JPH04629B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a method for determining hygienic water quality as a water quality test for environmental water, industrial wastewater, industrial water, raw water for drinking water, sewage, etc. in public water bodies such as rivers, lakes, sea areas, etc. This invention relates to an apparatus that can quickly and hygienically carry out important bacterial tests in the field of research, and that can automatically and continuously operate and measure the testing process.

As is well known, bacterial measurement tests are essential for confirming the degree of sanitary safety of water and determining the efficiency of wastewater treatment facilities.

In particular, the measurement of the number of coliform bacteria is an extremely important item that forms the basis of water quality judgment as one of the water pollution tests, and is especially important as an environmental water quality standard item under the Pollution Control Act and a discharge standard item based on the Water Pollution Control Act. Mandatory.

Currently, in rivers, lakes, marine areas, etc., a large number of efforts are being made to constantly monitor water quality, with environmental standard items as the main measurement items, such as continuous monitoring of water quality in public water bodies and detection of abnormal water. Automatic monitoring equipment has been installed, and observations are being made using various automated measuring devices.

However, the measurement items of current water quality monitoring devices include:
There is still no automated measuring device that uses bacteria as an indicator, and in particular, there is no device that can automatically and continuously measure the number of coliform bacteria, which is one of the living environment items.

Therefore, the continuous automatic bacterial measurement device according to the present invention has the following features:
This was urgently desired as an indicator item.

Traditionally, bacteria measurement tests involve inoculating sampled water into a culture solution suitable for the type of bacteria and culturing it at a temperature suitable for reproduction for a certain period of time, as described in clean water testing methods, sanitary testing methods, etc. and grow it, and judge it by a method determined by the grown bacterial cells or growth state,
The number of bacterial cells is determined.

In particular, the measurement of the number of coliform bacteria in the "Environmental Standards Related to Water Pollution" is called the "quantification method using the most probable number", and the test water is 10 ml, 1 ml, 0.1 ml, 0.01 ml.
Five bottles each in four consecutive stages (if the sample amount is less than 0.1 ml, dilute to 1 ml)
Transfer to a BGLB fermentation tube and culture at 35-37°C for 48±3 hours.

The tubes in which gas generation was observed are considered to be positive for coliform count, and the number of positive tubes for each sample amount is determined.
Calculate the most probable number in 100 ml using the most probable number table.

At this time, the sample water should be tested so that all or most of the transplanted water will be positive for coliform bacteria.
Another method is the so-called 10-fold dilution method or decimal dilution method, in which a minimum amount is transplanted and diluted appropriately so that all or most of the transplanted sample is negative for coliform bacteria.

In order to perform the above-mentioned bacterial test using this method, it requires a large number of complicated operating steps and a large amount of time due to manual analysis in the laboratory, which is prone to human error, and may be difficult to handle depending on the type of bacteria. There is also a risk of infection due to carelessness.

In addition, even in bacterial tests that involve a wide range of observation points, such as public water bodies, it is difficult to perform the above-mentioned test operations on-site, and sample water is usually collected using a water sampler for bacteria, which requires cooling. The current situation is that test operations must be performed promptly in a prepared test room within a few hours of storage.

Therefore, there is a risk of deterioration of the quality of the sample water due to traffic stagnation related to transporting the sample water or delays in test operations due to long distances, resulting in a lack of promptness in test operations and a lack of preparation for emergencies. Various disorders are likely to occur, and there are many problems in water quality management.

Therefore, tests involving bacteria require not only highly skilled technicians but also fully equipped environmental facilities, which requires a great deal of expense.

The present invention was made to solve this problem, and provides an automatic bacterial measurement device that can immediately and automatically operate and continuously measure directly collected sample water.

Generally, it is difficult to visually confirm the presence of bacteria in a given water sample. Therefore, it is common practice to inoculate sample water into an appropriate culture solution and to determine the state of the culture solution in which it has grown using various methods.
One of the judgments is as follows.

When a sample water containing bacteria is inoculated into a culture solution and the change in the number of proliferated cells is graphed over time, a growth curve as shown in A in FIG. 7 is obtained.

