JP3783401B2 - incubator - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an incubator used for culture of microorganisms and cells, antigen-antibody reaction, and the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
An incubator is known as an apparatus used for culturing microorganisms, cells, etc., and for testing biochemical reactions of substances. The incubator has a function of adjusting and holding environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity in a chamber in which a sample to be tested is stored. In general, in order to conduct experiments on a large number of samples under the same environmental conditions, the incubator is provided with a sample storage section for storing a large number of samples. The sample storage unit is generally composed of multi-stage shelves, and containers for storing samples such as microplates are stored in each of the shelves. In the conventional incubator, in order to make the environmental conditions of these many samples as uniform as possible, an air circulation fan is provided inside the incubator.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the circulation of air inside the incubator is not constant depending on the number and arrangement of samples, but varies depending on the density and ubiquity of the arrangement. In other words, even when the environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity are set to the same, when viewed with respect to individual samples, the actual environmental conditions vary depending on the position in the incubator and the number of samples stored at the same time. And the dispersion | variation in this environmental condition had the problem that the reliability of a test result was adversely affected.
[0004]
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an incubator capable of suppressing a variation in internal environmental conditions and performing a highly reliable test.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The incubator of the present invention includes a chamber, environmental condition adjusting means for adjusting environmental conditions in the chamber, a lifting plate that is lifted and lowered by the lifting means in the chamber, and a spline bearing that is rotatably mounted on the lifting plate. A spline shaft that vertically passes through the spline bearing, a motor that rotates the spline shaft, a plurality of rotating shelves on which a sample container is placed and rotated together with the spline bearing, and a predetermined pattern on the rotating shelf. And a controller for stirring the air in the chamber by the rotating shelf by performing a rotating operation and an elevating operation.
[0006]
According to the present invention, by providing a rotating means for rotating a sample storage rotating shelf provided in the chamber and an elevating means for moving the rotating shelf up and down, the air in the chamber is agitated to make the environmental conditions uniform. Can be.
[0007]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a perspective view of an incubator according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of a sample storage portion of the incubator, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of a rotating shelf of the incubator.
[0008]
First, the entire structure of the incubator will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, the main body portion of the incubator 1 includes a chamber 2, a door 3, and a sample storage portion 4 provided in the chamber 2. The chamber 2 is a water jacket having a two-layer structure having inner and outer walls, and water as a temperature control medium circulates between the inner wall and the outer wall. A water circulation pipe 5 is connected to the chamber 2, and the water returned from the water jacket is sent to the heater 7 by the circulation pump 6, heated and sent again to the water jacket.
[0009]
Further, the chamber 2 is connected to CO ₂ gas cylinder 8 via the CO ₂ pipe 10, control valve 9 for CO ₂ pipe 10 is provided. Sensors 11 and 12 are provided inside the side wall of the chamber 2. The sensors 11 and 12 measure the temperature and CO ₂ concentration inside the chamber 2, and send the measurement data to the environment controller 13. By controlling the heater 7 and the control valve 9 by the environment controller 13, the temperature and CO ₂ concentration in the chamber 2 are adjusted, and the inside of the chamber 2 is maintained at predetermined environmental conditions. Therefore, the environmental controller 13, the circulation pump 6, the heater 7, the CO ₂ cylinder 8 and the control valve 9 are environmental condition adjusting means. The environmental controller 13 is controlled by the control unit 37, and the environmental condition in the chamber 2 is set by inputting a command value from an input means 38 such as a keyboard.
[0010]
Next, the sample storage unit 4 will be described. 1 and 2, nuts 25 are disposed at both ends of the lifting plate 20, and a feed screw 24 is screwed into the nut 25. In FIG. 1, a pulley 26 is coupled to the upper ends of two feed screws 24, and a pulley 27 is coupled to a rotating shaft of a motor 29. A belt 28 is adjusted to the pulley 27 and the two pulleys 26. Has been.
[0011]
In FIG. 2, a spline bearing 31 is attached to the lift plate 20 so as to be rotatable with respect to the lift plate 20. The uppermost rotary shelf 21 is fixed to the spline bearing 31, and a plurality of rotary shelves 21 are suspended by connecting members below the spline bearing 31. A spline shaft 30 is inserted into the spline bearing 31, and a pulley 32 is coupled to an upper end portion of the spline shaft 30 as shown in FIG. A pulley 33 is coupled to the rotating shaft of the motor 35, and a belt 34 is tuned between the pulley 33 and the pulley 32. The spline shaft 30 rotates by driving the motor 35. When the spline bearing 31 is rotated by the spline shaft 30, the rotary shelf 21 is also rotated. Therefore, the motor 35 and the spline shaft 30 are rotating means for the rotating shelf 21. Further, by driving the motor 29, the feed screw 24 rotates, and the rotary shelf 21 moves up and down together with the lift plate 20. In other words, the motor 29 and the feed screw 24 serve as lifting / lowering means for the rotating shelf 21.
