JP2010043835A - Specimen test tube cooling and heat insulation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an easy-to-use superior specimen test tube cooling-heat insulation device usable immediately after taken out of a refrigerator, simultaneously satisfying both the rapid cooling performance and the long time heat insulation performance of a specimen which conflict with each other and usable in a clinical site. <P>SOLUTION: The specimen test tube cooling-heat insulation device is equipped with: a heat insulating container 7; a heat-conductive top panel 15 covering an opening of the container 7 and having a plurality of openings formed thereon; cylindrical heat-conductive retaining members 11 protruded from the plurality of opening parts into the inner direction of the container; and a cold storage agent 13 filled in the container 7. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling / cooling device having a function of cooling a collected specimen such as blood in a specimen test tube in a short time and keeping it cool in a predetermined temperature range for a predetermined time, and further, a cold storage agent for the test tube cooling / cooling device The present invention relates to a specimen test tube cooling and cooling system including a dedicated refrigerator that can be frozen at a freezing point temperature in a predetermined time cycle and adjusted to the freezing point temperature of the cold storage agent during use.

  For example, specimens such as blood collected from patients or doctors in hospitals and clinics need to be quickly cooled and stored at low temperatures until they are used for testing in order to prevent denaturation of the components to be tested. It is. However, although the strict temperature control is performed after the sample is received by the inspection department or inspection company of the medical institution, the medical institution between the time of collecting the sample such as blood collection and the reception of the inspection department or inspection company. The storage conditions of specimens vary depending on the situation, and are often left at room temperature. Although it is possible to test at a medical institution that requires an external organization such as a private clinic or a local clinic, or at your own medical institution, for example, blood is collected from a large number of people, and it takes time from the time of blood collection to the time of inspection. In such a case, it is particularly necessary to manage the appropriate temperature of the blood sample.

  In general, as a temperature management means after blood collection, cooling / cooling with ice water can be mentioned. Ice water is superior in that the cooling speed of the blood collection tube is fast, but it takes time to prepare the ice, the ice melts during long-term cooling, and the temperature rises, and it is inconvenient for transporting the specimen However, it is not always done.

  In the commercially available blood collection tube cooling / cooling device 30 shown in FIG. 14, the container body 31 and the lid 32 are both made of plastic (made of polycarbonate) and do not have a heat conductive member. In other words, since the cooling performance and the cooling performance are not combined, the cooling rate of the blood collection tube is slow, and even if it reaches the predetermined temperature range, the cooling time is short, and the cooling rate due to the position of the hole-shaped blood collection tube holding part, There are variations in the cooling time. As a result, the blood temperature rises in the process up to the blood test, the sample target component is denatured, and a correct test result may not be obtained.

  As a prior art, an apparatus has been proposed in which a liquid specimen is inserted into a holding unit of a cooling and cooling apparatus to cool and cool the specimen.

  The inventions described in Patent Documents 1, 2, 3, and 4 store a cold storage agent in a container, provide a holding portion for inserting a specimen test tube on the upper surface of the container, and cool and cool the specimen test tube. The inventions described in Patent Documents 5 and 6 have a plurality of holding portions arranged on a straight line, relate to a regenerator storage container having a shape divided in the vertical direction at the center portion of the holding portion, and combine concave portions. Thus, the unit is formed so as to constitute the holding portion of the specimen test tube. Thereby, it is made to function as a blood-collecting-tube cooling / cooling apparatus according to the required number of holding | maintenance parts.

  The inventions described in Patent Documents 1 to 4 do not describe that the holding portion of the specimen test tube is made of a heat conductive material, and neither the heat conductive top plate nor the heat insulating structure is disclosed. . Therefore, there is a problem that the cold insulation performance is insufficient, and when a cold storage agent is used, a temperature difference occurs depending on the position of the holding unit, and the cooling rate and the cold insulation time vary.

  In the inventions described in Patent Documents 5 and 6, since the holding part and the container of the specimen test tube are made of plastic, the heat conductivity is low and the heat conducting top plate is not provided. There is a problem that the speed is low, a temperature difference is generated depending on the position of the holding unit, and the cooling speed and the cooling time are varied. Moreover, since the invention described in Patent Document 5 does not include a heat insulating structure, the cold insulation performance is insufficient.

  As for the inventions described in Patent Documents 1 to 6, since none of them has a cooling device, it is necessary to cool in advance a cooling medium such as a cold storage agent stored in a container. Since the temperature of a commercial freezer is controlled at around -20 ° C, the temperature of the cooling device just taken out from the freezer is as low as around -20 ° C. If the specimen is immediately cooled, it will freeze. Therefore, the cooling device taken out from the freezer cannot be used unless waiting for the temperature to rise to around 0 ° C. In the inventions described in Patent Documents 1 to 6 shown here, there is no mechanism for heating up to around 0 ° C. after taking out the device from the freezer, so that it is inconvenient for use in clinical settings.

As described above, the conventional technology is equipped with a mechanism to quickly warm up to 0 ° C after removing the device from the freezer, and simultaneously satisfies two contradictory performances: rapid cooling performance of the blood collection tube and long-term cooling performance. Therefore, there has been a demand for a simple and excellent specimen test tube cooling / cooling device and cooling / cooling method that can be used in clinical settings.
Furthermore, recently, the development of a system for diagnosing the presence or absence of a disease and the degree of progression of a disease state by measuring the amount of amino acids in blood and statistically analyzing the amino acid amount is progressing. Some amino acids in blood are sensitive to changes in temperature, and the concentration in the blood changes when decomposed or newly generated by the activation of an enzyme reaction due to temperature rise. For example, arginine is immediately converted to ornithine by the action of arginase present in blood. Therefore, for accurate analysis of arginine and ornithine in blood, it is necessary to start cooling immediately after blood collection and to reduce the internal temperature to 5 ° C. or less within 10 minutes. If the temperature is further lowered to around 0 ° C., it is possible to store blood with almost no change in blood concentration until 6 hours later. Thus, in order to accurately measure the blood concentration of temperature-sensitive amino acids, a device that can cool the collected blood immediately after blood collection and keep it at a stable temperature for a long time is desired. It was.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 60-46128 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 60-49929 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-148868 JP-A-1-266860 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-199559 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-39643

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems and provides a simple and excellent specimen test tube cooling / cooling device that can be used in clinical settings.

  That is, the present invention provides an apparatus capable of rapidly cooling a sample such as collected blood to near 0 ° C.

  In addition, the present invention provides an apparatus that can be kept cool at around 0 ° C. for a long time until the cooled specimen is subjected to a clinical test or the like.

  The present invention also provides an apparatus that does not vary in the cold state due to a difference in holding position of a test tube such as a blood collection tube, that is, a difference in insertion position when a specimen such as blood is cooled or kept cold. .

  The present invention also provides a test tube cooling / cooling device that can be used immediately after removal from the freezer.

  The present invention also provides an apparatus in which blood stored in a blood collection tube is not frozen or hemolyzed when blood is cooled or kept as a specimen.

  In addition, the present invention provides a system in which a test tube cooling / cooling device for solving the above-described problems is put into a freezer and an internal regenerator is frozen in a short time.

  In addition, the present invention provides a system that can be used as soon as a test tube cooling and cold-reserving device in which a regenerator is frozen is taken out of a freezer.

  The present invention also provides an apparatus that prevents the cool storage agent from expanding and deforming the container of the present apparatus when freezing the cool storage agent in the test tube / cooling and cooling apparatus.

  The present invention also provides an apparatus useful for precise analysis of the amount of amino acids in blood, which requires precise cold preservation conditions.