The cell growth process according to this growth curve is usually
It is divided into four periods in the figure.

Here, bacteria begin to rapidly proliferate after a lag phase in which there is almost no increase in cell number. If the initial number of cells is a, cells proliferate by binary fission, so the number of cells after one generation = a x 2 = a x 2 ¹ The number of cells after two generations = a x 2 x 2 = a x Number of cells after 2 ² n generations b = = a x 2 ⁿ Therefore, in the logarithmic phase, the number of cells b increases exponentially.

Taking the logarithm of both sides, log b=log a+n log 2 n=(log b+log a)/log 2 If the time required for n generations is t, and the average cell generation time is g, then g=t/n=log 2× t/log b-log a=0.301 t/
log b−log a. For the same strain and the same culture conditions, g
Since and log a are constant, there is a linear relationship between the logarithm of the number of cells in the logarithmic phase (log b) and time (t). Similarly, when a certain number of bacteria are cultured and changes in the proliferated cells over time are measured using a turbidity meter or a spectrophotometer, a curve like B in FIG. 7 is obtained.

In the logarithmic phase of the growth process of this curve, there is a direct relationship similar to that described above, and by obtaining the measured value for any culture time that has this linear relationship, the number of proliferating cells of the bacteria can be determined. It is said that

Therefore, the following can be said from the above.

Now, if a certain cell E has different numbers of cells e1, e2, and e3, and they are cultured under the same conditions and their growth progress is measured with a turbidity meter or spectrophotometer, it will look like C in Figure 7. A growth curve can be obtained.

However, e1>e2>e3. where e1, e2, e3
Find the common logarithmic phase interval of each growth curve in , and define this as t1 to t2.

Now, set an arbitrary culture time tm in this section, find the intersection of each growth curve that intersects with this tm, and show the relationship at the intersection as D in Figure 7.The measured value of the number of proliferating cells at the culture time tm However, a relationship curve representing the number of cells that differ from each other at the time of seeding of the cells can be obtained.

Therefore, as mentioned above, the culture time is set such that the range of the linear relationship is wide in the logarithmic phase interval and satisfies various measurement conditions, and the number of proliferating cells with different numbers of bacterial cells at that time is measured. By measuring the value and creating it as a standard line, it becomes possible to know the exact number of cells before inoculation by measuring the culture solution with the unknown number of cells newly determined under the same conditions. .

Based on the above, in general, the following process operations are required to carry out continuous automatic measurement of bacteria.

Automatic collection of water test.

Estimating the number of bacteria in sampled water.

Automatic dilution adjustment of test water.

Automatic seeding and automatic cultivation after dilution adjustment.

Automatic measurement and automatic recording of measured values after inoculation cultivation.

Automatic sterilization and automatic cleaning of each part of the process.

Control by continuous automatic operation of each part.

Currently, the above-mentioned processes can be performed automatically using automatic collection equipment, automatic inoculation and cultivation, automatic measurement and automatic recording of measured values, and automatic sterilization and cleaning operations. be.

However, in order to estimate the number of bacteria in sample water, the number of proliferating bacteria after inoculation is limited to the range that can be measured using a turbidity meter or spectrophotometer. This is because it is necessary to dilute the water and adjust the number of bacteria to an appropriate level.

Therefore, a dilution/adjustment function is provided to preliminarily estimate the number of bacteria in the sample water, and then perform a process operation to dilute and adjust the appropriate sample water volume estimated by , to obtain the required amount. Naturally, a device with this will become necessary.

Conventionally, this type of apparatus has been of the type that simply adds a fixed amount of the liquid to be diluted to the diluted liquid, or has a plurality of dilution containers and sequentially dilutes the liquid.

Therefore, there was no equipment that could perform multiple stages of operational dilution to perform the above-mentioned bacterial test, and that could perform the special dilution adjustment operation to arbitrarily obtain the required dilution rate. This has made it more difficult to automate and serialize measurement tests.

The present invention has made it possible to automatically and continuously perform this dilution adjustment operation as a serial dilution adjustment device 2a shown in FIG. 3 for a bacteria measurement test.

