JPH0724041Y2 - Incubator - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a culture device particularly suitable for tissue culture of plants.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, as a device for implanting plant tissue pieces and performing tissue culture, for example, a device shown in Fig. 5 is known.

This apparatus 100 is composed of a box-shaped main body 101 with a front opening that is divided into two upper and lower stages, and an opening / closing door 10 arranged in front of the main body 101.
2a and 102b, and has a structure in which the main body 101 can be sealed by closing the doors 102a and 102b. Further, on the upper part of the main body 101, that is, on the partition plate 103, the filled tissue support 104
A box-shaped container 105 in which an arbitrary number of tissue pieces such as plant leaf slices are planted is placed on the. On the other hand, in the lower stage 106, a tank 107 in which a predetermined amount of culture solution is stored and the tank 107
A supply pipe 108 for supplying the culture solution into the box-shaped container 105 from above, a discharge pipe 109 for recovering the culture solution discharged from the box-shaped container 105 into the tank 107 again, and the supply pipe 108
A culture solution circulation device comprising a water supply pump 110 disposed in the middle of the pump, a bacteria removal filter 111 also disposed in the middle of the supply pipe 108, a blower fan 112, and the blower fan 112. A sterilizing filter 113 attached to a blower port, and an air circulation device for blowing in fresh air free of miscellaneous bacteria are provided in the upper stage. Also,
A lighting device 114 is arranged on the ceiling.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the conventional device 100 described above has the following problems.

First, in order to perform a large amount of culture with such a device 100, the box-shaped container 105 filled with the tissue support 104 is made large, and a culture device for mounting the large container 105 is placed. 100 itself must be fairly large. Further, when only a fixed number of the culture devices 100 are prepared, the number of the devices 100 themselves has to be further increased as the number of cultures increases, which causes a problem of high cost. Further, conversely, when the culture scale is smaller than usual, it is also costly to manufacture the device 100 adapted to it. On the other hand, if the large-sized device 100 is used as it is, the air-conditioning volume is too large and wasteful in terms of environmental control inside the device 100.

Moreover, such a device 100 is usually used by sterilizing the inside of the device 100 with ultraviolet rays, a sterilizing gas or the like as a preparatory step for placing the box-shaped container 105 and culturing. However, a tissue piece is planted in the tissue support 104 in the culture apparatus 100, or a box-shaped container 105 in which the tissue piece is planted.
When carrying in, it is necessary to open and close the door 102a. Also, the door 102b of the device needs to be opened and closed when the components of the culture solution are exchanged according to the growth degree of the tissue piece. Therefore, in such a case, there is a risk that miscellaneous bacteria may be mixed in the device, and once miscellaneous bacteria are mixed, the entire device will be contaminated.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and can easily increase or decrease the number of culture chambers to be installed according to the increase or decrease in the number of cultures of tissue pieces, and prevent contamination by contaminants in the culture chambers. It is an object of the present invention to provide a culturing device that can be kept to a minimum and can be kept to a minimum without contaminating the whole device even if contaminants are mixed.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the culture apparatus of the present invention has “at least an air conditioning unit for controlling temperature and / or a culture solution supply unit for supplying a culture solution”. A growth environment adjusting device, a culture chamber in which a sealed chamber is filled with a predetermined amount of a tissue support, and a supply pipe system that connects the growth environment adjusting device and the culture chamber to each other to form a closed pipeline. A discharge pipe system, and each of the supply pipe system and the discharge pipe system is branched from the main pipe and an arbitrary position of the main pipe so that the culture chambers can be installed in parallel to increase or decrease. A transport pipe consisting of a plurality of branch pipes, and a pair of first and second connecting bodies for connecting the respective branch pipes of the supply pipe system and the discharge pipe system in the transport pipe to the culture chamber A plug consisting of a And a pipe joint portion fitted and connected to the joint pipe portion,
Is formed into a double cylinder structure composed of an outer cylinder and an inner cylinder communicating with the pipe joint portion of the first connector, and the inner cylinder is normally closed. Has a first valve body that is urged so as to have a protrusion on the front end surface, and the second connection body is provided in a gap between the outer cylinder body and the inner cylinder body of the first connection body. And a side peripheral wall that can be inserted to connect both connecting bodies, and that is opened by pressing the tip end surface of the first valve body inwardly when connecting with the first connecting body. And a cylinder portion communicating with the pipe joint portion of the connection body of the first connection body, and is urged so as to close the cylinder portion in the cylinder state while being disposed in the cylinder portion. And a second valve body that is opened by being pressed by the protrusion provided on the valve body,
A culture device, comprising: a connection plug capable of connecting a transport tube and a culture chamber while preventing contamination of various bacteria. ].

