JPS61171514A - Filter apparatus having sterilizing function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the title apparatus showing large sterilizing effect in reduced energy consumption, having no problem of countercontamination, simple to regenerate and having long life, constituted by providing a heating means to a filter comprising a heat resistant material containing at least a filter made of a conductive material. CONSTITUTION:A filter is formed of a heat resistance material such as ceramics or a metal and all or a part of said filter is constituted of a conductive material such as silicon carbide and a current supply heating means or induction heating means is provided to the filter made of the conductive material. For example, the filter 2 made of the heat resistant conductive material is attached to the interior of a glass pipe 1 and an induction heating coil 3 is arranged to the outer periphery of the pipe 1. By supplying a current to said coil, a dielectric current is generated in the filter 2 to raise the temp. of the filter and air passing therethrough is sterilized. By further raising temp., clogging substances are burnt off to enable the regeneration of the filter.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a filtration device used for sterile air, sterile water, sterile filtration, and the like.

Conventional technology In the food industry, pharmaceutical industry, medical institutions, semiconductor industry, etc., it is important to remove particulates and produce sterile air and water. Similarly, in the brewing industry 2 fermentation industry, the production of sterile air and water is important. Culture of bacterial cells, solid-liquid separation.

Gas-liquid mixing is an important technology.

Until now, regenerated cellulose and nylon have been used for the above applications.

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-1 +ノ J'! ＋＋＋－－＋＋、－ふ ++、
-+ ++, &&M Microfiltration made of organic polymer materials or glass fibers is used.

These microfilters are effective in capturing fine particles and microorganisms, and there are various types with improved filtration accuracy, filtration speed, ease of clogging and regeneration, etc. Also,
There is also known a method of sterilizing air, liquid, etc. to be sterilized by once raising the temperature to a high temperature using an autoclave or the like.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, 1. For example, in the semiconductor industry, as the capacity of ICs increases, various chemicals such as organic solvents, acids, and alkalis are used.

Gas is coming into use and the filtration equipment is more chemical resistant.

There is a problem with corrosion resistance. In addition, in the fermentation industry, pharmaceutical industry, etc., sterilization at temperatures of 120°C or higher is required constantly, resulting in deformation, contraction, and expansion of microfilters.

There are problems such as membrane damage. At the same time, there are many problems with back contamination in the filter and the final filter, and there are also many demands for longer life. In addition, methods of sterilizing air or liquid by raising the temperature in an autoclave or the like raise the temperature of the entire air or liquid.

The disadvantage is that there is a large loss in terms of energy efficiency.

The present invention was developed in view of the current situation, and has a high sterilization effect despite low energy consumption.

The purpose is to provide a long-life filtration device that does not have the problem of back contamination, can be regenerated using an hour wheel.

Means for Solving the Problems A filtration device of the present invention has a filter made of a heat-resistant material such as ceramics or metal, and all or part of the filter is made of a conductive material, and the filter is made of a conductive material. The filter is characterized by being provided with an energization heating means for heating the filter by directly applying current to it or an induction heating means for heating the filter by generating an induced current.

The conductive material used as a filter in the present invention is:

These include ceramics such as silicon carbide, titanium carbide, titanium boride, and carbon, and metals such as stainless steel, nickel, titanium, and copper, and are selected in consideration of filtration accuracy, corrosion resistance, chemical resistance, etc. for the fluid to be filtered. Ru.

Function In the filtration device having the above configuration, when it is appropriate to filter gas such as air, the temperature of the filter made of a conductive material is increased by heating the filter with electricity or induction heating, and at the same time, the filter made of a non-conductive material is placed next to it. In some cases, the filter made of non-conductive material is also heated by conductive heat from the filter made of conductive material and maintained at a microorganism sterilization temperature. When the gas to be filtered is passed through the filter in this state.

Microorganisms in the gas are killed when they come into contact with the high-temperature filter, and are captured by the filter, resulting in a sterile gas.

At this time, when the filter is used at room temperature, microscopic microorganisms that may pass through the filter come into contact with the high temperature filter and are immediately killed.

Therefore, a much more sterile gas can be obtained than when used at room temperature. In other words, according to the present invention, equivalent sterile air can be obtained using a filter having a larger pore diameter than the average pore diameter of a filter conventionally used to obtain sterile air. If the filter is used for a long period of time and becomes clogged with microorganisms and the processing capacity decreases, the temperature should be raised to a higher temperature without changing the condition! -s (
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can be played.

