JP6666768B2 - Culture device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a culture device.

  In a culture apparatus for culturing a culture such as a cell or a microorganism, it is known that a heater for heating the culture chamber is provided in the heat-insulating box and the heat-insulating door. The culture apparatus is configured to maintain the culture chamber at a predetermined temperature (for example, 37 degrees) by controlling the heater, and to maintain the culture chamber at a predetermined humidity corresponding to the predetermined temperature. And it is known that packing is arranged around the circumference of the heat insulating door so as to maintain the airtightness of the culture chamber (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-5-227942

  By the way, in a culture apparatus, it is necessary to sterilize the culture chamber regularly or irregularly in order to maintain the cleanliness of the culture chamber. When the culture chamber is dry-heat sterilized by the above-mentioned heater, the temperature of the heater becomes 160 ° C. or higher, for example. At this time, heat from a heater provided on the heat insulating door may be conducted to the packing via a panel constituting the heat insulating door, and the packing may be melted and unusable.

  One invention for solving the above problem has an inner box surrounding a culture chamber in which a culture is accommodated, and an outer box surrounding the inner box, and an opening facing the culture chamber is formed on the front surface. A metal heat-insulating housing, and a door that has a heater wire inside and covers the front surface of the heat-insulating housing, and the door has a magnet inside on a surface on the opening side, In order to ensure the airtightness in the culture chamber, the first frame that is in close contact with the surface around the opening in the heat-insulating housing, and the heat of the heater wire is not directly transmitted to the first frame. Thus, there is provided a culture apparatus comprising: a second frame made of a heat-resistant resin that relays between the door and the first frame.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the heat of the heater from directly conducting to the packing.

It is an external appearance perspective view of the culture device concerning this embodiment. It is an external appearance perspective view of the culture device concerning this embodiment. It is a sectional view showing the outline of the culture device concerning this embodiment. It is a figure for explaining the inner box of the culture device concerning this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 3 for explaining a packing according to the embodiment. It is the schematic which shows the packing which concerns on this embodiment.

  At least the following matters will be made clear by the description in the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

  A culture device 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, when the culture device 1 is installed such that the opening 7 of the heat insulation box 2 is on the front side, the lateral width direction of the culture device 1 is set to the X-axis direction, The depth direction is defined as the Y-axis direction, and the vertical direction is defined as the Z-axis direction.

  The culture device 1 is a device for culturing cultures such as cells and microorganisms. The culturing apparatus 1 is configured to supply CO2 gas into the culturing chamber 6 to set and maintain CO2 at a predetermined concentration, for example, in the case of a CO2 incubator. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the culture apparatus 1 has a culture chamber 6 formed therein, and a substantially box-shaped heat-insulating box 2 having an opening 7 formed on the front surface, and the opening 7 of the heat-insulating box 2 can be opened and closed. And a heat-insulating door 3 that is closed at the same time.

(Insulated box)
The heat-insulating box 2 includes a substantially box-shaped inner box 20 that forms the culture chamber 6 inside, and a substantially box-shaped outer box 10 that is formed so as to cover the inner box 20. The outer box 10 and the inner box 20 are substantially rectangular parallelepiped boxes. The inner box 20 is formed smaller than the outer box 10 so as to be accommodated inside the outer box 10. An opening 7 for communicating with the culture chamber 6 is formed on the front surface of the outer box 10 and the inner box 20. The outer box 10 and the inner box 20 are made of metal such as stainless steel, which has resistance to hydrogen peroxide, ozone, ultraviolet rays, and the like, and has heat resistance and antibacterial properties.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a heat insulating material 11 is disposed on the inner surface of the outer box 10, and an air layer (a so-called air jacket) 12 is formed between the heat insulating material 11 and the outer surface of the inner box 20. You.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a heater wire 28A for heating the culture chamber 6 is arranged on the outer surface of the inner box 20. The heater wires 28 </ b> A may be provided on the right side plate 22, the left side plate 23, the back plate 24, the bottom plate 25, and the top plate 26 of the inner box 20, respectively.

