JPS62125804A - Simple liquid purifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the titled device which is never contaminated with bacteria and appropriately used as the container of the cleaning liq. or the keeping liq. of a contact lens by using a vessel consisting of an elastic material which can be squeezed and can be restored to the original from when the squeezing pressure is released and a hollow yarn having a hydrophilic part and a hydrophobic part. CONSTITUTION:A cap 20 having a convergent cylindrical liq. discharge part 22 at the central part is mounted on the mounting part 16 of the upper opening part 12 of the main bottomed cylindrical vessel body 10 formed with an elastic member of polypropylene, etc. Porous hollow yarns 28 having a hydrophobic part 36 and a hydrophilic part 38 are bundles in the from of a loop, the end parts are fixed with an adhesive to form a hollow yarn holding part 30, and the bundle is fitted into the cap 18. The vessel is inclined or collapsed the barrel part of the main body 10 is squeezed by the fingers, etc., hence an aq. liq. 14 is permeated through the hydrophilic part of the hollow yarn 28 and discharged to the outside from the discharge part 22, and bacteria, if present in the liq. 14, are removed. When the main body 10 is restored to the original form, air flows in through the hydrophobic part 36, and the bacteria in the air do not intrude into the main body.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Technical Field) The present invention relates to a device that can easily obtain sterile liquid in the fields of medicine, biochemistry, bacteriology, etc., and in particular, it relates to a device that can easily obtain a sterile liquid in the fields of medicine, biochemistry, bacteriology, etc. The present invention relates to a simple liquid purification device that can be advantageously used for supplying dissolved water of enzyme detergents, supplying dissolved water of enzyme detergents, and storing them.

(Prior art and its problems) Conventionally, medical and health care liquids, such as contact lens cleaning solutions and storage solutions, have been provided to users in solution form in a predetermined container, or In many cases, purified water is purchased and granulated or tablet-like drugs are dissolved in it to prepare the desired solution.

However, in the former case, there is no problem when opening and using a new container, but since such a container contains a large amount of solution, it may be left unsealed for a long time. There is an inherent problem in that solutions held in such opened containers are susceptible to contamination by bacteria entering through the opening of the container, which may be used over a period of time. Furthermore, in the latter case, purified water is not sterile, which poses the problem that bacteria may proliferate during storage of the solution, resulting in a dangerous situation. In addition, instead of such purified water, tap water that is readily available may be used for cleaning, but in this case, in addition to the problem of bacterial contamination mentioned above, contact lenses are contaminated with colloids such as iron and manganese and fine particles. ,
Occurrence of scratches is also a problem.

For this reason, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-150514 proposes a hand-held liquid "filtration and dispensing device" for cleaning contact lenses. The structure is complicated because the filtration medium and the housing containing the flat membrane-like hydrophilic filtration medium are attached as separate parts.
Furthermore, since a flat membrane filtration medium is used, a large filtration area is required, which inevitably results in a large housing. In particular, if a filtration medium capable of removing bacteria is installed as a hydrophilic filtration medium in such a housing, an extremely large filtration area is required, and therefore, it is impossible to obtain a filtration area as large as necessary in practice. Therefore, in order to ensure good water permeability, the pore size of the filtration medium must be increased, and in practice this only removes particles such as dirt, making it difficult to sterilize the solution.

In addition, as a precision filtration element applied to the medical field, drinking water purification field, etc., Japanese Utility Model Application No. 58-40202 discloses
A hollow fiber filter is housed in a bag-like housing, and the housing is made of a soft or elastic polymer material. A horizontal LF system has been revealed that removes fine particles adhering to the filter material inside the filter, prevents clogging of the filter material during the filtration process, and restores the flow rate. However, when used as a simple purifier with a sealed plug instead of passing water through it, air cannot flow into the housing, so the deformation of the housing will not recover even after the squeezing pressure is removed. This is difficult and therefore makes it unsuitable for daily continuous use, although it is possible for emergency use.

(Solution Means) Here, the present invention has been made against the background of the above-mentioned circumstances, and provides a liquid solution that completely solves the problem of bacterial contamination without requiring the adoption of an expensive or complicated structure. The object of the present invention is to provide a device that can be easily, inexpensively, and advantageously implemented, particularly as a container for contact lens cleaning solution or storage solution.

In order to achieve this object, the liquid purification device according to the present invention is characterized by having a purified liquid outlet, being able to be compressed, and being able to return to its original shape when released from the confining pressure. It has a container made of an elastic material and a porous hollow fiber bundle housed in the container, the hollow fiber bundle being partially or entirely composed of hollow fibers sharing a hydrophilic part and a hydrophobic part, The structure is such that only one of the outer surface and the inner surface of the hollow fiber bundle faces the space communicating with the purifying liquid outlet.

(Specific Description/Examples of Configuration) Hereinafter, in order to further clarify the configuration of the present invention, a detailed explanation will be given with reference to drawings showing examples according to the present invention.

