JPH0529400U - Incubator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Correction) [Purpose] Efficiently cultivate cells, cells, etc. in culture medium. In particular, the purpose is to mix a highly viscous culture solution with high gas-liquid contact efficiency. [Structure] A stirring blade 20 for accelerating a downward flow is provided on an upper portion of a rotating draft tube 10, a stirring blade 22 for accelerating a bottom liquid is provided near a lower portion of the draft tube 10, and an air diffuser is provided on an outer bottom portion or inside of the draft tube 10. 24 and 46 are provided. Further, on the outer peripheral portion of the draft tube 10, the protrusions 28, 44 that generate an upward force by rotating.
To provide.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an apparatus for efficiently culturing cells, cells and the like in a culture solution, and more particularly to a culture apparatus for mixing a highly viscous culture solution with high gas-liquid contact efficiency.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 The main stream of conventional culture equipment is to fill the tank with a culture solution containing cells, cells, etc., stir it with a stirrer, and blow gas such as air from below the tank to circulate the culture solution. It was a so-called aeration and stirring method in which the reaction was allowed to proceed by contacting with the liquid. However, depending on the type of culture, strong shearing force due to agitation may have a large effect on cells or cells. Furthermore, there is a need to reduce the installation area, and application of vertical type (tower type) culture tanks to various culture systems is being studied. The mainstream of a tower culture tank is to install a draft tube inside the tank, fill the tank with a culture solution containing cells, cells, etc., and blow gas such as air from below the tank to circulate the culture solution. It was a bubble column system in which gas-liquid contact was performed.

Conventionally, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-251077, a cylinder (draft tube) provided with an axial flow impeller is installed inside a culture tank, and the impeller is rotated to suck up a culture solution. It describes an apparatus that feeds oxygen to the culture medium for culturing by flowing it down from the upper part to the outer peripheral part. It is also described that the cylinder is integrated with the outer circumference of the axial flow impeller and the cylinder is rotated together with the impeller. Further, in JP-A-55-15718, a slit is attached to the upper half of the draft tube, and a sparger for diffusing gas into the liquid is provided therein, and further, a liquid is provided at the lowermost end of the draft tube. There is described a culture device equipped with an axial flow impeller that discharges water outside the tube.

[0004]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, the above-mentioned conventional techniques cannot sufficiently cope with liquid fermentation such as liquid culture of Aspergillus oryzae, which is aerobic culture and has a high viscosity condition. Further, in the culture device described in JP-A-63-251077, the oxygen supply depends only on the entrainment of gas (air) due to the dropping of the culture solution, so the oxygen supply rate is limited, and the high oxygen supply is achieved even under high viscosity conditions. It is difficult to respond to the koji mold culture that requires Further, in the culture device described in JP-A-55-15718, a high oxygen supply capacity can be exhibited in ordinary culture, but when the viscosity increases, it becomes difficult to make the flow of the whole tank uniform. Also, the oxygen supply capacity is reduced, and it becomes unsuitable for culturing koji mold. With the stirring tank type that is commonly used as a culture tank, when the viscosity becomes high, only the stirring blade section is stirred, and in order to uniformly stir the entire tank, a special stirring blade shape must be installed and A strong stirring power is required. In order to make the whole tank uniform in the above stirring tank type, when strongly stirring is performed, filamentous fungi such as koji mold are likely to be damaged by mechanical shearing. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a culture apparatus capable of uniformly mixing even a high-viscosity culture solution, having high gas-liquid contact efficiency and less damage to bacterial cells. It is intended to be provided.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above object, the culture device of the present invention comprises a draft tube 10 whose upper and lower ends are opened in a vertical culture tank 12, a tank side wall 14 and a tank bottom. In a culture device installed so that a gap is created between the wall 16 and the tank lid 18, a downflow accelerating stirring blade 20 provided in an upper part of the draft tube 10 and a lower part of the draft tube 10 are provided. A bottom blade discharge acceleration stirring blade 22 provided therein; diffuser tubes 24 and 46 provided at an outer bottom portion or inside of the draft tube 10; and a rotary shaft 26 for rotating the draft tube 10. .. In the above-mentioned culture device, the rotating shaft of the stirring blade 20 for accelerating the downflow, the rotating shaft of the stirring blade 22 for accelerating the bottom liquid, and the rotating shaft 26 for rotating the draft tube 10 are configured to be shared. Is desirable. Further, it is desirable to provide, on the outer peripheral portion of the draft tube 10, projections 28 and 44 having a shape such that an upward force is generated by the rotation of the draft tube.