The continuous dilution adjustment device 2a is a device that discharges a certain amount of test water that has been introduced, leaving a portion of the sample water, and then adds a newly discharged volume of diluent to restore the original volume and mix. It is.

By repeating this operation repeatedly, this device can continuously dilute the sample water to a desired dilution amount many times the original solution.

By automatically and continuously performing the dilution operation using the serial dilution adjustment device 2a, it has become possible to adjust the number of proliferating bacteria in the sample water after culturing to a measurable range.

However, as mentioned above, a means of estimating and instructing the desired dilution amount is important.

To do this, based on the sequentially measured values,
It is desirable to make an estimation by fully considering the fluctuation factors of the measured value, and the data for each actual measurement is input into the storage device provided in the dilution amount instruction section 7, and in response to the command for estimating the dilution amount, this storage device This is possible by calculating a more appropriate estimated value and instructing it as a new dilution amount for the sample water.

However, there is currently no bacterial test device that has the function of automatically estimating and instructing the dilution amount in response to such fluctuations in the sample water.

Therefore, by incorporating this into the dilution amount indicator 7, the present invention can sufficiently cope with significant fluctuations in the sample water, and furthermore, the continuous dilution adjustment device 2a of the present invention can perform this operation. As a result, continuous and automated bacterial testing has become practical as testing equipment for a wide range of areas.

The present invention involves diluting sample water to a desired dilution amount in a liquid medium suitable for the type of bacteria, culturing it at an appropriate temperature, and using the culture solution of the growing bacteria as a measurement solution using a turbidity meter or spectrophotometer. The amount of absorption and scattering of light as it passes through the proliferating bacterial bodies in the culture solution is calculated using the Beer-Lambert law.
By calculating the number of bacteria in the sample water using a pre-prepared calibration curve, storing the measured value in the storage device as data for estimating the amount of dilution, and then calculating and estimating the amount of dilution in the new sample water. This allows automatic and continuous measurement of bacterial test operations.

As shown in FIG. 1, this device consists of a sample water collection section 1, a sample water automatic adjustment section 2, an automatic culture section 3, an automatic measurement recording section 4, a chemical solution storage section 5, a sterilization washing section 6, a dilution amount indicating section 7, and It is composed of a process automatic operation section 8.

The second section provides an overview of each part of this device and its functions.
This will be explained using figures.

The water sample collection section 1 is provided with a water test tank 1b into which sample water 1a is constantly introduced, and the sample water 1a is sequentially overflowed and discharged while a portion remains in the water test tank 1b.

The water sampling nozzle 1c is inserted into the liquid in the water test tank 1b in order to introduce the drinking water 1a into the continuous dilution adjustment device 2a, and a filter is attached to the tip of the nozzle to remove solid matter such as sand.

The test water automatic adjustment unit 2 is equipped with a continuous dilution adjustment device 2a for diluting the sample water 1a (hereinafter referred to as test water) introduced from the test water tank 1b. A sterilization filter 2c is installed to prevent bacteria from entering the outside air.

The automatic culture section 3 is equipped with an incubator 3a that can set the temperature necessary for culturing bacteria and can be automatically controlled, and fermentation tubes 3f for inoculating and culturing the sample water inside the incubator 3a are placed on the rotary table 3c. It has been inserted and is going around.

The rotary table 3c is driven because the fermentation tube 3f needs to be moved sequentially as the seeding and measurement operations are completed at regular intervals, and the driving operation is performed by the moving device 3b according to the setting conditions of the measurement cycle of the automatic operation section 8, which will be described later. It is carried out by.

A nozzle up/down mechanism 3d is provided at one end of the moving device 3b to move up and down within a certain range a conduit for injecting test water into the fermentation tube 3f or sucking in a test water culture solution for measurement.

In addition, the fermentation tube 3 used for operations such as seeding and measurement
In addition to f, fermentation tubes 3f, etc., which are being cultured and are circled in the rotary table 3c, are covered with a downward-facing dust cover 3e to cover the opening of the upward-facing tubes to prevent bacteria from entering the outside air. is installed.