That is, the present invention is as follows.
(1) A container having a heat insulating structure with an open top surface, a thermally conductive top plate that covers the opening of the container and in which a plurality of openings are formed, and protrudes from the plurality of openings toward the inside of the container to perform a specimen test. A specimen test tube cooling / cooling device having a heat conductive holding member for holding a tube and a cold storage agent filled in the container.
(2) It is further provided with a removable heat insulating cover that covers the top plate, and the heat insulating cover is formed with openings at a plurality of openings, and can be removed when the regenerator is frozen, and the top plate is directly cooled. The cooling / cooling device according to (1), wherein the regenerator can be frozen.
(3) A container having a heat insulating structure includes a heat insulating outer box and an inner box accommodated in the heat insulating outer box, the top plate and the holding member are mounted on the inner box, and the inner box accommodates the regenerator (1) ) Or (2).
(4) The cooling / cooling device according to (3), wherein the inner box is thermally conductive.
(5) The cooling / cooling device according to (3) or (4) above, wherein the outer box and the inner box are detachable, and only the inner box can be put in the freezer.
(6) The container further includes an elastic body installed in contact with the cold storage agent, and the elastic body can suppress an increase in internal pressure due to volume expansion of the cold storage agent during freezing. (5) The cooling / cooling device according to any one of (5).
(7) The inner box further includes an elastic body installed in contact with the cold storage agent, and the elastic body can suppress an increase in internal pressure in the inner box due to volume expansion of the cold storage agent during freezing (3 ) To (5).
(8) The cooling / cooling device according to the above (6) or (7), wherein the elastic body is a porous elastic body.
(9) A heating plate provided at a position adjacent to the inner box in the container is further provided, and when the heating plate comes into contact with the frozen inner box, the inner box temperature can be quickly raised to around 0 ° C. The cooling / cooling device according to any one of the above (3) to (8).
(10) The cooling / cooling device according to (9), wherein the heating plate includes a case made of a heat conductive material and a cold storage agent enclosed in the case.
(11) The cooling / cold holding according to any one of (1) to (10), further including a heat transfer plate joined to the top plate, wherein the heat transfer plate is provided to face the plurality of holding members. apparatus.
(12) The cooling / cooling device according to any one of (1) to (11), wherein the inner surface of the holding member is in close contact with the outer periphery of the specimen test tube.
(13) The inner surface of the holding member has a taper shape or step shape having the same inclination angle as that of the outer peripheral portion of the sample test tube, and the holding member and the sample test tube are formed at the taper shape portion or the step shape portion. The cooling / cooling device according to any one of (1) to (12), which is in close contact with a linear shape.
(14) The cooling / cooling device according to any one of (1) to (12), wherein the cooling / cooling device has a mechanism that can hold the container at an angle.
(15) The cooling / cooling device according to any one of (3) to (14), wherein the tip of the holding member is in contact with the bottom of the inner box.
(16) The cooling / cooling device according to any one of (1) to (15), wherein the cold storage agent is a cold storage agent having the same solidification temperature as the cooling lower limit temperature of the specimen.
(17) The cooling / cooling device according to any one of (1) to (16) above, wherein a solidification temperature of the regenerator is −2 ° C. or higher and 4 ° C. or lower.
(18) Freezing the regenerator by directly cooling the specimen test tube cooling / cooling device according to any one of (1) to (17) and the heat conductive top plate of the cooling / cooling device. Specimen test tube cooling / cooling system with dedicated freezer.
(19) The cooling / cold holding according to (18) above, further comprising a control unit that includes one or a plurality of specimen test tube cooling / cooling devices, and that controls a temperature of the freezer in accordance with a time cycle in which the cold holding / cooling devices are used. system.
(20) A temperature sensor capable of detecting the temperature of the cold storage agent and the temperature of the inner surface of the holding member that holds the specimen test tube is provided, and the temperature sensor determines the temperature during blood storage and the freezing rate of the cold storage agent. The cooling / cooling system according to (19), wherein the monitoring and control unit controls the freezer based on a signal received from the temperature sensor.

  The present invention combines the conflicting properties of heat conduction performance and heat insulation performance in a single device. In addition, it consists of a test tube cooling / cooling device and a dedicated refrigerator that can be used immediately after removal from the freezer, rapidly cools the test tube containing the collected sample such as blood, and keeps it cool for a predetermined time. Therefore, it is possible to accurately test blood components.

1 is a perspective view of a longitudinal section of a test tube cooling / cooling device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The longitudinal cross-sectional perspective view of the component of the test tube cooling and cooling device of embodiment of this invention. The plane perspective view of the lid of the test tube cooling and cooling device of an embodiment of the invention. The plane perspective view of the heat insulation lid | cover of the test tube cooling and cooling device of embodiment of this invention. The plane see-through | perspective view of the container of the test tube cooling and cooling device of this invention. The plane perspective view of the heat insulation outer box of the test tube cooling and cold insulation apparatus of this invention. The schematic diagram which shows the cool storage agent arrangement | positioning at the time of elastic body installation. The schematic diagram which shows the cool storage agent arrangement | positioning at the time of an elastic body non-installation. The plane perspective view which shows arrangement | positioning of a heat exchanger plate. The plane perspective view which shows arrangement | positioning of a heat exchanger plate. The plane perspective view which shows arrangement | positioning of a heat exchanger plate. The cross-sectional perspective view which shows arrangement | positioning of a heat exchanger plate. The cross-sectional perspective view which shows arrangement | positioning of a heat exchanger plate. The cross-sectional schematic diagram which shows the contact site | part of a test tube and a parallel straight tubular holding member. The cross-sectional schematic diagram which shows the contact site | part of a test tube and a level | step difference shape holding member. The cross-sectional schematic diagram which shows the contact site | part of a test tube and a taper-shaped holding member. The cross-sectional schematic diagram which shows the contact site | part of a test tube and an upper taper shape holding member. The schematic diagram which shows an example which inclined the cooling and cooling device. The perspective view of the inner box of Example 1. FIG. The perspective view of the heat insulation outer box and heat insulation lid of Example 1. FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional schematic diagram of a test tube cooling / cooling device of Example 1. FIG. Explanatory drawing of the test method of Test Example 1. FIG. The figure which shows the relationship between the difference of the material and shape of the holding member of the test example 1, and the blood-collecting-tube cooling rate. The figure which shows the blood-collecting-tube cooling rate in Test Example 2 about Example 1. FIG. The figure which shows the blood-collecting-tube cooling rate in Test Example 2 about a reference example. The figure which shows the blood-collecting-tube cold preservation duration in Test Example 3 about Example 1. FIG. The figure which shows the blood-collecting-tube cold preservation duration in Test Example 3 about the other example of Example 1. FIG. The figure which shows the blood-collecting-tube cold preservation duration in Experiment 3 about a reference example. The figure which shows the freezing time in -20 degreeC in Test Example 4 about Example 1. FIG. The figure which shows the freezing time in -20 degreeC in Test Example 4 about a reference example. The perspective view of a commercially available test tube cooling and cooling device. The figure which shows the relative concentration of ornithine and arginine in Test Example 5 for Example 1. The figure which shows the hemolysis test result of the heat insulation lid in Test Example 6 about Example 1. FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of Example 2. The figure which shows the temperature change of the holding member after taking out from a freezer about Example 2. FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of Example 3. The figure which shows the temperature change of the holding member after taking out from a freezer about Example 3. FIG. The schematic diagram explaining the test-tube cooling and cooling system of Embodiment 4 of this invention.

  The specimen test tube cooling / cooling device of the present invention fills a container with a cold storage agent such as water or a gel of a superabsorbent polymer, and the holding member that directly contacts the specimen test tube such as a blood collection tube is made of a heat conductive material. It is an apparatus that can rapidly cool a specimen such as blood by being manufactured. Furthermore, by making the container into a heat insulating structure and covering the opened upper surface (or top surface) with a heat insulating lid, the cold storage agent can be kept at a low temperature and the temperature difference between the plurality of holding members can be reduced. As described above, the present invention can provide a device having two contradictory properties of thermal conductivity and heat insulation. By using the device, rapid cooling of collected blood and long-term cooling can be realized. it can.

