JP3063669U - Animal rearing rack - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To keep a cage in a pressurized state with clean air at all times, prevent cross contamination between cages, and open and remove the cage entirely without installing a door on the front side of the rack. Provided is an animal breeding rack that can improve workability such as cleaning and cleaning, and can block air flow between the inside and the outside of the rack. SOLUTION: In an animal breeding rack comprising a plurality of stages of shelves, in which a plurality of cages each having an open top surface are accommodated in each shelf, a cage front edge is provided on a ceiling 11 above a front edge 3a of a cage 3 of each shelf. An outlet 4 having a length longer than the length of the outlet 3a is provided, and a front edge of the cage 3 is disposed below a substantially central portion of the outlet in the front-rear width direction.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

[Technical field to which the invention belongs]

 The present invention relates to an animal breeding rack for housing and breeding small animals for experimental research.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 An animal breeding rack is used to breed small animals for experimental research. The animal breeding rack is composed of a plurality of shelves and houses a plurality of cages each having an open top on each shelf in parallel, and small animals are housed and bred in each cage.

In a conventional animal rearing rack, each cage is placed side by side on the floor of each shelf, and the odor and allergens from animals are diffused into the rearing room by keeping the periphery of the cage clean at the front of each shelf. In order to avoid this, we had a wall and door. In addition, in order to prevent the cage from jumping out when the rack vibrates due to an earthquake or the like, a jump-out prevention plate for a stopper may be provided at the lower part of the front of each shelf for airflow adjustment.

[0004] In such an animal breeding rack, it is desirable to always supply clean air into the cage to prevent entry of contaminated air from the outside, and to remove odors and allergens generated from animals in the cage. It is required that it not be released into the rearing room.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

 However, in the conventional animal breeding rack, the cage is placed on the rack shelf floor, so the top surface of the cage is largely open, and it is difficult to always pressurize the inside of the cage with clean air. There was a problem of cross contamination between the two. There was also a risk that the net covering the top of the cage would come off and small animals would go outside.

Further, in the case where a leaning wall or door is provided on the front of the rack, or when a projection preventing plate is provided, the leaning wall or the like on the front deteriorates workability such as cleaning of the inside of the rack and taking in and out of the cage. Was.

The present invention takes into consideration the above-mentioned prior art, and always keeps the inside of a cage pressurized by clean air, prevents cross contamination between cages, and provides a door or the like on the front side of the rack. It is an object of the present invention to provide an animal breeding rack that can be opened without a cover to improve workability such as attaching and detaching a cage and cleaning, and that can block air flow between the inside and the outside of the rack.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in an animal breeding rack comprising a plurality of shelves having a plurality of shelves, each of which has a plurality of cages having an open top surface, the shelves are provided on the ceiling above the front edge of the cage of each shelf. An animal breeding rack is provided, wherein an outlet having a length longer than a front edge of the cage is provided, and a front edge of the cage is disposed below a substantially central portion of the outlet in the front-rear width direction.

[0009] According to this configuration, by blowing clean air from the outlet provided on the front ceiling side of each shelf, a clean air flow of down flow is formed, and this clean air flow is transmitted to the front of each cage. An air curtain is formed, and the entire length of the front edge of the cage is included almost at the center of the air flow in the front-rear width direction, so the front half of the air flow forms an air curtain on the front of the cage and the rear half. Flows into the cage and the inside of the cage is always kept pressurized by clean air. This prevents the inflow of air into the cage from the outside of the rack and vice versa, and prevents the air inside the cage from flowing out of the rack with the entire front open without providing a door or the like on the front of the rack. The air outside the rack does not affect the animals in the cage due to contamination, etc., and the air containing odors and allergens in the cage is prevented from diffusing into the breeding room. Workability is improved.

In a preferred configuration example, each of the cages is suspended from the ceiling side by a suspension rail so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction, and the suspension rail closes a space between the left and right side edges of each cage and the ceiling. In addition, the opening is provided between the front edge and the rear edge and the ceiling.

According to this configuration, since each cage is supported by being suspended from the ceiling side, the opening surface on the upper surface approaches the ceiling and the interval therebetween is appropriately set, so that the clean air flow from the outlet can be improved. As a result, the inside of the cage is more reliably maintained in a pressurized state, the workability of cleaning etc. is improved, the escape of animals etc. can be reliably prevented, and the suspension rail can be attached to the suspension rail compared to the case where the animal is simply placed on the floor. By supporting it, it is securely held in the rack, making it difficult for it to fly out even in the event of an earthquake. In addition, the suspension rail blocks the ceiling between the left and right side edges of the cage and the ceiling, blocking air flow between adjacent cages, preventing cross-contamination and preventing the cage front edge. And since the upper part of the trailing edge is open, the blowing air flow from the leading edge flows through the cage to the trailing edge side to form a ventilation flow by pressurized clean air.

