JP3745665B2 - Nozzle device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a nozzle device, and more particularly to pretreatment of a liquid supplied to a nozzle.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In fields such as biochemistry, a nozzle device such as a dispensing device is used to discharge a liquid such as a reagent or a diluent using a nozzle. Some nozzle devices are as shown in FIG. 3, that is, a device in which the liquid 102 in the liquid bottle 100 is sucked by the dispensing pump 104 and discharged from the nozzle 106. For reasons of quality, the liquid 102 is usually cooled with the liquid bottle 100 until just before use, or is cooled with the liquid bottle 100 even during use. In addition, the liquid bottle 100 is initially filled with a large amount of liquid 102 in order to cope with multiple dispensing, and has a considerable weight. Therefore, the liquid bottle 100 is generally disposed below the nozzle device. Thereby, as the dispensing pump 104, the thing of the system which pumps up the liquid 102 by applying a negative pressure is generally utilized.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The temperature of the liquid 102 in the cooling state in the liquid bottle 100 rises before being actually supplied to the nozzle 106. As a result, the gas dissolved in the liquid 102 is foamed and microbubbles are generated. Further, the generation of the bubbles is further promoted by the negative pressure applied when the liquid 102 is sucked by the dispensing pump 104. Thereby, bubbles are mixed in the liquid 102 discharged from the nozzle 106. In any case, it is desired to remove bubbles that are unnecessarily contained in the liquid to be discharged.
[0004]
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a nozzle device that can prevent bubbles from being included in the liquid discharged from the nozzle.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a nozzle device for discharging a liquid, which is a cooled chemical solution or a diluted solution, supplied from a liquid supply source by a nozzle, and the liquid from the liquid supply source is in an uncooled state. A bubble removing tank that removes bubbles from the liquid that has been stored and discharges the liquid; an injection unit that injects the liquid from the liquid supply source into the bubble removing tank; An inlet for discharging the liquid from below the bubble removal tank, a liquid level sensor for detecting a liquid level of the liquid accumulated in the bubble removal tank, and a preset liquid level. Storing the data relating to the lower limit value of the control unit, operating the injection means based on the detected liquid level, and controlling the liquid level of the liquid in the bubble removal tank to be equal to or higher than the lower limit value, Air bubble removal The liquid discharged from the bath comprises a supply means for supplying to said nozzle, said lower limit, while the liquid injected from above into the bubble removal tank up to the outlet, with increasing temperature of the liquid and characterized in that the bubble generation and the bubble and there was bubble discharge and can be more than the depth of the time liquid injection.
[0006]
According to the above configuration, the bubble removal tank is provided on the path between the liquid supply source and the nozzle. In this bubble removal tank, the liquid from the liquid supply source is stored, and the bubbles in the liquid are expelled upward. As a result, the bubbles are removed. Thereby, the liquid which does not contain a bubble, or the stable liquid which is hard to generate a bubble can be discharged from a nozzle.
[0007]
In here, it is spaced apart vertically from the inlet and outlet. Thereby, it can prevent that the liquid inject | poured from the injection port is discharged | emitted directly from a discharge port.
[0008]
Moreover, according to the said structure, the quantity of the liquid stored in a bubble removal tank can be adjusted to an appropriate quantity.
[0009]
In a preferred aspect of the present invention, as the bubble removal tank, a first bubble removal tank into which the liquid is injected by the injection means, a second bubble removal tank provided at a subsequent stage of the first bubble removal tank, And a communication part for guiding the liquid from the first bubble removal tank to the second bubble removal tank is further provided, and the liquid is discharged from the second bubble removal tank to the nozzle. Features. Here, the communication portion may be provided between the first bubble removal tank and the second bubble removal tank, and may include one or more additional bubble removal tanks that collect liquid and remove bubbles. Good.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a nozzle device according to the present invention.
[0011]
The drawing pipes 22 and 24 are pipes used to draw the liquid 12 from the liquid tank 10, and one end thereof is inserted into the liquid tank 10. Since there are two pumping tubes, for example, while the liquid 12 in the liquid tank 10 is being pumped by one pumping tube 22, the new liquid tank 10 can be set in the other pumping tube 24.
[0012]
The switching valve 26 is a valve for switching a pumping pipe to be used out of the two pumping pipes 22 and 24. The switching valve 26 of the present embodiment is switched manually, but may be configured to automatically switch based on, for example, the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid tank 10 in use.