  When the entire surface of the container has a heat insulating structure, it is expected that the cold insulation capacity is improved, but on the other hand, the time until the cold storage agent freezes becomes very long. The removable heat insulating lid shown in one embodiment of the present invention can solve this problem. In other words, the insulation capacity is improved by attaching a thermal insulation lid when the specimen test tube is kept cool, and the thermal storage top plate is directly cooled by removing the thermal insulation lid when the cold storage agent is cooled, thereby freezing the cold storage agent in a short time. Can be made. Moreover, as shown in another embodiment, by making the inner box detachable, only the inner box can be frozen in a freezer, and the internal regenerator can be frozen in a shorter time.

  In order to rapidly cool the regenerator, for example, it is effective to turn the device upside down and directly contact the heat conductive top plate with the aluminum plate having high thermal conductivity installed in the freezer. By reversing, the cool storage agent accumulates on the top plate side and freezes so as to cover the cylindrical holding member, so that the cool storage agent can be frozen in a shorter time.

  For example, when the upper part of the blood collection tube is in direct contact with the heat conductive holding member, a minute amount of blood adhering to the vicinity of the lid of the blood collection tube may be supercooled, causing freezing or hemolysis. When a heat insulating cover having a heat insulating structure having an opening at the position of the holding member is used, overcooling can be prevented and it is difficult for blood to freeze or hemolyze.

  In addition to the case where the entire container is formed of a heat insulating material (such as polystyrene foam or polyurethane) or a heat insulating double structure, the bottom and sides of the inner box made of metal, glass, plastic, etc. are insulated. Includes a structure covered with a material or a heat insulating double structure. The heat insulating double structure is preferably a vacuum heat insulating structure or a structure in which a heat insulating material is sandwiched. As a heat insulating material to be sandwiched, inorganic fiber (glass fiber, rock wool, etc.), foamed plastic (polystyrene foam, polyurethane foam, etc.), natural material (cellulose, etc.), microballoon, etc. can be used. Any heat insulating material has a thermal conductivity (0.024 W / m / K) comparable to dry air, and any material may be used.

  The cold storage agent expands when frozen and can deform the container. In order to prevent the expansion of the container, a method of reducing the amount of the cool storage agent to be enclosed may be considered, but since the cool storage agent is generally a viscous gel at normal temperature, it is difficult to settle and the method of reducing the amount is sufficient. The prevention effect cannot be obtained. Therefore, in one embodiment of the present invention, a material that absorbs volume expansion, for example, an elastic body is mounted in a container together with a cold storage agent. The elastic body deforms in accordance with the expansion / contraction of the cool storage agent, so that the internal pressure of the container rises due to the expansion of the cool storage agent during freezing and prevents the container itself from expanding. Formation can be prevented and a reduction in cooling efficiency can be prevented. As the elastic body, natural rubber or various synthetic rubbers can be used, but porous elastic bodies (such as foamed polystyrene and foamed polyurethane) that can tolerate large elastic deformation are particularly preferable.

  One embodiment of the present invention includes a heat conductive heating plate inside a heat insulating container. In the case of a heat-insulating container that does not have a heating plate, the temperature rises after the inner box frozen in a home freezer is inserted into the container and then the heat-insulating lid is opened or removed until it reaches around 0 ° C. Need to wait. On the other hand, by installing a heating plate inside the heat insulating container, after inserting the frozen inner box, heat can be quickly transferred from the heating plate to the inner box, and the inner box temperature can be raised to around 0 ° C in a short time. it can. The heating plate is preferably a flat member whose surface adjacent to the inner box is made of a heat conductive material, and may further include a material having a large heat capacity adjacent to the heat conductive material. As a heating plate, for example, a case in which a case is made of a metal having good thermal conductivity and a cool storage agent is enclosed inside the case can be used. Moreover, you may further have said elastic body in this metal case. Examples of the heat conductive material include copper, aluminum, brass, iron, silver, and alloys thereof. In addition, what enclosed the cool storage agent in thin skins, such as a plastics, can also be used as a heating plate. If the outer skin is thin, the heating effect can be exhibited even with thermal conductivity as high as plastic.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, a heat transfer plate is mounted on a heat conductive top plate in a direction parallel to the holding member. When the cold storage agent is frozen, the cold storage agent can be quickly and uniformly frozen by conducting cold heat from the heat conductive top plate to the heat transfer plate. Further, the melting of the cool storage agent is due to the entry of heat from the outside, and naturally the temperature of the cool storage agent increases from the holding member close to the outer surface. Therefore, in order to make the temperature of the cool storage agent around the holding member uniform and keep the cooling / cooling temperature of the test tube uniform, it is desirable to arrange a heat transfer plate so as to surround the holding member. Moreover, when arrange | positioning a heat exchanger plate in a grid | lattice form, it is anticipated that a cool storage agent will prevent in a container and contribute to the improvement of cooling efficiency. As described above, the heat transfer plate exhibits an important function for freezing the regenerator and for uniform cooling / cooling of the test tube.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the holding member made of a heat conductive material is in contact with the bottom of the inner box. Thereby, the temperature of the holding member can be kept uniform even if a heat conductive heat transfer plate is not mounted.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the inner surface of the holding member made of a heat conductive material is in close contact with the inclined outer peripheral specimen test tube. In general, the outer diameter of the blood collection tube is not uniform at the upper and lower portions of the tube, but is inclined in the longitudinal direction of the tube. In addition, the outer diameter of the blood collection tube varies slightly depending on the manufacturer, and the outer diameter changes depending on the labeling, so it is usually difficult to bring the blood collection tube and the inner surface of the holding member into close contact. Therefore, when considering rapid cooling of the blood collection tube, the inner surface of the holding member is tapered with a diameter that decreases downward, or a stepped shape is created, etc. Even so, it can be brought into close contact with the inner surface of the holding member effectively in the form of a plane or in the form of a line.

  One embodiment of the present invention has a structure in which a test tube cooling / cooling device main body is inclined. When the gap between the inner surface of the holding member made of a heat conductive material and the blood collection tube becomes large, cold heat is transferred from the holding member to the test tube via air with low heat conductivity. The cooling rate of specimens such as blood is reduced. In order to cope with this problem, the contact area between the inner surface of the holding member and the test tube can be increased by holding the test tube cooling / cooling device itself in an inclined state, thereby preventing the cooling efficiency from being lowered.

  When a blood sample is supercooled, red blood cells and platelets are destroyed and hemolyzed, which significantly affects subsequent analysis. Therefore, the coagulation temperature of the cold storage agent needs to be close to the cooling lower limit temperature of the blood sample, and it is most desirable that both are the same temperature. The specific clotting temperature is desirably between −2 ° C. close to the blood clotting temperature and 4 ° C. at which the enzyme reaction in the blood is remarkably reduced. Although it is desirable that the amount of the cool storage agent is large in consideration of the cool keeping time, it is necessary to determine the cool storage agent in consideration of the weight of the apparatus and the cooling rate of the cool storage agent.

  In cooling the test tube cooling / cooling device of the present invention, the cold storage agent can be frozen by storing the device in the freezer compartment of a domestic refrigerator-freezer and used for cooling / cooling the collected specimen. However, it is possible to freeze the regenerator more rapidly by rapid cooling using a dedicated refrigerator adapted to the shape of the heat conductive top plate and the holding member made of the heat conductive material.

