JP3688082B2 - Apparatus for loading culture raw material in solid-state culture equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a raw material for cultivation in a solid culture apparatus, for example, a device for filling a sputum substrate in a rotating disk solid culture apparatus.
[0002]
[Prior art]
BACKGROUND ART A belt conveyor is frequently used as an apparatus for incorporating a culture raw material into a solid culture apparatus. A conventional filling device using a belt conveyor is generally composed of an upper supply conveyor and a lower transfer conveyor. The moving conveyor can reciprocate on the culture bed in the direction of the normal of the wall. The culture raw material sent by the transfer chute is once deposited on the supply conveyor and dropped from this supply conveyor onto the lower moving conveyor. After that, the culture raw material was loaded into the culture bed while reciprocating the moving conveyor. As this type of filling apparatus, there is one that makes the layer thickness of the accumulated culture material deposition layer constant (JP-A-6-327466).
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The filling device composed of the belt conveyor has an advantage that the device configuration is simple, but has the disadvantage of requiring an installation area. In order to overcome the above disadvantages, conventionally, a supply conveyor that can rotate forward and backward is arranged between adjacent culture apparatuses, and separate moving conveyors are provided at both ends of the supply conveyor, The moving conveyor was reciprocated. However, even in this case, the installation area is far from being saved, and the same number of mobile conveyors as the number of culture apparatuses are required.
[0004]
In recent years, it has been found that the moving conveyor becomes a bottleneck when the culture apparatus is enlarged. As described so far, it is the moving conveyor that reciprocates on the culture bed. For this reason, an increase in the size of the culture apparatus, that is, an increase in the culture bed, requires an increase in the length of the moving conveyor. No longer. Moreover, in the lengthening device, there is a problem that the inertia of the moving conveyor is increased and the control becomes difficult.
[0005]
Therefore, on the other hand, on the other hand, it is possible to load a stable and uniform culture raw material over the entire surface of the culture bed in a growing culture apparatus on the one hand, on the other hand, on the other hand, on the other hand, on the other hand, Develop a filling device that can reduce the area required for installation or operation by optimizing the size of the culture device and reducing the area required for installation and operation. Therefore, we decided to study the device structure.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
What has been developed as a result of the study is a device for loading the culture material into the culture bed from a moving conveyor that reciprocates on a track defined in a substantially normal direction of the wall surface of the culture bed. This is a filling device in which a plurality of reciprocating conveyors are stacked in multiple stages to constitute a moving conveyor. On the uppermost conveyor, a supply conveyor for supplying the culture raw material is arranged, and the conveyors at each stage are preferably substantially the same length. The culture raw material is basically dropped from the uppermost conveyor to the conveyors of each stage, and is loaded from the lowermost conveyor, but depending on the expansion / contraction state of the moving conveyor, the intermediate conveyor may be omitted. The culture raw material may be dropped, the culture raw material may be loaded from an intermediate stage conveyor, or directly from the uppermost stage conveyor.
[0007]
By constructing the moving conveyor by stacking a plurality of conveyors, the length of each stage of the conveyor can be shortened, and the installation area as a filling device is reduced. This reduction in installation area also reduces the moving area of the moving conveyor outside the culture bed. In addition, since the conveyor of each stage can be shortened, it is relatively easy to support the conveyor of each stage that has advanced. In addition, the fact that the conveyor at each stage is short means that the weight of the conveyor is light and the driving force is small. And by reciprocating such a short conveyor independently or interlockingly, the full length as a moving conveyor can be adjusted more finely than before.
[0008]
Moreover, what was also developed is a filling device in which each track in the culture bed of a plurality of culture chambers or the intersection of the extended lines of these tracks is used as the turning center of the moving conveyor. The moving conveyor in the filling device may be a single-layer moving conveyor having a single moving forward and backward conveyor, but is more preferably a moving conveyor constituted by the multilayer conveyor. By turning the moving conveyor, raw materials can be loaded from a single moving conveyor to a plurality of culture beds, and the number of loading devices can be reduced.
[0009]
The positional relationship between the filling device and the culture bed is basically the case where the culture bed is arranged equidistant from the swiveling center of the filling device, that is, on the circumference centering on the swiveling center. In a substantially radial direction extending toward the innermost circumference. When the turning center is at the intersection of the extension lines of each track, the swiveling filling device advances in the track direction and then extends the moving conveyor. In particular, in the filling device in which the moving conveyor is constituted by the multilayer conveyor of the present invention, as long as it reaches within the maximum extension state of the moving conveyor, culture beds of different diameters may be freely arranged, In order to simplify the operation or control, it is preferable to arrange a culture bed having the same diameter on the circumference as described above. Furthermore, if a large number of culture beds are divided into several groups, each group is provided with a different swivel center, and the moving conveyor is movable between the plurality of swivel centers, more can be achieved with one filling device. The raw material can be loaded into the culture bed.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this example, an upper conveyor 2 and a lower conveyor 3 that reciprocate independently or in conjunction with each other on a linear track defined in a substantially normal direction of a circular culture bed 1 are stacked to form a moving conveyor 4. FIG. 1 shows a filling device 6 in which a supply conveyor 5 is arranged on a moving conveyor 4, and FIG. 2 is a partially broken side view of the filling device 6 (stretched state A), and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the relationship between the filling device 6 and the culture bed 1 in the stretched state A (only the conveyors are shown in the figure). FIG. 3 is a partially broken side view (expanded state D) of the filling device 6 in a state where the upper conveyor 2 and the lower conveyor 3 are both retracted and the moving conveyor 4 is retracted to the maximum. The upper conveyor 2 and the lower conveyor 3 are each provided with a driving device, and a control device for making the both independent or interlocking is provided in the filling device, but the driving device and the control device are omitted in each drawing. .
