JP2018064511A - Gas supply device and operation method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gas supply device which can suitably supply gas to liquid and for which scraping work can be simply carried out, and an operation method therefor.SOLUTION: The gas supply device comprises: an above-liquid pipe 6 positioned at a height above the liquid surface of liquid 2 and through which gas A supplied from the gas supply device 4 flows; an intermediate pipe which extends into the liquid 2 downwards from the above-liquid pipe 6 and leads the gas A downwards from within the above-liquid pipe 6; and an in-liquid pipe connected to the intermediate pipe in the liquid 2 which causes the gas A from the intermediate pipe to flow therethrough to be discharged into the liquid 2. A traveling body B configured to support the in-liquid pipe by floating in the liquid 2 due to the buoyancy generated in the above-liquid pipe 6 is provided. The traveling body B is configured so as to travel while discharging the gas A supplied from the gas delivery device 4 from the in-liquid pipe while sinking in the liquid 2 by stopping or reducing the supply pressure of the gas A supplied from the gas supply device 4.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for supplying a gas into a liquid and an operation method thereof.

  In recent years, attention has been focused on a technique for cultivating algae and fixing carbon contained in the air as carbon dioxide and using it as biomass fuel. Examples of algae used for producing such biomass fuel include colony-forming algae having a length of several μm to several mm, specifically, Euglena, Chlorella, Spirulina, Donariella, Botriococcus, Pseudocollis. Chis etc. are mentioned. In addition to these microalgae, aerobic microorganisms contained in activated sludge, yeast, bacteria such as genetically modified Escherichia coli that produce useful substances, fungi such as spiders that produce useful substances such as antibiotics, Various organisms such as plankton, which is used as fish feed, are cultivated industrially.

  These organisms need to be separated and recovered from the culture solution after being propagated to some extent in the culture solution stored in the culture tank. As a document describing the technology related to such an apparatus, for example, there is the following Patent Document 1. The culture system described in Patent Literature 1 includes a scraping portion having a scraping surface orthogonal to the liquid level of the culture tank, and moves the scraping portion in an upper layer of the liquid in a direction orthogonal to the scraping surface. As a result, the algae that have propagated in the upper layer of the liquid are concentrated in the retention portion.

  On the other hand, when cultivating organisms in water, it is necessary to dissolve substances necessary for survival, production of various substances, and the like into water and supply them to the organism as dissolved gas. For algae, carbon dioxide as a photosynthesis material is essential, and for animals, oxygen for respiration is essential. The supply of such a substance is generally performed by so-called aeration, in which a gas is sent into an air supply pipe arranged in the culture tank, and the gas is ejected from the air supply pipe into the liquid. As a document showing a general technical level regarding such a device for supplying a gas into a liquid, for example, there is Patent Document 2 below.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-82910 JP 2011-239746 A

  In other words, when cultivating organisms in water, it is necessary to install a mechanism for supplying air in the culture tank in order to reproduce the organisms. On the other hand, in order to collect cultures such as propagated organisms and their products. It is necessary to introduce an apparatus for scraping the culture into the culture tank. Depending on the configuration of these devices, the mechanism for supplying air may interfere with the device for scraping during the recovery operation, and may interfere with the scraping. It is assumed that it is necessary to go through a troublesome procedure such as once removing the mechanism for supplying the water from the culture tank.

  In view of such a situation, the present invention intends to provide a gas supply device and a method for operating the gas supply device that can suitably supply gas to a liquid and can easily perform a scraping operation.

  The present invention is located at the level of the liquid level of the liquid stored in the storage tank, and extends to the liquid below from the liquid pipe through which the gas delivered from the gas delivery device flows. An intermediate pipe that guides the gas in the liquid pipe downward, and a liquid pipe that is connected to the intermediate pipe in liquid, circulates the gas from the intermediate pipe, and discharges it into the liquid, A traveling body configured to float in the liquid by the buoyancy generated in the liquid pipe and support the submerged pipe above the bottom of the storage tank; the traveling body is delivered from the gas delivery device While traveling while being supported by the liquid with buoyancy while discharging the gas from the submerged tube, it is configured to sink in the liquid by stopping the gas delivery from the gas delivery device or lowering the delivery pressure. This relates to a gas supply device.

  Further, the present invention provides the above-described gas that sinks the traveling body in the liquid prior to a scraping operation using a scraper that scrapes a part of the liquid stored in the storage tank to one side of the storage tank. The present invention relates to a method for operating a gas supply device using the supply device.

  In the operation method of the gas supply device of the present invention, it is preferable that at least a part of the traveling body is caused to travel to a part in the storage tank before the traveling body sinks.

  In the operation method of the gas supply apparatus of the present invention, the scraping work can be performed by attaching the scraper to the traveling body and causing the traveling body to which the scraper is attached to travel.