When the filtration device of the present invention is used for producing sterile water.

Do not heat the filter; use it at room temperature. Therefore, the pore diameter of the filter is set small so as to trap microorganisms of a desired size. After continuing filtration for a certain period of time, filtration is stopped and the filter is heated to sterilization temperature by induction heating or electrical heating. This heating kills microorganisms in the filter and prevents reverse leta staining. If clogging has occurred, the temperature is raised to a higher temperature to burn off the clogging material.
Reproduce. Filtration in brewing, fermentation, etc. is carried out in the same way.

EXAMPLES The present invention will be explained in further detail with reference to the following nine examples of the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which a filter 2 made of a heat-resistant conductive material is attached to the inside of a tube 9 made of a non-conductive material, for example, a glass tube l, and the outer periphery of the tube 1 is A heating means or induction heating coil 3 is arranged. The filter 2 is made of a homogeneous sintered body of ceramics, metal, etc. with fine openings, and by heating and melting the glass tube l with a burner etc., the glass tube 1 and the filter 2 are completely tightly fixed. ing. In this filtration device, by energizing the induction heating coil 3.

By raising the temperature of the filter 2, it is possible to sterilize the first-pass air. Moreover, by further raising the temperature, the clogging substances can be incinerated and regenerated.

In the filtration device having the above structure, as the filter 2.

Using a silicon carbide filter with an average pore diameter of 3 μm,
Sterile air could be obtained by raising the temperature to ℃ and passing air through it.

Although the filter 2 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is made of a homogeneous sintered body made of the same material, the structure is not limited to this and can be modified in various ways. When the diameter of the filter 2 becomes large, simply applying a commercial frequency to the induction heating coil 2 may generate an induced current only in the outer circumference of the filter 2, resulting in temperature unevenness in the filter 2. Examples of the filter 2 that can prevent such temperature unevenness are shown in FIGS. 2 to 4.

Each of the filters 2 shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 is made by sintering a conductive material 2A and a non-conductive material 2B into one body in the pattern shown. This configuration is used when an induced current is generated in the filter 2 by an induction heating coil.

The characteristic is such that a large amount of induced current flows through the peripheral portion of the conductive material 2A. Note that the non-conductive material itself does not generate heat, but its temperature increases due to thermal conduction.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, an induction heating coil wound around the outer periphery of the tube is used as an induction heating means for the conductive filter 2 in the tube 1, but the induction heating means can be modified in various ways.

FIG. 5 shows an induction heating means 6 consisting of an iron core 4 and a coil 5 arranged outside the tube l. Furthermore, FIG. 6 shows a modification of the embodiment shown in FIG.
An induction heating means 6 consisting of a coil 5 and a coil 5 is arranged so that its iron core 4 is in the longitudinal direction of the tube 1. Even in these embodiments, an induced current can be generated in the filter 2 to uniformly heat the filter 2.

FIG. 7 shows yet another embodiment. In this example.

A composite filter in which a filter 7 made of a non-quaternary conductive material is sandwiched between filters 2 made of a conductive material is installed in the pipework.

In this embodiment, by inductively heating the filters 2 on both sides, the central filter 7 is heated by thermal conduction.

The entire composite filter can be heated. This type of filtration device does not require the filter to be electrically conductive.

Increased freedom in material selection. The filter 2 may be homogeneous as a whole, or may have a structure as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4. As filter 2, a filter made of Al2O with an average pore diameter of 1 μm was used.

When a filtration device using silicon carbide filters with an average pore diameter of 10 μm as filters 7 on both sides was used to produce sterile water, sterile water could be obtained satisfactorily. Further, by heating the filter 2.7 to the sterilization temperature by induction heating with the filter 2.7 attached to the tube 1, it was possible to prevent back contamination.

FIG. 8 shows yet another embodiment. In this embodiment, a glass fiber filter 8 is arranged on both sides of the pipe 1 as a filter to be installed inside the pipe 1, and a silicon carbide filter 2, an Al
A layered filter 7 manufactured by Z○3 is used. This filtration device is capable of more precise filtration.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show further different embodiments. In this embodiment, a filter 11 made of a conductive material is placed inside a donut-shaped tube 10 and surrounds the tube 10.
An induction heating means 14 consisting of an iron core 12 and a coil 13 is provided; the fluid to be filtered is filtered from the outer periphery of the donut-shaped tube 11 through the filter 11 radially inward; taken from. On the other hand, a ring-shaped induced current is generated inside the filter 11, heating the entire filter.