[0012]
By controlling the motor driving unit 36 by the control unit 37, all the rotating shelves 21 can be rotated and moved up and down. At this time, the rotating shelf 21 can be rotated by the spline shaft 30 and the spline bearing 31 regardless of the vertical position of the lifting plate 20, and therefore any operation pattern of the rotating shelf 21 can be freely combined with the lifting and rotating operations. Can be set.
[0013]
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the rotating shelf 21 is provided with a plurality of notches 21 a at the circumferential position. A microplate 22 that is a container for storing a sample is placed in the notch 21a. Further, the rotating shelf 21 is provided with a plurality of openings 21b, through which the air flows in the vertical direction, and the circulation of the air in the chamber 2 is performed better. ing. 21c is an opening through which the spline shaft 30 passes.
[0014]
The opening 3a of the door 3 is used to put these microplates 22 in and out of the chamber 2 during the culture time. That is, a specific cutout portion 21a of a specific rotating shelf 21 to / from which the microplate 22 is to be taken in and out is moved to the position of the opening 3a by the lifting / lowering operation and rotating operation of the rotating shelf 21, and transport means such as a robot arm ( The microplate 22 is put in and out from the opening 3a by the outside of the figure. As described above, since the rotating shelf 21, the rotating means, and the lifting / lowering means also serve as a means for transporting the microplate 22 inside the chamber 2, it is only necessary to provide one opening 3a for taking in and out of the microplate 22, and therefore the microplate. Disturbance elements of environmental conditions such as inflow of external air and outflow of internal air during taking in and out can be minimized.
[0015]
This incubator is configured as described above, and the operation will be described below. First, in FIG. 1, the door 3 of the chamber 2 is closed. Next, the control unit 37 is operated by the input means 38 to set a predetermined environmental condition. As a result, the environmental controller 13 is operated, and the circulation pump 6, the heater 7, and the control valve 9 are driven to adjust the environmental conditions in the chamber 2. When the inside of the chamber 2 is in a predetermined environmental condition, the opening / closing lid (not shown) of the opening 3a of the door 3 is opened and the microplate 22 is cut through the opening 3a by the conveying means (not shown). It mounts on the notch part 21a.
[0016]
When all the microplates 22 are placed on the predetermined rotation shelf 21, the motor 29 and the motor 35 are driven to cause the rotation shelf 21 to continuously perform the rotation operation and the elevation operation in a predetermined pattern. Thereby, the air in the chamber 2 is agitated by the rotating shelf 21, and the temperature and CO ₂ concentration are made uniform. In addition, the microplate 22 does not stay at the same position during the culture time due to the operation of the rotating shelf 21, and therefore, the local environmental condition variation due to the position in the chamber 2 is eliminated, The same environmental conditions are realized for the plate 22.
[0017]
Then, when the predetermined time has passed and it is time to take out the specific microplate 22, the rotating shelf 21 on which the microplate 22 is placed is positioned at the height of the opening 3a of the door 3. Next, the rotating shelf 21 is rotated so that the specific microplate 22 is positioned in the opening 3a. Then, the microplate 21 is taken out and transported to another device such as an analyzer by a transport means (not shown).
[0018]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, by providing a rotating means for rotating a sample storage rotating shelf provided in the chamber and an elevating means for moving the rotating shelf up and down, the air in the chamber is agitated to make the environmental conditions uniform. Thus, the reliability of the test can be improved. In addition, since the sample at a specific position can be transported to a specific position in the chamber by these rotating means and lifting / lowering means, only one opening for sample removal is required. Disturbance elements of environmental conditions such as outflow of internal air can be suppressed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an incubator according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of a sample storage portion of the incubator according to an embodiment of the present invention. Plan view of rotating shelf 【Explanation of symbols】
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Incubator 2 Chamber 4 Sample storage part 13 Environmental controller 20 Lifting plate 21 Rotating shelf 22 Microplate 24 Feed screw 29 Motor 30 Spline shaft 35 Motor

Claims (1)

A chamber, environmental condition adjusting means for adjusting environmental conditions in the chamber, a lifting plate that is lifted and lowered by the lifting means in the chamber, a spline bearing rotatably mounted on the lifting plate, and a vertical movement of the spline bearing. A spline shaft that is inserted into the spline shaft, a motor that rotates the spline shaft, a plurality of rotating shelves on which a container for storing a sample is placed and rotated together with the spline bearing, and a rotating operation and a lifting operation of a predetermined pattern on the rotating shelf. An incubator comprising: a control unit that causes the air in the chamber to be agitated by the rotating shelf by being performed.

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