[Operation] In such a configuration, the air and the culture solution supplied from the air conditioning unit and the culture solution supply unit of the growth environment control device first flow through the main pipes of the supply pipe, respectively, and then in the branch pipes branched from the main pipes. Flow to. Then, air or a culture solution is supplied into the culture chamber connected to each branch pipe.

On the other hand, the air and surplus culture solution that have passed through the culture chamber flow into the main pipe via the branch pipe of the discharge pipe system that is also connected to the culture chamber, and are collected in the air conditioning unit and the culture solution supply unit. , Circulates in the culture device without contamination.

In addition, when the culture chamber is increased or decreased, it can be easily performed by increasing or decreasing the number of branch pipes of the supply pipe system and the discharge pipe system and connecting them.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, a culture apparatus according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an arrangement relationship of members constituting the culturing apparatus 1 of this example.

That is, the culture device 1 includes a growth environment control device including an air conditioning unit 2 and a culture solution supply unit 3, a culture chamber 4, a transport pipe including a supply pipe system 5 and an exhaust pipe system 6,
Composed of.

The air conditioning unit 2 includes an air conditioning equipment body 2a capable of adjusting humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, etc. in addition to temperature, and the air conditioning equipment body 2a.
To the front of the air conditioning equipment body 2a, or a fan 2b for sending air under pressure, or a sterilization filter disposed at an arbitrary interval in the middle of the pipe system of the supply pipe 5 described later. It consists of 2c and.

The culture solution supply unit 3 includes a culture solution storage tank 3a, a pump 3b for sucking the culture solution from the tank 3a, and the pump 3b.
And a culture solution sterilizing filter 3c disposed near the outlet of the
Composed of. A liquid temperature controller (not shown) for adjusting the liquid temperature in the liquid storage tank 3a may be provided.

The culture chamber 4 is filled with a support (not shown) that supports a tissue piece of a plant such as a culture medium, and as shown in FIG.
For example, the box body 41 is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape with an upper surface opening,
Moreover, a lid member 42 that closes the upper surface 41a of the box body 41 is detachably attached. Further, joint pipe portions 41d, 41e, 41f, 41g connected to a transport pipe described later are formed at appropriate positions on arbitrary side walls of the box body 41, for example, a pair of opposing side walls 41b, 41c.

Around the inner side of the lid member 42, as shown in FIG.
A packing material 43 made of rubber or the like is laid. This is to prevent a gap generated between the box body 41 and the lid member 42 when mounted on the box body 41. In this case, the packing material 43 may be fixed to the upper edge of the box body 41. Further, if an air intake 7 is provided at an appropriate position of a transportation pipe, which will be described later, for example, in the middle of the exhaust pipe system 6, and the inside of the culture chamber 4 is always in a normal pressure state due to the pressure of the air flowing in from this, Even if the lid member 42 is not configured to keep hermetically sealed, contamination of various bacteria can be prevented. Further, it is preferable that at least the upper surface 42a of the lid member 42 is made of a transparent member so that light from an illumination device (not shown) arranged at an arbitrary position can be easily taken in.

