JP2015210104A - Generation method and generation device of pollen component-containing particle, and measurement method and measurement device of pollen component capture ratio - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a generation method and a generation device of a pollen component-containing particle, capable of efficiently generating a particle which is fine size including pollen component, and a measurement method and measurement device of pollen component capture ratio capable of correctly measuring a capture ratio of a filter medium for air filter, with respect to the fine particle including pollen component.SOLUTION: The invention relates to the generation device of the pollen component-containing particle, comprising: (a) a step for mixing and puddling pollen to water for preparing a puddled liquid; (b) a step for generating a droplet of the puddled liquid which is smaller than the pollen; and (c) a step for drying the droplet for acquiring a pollen component-containing particle including the pollen component being part of the pollen.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for generating pollen component-containing particles, and a method and an apparatus for measuring pollen component collection rate.

  Conventionally, in order to improve the symptoms of hay fever, indoor air cleaning is performed using a filter medium for air filters that has a high pollen collection rate. On the other hand, there is a report example that the symptom of hay fever is not improved even when such a filter medium for air filter is actually used. As a cause of such a problem, particles containing pollen components such as allergens, which are smaller in size than pollen, are floating in the room, and the air filter medium sufficiently collects such fine particles. There is research that points out that it is not possible. The presence of particles containing a pollen component having a particle size smaller than that of pollen is described in Non-Patent Document 1, for example.

  Under such circumstances, in recent years, there has been an increasing demand for accurately evaluating the collection rate of the above-mentioned fine particles by the air filter medium. In order to evaluate such a filter medium, for example, there is an attempt to create fine particles simulating the fine particles by pulverizing pollen using a jet mill or the like.

Wang Seong, et al., Time-series behavioral differences in the number of scattered pollen and the appearance of high concentrations of allergen-containing microparticulates in the cedar pollen season, aerosol study, Vol.23 No.2 (2008), 120-126

  In the method of pulverizing pollen as described above, fine particles cannot be produced efficiently.

  An object of this invention is to provide the generation method and generator of the pollen component containing particle which can generate | occur | produce the fine particle | grains containing a pollen component efficiently. Another object of the present invention is to provide a pollen component collection rate measuring method and a measurement device capable of more accurately measuring the collection rate of the filter material for air filter with respect to fine sized particles containing the pollen component. And

One aspect of the present invention is a method for generating pollen component-containing particles,
(A) preparing polluted liquid by turbid pollen in water;
(B) generating droplets of the turbid liquid smaller in size than the pollen;
(C) drying the liquid droplets to obtain pollen component-containing particles containing a pollen component that is part of the pollen.

Another aspect of the present invention is an apparatus for generating pollen component-containing particles,
A droplet generator for generating droplets of turbid liquid in which pollen is turbid in water;
A drying device that dries the droplets to generate pollen component-containing particles containing pollen components that are part of the pollen, and
The droplets are smaller in size than the pollen.

  Another aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the pollen component-containing particles generated by the generation method or the generation device are used in order to measure the collection rate of the pollen component by the filter medium for the air filter.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is a pollen component collection rate measuring device,
It extends in one direction and is arranged on the downstream side of the air filter medium that is a filter for measurement and the air filter medium, and has a higher collection efficiency of particles having a particle diameter of 0.3 μm than the air filter medium. A conduit in which a backup filter is arranged in the middle of the one direction;
An airflow generator for generating an airflow flowing in the one direction in the pipe,
The pollen component-containing particles generated by the generation method or the generation device are supplied to the pipeline, and the pollen component-containing particles are collected by the air filter medium and the backup filter. .

  According to the present invention, fine-sized particles containing a pollen component can be efficiently generated. Moreover, according to this invention, the collection rate of the filter material for air filters with respect to the microsize particle | grains containing a pollen component can be measured more correctly.

It is a flow which shows the generating method of this embodiment. It is a schematic explanatory drawing of the generator of this embodiment. It is a flow which shows the measuring method of this embodiment. It is a schematic explanatory drawing which partially decomposes and shows the measuring apparatus of this embodiment.

  Hereinafter, the method and apparatus for generating pollen component-containing particles, the method and apparatus for measuring the pollen component collection rate of the present invention will be described.

(Generation method of pollen component-containing particles)
In FIG. 1, the flow explaining the generation | occurrence | production method of the pollen component containing particle | grains of this embodiment is shown.
The generation method of the present embodiment includes a step of preparing a turbid liquid (S10), a step of generating droplets of the turbid liquid (S12), and a step of drying the droplets (S14).

  In the step of preparing a turbid liquid (S10), pollen is turbid in water to prepare a turbid liquid.