  The temperature of the freezer compartment and the domestic freezer of the home refrigerator is approximately around −20 ° C., and the cold storage agent is frozen at a predetermined freezing point and then approaches the temperature in the freezer. For this reason, immediately after taking out for cooling of a blood collection tube, the temperature of a cool storage agent is too low and there exists a danger of causing the freezing of the blood sample in a blood collection tube. Therefore, in the stage of freezing the regenerator, a temperature control system that lowers the temperature in the freezer and rapidly freezes the regenerator and keeps the internal temperature near 0 ° C. after freezing of the regenerator is effective. is there. By doing in this way, since a cool storage agent does not become temperature lower than the temperature of 0 degreeC vicinity, the risk of the freezing of a blood sample can further be reduced.

  Furthermore, by installing a temperature sensor that can detect the temperature of the cool storage agent and the inner surface of the holding member, the temperature control of the cool storage agent becomes more precise, and the temperature control of the specimen, the management of the freezing of the cool storage agent, etc. are more strict. become able to.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described. In addition, this invention is not limited by the following embodiment.

[Embodiment 1]
Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional perspective view schematically showing a test tube cooling / cooling device. 2 and 3 are a schematic longitudinal sectional perspective view and a top plan view, respectively, of the components of the test tube cooling / cooling device. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, the test tube cooling / cooling device 6 includes an inner box 1, a heat insulating outer box 2, a heat insulating lid 3 and a lid 4. In the present embodiment, the container 7 is configured by a combination of the inner box 1 and the heat insulating outer box 2.
In the first embodiment, the inner box 1 and the outer box 2 are shown in a square shape, but the test tube cooling / cooling device of the present invention is not limited to a square shape, and may be a cylindrical shape, for example. . Note that FIG. 3 is a drawing number that includes FIGS. 3A to 3D, and the same drawing number is also used in other drawings.

The inner box 1 includes a holding member 11 made of a plurality of thermally conductive materials for accommodating a plurality of specimen test tubes 20 in an upright position, and a thermally conductive material having an opening at a position equivalent to the opening of the holding member 11. The structure has a top plate 15 and can enclose the regenerator 13 around the holding member 11. The material of the side surface and the bottom surface of the inner box 1 is not particularly limited as long as it holds a cold storage agent. For example, it can be made of plastic, glass or the like. Also, from the viewpoint of improving the cooling rate, it is preferable to use a metal that has thermal conductivity, high durability, is resistant to corrosion, is easy to process, and is lightweight. Specifically, stainless steel, aluminum, or the like can be used. Among these, aluminum or an aluminum alloy is particularly preferable.
Moreover, in Embodiment 1, although the corner | angular part and bending part of the side surface and bottom face of the inner box 1 are shown by the right-angled shape, the test tube cooling and cooling device of this invention is not limited to this shape. From the viewpoints of strength, ease of manufacture, and leakage of the encapsulated liquid substance, it is preferable that the corner portion and the bent portion are processed into a taper shape or a round shape.

  Since the holding member 11 needs to cool the specimen test tube 20 quickly, it is desirable that the holding member 11 be made of a material having high thermal conductivity. Specific examples include metals such as copper, aluminum, brass, and iron, and alloys thereof. In addition, as long as it has the thermal conductivity equivalent to these metals, it can use other than a metal.

The top plate 15 is preferably made of a material having high thermal conductivity because it becomes a heat exchange part when freezing and thawing the cooling / cooling apparatus, and specifically, a metal such as copper, aluminum, brass, iron, etc. And their alloys. In addition, as long as it has the thermal conductivity equivalent to these metals, it can use other than a metal.
Examples of a method for attaching the holding member 11 to the top plate 15 include methods such as welding, fitting, and adhesion. Moreover, you may shape | mold the holding member 11 and the top plate 15 integrally. For example, the holding member 11 and the top plate 15 may be integrally formed by aluminum die casting.

  As the regenerator 13, a material having a freezing point temperature near 0 ° C. so as not to freeze a specimen such as blood in the specimen test tube 20 and having a high latent heat for keeping it cool for a long time can be used. Specifically, although the cool storage agent which has water as a main component and contains high water absorption polymers, such as a sodium acrylate polymer, is preferable, it is not limited to this.

  The heat insulating outer box 2 and the heat insulating lid 3 are made of a heat insulating structure for storing the inner box 1 and insulating it from the outside air. The heat insulation structure of the heat insulation outer box 2 is preferably one having excellent heat insulation ability, and specifically, one having a structure in which foamed plastic, a vacuum heat insulation structure, or a heat insulating material is sandwiched is desirable. In the first embodiment, the heat insulating outer box 2 and the heat insulating lid 3 are made of foamed plastic.

  The lid 4 has a role of preventing a rise in temperature and dew condensation due to outside air coming into contact with the sample test tube 20 and the holding member 11 when the sample test tube 20 is cooled. In addition, it is desirable to be transparent in order to confirm the stored state of the specimen test tube 20 when the lid 4 is attached, and it is desirable to use a plastic that is lightweight and is not easily damaged when dropped. As the plastic, for example, resins such as polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyacrylic acid ester, and polycarbonate can be used.

  By embedding the elastic body 14 on the bottom surface of the inner box 1, for example, the cold storage agent 13 can be sealed up to the top plate 15 without a gap. By encapsulating the elastic body 14, not only can the holding member 11 be efficiently cooled, but also the problem that the internal pressure of the inner box 1 rises and the container 7 is deformed due to the volume expansion of the regenerator 13 during freezing. (Fig. 4). As the elastic body 14, natural rubber or various synthetic rubbers can be used, but plastic porous elastic bodies (such as foamed polystyrene and foamed polyurethane) that can tolerate large elastic deformation are particularly preferable. In the first embodiment, an example in which one rectangular parallelepiped elastic body 14 is arranged on the bottom surface of the inner box 1 is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this. The shape of the elastic body 14 is not limited to a square, and may be spherical or irregular, or a plurality of elastic bodies 14 may be dispersed in the inner box 1. However, it should be noted that an uneven arrangement should be avoided so as not to prevent uniform cooling of the regenerator 13 by the holding member 11, the heat transfer plate 12, or the top plate 15.

  Although not shown, the cooling / cooling device 6 of the present invention may further include a casing for housing the heat insulating outer box 2. The casing is processed into a shape that covers the periphery of the heat insulating outer box 2 and the side surface of the heat insulating lid 3 and can be fitted with the lid 4. By covering the heat insulating outer box 2 with the casing, it is possible to reduce the risk of the heat insulating outer box being damaged during movement. Although the material of a casing is not specifically limited, General-purpose plastics, such as a polystyrene, polyethylene, a polypropylene, polyacrylic acid ester, a polycarbonate, are used from a point of cost, lightness, and workability, for example.

  The heat transfer plate 12 serves to bring the cold storage agent 13 in the inner box 1 to a uniform temperature. For that purpose, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, it is desirable to arrange the heat transfer plates 12 at the same distance as possible with respect to the holding members 11, for example, in a grid pattern. The heat transfer plate 12 is preferably made of a material having high thermal conductivity, and specifically, materials such as copper, aluminum, brass, and iron can be used. Further, in the case of the inner box 1 made of a material having high heat conductivity, the cold storage agent can be obtained without using the heat transfer plate 12 by bringing the tip (lower end) of the holding member 11 into contact with the bottom of the inner box 1. 13 can be a uniform temperature.

  As shown in FIG. 7, it is desirable that the inner surface shape of the holding member 11 has a high degree of closeness with the outer periphery of the sample test tube 20 in order to cool the sample test tube 20 efficiently. In general, the blood collection tube has an inclined tube shape in which the outer diameter decreases linearly from the opening toward the bottom surface. Therefore, in the case of the parallel straight tube-shaped holding member 11A, the outer peripheral portion of the inclined tubular test tube 20 such as a blood collection tube is not in close contact with the inner surface of the holding member in a position other than the opening of the holding member (FIG. 7A). ). Therefore, it is processed into a step-shaped holding member 11B that is in close contact with the outer periphery of the specimen test tube 20 (FIG. 7B), or a tapered holding member 11C having the same inclination angle as the inclination angle of the specimen test tube 20 is obtained. More preferably (FIG. 7C). Alternatively, only the upper portion may be a tapered holding member 11D (FIG. 7D). Here, the stepped shape of the holding member 11B refers to a shape whose diameter decreases stepwise downward in the longitudinal direction of the holding member 11B. Further, the taper shape having the same inclination angle as that of the specimen test tube 20 refers to a shape in which the diameter continuously decreases downward in the longitudinal direction of the holding member 11C.