The automatic measurement recording section 4 includes a turbidity meter or a spectrophotometer (hereinafter referred to as a measuring meter) 4 for measuring the sample water culture solution grown by culturing in the automatic culture section 3.
a display meter 4b for displaying the measured value.
There is a recorder 4c for recording the measured value or a numerical value obtained by converting the measured value into the number of bacteria.

Furthermore, a waste liquid treatment tank 4d and a suction pump 4e are provided which can temporarily store the culture solution of the measured sample water or the waste liquid such as washing water and treat it as harmless through the mixing effect by discharging the sterilizing liquid. There is.

The chemical solution storage section 5 contains each chemical solution used in this device, and a culture solution 5e for growing bacteria in the sample water is stored in a culture solution storage tank 5i.

The culture solution 5e is previously treated with various sterilization methods such as high-pressure sterilization and placed in a low temperature chamber 5a whose room temperature is automatically adjusted to about 4° C. to ensure long-term storage.

The saline solution 5c used as physiological saline is adjusted to a concentration suitable for the type of bacteria at the time of use, sterilized in advance in the same manner as the culture solution 5e, and stored in the saline storage tank 5g.

The two sterilized chemical solutions are further provided with sterilization filters 5r and 5s to ensure safety.

The sterilization and washing section 6 has purified water 6b used as dilution water or washing water, and city water 6n such as tap water is purified with an io exchanger 6p, and a sterilization filter 6q is provided to remove bacteria. Purified water storage tank 6
It is stored in f.

To replenish the purified water 6b, open the solenoid valve 6o every measurement cycle to introduce city water 6n, and fill the purified water storage tank 6.
The electromagnetic valve 6o is automatically closed by the detection by the fixed quantity level sensor 6v provided in the tank f, thereby completing the replenishment.

The sterilizing liquid 6d is stored in the sterilizing liquid storage tank 6 as a liquid for sterilizing the inside of the serial dilution adjustment device 2a, the fermentation tube 3f, etc.
It is stored in h.

Each chemical solution has a measuring device 6j, 5k, 6l, 5m that allows you to freely adjust the amount used according to the purpose of use, and each chemical solution storage tank is sealed with a stopper to prevent bacteria from entering. A conduit 5t for supplementing the air pressure inside the storage tank is connected, and the end pipe is connected to the sterilizing liquid storage tank 6.
h, and at the same time the pressure is adjusted by providing a ventilation pipe 6u in the same storage tank, bacteria in the outside air mixed in are sterilized by the sterilizing liquid 6d, thereby preventing the contamination of bacteria into each chemical liquid.

The dilution amount instructing section 7 is provided with a storage device for storing actually measured data and a function of automatically estimating the dilution amount according to fluctuations in the sampled water.

The process automatic operation section 8 can obtain measurement conditions suitable for the type of bacteria by arbitrarily measuring conditions such as measurement period and culture time, and also controls each section by automatic operation.

Next, the relationship between each part of this device and its operation will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

In advance, enter the culture time and measurement cycle into the process automatic operation section 8 (input the bacterial count conversion coefficient, initial dilution amount value, standard dilution reference value, and measurement value appropriate range as initial values into the dilution amount instruction section 7). Set.

Further, a sterilizing solution 6d is injected into the fermentation tube 3f, and purified water 6b is injected into the continuous dilution adjustment device 2a.

The sterilizing liquid 6d in the fermentation tube 3f is sucked from the income tube 3h of the nozzle up/down mechanism 3d, which has been lowered in advance by the start of the process automatic operation section 8, by opening the pinch valve 4f and driving the suction pump 4e.

The sucked sterilizing liquid 6d passes through the flow cell 4i of the measuring meter 4a and is stored in the wastewater treatment tank 4d.

The pinch valve 2f and the solenoid valve 2g are opened, and the washing water that has been injected into the continuous dilution adjustment device 2a enters the fermentation tube 3f from the injection pipe 3g by the suction pressure of the suction pump 2b. Similarly, the pinch valve 4f is opened and the flow cell 4i is cleaned through the suction pipe 3h by the suction force of the suction pump 4e, and the liquid is stored in the wastewater treatment tank 4d.

