16 so as to be tiltable about an axis bb at a position perpendicular to the vertical axis aa. That is, a pair of screw holes 26, 26 are formed from the outer peripheral surface toward the center on the axis bb of the collected substance collector main body 14, and the screw holes 26, 26 will be described later. The collected material collector main body 14 is attached to the first ring member 16 so as to be tiltable by screwing the screws 28, 28. And the protrusion part 14B of the to-be-collected substance collector main body 14 can form the gravity center of the to-be-collected substance collector main body 14 below the axis line bb by projecting vertically downward. Thus, even if the first ring member 16 is tilted, the collected substance collector body 14 is tilted relative to the first ring member 16 in a direction opposite to the tilted direction. Since the vertical axis can coincide with the axis aa, the collection substrate 12 can maintain a position perpendicular to the direction of gravity.

  As described above, the first ring member 16 can tilt the trapped substance collector body 14 by the mounting screws 28 and 28 that can be screwed into the screw holes 26 and 26 of the trapped substance collector body 14. It is attached. Cylindrical spacers 30 and 30 made of a material having a small coefficient of friction, such as Teflon (registered trademark), are provided on the outer periphery of the mounting screws 28 and 28 between the first ring member 16 and the collected substance collector main body 14. The spacers 30, 30 allow the trapped substance collector body 12 to tilt with respect to the first ring member 16. Further, the first ring member 16 is attached to the opening 18A of the housing member 18 so as to be tiltable about the axis cc perpendicular to the axis aa and the axis bb described above. . That is, a pair of screw holes 32, 32 are formed from the outer peripheral surface toward the center on the axis cc of the first ring member 16, and mounting screws 34, 34, which will be described later, are formed in the screw holes 32, 32. Are screwed together so that the first ring member 16 can be tilted with respect to the opening 18A of the housing member 18.

  As described above, the housing member 18 has the first ring member 16 attached to the opening 18A in a tiltable manner by the mounting screws 34, 34 that can be screwed into the screw holes 32, 32 of the first ring member 16. Cylindrical spacers 36, 36 made of a material having a low coefficient of friction such as Teflon (registered trademark) are interposed on the outer periphery of the mounting screws 34, 34 between the housing member 18 and the first ring member 16. By the spacers 36, the first ring member 16 can be tilted with respect to the housing member 18. Therefore, the opening 18A of the housing member 18 functions as a second ring member.

  The housing member 18 has a U-shaped cross section, and has a pair of projecting portions 18B and 18B that project and extend above the mounting screws 34 and 34. One end of the attachment chain 38 is attached to one of the projecting portions 18B and 18B so as to be tiltable by a screw 40, and the other end of the attachment chain 38 is attached to be tiltable by the screw 40. The attachment chain 38 is long enough to hang around the subject's neck. Moreover, you may provide the hook 42 for hooking on a test subject's belt etc. instead of attaching such an attachment chain 38. FIG. The hook 42 may be formed in an L shape, for example, and fixed to the bottom surface of the housing member 18 with a screw 44.

