JP2020201024A - Freezing bag holding structure - Google Patents

Abstract

To reduce a temperature difference in a freezing bag caused by air bubbles.SOLUTION: A freezing bag holding structure 20 is a structure that holds a freezing bag 14 filled with a freezing object 16 on a cooling plate 4b of a freezing machine. The freezing bag 14 is housed in a case 10 and placed on the cooling plate 4b in a state that a bag upper surface 14a is thermally connected to the case 10. The freezing bag holding structure 20 holds the freezing bag 14 so that a bag upper surface 14a inclines relative to a horizontal surface.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a freezing bag holding structure for holding a freezing bag on a cooling plate of a refrigerator.

Conventionally, as a method for long-term storage of cells and the like, a method of putting cells and the like in a freezing container and cryopreserving them is known. In cryopreservation of cells and the like, it is desired to control the cooling rate with high accuracy in order to suppress damage to the cells and the like due to the freezing treatment. Therefore, in general, in cryopreservation of cells and the like, cells and the like are suspended in a preservation solution to which a cryoprotectant is added, and the temperature of the cell suspension is lowered at a predetermined cooling rate using a program freezer to freeze the cells. Regarding the cryopreservation of such cells and the like, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a case of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped for accommodating a freezing bag filled with cells and the like and cooling the freezing bag.

International Publication No. 16/152520

In the conventional cryopreservation of cells and the like, a case containing a freezing bag is placed on a cooling plate of a refrigerator, and the freezing bag is cooled through the case to freeze the cells and the like. In such a method, when air bubbles are present in the freezing bag, cooling of the peripheral portion of the air bubbles may be hindered by the heat insulating action of the air bubbles. In this case, a large temperature difference is locally generated in the peripheral portion of the bubble, which may adversely affect the quality of cells and the like which are the objects to be frozen. In order to respond to the expected increase in quality requirements in the future, it is desirable to reduce the temperature difference in the freezing bag caused by air bubbles.

The present application has been made in view of these circumstances, and an object of the present application is to provide a technique for reducing a temperature difference in a freezing bag caused by air bubbles.

In order to solve the above problems, one aspect of the present application is a freezing bag holding structure for holding a freezing bag filled with a freezing object on a cooling plate of a refrigerator. The freezing bag is housed in a case and placed on a cooling plate with the top surface of the freezing bag thermally connected to the case, and the freezing bag holding structure is such that the top surface is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane. To hold.

Any combination of the components described above and the conversion of the expression of the present invention between methods, devices, systems and the like are also effective as aspects of the present invention.

According to the present application, the temperature difference in the freezing bag caused by air bubbles can be reduced.

It is a schematic diagram of the freezing device which mounts the freezing bag holding structure which concerns on Embodiment 1. It is sectional drawing of the freezing bag holding structure which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. It is sectional drawing of the freezing bag holding structure which concerns on Embodiment 2. FIG.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings based on preferred embodiments. The embodiments are not limited to the invention, but are exemplary, and all the features and combinations thereof described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the invention. The same or equivalent components, members, and processes shown in the drawings shall be designated by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted as appropriate. In addition, the scale and shape of each part shown in each figure are set for convenience in order to facilitate explanation, and are not limitedly interpreted unless otherwise specified. In addition, when terms such as "first" and "second" are used in the present specification or claims, these terms do not represent any order or importance unless otherwise specified, and have a certain structure. Is to distinguish between and other configurations. In addition, some of the members that are not important for explaining the embodiment in each drawing are omitted and displayed.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a freezing device on which the freezing bag holding structure according to the first embodiment is mounted. The freezing device 1 includes a housing 2, a refrigerator 4, a cooling chamber 6, and a heat insulating door 8. Inside the housing 2, the refrigerator 4, a power supply unit for supplying power to the refrigerator 4 (not shown), a control unit for controlling the drive of the refrigerator 4 (not shown), and a wiring group (not shown) Etc. are housed. The refrigerator 4 is, for example, a Stirling refrigerator, and has a cylinder 4a extending in the vertical direction and a cooling plate 4b (heat absorbing portion) connected to the upper end of the cylinder 4a.