The transport pipe is composed of a supply pipe system 5 and a discharge pipe system 6.
The supply pipe system 5 is an air circulation supply pipe 51 connected between the supply port of the air conditioning unit 2 and the joint pipe portion 41d provided at the inlet of the culture chamber 4, and the supply of the culture solution supply unit 3. A culture solution circulation supply pipe 52 connected between the mouth and the joint pipe portion 41e, and main pipes 51a and 52a, respectively.
And a plurality of branch pipes 51b, 52b branched from the main pipes 51a, 52a
And a structure having.

The discharge pipe system 6 is connected between the joint pipe portions 41f and 41g provided on the outlet side of the culture chamber 4 and the air conditioning unit 2 or the culture solution supply unit 3, and the discharge pipe 61 for air circulation and the culture. The supply pipe system 5 is composed of a liquid circulation discharge pipe 62.
Similarly, the structure has main pipes 61a and 62a and a plurality of branch pipes 61b and 62b branched from the main pipes 61a and 62a, respectively.
The number of the branch tubes 51b, 52b, 61b, 62b can be adjusted according to the culture scale, that is, the number of the culture chambers 4 so that the culture chambers 4 can be appropriately increased or decreased in parallel.

Joint pipe parts 41d, 41e on the inlet side of the culture chamber 4 described above
And the connection between the joint pipe portions 41f, 41g on the outlet side and the branch pipes 51b, 52b, 61b, 62b of the transport pipe are shown in FIG. 3 (a).
As shown in, each branch pipe is made of heat-resistant rubber or the like,
It suffices if the joint pipe portions are closely inserted into the branch pipes. When each of the joint pipes is detached from each branch pipe, the vicinity of the end of each branch pipe is pressed and sealed with a pinch cock 8 or the like as shown in FIG. 3 (b). In addition, a sterilized cap (not shown) is put on the end of the joint pipe to close it.

Further, it is also possible to use a connection plug 10 as shown in FIG. 4 to connect the branch pipes and the joint pipe portion.
This connection plug 10 has a bottom wall 12, 21 with a pipe joint portion 13 having a predetermined diameter.
The reference numeral 22 is composed of first and second connection bodies 11 and 20 which are formed in a substantially cylindrical shape and have different diameters. The first connecting body 11 has an outer cylindrical body 14 whose side peripheral wall is formed to project from the bottom wall 12 in the direction opposite to the pipe joint portion 13, and has a smaller diameter than the outer cylindrical body 14 and projects inwardly. A double-cylinder structure including an inner cylinder body 15 formed and formed.

Further, the first valve body 16 having a protrusion 17 projecting substantially in the center of the tip surface 16a is elastically elastically supported by an elastic member such as a compression spring 18 provided between the first valve body 16 and the bottom wall 12. The valve body tip surface 16a is biased and disposed so as to abut the valve seat portion 15a formed on the inner peripheral step portion of the inner cylindrical body 15, and thereby communicates with the pipe joint portion 13. The inner cylindrical body 15 is normally closed. In addition, 19 is an O-ring for hermetic sealing.

On the other hand, the side wall 23 of the second connecting body 20 is formed to have a width and a length that can be slidably inserted into and removed from the gap between the outer cylindrical body 14 and the inner cylindrical body 15 of the first connecting body 11. At the same time, a cylinder portion 24 that enters the inside of the inner cylindrical body 15 of the first connection body 11 and presses the first valve body 16 is formed so as to project inside the side peripheral wall 23. Further, inside the cylinder portion 24, a second valve body 25, which is pressed by the tip protrusion 17 of the first valve body 16, is elastically urged via an elastic member 26. The cylinder portion 24 communicating with the joint portion 22 is normally closed. 24a is a second part formed on the inner peripheral step near the tip of the cylinder part 24.
21a, 27 and 28 are O-rings for hermetic sealing.

In this connection plug 10, the branch pipes 51b, 52b, 61b, 62b are fitted and connected to one of the above-mentioned connecting bodies 11 and 20, for example, the pipe joint portion 13 of the first connecting body 11, , The pipe joint portion 22 of the second connection body 20 has a joint pipe portion 41d of the culture chamber 4,
41e, 41f and 41g are fitted and connected. At this time, as shown in the drawing, it is preferable that the respective pipe joint portions 13 and 22 are provided with protrusions 13a and 22a for preventing separation.