  According to the gas supply device and the operation method thereof of the present invention, it is possible to suitably supply the gas to the liquid, while achieving an excellent effect that the scraping operation can be easily performed.

It is a top view which shows an example of the gas supply apparatus by implementation of this invention. FIG. 2 is a front sectional view showing an example of a gas supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a view corresponding to II-II in FIG. 1. It is a sectional side view which shows an example of the gas supply apparatus by implementation of this invention, and is a III-III arrow equivalent view of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the form of the scraper used for implementation of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the procedure of the culture | cultivation collection | recovery operation | work by implementation of this invention. It is a sectional side view which shows an example of the operation method of the gas supply apparatus by implementation of this invention, (A) is the state which connected the towline to one traveling body, (B) is a traveling body on the one side of a culture tank. The approached state, (C) shows the state where the traveling body is sunk, and (D) shows the state during the scraping work. It is a flowchart which shows another example of the procedure of the culture | cultivation collection | recovery operation | work by implementation of this invention. It is a sectional side view which shows another example of the operation method of the gas supply apparatus by implementation of this invention, (A) is the state which connected the towline to one traveling body, (B) is culture | cultivating one part traveling body. The state brought close to one side of the tank, (C) shows a state where a part of the traveling body is sunk, and (D) shows a state during the scraping work.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  1 to 3 show a gas supply apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The gas supply device 1 is installed in a culture tank 3 as a storage tank for storing a liquid 2 which is a culture liquid of microalgae such as Euglena, Chlorella, Spirulina, Donariella, Botriococcus, Pseudocolistis and the like. In addition to this, it is used for the purpose of cultivating and culturing various organisms such as aerobic microorganisms, yeasts, bacteria, fungi, plankton, etc. Can be applied. Further, it can be used not only for culturing and aquaculture of organisms but also for various facilities that need to send gas into a liquid.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the gas supply device 1 is connected to a gas delivery device 4 that pressurizes and sends out air A as a gas, and the gas delivery device 4 via a delivery pipe 5. A liquid pipe 6 that introduces and distributes air A sent from the inside, and an intermediate pipe 7 that extends from the liquid pipe 6 into the culture medium 2 below and guides the air A in the liquid pipe 6 downward. A submerged pipe 8 disposed near the bottom of the culture tank 3 and connected to the intermediate pipe 7, allowing the air from the intermediate pipe 7 to circulate inside and discharge into the culture medium 2. 6, the intermediate pipe 7 and the submerged pipe 8 constitute a traveling body B described later. In the case of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the traveling body B is provided with a plurality of stages (here, four stages) with respect to the culture tank 3.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the liquid pipe 6 is formed by connecting a plurality of main pipes 6a to each other in the longitudinal direction by connecting pipes 6b. The main pipe 6a is a soft pipe formed by weaving resin fibers, and swells when air A is fed into the main pipe 6a. The length per main pipe 6a is, for example, about 2 m to 10 m, and one end of the plurality of main pipes 6a is connected by the connection pipe 6b to constitute one long liquid pipe 6. The length of one liquid tube 6 is set to be approximately equal to the size of the culture tank 3 along the longitudinal direction of the liquid tube 6. In other words, the liquid tube 6 is disposed over substantially the entire width of the culture tank 3. The connecting pipe 6b is a T-shaped pipe made of, for example, vinyl chloride resin, and the left and right ends are arranged along the horizontal direction and connected to the ends of the main pipes 6a. Connected to the top.

  Of the connecting pipes 6b, at least one connecting pipe 6b ′ (here, the connecting pipe 6b ′ located at the center in the longitudinal direction of the liquid pipe 6) is configured as a four-way T-shaped pipe having four connecting ends. Of these four end portions, two opposite end portions are arranged along the horizontal direction and are arranged at the end portion of the main pipe 6a, and one of the remaining end portions is arranged along the horizontal direction. One end of the delivery pipe 5 is directed downward and connected to the upper end of the intermediate pipe 7. The delivery pipe 5 is a flexible tube made of a material such as flexible rubber or resin, and feeds air A from the gas delivery apparatus 4 into the liquid pipe 6 from the connection pipe 6b ′. . The main pipe 6a is expanded by the air A sent into the inside to obtain buoyancy, and floats on the liquid surface of the culture solution 2.

  Moreover, the end part connection pipe 6c is connected to the end part of the main pipe 6a corresponding to both ends of the liquid pipe 6 connected to one by the connection pipe 6b. The end connection pipe 6c is, for example, an L-shaped pipe made of vinyl chloride resin, and one of the two ends is arranged along the horizontal direction and connected to the end of the main pipe 6a, and the other is Directed downward and connected to the upper end of the intermediate tube 7.