The cooling chamber 6 is arranged on the upper part of the housing 2. The cooling chamber 6 has a recess 6a that opens upward. The recess 6a defines a storage space 12 in which the case 10 is housed. The cooling chamber 6 has a through hole 6b that communicates the bottom surface of the recess 6a with the housing 2. A cylinder 4a is inserted through the through hole 6b, and a cooling plate 4b is arranged in the recess 6a. The case 10 is placed on the cooling plate 4b. The case 10 is composed of a case body and a lid (not shown), and houses a freezing bag 14 filled with cells or the like as a freezing object 16. The freezing bag 14 is endothermic and frozen by the cooling plate 4b via the case 10.

The internal space of the cooling chamber 6 is filled with a heat insulating material (not shown). One end of the heat insulating door 8 is fixed to the cooling chamber 6, and the heat insulating door 8 is rotatably provided around the one end. As a result, the opening of the recess 6a is closed so as to be openable and closable.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the freezing bag holding structure according to the first embodiment. The freezing bag 14 is a flat bag-shaped container having two main surfaces. The freezing bag 14 is housed in the case 10 and placed on the cooling plate 4b, and the two main surfaces are arranged so as to be substantially vertically aligned. In the following, the main surface of the freezing bag 14 arranged above is referred to as the upper surface 14a of the bag, and the main surface of the freezing bag 14 arranged below is referred to as the lower surface 14b of the bag.

In the freezing bag 14, the upper surface 14a of the bag and the lower surface 14b of the bag are thermally connected to the case 10 while being housed in the case 10. The case 10 has a case upper surface 10a facing the bag upper surface 14a and a case lower surface 10b facing the bag lower surface 14b. The case 10 of the present embodiment has a flat rectangular parallelepiped shape, and the case upper surface 10a and the case lower surface 10b form two main surfaces. The case upper surface 10a and the case lower surface 10b extend parallel to each other.

The upper surface 14a of the bag is thermally connected to the upper surface 10a of the case, and the lower surface 14b of the bag is thermally connected to the lower surface 10b of the case. The case 10 containing the freezing bag 14 is placed on the upper surface 18 of the cooling plate 4b in a posture determined so that the lower surface 10b of the case faces the cooling plate 4b side. Therefore, the case lower surface 10b of the case 10 is thermally connected to the cooling plate 4b. The heat of the object 16 to be frozen filled in the freezing bag 14 is transmitted from the upper surface 14a of the bag and the lower surface 14b of the bag to the case 10, and is absorbed by the cooling plate 4b via the case 10.

When the upper surface 14a of the bag and the upper surface 10a of the case are in direct contact with each other, the portion of the upper surface 14a of the bag that is (physically) in contact with the upper surface 10a of the case is a portion that is thermally connected to the case 10. In the case where some member is interposed between the bag upper surface 14a and the case upper surface 10a and the heat of the frozen bag 14 is transferred to the case upper surface 10a through the member, the member is (physically) on the bag upper surface 14a. ) The contacting portion is the portion thermally connected to the case 10. In the present embodiment, the central portion of the bag upper surface 14a is thermally connected to the case upper surface 10a.

Similarly, when the lower surface 14b of the bag and the lower surface 10b of the case are in direct contact, the portion of the lower surface 14b of the bag that is (physically) in contact with the lower surface 10b of the case is a portion that is thermally connected to the case 10. In the case where some member is interposed between the lower surface 14b of the bag and the lower surface 10b of the case and the heat of the frozen bag 14 is transferred to the lower surface 10b of the case through the member, the lower surface 14b of the bag (physically) ) The contacting portion is the portion thermally connected to the case 10. In the present embodiment, the central portion of the lower surface 14b of the bag is thermally connected to the lower surface 10b of the case. Therefore, the freezing bag 14 of the present embodiment is sandwiched between the case upper surface 10a and the case lower surface 10b in a state of being housed in the case 10.