As the pollen, those that cause allergic diseases are preferably used. For example, pollen such as cedar, birch, ragweed, hinoki and rice is used. The turbid liquid may contain two or more types of pollen.
As the pollen, it is possible to use one that has been subjected to a pretreatment such as pulverization in that pollen component-containing particles are easily obtained. The pulverization can be performed by a known method. For example, pollen and inorganic or metal beads may be placed in a container and shaken, or may be performed using a jet mill, a ball mill, or the like. . Further, either dry or wet methods may be used. Further, such pulverization is preferably performed in a low temperature (for example, room temperature or lower) environment so as not to deactivate the allergen contained in the pollen. For this purpose, for example, it is preferable to cool the beads in liquid nitrogen in advance. In the present specification, the pollen includes a pulverized product of the pollen pulverized by the pretreatment.
From the viewpoint of promoting the decomposition of pollen in the turbid liquid, the amount of pollen contained in the turbid liquid is 5% by mass or less, more preferably 0.5% by mass or less in terms of mass ratio with respect to water.

  The water may be pure water such as RO water, deionized water, or distilled water, or tap water or water obtained by purifying tap water with activated carbon, a water purifier, or the like.

It is preferable that pH of the turbid liquid is adjusted so that pollen is decomposed. The pH at which pollen decomposes is preferably more than 7, more preferably 7.5 or more. In addition, the upper limit of pH is determined from a viewpoint which does not impair allergen activity, for example, is 8.0. By adjusting to such pH, pollen in the turbid liquid is easily decomposed, and a sufficient amount of pollen components can be obtained. Examples of the manner in which pollen decomposes include that allergens and the like attached to the surface of the outer skin are detached from the outer skin, and that the inner skin allergen and the like are released when the outer skin of the pollen ruptures. For example, in the case of cedar pollen, Cryj1 adhering to the surface of the outer skin is dissolved in water, and the outer skin is cracked, and Cryj2 contained in the cytoplasm inside the outer skin is eluted. In addition, in this specification, a pollen component is a part of pollen, and is specifically a component obtained by decomposing pollen. The pollen component includes one that dissolves in the turbid liquid and one that precipitates in the turbid liquid (precipitating component described later). Examples of the substance that dissolves in the turbid liquid include allergen, and examples of the substance that precipitates in the turbid liquid include the outer skin and a part thereof.
The pH of the turbid liquid is adjusted, for example, by adding a pH adjuster to the turbid liquid. The pH adjuster is used without particular limitation as long as it does not affect the activity of the allergen. For example, an organic base or an inorganic base can be used.
The turbid liquid may not be adjusted in pH. For example, even when a turbid liquid is prepared using pure water or water having a pH of 7 or less, the turbid liquid is physically stimulated (for example, ultrasonic vibration) in the step (S12) of generating the next droplet. ) To remove the allergen adhering to the outer skin of the pollen, a turbid liquid containing the pollen component can be generated.

  The turbid liquid may contain other components such as an anti-aggregation agent and a pH buffer as long as the activity of pollen and allergen is not affected, in addition to pollen and water.

  The method for preparing the turbid liquid is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include turbid pollen in tap water. Tap water usually contains many fine particles having a particle size of about several μm or less, which is smaller than that of pollen, and a turbid liquid prepared using tap water contains the fine particles. Moreover, you may create a turbid liquid by making commercially available pollen turbid in a pure water. Since many foreign substances similar to the above-mentioned fine particles are usually adhered to the surface of the pollen, the turbid liquid prepared by such a method also contains the fine particles. The fine particles will be described later.

  In the next step (S12) of generating turbid liquid droplets, turbid liquid droplets smaller in size than pollen are generated. By generating droplets of such a size, more pollen component-containing particles can be generated.

The specific method for generating the droplet is not particularly limited, and for example, by giving vibration to the turbid liquid, passing pressure through the turbid liquid and passing through the fine pores, applying negative pressure to the turbid liquid, etc. Done. The turbid liquid contains a pollen component. By using such a method, droplets smaller in size than pollen can be efficiently generated. By generating droplets that are smaller in size than pollen, it is possible to efficiently generate pollen component-containing particles, for example, a sufficient amount of pollen to measure the pollen component collection rate of air filter media It has been found by the inventor's research that component-containing particles can be secured. The size of the droplets only needs to be smaller than the pollen. For example, when cedar pollen is used as the pollen, the size is 1 to 10 μm. The lower limit of the droplet size is not particularly limited, but is, for example, 1/300 the size of pollen, and is about 0.1 μm when cedar pollen is used as the pollen. Pollen and droplet sizes are measured, for example, using laser light diffraction. For the comparison of the sizes of pollen and droplets, for example, an average value of the sizes measured for 20 or more particles is used.
The fact that the pollen component is contained in the droplet means that the pollen component-containing particles containing the pollen component are generated by the drying performed in step (S14) described later, and the pollen component is extracted from the pollen component-containing particles. Can be confirmed. Examples of the pollen component-containing particles include those in which the pollen component adheres to the fine particles and those composed only of the pollen component.
In step (S12), not only droplets having a size smaller than that of pollen but also droplets having a size equal to or larger than the size of pollen may be generated. In step (S12), not only droplets containing pollen components but also droplets not containing pollen components may be generated.

