JPH0544682Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing microscopic ice particles.

[Prior Art] A conventional apparatus for producing frozen particulate matter is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 17392/1983. This device has a raw material spray nozzle that sprays the raw material to be frozen at the top of a freezing chamber whose upper end is covered with a heat insulating material and has a conical shape, and a refrigerant discharge pipe is connected to surround the raw material spray nozzle. An annular refrigerant supply nozzle is disposed near the bottom of the raw material spray nozzle along the wall surface of the freezing chamber, a scraper is disposed at the bottom of the freezing chamber, and a frozen particle outlet is provided.

Then, when a refrigerant such as liquid nitrogen is ejected from the refrigerant supply nozzle toward the inside of the container and the liquid raw material is sprayed downward from the raw material spray nozzle, the sprayed fine particles of the raw material are free to form the spouted refrigerant and its evaporated gas while falling naturally. Freely exchanges heat and freezes.

The frozen particles are deposited at the bottom of the freezing chamber and are collected outside the room through the frozen particle outlet by a scraper. On the other hand, the refrigerant gas is discharged outside from the refrigerant discharge pipe.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] However, with such conventional equipment, when the raw material to be frozen is sprayed from the raw material spray nozzle, it is difficult to keep the freezing chamber cold and to prevent microscopic ice particles from forming on the conical wall at the upper end of the freezing chamber. In order to prevent adhesion and difficulty in removal, it was necessary to generate a vortex flow of refrigerant gas within the freezing chamber, and it was essential to supply liquefied refrigerant gas.

In addition, a large capacity of liquefied gas is required, and therefore a large capacity liquefied gas tank is required.In order to extract the refrigerant gas from this liquefied gas tank and keep the temperature of the freezing chamber constant, an automatic valve and this control are required. A temperature controller, power supply, etc. are required, making the device itself large and requiring a large-capacity liquefied gas tank.It is mainly used in bio-related research in laboratories, development laboratories, test laboratories, etc., and is difficult to transport. However, there were restrictions on what people could bring in, which was inconvenient.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention includes a freezing container having a cylindrical portion on the upper side of a conical freezing chamber having a discharge hole at the lower end, and a cold gas passing through the outer peripheral wall. an outer casing having a space in the center for storing liquefied gas and for allowing low-temperature gas to pass therethrough; A lower-height annular liquefied gas container is installed, and inside the liquefied gas container there is an inlet for introducing inert gas and an exhaust pipe for discharging the inert gas, which has been cooled by heat exchange with the liquefied gas, into the freezing container. Micro ice consists of a heat exchange device equipped with a spiral annular heat exchange tube, and a raw material injection nozzle whose tip is in the space for spouting the raw material to be frozen pressurized in a pressurizer into a freezing container. The purpose is to provide a grain manufacturing device.

[Function] The device for producing micro ice particles of the present invention is constructed as described above, and the inert gas is cooled by the liquefied gas in the heat exchange tube, becoming a low-temperature inert gas and entering the freezing container. The liquefied gas is vaporized with an inert gas and released as a cold gas through the gas passage hole into the freezing container.

On the other hand, the raw material to be frozen is atomized by the raw material spray nozzle and flows down inside the freezing container. As it flows down, it contacts the cooled inert gas and low-temperature gas in parallel flow, and rapidly turns into ice particles.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described based on an example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing one embodiment of the micro ice particle production apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a cylindrical freezing container which has been subjected to heat insulation treatment, and has a heat exchange device 2 installed at the top and a micro ice particle crushing device 3 installed outside.

The cylindrical freezing container 1 forms a conical freezing chamber 4 having a discharge hole 35 at the lower end, and a cylindrical portion 5 is provided above the conical freezing chamber 4 . The heat exchange device 2 is attached to the cylindrical portion 5 at the upper end.