The cleaning water is obtained by opening the solenoid valve 2h and injecting the purified water 6b into the continuous dilution adjustment device 2a using the meter 6j.
Open the solenoid valve 2g to stir the suction pump 2b.
to drive.

This washing water is fed to the fermentation tube 3f and the inside of the tube is washed, as in the process described above.
The flow cell 4i of the measuring meter 4a is cleaned and stored in the wastewater treatment tank 4d.

This cleaning operation is repeated multiple times to improve the cleaning effect.

To the continuous dilution adjustment device 2a after the cleaning operation,
Open the pinch valve 1d and solenoid valve 2i and drive the suction pump 4e to open the water sampling nozzle 1c in the water test tank 1b.
Inhale more sample water.

The sucked sample water is sensed by the quantitative sensor 2d, and the suction pump 4e is stopped, and at the same time, the solenoid valve 2h is opened, and the sample water is discharged back to the sample water tank 1b by the siphon principle up to the tip of the sample water injection port 2a3.

The volume up to this sample water injection port 2a3 is defined as a quantitative level 2a10.

The fixed amount of test water sampled by the continuous dilution adjustment device 2a is diluted to the dilution number instructed by the process automatic operation section 8.

If the dilution number value is N, if N=0,
Test water and quantitative amount using pinch valve 2f and solenoid valve 2.
g, and drive the suction pump 2b to connect the feed pipe 3g.
Inject into the fermentation tube 3f.

If N>0, a portion of the sample water is transferred to pinch valve 2.
e and the solenoid valve 2g are opened to drive the suction pump 2b to discharge.

At this time, the amount of test water remaining in the continuous dilution adjustment device 2a is determined by the test water adjustment level 2 depending on the position of the test water outlet 2a1.
Since a11 is different, the amount of sample water can be reduced arbitrarily.

Now, it is assumed that the test water adjustment level 2a11 is 1/10 of the test water quantitative level 2a10.

Purified water 6b is added as dilution water using a measuring device 6j, and saline solution 5c is further injected using a measuring device 5k, so that the total amount reaches the test water quantitative level 2a1.
Set to 0.

The test water obtained by opening the electromagnetic valves 2g and 2h and stirring and mixing with the suction pump 2b becomes test water that has been diluted 10 times.

Therefore, by repeating the above-mentioned dilution operation up to the specified dilution number, it is possible to adjust the sample water to the desired dilution amount.

The test water diluted with the continuous dilution adjustment device 2a is then opened with the pinch valve 2f and the solenoid valve 2g, and the culture solution 5e is transferred from the feed pipe 3g to the test water in the fermentation tube 3f using the suction pressure of the suction pump 2b. 5m, the sample water is injected from the culture solution injection pipe 3i and culture of the sample water is started.

Further, the waste liquid stored in the waste liquid treatment tank 4d is treated with the sterilizing liquid 6d, and is discharged by opening the punch valve 4h.

After the feed pipe 3g and suction pipe 3h, which have descended to the fermentation pipe 3f to which the culture solution 5e has been added, are raised by the nozzle up/down mechanism 3d, the rotary table 3c is moved by the drive of the moving device 3b, and a new Fermentation tube 3f
will be sent.

The suction pipe 3h is lowered to the middle of the liquid by driving the nozzle up and down mechanism 3d into the fermentation pipe 3f.

If the liquid in the fermentation tube 3f is not test water that has been cultured for a predetermined period of time, the measurement is performed by inhaling the sterilizing liquid 6d that has been injected in advance, resulting in an empty measurement.

If the sample water has been cultured, pinch valve 4f
Open it and drive the suction pump 4e to suck in a part of the sample water culture solution from the suction pipe 3h, and temporarily pump the suction pump 4e.
to stop.

The test water culture solution introduced into the flow cell 4i is measured by the measuring meter 4a after the solution has stabilized.

This measured value is displayed on the display meter 4b and is also output to the dilution amount indicating section 7.