  As described above, the cooling rate of the specimen increases as the inner surface shape of the holding member 11B or 11C is increased and the closeness between the inner surface of the holding member 11 and the outer peripheral portion of the blood collection tube 20A is increased. Here, being in close contact with the line means that the outer peripheral portion of the specimen test tube 20 and the inner surface of the holding member 11 are in continuous line contact. Further, the high degree of closeness means that the contact area between the specimen test tube 20 and the holding member 11 is high, and when the contact is linear, the total value of the contact length is large.

  In the present specification, the “mechanism capable of holding the container tilted” may be a mechanism that can stand a leg (not shown) stored in the bottom or side of the heat insulating outer box 2 when necessary. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 8, even if the mechanism 7 tilts the container 7 by rotating the handle 5 of the cooling / cooling device 6 and fixing it at an appropriate tilt angle (ie, 5 to 30 degrees). good. In other words, the specimen test tube 20 can be brought into contact with one wall of the holding member 11 by holding the entire cooling / cooling device 6 in an inclined state using the legs or the handle 5.

  In the present specification, as a “freezer” for freezing a regenerator, a freezer room of a household refrigerator or a household freezer can also be used. However, the temperature in the freezer compartment of a household refrigerator or a domestic freezer is around −20 ° C., and the temperature of the cold storage agent becomes too low, and there is a risk of causing freezing of blood. Therefore, at the stage of freezing the regenerator, there is a dedicated freezer that can control the temperature so that the temperature in the freezer can be quickly frozen by lowering the temperature in the freezer and the temperature inside the cooler is near 0 ° C. preferable. This dedicated freezer can reduce the risk of freezing blood samples. The dedicated freezer is preferably provided with an aluminum tray inside. The cold storage agent can be rapidly frozen by placing the test tube cooling / cooling device 6 on the aluminum tray in a mode in which the heat conductive top plate 15 is brought into contact with the aluminum tray.

  In the present specification, “rapid cooling” or “rapid cooling” of a specimen such as blood means that blood is brought to 10 ° C. or less, preferably 5 ° C. or less within 10 minutes. Further, “cooling a specimen such as blood for a long time” means that a state of 5 ° C. or lower is maintained for 5 hours or longer, preferably 10 hours or longer. In addition, “When the main cooling / cold storage device is taken out from the freezer, it can be used immediately” means that when the main cooling / cold storage device is taken out from the −20 ° C. freezer, the temperature of the regenerator 13 in the container 7 is within one hour. It means −5 ° C., preferably −5 ° C. within 30 minutes, more preferably −5 ° C. within about 15 minutes.

  Hereinafter, the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail by way of examples. In the embodiment, blood is used as the sample, and the blood collection tube 20A is used as the sample test tube 20. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment.

Example 1
FIG. 9 shows a test tube cooling / cooling device 6 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The inner box 1 includes a stainless steel box having a thickness of 0.3 mm and an aluminum top plate 15 having a thickness of 1.5 mm. The inner box 1 has a box-shaped container whose dimensions are (vertical) 100 mm × (horizontal) 100 mm × (height) 85 mm. On the top plate 15 on the top surface of the inner box 1, holding members 11 </ b> D of 4 rows / 4 columns were installed at equal intervals. In addition, the distance between the center point of the holding member 11D arranged in the outer circumferential row (or row) and the side surface of the inner box 1 was set to 12.5 mm.
The cylindrical holding member 11D is made of an aluminum pipe having an inner diameter of 13 mm, an outer diameter of 15 mm, and a length of 75 mm. The upper part of the holding member 11D has a tapered shape that is processed to match the inclination angle of the blood collection tube 20A with a metal file. Provided. In the following tests, the holding member 11D was used as the holding member 11 unless otherwise specified. In addition, the top plate 15 and the holding member 11 were joined by the insertion close contact method. An elastic body 14 made of polyethylene foam having a thickness of 8 mm was embedded at the bottom of the inner box 1, and an aluminum heat transfer plate 12 and a cold storage agent 13 having a thickness of 1.5 mm were sealed inside the inner box 1. Further, the bottom of the holding member 11 was sealed with a commercially available aluminum tape, and the box-shaped container constituting the inner box 1 and the top plate 15 were sealed with a commercially available aluminum tape. The heat insulation outer box 2 and the heat insulation lid 3 were produced using a polystyrene foam heat insulating plate (trade name: Styrofoam, manufactured by Dow Chemical Co., Ltd.) having a thickness of 9 mm. In addition, as a cool storage agent, it is a cool storage agent used for fine packs (trade name, manufactured by Toritsu Sangyo Co., Ltd.), and a gel-type cool storage agent formed by absorbing water into a water-absorbing polymer made of an acrylic polymer. Using.

(Test Example 1) Evaluation of difference in test tube cooling rate due to difference in material and shape of holding member 11 (FIG. 10)
5 mL of water was placed in a Benoject II vacuum blood collection tube 20A manufactured by Terumo Corporation, a K thermocouple was installed inside the blood collection tube 20A, and the mixture was heated to 40 ° C. Data on temperature changes when the blood collection tube 20A is inserted into the holding member 11 made of various shapes and materials cooled in ice water, or cooled directly in ice water, ice, or in a refrigerator, or left at room temperature. The measurement was performed using an analysis system NR-1000 (manufactured by Keyence Corporation). FIG. 10A shows a schematic diagram of test tube cooling, and FIG. 10B shows temperature change data during various types of cooling. In FIG. 10A, a test example (S1) in which the blood collection tube 20A is held in a taper-shaped holding member 11C made of copper, a test example (S2) made of brass and held in a taper-shaped holding member 11C, and made of brass The test example (S3) held in the straight tubular holding member 11A and the test example (S4) made of brass and held in the step-shaped holding member 11B are described. The upper portion of the holding member 11 may be the same height as the top plate 15 or may slightly protrude upward from the top plate 15. Further, in FIG. 10B, in addition to the data of S1 to S4, a test example (S5) held in cold water, a test example held in crushed ice (S6), a test example held at room temperature ( The data about S7) and the test example (S8) held in the refrigerator are also shown.
As shown in FIG. 10B, the cooling rate was in the order of S5, S1, S2, S4, S3, S6, S8, and S7 from the fastest. From this result, it was found that the cooling rate varies depending on the shape and material of the holding member 11. That is, as can be seen from the comparison between S1 and S2, it is confirmed that even with the holding member 11 having the same structure, copper having a higher thermal conductivity is faster in cooling the blood collection tube 20A than brass. It was. Further, as can be seen from the comparison of S2, S4, and S3, it was confirmed that the higher the closeness of the inner surface of the holding member 11 to the blood collection tube 20A, the faster the cooling speed of the blood collection tube 20A.