  The submerged tube 8 disposed in the culture solution 2 has a substantially symmetrical arrangement with the submerged tube 6 disposed on the liquid surface, and the ends of the plurality of main tubes 8a are connected by the connecting tube 8b. As a result, one long submerged tube 8 is formed. The main tube 8a is, for example, a rubber tube having a large number of holes communicating with the inner surface and the outer surface opened on the side surface, the length is set to be substantially equal to the main tube 6a of the liquid pipe 6 at the corresponding position, and the diameter is It is set smaller than the main pipe 6 a of the liquid pipe 6. The connecting pipe 8b is a T-shaped pipe made of, for example, vinyl chloride resin, and the left and right ends are arranged along the horizontal direction and are connected to the ends of the main pipes 8a, respectively, and the center end is directed upward so that the intermediate pipe 7 Connected to the lower end. End connection pipes 8 c are connected to the ends of the main pipe 8 a corresponding to both ends of the submerged pipe 8. The end connection pipe 8c is an L-shaped pipe made of, for example, vinyl chloride resin, and one of the two ends is arranged along the horizontal direction and connected to the end of the main pipe 8a, and the other is Directed upward and connected to the lower end of the intermediate tube 7.

  The intermediate tube 7 is a tube disposed in the culture solution 2 along the vertical direction, and is configured as a soft tube in which resin fibers are knitted, for example, like the main tube 6a. As described above, the upper end is connected to the connecting pipes 6 b and 6 b ′ constituting the liquid pipe 6 and the end directed downward of the end connecting pipe 6 c, and the lower end is the connecting pipe constituting the submerged pipe 8. 8b and the end of the end connection pipe 8c are connected to the end directed upward. In this way, the submerged tube 8 is supported below the upper liquid tube 6 floating on the liquid surface of the culture solution 2 via the intermediate tube 7, thereby forming a traveling body B that travels in the culture solution 2. The The position where the submerged tube 8 is supported below the traveling body B is slightly above the bottom surface of the culture tank 3.

  As described above, when the air A is sent from the gas delivery device 4, the upper tube 6 of the traveling body B is positioned at the level of the liquid level of the culture solution 2, and a part thereof is submerged in the culture solution 2. The buoyancy that supports the entire traveling body B is generated.

  A tow rope 9 for operating the traveling body B along the liquid surface direction is connected to a part of the connecting pipe 6b constituting the liquid pipe 6 and the end connecting pipe 6c. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the tow rope 9 is arranged so as to extend in a horizontal direction orthogonal to the direction formed by the liquid pipe 6, and both ends thereof are wound on the edges of the culture tank 3. It is connected to the upper unit 10.

  Here, the tow rope 9 may be connected to any of the liquid pipe 6, the intermediate pipe 7 and the liquid pipe 8 constituting the traveling body B. In the present embodiment, the tow rope 9 is chlorinated. Since the connecting pipe 6b and the end connecting pipe 6c formed of vinyl resin are not easily deformed and are easy to connect, this is selected as the connecting position of the tow rope 9.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the hoisting machine 10 is installed on the edge of the culture tank 3, and the installation position of each hoisting machine 10 at the edge of the culture tank 3 and the culture tank 3 below the hoisting machine 10. A pulley 11a and a pulley 11b are rotatably supported on the wall surface, and the tow rope 9 is wound around the pulleys 11a and 11b and then wound around the hoisting machine 10. In this way, the pulling cord 9 is wound or delivered along the liquid level of the culture solution 2 by the hoisting machine 10 while keeping the pulling cord 9 horizontal between the pulleys 11b, 11b on the wall surface of the facing culture tank 3. Can be done.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, limit switches 12 that are operated by contact are provided on the wall surfaces at positions corresponding to both ends of the tow rope 9 in the culture tank 3. The limit switch 12 is disposed, for example, at the height of the liquid pipe 6, and inputs a contact signal 12 a to the control device 13 when the liquid pipe 6 is contacted.

  The control device 13 is a device for controlling each hoisting machine 10 provided at the edge of the culture tank 3. By inputting a control signal 10 a to each hoisting machine 10, the operation / stop of each hoisting machine 10 is performed. The operation such as winding and unwinding of the tow rope 9 is operated.

  In the present embodiment, the traveling body B as described above is provided in a plurality of stages along the direction of the tow rope 9 as shown in FIG. These traveling bodies B can be submerged in the culture solution 2 when necessary, such as during the collection of the culture. That is, since the traveling body B is supported by the culture solution 2 by the buoyancy of the liquid pipe 6 as described above, if the sending of the air A from the gas delivery device 4 is stopped or the delivery pressure is lowered, The amount of air A in the liquid pipe 6 decreases and the buoyancy decreases. If the specific gravity of the traveling body B becomes larger than that of the culture solution 2 by this operation, the entire traveling body B sinks into the culture solution 2.

  Further, the delivery pipe 5 and each tow rope 9 are configured to be arbitrarily attachable and detachable with respect to the liquid pipe 6 in a scraping work described later.