This structure allows a large amount of current to flow uniformly through the filter 11, thus allowing the filter 11 to be heated uniformly and to a high temperature.

FIG. 11 shows yet another embodiment. In this example.

A filter 2 made of a conductive material is mounted inside a tube 1, and a terminal 18 is directly connected to the filter 2. By connecting the terminal 18 to a power source (not shown), a current flows directly through the filter 2 and the filter 2 is heated.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention has a structure in which at least a portion of a heat-resistant filter is formed of an electrically conductive material, and the filter made of the electrically conductive material can be heated by direct current heating or induction heating. Therefore, filtration can be performed while the filter is heated, which has a large sterilization effect and is extremely effective in producing sterile air. In addition, even when used to produce sterile water at room temperature, filtration should be stopped at appropriate intervals.
By heating the filter to a high temperature, the filter can be sterilized and back contamination can be prevented. Furthermore, by heating the filter to a high temperature, the clogging substances can be incinerated and the filter can be easily regenerated. Since the filter is made of ceramics, metal, etc., it has better corrosion resistance and chemical resistance than conventional organic polymer filters, and can be used for a long period of time.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 4 are front views showing modified examples of the filter 2, and FIG.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing other embodiments. 7 and 8 are sectional views showing still other embodiments, FIG. 9 is a plan view of another embodiment, and FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the other embodiment.
-X arrow sectional view, and FIG. 11 is a sectional view of still another embodiment. 1-Pipe 2.11-Filter made of conductive material 3-・Induction heating coil 4.12-・Iron core 5.13--Coil 6,14--Induction heating means 7.8--Made of non-conductive material Filter 10-Tube Patent Applicant Daiichi Koshuha Kogyo Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Kyo Matsu 3 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 11 Hand vl Fu Seisho (Spontaneous) 1988 February 28, 2016 Manabu Shiga, Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office1, Indication of the case, 1985 Patent Application No. 0109442, Name of the invention, Filtration device with sterilization function3, Person making the amendment Relationship to the case Patent applicant residence Address: 1-13-10 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Name
Daiichi Koshuha Kogyo Co., Ltd. (Representative) Atsushi Hirayama 4, Agent ■116 Drawings (1) Page 6 of the specification, lines 4 to 7, “The above structure-
・---m--- was able to do. ” to be deleted. (2) Correct "commercial frequency" on the 11th line of page 6 to "r high frequency current". (3) On page 9, line 10, "A current flows directly through 2. The filter 2 is heated." is corrected as follows. A current flows directly through the filter 2, heating the filter 2. Example ■ In the filtration apparatus shown in Fig. 1, as the filter 2,
Using a silicon carbide filter with an average pore size of 1 μm, a diameter of 3 cm, and a thickness of 5 mm, the temperature was raised to 180°C, and IJ was generated every minute! /
Pass air through the plate for bacterial culture (peptone 1%, meat extract 1%, NaC 10.5%, agar 2.
Sterility test was performed by spraying with As a result, as shown in the second table, no bacteria were detected even after one week, and sterile air could be obtained continuously. Example ■ A small culture tank 20 with a total volume of 2E as shown in FIG. Made of silicon carbide with an average pore diameter of 1 μm, of the type shown in FIG. A filter 21 with a diameter of 5 cm and a thickness of 101 m was attached, and a sweetened broth medium 22 (glucose 1%, peptone 1%
. After adding 1 m2 of meat extract (1%, NaC 10.5%) and completely sterilizing the whole thing at 120°C for 30 minutes,
Air was sent into the culture tank 20 through the filter 21 at a rate of 8β/min, and the state of the culture medium in the culture tank kept at 30° C. was observed. During this period, the filter 21 is
Microorganisms trapped in the filter were sterilized by induction heating at 600°C for 10 minutes. If the filter is incomplete and even one bacteria in the air is sent into the tank. The bacteria should begin to grow in the medium and the medium should become cloudy, but as shown in the first table, no cloudiness was observed for two weeks, indicating that completely sterile air was being obtained through the filter. Proven. (4) "It is a top view." on page 10, line 14 of the same page is corrected as follows. "The plan view, FIG. 12, is a schematic diagram of a test device for confirming the sterilizing effect of the filtration device of the present invention." (5) Add the attached FIG. 12.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A filtration device having a sterilizing function, comprising: a filter made of a heat-resistant material, including at least a filter made of a conductive material; and an energization heating means or an induction heating means for the filter made of the conductive material.