(Test Example 2) Evaluation of test tube cooling rate using the cooling / cooling apparatus of Example 1 (FIG. 11)
The apparatus 6 of Example 1 in which the regenerator in the inner box 1 was previously frozen in a freezer at −20 ° C. and a commercially available test tube cooling / cooling apparatus (manufactured by Nalgene Nunk International) 30 shown in FIG. It was allowed to stand and used for the experiment when the internal regenerator temperature reached -5 ° C or higher. 14 includes a container body 31 and a lid 32 made of polycarbonate.
As described above, a thermocouple is installed, and the blood collection tube 20A containing 5 mL of water is heated to 40 ° C., and as shown in FIG. 9A or FIG. 14, the angular position (c1, c2), the outer position (o1, o2) The temperature change was measured with the data analysis system NR-1000 when two blood collection tubes 20A were inserted into the inner positions (i1, i2).
As shown in FIG. 11A, in the apparatus 6 of the first embodiment, the water in the blood collection tube 20A is quickly cooled in the holding member 11D at any position, and reaches 5 ° C. 6 minutes after the insertion of the blood collection tube 20A. No variation in cooling rate was observed depending on the location of the holding member. On the other hand, in the case of the reference example using the commercially available apparatus 30 of FIG. 14, as shown in FIG. 11B, the cooling rate of the blood collection tube 20A differs depending on the holding position of the holding member 11D, and the angular position (c1, c2). The inserted blood collection tube 20A was at about 10 ° C. even 15 minutes after insertion. Further, there was a temperature difference of about 6 ° C. 15 minutes after insertion between the corner position (c1, c2) and the inner position (i1, i2).

(Test Example 3) Evaluation of the blood collection tube cooling time using the cooling / cooling device of Example 1 (FIG. 12)
In the apparatus 6 of Example 1, the difference in the blood collection tube cooling time between the case with the heat insulation outer box 2 and the case without the heat insulation outer box 2 was evaluated. Moreover, the comparison of the blood-collecting-tube cold storage time in the apparatus 6 of Example 1 and the commercially available apparatus 30 was also measured. The blood collection tube 20A containing 5 mL of water is preheated to 40 ° C., and as shown in FIG. 9A, two tubes are provided at the angular position (c1, c2), the outer position (o1, o2), and the inner position (i1, i2). The temperature change at the time of inserting the blood collection tube 20A was measured by the data analysis system. In the apparatus of Example 1 equipped with the heat insulating outer box 2, the temperature gradually increased after maintaining at about 0 ° C. until about 9 hours, but reached 5 ° C. after about 12 hours (FIG. 12A), which showed excellent cold insulation performance. In the apparatus of Example 1, when the heat insulation outer box 2 and the heat insulation lid 3 were not equipped, the temperature started to increase after about 3 hours and reached 5 ° C. after about 5 hours (FIG. 12B). However, even after 5 hours, the temperature difference of the blood collection tube 20A depending on the position of the holding member 11D was as small as 3 ° C. or less. On the other hand, when the commercially available apparatus 30 is used, the temperature of the blood collection tube 20A inserted in the corner position (c1, c2) rises to 5 ° C. or more after about 4 hours, and the cold insulation time is longer than that of the apparatus of Example 1. The result was extremely short (FIG. 12C). Moreover, in the apparatus 6 of Example 1, there was almost no difference in the cooling capacity depending on the position of the holding member 11D (FIGS. 12A and 12B), but in the commercially available apparatus 30, the cooling capacity is significantly different depending on the position of the holding member 11D. There was a temperature difference of not less than 5 ° C. 6 hours after insertion between the corner position (c1, c2) and the inner position (i1, i2) (FIG. 12C).

(Test Example 4) Evaluation of freezing time at −20 ° C. of the cooling / cooling apparatus of Example 1 (FIG. 13)
Cold storage agent when the apparatus 6 of Example 1 is cooled in a state where the top and bottom are turned upside down in a freezer at −20 ° C. and the top plate 15 is brought into contact with an aluminum plate that has been cooled to −20 ° C. in the freezer in advance. The temperature change of was evaluated. In FIG. 13A, the curve e1 shows the temperature change of the storage agent 13, and r1 shows the internal temperature of the freezer. In FIG. 13B, the curve e2 shows the temperature change of the inner wall of the blood collection tube holding part, and r2 shows the internal temperature of the freezer. As shown in FIG. 13A, in the case of the present apparatus 6, although the heat insulating structure having the heat insulating outer box 2 and the heat insulating lid 3 is provided, the internal regenerator is completely transferred in about 12 hours by heat transfer from the aluminum plate. Frozen. Even in such a quick freezing test, deformation and expansion of the container 7 of Example 1 were not observed. This is because an increase in the internal pressure of the inner box 1 is prevented by the expansion of the cold storage agent during freezing being compensated by the deformation of the elastic body 14. As shown in FIG. 13B, the inside of the commercially available apparatus was frozen in about 12 hours.

(Test Example 5) Blood amino acid concentration stability evaluation using the cooling / cooling apparatus of Example 1 The apparatus 6 of Example 1 in which the regenerator in the inner box 1 was frozen in a freezer at -20 ° C in advance, A commercially available test tube cooling / cooling device 30 shown in FIG. 14 was left at room temperature and used in the experiment. Four 5 mL blood samples were collected from three healthy volunteers using a Benoject II vacuum blood collection tube (with EDTA-2Na) manufactured by Terumo Corporation, and immediately after blood collection, ice water or the corner position (c1) shown in FIG. 9A or FIG. C2), the blood collection tube 20A was inserted. Plasma separation was performed after a certain period of time, and the amino acid concentration of plasma was measured using a high-speed amino acid analyzer L-8800 (manufactured by Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation) with little analysis error.
FIG. 15 shows that the ornithine concentration (●) and arginine concentration (Δ) of the control (immediately after blood collection) are 1, and after 6 hours of cooling with ice water, the ornithine after 6 hours of cooling in the apparatus 6 of Example 1 and the commercially available apparatus 30 The relative concentrations of arginine ± standard deviation (N = 3) were plotted. In both ice water and the apparatus 6 of Example 1, ornithine increased by about 2% and arginine decreased by about 3% after 6 hours, but there was almost no difference between them. The excellent cooling effect of the cooling device was confirmed. On the other hand, in the commercially available apparatus 30, ornithine increased by about 10% and arginine decreased by about 6%, and the conversion from arginine to ornithine progressed remarkably because it was not sufficiently kept cold. Is clear.

(Test Example 6) Blood hemolysis prevention effect by heat insulating lid Blood was collected from 3 healthy volunteers into 2 blood collection tubes from Terumo Corporation's Venoject II vacuum blood collection tubes (with EDTA-2Na). And stored in ice water until the experiment. The blood collection tubes used at this time were S1, S2, and S3 (each two) for each person. The apparatus 6 of Example 1 in which the regenerator in the inner box 1 was previously frozen in a freezer at −20 ° C. was left at room temperature, and when the internal regenerator temperature became −10 ° C., it was kept cold in ice water. Each one of the collected blood collection tubes (S1A, S2A, S3A) was directly inserted into the apparatus 6 of Example 1 without the heat insulating lid 3, while the other one (S1B, S2B, S3B) Was inserted into the apparatus 6 of Example 1 from above the heat insulating lid 3. After 5 hours of cooling, centrifugation was performed and the degree of hemolysis was observed. As shown in FIG. 16, the blood collection tubes of S1B, S2B, and S3B that were kept cold using the heat insulating lid 3 were compared with S1A, S2A, and S3A that were kept cold without using the heat insulating lid 3, and after centrifugation, There was little coloring by hemolysis of the supernatant part 36. It is clear from Test Example 6 that hemolysis of blood can be further alleviated by using the heat insulating lid 3 at the time of cooling.

(Test Example 7) Types of top plate and heat transfer plate and cooling effect The test tube cooling / cooling of Comparative Example 1 was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the material and thickness of the top plate 15 and the holding member 11D were different. A device was made. Using the produced test tube cooling / cooling device 6, the cooling duration was measured according to the method of Test Example 3 described above without the heat insulating lid 3. Further, the test tube cooling / cooling apparatus of Example 1 was also measured for the presence or absence of the heat insulating lid 3. In addition, cold preservation duration (t) evaluated by the time when the temperature of the water put into 20 A of blood collection tubes hold | maintained at the corner position reaches 5 degreeC. At the same time, the temperature difference (ΔT) between the angular position and the inner position at that time was also measured. Table 1 shows the configuration of each example and the measurement results. Moreover, the result in the commercial apparatus 30 was written together as a reference example.