[0012] In a further preferred configuration example, a suction port is provided on the rear side of each shelf, and a filter is mounted on the outlet and the suction port.

According to this configuration, since the suction port is provided on the rear side of each shelf, the air flow from the front side to the rear side is reliably formed, and the air in the space between the cage lower side and the floor is also formed. Since the air is drawn backward, a part of the air inside the air curtain of the pressurized clean air at the front of the cage is sucked, and the entire inside of the rack is reliably ventilated with clean air flowing from front to back.

[0014] Further, by providing the filter, a rectifying action is obtained in addition to a dust removing action and a hair removing action, and a stable and uniform air flow is formed. In this case, if the pressure loss is adjusted by changing the size of the air outlets and suction ports for each shelf in the rack and / or for each cage in each shelf, the resistance to the passage of the filter is added, and each The pressure loss of the airflow passing through the shelf and / or each cage can be made uniform, and the airflow having a uniform supply / exhaust amount can be formed for each shelf and / or each cage.

[0015] Further, in the present invention, in an animal breeding rack comprising a plurality of shelves in which a plurality of cages each having an open top surface are accommodated side by side, the front ceiling side of each shelf extends over the entire length of the shelf. An animal breeding rack is provided, wherein a slit-shaped outlet is provided, and a front edge of the cage is arranged within a range in which the airflow from the outlet extends in the front-rear direction.

According to this configuration, the air curtain is formed by blowing the clean air from the slit-shaped outlet, and the front edge of the cage is arranged within the range of the spread angle of the air curtain, as described above. In addition, the airflow from the outlet diverges into an air curtain flowing outside the front of the cage and a ventilation flow flowing into the cage, so that the inside of the cage is always maintained in a state of pressurized clean air.

[0017]

[Embodiment of the invention]

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view of the animal breeding rack according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The rack 1 is composed of a plurality of upper and lower shelves 1a. On each of the shelves 1a, a plurality of cages 3 for accommodating animals to be bred are suspended from a ceiling side by a suspension rail 2 in a lateral direction. Supported. An air supply chamber 5 is formed on the ceiling of each shelf 1a, and an outlet 4 is provided on the front side thereof. The outlet 4 is provided continuously over almost the entire length in the left-right length direction of each shelf 1a. An air supply duct 6 is provided on one side of the rack 1, and clean air is supplied as indicated by an arrow A through a filter (not shown) such as HEPA, and the clean air is supplied to the air supply chamber 5 of each shelf 1 a. . An exhaust duct 7 is provided on the opposite side of the rack 1, and exhaust air from an exhaust horizontal duct (described later) provided on the rear surface of each shelf 1 a is exhausted to the outside as shown by arrow B.

FIG. 2 is a top view of each cage 3 housed in the rack 1. The top surface of the cage 3 is open, and four sides of the front surface 3a, left and right side edges 3b, 3d, and rear edge 3c of the opening surface protrude somewhat outward in a flange shape. An outlet 4 longer than the length of the front edge 3a of the cage is provided on the front side of each cage 3, and the cage 3 is positioned such that the front edge 3a of the cage 3 is located substantially at the center of the outlet 4 in the front-rear width direction. Is installed in the rack.

The suspension rail 2 is engaged with the left and right side edges 3b and 3d to suspend and support the cage 3 so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction. The suspension rail 2 is provided so as to close the gap between the left and right side edges 3b and 3d of the cage 3 and the ceiling (see FIG. 3), and to open the gap between the front edge 3a and the rear edge 3c and the ceiling. In such a suspension rail 2, for example, a C-shaped steel material or an L-shaped steel material is fixed to the ceiling side so that the lower piece protrudes inward, and the projecting side edges 3b and 3d of the cage 3 are locked on the lower piece. It is configured so that In the case where the left and right suspension rails 2 are connected to each other and formed by integral sheet metal processing or the like, the length in the front-rear direction is set so that the upper portion of the front edge blowout side and the rear edge suction side is open. shorten.

The shape and dimensions of the suspension rail 2 are determined according to the dimensions of the cage 3. In this case, the width (hung height from the ceiling surface) is set in consideration of ease of cleaning and is set to form a smooth airflow, for example, 10 to 20 mm.