  FIG. 4 shows a mechanism for recovering cultures such as organisms cultured in the culture tank 3 and their products. The scraper 14 is a plate-like member having a vertical scraping surface 14a perpendicular to the liquid surface of the culture solution 2, and is in a direction perpendicular to the scraping surface 14a at the height of the liquid surface of the culture solution 3. It is supposed to run. The scraper 14 is arranged over substantially the entire width of the culture tank 3 when scraped, and the width of the scraping surface 14a is substantially equal to the dimension of the culture tank 3 along the longitudinal direction of the scraping surface 14a. A recovery tank 15 is provided at one end (upper side in FIG. 1) of the moving direction of the scraper 14 of the culture tank 3 serving as a storage tank, and the culture solution 2 is removed by the scraper 14 in a scraping operation described later. Scraping here, the culture in the culture solution 2 is recovered.

  The traveling direction of the scraper 14 with respect to the culture tank 3 can be arbitrarily set. For example, the scraper 14 is connected to the towing line 9 and the scraper 14 is caused to travel in the direction along the towing line 9 by the operation of the hoisting machine 10. This configuration is convenient. In addition, the scraper 14 may be configured to be attachable to the liquid pipe 6 constituting the traveling body B, and the scraper 14 may travel along with the traveling body B. In FIG. 4, the mechanism for supporting or operating the scraper 14 is not shown.

  The scraper 14 is preferably composed of a substance having a specific gravity sufficiently higher than that of the culture medium 2 so that the scraping surface 14a can be maintained at an appropriate angle with respect to the liquid level of the culture medium 2, If it is too heavy, it may interfere with driving. In particular, when traveling while being attached to the traveling body B, it is desirable to set the specific gravity or weight to such an extent that the liquid pipe 6 is not sunk while maintaining the vertical plane. Specifically, for example, it can be composed of a vinyl chloride resin having a specific gravity of 1 or more. Further, for example, the scraper 14 main body may be made of a material having a specific gravity smaller than 1, and a scraping surface 14a perpendicular to the liquid level may be maintained by providing a weight (not shown) at one end. . In addition, as long as an appropriate scraping surface 14a can be formed, the material and structure of the scraper 14 can be appropriately selected.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

  When the organism is propagated in the culture solution 2, when the gas delivery device 4 is operated, the gas delivery device 4 pressurizes the liquid pipe 6 of each traveling body B through the delivery tube 5. Air A is sent. The main pipe 6a constituting the liquid pipe 6 obtains buoyancy by feeding air A into the liquid pipe 6 and floats on the liquid surface of the culture solution 2, and the entire traveling body B including the intermediate pipe 7 and the submerged pipe 8 is lifted by buoyancy To support. In addition, the connection between the air A outlet of the gas delivery device 4 and the connection pipe 6 b ′ of the liquid pipe 6 is maintained while the delivery pipe 5 also floats on the liquid surface. Thus, in the gas supply apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the liquid pipe 6 serves both as a pipe for allowing the gas A to flow through the traveling body B and a role for supporting the traveling body B by buoyancy. With such a structure, the configuration of the entire traveling body B is simplified, and costs for manufacturing and the like are reduced.

  The air A sent into the liquid pipe 6 is partly sent out from the connecting pipes 6b and 6b 'and the end connecting pipe 6c to the intermediate pipe 7 while expanding the main pipe 6a. To the submerged tube 8 from the connecting tube 8b and the end connecting tube 8c connected to the liquid. The submerged tube 8 sends out air A into the culture solution 2 from a large number of holes opened in the side surface of the main tube 8a.

  At this time, as described above, the submerged tube 8 is configured to have a smaller diameter than the submerged tube 6, and as a result, the air A is uniformly sent out from the entire submerged tube 8. Yes. That is, since the volume of the liquid pipe 6 is larger than that of the liquid pipe 8, most of the air sent from the gas delivery device 4 to the liquid pipe 6 is first filled in the entire area of the liquid pipe 6. While being retained in the liquid pipe 6, it is sent from the connecting pipes 6 b, 6 b ′ and the end connecting pipe 6 c at various places to the submerged pipe 8 partly through the intermediate pipe 7. Accordingly, the air A is supplied uniformly to the connecting pipe 8b and the end connecting pipe 8c at various locations of the submerged pipe 8. Assuming that the diameter of the main pipe 8a of the submerged pipe 8 is set to be larger than that of the main pipe 6a of the submerged pipe 6, the air A from the gas delivery device 4 flows over the entire area of the submerged pipe 6. Before filling, much will be fed into the submerged tube 8. At that time, the air A sent into the submerged pipe 8 increases as the position is closer to the connecting pipe 6b ′ of the upper liquid pipe 6 to which the delivery pipe 5 is connected. As a result, more air A is released from the hole opened in the side surface of the main pipe 8a of the submerged pipe 8 toward the connecting pipe 6b ', and the air from the submerged pipe 8 to the culture medium 2 is released. It is conceivable that there is a bias in sending A. This also applies to the case where the delivery pipe 5 is directly connected to the submerged pipe 8 without using the liquid pipe 6 or the intermediate pipe 7, for example. In the present embodiment, the air A from the gas delivery device 4 is sent to the submerged tube 8 via the upper liquid pipe 6, and the volume of the upper liquid pipe 6 is set larger than that of the submerged pipe 8. It eliminates the uneven supply.