If the connection plug 10 is not used, that is, when the two connection bodies 11 and 20 are not connected, the valve bodies 16 and 25 come into contact with the respective valve seat portions 15a and 24a and the inner cylindrical body 15 is formed. Cylinder part 2
4 is closed, and as a result, each branch pipe and the joint pipe portion of the culture chamber 4 are closed. Therefore, bacteria are not mixed in the culture chamber 4 or the transport pipe.

On the other hand, when connecting both, the outer cylindrical body of the first connecting body 11
It suffices to fit the side peripheral wall 23 of the second connecting body 20 into the gap between the inner cylindrical body 15 and the inner cylindrical body 15. In this case, first, the outer cylindrical body 14 of the first connecting body 11 and the side peripheral wall 23 of the second connecting body 20 are slidably fitted into each other. When inserted for a predetermined length, the first valve body
The tip protrusion 17 of 16 presses the second valve body 25. When the fitting is continued, the tip of the cylinder portion 24 of the second connecting body 20 contacts the tip surface 16a of the first valve body 16 and presses the valve body 16. As a result, both valve bodies 16 and 25 move in the valve opening direction against the elastic members 18 and 26, and the respective branch pipes and the culture chamber 4 are made to communicate with each other.

In addition, in the present embodiment, as described above, both connecting members 1
Although the outer cylindrical body 14 of 1 and 20 and the side peripheral wall 23 are slidably connected to each other, the second connecting body is connected to the inner pipe body 15 of the first connecting body 11 so as to form a closed pipeline. As long as the side peripheral wall 23 of 20 is in close contact, there may be a gap between the outer cylindrical body 14 of the first connecting body 11 and the side peripheral wall 23 of the second connecting body 20. In this case, a known locking mechanism or the like such as a spring for fitting and holding is used to prevent the two from coming off.

Next, the operation of the culture device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.

First, the culture chamber 4 and the inside of the transport tube are sterilized in advance with ultraviolet rays, sterilizing gas, and the like. Then, the joint pipe portions 41d, 41e, 41f, 41g of the culture chamber 4 are connected to the branch pipes 51b, 52b, 61b, 62b of the supply pipe system 5 and the discharge pipe system 6, respectively.

In this case, when connecting by the method shown in FIG. 3 described above, connect each joint pipe part and the vicinity of the end of the nuclear branch pipe with alcohol etc. to burn and sterilize them before connecting them. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent contamination of various bacteria. In addition,
Even when the connection plug 10 shown in FIG. 4 is used for connection, it is necessary to sterilize the exposed surface inside the circle of the O-ring 21a and the outer periphery of the end portion of the inner cylindrical body 15. Since it is a method, almost no bacteria are mixed in during connection work.

In this state, the air and the culture solution supplied from the air conditioning unit 2 and the culture solution supply unit 3 are
It is pumped by the fan 2b and passes through the sterilization filter 2c,
Alternatively, it is pumped by the pump 3b, passes through the sterilization filter 3c, flows through the main pipes 51a and 52a of the respective supply pipes 5, and then flows into the branch pipes 51b and 52b branched from the main pipes 51a and 52a. Go. Since the culture chambers 4 are connected in parallel to the branch pipes 51b and 52b as described above, the air and the culture solution under the same conditions are supplied into the culture chambers 4 without being contaminated with various bacteria. .

The air or excess culture solution that has passed through the culture chamber 4 flows into the main pipes 61a, 62a via the branch pipes 61b, 62b of the discharge pipe system 6 connected by the above-mentioned connecting plug 10 and the like. Go. Therefore, bacteria are not mixed in the middle of the transport pipe, and are collected by the air conditioning unit 2 and the culture solution supply unit 3 and supplied again to the culture chamber 4.

In addition, when the culture chamber 4 is added, the number of the branch pipes 51b, 52b, 61b, 62b of the supply pipe system 5 and the discharge pipe system 6 may be increased,
It can be done easily.