  Next, it will be described that the surface of the collection substrate 12 can be maintained in a state orthogonal to the direction of gravity in the collected material collector according to the first embodiment. First, the collected substance collector main body 14 has a center of gravity at the center lower portion by the protrusion 14B. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, when the trapped substance collector 10 is tilted in the direction Mb around the axis bb, the first ring member 16 is tilted integrally with the housing member 18 in the direction Mb. The particle collector main body 12 is opposite to the direction in which the first ring member 16 and the housing member 18 are inclined with respect to the first ring member 16 about the axis bb due to the center of gravity of the projecting portion 12B toward the lower center. The position of the surface of the collection substrate 12 perpendicular to the direction of gravity is maintained. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, when the trapped substance collector 10 tilts in the direction Mc around the axis cc, the housing member 18 tilts in the direction Mc, but the trapped substance collector main body. 14 is integrated with the first ring member 16 due to the center of gravity of the projecting portion 14B toward the center lower portion, and is opposite to the direction in which the housing member 18 is inclined with respect to the housing member 18 about the axis cc. The position is relatively tilted and the position of the surface of the collection substrate 12 perpendicular to the direction of gravity is maintained. Further, when the trapped substance collector 10 is tilted about the axis between the axis bb and the axis cc, the housing member 18 is tilted in the tilted direction, but the particle collector body 14 is Due to the center of gravity of the projecting portion 14B toward the lower center, the first ring member 16 causes the vector in which the housing member 18 is inclined with respect to the housing member 18 about the axis cc to the axis bb direction and the axis c- Among the two vectors decomposed in the c direction, the particle collector body 14 is tilted relative to the direction opposite to the vector in the axis bb direction, and the particle collector body 14 is moved to the first ring member 16 around the axis bb. On the other hand, among the two vectors decomposed as described above, it is tilted relatively in the direction opposite to the vector in the axis cc direction, and maintains a position perpendicular to the direction of gravity of the surface of the collection substrate 12. Can do.

  Next, a method for collecting allergen particles and a method for measuring allergen particles using the collected substance collector 10 according to Example 1 will be described.

When the collected substance collector 10 according to the first embodiment is used for collecting cedar pollen, a glass slide coated with petrolatum or the like is used as the collection substrate 12. The amount of pollen per 1 cm ² can be calculated by staining the cedar pollen adhering to the slide glass with a staining solution such as gentian violet and observing the pollen adhering on the collection substrate 12 with an optical microscope. .

  When the collected substance collector 10 according to the first embodiment is used for collecting fungi and bacteria, a collection plate 12 obtained by solidifying an agar medium in a Petri dish is used. Fungi and bacteria that have fallen on the agar medium are not cultivated until they are visible, but they are easily distinguished by staining minute colonies that have grown in a shorter time. Can be counted.

  In addition to the above, an ELISA staining method that is a method for identifying allergen particles such as cedar pollen, fungi and bacteria may be used. This staining method is applied to a foreign body (prototype) such as an allergen entering the body, and a protein (antibody) that specifically acts on and captures the antigen is produced by the in vivo immune system. It is. That is, only the allergen particles are selectively colored (or fluorescently stained) by causing the chromogenic substrate (or fluorescent substrate) to act on the antibody attached to the allergen particles. These stained allergen particles are observed and quantified using an optical microscope or a fluorescence microscope.

  In addition, an image acquired with a microscope is taken into an electronic terminal and image analysis software is used, so that it is possible to quickly analyze the color, particle size, shape, number, etc. of the stained particles.

For example, if density ρ _p = 850 kgm ³ is obtained from literature values and it is assumed that the particles are spherical allergen particles, the mass of allergen particles per particle is 4 if the allergen particle size is determined to be 30 μm by microscopic observation. 5 × 10 ⁻¹⁶ kg (0.45 pg). Therefore, it can be said that this method using microscopic observation is a measuring means capable of detecting allergens at the pg level. And the personal exposure measurement becomes possible in a shorter time from the high detection sensitivity. In addition, the conventional absorbance measurement method analyzes allergens as a bulk, so it is impossible to obtain information such as particle size distribution and shape of particles. Additional information such as the particle size distribution and shape of allergen particles can be obtained.

  In addition, since the particle size and shape of the suspended particulate matter are factors that determine the deposition site in the respiratory organ, that is, the inflammation site in the respiratory organ, this additional information plays an important role.

Further, when active collection is performed using the collected substance collector 10 according to Example 1, the air surface velocity U ₀ of the collection substrate at the time of collection is calculated by the following _{equation (} 5).