  Here, the mechanism for sending out the air A from the submerged tube 8 can take various configurations other than the hole opened in the side surface of the main tube 8a as described above. For example, it is also possible to provide a porous delivery part in a part of the submerged tube 8 and send out the air A from the delivery part as bubbles. In addition, the submerged tube 8 may be configured in any manner as long as the air A, which is a gas, can be appropriately sent out to the culture medium 2, which is a liquid.

  Thus, the air A sent out from the gas delivery device 4 is supplied into the culture solution 2 via the traveling body B constituted by the upper liquid pipe 6, the intermediate pipe 7 and the submerged pipe 8. Each traveling body B supplies air A as described above while reciprocating horizontally in the culture solution 2 by the tow rope 9.

  Each tow rope 9 is wound or fed by a hoisting machine 10 provided at the edge of the culture tank 3, thereby causing each traveling body B connected to each tow rope 9 to travel in the culture tank 3. In FIG. 1, when each traveling body B is desired to travel upward in the figure, each hoisting machine 10 located in the upper part in the figure winds the tow rope 9 and each hoisting machine 10 located in the lower part in the figure. Performs the operation of extending the tow rope 9. Further, when each traveling body B is desired to travel downward in the figure, each hoisting machine 10 located in the upper part in the figure feeds out the towing rope 9, and each hoisting machine 10 located in the lower part in the figure The operation of winding 9 is performed. By repeating this operation alternately, each traveling body B reciprocates up and down in the culture tank 3 in the figure.

  At this time, the operation is switched when the contact of the upper tube 6 is detected by the limit switch 12 provided in the culture tank 3. As an example, a case will be described in which each traveling body B is moved upward in FIG. 1 and then the operation is switched to move downward. First, each traveling body B moves upward, and when the traveling body B located at the top in FIG. 1 reaches the upper edge of the culture tank 3 in the figure, the main pipe 6a of the upper liquid pipe 6 is connected to each limit switch 12. The contact signal 12 a is transmitted to the control device 13.

  When the contact signal 12a is input from the limit switch 12, the control device 13 temporarily stops the operation of the hoisting machine 10 at the position corresponding to the limit switch 12 to which the contact signal 12a is input. For example, in FIG. 1, when a contact signal 12 a is input from the limit switch 12 positioned at the left end of the upper edge of the culture tank 3, the winding positioned at the left end of the upper edge of the culture tank 3 corresponding thereto. The upper machine 10 and the hoisting machine 10 located at the left end of the lower edge of the culture tank 3 facing the upper machine 10 are stopped. This is performed until the contact signal 12a is input from all the limit switches 12 located above the culture tank 3. And if the contact signal 12a is input from all the limit switches 12 located on the upper side of the culture tank 3, the direction of operation of the hoisting machine 10 is switched, and the hoisting machine 10 located on the upper edge of the culture tank 3 The operation of unwinding the towing line 9 is performed by causing the hoisting machine 10 located at the lower edge of the culture tank 3 to perform the operation of winding the towing line 9 so that each traveling body B is moved downward in FIG. Let it run.

  That is, when each traveling body B is traveled by a plurality of tow ropes 9, depending on the difference in the speed of operation of the hoisting machine 10 that winds or unwinds each tow rope 9 and other various conditions, The moving speed with respect to the culture tank 3 and the distance from the edge may differ depending on the location. Therefore, when the traveling body B located at the end of the traveling bodies B arranged in a plurality along the direction of the tow rope 9 reaches one edge of the culture tank 3, the position shift is used by the limit switch 12. Are detected and corrected.

  When the traveling body B located at the bottom in the figure reaches the lower edge of the culture tank 3 among the traveling bodies B, this is detected by the limit switch 12 positioned at the lower edge of the culture tank 3. Then, the direction of operation of the hoisting machine 10 is switched, and each traveling body B is caused to travel upward in the figure.

  By repeating the above operation and supplying the air A while reciprocating each traveling body B in the culture tank 3, the air A can be uniformly supplied to the entire area in the culture tank 3. Since the air A is fed while moving the submerged tube 8 in the culture solution 2, the air A can be evenly supplied to the culture solution 2 even if the number is small. In addition, since the number of submerged pipes 8 is small relative to the amount of air A to be fed, even if the supply amount of air A is suppressed, air can be fed to the submerged pipe 8 with sufficient pressure. It is possible to reduce the problem that the air A outlet is blocked in the pipe 8.