Here, in the above-described embodiment, the growth environment control device has the configuration in which the air conditioning unit 2 and the culture solution supply unit 3 are arranged, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration and should be controlled. Depending on the environmental conditions, only the air conditioning unit 2 or only the culture solution supply unit 3 may be provided, or further another environmental control device may be provided.

[Advantage of the Invention] According to the culture device of the present invention, it is possible to easily add a culture chamber by increasing the number of branch pipes of the transport pipe. Also,
Since it is possible to carry out the work of implanting the tissue piece by detaching the culture chamber from the joint tube part and carrying it into an arbitrary sterile room, it is possible to prevent contamination of bacteria during the work, and of course, such a sterile room. If it is carried out in a room, bacteria will not be mixed in even when the culture room is expanded without performing it in a sterile atmosphere.

Further, even when supplying different culture solutions, it is not necessary to open the lid of the culture chamber, and the sterilized state can be maintained.

Therefore, it is not necessary to work in a large-scale aseptic chamber by using a large-sized device as in the prior art, which is very advantageous in terms of cost and work efficiency.

Further, since the culture chamber and the growth environment adjusting device are connected by a transport pipe forming a closed pipe line and the culture chambers are connected in parallel, even if one culture chamber is contaminated, It is only necessary to remove the culture chamber and close the branch pipe connected to the culture chamber, so that contamination by various bacteria can be suppressed to a minimum.

Furthermore, by using the connection plug shown in the above-mentioned embodiment, the work of adding the culture chamber can be carried out very quickly, so that it is possible to prevent contamination of bacteria during the work of connection.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an arrangement relationship of an embodiment of a culture apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 (a) is a perspective view of a culture chamber used in the same embodiment, and FIG. 2 (b) is a perspective view. 2 (a) is a sectional view taken along the line BB, FIG. 3 (a) is a perspective view for explaining a method of connecting the branch pipe and the joint pipe portion, and FIG. 3 (b) is a branch pipe to the joint pipe portion. FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining a method of sealing the end portion when the connector is detached, FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing a connection plug,
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a conventional culture device. 1 ... Incubator 2 ... Air conditioning unit 3 ... Culture solution supply unit 4 ... Culture chamber 5 ... Supply pipe system 6 ... Discharge pipe system 10 ... Connection plug 11 ... First connector 20 ... Second connection

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A growth environment adjusting device having at least an air conditioning unit for controlling temperature, and / or a culture solution supply unit for supplying a culture solution, and a sealed chamber filled with a predetermined amount of a tissue support. And a supply pipe system and a discharge pipe system that form a closed pipe by connecting the growth environment adjusting device and the culture chamber to each other, and each of the supply pipe system and the discharge pipe system. A transport pipe comprising a main pipe and a plurality of branch pipes branched from an arbitrary position of the main pipe so that the culture chambers can be installed in parallel to increase or decrease, and a supply pipe in the transport pipe. A plug comprising a pair of first and second connecting bodies for connecting the respective branch pipes of the system and the discharge pipe system to the culture chamber, each connection body being provided in the branch pipe or the culture chamber. Has a pipe joint portion fitted and connected to the joint pipe portion, and The first connecting body is formed in a double cylinder structure including an outer cylinder body and an inner cylinder body communicating with the pipe joint portion of the first connection body, and the inner cylinder body is normally closed. A first valve body having a protrusion on its tip surface, which is biased to form a second connection body, and the second connection body is a gap between the outer cylinder body and the inner cylinder body of the first connection body. Has a side peripheral wall that can be connected to both connection bodies, and presses the tip end surface of the first valve body when connecting with the first connection body inwardly of the side peripheral wall to open the valve. The cylinder portion communicating with the pipe joint portion of the second connecting body and the cylinder portion disposed in the cylinder portion and being normally biased so as to close the cylinder portion. It has a second valve body that is opened by being pressed upon the protrusion provided on the first valve body, and can prevent the contamination of various bacteria and allow the transport tube and the culture chamber to communicate with each other. Culture apparatus characterized by having a connection plug.