JP2020130152A - Preservation container and thawing device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a preservation container and a thawing device capable of performing thawing, in a uniform manner, creatures when thawing creatures frozen and preserved in a container, shortening a thawing time and freezing, in a uniform manner, creatures put into the container for freezing and preservation.SOLUTION: A preservation container 10 comprises: a slender container body 12 extending in a vertical direction in a slender state and having an opening on a top part; and a lid body 14 for closing and opening the opening, the preservation container preserving stored creatures in a frozen state. A bottom part 15 of the container body 12 has a hollow erecting part 16 extending upward and entering into the container. A hollow erecting part inner space SS formed inside of the hollow erecting part 16 communicates with an exterior space. A preservation container inner space SI formed outside of the hollow erecting part 16 and the hollow erecting inner space SS are partitioned by the hollow erecting part 16.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a storage container and a thawing device for cryopreserving an organism.

In recent years, organisms such as cells are often cryopreserved (frozen and preserved). When performing such cryopreservation, put the organism in a storage container for cryopreservation and store it in a dedicated refrigerator or liquid nitrogen. Then, when it becomes necessary to use the cryopreserved organism in an experiment or the like, the organism is thawed by heating the storage container.

As for this heating, usually, the storage container is often heated by immersing it in hot water. By immersing in hot water in this way, the container is gradually thawed from the bottom and the part near the side wall.

Further, for this frozen storage, the container is gradually frozen in a refrigerator or liquid nitrogen from a portion near the bottom or side wall of the storage container.

JP-A-2017-526375

In such conventional thawing, the organisms are thawed unevenly from the bottom of the storage container and the portion near the side wall, so that the frozen portion in the central part of the organisms in the container is finally thawed. For this reason, it takes time to thaw all the organisms in the container, and the function of the organisms after thawing is impaired.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to allow the organisms cryopreserved in a container to be thawed uniformly and to shorten the thaw time, and to freeze. It is an object of the present invention to provide a storage container and a thawing device capable of uniformly freezing the organisms placed in the container for storage.

The storage container according to claim 1 is a storage container that has an opening at the top and extends in an elongated shape in the vertical direction, and has a lid that opens and closes the opening, and freezes and stores the contained organism. The bottom of the container body is provided with a hollow standing portion that extends upward and enters the container, and the space inside the hollow standing portion formed inside the hollow standing portion communicates with the external space. The storage container inner space formed on the outside of the hollow erecting portion and the hollow erecting portion inner space are partitioned by the hollow erecting portion.

In the storage container according to claim 1, since the space inside the storage container and the space inside the hollow standing portion are partitioned by the hollow standing portion, the space inside the storage container from the space inside the hollow standing portion via the hollow standing portion Can heat the creatures. Therefore, when thawing the organisms cryopreserved in the container, the thawing can be uniformly thawed and the thawing time can be shortened. In addition, the organisms placed in the container for cryopreservation can be uniformly frozen.

In the storage container according to claim 2, the side wall portion of the container body and the side wall portion of the hollow standing portion are cylindrical, and the central axes of the container body and the hollow standing portion coincide with each other. It is characterized by being.

In the storage container according to claim 2, it is possible to prevent a partially frozen portion from remaining as much as possible.

The storage container according to claim 3 is characterized in that the side wall portion of the container body and the side wall portion of the hollow standing portion are cylindrical, and the bottom portion includes a plurality of the hollow standing portions. ..

In the storage container according to claim 3, it is possible to further shorten the thawing time while reducing the diameter of each hollow vertical portion.

The storage container according to claim 4 is characterized in that each central axis of the hollow upright portion is arranged at a position symmetrical with respect to the central axis of the container body in a plan view.

In the storage container according to claim 4, it is easy to prevent a partially frozen portion from remaining.