Among the specific methods for generating the droplets described above, the method for applying vibration to the turbid liquid is not particularly limited as long as it can generate liquid droplets of the turbid liquid, and examples thereof include ultrasonic vibration and bubbling. It is done. Among these, ultrasonic vibration is preferably used because it can promote the decomposition of pollen in the turbid liquid and can easily produce droplets smaller in size than the pollen. In addition, when ultrasonic vibration is used, the droplets generated using ultrasonic vibration are unlikely to contain pollen or pollen components having a relatively large size. A large size can be kept in the turbid liquid. In order to evaluate the performance of air filter media more accurately than before, it is desirable to use many particles with a particle size smaller than that of pollen. By continuing to hold, more pollen component-containing particles can be generated. Furthermore, by using ultrasonic vibration, pollen and large-sized pollen components can be kept uniformly dispersed in the turbid liquid without stirring the turbid liquid, and the pollen components contained in the droplets vary. Can be reduced.
As a method for generating ultrasonic vibration, an apparatus that directly or indirectly applies ultrasonic vibration to a turbid liquid can be used. For example, an ultrasonic vibrator, an ultrasonic homogenizer, or an ultrasonic tank can be used. The mode of using the ultrasonic vibrator is not particularly limited. For example, the ultrasonic vibrator is provided in a tank for cooling the container containing the turbid liquid from the outside through the cooling water, and the turbid liquid is indirectly added to the turbid liquid. An ultrasonic vibration may be applied to the liquid crystal, or a throwing-type ultrasonic vibrator may be placed in the turbid liquid to directly apply the ultrasonic vibration. The condition for generating the ultrasonic vibration is preferably 1 to 3 MHz, for example, 1.5 to 2.5 MHz, from the viewpoint of producing droplets smaller in size than pollen.
Further, for example, a horn vibrator may be used to vibrate the turbid liquid instead of the ultrasonic vibrator. Specifically, the turbid liquid droplets may be generated by pushing out the turbid liquid so that the turbid liquid passes through a mesh having a large number of fine holes formed by vibration of the horn vibrator.
Bubbling can be performed, for example, using a ruskin nozzle that performs bubbling using compressed air.

  The method of applying pressure to the turbid liquid described above and passing through the fine holes can be performed using, for example, a spray nozzle. The spray nozzle may eject only one fluid (turbid liquid) or may eject two fluids (turbid liquid and air). The pressure applied to the turbid liquid is, for example, several MPa. The micro holes are, for example, a large number of micro holes formed in a mesh. The size of the micropore is appropriately determined from the viewpoint of making the size of the droplet appropriate.

  As a method for applying a negative pressure to the turbid liquid described above, for example, a method called a compressor type or a jet type can be used. In this method, the compressed air generated by the compressor is discharged from the nozzle, so that a negative pressure is generated in the water absorption pipe opened at the tip adjacent to the nozzle tip, and the turbid liquid in the container is sucked up through the water absorption pipe. Then, liquid droplets are generated by discharging from the tip of the water absorption pipe to the outside together with the compressed air from the nozzle.

  In the step of generating the turbid liquid (S12), the size of the droplets may be any size as long as it can contain a pollen component, for example, a size of 1 to 100 μm.

In step (S12), it is preferable that droplets are generated while retaining the precipitating component that precipitates in the turbid liquid among the pollen components in the turbid liquid. A large amount of allergen adheres to the outer skin, etc., which is a precipitating component, and more allergens are eluted in the turbid liquid by generating droplets with the precipitating component present in the turbid liquid. be able to. According to the inventor's research, it was found that the amount of pollen component-containing particles obtained in step (S14) is remarkably increased by holding the precipitating component in the turbid liquid as compared with the case where the precipitating component is removed. It was. This is because when the precipitating component is retained in step (S12), the turbid liquid contains a large amount of particles that are the core of the pollen component-containing particles, and more pollen component-containing particles are generated. I think that there is. The core particles include, for example, a part of a relatively small pollen hull among the sedimentary components, agglomerates of allergens that are components dissolved in the turbid liquid, fine particles contained in tap water, atmospheric dust, etc. Etc. For example, when measuring the collection efficiency of a filter medium for air filters using pollen component-containing particles, a large amount of pollen component-containing particles is required. For example, in order to accurately measure the collection efficiency of a filter medium having a pollen component-containing particle collection efficiency of 99.99%, at least 100,000 pollen component-containing particles are required. According to the said generation | occurrence | production method, since more pollen component containing particle | grains with a small size can be generated, it becomes easy to ensure the pollen component containing particle | grains required for performing such a measurement.
Further, when droplets are generated while retaining the precipitating component, the turbid liquid prepared in step (S10) can be used as it is without being subjected to special treatment such as centrifugation, and easily contains pollen components. Particles can be generated.
In step (S12), droplets may be generated without holding the precipitating component in the turbid liquid. For example, droplets may be generated using a supernatant obtained by subjecting the turbid liquid prepared in step (S10) to centrifugation, filtration, and the like, and removing a precipitating component. The precipitating component can be rephrased as a component that is removed from the turbid liquid by a process such as centrifugation or filtration among the pollen components.