  The inner box 20 has a right side plate 22, a left side plate 23, a back plate 24, a bottom plate 25, and a top plate 26, as shown in FIG. Each of the right side plate 22 and the left side plate 23 has a plurality of shelf supports 27 formed by press working. The shelf board 4 is placed on the shelf support 27. A pair of shelf supports 27 provided on the right side plate 22 and the left side plate 23 support the shelf plate 4 substantially horizontally.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the culture chamber 6 formed in the inner box 20 is provided with a duct 30 that forms a gas passage K of air containing CO2 and the like along the back surface and the bottom surface. The culture apparatus 1 sucks a gas containing CO 2 and the like in the culture chamber 6 from a suction port 35 formed in an upper part of the duct 30, and blows out air into the culture chamber 6 from an outlet 36 provided in a lower part of the duct 30. The forced circulation of air is performed as described above. A circulation blower 31 is disposed in the duct 30 for forced circulation of the gas containing CO2 and the like.

  Further, a humidifying tray 5 for storing humidifying water (that is, humidifying water) 5A is disposed between the lower portion of the duct 30 and the bottom plate 25 of the inner box 20. The humidifying tray 5 is heated by the heater wire 28A provided on the bottom plate 25 of the inner box 20 to evaporate the water 5A.

  The culture apparatus 1 has an ultraviolet lamp 34 disposed in the gas passage K to sterilize the gas flowing in the culture chamber 6 and the humidification water 5A in the humidification dish 5.

  The culture device 1 can be operated by the operating device 42 provided on the outer door 40 to start and stop the culture device 1, a target temperature (for example, 37 ° C.), a target humidity (for example, 93% RH), An instruction input such as a target concentration of CO2 gas (for example, 5%) is received. Then, the control device 62 performs control such that the temperature, the humidity, and the CO2 concentration of the culture chamber 6 become the target values.

As shown in FIG. 3, the back of the outer box 10 of the heat insulating box 2 is covered with a back cover 14, and a space between the back of the outer box 10 and the back cover 14 accommodates various devices. Machine room 60 is formed.
In the machine room 60, a driving unit of the circulation blower 31, a gas supply means 32 for supplying CO2 gas to the culture room 6, and an inside temperature sensor 33 for measuring the temperature of the culture room 6 (the inside temperature). , An electrical box 61 for accommodating electrical components such as a control device 62 is provided.

(Insulated door)
As shown in FIG. 2, the heat-insulating door 3 includes an outer door 40 and an inner door 50. The outer door 40 and the inner door 50 are doors that open and close the opening 7.

  The outer door 40 is a box made of a metal material such as stainless steel and has a substantially rectangular shape whose outer shape is larger than that of the inner door 50. As shown in FIG. 3, a heat insulating material 11 is provided inside the outer door 40.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the outer door 40 has a door panel 45 on which a heater wire 28B is arranged on a part of the surface on the opening 7 side. The heater wire B will be described later in detail.

  A packing 41 (first frame) for ensuring the airtightness of the culture chamber 6 is provided on a surface of the outer door 40 facing the opening 7. The packing 41 will be described later.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an operation device 42 for operating the culture device 1 is provided on an outer surface of the outer door 40.

  The inner door 50 has a resistance to hydrogen peroxide, ozone, ultraviolet rays, and the like, and has a heat resistance and an antibacterial property, and is made of a material such as a transparent resin or glass. As shown in FIG. 2, a packing 13 is provided on the periphery of the opening 7 on the front surface of the heat insulating box 2 so as to be in contact with the inner door 50 to ensure the airtightness of the culture chamber 6. I have.

(Heater wire)
As shown in FIG. 3, the heater wire 28 </ b> A provided on the inner box 20 and the heater wire 28 </ b> B provided on the outer door 40 pass through the heater through hole 16 formed on the back side of the outer box 10. , A control device 62 in the machine room 60. The heater through-hole 16 is covered with a heat-insulating heater cover 15 provided in the machine room 60. The heater cover 15 is provided with a heater connector 29A. One terminal of the heater connector 29A is connected to a heater wire 28 disposed in the inner box 20, and the other terminal of the heater connector 29A is connected to a heater cable. 29 is connected to the control device 62. Thus, the control device 62 and the heater wire 28 are electrically connected.

  Then, the control device 62 controls energization of the heater wire 28 based on the inside temperature measured by the inside temperature sensor 33 so that the temperature and the humidity of the culture room 6 become the target values. The control device 62 has a “culture mode” and a “sterilization mode” described later.