The storage container according to claim 5 is provided with an air vent opening that communicates with the space inside the hollow standing portion and the external space outside the side wall portion of the container body, and the liquid for thawing is below the space inside the hollow standing portion. It is characterized in that the air in the space inside the hollow standing portion flows out from the air vent opening when flowing in from the air vent opening.

In the storage container according to claim 5, when the storage container is thawed by immersing it in hot water or the like, the air in the space inside the hollow vertical portion is inevitably outside from the air vent opening due to the hot water entering the space inside the hollow vertical portion. Get out of space. Therefore, the frozen organism can be thawed in a short time without using a thaw device.

The storage container according to claim 6 is a storage container that has an opening at the top and extends in an elongated shape in the vertical direction, and has a lid that opens and closes the opening, and freezes and stores the contained organism. Therefore, the side wall portion of the container body is characterized in that a plurality of convex side wall portions extending in the vertical direction with a predetermined width or less are formed.

In the storage container according to claim 6, the thawing time (time required for thawing) of the organism is significantly shortened as compared with the conventional case in which the side wall convex portion is not formed. Moreover, since the side wall convex portions are uniformly formed on the side wall portions, it is easy to make the thawing time at each side wall convex portion uniform.

The defrosting device according to claim 7 is characterized in that the side wall convex portions are evenly arranged on the side wall portions.

The thawing device according to claim 7 makes it easy to efficiently thaw an organism that has been cryopreserved.

The thawing device according to claim 8 is a thawing device for thawing an organism cryopreserved in the storage container by heating the storage container according to claim 1, and is inserted from above. A holding portion for holding the storage container and a heating portion provided in the holding portion are provided, and the heating portion is a space inside the hollow standing portion when the storage container is inserted into the holding portion from above. It is characterized by having a heating convex portion that is erected so as to enter.

In the thawing device according to claim 8, the organisms in the space inside the storage container can be uniformly heated from the space inside the hollow standing portion by the convex portion for heating. Therefore, when the organisms cryopreserved in the container are thawed, the thaw can be uniformly thawed and the thaw time can be shortened.

The thawing device according to claim 9 is characterized in that the heating unit includes a side wall heating unit that heats the storage container held by the holding unit from the outside of the side wall portion of the container body.

In the thawing device according to claim 9, the organism in the storage container can be heated from both the space side inside the hollow vertical portion and the outside of the side wall portion. Therefore, the thawing time can be further shortened.

The thawing device according to claim 10 is a thawing device for thawing an organism cryopreserved in the storage container by heating the storage container according to claim 6, and is inserted from above. The holding portion for holding the storage container and the heating portion provided in the holding portion are provided, the holding portion is provided with a recess having a shape matched to the side portion of the container body, and the heating portion is the said. It is characterized in that the container body is heated from the wall surface of the recess.

In the thawing device according to claim 10, the side wall of the side wall convex portion of the storage container is also efficiently heated. As a result, the thawing time of the organism is significantly shortened as compared with the conventional case in which the convex portion of the side wall is not formed.

According to the present invention, when thawing organisms cryopreserved in a container, the thawing time can be shortened, and the organisms placed in the container for cryopreservation can be uniformly frozen. A storage container and a thawing device that can be provided can be provided.

It is a perspective view which shows the storage container of 1st Embodiment. It is a plan sectional view explaining the storage container of 1st Embodiment. It is a perspective view explaining that the storage container is inserted into a thawing apparatus in 1st Embodiment. It is a plan sectional view explaining the modification of the storage container of 1st Embodiment. (A) is a perspective view showing the storage container of the second embodiment, and (b) is a plan sectional view illustrating the storage container of the second embodiment. (A) is a perspective view showing the storage container of the third embodiment, and (b) is a plan sectional view illustrating the storage container of the third embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the defrosting apparatus of 3rd Embodiment. It is a perspective view explaining the modification of the storage container of 3rd Embodiment. It is a perspective view explaining the modification of the storage container of 3rd Embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment)
First, the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a storage container of the present embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view illustrating the storage container of the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating that the storage container is inserted into the thawing device in the present embodiment.