In the step of drying the next droplet (S14), the droplet is dried to obtain pollen component-containing particles containing a pollen component. When the air is dried, the water content of the droplets easily evaporates, so that the pollen component-containing particles can be easily obtained.
The drying of the droplets is preferably performed by a method other than heating in order not to deactivate the allergen contained in the pollen component. For example, air or an inert gas is supplied into the container in which the droplets are generated, and the liquid is dried. This is done by pushing the drops out of the container. According to such a method, the droplets are supplied to another place outside the container (for example, a space in the pipe line of the measuring apparatus described later) and are easily dried by being diffused. As the inert gas, for example, a rare gas such as nitrogen gas, helium, neon, or argon is used. The air or inert gas is preferably supplied at a low temperature (for example, room temperature or lower) so as not to deactivate the allergen contained in the pollen component. The drying of the droplets is preferably performed in parallel with the step (S12) of generating the droplets.
Pollen component-containing particles obtained by drying droplets have a particle size distribution in which the particle size is smaller than that of pollen, for example, the abundance ratio of particles having a particle size of 1.1 μm or less is 10% or more on a volume basis. doing.
The generation method of this embodiment can be performed using the pollen component containing particle generator mentioned later, for example.

  According to the generation method of the present embodiment, pollen component-containing particles can be efficiently obtained by generating droplets of a turbid liquid smaller in size than pollen and drying them. According to such a method, for example, more pollen component-containing particles are smaller in size than when particles containing pollen components are generated by drying (air-drying) the turbid liquid without forming droplets. It has been found by the present inventors' research that Thereby, for example, it is possible to prepare more pollen component-containing particles with a small particle size necessary for accurately evaluating the pollen component collection rate of the filter material for air filter.

Here, among the pollen component-containing particles, the particles in which the pollen component adheres to the fine particles will be described. The fine particles contained in the particles are, for example, those contained in tap water or those adhered to the pollen surface, and the particle size is several μm or less. It is considered that such fine particles are contained in the droplets together with the pollen component by vibrating the turbid liquid described above and become the core of the pollen component-containing particles. In addition, it is thought that many of microparticles | fine-particles are contained in a turbid liquid also when processing, such as above-mentioned centrifugation and filtration.
The fine particles are, for example, particles classified as particles having a predetermined particle size or less using a classifier such as an undersensor sampler, or fine particles having a particle size measured by a dynamic light scattering method of a predetermined particle size or less. . The predetermined particle diameter here is several μm, for example, 1.1 μm. The shape of the fine particles is not particularly limited, and may be spherical or piece-like, or may have a shape having a length. The particle size of the fine particles means the maximum length of the fine particles, and when the shape of the fine particles is long or short, it means the long side length. The fine particles may be either inorganic or organic, and may be either solid fine particles or liquid fine particles.
The fine particles may be derived from pollen, may be derived from water, or may be derived from neither pollen nor water. Examples of the fine particles derived from pollen include fine particles attached to the surface of the pollen. Examples of the fine particles derived from water include fine particles contained in tap water. Examples of the fine particles that are not derived from pollen or water include atmospheric dust, proteins that act to adsorb allergens, pH buffering agents, and the like.

(Generator for pollen component-containing particles)
Next, a pollen component-containing particle generator will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the pollen component-containing particle generator 1. In FIG. 2, the container 11 and the glass tube 42 are shown in a projected view for ease of understanding.

The apparatus 1 includes a droplet generation device 3 and a drying device 5.
The droplet generator 3 includes a container 11 in which the turbid liquid A is placed, and a vibration generator 13 disposed in the container 11. The droplet generator 3 vibrates the turbid liquid A and is smaller in size than pollen. Generate turbid droplets. The turbid liquid A is a turbid liquid similar to that used in the above generation method.
The container 11 has lids 15 attached to both ends of a cylindrical container body. In the example shown in FIG. 2, a throwing-type ultrasonic transducer is arranged in the container 11 as the vibration generator 13. The vibration generator 13 may be replaced with another type of device that generates droplets by vibration, as described in the above generation method, instead of the ultrasonic transducer. Instead of the vibration generator 13, the apparatus described in the above generation method may be used which applies the method of applying pressure to the turbid liquid to pass through the micropores and the method of applying a negative pressure to the turbid liquid.