  As shown in Table 1, in the case of Comparative Example 1 using a stainless steel (ST) top plate and heat transfer plate, temperature uniformity cannot be maintained. Therefore, although it is superior to a commercially available cold insulation device consisting only of a polycarbonate (PC) outer box, the cold insulation duration (t) at the corner positions (c1, c2) is short, and therefore the temperature difference (ΔT) is small. It was big. On the other hand, when aluminum (Al) is used for the top plate and the heat transfer plate as in the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, the cold keeping duration is 8. It was 5 hours, and the temperature difference (ΔT) between the corner position and the inner position was within 1 ° C., and extremely uniform cooling could be secured. Furthermore, by using a heat insulating lid, a cooling time of 12 hours could be realized.

  From Table 1, in the test tube cooling / cooling device of the present invention, the top plate and the heat transfer plate are made of a material having a higher thermal conductivity than stainless steel (thermal conductivity 15-25 W / m · K). desirable. Preferably, the top plate and the heat transfer plate are made of a material having a thermal conductivity equal to or higher than that of iron (thermal conductivity 84 W / m · K), so that uniform and long-time cooling can be realized.

[Embodiment 2]
The second embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the second embodiment.
The cooling / cooling device of the second embodiment includes a heating plate 8 in the heat insulating outer box 2. The surface on which the heating plate 8 is in contact with the inner box 1 is desirably made of a material having high thermal conductivity in order to quickly raise the temperature of the inner box 1 to near 0 ° C. In addition, the regenerator 13A inside the heating plate 8 does not become so low with respect to 0 ° C., specifically, it does not fall below −5 ° C., which is a temperature at which freezing or hemolysis does not occur. It is desirable to produce using a material having a freezing point temperature near 0 ° C. and a high latent heat (for example, a water-absorbing gel composed of an acrylic water-absorbing polymer and water).

(Example 2)
FIG. 17 shows a test tube cooling / cooling device 6 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The side and bottom surfaces of the inner box 1 and the top plate 15 are made of aluminum having a thickness of 1.0 mm. The cylindrical holding member 11 is made of an aluminum pipe having an inner diameter of 13 mm and an outer diameter of 15 mm, and constitutes a bottom surface with one end closed. The entire length of the holding member 11 is 75 mm, and the bottom surface is processed into a round shape having a radius of 6 mm. The top plate 15 and the holding member 11 were joined by caulking. The inner box 1 is a box-shaped container of 100 mm × 100 mm × 85 mm as in the first embodiment. The top plate 15 constituting the top surface of the inner box 1 is provided with 4 rows × 4 columns of holding members 11 at equal intervals, and the center point of the holding members 11 arranged in the outer circumferential row (row) and the inner box 1. The distance from the side surface was 12.5 mm. The inner box 1 is filled with a cold storage agent 13 in which a spherical elastic body 14 made of styrene foam having a diameter of 3 to 4 mm is dispersed, and an aluminum heat transfer plate 12 having a thickness of 1.0 mm is formed as shown in FIG. 5A. Inserted in the manner. Further, a 94 mm × 94 mm × 5 mm flat plate-shaped heating plate 8 made of aluminum having a thickness of 0.1 mm was disposed on the inner bottom of the heat insulating outer box 2. Inside the heating plate 8, a cold storage agent 13A in which an elastic body 14A is dispersed was sealed. The heat insulation outer box 2 and the heat insulation lid 3 were produced using a polystyrene foam heat insulating plate (trade name: Styrofoam, manufactured by Dow Chemical Co., Ltd.) having a thickness of 9 mm. In the present embodiment, as the cold storage agents 13 and 13A, the cold storage agents used in Fine Pack (trade name, manufactured by Torisu Industry Co., Ltd.) are used, and the elastic bodies 14 and 14A have a diameter of 3 to 4 mm. However, different materials may be used for each of these. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 17, a protrusion is provided along the edge of the bottom surface of the inner box 1 so that the heating plate 8 can be accommodated inside the protrusion. The heating plate 8 was placed in close contact with the bottom surface of the inner box 1.

(Test Example 8)
After taking out the cooled inner box from the freezer by using the heating plate 8, the effect of shortening the time until the test tube cooling / cooling device 6 can be used was verified.
The inner box 1 of Example 2 was previously frozen in a -20 ° C freezer. The inner box 1 was taken out from the freezer, stored in the heat insulating outer box 2 of Example 2 stored at room temperature, and the temperature change of the inner wall of the holding member 11 when the heat insulating lid 3 was fitted was recorded.
FIG. 18 shows the temperature rise profiles of the holding members 11 at the angular position (c), the outer position (o), and the inner position (i) described in FIG. 9A. As shown in FIG. 18, in the case of the apparatus 6 of the second embodiment, the holding member at any position (c, o, i) despite having a heat insulating structure including the heat insulating outer box 2 and the heat insulating lid 3. 11 also reached −5 ° C., which is a temperature at which the blood collection tube can be inserted in about 12 minutes (that is, a temperature at which freezing or hemolysis does not occur). This is because the temperature of the inner box 1 rapidly rose due to rapid heating from the heating plate 8 because the heating plate 8 installed on the bottom surface of the heat insulating outer box 2 was stored at room temperature. it is conceivable that.

[Embodiment 3]
Hereinafter, the third embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the third embodiment.
The cooling / cooling device of the third embodiment is such that the tip of the holding member is brought into contact with the inner box bottom plate. The difference between the device 6 of the third embodiment and the device 6 of the second embodiment is that the heat transfer plate 12 is not used and the height of the inner box 1 is changed.

(Example 3)
FIG. 19 shows a test tube cooling / cooling device 6 according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. The side and bottom surfaces of the inner box 1 and the top plate 15 are made of aluminum having a thickness of 1.0 mm. The cylindrical holding member 11 is made of an aluminum pipe having the same dimensions and shape as those of the second embodiment and having one end closed. The top plate 15 and the holding member 11 were joined by caulking. The feature of the device 6 of the third embodiment is that the height of the inner box 1 is made equal to the length of the holding member 11 and the bottom of the holding member 11 and the inner box bottom plate 16 are brought into contact with each other. The inner box 1 was filled with a cold storage agent 13 in which a spherical elastic body 14 having a diameter of 3 to 4 mm made of polystyrene foam was dispersed. A 94 mm × 94 mm × 5 mm heating plate 8 made of aluminum having a thickness of 0.1 mm was disposed on the inner bottom of the heat insulating outer box 2. Further, inside the heating plate 8, a cold storage agent 13A in which an elastic body 14A is dispersed is sealed. The heat insulation outer box 2 and the heat insulation lid 3 were produced using a polystyrene foam heat insulating plate (trade name: Styrofoam, manufactured by Dow Chemical Co., Ltd.) having a thickness of 9 mm. In the present embodiment, as the cold storage agents 13 and 13A, the cold storage agents used in Fine Pack (trade name, manufactured by Torisu Industry Co., Ltd.) are used, and the elastic bodies 14 and 14A have a diameter of 3 to 4 mm. However, different materials may be used for each of these.