  Here, as the power of the towing rope 9, instead of the hoisting machine 10 as described above, for example, a pulley 11b may be provided with a motor (not shown), and the pulley 11b may be driven by the motor. In that case, the tow rope 9 can be configured to be wound endlessly between the pulleys 11b and 11b facing each other. Alternatively, the tow rope 9 can be pulled by human power. In addition, as long as the tow rope 9 can be pulled at an appropriate speed and the traveling body B can be run, various structures can be adopted as a mechanism or method for operating the tow rope 9.

  Further, a brush or the like reaching the bottom of the culture tank 3 is installed below the submerged tube 8, and the sediment accumulated on the bottom of the culture tank 3 as the traveling body B travels or the accumulated microorganisms It is also possible to make a configuration such as scraping up.

  In this way, in this example, the air A is fed into the culture solution 2 to supply substances necessary for living organisms into the culture solution 2 and the culture solution 2 is stirred. While reducing the supply amount of the air A as much as possible, the uniform supply of the air A and the uniform stirring of the culture solution 2 by this are enabled. That is, from the viewpoint of saving energy required for culturing, it is necessary to reduce the supply amount of air A as much as possible within a range that satisfies the amount required for culturing organisms and producing substances. If the supply amount is reduced, the supply of air A and the stirring of the culture solution 2 are likely to be uneven. In the gas supply apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the air A is ejected while moving the submerged tube 8 in the culture solution 2, thereby reducing the supply amount of the air A, uniform supply of the air A, and the culture solution 2. It is compatible with uniform stirring.

  At this time, the entire traveling body B including the submerged tube 8 is supported in the culture solution 2 by the buoyancy of the upper tube 6, and the submerged tube 8 is floated in the culture solution 2 and cultured. It travels in the culture tank 3 without contacting the bottom surface of the tank 3. Therefore, friction due to sliding does not occur between the submerged tube 8 and the bottom surface of the culture tank 3, energy for traveling of the traveling body B can be reduced, and the submerged tube 8 is worn with traveling. Or there is no worry about damage.

  Furthermore, each traveling body B can be submerged in the culture solution 2 as described above, whereby the culture scraping operation using the scraper 14 (see FIG. 4) can be easily performed. . Hereafter, the process concerning this scraping work is demonstrated, referring the flowchart of FIG.

  First, as step S1, among the traveling bodies B arranged in the culture tank 3 as shown in FIG. 6 (A), the recovery tank 15 side (right side in FIG. 6 (A)) is one side and the other side (left side). ) Is removed from the traveling body B other than the traveling body B (referred to as traveling body B1) located at the end. That is, at this time, the tow rope 9 is in a state of being connected only to the leftmost traveling body B1 other than the hoisting machines 10 on both edges of the culture tank 3.

  Next, as step S2, the winding machines 10 at both edges are operated, and the leftmost traveling body B1 is caused to travel to one side of the culture tank 3 as shown in FIG. That is, the hoisting machine 10 on one side winds the tow rope 9, and the hoisting machine 10 on the other side performs an operation of unwinding the towing rope 9. Then, the other traveling body B is pushed to the leftmost traveling body B1, and the entire traveling body B is brought to one side of the culture tank 3.

  When all the traveling bodies B including the traveling body B1 are brought to one side, in step S3, the delivery pressure of the air A from the gas delivery device 4 (see FIG. 1) is reduced or the delivery of the air A is stopped. As shown in FIG. 6C, the entire traveling body B including the traveling body B1 is submerged in the culture solution 2. As described above, since the main pipe 6a and the intermediate pipe 7 of the liquid pipe 6 are made of a soft material, the traveling body B is placed at the bottom of the culture tank 3 so that the main pipe 6a and the intermediate pipe 7 are folded. Settling. At this time, prior to sinking the traveling body B, the tow rope 9 may be removed from the traveling body B1.

  Finally, as step S4, as shown in FIG. 6D, the scraper 14 is run at the level of the liquid level of the culture solution 2, and a part of the culture solution 2 is scraped toward the one side from the other side. Here, “scraping” refers to scraping a part of the liquid from one position to another along the horizontal direction, and in particular, scraping the liquid surface and the liquid near the liquid surface. Say. At this time, since the traveling body B is sinked in the culture solution 2 in the previous step S3, there is no concern that the traveling body B interferes with the scraper 14. In this way, it is possible to easily prevent the traveling body B from interfering with the scraping work by simply sinking the traveling body B, and the traveling body B is removed from the culture tank 3 during the scraping work. There is no need. At this time, as described above, it is convenient if the tow rope 9 is attached to the scraper 14 and operated by the hoisting machine 10, but in this case, the tow rope 9 removed from the traveling body B1 in step S3. May be used by connecting to the scraper 14.