The test water culture solution remaining in the fermentation tube 3f may cause flocculation during the culture process, so the nozzle up and down mechanism 3d is driven to remove the culture solution from the suction tube 3.
i to the bottom of the fermentation tube 3f and remove the suction pump 4.
Transfer the sample water culture solution aspirated by e to the flow cell 4i.
In order to prevent the liquid from being introduced into the drain and causing clogging, the pinch valve 4g is opened and the liquid is stored in the wastewater treatment tank 4d via a bypass pipe.

The electromagnetic valve 2h is opened and purified water 6b is injected into the continuous dilution adjustment device 2a as rinsing water to wash off sample water adhering to the walls of the device.

This rinsing water is pumped into the feed pipe 3 with the suction pressure of the suction pump 2b by opening the pinch valve 2f and the solenoid valve 2g.
g to the fermentation tube 3f, and the test water culture solution remaining on the inner wall of the fermentation tube 3f is rinsed off.

Furthermore, the pinch valve 4f is opened and the suction pump 4e is driven to suck rinsing water through the suction pipe 3g to wash the flow cell 4i and store it in the wastewater treatment tank 4d.

The solenoid valve 2h is opened and the sterilizing liquid 6d is injected into the continuous dilution adjustment device 2a using the meter 6l.

Similarly, purified water 6b is added using a measuring device 6j,
Furthermore, the electromagnetic valve 2g is opened to drive the suction pump 2b to stir and sterilize the inside of the apparatus.

Similar to the rinsing water, this sterilizing liquid 6d is fed to the fermentation tube 3f from the feed tube 3g by opening the pinch valve 2f, and sterilizes the inside of the tube.

Purified water 6b is injected as wash water into the sterilized serial dilution adjustment device 2a using a meter 6j.

In addition, in order to replenish the purified water 6b in the purified water storage tank 6f, the solenoid valve 6o is opened and the city water 6n is supplied to the ion exchanger 6.
purified and stored through p.

The measurement value measured by the measuring meter 4a is input to the dilution amount indicator 7, and based on the input data, the dilution amount of the new sample water is estimated, and the estimated dilution amount is
The operation is performed according to the flow shown in FIG.

First, it is determined whether the input measurement value is properly measured data, and the determined appropriate measurement value is determined by calculating the number of bacteria in the sample water using the bacteria count conversion coefficient measured as an initial value. Then, the dilution amount value at the time of adjustment of the measured sample water, which is temporarily stored in the data storage device built in the dilution amount indicator 7, is called up, the total number of bacteria in the sample water is calculated again, and that value is calculated. is later recorded on the recorder 4c.

Also, the equivalent values are stored sequentially in the data storage device,
From this accumulated stored data, a new dilution amount of the test water is estimated with the standard dilution reference value as the target, taking into consideration various parameters such as periodic fluctuations.

The estimated dilution amount value is calculated by the continuous dilution adjustment device 2a.
The number of dilutions is outputted to the process automatic operation section 8 and temporarily stored in the data storage device, and the sample water diluted as described above is cultured and then measured and used to calculate the total number of bacteria.

This device which processed the process of the dilution amount indicating section 7 has 1
It completes all steps in the cycle and waits until the next start.

In addition, in Fig. 3, 2a1 is the water test drain port,
2a2 is the test water supply port, 2a4 is the purified water injection pipe, 2
a5 is the saline injection pipe, 2a6 is the intake nozzle, 2a
7 is an exhaust pipe, 2a8 is a sensor electrode, and 2a9 is a cap.

Also, in Figure 4, (b) is the start, (b) is the initial value setting, (c) is initial value input confirmation judgment, (d) is an input error warning display, (E) is the start of continuous automatic operation. (f) is cleaning operation processing, (g) is sample water collection process; (H) is dilution operation judgment, (li) is water test adjustment discharge; (nu) is saline solution, dilution water injection and stirring, (ru) is a judgment that the dilution operation is complete. (e) is waiting, (W): Test water supply, culture solution injection, (f) is water sample culture; (Y) is rinsing operation (continuous dilution adjustment device) (T) is aspiration and measurement of sample water culture solution, (R) indicates measured value, (S) is sterilization operation, (ツ) is the connector to Figure 5, (TE) is the connector from Figure 5, (A) is recorder record, (sa) is a standby command.