(Test Example 9)
After taking out the cooled inner box from the freezer by bringing the holding member 11 into contact with the bottom plate 16, the effect of shortening the time until the test tube cooling / cooling device 6 can be used was verified.
The inner box 1 of Example 3 was previously frozen in a -20 ° C freezer. The inner box 1 was taken out from the freezer, stored in the heat insulating outer box 2 of Example 2 stored at room temperature, and the temperature change of the inner wall of the holding member 11 when the heat insulating lid 3 was fitted was recorded.
FIG. 20 shows a temperature rise profile of each holding member 11 at the corner position (c), the outer position (o), and the inner position (i) described in FIG. 9A. As shown in FIG. 20, in the case of the present apparatus 6 of the third embodiment, the heating rate of the inner box 1 is faster than that of the second embodiment in the holding member 11 at any position (c, o, i). The temperature reached −5 ° C. at which the blood collection tube could be inserted in about 9 minutes. This is because the heat from the heating plate 8 stored at room temperature is transferred to the holding member 11 via the inner box bottom plate 16 so that the cool storage agent 13 in the inner box 1 is rapidly heated. This is probably due to this.

  As described above, the test tube cooling / cooling device of the present invention has been described using the examples and the test examples. It was confirmed that the test tube cooling / cooling device of the present invention has excellent test tube cooling performance and cooling performance, and that variation in cooling performance and cooling performance depending on the holding member portion is suppressed. In addition, in the examples, a blood collection tube that contains human blood has been described as an example, but besides blood, urine discharged from the human body, feces, cerebrospinal fluid flowing through the human body, cells that make up the human body, The test tube cooling / cooling device of the present invention can also be used for testing specimens such as organs. It can also be used for animal specimen testing. Furthermore, it can be applied to cooling / cooling of canned beverages, bottled beverages and the like. The shape of the holding member is preferably adjusted according to the shape and size of the specimen test tube.

[Embodiment 4]
Next, a test tube cooling / cooling system 40 according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The test tube cooling / cooling system 40 includes a freezer 41 that can accommodate the three test tube cooling / cooling devices 43, 44, and 45 described in the first embodiment, and a control unit 42 that can control the temperature of the freezer 41. . The test tube cooling / cooling devices 43, 44, 45 are equipped with temperature sensors 46, 47, 48 capable of detecting the temperature of the regenerator and the temperature of the inner surface of the holding member of each device. The temperature data detected by the temperature sensors 46, 47, and 48 is transmitted to the control unit 42 via the reception path 49, and the control unit 42 receives the temperature data of the freezer 41 via the transmission path 50 based on the received temperature data. The temperature can be controlled. A personal computer may be used as the control unit 42, but a dedicated microcomputer is preferably used. In the fourth embodiment, three test tube cooling / cooling devices 43, 44, 45 are accommodated in one freezer 41, but one test tube cooling / cooling device is provided for each freezer. It may be mounted, or two or more units may be mounted. Moreover, you may make it the structure which the control part 42 controls the several freezer 41. FIG.

  In the test tube cooling / cooling system 40 described in the fourth embodiment, in the stage of freezing the cool storage agent, the temperature in the freezer is lowered to rapidly freeze the cool storage agent, and after the freezing of the cool storage agent, the internal temperature is around 0 ° C. The temperature can be controlled to be Such temperature control can greatly reduce the risk of adverse effects such as freezing of a specimen such as blood due to the temperature of the regenerator being too low.

  The test tube cooling / cooling apparatus and system of the present invention are also used in medical institutions and inspection institutions that collect blood from humans, and also in veterinary institutions and animal inspection institutions that handle blood such as livestock.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Inner box 2 ... Thermal insulation outer box 3 ... Thermal insulation lid 4 ... Lid 5 ... Handle 6 ... Test tube cooling and cooling device 7 ... Container 8 ... Heating plate DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Air 11 ... Holding member 11A ... Parallel straight tubular holding member 11B ... Step shape holding member 11C ... Tapered shape holding member 11D ... Upper taper shape holding member 12 ... Transmission Hot plate 13, 13A ... Cold storage agent 14, 14A ... Elastic body 15 ... Top plate 16 ... Inner box bottom plate 20 ... Sample test tube 20A ... Blood collection tube 30 ... Commercial test Tube cooling / cold insulation device 31 ... Container body 35 ... Precipitation part 36 ... Supernatant part 40 ... Test tube cooling / cold insulation system 41 ... Freezer 42 ... Control part 43, 44, 45 ..Test tube cooling / cold insulation device 46, 47, 48 ... temperature sensor 4 Transmission path c1, c2 ... angular position of ... from the receive path 50 ... control unit from the sensor to the freezer o1, o2, ... outside position i1, i2, ... inside position

Claims (20)

A container with a heat insulating structure with an open top;
A thermally conductive top plate formed with a plurality of openings, covering the opening of the container;
A thermally conductive holding member that protrudes from the plurality of openings toward the inside of the container and holds a specimen test tube;
A specimen test tube cooling / cooling device having a cold storage agent filled in the container.   The heat insulating cover further includes a removable heat insulating cover that covers the top plate, and the heat insulating cover is formed with openings at the positions of the plurality of openings, and can be removed when the regenerator is frozen, thereby directly cooling the top plate. The cooling / cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the cold storage agent can be frozen by doing so. The container of the heat insulation structure includes a heat insulation outer box and an inner box accommodated in the heat insulation outer box,
The top plate and the holding member are mounted on the inner box,
The inner box contains the regenerator;
The cooling / cooling device according to claim 1 or 2.   The cooling / cooling device according to claim 3, wherein the inner box is thermally conductive.   The cooling / cooling device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the outer box and the inner box are detachable, and only the inner box can be put in a freezer.   The elastic body further provided in the said container in contact with the said cool storage agent, The said elastic body can suppress the internal pressure rise in the said container by the volume expansion of the said cool storage agent at the time of freezing. The cooling / cooling device according to any one of?   An elastic body installed in contact with the cold storage agent in the inner box is further provided, and the elastic body can suppress an increase in internal pressure due to volume expansion of the cold storage agent during freezing. Item 6. The cooling / cooling device according to any one of Items 3 to 5.   The cooling / cooling device according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the elastic body is a porous elastic body.   A heating plate provided at a position adjacent to the inner box in the outer box is further provided, and when the heating plate comes into contact with the frozen inner box, the inner box temperature is quickly raised to about 0 ° C. The cooling / cooling device according to any one of claims 3 to 8.   The cooling / cooling device according to claim 9, wherein the heating plate includes a case made of a heat conductive material and a cold storage agent sealed in the case.   The cooling / cooling apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a heat transfer plate joined to the top plate, wherein the heat transfer plate is provided to face the plurality of holding members.   The cooling / cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein an inner surface of the holding member is in close contact with an outer peripheral portion of the specimen test tube.   An inner surface of the holding member has a taper shape or a step shape having the same inclination angle as that of the outer peripheral portion of the sample test tube, and the holding member and the sample are formed in the taper shape portion or the step shape portion. The cooling / cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the test tube is in close contact with a line.   The cooling / cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 12, further comprising a mechanism capable of holding the container at an angle.   The cooling / cooling device according to any one of claims 3 to 14, wherein a tip of the holding member is in contact with a bottom portion of the inner box.   The cooling / cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein the cold storage agent is a cold storage agent having the same solidification temperature as the cooling lower limit temperature of the specimen.   The solidification temperature of the said cool storage agent is -2 degreeC or more and 4 degrees C or less, The cooling / cooling apparatus of any one of Claims 1-16.   A specimen test tube cooling / cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 17 and a dedicated heat-cooling top plate for the cooling / cooling device can be directly cooled to freeze the regenerator. Sample test tube cooling / cooling system with a freezer.   19. The cooling / cooling system according to claim 18, further comprising a control unit that includes one or a plurality of the specimen test tube cooling / cooling devices and performs temperature control of the freezer in accordance with a time cycle in which the cooling / cooling devices are used. .   A temperature sensor capable of detecting the temperature of the cold storage agent and the temperature of the inner surface of the holding member holding the specimen test tube is provided, and the temperature sensor monitors the temperature at the time of blood storage and the freezing rate of the cold storage agent. The cooling / cooling system according to claim 19, wherein the control unit controls the freezer based on a signal received from the temperature sensor.