JP2011012591A - Syringe pump - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a syringe pump enabling necessary cleaning and sterilization without disassembling a device.SOLUTION: A tubular type plunger 2 is fitted in a hollow syringe 1, material "a" is sucked/discharged from a suction/discharge port 11 of the syringe 1 by reciprocating a rod part 3 integrated with the plunger 2 by a ball screw (not shown in the figure). The syringe 1 divides a syringe upper part A and a syringe lower part B having larger diameter than that by providing a vacant room (expansion part) keeping a plunger 2 side surface open at an opposite side of the suction/discharge port 11. The material "a" is filled in the syringe upper part A and the plunger 2 moved to the vacant room at the syringe lower part B is cleaned and sterilized in the vacant room.

Description

  The present invention relates to a syringe pump that has a volumetric metering chamber (syringe) for metering a discharge material and a plunger (piston) for extruding the material from the metering chamber, and that controls the amount of the plunger to discharge the material quantitatively.

In the field of pharmaceutical production, the syringe pump needs to be frequently washed and sterilized because it is used repeatedly. However, the conventional washing and sterilization method is as follows. First, as shown in FIG. The cleaning liquid or the vapor is sucked from the suction / discharge hole 11 and the syringe 1 is filled with the cleaning liquid or the vapor.
Next, as shown in FIG. 8B, the plunger 2 is pushed up to discharge the cleaning liquid or vapor from the suction / discharge hole 11.
In this method, the inner surface of the syringe 1 and the top surface of the plunger 2 are cleaned and sterilized, but the side surface of the plunger 2 contacting the syringe 1 cannot be cleaned and sterilized. Therefore, in order to clean and sterilize the side surface of the plunger 2, it is necessary to disassemble the device.

As a method for cleaning and sterilizing the side surface of the plunger 2, for example, in Patent Document 1, as shown in FIG. 9, the internal space of the syringe 1 is divided into a front chamber C and a rear chamber D by a partition member 9. In the meantime, a method of cleaning and sterilizing the side surface of the plunger 2 by flowing a cleaning liquid or steam into the rear chamber D is disclosed.
However, in this method, since the syringe 1 has a larger diameter than the plunger 2, there is a gap between the syringe 1 and the plunger 2, and there is a problem that all the material is not completely discharged and the material remains in the syringe 1. It was.

JP 2007-287831 A

  The problems to be solved by the present invention are as described above, and the present invention is intended to provide a syringe pump that can perform the necessary cleaning and sterilization without disassembling the apparatus.

  The main feature of the present invention is that the vacant chamber coaxial with the syringe and larger than the inner diameter is connected to the side opposite to the liquid inlet / outlet side of the syringe and the plunger is moved to the vacant chamber during cleaning / sterilization. And

  In the present invention, the plunger is moved to a vacant chamber provided on the side opposite to the liquid inlet / outlet side of the syringe for cleaning and sterilization, so that the plunger side which is the contact surface between the plunger and the syringe is opened, and the conventional apparatus is disassembled. The washing and sterilization of the plunger side can be realized without disassembling.

It is a block diagram of the syringe pump which implemented this invention. It is sectional drawing to which the lower part of the syringe pump which implemented this invention was expanded. It is explanatory drawing of normal suction / discharge operation | movement. It is explanatory drawing of the washing | cleaning operation | movement 1. FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the washing | cleaning operation | movement 2. FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the sterilization operation | movement 1. FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the sterilization operation | movement 2. FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the conventional washing | cleaning and sterilization method. It is a lineblock diagram of the syringe pump in patent documents 1.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. It should be noted that although terms such as upper part and lower part are used for easy understanding in relation to the drawings, these terms do not limit the positional relationship between the upper and lower sides.

In FIG. 1, the block diagram of the syringe pump which implemented this invention is shown.
The syringe pump 1 has a cylindrical plunger 2 inserted into a hollow syringe A, and a rod portion 3 integrated with the plunger 2 is moved by a piston with a ball screw (not shown) to make a material from the suction / discharge hole 11 of the syringe A. Aspirate and discharge a.
The syringe A is provided with a vacant chamber B that opens the side surface of the plunger 2 on the opposite side of the suction / discharge hole 11, and is divided into a syringe A and a vacant chamber B having a larger diameter than that, and the syringe A is filled with the material a. The plunger 2 moved here in the empty room B is cleaned and sterilized.