Here, Q: flow rate, D ₀ : collection substrate diameter. Although depending on the collection substrate diameter, the air flow rate, and the particle diameter, the gravitational settling velocity V _TS of the suspended particles in the passive type calculated by Equation 1 is the air surface velocity U ₀ in the active type as the particles become coarser. You can see that it is well above. Allergen particles such as cedar pollen, fungi and bacteria as described above have a gravitational sedimentation rate comparable to the air surface velocity in the collection substrate. Therefore, by collecting these allergen particles as a target substance to be collected by the target substance collector 10 shown in the first embodiment, it is compared with an active type target substance collector that sucks air with a pump. However, it is possible to easily collect the same amount of allergen using only gravity sedimentation without using complicated equipment.

  In addition, the to-be-collected substance collector 10 which concerns on 1st Example can also be left still and used besides a test subject's carrying. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the tripod 46 can be attached to the bottom surface of the housing member 18 with a screw. In this case, even if the collected substance collector 10 according to the first embodiment is placed on the inclined surface 48, the surface of the collection substrate 12 can be maintained at a position perpendicular to the gravity direction from the above-described configuration. it can.

  Next, a second embodiment of the trapped substance collector according to the present invention will be described. The collected material collector according to the second embodiment collects gas such as formaldehyde. FIG. 7 is a front view of the trapped substance collector according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a side view of the trapped substance collector corresponding to FIG. The trapped substance collector 10 'according to the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in the shape of the trapped substance collector main body 14'. The collected substance collector main body 14 'according to the second embodiment is configured so that the collection substrate 12 can be mounted in a vertical state, that is, in a state parallel to the direction of gravity. By mounting the collection substrate 12 in a vertical state in this way, even when collecting gas such as formaldehyde and ketone, for example, a constant angle can be maintained, so that a measurement error can occur. It can be prevented as much as possible.

  As mentioned above, although the Example of invention was described, this invention is not limited to these. For example, in the first embodiment, cover glass, agar medium, and the like have been described as the collection substrate, but filter paper may also be used. In addition, the angle of the collector substrate with respect to the direction of gravity is not limited to 0 ° and 90 °, and may be maintained at a predetermined angle.

It is a front view of the to-be-collected substance collector concerning 1st Example of this invention. It is a top view of the collected material collector concerning the 1st example of the present invention. 1 is a side view of a collected material collector according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is AA sectional drawing of the to-be-collected substance collector concerning 1st Example of this invention. It is BB sectional drawing of the to-be-collected substance collector concerning 1st Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of installation of the to-be-collected substance collector concerning 1st Example of this invention. It is a front view of the collected material collector according to the second embodiment of the present invention, It is a side view of the to-be-collected substance collector concerning 2nd Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10, 10 '... collected material collector 12 ... collected substrate 14, 14' ... collected material collector main body 14A ... opening 14B ... projection 15 ... Step 16: First ring member 18 ... Housing member 18A ... Opening 18B ... Projection 20 ... Rubber packing 22 ... Mesh member 24 ... Lid member 26 ... Screw hole 28 ... Mounting screw 30 ... Spacer 32 ... Screw hole 34 ... Mounting screw 36 ... Spacer 38 ... Mounting chain 40 ... Screw 42 ... Hook 44 ... Screw 46 ... Tripod 48 ... Inclined surface

Claims (3)

A collected substance collector body that can be mounted in a state where a collection substrate capable of collecting the collected substance is exposed;
A first ring member having an inner edge larger than the outer edge of the collected substance collector body;
A second ring member having an inner edge larger than the outer edge of the first ring member,
The trapped substance collector body is attached to the first ring member so as to be tiltable about a first axis orthogonal to a central axis extending in the vertical direction, and from the first axis. Also has a center of gravity below,
The first ring member is attached so as to be tiltable with respect to the second ring member about the central axis and a second axis orthogonal to the first axis. Collector.   The collected substance collector according to claim 1, wherein the collected substance collector main body can be mounted with the collection substrate exposed upward.   The collected material collector according to claim 1, further comprising at least one attachment member that enables the second ring member to be attached to another member.

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