The drying device 5 dries the droplets to generate pollen component-containing particles that include the pollen component that is part of the pollen. The drying device 5 includes a tank 30 filled with air, a gas supply pipe 31 provided so as to extend from the tank 30 to the container 11, a valve 32 and a flow meter 33 arranged in the middle of the gas supply pipe 31. Therefore, air can be supplied into the container 11 at an appropriate flow rate.
Further, the drying device 5 further includes a transfer pipe 23 for transferring air containing droplets generated in the container 11 to a target location. Note that the target place is a place other than the container 11, for example, the classification device 7 shown in FIG. 2 and the measuring device 100 shown in FIG. 4 to be referred to later. When the inert gas is supplied into the container 11, the air in the container 11 containing droplets moves through the transfer pipe 23, is supplied to a target location, and is diffused therein to be dried. The transfer pipe 23 is made of, for example, a SUS tube.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, the generator 1 is connected to the classifier 7 via the transfer pipe 23, and the pollen component-containing particles are generated in the classifier 7 and classified in the classifier 7 as it is. For example, it may be collected in another container different from the container 11.
The classification device 7 includes an under sensor sampler 41, a glass tube 42 connected to the under sensor sampler 41 and connected to the transfer pipe 23, and a HEPA filter 43 attached to the upper end of the glass tube 42.

The under sensor sampler 41 is not particularly limited, but, for example, more than 11 μm, more than 7 μm to 11 μm, more than 4.7 μm to 7 μm, more than 3.3 μm to 4.7 μm, more than 2.1 μm to 3.3 μm, more than 1.1 μm to An 8-stage type that can be classified with eight particle sizes of 2.1 μm, more than 0.65 μm to 1.1 μm, and more than 0.43 μm to 0.65 μm is used. Those having a particle size of 0.43 μm or less are collected using an auxiliary filter (not shown).
Another type of under-sensor sampler may be used for the classifier 7, and other classifiers such as a high volume sampler and a low volume sampler may be used.

  The HEPA filter 43 is a filter for removing foreign substances in the air when external air is taken into the classifier 7. The HEPA filter 43 is an air filter having a particle collection efficiency of 99.97% or more and a performance of an initial pressure loss of 245 Pa or less with respect to particles having a rated air volume and a particle size of 0.3 μm as defined in JIS Z8122. It is.

  In the classifying device 7, outside air is taken in by a pump or the like (not shown) provided on the downstream side of the under sensor sampler 41 so that air passes through the HEPA filter 43, the glass tube 42, and the under sensor sampler 41 in this order.

(Measurement method of pollen component collection rate)
The measuring method of the present embodiment is characterized by using pollen component-containing particles generated by the generating method or the generating device in order to measure the collection rate of pollen components by the filter medium for air filter.
In FIG. 3, the flow explaining the measuring method of the pollen component collection rate of this embodiment is shown.
Specifically, the measurement method of the present embodiment includes a step (S20) of supplying pollen component-containing particles to the pipe line, and the pollen component-containing particles are mixed with an air filter medium (hereinafter referred to as a filter medium) that is a filter for measurement. And a step (S22) of collecting by a backup filter and a step of calculating a pollen component collection rate (S24).

  In step (S20), the pipe line to which the pollen component-containing particles are supplied is formed, for example, in a measuring apparatus described later. The generated pollen component-containing particles can be transferred into the pipeline in the same manner as described in the above generation method.

  In step (S22), an airflow flowing in one direction is generated in the pipeline, and the airflow containing pollen component-containing particles is passed through two filters, a filter medium and a backup filter, arranged in the middle of the pipeline. Step (S22) is performed, for example, by operating an air pump of a measuring apparatus described later. The passing speed of the airflow is, for example, several hundred L / min.

The filter medium and the backup filter are both sheet-like filters.
The filter medium is a filter for a measurement target that is a measurement target of the pollen component collection rate. For example, a filter having performance as a medium performance filter or a HEPA filter is used. As a medium performance filter, the collection efficiency is 90 to 96% by weight method (mass method), 50 to 80% by colorimetric method (light scattering integration method), and 5 to 50% by counting method. The pressure loss is 79 to 247 Pa, and the dust holding capacity is 300 to 800 g / m ³ .
The form of the filter medium is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, a filter paper, a nonwoven fabric, a woven fabric, or a filtration membrane. Examples of the filter paper include paper, glass fiber, and organic fiber. Although the material of the fiber which comprises organic fiber is not specifically limited, For example, resin, such as a polypropylene and a polytetrafluoroethylene, is mentioned.
The filter medium may be charged by electret treatment or the like, or may not be charged. In addition, a reinforcing material may be attached to the filter medium from the viewpoint of ease of handling. As such a reinforcing material, for example, a nonwoven fabric having a collection efficiency of substantially 0 is used.