A suction / discharge hole 11 is formed in the top surface of the syringe A, and a joining portion of the T-shaped pipe 4 is connected to the suction / discharge hole 11.
The branch of the T-shaped pipe 4 has a port P1 for supplying the material a, the cleaning liquid b, and the sterilization steam c at the start end, and a port P2 for discharging the material a and discharging the cleaning liquid b and the sterilization steam c at the end. Prepare.
Ports P1 and P2 are connected to the junction of the T-shaped pipe 4 via magnetic valves V1 and V2, respectively.

A supply hole 12 and a discharge hole 13 are formed in the side surface of the vacant chamber B, and a supply pipe 5 and a discharge pipe 6 are connected to the supply hole 12 and the discharge hole 13, respectively.
The supply pipe 5 is provided with a port P3 for supplying the cleaning liquid b at the start end, and the discharge pipe 6 is provided with a port P4 for discharging the sterilization steam c at the end.
The ports P3 and P4 are connected to the vacant room B through magnetic valves V3 and V4, respectively.

When the electromagnetic valve V1 is opened, the material a is sucked into the syringe A from the port P1, and the cleaning liquid b and the sterilization steam c are poured.
When the solenoid valve V2 is opened, the material a is discharged from the syringe A to the port P2, and the cleaning liquid b and the sterilization steam c are discharged.
The electromagnetic valve V3 opens the cleaning liquid b from the port P3 into the syringe A by opening it.
When the solenoid valve V4 is opened, the sterilization vapor c is discharged from the syringe 1 to the port P4.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of the lower part of the syringe pump embodying the present invention.
The syringe pump is provided with a stroke switching means for the plunger 2, and the bottom dead center in the normal operation is the lowest point of the syringe A as shown in FIG. 2 (a). As shown in FIG. 2 (b), it moves to the lowest point of the vacant room B.
At the time of cleaning / sterilization, the plunger 2 is moved into the wide space of the empty chamber B in this way, so that the top surface and the side surface of the plunger 2 are opened, and the entire plunger 2 can be cleaned / sterilized.
The plunger 2 is fitted with a plunger ring 7 so that the inner peripheral surface of the syringe A and the outer peripheral surface of the plunger 2 are slidably sealed.
Further, an O-ring 8 is provided in the through hole 14 on the bottom surface of the syringe lower part B so that the inner peripheral surface of the through hole 14 and the outer peripheral surface of the plunger rod portion 3 are slidably sealed.
Further, at the boundary portion between the syringe A and the empty chamber B, the peripheral edge of the opening of the syringe A is formed in a round shape or a taper shape so that the plunger 2 can be easily reinserted into the syringe A.

Next, the operation will be described.
(1) Normal suction / discharge operation First, the solenoid valves V1 and V4 are opened while the plunger 2 is at the top dead center of the syringe A, and the solenoid valves V2 and V3 are closed.
Next, the plunger 2 is lowered to suck the material a from the port P1 and fill the syringe A (see FIG. 3A).
Next, when the plunger 2 reaches the bottom dead center of the syringe A, the solenoid valves V1 and V4 are closed and the solenoid valves V2 and V3 are opened.
Next, the plunger 2 is raised and the material a is discharged from the port P2 (see FIG. 3B).

(2) Cleaning operation 1 (between solenoid valves V1 and V2)
First, the solenoid valves V1 and V2 are opened while the plunger 2 is at the top dead center of the syringe A, and the solenoid valves V3 and V4 are closed.
Next, the cleaning liquid b is pumped from the port P1 into the syringe 1, the inside of the piping between the solenoid valves V1-V2 is cleaned, and the cleaning liquid b is discharged from the port P2 (see FIG. 4).