The freezing device 1 includes a freezing bag holding structure 20. The freezing bag holding structure 20 is a structure for holding the freezing bag 14 filled with the object to be frozen 16 on the cooling plate 4b. The freezing bag holding structure 20 holds the freezing bag 14 so that the upper surface 14a of the bag is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane H. That is, the freezing bag 14 is held on the cooling plate 4b by the freezing bag holding structure 20, and its posture is determined so that the normal line of the upper surface 14a of the bag faces the direction of gravity. The inclination angle of the upper surface 14a of the bag can be appropriately set based on the empirical knowledge of the designer or the experiment or simulation by the designer according to the viscosity of the storage solution in which the object to be frozen 16 is suspended. The inclination angle of the upper surface 14a of the bag is, for example, 2 to 30 °.

In the freezing bag holding structure 20 of the present embodiment, the upper surface 18 on which the case 10 of the cooling plate 4b is placed is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane H. More specifically, the cooling plate 4b has a shape in which the vertical distance between the lower surface 19 and the upper surface 18 connected to the cylinder 4a gradually increases from one end side to the other end side. By inclining the upper surface 18 of the cooling plate 4b, the case upper surface 10a of the case 10 placed on the upper surface 18 can be inclined. As a result, the upper surface 14a of the bag facing the upper surface 10a of the case can be tilted.

In the freezing bag 14, air bubbles 22 may be mixed together with the object to be frozen 16. When the bag upper surface 14a of the freezing bag 14 spreads horizontally, the air bubbles 22 in the freezing bag 14 are thermally connected to the central portion of the freezing bag 14 viewed from above in the vertical direction, that is, the case upper surface 10a of the bag upper surface 14a. Easy to collect in the area. On the other hand, the object to be frozen 16 is preferentially cooled from a portion of the upper surface of the bag 14a that is thermally connected to the upper surface of the case 10a or a region of the lower surface of the bag 14b that is thermally connected to the lower surface of the case 10b. Therefore, the cooling rate of the object 16 to be frozen is faster as it is closer to the central portion of the freezing bag 14, and is slower as it is closer to the outer edge portion of the freezing bag 14.

If the bubbles 22 having a large heat insulating effect are present in the region where the cooling rate of the frozen object 16 is high, a large temperature difference may occur in the frozen object 16 in the region. If the freezing of the object to be frozen 16 becomes locally non-uniform, the quality of the object to be frozen 16 may deteriorate in this non-uniform portion. On the other hand, by inclining the upper surface 14a of the bag by the freezing bag holding structure 20, the air bubbles 22 can be moved from the central portion of the freezing bag 14 to the outer edge portion of the freezing bag 14. Since the outer edge portion of the freezing bag 14 has a slower freezing speed than the central portion, even if the freezing object 16 becomes unevenly frozen due to the bubbles 22, the temperature difference generated in the frozen object 16 should be reduced. Can be done. Thereby, the negative influence of the bubbles 22 on the freezing of the object 16 to be frozen can be mitigated.

Further, the freezing bag holding structure 20 of the present embodiment has a locking projection 24 protruding from the upper surface 18 of the cooling plate 4b. With the case 10 mounted on the upper surface 18, the lower end of the inclined case 10 is supported by the locking projection 24. As a result, it is possible to prevent the case 10 from slipping off the upper surface 18. That is, the case 10 can be stably held on the cooling plate 4b. In addition, instead of or in addition to the locking projection 24, the case 10 may be prevented from slipping by attaching a non-slip sheet or the like to the surface of the case 10 or the cooling plate 4b.

As described above, in the freezing bag holding structure 20 according to the present embodiment, the freezing bag 14 is housed in the case 10 and the upper surface 14a of the bag is thermally connected to the case 10, and the upper surface 14a of the bag is the horizontal surface H. Hold so that it is tilted with respect to. Thereby, the temperature difference in the freezing bag 14 caused by the bubbles 22 can be reduced. Therefore, it is possible to suppress variations in the quality of cells and the like that are objects to be frozen. Therefore, the recovery rate of cells and the like when the frozen bag 14 is thawed can be increased.

Further, the frozen bag holding structure 20 of the present embodiment has a structure in which the upper surface 18 on which the case 10 of the cooling plate 4b is placed is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane H, so that the upper surface 14a of the bag is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane H. It is tilted. As a result, the upper surface 14a of the bag can be tilted without changing the shape of the case 10. That is, the existing case 10 can be used as it is. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the case 10 from being impaired in ease of handling (for example, ease of stacking) except when frozen.