  The culture mode is a control mode in which the temperature in the culture chamber 6 is controlled so as to be maintained at a temperature (first temperature) suitable for culture of the culture. The first temperature is a temperature in a range from about room temperature to about 50 ° C., for example, 37 ° C. The control device 62 controls the heater wire 28 such that the temperature in the culture chamber 6 is maintained at the first temperature during the culture mode.

  On the other hand, the sterilization mode is a control mode in which the temperature in the culture room 6 is controlled to be maintained at a temperature (second temperature) suitable for sterilization in the culture room 6. The second temperature is approximately 100 ° C. or higher, for example, 180 ° C. The control device 62 controls the heater wire 28 such that the temperature in the culture chamber 6 is maintained at the second temperature during the sterilization mode.

(Packing and relay frame)
As described above, the outer door 40 has the packing 41 for ensuring the airtightness of the culture chamber 6. The packing 41 is a resin frame (first frame), and is in close contact with the surface around the opening 7 in the heat insulating box 2 as shown in FIG. The packing 41 can be made of a resin having a relatively low heat-resistant temperature (for example, 100 degrees Celsius or less) such as polyvinyl chloride.

  The packing 41 has a magnet 43 inside on the surface on the opening 7 side. When the outer door 40 approaches the outer box 10, the magnet 43 is attracted to the surface 10 </ b> A around the opening 7 in the outer box 10. Therefore, in a state where the outer door 40 is closed, the packing 41 is in close contact with the outer box 10, and airtightness in the culture chamber 6 is ensured. In addition, a heat conduction suppressing mechanism (not shown) is provided on the surface 10A around the opening 7 in the outer box 10 so that the heat of the heater wire 28A is not conducted. Therefore, even when dry heat sterilization is performed, the packing 41 is not damaged by the heat of the heater wire 28A.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the packing 41 has a hook-shaped fitting piece 41A that protrudes toward a relay frame 44 described later. By having the fitting piece 41A, the packing 41 is detachably locked to the outer door 40.

  The outer door 40 also has a relay frame 44. The relay frame 44 is a frame (second frame) made of a heat-resistant resin such as polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), polyetheretherketone (PEEK), or polyethersulfone (PES), and is shown in FIG. So that the heat of the heater wire 28 is relayed between the door panel 45 of the outer door 40 and the packing 41 so that the heat of the heater wire 28 is not directly conducted to the packing 41. Therefore, the heat conducted from the heater wire 28B to the door panel 45 is less likely to be conducted to the packing 41 by the relay frame 44, so that the packing 41 is not damaged even during dry heat sterilization.

  In addition, the relay frame 44 relays between the door panel 45 and the surface 46 on the opening 7 side of the outer door 40 so that the heat of the heater wire 28B is not conducted to the outer shell of the outer door 40. The end of the door panel 45 is located inside the warehouse (front side) of the relay section 44A, and the surface 46 on the opening 7 side of the door 40 is located outside the warehouse (back side) of the relay section 44A. The portion 44A is sandwiched and fastened together with screws 47. The screw 47 is preferably made of a material having low thermal conductivity. Therefore, heat conducted from the heater wire 28B to the door panel 45 is less likely to be transmitted to the surface 46 on the opening 7 side of the outer door 40 and the outer shell of the outer door 40. The temperature of the surface 46 on the opening 7 side of the door 40 and the outer shell of the outer door 40 remains at a temperature (for example, about 50 degrees Celsius) that does not cause burns even when touched by an operator.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the relay frame 44 is a hollow member having a fitting groove 44B into which the fitting piece 41A of the packing 41 is fitted. When the fitting piece 41A is fitted into the fitting groove 44B, the fitting piece 41A is locked inside the relay frame 44, whereby the packing 41 is attached to the relay frame 44 and the outer door 40.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, since the packing 41 is attached to the outer door 40 via the heat-resistant relay frame 44, heat transmitted from the heater wire 28B to the door panel 45 is less likely to be transmitted to the packing 41. Therefore, even when the temperature of the heater wire 28B becomes high due to, for example, dry heat sterilization, the packing 41 is not damaged by melting or the like.