[0006]

[Action]

 The draft tube 10 installed concentrically in the culture tank 12 is rotated by a drive device (not shown) outside the tank, and at the same time, the stirring blade 20 for accelerating the downward flow and the stirring blade 22 for accelerating the bottom liquid discharge are set. Rotate to accelerate the downward flow of the culture solution and discharge the liquid in the draft tube while accelerating it out of the draft tube. Oxygen is supplied to the culture medium by blasting air upward from the air diffuser 24 circumferentially installed on the outer bottom of the draft tube to accelerate the upward flow of the culture medium in the outer peripheral portion. When the air diffuser 46 is installed in the draft tube, air is jetted downward from the air diffuser 46 to mix the air while accelerating the downward flow of the culture solution in the draft tube. Furthermore, when the protrusions 28 and 44 are provided on the outer peripheral portion of the draft tube, the rotating draft tube accelerates the upward flow of the culture solution in the outer peripheral portion.

[0007]

【Example】

 Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, unless otherwise specified, the shapes of the components and the relative arrangements of the constituent devices described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention thereto, but are merely explanatory examples. Nothing more. Example 1 In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a cylindrical draft tube having open upper and lower ends, and a space is provided in a cylindrical vertical culture tank 12 between a tank side wall 14, a tank bottom wall 16 and a tank lid 18. Are installed concentrically so that A stirring blade 20 for accelerating the descending flow is provided in the upper portion of the draft tube 10, and a stirring blade 22 for accelerating the bottom liquid discharge is provided below the draft tube 10. An air diffuser 24 is provided on the outer bottom of the draft tube 10. Reference numeral 26 denotes a rotating shaft for rotating the draft tube 10, the descending flow accelerating stirring blade 20 and the bottom liquid discharge accelerating stirring blade 22. On the outer peripheral portion of the draft tube 10, there is provided a spiral or inclined plate-like protrusion 28 having a shape in which an upward force is generated by the rotation of the draft tube. Further, a plurality of slits 30 are provided on the upper portion of the draft tube 10. The slit 30 is for allowing the liquid to flow into the draft tube 10 when the liquid surface descends to the vicinity of the slit 30. Reference numerals 32 and 34 are connecting tools for connecting the draft tube 10 and the rotary shaft 26, 36 is a baffle plate, 38 is a culture solution inlet, 40 is a solution outlet, and 42 is an exhaust port.

Embodiment 2 In this embodiment, instead of a continuous projection, a discontinuous projection 44 is provided as shown in FIG. Other configurations are similar to those in the case of FIG.

Embodiment 3 In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, an air diffuser 46 for ejecting air downward is provided in the draft tube 10. In FIG. 3, as an example, the rotary shaft 26 is hollow, and air is supplied to this hollow portion so that the air is ejected downward from the air diffusing pipe 46. This air diffuser 46 may be provided in place of the bottom air diffuser or both may be provided. Other configurations are similar to those in the case of FIG.

[0010]

[Effect of the device]

 Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. (1) Even for high viscosity (non-Newtonian fluid) during high-concentration cell culture, the whole tank can be uniformly mixed, and the gas-liquid contact efficiency becomes high. (2) Since the stirring blade for accelerating the downflow is provided in the upper part of the draft tube and the stirring blade for accelerating the bottom liquid discharge is provided near the lower part of the draft tube, the culture solution can be circulated efficiently. .. (3) When a spiral continuous or discontinuous projection is provided on the outer periphery of the draft tube, the culture fluid spirally flows on the outer periphery of the draft tube, which causes some bacterial cells to self-proliferate. Granules are promoted to increase the concentration of bacterial cells. Also, since the liquid mainly flows by the rotational energy of the draft tube, there is little damage to the cells.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory longitudinal sectional view of a culture device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional explanatory view of a culture device showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional explanatory view of a culture device showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Draft Tube 12 Culture Tank 14 Tank Side Wall 16 Tank Bottom Wall 18 Tank Lid 20 Downflow Acceleration Stirring Blade 22 Bottom Liquid Discharge Acceleration Stirring Blade 24 Diffuser Tube 26 Rotating Shaft 28 Projection 30 Slit 36 Baffle Plate 44 Projection 46 Dispersion trachea

Claims (3)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A draft tube (10) having open upper and lower ends is provided in a vertical culture tank (12) on a side wall (14) of the tank.
In a culture device installed so that a gap is created between the tank bottom wall (16) and the tank lid (18), a downflow accelerating stirring blade (20) provided in the upper part of the draft tube (10), A stirring blade (22) for accelerating the bottom liquid discharge provided near the lower portion of the draft tube (10), air diffusers (24), (46) provided on the outer bottom portion or inside of the draft tube (10), and a draft Rotating shaft (26) for rotating the tube (10)
And a culture device. 2. The rotating shaft of the stirring blade (20) for downflow acceleration, the rotating shaft of the stirring blade (22) for accelerating the bottom liquid discharge, and the rotating shaft (26) for rotating the draft tube (10). The culture device according to claim 1, wherein 3. The outer periphery of the draft tube (10),
The culture device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising protrusions (28) and (44) each having a shape such that an upward force is generated by rotating the draft tube.