[0013]
The injection pump 28 operates based on the control of the control unit 34, sucks the liquid 12 in the liquid tank 10 through the pumping pipe 22 or 24, the switching valve 26 and the suction pipe 30, and the liquid 12 is injected into the injection pipe 32. Through the bubble removal tank 14. In the present embodiment, a peristaltic pump is used as the infusion pump 28.
[0014]
The bubble removal tank 14 has a cavity 16 inside. In the present embodiment, the liquid 12 corresponding to 5 to 10 dispenses is stored. The bubble removal tank 14 has an opening at the top thereof and communicates with the cavity 16. One end side of the injection tube 32 is inserted into the bubble removing tank 14 and fixed to the cavity 16 from above. An inlet 38 for pouring the liquid 12 into the bubble removing tank 14 is formed at the end on one end side. Note that one end side of the injection tube 32 has a shape inclined along the inner wall of the bubble removing tank 14. A discharge port 40 for discharging the liquid 12 to the nozzle 20 side is formed at the bottom of the bubble removal tank 14. Note that the upper portion of the bubble removal tank 14 is covered with a lid (not shown) in order to prevent foreign matter from entering. The bubble removal mechanism in the bubble removal tank 14 will be described in detail later.
[0015]
The bubble removal tank 14 is provided with a liquid level sensor 42 using light or ultrasonic waves. The liquid level sensor 42 detects the liquid level of the liquid 12 stored in the bubble removal tank 14 and outputs a detection signal to the control unit 34.
[0016]
In the control unit 34, data relating to the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the liquid level in the bubble removal tank 14 is set. The data may be configured to be set by the user as needed. The control unit 34 controls the infusion pump 28 so that the liquid level of the liquid 12 in the bubble removing tank 14 is kept between the upper limit value and the lower limit value based on the input signal related to the liquid level. Operate. As a result, a necessary amount of the liquid 12 is supplemented in the bubble removing tank 14, and a state where an appropriate amount of the liquid 12 is accumulated is maintained. In order to maintain an appropriate amount of liquid in the bubble removal tank 14, the injection pump 28 is operated based on the discharge amount of the liquid 12 discharged from the nozzle 20 to supplement the liquid 12 in the bubble removal tank 14. It may be.
[0017]
The discharge pipe 44 is a pipe that causes the liquid 12 discharged from the bubble removal tank 14 to flow out to the dispensing pump 46, and has one end connected to the discharge port 40 and the other end connected to the dispensing pump 46. . The discharge pipe 44 is disposed at a position lower than the lower limit of the liquid level in the bubble removal tank 14. Thereby, the liquid 12 discharged | emitted from the bubble removal tank 14 flows into the dispensing pump 46 with the dead weight.
[0018]
The dispensing pump 46 operates based on the control by the control unit 34 and discharges the liquid 12 from the nozzle 20. The dispensing pump 46 is desirably a pump that takes in the liquid 12 and supplies it to the nozzle 20 side without applying a negative pressure to the liquid 12.
[0019]
The nozzle 20 is provided so as to be three-dimensionally movable by the nozzle transport unit 50 and is transported to a desired position by the nozzle transport unit 50. The nozzle 20 is connected to a dispensing pump 46 via a dispensing pipe 48 and discharges the liquid 12 by the operation of the dispensing pump 46. The nozzle 20 may be used for suction.
[0020]
Next, a mechanism related to bubble removal in the bubble removal tank 14 will be described. By the operation of the injection pump 28, the liquid 12 that is cooled in the liquid tank 10 is discharged from the injection port 38 and injected into the bubble removal tank 14. On this path, the temperature of the liquid 12 gradually increases in the room temperature direction. As a result, the liquid 12 is in an unstable state in which bubbles are likely to be generated, or actually includes bubbles. This liquid 12 is once opened in the cavity 16 of the bubble removal tank 14. Thereby, bubbles contained in the liquid 12 are removed. Here, the bubble removal tank 14 of the present embodiment is used at room temperature. Therefore, the liquid 12 accumulated in the cavity 16 generates bubbles before being discharged, and the generated bubbles rise toward the liquid level. The bubble removal tank 14 may be configured to positively adjust the temperature using a heater or the like.
[0021]
Here, in order to prevent the bubbles from being discharged from the discharge port 40, it is necessary to ensure an appropriate depth from the liquid surface to the discharge port 40. However, as described above, the cavity portion 16 takes this into consideration. Since the liquid level is maintained such that a depth equal to or greater than the lower limit is ensured, the stable liquid 12 that does not contain bubbles or hardly generates bubbles is discharged from the discharge port.