  Further, since the relay frame 44 is interposed between the door panel 45 and the surface 46 on the opening 7 side of the outer door 40, the temperature of the outer shell of the outer door 40 becomes high and, for example, a worker may be burned. It is possible to prevent an influence such as melting another adjacent device.

  As described above, the culture apparatus 1 has the inner box 20 surrounding the culture room 6 in which the culture is accommodated, and the outer box 10 surrounding the inner box 20, and the opening 7 facing the culture room 6 is formed on the front surface. And a heat insulating door 3 (outer door 40) having a heater wire 28 therein and covering the front surface of the heat insulating box 2. The heat-insulating door 3 (outer door 40) has a magnet 43 inside on the surface on the opening 7 side, and the periphery of the opening 7 in the heat-insulating box 2 so that airtightness in the culture chamber 6 is ensured. It has a packing 41 that is in close contact with the surface, and a relay frame 44 made of a heat-resistant resin that relays between the heat insulating door 3 and the packing 41 so that the heat of the heater wire 28B is not directly conducted to the packing 41. Here, the packing 41 may be made of a synthetic resin. According to this embodiment, heat from the heater wire 28B is less likely to be transmitted to the packing 41. Therefore, even when the temperature of the heater wire 28 becomes high due to, for example, dry heat sterilization, the packing 41 is prevented from melting and becoming unusable.

  Further, the heat-insulating door 3 (outer door 40) has a door panel 45 on which a heater wire 28B is disposed on a part of the surface on the opening 7 side, and the relay frame 44 is provided between the door panel 45 and the packing 41. May be relayed. According to this embodiment, the heat conducted from the heater wire 28B to the door panel 45 is less likely to be transmitted to the packing 41. Therefore, conduction of the heat of the heater wire 28B to the packing 41 can be suppressed.

  The relay frame 44 may relay between the surface 46 on the opening 7 side of the heat insulating door 3 (outer door 40), the door panel 45, and the packing 41. According to this embodiment, it is possible to suppress the heat of the heater wire 28 from being conducted from the door panel 45 to the outer shell of the heat insulating door 3. Therefore, for example, when the temperature of the heater wire 28 becomes high due to dry heat sterilization, it is possible to prevent the user from touching the outer shell of the heat insulating door 3 and getting burned. In addition, it is possible to prevent the outer shell and the leg of another culture device 1 placed on the culture device 1 from being melted by heat or from affecting the other culture device 1 by heat. .

  Further, the packing 41 may have a fitting piece 41A protruding toward the relay frame 44, and the relay frame 44 may have a fitting groove 44B into which the fitting piece 41A is fitted. According to this embodiment, since the packing 41 is detachable from the relay frame 44, if the packing 41 is damaged, the packing 41 can be easily replaced. Further, when assembling the heat insulating door 3, the relay frame 44 may be attached to the outer door 40, and then the packing 41 may be fitted into the relay frame 44, which is convenient for manufacturing.

  The embodiments described above are intended to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention. The present invention can be changed and improved without departing from the spirit thereof, and the present invention also includes equivalents thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Incubation apparatus 2 Insulation box 3 Insulation door 6 Incubation room 7 Opening 10 Outer box 11 Insulation material 13 Packing 20 Inner box 28B Heater wire 40 Outer door 41 Packing 44 Relay frame 45 Door panel

Claims (5)

An inner box surrounding the culture chamber in which the culture is accommodated, and an outer box surrounding the inner box, and a metal heat-insulating housing in which an opening facing the culture chamber is formed on the front surface,
A door that has a heater wire inside and covers the front surface of the heat-insulating housing;
The door has a surface on the opening side,
A first frame body having a magnet inside, and in close contact with a surface around the opening in the heat-insulating housing, so as to ensure airtightness in the culture chamber;
A second frame made of a heat-resistant resin that relays between the door and the first frame so that heat of the heater wire is not directly conducted to the first frame. Culture device. The door has a door panel on which the heater wire is arranged on a part of the opening-side surface,
The culture device according to claim 1, wherein the second frame relays between the door panel and the first frame. The culture device according to claim 2, wherein the second frame relays a surface between the opening of the door, the door panel, and the first frame. The first frame has a fitting piece projecting toward the second frame,
The culture device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the second frame has a fitting groove into which the fitting piece is fitted. The culture device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first frame is a packing made of a synthetic resin.