Furthermore, in Figure 5, (T) is the connector from Figure 4, (MU) is the appropriate judgment of the measured value, (C) is the connector to (MA) due to "no", and (I) is "possible". ” Bacteria count conversion calculation, (No) is the data storage device, (W) is the recall instruction for the stored dilution amount value, (H) is the total bacteria count calculation process, (Y) is the storage instruction for the total bacteria count, (Ma ) is the judgment of the number of times the dilution amount value is used by setting the initial value, (k) is the command to recall the stored accumulated data, (f) is the dilution amount estimation calculation, (g) is the command to store the estimated dilution amount, (d) is the dilution amount instruction The value output command (TE) is a connector to FIG.

Bacteria test measurements are one of the important items for determining water quality in environmental water quality standards and discharge standards based on the Water Pollution Control Law as a measure for environmental conservation.

Therefore, in order to manage environmental conservation, measuring equipment for testing industrial wastewater or sewage that pollutes water quality, or water quality testing for rivers, lakes, marshes, sea areas, etc., must be quick, simple, objective, highly accurate, labor-saving, and automatic. Adequate management cannot be achieved unless this is done.

The automatic continuous bacterial measurement device according to the present invention automatically and continuously performs the operations from collection of sample water to measurement as described above, and can perform the entire process in a minimum of 30 minutes.

In addition, since it is possible to adjust the amount of sample water to be sampled at any time according to changes in water quality, sufficiently accurate measurement results can be obtained even with sample water that fluctuates significantly. As well,
Measurements can also be made for various bacteria.

Therefore, it will greatly contribute to environmental conservation measures.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the outline of the configuration of a continuous automatic bacterial measurement device, Figure 2 is a detailed explanatory diagram showing the configuration of Figure 1, Figure 3 is related to the continuous dilution adjustment device, and Figure 3A is A plan view, FIG. 3B is a sectional view taken along line A-A, FIG. 3C is a sectional view taken along line B-B, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the process operation of this device, and FIG. 5 is a dilution amount indicator. Flowchart diagram showing the processing, No. 6
The figure is a time chart showing the operating sequence of this device, and Figure 7 is a reference principle diagram for measuring bacteria tests with a turbidity meter or spectrophotometer.
Figure 7A is a growth curve of bacteria, Figure 7B is a diagram of changes in bacterial growth depending on the culture solution, Figure 7C is a diagram of changes in growth for different cell numbers, and Figure 7D is a diagram of culture time taken arbitrarily from the above. It is a relationship diagram of the initial bacterial count. 1... Sample water collection section, 2... Water test automatic adjustment section,
3...Automatic culture section, 4...Automatic measurement recording section, 5...
... Chemical solution storage section, 6 ... Sterilization cleaning section, 7 ... Dilution amount instruction section, 8 ... Process automatic operation section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A sample water collection unit 1 that automatically collects sample water;
Continuously and automatically operated by a process automatic operation unit 8 for diluting the collected sample water to a desired dilution amount,
A continuous dilution adjustment device 2a that adjusts the sample water introduced in the automatic test water adjustment section 2 to the dilution amount instructed by the dilution amount instruction section 7; and the continuous dilution adjustment device 2a.
An automatic culture section 3 inoculates the diluted test water into the culture solution in the fermentation tube and incubates it at an appropriate temperature for a predetermined period of time.
, an automatic measurement and recording section 4 that separates the culture solution of the cultured sample water and measures it with a turbidity meter or spectrophotometer, and displays and records the measured values, and each section where process operations are performed. The data measured by the sterilizing and cleaning unit 6 and the automatic measurement recording unit 4 are stored in the recording device of the dilution amount indicating unit 7, and new dilution of the sample water is performed based on the stored data. A continuous automatic bacterial measurement device consisting of a dilution amount indicating section 7 that calculates the amount, a chemical solution storage section 5 that stores reagents used in each step, and a process automatic operation section 8 that automatically and continuously operates each of the above sections. .