(Storage container)
The storage container 10 according to the present embodiment includes a container body 12 having an opening at the top and extending in an elongated shape in the vertical direction, and a lid 14 for opening and closing the opening. In the present embodiment, as a storage container, a storage container 10 in which an organism A containing cells is stored and cryopreserved will be described as an example.

The container body 12 is made of, for example, a translucent plastic material. The bottom portion 15 of the container body 12 includes a hollow standing portion 16 that extends upward and enters the container. The hollow standing portion inner space SS formed inside the hollow standing portion 16 communicates with the external space, and the storage container inner space SI formed on the outside of the hollow standing portion 16 by the hollow standing portion 16. And the space SS in the hollow standing portion formed inside the hollow standing portion 16 are partitioned.

In the present embodiment, the side wall portion of the container body 12 and the side wall portion of the hollow vertical portion 16 are both cylindrical. Then, the central axis C (see FIG. 2) of the container body 12 and the hollow vertical portion 16 coincide with each other.

The height of the upper end of the hollow standing portion 16 is such that when the organism A before freezing is placed in the storage container 10 to the upper limit specified height, the upper end of the hollow standing portion 16 protrudes above the upper surface of the organism A. It is preferable that the height is the same as the height.

The container body 12 may be provided with a leg portion 18 extending in a cylindrical shape on the lower side (see FIG. 1).

(Defroster)
As shown in FIG. 3, the thawing device 20 according to the present embodiment includes a holding unit 22 for holding the storage container 10 inserted from above, and a heating unit 24 provided on the holding unit 22.

The heating portion 24 is provided with a heating convex portion 26, and the heating convex portion 26 is erected so as to enter the space SS in the hollow vertical portion when the storage container 10 is inserted from above. ing. Further, the heating unit 24 includes a side wall heating unit 27 that heats the storage container 10 held by the holding unit 22 from the outside of the side wall portion of the container body 12.

(Action, effect)
In the present embodiment, in order to take out the storage container 10 in which the cell-containing organism A is cryopreserved from a freezer or the like and thaw it, the taken-out storage container 10 is held in the holding portion 22 of the thaw device 20. At that time, by inserting the storage container 10 into the holding portion 22 from above, the heating convex portion 26 enters the space SS in the hollow vertical portion of the storage container 10. Further, the side wall heating portion 27 comes into contact with the outside of the side wall portion of the container body 12.

As a result, the organism A cryopreserved in the storage container 10 is stored from both the outside of the side wall portion and the hollow standing portion side of the container body 12, that is, from both the radial outside and the radial inside of the container body 12. It is heated. Therefore, as compared with the conventional case, the thawing time (time required for thawing) is significantly shortened because the thawing starts from the initial stage of thawing on the container center side (central axis side) of the organism A.

Further, the side wall portion of the container body 12 and the side wall portion of the hollow erecting portion 16 are cylindrical, and the central axes C of the container body 12 and the hollow erecting portion 16 coincide with each other. Therefore, in a plan view of the storage container 10, the thickness of the organism A frozen in the storage container 10 is uniform. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the remaining partially frozen portion as much as possible. In addition, the organisms placed in the container for cryopreservation can be frozen as uniformly as possible.

Further, since the hollow vertical portion 16 is provided not on the lid body 14 but on the bottom portion 15, the lid body 14 can be easily removed and attached in a short time, and the workability is good. Moreover, since it is not necessary to use hot water when thawing with the thawing device 20, there is no concern that germs are mixed in from the outside when opening and closing the lid 14, so that the workability of removing and installing the lid 14 is synergistic. improves.

In the present embodiment, the example in which the bottom portion 15 has one hollow standing portion 16 has been described.
The bottom portion 15 may include a plurality of hollow standing portions. This makes it possible to further shorten the defrosting time.