In the present embodiment, the upper surface 18 is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane H by gradually increasing the thickness of the cooling plate 4b from one end side to the other end side, but the entire refrigerator 4 is tilted. The upper surface 18 may be inclined with respect to the horizontal plane H by inclining or the like.

(Embodiment 2)
The second embodiment has the same configuration as the first embodiment except for the freezing bag holding structure 20. Hereinafter, the present embodiment will be mainly described with a configuration different from that of the first embodiment, and the common configuration will be briefly described or the description will be omitted as appropriate. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the freezing bag holding structure 20 according to the second embodiment.

The freezing device 1 includes a freezing bag holding structure 20. The freezing bag holding structure 20 holds the freezing bag 14 so that the upper surface 14a of the bag is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane H. In the frozen bag holding structure 20 of the present embodiment, the case lower surface 10b is parallel to the horizontal plane H, and the case upper surface 10a thermally connected to the bag upper surface 14a is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane H. More specifically, in the case 10, the vertical distance between the case lower surface 10b and the case upper surface 10a, in other words, the height of the storage space of the freezing bag 14 gradually increases from one end side to the other end side. Has a shape of By inclining the upper surface 10a of the case, the upper surface 14a of the freezing bag 14 sandwiched between the upper surface 10a of the case and the lower surface 10b of the case can be inclined in the case 10.

The freezing bag holding structure 20 of the present embodiment also allows the air bubbles 22 to be moved from the central portion of the freezing bag 14 to the outer edge portion of the freezing bag 14. Thereby, the temperature difference in the freezing bag 14 caused by the bubbles 22 can be reduced. Further, the frozen bag holding structure 20 of the present embodiment has a structure in which the upper surface 10a of the case to which the upper surface 14a of the bag is thermally connected is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane, so that the upper surface 14a of the bag is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane H. I'm letting you. As a result, the upper surface 14a of the bag can be tilted without changing the shape of the cooling plate 4b. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the deterioration of the versatility of the freezing device 1.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above. The above-described embodiment merely shows a specific example in carrying out the present invention. The content of the embodiment does not limit the technical scope of the present invention, and many design changes such as modification, addition, and deletion of components are made without departing from the idea of the invention defined in the claims. Is possible. The new embodiment with the design change has the effects of the combined embodiment and the modification. In the above-described embodiment, the contents that can be changed in design are emphasized by adding notations such as "in the present embodiment" and "in the present embodiment". Design changes are allowed even if there is no content. Any combination of the above components is also valid as an aspect of the present invention. The hatching attached to the cross section of the drawing does not limit the material of the object to which the hatching is attached.

Embodiments may be specified by the items described below.
(Item 1)
A freezing device (1) that freezes a freezing bag (14) filled with a freezing object (16).
A refrigerator (4) having a cooling plate (4b) is provided.
The cooling plate (4b) accommodates the freezing bag (14) and is thermally connected to the upper surface of the freezing bag (14). The upper surface of the freezing bag (14) is connected to the horizontal plane (H). Freezing device (1) that holds the bag so as to incline.
(Item 2)
A case (10) for accommodating a freezing bag (14) filled with a freezing object (16).
The upper surface of the freezing bag (14) is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane (H) while being thermally connected to the upper surface of the freezing bag (14) and placed on the cooling plate (4b) of the refrigerator (4). A case (10) that houses the freezing bag (14).

4 Refrigerator, 4b cooling plate, 10 case, 10a case upper surface, 14 freezing bag, 14a bag upper surface, 16 freezing object, 18 upper surface, 20 freezing bag holding structure, H horizontal plane.

Claims (3)

A freezing bag holding structure for holding a freezing bag filled with a freezing object on a cooling plate of a refrigerator.
The freezing bag is housed in a case and placed on the cooling plate with the upper surface of the freezing bag thermally connected to the case.
The freezing bag holding structure is a freezing bag holding structure for holding the freezing bag so that the upper surface thereof is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane. The freezing bag holding structure according to claim 1, wherein the freezing bag holding structure has a structure in which the surface of the cooling plate on which the case is placed is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane. The freezing bag holding structure according to claim 1, wherein the freezing bag holding structure has a structure in which a surface thermally connected to the upper surface of the case is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane.

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