[0011]
As shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, the filling device 6 of the present invention fixes the position of the supply conveyor 5 to the uppermost layer of the base 8, and the storage provided in the base 8 below the supply conveyor 5. On the rail 9, the upper conveyor 2 and the lower conveyor 3 which reciprocate independently or interlockingly are arranged. In the state where both the upper conveyor 2 and the lower conveyor 3 are moved forward, the length from the supply conveyor 5 to the tip of the lower conveyor 3 is a length that allows the raw material 7 to be placed in the innermost periphery of the culture bed 1. As can be seen, they can be retracted together and stored under the supply conveyor 5 in a stacked state. In this example, the base 8 is a floor-standing type, but it may be a hanging type from the ceiling.
[0012]
The upper conveyor 2 and the lower conveyor 3 constituting the moving conveyor 4 are supported by a storage rail 9 provided on the base 8 and an extended rail 10 suspended in the culture bed 1 following the storage rail 9, respectively. The reciprocating movement of the culture bed 1 is performed on the orbit in the substantially normal direction. The extension rail 10 is normally installed in the culture bed 1 and is continuous with the storage rail 9 of the base 8 by opening a door (not shown) provided on the wall of the culture bed 1 only when the raw material 7 is loaded. Thus, the upper conveyor 2 and the lower conveyor 3 are used for reciprocal movement.
[0013]
The expansion position of the moving conveyor 4 and the loading position of the raw material 7 with respect to the culture bed 1 is demonstrated. FIG. 4 is a partially broken side view (stretched state B) of the filling device 6 in which the upper conveyor 2 and the lower conveyor 3 are both retracted from the stretched state A and the raw material 7 is loaded on the intermediate circumference, and FIG. 2 is a partially broken side view (stretched state C) of the filling device 6 in which the upper conveyor 2 and the lower conveyor 3 are further retracted to load the raw material 7 on the outermost periphery. The raw material 7 is first deposited on the supply conveyor 5 from the transport chute 11 and is conveyed stepwise from the supply conveyor 5 to the upper conveyor 2 and from the upper conveyor 2 to the lower conveyor 3, and from the tip of the lower conveyor 3 to the culture bed 1. It is included.
[0014]
The filling apparatus of this example starts to feed the raw material from the innermost periphery of the culture bed, and the upper conveyor 2 and the lower conveyor 3 move back together in cooperation (see FIGS. 1 and 4 to 5) to load the culture raw material. By continuously displacing the tip of the lower conveyor 3, continuous filling of the raw material in the radial direction of the culture bed is realized. Actually, since the culture bed is rotated at the time of filling, the culture raw material forms a thin layer over the entire culture bed while the lower conveyor 3 traverses in the radial direction. Thus, the filling apparatus of this example loads the culture raw material on the culture bed by the thin layer multi-stage method.
[0015]
The advance and retreat of the upper conveyor 2 or the lower conveyor 3 that determines the expansion and contraction of the moving conveyor 4 can be freely combined. As shown in this example, the upper conveyor 2 and the lower conveyor 3 are coordinated and retreated simultaneously, and the upper conveyor 2 is retreated in three stages from the advance position to the retreat position, and the lower conveyor 3 is moved to each advance position. The upper conveyor 2 may be displaced from the forward position to the backward position, or the upper conveyor 2 may be displaced in two stages of the forward position and the backward position, and the lower conveyor 3 may be displaced from the forward position to the backward position for each position. The advance / retreat combination of the upper conveyor 2 or the lower conveyor 3 can be determined and programmed in consideration of the shape and size of the culture bed.
[0016]
When the filling of the raw material 7 is finished through the above-described expansion and contraction states A to C (FIGS. 1 and 4 to 5), the upper conveyor 2 and the lower conveyor 3 are both retracted to the storage rail 9, and FIG. As seen in state D), it can be stored below the supply conveyor 5. As can be seen from FIG. 3, the filling device 6 of the present invention can be put together in a very compact manner, and is useful for securing a large installation area of the culture bed. Furthermore, taking advantage of this small size, the following filling device 6 can be realized.