  The scraper 14 travels from the other side to the one side of the culture tank 3, and the culture in the vicinity of the liquid level in the culture solution 2 is scraped together with the culture solution 2 toward the recovery tank 15. And flows into the recovery tank 15. In the case where the culture is not sufficiently collected by one scraping, for example, the scraper 14 is lifted to a height above the level of the culture solution 2 and then the hoist 10 is operated to culture the scraper 14. Return to the other side of the tank 3, the scraper 14 is returned to the level of the liquid level of the culture solution 2, and scraped again to the other side of the culture tank 3. In this way, the scraping operation is repeated as appropriate, and the recovery operation to the recovery tank 15 is completed.

  Here, in step S1 described above, the tow rope 9 is removed from the traveling body B other than the traveling body B1, and this is used for traveling of the traveling body B1 in step S3. In this step S3, the traction used for traveling of the traveling body B1. The cable 9 may be prepared separately from the tow cable 9 that connects the traveling bodies B to each other. Similarly, the tow rope 9 used for running the scraper 14 in step S4 can be removed from the running body B as described above, or another tow rope 9 can be prepared.

  Further, in the above-described procedure, the entire traveling body B is caused to travel in step S2 and brought to one side of the culture tank 3, and then submerged in the culture medium 2 in step S3. When convenience is considered, step S2 and step S1 as this preparation are not necessarily required. This is because even if the entire traveling body B is not brought close to one side of the culture tank 3 and is sunk on the spot, there is no problem in the amount of movement of the scraper 14 near the liquid surface of the culture solution 2. However, for example, when it is necessary to remove each traveling body B from the culture tank 3 after the scraping operation in step S4, the traveling bodies B are collectively located in a part of the culture tank 3. Since the method is simpler, the traveling body B is moved and then sunk. Here, for example, it is not impossible to reverse the order of steps S2 and S3 and move the traveling body B after sinking, but in that case, the traveling body B moves while contacting the bottom surface of the culture tank 3. Therefore, there is a possibility that problems such as wear of the submerged tube 8 may occur. Therefore, when the traveling body B is moved prior to the use of the scraper 14, it is desirable that the traveling body B is moved in the culture solution 2 and then sunk as described above. At this time, the side on which the traveling body B is brought closer may be either one side or the other side of the culture tank 3 and may be appropriately determined in view of convenience such as removal work of the traveling body B.

  7 and 8 show another procedure of the scraping work by the gas supply device 1 and the scraper 14 described above. This other procedure will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 8 (A), among the traveling bodies B arranged in the culture tank 3, as shown in FIG. 8 (A), the traveling body B (second position from the end of the other side (left side in FIG. 8 (A)) ( The tow rope 9 is removed from the traveling bodies B other than the traveling body B2. At this time, the tow rope 9 is in a state of being connected only to the second traveling body B2 from the left end other than the hoisting machines 10 on both edges of the culture tank 3. At this time, if the left end traveling body B1 is brought close to the left end of the culture tank 3 prior to removal of the tow rope 9, the scraping can be efficiently performed in the subsequent step S15.

  Next, as step S12, the hoisting machine 10 is operated, and the traveling body B2 is caused to travel to one side of the culture tank 3 as shown in FIG. Only the leftmost traveling body B1 is left on the other side of the culture tank 3, and the traveling body B2 and the other traveling bodies B are brought to one side of the culture tank 3.

  As step S13, the delivery pressure of air A to the traveling bodies B other than the leftmost traveling body B1 from the gas delivery device 4 (see FIG. 1) is reduced or the delivery of air A is stopped, as shown in FIG. 8C. Thus, the traveling bodies B other than the leftmost traveling body B1 are submerged in the culture solution 2. At this time, prior to sinking, the tow rope 9 is removed from the traveling body B2.

  In step S14, as shown by a broken line in FIG. 8D, the scraper 14 is attached to the leftmost traveling body B1. A tow rope 9 is connected to the traveling body B1. In step S15, the hoisting machine 10 is operated, and the traveling body B1 to which the scraper 14 is attached is driven at the level of the liquid level of the culture solution 2 as shown by the solid line in FIG. The part is scraped toward the collection tank 15. The scraping operation in step S15 is repeated as appropriate, and the recovery operation to the recovery tank 15 is completed.

  According to this procedure, there is no need to remove the tow rope 9 from the traveling body B1 and replace it with the scraper 14 prior to the scraping work in step S15, and it is sufficient to attach the scraper 14 to the traveling body B1. Convenient.

  In addition, although the case where the traveling body B comprised by the liquid pipe | tube 6, the intermediate | middle pipe | tube 7, and the submerged pipe | tube 8 was provided in the upper stage with respect to the culture tank 3 was illustrated above, the number of traveling bodies B is more than this. However, it may be small or may be appropriately changed according to the size of the culture tank 3 and other conditions. For example, it may be one stage. If the number of the traveling bodies B is one stage, steps S11 to S13 are not necessary when the collection operation is performed according to the procedure shown in FIGS.

