JPH0358780A - Agitation-type culture apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the subject apparatus for heliophilic culture, effective in uniformly illuminating the inside of a culture tank, having simple structure and able to be easily scaled-up by rotatably placing a stirring member in a culture tank and providing the stirring member with a light-emission part emitting light toward the inside of the culture tank. CONSTITUTION:A vertical stirring shaft 12 is placed in a culture tank 10 in a state rotatable around its own center axis. A plurality of stirring blades 16 are attached to the stirring shaft 12 at a part to be positioned in the culture tank 10 by the aid of blade-fixing members 14. The stirring shaft 12 above the culture tank 10 is protruded through a ceiling plate 10a and the protruded part is driven by a motor 20 via a belt-transmission device 18. The stirring shaft 12 has hollow structure containing a bundle of a number of optical fibers 22. The bundle is extended along the surface of the stirring blade 16 from the blade-fixing member 14 and light is emitted from the tip end of the optical fiber toward the inside of the culture tank 10 using a light-emission device 22b.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Objective of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a stirring type culture device for culturing microorganisms, plants, etc. This relates to an agitation-type culture device that performs discharge.

[Conventional technology]

Light may be required for the growth and reaction of microorganisms, plants, etc., and in this case, it is necessary to supply light into the culture tank.

Conventionally, light has been supplied into the culture tank by providing a transparent part on a part or the entire side wall of the culture tank, and using this transparent part to irradiate light into the tank from outside the tank, or by applying light to the ceiling wall. Using a shallow-bottomed culture tank with a transparent part, irradiating light onto the surface of the culture solution in the culture tank from outside the tank using the transparent part, or installing a large number of transparent tubes in the culture tank. This is done by installing a light emitter such as a fluorescent lamp or a photoconductor such as an optical fiber inside a transparent tube and shining light from the transparent tube into the tank.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

Regardless of whether the transparent part of the side wall or the ceiling wall of the culture tank is used to illuminate the inside of the tank, in order for sufficient light to be supplied to the center of the tank or the bottom of the tank, There is a limit to increasing the size, and it is difficult to supply light evenly into the culture tank, and as the density of cultured cells etc. in the culture tank increases, the light transmittance inside the culture tank decreases. Then, the average
It becomes even more difficult to expect a reliable light supply.

For example, in the culture of green algae, as the growth progresses, the light transmittance of the culture solution decreases extremely, and the light transmittance of the culture solution decreases to 2μ/ml.
Even at a cell density of 1. The light transmittance at a distance of cm is 50% or less. If the light transmittance decreases to such a state, even if the movement of the contents in the culture tank is promoted by mechanical stirring, the light supply to the culture will be insufficient, especially in large culture loquats. will be carried out in a highly non-uniform manner.

In culture systems in which a transparent tube for light emission is placed inside the dice, problems such as those mentioned above are unlikely to occur; however, the structure of the culture tank becomes complicated, and special processing is required for the culture tank. row/
In addition, the transparent tube becomes an obstacle that hinders the flow of the culture solution and culture material within the culture tank. especially,
When culturing relatively large and complex-shaped plants, the culture may become entangled with the transparent tube or the portion of the transparent tube fixed to the culture tank, resulting in lumps. Growth is hindered and agitation efficiency and cultivation efficiency are reduced.

The present invention solves problems such as l-i-bo, and the contents of the culture tank can be distributed evenly without interfering with the growth of the culture in the culture tank and without reducing the culture efficiency and stirring efficiency. It is an object of the present invention to provide a stirring type culture device capable of emitting light, which can supply light to the culture tank, and can also cope with an increase in the size of the culture tank.

[Structure of the invention]

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the present invention, the above-mentioned object is such that a stirring member is rotatably provided in a culture tank, and light is emitted from the stirring member toward the inside of the culture tank. This can be accomplished by using a stirring type culture device, such as one equipped with a light emitting section.

In the agitation type culture apparatus as described above, the light source that supplies light to the light emitting section may be provided outside the culture tank, and the light source and the light emitting section are provided with an optical coupling that is relatively rotatable in the middle. It suffices if they are optically connected by a light conduction path including the device. This optical conduction path may be constituted by an optical fiber having a general structure.