  The backup filter is a filter medium for collecting the pollen component-containing particles that have passed through the filter medium, and is disposed on the downstream side of the filter medium, and has a higher collection efficiency of particles having a particle diameter of 0.3 μm than the filter medium. . For example, a HEPA filter can be preferably used as the backup filter. In this case, a HEPA filter or ULPA filter having a higher collection efficiency than the filter medium is used as the backup filter.

From the viewpoint of suppressing leakage of pollen component-containing particles from the end face (surface extending in the thickness direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the filter medium main surface) and suppressing variations in measurement results by the measuring device, both of the filter medium and the backup filter. Filter paper is preferably used.
Step (S22) is preferably performed in parallel with step (S20).

In step (S24), using the pollen component amount a extracted from the pollen component-containing particles collected by the filter medium and the pollen component amount b extracted from the pollen component-containing particles collected by the backup filter, The pollen component collection rate of the filter medium is calculated using the formula.
Pollen component collection rate = a / (a + b)

The pollen component amount a and the pollen component amount b are obtained by extracting the pollen component adhering to the pollen component-containing particles collected in the filter medium and the backup filter, respectively.
Extraction operation can be performed using the extract containing a blocking agent, for example. The blocking agent is a component having an action of separating the pollen component adhering to or adsorbed to the fine particles of the pollen component-containing particles from the fine particles. For example, skim milk, bovine serum albumin or the like is used. For example, a HEPES (4- (2-hydroxyethyl) -1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid) buffer solution is used as the extract. After the extraction operation, the amount of pollen components can be determined using, for example, an ELISA (Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay) method.

The measuring method of this embodiment can be performed using the measuring device of the pollen component collection rate mentioned later.
In the measurement method of this embodiment, since the measurement is performed using the pollen component-containing particles created using the generation method or the generation device, the pollen component collection rate of the filter medium can be obtained more accurately. Conventionally, using pollen and pulverized pollen, for example, when measuring the pollen component collection rate of a medium performance filter, these pollen etc. can be collected at a high collection rate. Apparently, an air filter for pollen measures In some cases, it was evaluated as having sufficient performance as a filter medium. This is because, in the conventional measurement method, the pollen or the pulverized product of the pollen does not contain enough fine particles, and the evaluation particles mainly composed of pollen having a relatively large particle size. This is probably because the group was able to collect at a high collection rate. In this embodiment, since the measurement is performed using pollen component-containing particles having a particle size smaller than that of pollen or a pulverized product of pollen, for example, the collection performance of particles having a particle size of 0.43 μm or less is assumed to be low. When a filter is used, most of the pollen component-containing particles having a particle size leak, and the pollen component collection rate does not increase, so that it is possible to evaluate the filter performance more accurately than before. When the pollen component collection rate measured by the measurement method of this embodiment is high, it can be evaluated that the filter medium is an air filter having high performance as a pollen countermeasure filter. In addition, the measurement time can be shortened by using a sufficient amount of the pollen component-containing particles.

(Measurement device of pollen component collection rate)
Next, with reference to FIG. 4, the measuring apparatus of the pollen component collection rate of this embodiment is demonstrated.
FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory view showing a part of the measuring apparatus. In FIG. 4, the container 11 and the pipe line 60 are shown in a projected view for easy understanding. In addition, for ease of understanding, an upstream casing 44 and a downstream casing 45, which will be described later, and two air-permeable filters are shown apart from each other, but there is actually no gap between them. .

The apparatus 100 includes a pipe line 60 and an airflow generation device 70.
The pipe line 60 is formed by connecting the glass tube 42, the upstream casing 44, and the downstream casing 45 in the vertical direction, and has a pipe line 60a that extends in one direction as a whole. Note that the pipe line may be linear as long as airflow can flow in one direction, or may be bent or curved in the middle. A HEPA filter 43 for removing foreign matter in the outside air is attached to the upper end of the upstream casing 44. The HEPA filter 43 is the same as the HEPA filter described above.
A filter medium 61 and a backup filter 62 are arranged at a connection portion between the upstream casing 44 and the downstream casing 45, which is a portion in the pipeline 60 in the middle of the airflow. The filter medium 61 and the backup filter 62 are the same as those described above. The filter medium 61 is fixed to the lower end of the upstream casing 44 via an O-ring 63. The backup filter 62 is fixed to the upper end of the downstream casing 45 via an O-ring 64. The upstream casing 44 and the downstream casing 45 are arranged facing each other so that the filter medium 61 and the backup filter 62 are in contact with each other. Although not shown, the conduit 60 further includes a cylindrical cover member that covers the filter medium 61 and the backup filter 62 from the outer peripheral side and is attached to the upstream casing 44 and the downstream casing 45.
The pipe line 60 generates an air flow in the inner space, and allows the filter medium 61 and the backup filter 62 to pass the air flow including the pollen component-containing particles generated by the generator 1. In addition, it is preferable that the generator 1 is operating in parallel while the airflow generator 70 is operating.