The heat exchange device 2 includes an outer casing 7 having a space 6 in the center.
An annular liquefied gas container 8 whose height is lower than that of the outer casing 7 and whose upper side is open is provided at the center of the outer casing 7. A large number of gas passage holes 9 are provided on the outer circumferential wall of the outer casing 7, and the space 6 of the liquefied gas container 8 is
The locations located at 1 and 2 are connected by a horizontal perforated plate 11 having a large number of gas passage holes 10.

A support plate 12 is provided at the center outer periphery of the outer casing 7 in the height direction, a packing 13 is attached to the lower surface of the support plate 12, and the packing 13 is mounted on the upper end of the freezing container 1 to seal the freezing container 1. I'm starting to do that. 14 is a lid that seals the outer casing 7.

15 is a spiral-shaped heat exchange tube located at the bottom of the liquefied gas container 8 containing liquefied gas, and introduces inert gas from the introduction part 16 provided above the liquefied gas container 8 to The temperature of the inert gas 17 is lowered by heat exchange, and the lower temperature of the inert gas 17 is discharged into the freezing chamber 4 from a discharge pipe 18 protruding from the lower side of the liquefied gas container 8. At this time, the liquefied gas 19 in the liquefied gas container 8 is heated as the inert gas passes through it, becomes bubbles, rises, is vaporized at the upper part, and becomes cold gas 20, which is heated as shown by the arrow in the outer casing 7. It flows into the freezing chamber 4 through the gas passage holes 9 and the gas passage holes 10 of the horizontal perforated plate 11, maintaining the inside of the freezing chamber 4 in a cold gas phase atmosphere, and preventing the low-temperature gas temperature from exceeding at least -100°C. .

Reference numeral 21 denotes a raw material spray nozzle, which is located inside a cylindrical body 22 provided at the center of the horizontal perforated plate 11, and sprays a raw material 23 to be frozen consisting of microscopic ice particles, frozen particles liquid, bacterial cells, etc. in the form of fine particles. , the raw material 23 to be frozen is brought into contact with the low-temperature inert gas 17 and the low-temperature gas 20 in parallel flow, and the raw material 23 to be frozen is brought into contact with the low-temperature inert gas and the low-temperature gas to form minute ice particles 24 through heat exchange.
Make it. The micro ice particle crushing device 3 is composed of a micro ice particle injection gun 25 and a collision plate 26 , and one side of the micro ice particle injection gun 25 is connected to an L-shaped discharge conduit 27 provided in the discharge hole 35 of the freezing container 1 . The other end is connected to an accelerating inert gas conduit 28, and this accelerating inert gas conduit 28 is connected to an inert gas cylinder 30 via a solenoid valve 29, and by introducing the inert gas, micro ice particles 24 is injected by a micro ice particle spray gun 25 and sprayed onto a collision plate 26 to further reduce the ice particles.

Reference numeral 31 denotes a pressurizer, to which a material to be frozen 23 consisting of microscopic ice grains, liquid to be frozen, microbial cells, etc. is supplied as needed with the lid removed;
The electromagnetic valve 29 is connected to an inert gas cylinder 30 via a manually operated three-way switching valve 32, and the raw material 23 to be frozen in the pressurizer 31 is pressurized with the inert gas supplied from the inert gas cylinder 30. The raw material is supplied from the conduit 33 to the raw material spray nozzle 21 . Note that the pressure inside the pressurizer 31 is brought to zero by operating the manually operated three-way switching valve 32 to release the atmosphere.

34 is an inert gas conduit, one end of which is connected to the accelerating inert gas conduit 28, and the other end connected to the introduction section 16 of the heat exchange tube 15.

In the micro ice particle production apparatus of the present invention configured as described above, the raw material to be frozen 23 is pressurized by the pressure of the inert gas of the pressurizer 31, and the raw material spray nozzle 2 is
1 and let it flow down into the freezing container 1.