Further, in the stirring type culture apparatus as described above, the stirring part shrine has a stirring shaft and a stirring blade attached to the stirring shaft, and the light emitting part is connected to the stirring R or to the stirring blade and the stirring shaft. It's good that it is provided.

[For production]

With the configuration as described above, while the Pji:↑1゛ operation is performed by the stirring member, light is irradiated from the white body of the stirring member to the culture in the culture tank. As a result, light can be efficiently supplied even to the inside of the culture tank, which has low light transmittance, and especially when the contents of the culture tank come into contact with the stirring part, the light is not directly applied to the contents. Rugi will be given.

[Example] The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the figures attached below.

1 to 4 show two embodiments of the agitation type culture apparatus according to the present invention. In these figures, ``ζ, 10 indicates a culture tank, and the culture loquat 10 is provided with a stirring shaft 12 as a vertical axis rotatable around its own central axis. - On the other hand, a plurality of stirring blades 6 are attached to the portion where this is located inside the culture pot 10 by means of a blade member 14.

The stirring shaft 12 penetrates the ceiling plate 10a of the culture tank 10 and protrudes in the L direction, and is drivingly connected to an electric motor 20 at this protruding portion by a Hell 1 type transmission device 18,
0 to rotate at a predetermined rotational speed.

The stirring shaft 12 is configured as a hollow shaft, and accommodates a large number of optical fibers 22 in a bundle inside. The optical fiber 22 is
It may be of a general structure composed of a core and a cladding covering the core, all of which are aligned flush with each other with one end surface set as the light introduction surface 22a at the upper end opening of the stirring shaft 12. are doing. The optical fibers 22 extend in the axial direction within the stirring shaft 12 from this end surface portion, are exposed to the outside from the blade attachment members 14 and extend along the blade surface of the stirring blade 16, and have their tip surfaces exposed to the outside. This is a light emitting surface 22b. The light emitting surfaces 22b each face the inner circumferential surface of the culture tank 10.

A coupling sleeve 24 is engaged with the upper end of the stirring shaft 12 . The coupling sleeve 24 is fixedly arranged, and the stirring shaft 12 and the coupling sleeve 24 are in a relative rotational relationship with each other.

One end of a light supply tube 26 is fixedly connected to the coupling sleeve 24 . The light supply tube 26 faces the upper end opening of the stirring shaft 12 at the connecting end with the force/sampling sleeve 24 and is concentrically spaced apart from the upper end opening of the stirring shaft 12, and has a general structure similar to the stirring shaft 12 inside. a plurality of optical fibers 28
are stored in bundles. All of the optical fibers 28 have one end surface flush with the one end of the light supply tube 26, and the one end surface forms a light supply surface 28a. The light supply surface 28a faces the light introduction surface 22a of the optical fiber 22 within the coupling sleeve 24 with a small distance therebetween. The optical fiber 28 extends in the longitudinal direction within the light supply tube 26 and is connected to a light source 30 so that light can be supplied therefrom.

The light source 30 may be an artificial light source such as a halogen lamp, or an appropriate device such as a solar ray concentrator.

According to the above-mentioned structure, the light from the light source 30 is transmitted through the optical fiber 2.
8, the light is transmitted to the light supply surface 28a, and this light is irradiated onto the light introduction surface 22a of the optical fiber 22 of the rotating stirring shaft 12 and transmitted to the optical fiber 22.

The light transmitted to the optical fiber 22 is transmitted by the optical fiber 22 to the light emitting surface 22b, which is the tip surface thereof, and is emitted from this toward the inside of the culture tank 10. Since the light emitting surface 22b of the optical fiber 22 is located on the stirring blade 16, it rotates within the culture tank 10 as the stirring blade 16 rotates, and emits light in the circumferential direction of the stirring blade 10. It will be released evenly.

Note that light is emitted by the optical fiber 22 not only from its tip end surface, but also because, as shown in FIG. Therefore, light may be emitted more scatteringly than in this part.

Even if the light emitting surface 22b formed by the optical fiber 22 is provided on all of the stirring blades 16 as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4, only some of the stirring blades 16 may be provided, and these may be determined as appropriate depending on the amount of light required for culturing, the stirring capacity of the stirring device, etc. Bye.