  The airflow generation device 70 includes a flow meter 71, a valve 72, and an air pump 73, and operates the valve 72 to operate the air pump 73 so as to obtain a predetermined flow rate. To generate airflow.

The device 100 may further include the generator 1 described above. That is, the apparatus 100 may perform generation of pollen component-containing particles used for measurement.
The measuring apparatus 100 may further include a calculation device (not shown) that calculates the pollen component collection rate. The calculation device includes, for example, a computer that calculates in the same manner as in step 24 described above and calculates the pollen component collection rate.

(Experimental example 1)
Using the pollen component-containing particles generated by the generation method described above, pollen component collection rates of various filter media for air filters were measured in the following manner.
As a device that can generate droplets using ultrasonic vibration, a commercially available nebulizer (manufactured by OMRON Corporation, ultrasonic nebulizer NE-U07) is connected by a pipe line and a silicon tube shown in FIG. Assembled. The nebulizer has a built-in container. In a nebulizer container, 50 mg of commercially available cedar pollen (manufactured by Yamazo Pollen Research Society, average size of about 30 μm) and 10 mL of tap water are added, and an ultrasonic vibrator is vibrated under the condition of about 2.4 MHz to form a droplet (particle The gas supply is connected to the nebulizer container separately, and the particles corresponding to the center 80% when all the droplets whose diameters are measured are arranged in the order of the particle size are generated in the particle size range of 1-8 μm) By means, the droplets were transferred to the pipeline and diffused into the pipeline to generate pollen component-containing particles. In addition, the average size of pollen and the particle size distribution of the droplets were average values of values measured for each of 20 using a laser diffraction particle size distribution measuring apparatus.
In addition, when the particle size of the generated pollen component-containing particles was measured using an under sensor sampler (manufactured by Tokyo Dairek Co., Ltd., Andersen non-barble sampler AN-200), particles having a particle size of 1.1 μm or less were 30 in volume distribution. It was confirmed that it was contained in a much larger proportion than the amount measured in the actual environment when the amount of cedar pollen scattered was high.

In parallel with the generation of the pollen component-containing particles, a filter medium and a backup filter are attached, and the obtained pollen component-containing particles are transferred to a pipe line in which an airflow generator is operated to generate an airflow. Then, an air stream containing pollen component-containing particles was passed, and the pollen component collection rate was calculated according to the above measurement method. Moreover, the pollen component collection rate was similarly calculated using the said commercially available cedar pollen. The results are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 shows the collection performance, collection efficiency, and material of the filter medium. As the backup filter, the same filter material as Sample 1 was used.
In Table 1, the columns of “collection performance” and “collection efficiency” are nominal values by the manufacturer of each sample. In the column of “collection efficiency”, the type of measurement method is described together with the value of the collection efficiency. “Number of particles” is the collection efficiency of NaCl particles having a particle size of 0.3 μm, and “colorimetric” is the collection efficiency by the colorimetric method. “PP” in the column “Material” represents polypropylene. In addition, the “reinforcing material” is a member attached to a part of the filtering material for the purpose of reinforcement for measurement in order to improve the handling property of the filtering material. is there.
In addition, sample 1 used filter paper among the samples 1-5, and the other sample used the nonwoven fabric as a filter medium for air filters.

As can be seen from Table 1, when the filter medium for the medium performance filter with a collection efficiency of 65% is colorimetric method is used as the measurement target filter (Samples 2 to 5), 98% or more of the pollen on the market must be collected. In spite of the fact that the pollen component was contained, only 70 to 90% of the pollen component-containing particles could be collected. From these results, it can be determined that these samples are insufficient as air filter media for pollen countermeasures.
On the other hand, in the filter medium of Sample 1, 99.9% of pollen component-containing particles are collected, and it can be determined that the filter medium has sufficient collection performance as an air filter medium for pollen countermeasures.