FIG. 3 is a side view of each cage 3 housed in the rack 1. The ceiling 11 of each shelf 1a of the rack 1 constitutes the floor of the upper shelf, and the upper surface 11a is inclined so as to descend forward, and a water leakage gutter 12 is provided at the front end. An air supply chamber 5 is formed in each ceiling 11, an outlet chamber 4a is provided in front of the air supply chamber 5, and an outlet 4 is formed on the lower surface side. A rectification filter 15 is attached to the outlet 4. The front edge 3a of the cage 3 is disposed substantially below the center of the outlet 4 as described above. Reference numeral 13 denotes a water supply hose nipple that supplies water to an animal (not shown) in the cage 3 through a hose 14.

A suction port 8 is provided in a rack rear wall 16 on the rear side of the cage 3, and a hair removal filter 9 is mounted. On the rear side of the rack rear wall 16 behind the inlet 8, an exhaust horizontal duct 10 is provided for each shelf 1a in a lateral direction. The depilation filter 9 may be mounted separately for each cage, or a strip-shaped filter continuous over the entire shelf may be used. If a continuous belt-shaped filter is used, the replacement work and the like can be easily performed. In this case, an opening may be formed in the rear wall of the rack on the front side of the filter so as to cover the entire length in the width direction of the rack, and the suction port 8 may be formed. Further, in this case, the rear side of the filter may be covered with a filter case or the like, and a suction hole may be provided at each cage position of the case. If the suction port 8 is a continuous opening, it can be easily cleaned and disinfected.

In the rack structure having the above structure, clean air is supplied from the rear of the air supply chamber 5 in the ceiling 11 and flows forward as shown by the arrow, flows into the blow-out chamber 4a, flows downward through the rectifying filter 15, and flows downward. It is rectified and blown out from the outlet 4 to the lower front of each shelf. The blown clean air is branched into almost half at the front edge 3a of the cage 3, the front airflow forms an air curtain on the front surface of the cage 3, and the rear airflow enters the cage 3.

A part of the air flow of the air curtain that has flowed to the front of the cage flows to the outside of the front of the rack as shown by an arrow a, and the front of the rack is completely covered with the airflow of clean air to block the inside and outside of the rack. Prevents air from entering the rack from the outside and prevents air in the rack from diffusing to the outside. Further, a part of the air curtain flows backward in the space below the cage 3 as shown by the arrow b, and is sucked into the rear suction port 8. This reliably prevents the air in the space above the shelves from diffusing into the outside rearing room through the front of the rack.

The air flow of the clean air that has flowed into the cage flows in the cage 3 in a pressurized state substantially as shown by an arrow A, ventilates the cage, and passes through the space between the trailing edge 3 c and the ceiling 11 to form the suction port 8. Flows to The airflow indicated by the arrow A is disturbed by the upward heat generated by the heat generated by the position of the animal in the cage, but pressurized air flows in from the front edge 3a side and the side edges 3b, 3d on both sides and the ceiling. 11 is covered by the suspension rail, so that it does not flow out of the cage from a portion other than the trailing edge 3c.

The front edge of the cage 3 is arranged within the range of the spread angle of the air flow of the clean air blown out from the outlet 4, and if a part of the downflow air curtain flows into the cage, the cage 3 The front edge of the air outlet 3 does not necessarily need to be arranged below the center of the air outlet 4, but may be provided on the rear edge side of the air outlet 4 or further inside the rack. However, dividing the front half of the airflow from the outlet 4 into an air curtain on the front side of the cage and allowing the rear half to flow into the interior of the cage can be a blocking action as an air curtain and a ventilation action in the cage. Is preferred for effectively exhibiting both.

The outlet 4 does not necessarily have to be continuous over the entire length in the lateral direction of the rack, and may be divided as appropriate. However, in order to ensure that the air curtain is formed for each cage, it is necessary that the cage be arranged above the cages with a length that covers the entire width.

[0029]

[Effect of the invention]

 As described above, in the present invention, the clean air of the downflow is formed by blowing out the clean air from the outlet provided on the front ceiling side of each shelf, and this clean air flow is generated at the front of each cage. An air curtain is formed, and the entire length of the front edge of the cage is included almost at the center of the air flow in the front-rear width direction, so that the front half of the air flow forms the air curtain on the front of the cage and the rear side. One half flows into the cage and the inside of the cage is always kept pressurized by clean air.