[0017]
FIG. 6 shows a filling apparatus in which the orbits in the substantially normal direction of the four culture beds 1, 1, 1, 1 arranged substantially on the circumference intersect each other at the center of the circumference, and this intersection is the turning center 12. 6 is a partially broken side view, and FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a turning state of the filling device 6. In this example, four culture beds 1 are arranged on a circumference 90 degrees apart, and the filling device 6 itself, in which the moving conveyor and the supply conveyor are integrated, rotates horizontally around the turning center 12. Thereby, it is possible to load the raw material into the four culture beds 1, 1, 1, 1 with one filling device 6. Since the filling device 6 of the present invention is relatively compact, it is easy to turn in a narrow space as seen in FIG. In this way, the installation area of the apparatus including the culture bed 1 can be suppressed, and consequently the introduction cost of the apparatus can be reduced.
[0018]
The swivel center 12 of the filling device 6 is uniquely determined as the intersection of the trajectory to each culture bed 1 in three or more culture beds. However, in the case of two culture beds, the intersection point is obtained only in a relationship in which the trajectories of the respective culture beds are oblique to each other. As a special example, as shown in FIG. 8, the trajectories of the two culture beds 1 When the lines are arranged on a straight line, the turning center cannot be obtained as an intersection. In this case, the turning center is not limited as long as the trajectories are arranged in a straight line, but the turning center 12 is a point where the distance from the innermost circumferential filling position in each of the culture beds 1 and 1 is equal. preferable. This is because the length of the moving conveyor 4 of the filling device 6 can be minimized.
[0019]
If the extension / contraction length of the moving conveyor 4 is increased, as shown in FIG. 9, it is possible to cope with six culture beds 1 arranged irregularly with one filling device 6. Further, as seen in FIG. 10, the turning center 12 of the swiveling filling device 6 shown in FIG. 6 is reciprocated between the two islands 14 and 14 of the two culture beds 1 according to the moving rail 13. Then, a single filling device 6 may correspond to many culture beds 1. As described above, since the filling device 6 of the present invention is compact, it can be swung and moved through the gaps between a plurality of culture beds 1 densely arranged in a limited space. As a result, the installation area can be reduced as compared with the conventional case.
[0020]
【The invention's effect】
The filling device of the present invention enables the filling of the raw material to the culture bed which is enlarged, while reducing the installation area and reducing the moving range of the moving conveyor outside the culture bed, thereby improving the efficiency. On the other hand, the installation cost of the apparatus and the maintenance cost can be reduced by reducing the number of installations of the filling apparatus itself.
[0021]
Incorporation of raw materials into a large culture bed means that a large amount of raw materials can be processed at one time, which can contribute to a reduction in product unit price. In addition, the swirling filling device minimizes the movement of the filling device, shortens the time required for filling the raw material into multiple culture beds, and increases the throughput per unit time. It can serve to reduce the product unit price. As described above, the filling apparatus of the present invention is effective in the economical efficiency of the apparatus itself and the reduction in the cost of the product in operation.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a partially broken side view (stretched state A) of a filling device.
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the relationship between the filling device and the culture bed in the stretched state A. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a partially broken side view (expanded state D) of the filling device.
FIG. 4 is a partially broken side view (stretched state B) of the filling device.
FIG. 5 is a partially broken side view (expanded state C) of the filling device.
FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway side view of the filling device with the center of the circumference where the four culture beds are lined up as the turning center.
FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the turning state of the filling device with the center of the circumference where the four culture beds are lined up as the turning center.
FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a swiveling state of a filling device having a swiveling center on a straight line in which two culture beds are arranged.
FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a placement device that swirls corresponding to six culture beds and the arrangement relationship of each culture bed.
FIG. 10 is a plan view showing the arrangement relationship between the filling device reciprocated between two sets of culture bed islands by three and each culture bed.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Culture floor 2 Upper conveyor 3 Lower conveyor 4 Moving conveyor 5 Supply conveyor 6 Filling device 7 Raw material 8 Base 9 Storage rail
10 Extension rail
11 Transport chute
12 Turning center
13 Moving rail
14 Culture bed islands

Claims (2)

  A device for loading the culture raw material into the culture bed from a moving conveyor that reciprocates on a track defined in a substantially normal direction of the culture bed wall surface, and is individually driven to reciprocate on the track independently or in conjunction with the culture bed Solid culture, characterized in that a moving conveyor is constructed by stacking a plurality of conveyors provided with a control device to attach the apparatus and to make both independent or interlocked in multiple stages, thereby reducing the installation area of the moving conveyor outside the culture bed An apparatus for filling culture raw materials in the apparatus. A device that loads culture raw material into the culture bed from a moving conveyor that reciprocates on a track defined in a substantially normal direction of the wall surface of the culture bed, and the intersection of each track in the culture bed of a plurality of culture chambers or an extension line of the track. The apparatus for loading culture raw materials in a solid culture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is installed at a position that is the turning center of the mobile conveyor to reduce the number of mobile conveyors installed outside the culture bed.

Images