In this case, the central axis 28c of each hollow vertical portion 28 may be arranged at a position symmetrical with respect to the central axis C of the container body in a plan view (see, for example, FIG. 4). , It is easy to make the thawing time in each hollow standing portion 28 the same.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, the second embodiment will be described. 5A and 5B are perspective views showing a storage container of the present embodiment, and FIG. 5B is a plan sectional view illustrating the storage container of the present embodiment. Compared to the first embodiment, the storage container 30 according to the present embodiment includes an air vent opening 33 that communicates with the hollow vertical portion internal space SS and the external space outside the side wall portion of the container main body 32. In the present embodiment, the air vent opening 33 is formed in a slit shape from the upper part to the lower part of the container body 12. The hollow standing portion 36 has a slit-shaped opening 36m so as to communicate with the air vent opening 33 as compared with the hollow standing portion 16 described in the first embodiment.

As a result, when the organism A is thawed by immersing the storage container 30 in a liquid for thawing (for example, low-temperature hot water) without using the above-mentioned thawing device 20 (for example, the storage container 30 is put in a hot water tank from above and thawed). In the case), when hot water flows into the hollow vertical portion internal space SS, the air in the hollow vertical portion internal space SS inevitably flows out from the air vent opening 33 to the external space. Therefore, the frozen organism A can be thawed in a short time without using the thaw device 20.

(Third Embodiment)
Next, the third embodiment will be described. 6A and 6B are perspective views showing a storage container of the present embodiment, and FIG. 6B is a plan sectional view illustrating the storage container of the present embodiment. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the defrosting device of the present embodiment.

(Storage container)
The storage container 40 according to the present embodiment includes a container body 42 having an opening at the top and extending in an elongated shape in the vertical direction, and a lid 44 for opening and closing the opening. Similar to the first embodiment, in the present embodiment, a storage container 40 for cryopreserving the cell-containing organism A as a storage container will be described as an example.

In the present embodiment, the side wall convex portion 46 having a predetermined width d or less and extending in the vertical direction is uniformly formed on the side wall portion of the container body 42. As an example of being uniformly formed, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, in a plan view, the side wall convex portion 46 is arranged at a position symmetrical with respect to the central axis C of the container body 42. Note that FIG. 6 depicts an example in which each side wall convex portion 46 is angular in a plan view.

The predetermined width d is the amount of heat per unit time and per unit area transmitted from the outside of the side wall of the side wall convex portion 46 by the heating portion 54 (described later) in consideration of thawing the cryopreserved organism A in a short time. Set according to.

(Defroster)
The thawing device 50 according to the present embodiment includes a holding unit 52 for holding the storage container 40 inserted from above, and a heating unit 54 provided in the holding unit 52.

The holding portion 52 includes a recess 53 having a shape that matches the side portion of the container body 42 as a receiving portion of the storage container 40, and the heating portion 54 adds the container body 42 from the wall surface and the bottom surface of the recess 53. It has a structure to warm up.

In the present embodiment, the holding portion 52 includes an entry portion 55 that is inserted between the side wall convex portions 46 adjacent to each other when the storage container 40 is held, and the heating portion 54 is the entry portion 55. It has a structure that also heats the container.

(Action, effect)
In the present embodiment, in order to take out the storage container 40 in which the organism A containing cells is cryopreserved from a freezer or the like and thaw it, the taken-out storage container 40 is held in the holding portion 52 of the thaw device 50. At that time, by inserting the storage container 40 into the holding portion 52 from above, the side wall heating portion 57 constituting the heating portion 54 comes into contact with the outside of the side wall portion of the container body 42.

As a result, the organism A cryopreserved in the storage container 40 is heated from the outside of the side wall portion of the storage container 40. Therefore, it is also heated from the side wall of the side wall convex portion 46. As a result, the thawing time (time required for thawing) of the organism A is significantly shortened as compared with the conventional case in which the side wall convex portion 46 is not formed. Moreover, since the side wall convex portion 46 is uniformly formed on the side wall portion of the container body 42, it is easy to make the thawing time in each side wall convex portion 46 uniform.