  As described above, the gas supply device 1 of the present embodiment is located at the level of the liquid 2 and has a liquid pipe 6 through which the gas A flows and the liquid pipe 6 in the liquid 2. An intermediate pipe 7 extending downward to guide the gas A in the upper liquid pipe 6 downward, and connected to the intermediate pipe 7 in the liquid 2, allowing the gas A from the intermediate pipe 7 to flow inside and the liquid 2 A traveling body B including a submerged pipe 8 that discharges therein and configured to support the submerged pipe 8 above the bottom of the storage tank 3 by being floated on the liquid 2 by buoyancy generated in the upper pipe 6. The traveling body B travels while releasing the gas A from the submerged pipe 8 and supported by the liquid 2 with buoyancy, while stopping the delivery of the gas A or lowering the delivery pressure. It is configured to sink inside. In this way, by supplying the gas A while traveling the traveling body B, the gas A can be uniformly and uniformly supplied to the entire area of the storage tank 3 with a small number of submerged pipes 8. In addition, since the gas A can be sent to the submerged tube 8 with a sufficient pressure, the problem that the gas A ejection port is blocked in the submerged tube 8 can be reduced. Furthermore, since the submerged tube 8 travels in the storage tank 3 without being in contact with the bottom surface of the storage tank 3, the energy required for traveling of the traveling body B can be reduced, and wear and breakage of the submerged pipe 8 can be avoided. In addition, in the scraping work, the traveling body B can be easily prevented from sinking by the sinking of the traveling body B. Furthermore, the liquid pipe 6 serves both as a pipe for allowing the gas A to flow through the traveling body B and a role for supporting the traveling body B by buoyancy, thereby simplifying the configuration of the traveling body B and manufacturing and the like. Cost can be reduced.

  Further, in the operation method of the gas supply apparatus of the present embodiment, prior to the scraping work using the scraper 14 that scrapes a part of the liquid 2 stored in the storage tank 3 to one side of the storage tank 3, Since the traveling body B is submerged in the liquid 2, it is not necessary to remove the traveling body B from the storage tank 3 during the scraping operation, and the scraping operation can be easily performed.

  Further, in the operation method of the gas supply apparatus of the present embodiment, since at least a part of the traveling body B travels and approaches a part in the storage tank 3 before the traveling body B sinks, This is convenient when the traveling body B is removed after the shifting work. Further, when the traveling body B is moved, there is no concern that a problem such as wear of the submerged pipe 8 will occur.

  Further, in the operation method of the gas supply apparatus of the present embodiment, the scraper 14 is attached to the traveling body B1, and the scraping work can be performed by traveling the traveling body B1 to which the scraper 14 is attached. In this way, the scraper 14 can be attached to the traveling body B1 during the scraping work, so that the scraping work can be executed more easily.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the gas can be suitably supplied to the liquid, and the scraping operation can be easily performed.

  In addition, the gas supply apparatus of this invention and its operation method are not limited only to the above-mentioned Example, Of course, various changes can be added within the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.

1 Gas supply device 2 Liquid (culture solution)
3 Storage tank (culture tank)
4 Gas delivery device 6 Liquid upper pipe 7 Intermediate pipe 8 Submerged pipe 14 Scraper A Gas (air)
B traveling body B1 traveling body B2 traveling body

Claims (4)

A liquid upper pipe that is located at the level of the liquid level of the liquid stored in the storage tank and that circulates the gas delivered from the gas delivery device, and extends from the liquid upper pipe into the liquid below the liquid upper pipe. An intermediate pipe for guiding the gas in the pipe downward, and a submerged pipe connected to the intermediate pipe in the liquid, allowing the gas from the intermediate pipe to flow inside and discharging into the liquid, and the upper pipe A traveling body configured to support the submerged pipe above the bottom of the storage tank by floating in the liquid due to buoyancy generated in
The traveling body travels while being supported by the liquid with buoyancy while releasing the gas delivered from the gas delivery device from the submerged pipe.
A gas supply device configured to sink into the liquid by stopping the gas delivery from the gas delivery device or lowering the delivery pressure.   The gas supply device according to claim 1, wherein the traveling body is submerged in the liquid prior to a scraping operation using a scraper that scrapes a part of the liquid stored in the storage tank to one side of the storage tank. Operation method of gas supply device using   The operation method of the gas supply device according to claim 2, wherein at least a part of the traveling body is caused to travel toward a part of the storage tank prior to the sinking of the traveling body.   The operation method of the gas supply device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the scraper is attached to the traveling body, and the scraping work is performed by traveling the traveling body with the scraper attached thereto.

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