(3) Cleaning operation 2 (inner wall of syringe 1, side surface of plunger 2)
First, the solenoid valves V1 and V4 are opened while nothing is connected to the port P1, and the solenoid valves V2 and V3 are closed.
Next, the plunger 2 is lowered and moved to the bottom dead center of the empty room B (see FIG. 5A).
Next, the solenoid valves V1 and V4 are closed and the solenoid valves V2 and V3 are opened.
Next, the cleaning liquid b is pumped from the port P3 into the syringe pump 1, and the cleaning liquid b is discharged from the port P2 (see FIG. 5B). The side surface of the plunger 2 is cleaned in the empty room B.
The reason why the cleaning liquid b is pumped from the bottom to the top is to prevent air from remaining in the syringe pump 1 and the T-shaped pipe 4.

(4) Sterilization operation 1 (between solenoid valves V1-V2)
First, the solenoid valves V1 and V2 are opened while the plunger 2 is at the top dead center of the syringe A, and the solenoid valves V3 and V4 are closed.
Next, the sterilization steam c is pumped from the port P1 into the syringe pump 1 to sterilize the piping between the solenoid valves V1-V2, and the sterilization steam c is discharged from the port P2 (see FIG. 6).

(5) Sterilization operation 2 (inner wall of syringe 1, side surface of plunger 2)
First, the solenoid valves V1 and V4 are opened while nothing is connected to the port P1, and the solenoid valves V2 and V3 are closed.
Next, the plunger 2 is lowered and moved to the bottom dead center of the empty room B (see FIG. 7A).
Next, the sterilization steam c is pumped from the port P1 into the syringe pump 1, and the sterilization steam c is discharged from the port P4 (see FIG. 7B). The side surface of the plunger 2 is sterilized in the empty chamber B.
The reason why the steam c for sterilization is pumped from the top to the bottom is to prevent the steam from being liquefied due to the change of the flow velocity in the syringe pump 1 or the T-shaped pipe 4 and the water droplets remaining.
Note that the flow of the cleaning liquid b and the sterilization steam c in the cleaning operations 1 and 2 and the sterilization operations 1 and 2 and the method for opening and closing the electromagnetic valves V1 to V4 associated therewith are merely examples, and the syringe pump of the present invention The cleaning method and the sterilization method are not limited.

  According to the present invention, the inside of the syringe pump can be cleaned and sterilized without disassembling the apparatus, so that frequent washing and sterilization operations are required in addition to the field of production of pharmaceuticals that dislikes contamination with germs and foreign materials. Widely available in the field.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Syringe pump 11 Suction / discharge hole 12 Supply hole 13 Discharge hole 14 Through-hole 2 Plunger 3 Rod part 4 T-shaped pipe 5 Supply pipe 6 Discharge pipe 7 Plunger ring 8 O-ring 9 Partition member A Syringe B Empty room C Front room D Back chamber P1-4 Port V1-4 Solenoid valve a Material b Cleaning fluid c Sterilization steam

Claims (4)

  A syringe pump characterized in that a vacant chamber coaxial with the syringe and larger than its inner diameter is connected to the side opposite to the liquid inlet / outlet side of the syringe, and the plunger is moved to the vacant chamber during cleaning and sterilization.   2. The plunger stroke switching means according to claim 1, wherein the bottom dead center of the plunger is switched to the front of the empty chamber during normal operation, and the bottom dead center of the plunger is switched to the empty chamber during cleaning and sterilization. Syringe pump.   In the state where the plunger is moved to the empty chamber, the cleaning liquid is poured from the supply port on the side surface of the empty chamber, discharged from the liquid inlet / outlet of the syringe, and the inside of the syringe is cleaned while being pumped from the empty chamber side to the liquid inlet / outlet side. The syringe pump according to claim 1.   Sterilization steam is poured from the liquid inlet / outlet of the syringe with the plunger moved into the empty chamber, discharged from the outlet on the side of the empty chamber, and sterilized inside the syringe while pumping the sterilizing vapor from the liquid inlet / outlet side to the empty chamber side. The syringe pump according to claim 1, wherein:

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