Although FIG. 6 shows an example in which the side wall convex portion 46 is angular, the side wall convex portion 66 may have a shape in which the outer end portion in the radial direction is rounded as shown in FIG. The number of convex portions on the side wall is not particularly limited, and may be changed in various ways depending on the dimensions, such as 8 (see FIG. 6), 6 (see FIG. 8), and 4 (see FIG. 9). Can be done.

Although some embodiments have been described above as examples, these embodiments are examples for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the materials, shapes, structures, arrangements, etc. of the components are described. It is not specified in the above embodiment, and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist.

10 Storage container 12 Container body 14 Lid 15 Bottom 16 Hollow upright part 18 Leg 20 Thawing device 22 Holding part 24 Heating part 26 Heating convex part 27 Side wall heating part 28 Hollow upright part 28c Central axis 30 Storage Container 32 Container body 33 Air vent opening 36 Hollow upright part 36m Slit-shaped opening 40 Storage container 42 Container body 44 Lid 46 Side wall convex part 50 Thawing device 52 Holding part 53 Recessed part 54 Heating part 57 Side wall heating part 55 Part 66 Side wall convex part A Organism C Central axis SI Storage container inner space SS Hollow upright part inner space

Claims (10)

A storage container that has an opening at the top and extends in an elongated shape in the vertical direction, and a lid that opens and closes the opening, and freezes and stores the contained organisms.
The bottom of the container body is provided with a hollow upright portion that extends upward and enters the container.
The space inside the hollow standing portion formed inside the hollow standing portion communicates with the external space.
A storage container characterized in that the space inside the storage container formed on the outside of the hollow standing portion and the space inside the hollow standing portion are partitioned by the hollow standing portion. The side wall portion of the container body and the side wall portion of the hollow standing portion are cylindrical.
The storage container according to claim 1, wherein the central axes of the container body and the hollow vertical portion are aligned with each other. The side wall portion of the container body and the side wall portion of the hollow standing portion are cylindrical.
The storage container according to claim 1, wherein the bottom portion includes a plurality of the hollow standing portions. The storage container according to claim 3, wherein each central axis of the hollow upright portion is arranged at a position symmetrical with respect to the central axis of the container body in a plan view. An air vent opening that communicates with the space inside the hollow vertical portion and the external space outside the side wall portion of the container body is provided.
Claims 1 to 4, wherein when the thawing liquid flows in from below the space inside the hollow standing portion, the air in the space inside the hollow standing portion flows out from the air vent opening. The storage container according to any one item. A storage container that has an opening at the top and extends in an elongated shape in the vertical direction, and a lid that opens and closes the opening, and freezes and stores the contained organisms.
A storage container characterized in that a plurality of side wall convex portions extending in a vertical direction with a predetermined width or less are formed on the side wall portion of the container body. The storage container according to claim 6, wherein the side wall convex portions are evenly arranged on the side wall portions. A defrosting device for thawing organisms cryopreserved in the storage container by heating the storage container according to claim 1.
A holding unit that holds the storage container inserted from above,
It is provided with a heating unit provided in the holding unit.
The thawing device is provided with a heating convex portion that is erected so as to enter the space inside the hollow vertical portion when the storage container is inserted into the holding portion from above. .. The defrosting device according to claim 8, wherein the heating unit includes a side wall heating unit that heats the storage container held by the holding unit from the outside of the side wall portion of the container body. A defrosting device for thawing organisms cryopreserved in the storage container by heating the storage container according to claim 6.
A holding unit that holds the storage container inserted from above,
It is provided with a heating unit provided in the holding unit.
The holding portion includes a recess having a shape that matches the side portion of the container body.
The defrosting device is characterized in that the heating portion has a structure for heating the container body from the wall surface of the recess.

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