Thus, as described above, air flows into the cage from the outside of the rack and vice versa, and air inside the cage flows to the outside of the rack in a state where the rack is fully opened without providing a door or the like on the front side of the rack. And the air outside the rack does not affect the animals in the cage due to the air outside the rack, and the air containing odors and allergens in the cage is prevented from diffusing into the breeding room. Workability such as cleaning and cleaning is improved.

Each of the cages is suspended and supported from the ceiling side by a suspension rail so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction. The suspension rail closes the ceiling between the left and right side edges of the cage and the ceiling, and According to the configuration in which the opening is provided between the edge and the rear edge and the ceiling, each cage is suspended and supported from the ceiling side, so that the opening surface on the upper surface is close to the ceiling and the interval between the cages is adjusted appropriately. By setting to, the inside of the cage is more reliably maintained in a pressurized state by the clean air flow from the outlet, the workability such as cleaning is improved, and escape of animals can be reliably prevented. Compared to simply placing on the floor, by supporting it on the suspension rails, it is securely held in the rack and has a structure that is less likely to fly out in the event of an earthquake or the like. In addition, since the suspension rail blocks the ceiling between the left and right side edges of the cage and the ceiling, air flow between adjacent cages is blocked, cross-contamination is prevented, and the front edge of the cage is prevented. And the upper part of the trailing edge is opened, so that the blown air flow from the leading edge flows through the cage to the trailing edge side to form a ventilation flow by pressurized clean air.

According to the configuration in which a suction port is provided on the rear surface side of each shelf and a filter is attached to the outlet and the suction port, the suction port is provided on the rear surface side of each shelf, so that the rear surface is provided from the front side. The air flow to the side of the cage is reliably formed, and the air in the space between the lower surface of the cage and the floor is also drawn backward, so a part of the air inside the air curtain of the pressurized clean air at the front of the cage is sucked. The entire rack is reliably ventilated with clean air flowing from front to back.

Further, by providing the filter, a rectifying action is obtained together with a dust removing action and a hair removing action, and a stable and uniform air flow is formed. In this case, if the pressure loss is adjusted by changing the size of the air outlets and suction ports for each shelf in the rack and / or for each cage in each shelf, the resistance to the passage of the filter is added, and each The pressure loss of the airflow passing through the shelf and / or each cage can be made uniform, and the airflow having a uniform supply / exhaust amount can be formed for each shelf and / or each cage.

In addition, if the outlet is formed in a continuous shape over the entire length in the width direction of the rack, cleaning and disinfection can be easily performed, and the filter can be formed in a continuous shape in a band shape, so that the filter can be easily replaced. And maintenance workability is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an animal breeding rack according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of a cage housed in the rack of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of a cage housed in the rack of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

1: rack, 2: suspension rail, 3: cage, 3a: front edge, 3b, 3d: side edge, 3c: rear edge, 4: outlet, 5:
Air supply chamber, 6: air supply duct, 7: exhaust duct, 8:
Suction port, 9: hair removal filter, 10: exhaust side duct, 1
1: ceiling, 12: water leak gutter, 13: hose nipple, 1
4: hose, 15: rectifying filter, 16: rear wall of the rack.

Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shoji Iwamiya 2-5-12 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Toyo Thermal Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Satoshi Mochizuki 2-15-18 Takaban, Meguro-ku, Tokyo Theorbit Co., Ltd. Inside

Claims (4)

[Utility model registration claims] 1. An animal breeding rack comprising a plurality of shelves, in which a plurality of cages each having an open top surface are accommodated in parallel, and each of the shelves has a length longer than the cage front edge on the ceiling above the cage front edge of each shelf. An animal breeding rack, comprising: an outlet having: a front edge of the cage disposed below a substantially central portion of the outlet in the front-rear width direction. 2. Each of the cages is suspended and supported from the ceiling side by a suspension rail so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction. The suspension rail closes a space between the left and right side edges of each cage and the ceiling, The animal rearing rack according to claim 1, wherein the rack is provided so as to open between the edge and the rear edge and the ceiling. 3. The animal breeding rack according to claim 1, wherein a suction port is provided on a rear surface side of each shelf, and a filter is attached to the air outlet and the suction port. 4. An animal breeding rack comprising a plurality of stages of shelves, in which a plurality of cages each having an open upper surface are accommodated in each shelf, and a slit-shaped outlet extending over the entire length of the shelves on the front ceiling side of each shelf. An animal breeding rack, wherein a front edge of the cage is disposed within a range in which the airflow from the outlet extends in the front-rear direction.