On the other hand, the inert gas introduced from the introduction part 16 is
It exchanges heat with the liquefied gas 19 stored in the liquefied gas container 8 in the heat exchange pipe 15, becomes a low-temperature inert gas 17, and is discharged into the freezing container 1 from the discharge pipe 18. In addition, the liquefied gas 19 is passed through the heat exchange pipe 15.
It is heated by the inert gas inside, becomes bubbles, rises, is vaporized, and becomes low-temperature gas 20 that passes through the gas passage holes 9 of the outer casing 7 and the gas passage holes 10 of the horizontal perforated plate 11.
is released into the freezing container 1. When the inert gas 17 and the low-temperature gas 20 respectively flow down inside the freezing container 1, they come into contact with the raw material 23 to be frozen, and exchange heat for a long time while flowing in parallel, thereby freezing the raw material 23 to be frozen. It is cooled to form minute ice particles 24.

The micro ice particles 24 accumulate in the conical freezing chamber 4, but by injecting low-temperature inert gas obliquely downward from the exhaust pipe 18 onto the conical inner wall of the freezing chamber 4, the inner wall is removed. A vortex flow is formed along the flow, a downward flow is created, and the adhesion of minute ice particles to the inner wall is prevented, and the minute ice particles 24, inert gas 17, and low temperature gas 20 are discharged from the discharge hole 35. This discharge hole 35 is provided with a micro ice particle injection gun 25 via a discharge conduit 27, and by introducing an inert gas, the micro ice particles 24 are
is sprayed onto the collision plate 26, and the impact further atomizes the particles.

[Effects of the invention] As specifically explained above, the micro ice particle production device of the invention lowers the temperature of the inert gas at room temperature by heat exchange, promotes the evaporation of the liquefied gas of the refrigerant, and lowers the temperature. The inert gas is swirled along the conical inner wall of the freezing chamber to prevent the adhesion of frozen particles.

In addition, since it is possible to lower the temperature of inert gas with a small amount of liquefied gas, it is possible to supply refrigerant in a portable container without using large liquefied gas cylinders, which are restricted by transportation and carry-in. This is an easy-to-use device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a micro ice particle device showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a heat exchange device. 1... Freezing container, 2... Heat exchange device, 3... Micro ice particle crushing device, 4... Freezing chamber, 5... Cylindrical part,
6... Space, 7... Outer casing, 8... Liquefied gas container,
9...Gas passage hole, 10...Gas passage hole, 11...
...Horizontal perforated plate, 12... Support plate, 13... Packing, 14... Lid, 15... Heat exchange tube, 16...
Introduction section, 17...low temperature liquefied gas, 18...
Discharge pipe, 19...Liquefied gas, 20...Low temperature gas,
21... Raw material spray nozzle, 22... Cylindrical body, 23...
...Material to be frozen, 24...Minute ice grains, 25...Minute ice particle injection gun, 26...Collision plate, 27...Discharge conduit, 28...Inert gas conduit for acceleration, 29...Solenoid valve, 30 ... Inert gas cylinder, 31 ... Pressurizer, 32 ... Manually operated three-way switching valve, 33 ... Raw material conduit, 34 ... Inert gas, 35 ... Discharge hole.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A freezing container is provided with a cylindrical part on the upper side of a conical freezing chamber having a discharge hole at the lower end, and a large number of gas passage holes for passing low temperature gas are provided in the outer peripheral wall, and the freezing container is supported at intervals inside the cylindrical part. An annular liquefied gas container having a height lower than the outer casing and having a space in the center for storing liquefied gas and allowing low-temperature gas to pass through is provided inside the outer casing having a lid fixed with a panel. A heat exchange device includes a spiral annular heat exchange tube that has an inlet for introducing active gas and an exhaust tube for discharging the inert gas, which has undergone heat exchange with the liquefied gas and is lowered in temperature, into a freezing container, and is heated in a pressurizer. A micro ice particle production device comprising a raw material injection nozzle whose tip is directed into the space for jetting compressed raw material to be frozen into a freezing container.