FIGS. 5 to 8 show another embodiment of the agitation type culture apparatus according to the present invention. In FIGS. 5 to 8, portions q corresponding to FIGS. 1 to 3 are designated by the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 1 to 3. In this embodiment, the culture tank 10 is placed in a state where the coupling sleeve 24 is suspended from the ceiling plate 10a of the culture tank 10 by the hanger rod 34.
Fixedly placed inside. Accordingly, the stirring shaft 12 extends vertically through the coupling sleeve 24 in the figure, and an optical fiber 28 is disposed in the coupling sleeve 24 in an annular shape around the stirring shaft 12.

The stirring shaft l2 may be constituted by a solid shaft, and an optical fiber 22 is attached to the outer periphery of the shaft in an annular shape. The light introduction surface 22a of the optical fiber 22 and the light supply surface 28a of the optical fiber 28 each form an annular shape surrounding the stirring shaft 12 within the compulsory sleeve 24, and face each other. 28 to optical fiber 22
The transmission of light is now taking place.

Therefore, in this embodiment as well, the same functions and effects as in the above-mentioned embodiment can be obtained.

In addition, in this embodiment, the lengths of the stirring blades 10 and 1G of the optical fiber 22 are different from each other, and the light emitting surfaces 22b are located at different positions in the length direction of the stirring blades 6. It is located in As a result, the positions of the light emitting surfaces 22l) in the culture tank 10 are distributed in the radial direction within the tank, and the light supply within the tank is evenly distributed.
The strength becomes even better.

In any of the above-mentioned embodiments, an optical fiber is used as the photoconductor, but in the present invention, the photoconductor is not limited to this. For example, any photoconductive material that can be heated to a temperature of about 120°C is sufficient, and the stirring blade itself is composed of a porous plate that can emit light, and the photoconductive material is placed inside this porous plate. It may be placed. Further, the light emitting section may be provided not only on the stirring blade but also on the stirring shaft.

[Effects of the Invention] As can be understood from the above explanation, in the agitated culture apparatus according to the present invention, light is emitted from the agitation chamber itself, which has the highest probability of contact with the contents of the agitation tank per unit time. In addition, it is possible to supply light evenly into the culture tank 11, and even when there are fibrous masses of plants in the culture tank, the light supply can be made good. It becomes possible to do so. In addition, the culture tank can be easily enlarged without complicating the structure of the culture tank, and there is no need to place obstacles such as proboscis inside the culture tank. The contents flow smoothly without any problems, and the stirring efficiency does not decrease. Furthermore, by replacing the stirring member, it is now possible to convert an existing culture tank, etc. into a light-emitting culture tank, and it is now possible to easily convert an existing large-sized culture tank to a light-emitting type culture tank. become.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing one embodiment of the agitation type culture apparatus according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are respectively taken along the lines - -
(1) A cross-sectional view along cotton line (2)--(2), Figure 4 is a side view showing an enlarged portion of the stirring blade, and Figure 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the stirring type culture device according to the present invention. 6 and 7 are cross-sectional views taken along lines Vl--Vl and v1-1 in FIG. 5, respectively, and FIG. 8 is an enlarged side view showing the J2 stirring blade portion. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Culture tank, 12... Stirring shaft, 16... Stirring blade, 22... Optical fiber, 24... Coupling sleeve, 28... Optical fiber, 30... Light source.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A stirring member is rotatably provided in the culture tank, and the stirring member is provided with a light emitting part that emits light toward the inside of the culture tank. Stirring type culture device. 2. In the stirring type culture apparatus according to claim 1, a light source that supplies light to the light emitting section is disposed outside the culture tank, and a relatively rotatable optical device is provided between the light source and the light emitting section. A stirring type culture device characterized in that the device is optically connected by a light conduction path including a coupling device. 3. The stirring type culture apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the photoconductive path is constituted by an optical fiber. 4. In the stirring type culture apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the stirring member has a stirring shaft and a stirring blade attached to the stirring shaft, and the light emitting section is provided with a stirring blade or a stirring blade attached to the stirring shaft. A stirring type culture device, characterized in that a stirring blade and the stirring shaft are provided.