(Experimental example 2)
A turbid liquid prepared in the same manner as in Experimental Example 1 is placed in a petri dish and dried at room temperature in a vacuum apparatus to generate particles containing pollen components, and the particle size of 3.3 μm or less is generated using the above-mentioned under sensor sampler. The abundance ratio of the particles was determined. Further, using a pulverized product of pollen instead of pollen, particles containing pollen components were similarly generated, and the abundance ratio of particles having a particle size of 3.3 μm or less was determined. As a result, among these particles, the abundance ratio of particles having a particle size of 3.3 μm or less was lower than the abundance ratio in the actual environment. On the other hand, in the pollen component-containing particles generated according to the generation method of the present embodiment, the abundance ratio of particles having a particle size of 3.3 μm or less exceeds the abundance ratio in the actual environment, and droplets having a size smaller than that of pollen are used. It was found that by making it, more pollen component-containing particles having a smaller size can be generated.

(Experimental example 3)
Except that 10 mL of tap water was placed in the nebulizer container instead of the turbid liquid, droplets were generated and ultrasonic particles were generated using ultrasonic vibration in the same manner as in Experimental Example 1. The number of generated fine particles was measured using a particle counter. On the other hand, the number of particles was similarly measured for pollen component-containing particles generated according to the generation method of the present embodiment using the turbid liquid. As a result, it was confirmed that the pollen component-containing particles obtained from the turbid liquid were several times as many as the particles obtained from tap water, and the pollen component-containing particles accounted for the majority of the pollen component-containing particles. It was done.

  The method and apparatus for generating pollen component-containing particles, the pollen component collection rate measuring device and the measuring method have been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the gist of the present invention is described. Of course, various improvements and modifications may be made without departing from the scope.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Generating device 3 Droplet generating device 5 Drying device 10 Measuring device 60 Pipe line 70 Airflow generating device 100 Measuring device

Claims (12)

A method for generating pollen component-containing particles,
(A) preparing polluted liquid by turbid pollen in water;
(B) generating droplets of the turbid liquid smaller in size than the pollen;
(C) drying the liquid droplets to obtain pollen component-containing particles containing a pollen component that is a part of the pollen, and a method for generating pollen component-containing particles.   2. The pollen component-containing particles according to claim 1, wherein in the step (b), the droplets are generated while holding a precipitating component that precipitates in the turbid liquid among the pollen components in the turbid liquid. How it occurs.   The method for generating pollen component-containing particles according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the pollen component-containing particles include particles composed only of the pollen components.   The method for generating pollen component-containing particles according to claim 1 or 2, wherein in the step (a), the turbid liquid is adjusted in pH so that the pollen is decomposed.   The method for generating pollen component-containing particles according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein in the step (a), the pollen is turbid in tap water as the water to prepare the turbid liquid.   The method for generating pollen component-containing particles according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein in the step (b), ultrasonic waves are applied to the turbid liquid to generate the droplets.   The method for generating pollen component-containing particles according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein in the step (b), the liquid droplets are generated by applying pressure to the turbid liquid and passing through the fine holes.   The method for generating pollen component-containing particles according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein in the step (b), a negative pressure is applied to the turbid liquid to generate the droplets. A device for generating pollen component-containing particles,
A droplet generator for generating droplets of turbid liquid in which pollen is turbid in water;
A drying device that dries the droplets to generate pollen component-containing particles containing pollen components that are part of the pollen, and
An apparatus for generating pollen component-containing particles, wherein the droplets are smaller in size than the pollen.   Use of the pollen component-containing particles generated by the generation method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 or the generator according to claim 9 in order to measure the collection rate of pollen components by the filter medium for air filter. A method for measuring the pollen component collection rate. (D) supplying the pollen component-containing particles to a pipeline;
(E) An airflow that flows in one direction in the pipe is generated, and is arranged on the downstream side of the filter medium for the air filter, which is a filter for measurement, arranged in the middle of the pipe, and the filter medium for the air filter. And collecting the pollen component-containing particles in a backup filter that collects the pollen component-containing particles that have passed through the filter medium for the air filter; and
(F) Using the pollen component amount a extracted from the pollen component-containing particles collected by the air filter medium and the pollen component amount b extracted from the pollen component-containing particles collected by the backup filter The method for measuring the pollen component collection rate according to claim 10, further comprising: calculating the collection rate of the pollen component by the air filter medium using the following formula.
Pollen component collection rate = a / (a + b) It extends in one direction, and is arranged downstream of the filter for air filter that is a filter for measurement and the filter for measurement, and has a higher collection efficiency of particles having a particle size of 0.3 μm than the filter medium for air filter A conduit in which a backup filter is arranged in the middle of the one direction;
An airflow generator for generating an airflow flowing in the one direction in the pipe,
The pollen component-containing particles generated by the generation method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 or the generation device according to claim 9 are supplied to the conduit, and the filter medium for the air filter and the backup filter are supplied to the conduit. The pollen component collection rate measuring apparatus, wherein the pollen component-containing particles are collected.

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