[0022]
Next, another configuration example of the bubble removal tank will be described with reference to FIG. The bubble removal tank unit 52 shown in FIG. 2 includes a first bubble removal tank 54, a second bubble removal tank 56, and a communication pipe 58. The first bubble removal tank 54 and the second bubble removal tank 56 are liquid storage tanks separated from each other, and are connected by a communication pipe 58. In the first bubble removal tank 54, the injection tube 32 is inserted and fixed from above. On the other hand, a discharge port 40 for discharging the liquid 12 is provided on the nozzle 20 side at the bottom of the second bubble removal tank 56. Note that the upper portions of the first bubble removal tank 54 and the second bubble removal tank 56 are covered with a lid (not shown) in order to prevent foreign substances from entering.
[0023]
Here, the communication pipe 58 connects the first bubble removal tank 54 and the second bubble removal tank 56 in the vicinity of their bottoms. Thus, for example, even when the liquid 12 is inadvertently disturbed in the first bubble removal tank 54 when the liquid 12 is injected from the injection tube 32, the second bubble removal tank 56 is static. In addition, the air bubbles generated in the first bubble removal tank 54 are difficult to move to the second bubble removal tank 56 side. As a result, the liquid 12 in a stable state that does not contain bubbles or is unlikely to generate bubbles can be discharged from the discharge port 40.
[0024]
In the first bubble removal tank 54, an appropriate stirring means (not shown) for stirring the accumulated liquid 12 is provided at an appropriate position, and the liquid 12 is positively stimulated to eliminate the formation of bubbles. Also good. In this configuration, bubbles are formed in the first bubble removal tank 54 by this stirring means, but the liquid 12 containing no bubbles or containing a small amount of bubbles is removed from the communication pipe 58 by the second bubble removal. It flows into the tank 56. As a result, the second bubble removal tank 56 is filled with the stable liquid 12, and the liquid 12 that hardly generates bubbles is discharged from the discharge port 40.
[0025]
The embodiment of the nozzle device has been described above. The present invention is more effective in the case of a nozzle device having only one fetch pipe. That is, in such a nozzle device, even if the injection pump 28 sucks in the gas while the liquid tank 10 is replaced, the liquid 12 is buffered in the bubble removal tank 14 or the bubble removal unit 52. The gas is excluded. Further, since the dispensing is performed using the liquid 12 from which the gas is excluded, it is not necessary to stop the nozzle device every time the liquid tank 10 is replaced.
[0026]
【The invention's effect】
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the nozzle apparatus which can discharge the liquid which does not contain a bubble from a nozzle can be provided.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a nozzle device according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a structure of a bubble removing unit as another configuration in the bubble removing tank.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a conventional nozzle device.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Liquid tank, 12 Liquid, 14 Bubble removal tank, 16 Cavity part, 20 Nozzle, 22 Fume pipe, 24 Fume pipe, 26 Switching valve, 28 Injection pump, 30 Suction pipe, 32 Injection pipe, 38 Inlet, 40 Discharge port, 42 level sensor, 44 discharge pipe, 46 dispensing pump, 48 dispensing pipe.

Claims (2)

In a nozzle device for discharging a liquid that is a cooled chemical solution or a diluent supplied from a liquid supply source by a nozzle,
A bubble removal tank for storing the liquid from the liquid supply source in an uncooled state to remove bubbles in the liquid and discharging the liquid;
Injection means for injecting the liquid of the liquid supply source into the bubble removing tank;
An inlet for injecting the liquid from above into the bubble removing tank;
A discharge port for discharging the liquid from below the bubble removing tank;
A liquid level sensor for detecting a liquid level of the liquid accumulated in the bubble removing tank;
Data relating to a preset lower limit value of the liquid level is stored, the injection means is operated based on the detected liquid level, and the liquid level of the liquid in the bubble removing tank is set to the lower limit value or more. A control unit to control;
Supply means for supplying the liquid discharged from the bubble removal tank to the nozzle;
Including
The lower limit, while the liquid injected from above into the bubble removal tank up to the outlet, the bubble discharging and of that existed at the time the bubble generation and the bubble and liquid injection with increasing temperature of the liquid Nozzle device characterized by being deeper than possible. The nozzle device according to claim 1.
As the bubble removal tank,
A first bubble removal tank into which the liquid is injected by the injection means;
A second bubble removal tank provided downstream of the first bubble removal tank;
And a communication portion for guiding the liquid from the first bubble removal tank to the second bubble removal tank, and the liquid discharged from the second bubble removal tank is supplied to the nozzle by the supply means. A nozzle device comprising:

Images