First, in FIG. 1, 10 is a pot-shaped container main body, the upper part of which is provided with an opening 12 of a predetermined size.
A predetermined aqueous liquid 14 is accommodated in the container body 10 through this opening 12. and,
The container body 10 is made of an elastic member that can be compressed with fingers or the like and can easily return to its original shape when released from such clamping pressure, and -a is made of a suitable resin material such as polypropylene. , polyethylene, polycarbonate
- It is formed using various polymeric materials having elasticity such as polyvinyl chloride. The shape of the container main body 10 can be arbitrarily determined depending on the application, but -i is a pot-shaped container, a dish-shaped container, etc., whose lower part has a cylindrical shape. .

A cap 18, which is a resin molded product, is attached to the cylindrical attachment part 16 forming the upper opening 12 of the container main body IO in a structure such as screwing or fitting, and closing the opening 12. are doing. More specifically, the second
As shown in the figure, the cap 18 has an outwardly projecting tapered cylindrical liquid outlet 20 in its central portion, and at the tip of the liquid outlet 20 is preferably a predetermined size. is provided with an outlet 22 having an inner diameter of 3 mist 1 or less, while the presence of a ring-shaped liquid leakage prevention piece 24 integrally formed inside the cap 18 allows the cap 18 to prevent the inside of the container body 10 from leaking. When attached to the mounting portion 16, the mounting portion 16 can be held liquid-tight.

Further, a hollow fiber module 26 is attached to the inside of the cap 18 in a state where it is fitted into the inner circumferential portion of the liquid leakage prevention piece 24, and is configured integrally with the cap 18. This hollow fiber module 26 is made by bundling a large number of hollow fibers 28 into a loop shape (U-shape) and bonding and fixing the ends with a suitable adhesive such as polyurethane resin to form a hollow fiber holding section 30. In this holding part 30, it is fitted onto the liquid leakage prevention piece 24 of the cap 18 and is fixedly or detachably attached. Note that, as shown in FIG. 3, both ends of each hollow fiber 28 are connected to the liquid passage 3 inside the cap 18.
The hollow fiber openings 34 are opened to the hollow fibers 2, and the holding portion 30 maintains the space between the hollow fiber openings 34 of each hollow fiber and the liquid leakage prevention piece 24 in a liquid-tight and airtight manner. It is now possible to do so.

By the way, each of the many porous hollow fibers 28 constituting the hollow fiber module 26 is constituted by a hollow fiber in which a hydrophobic portion 36 and a hydrophilic portion 38 coexist, as shown in FIG. ing. Such a hollow fiber 28 has a pore size in its hydrophilic portion 38 that allows the aqueous liquid 14 contained in the container body 10 to pass through but does not allow bacteria to pass through. It is necessary to have a membrane pore size as large as possible and low filtration resistance. The membrane pore size that allows removal of this bacterium is Pseudomonas deminuta ATCC.
It is desirable to have something that can prevent 19146, and usually 0
．． A suitable material is one that blocks standard particles of 2 to 0.3 μm.

In addition, since bacteria in the air exist in a state bound to fine particles, they are larger than bacteria that exist in aqueous liquids, and their diameter is usually about 0.45 μm at the minimum. If the hydrophobic portion 36 of the hollow fiber is also provided with pores having the above-mentioned pore diameter, the intrusion of bacteria from the outside into the container can be effectively prevented even in the hydrophobic portion 36 of the hollow fiber. It becomes.

In addition, as a method for manufacturing the porous hollow fiber 28 in which the hydrophobic portion 36 and the hydrophilic portion 38 coexist, a known method can be appropriately adopted, but in the present invention, the following method is used. Such a method will be suitably adopted.

That is, it is a method of partially making hydrophobic porous hollow fibers obtained from hydrophobic polymers such as polyolefins, polyesters, and polytetrafluoroethylenes hydrophilic,
A specific example of this is to use an apparatus as shown in FIG. 8, in which a surfactant 50 that is sparingly soluble in water, such as propylene glycol monostearate, is heated and melted. , the melt 50 is transferred to the roller 5
When adhering to the polyolefin porous hollow fiber as a hydrophobic hollow fiber through the roller 52, the notch 5 is attached to the roller 52.
4 to make the contact of the hollow fibers 56 with the roller 52 non-uniform and cause the surfactant to adhere non-uniformly, thereby creating a porous hollow in which the desired hydrophobic portion 36 and hydrophilic portion 38 coexist. A thread 28 will be obtained.

In addition, when obtaining the polyolefin porous hollow fibers as described above, known methods can be appropriately adopted, but in particular, those made porous by a stretching method have slit-like pores. It is preferably used in the present invention because it can inhibit bacteria and have high water permeability at the same time.

However, contrary to the above, polyvinyl alcohol,
By applying a non-uniform hydrophobic treatment to a hydrophilic porous hollow fiber made of polysulfone, cellulose acetate, polyamide, etc., a porous fiber in which the desired hydrophobic portion 36 and hydrophilic portion 38 coexist is created. Hollow fiber 28
Furthermore, in such a coexistence type hollow fiber 28, it is possible to arrange the hydrophobic portions 36 and hydrophilic portions 38 alternately in the fiber length direction as shown in FIG. - As long as such hydrophobic portions and hydrophilic portions coexist in the wooden hollow fibers 28, the hydrophobic portions 36 and the hydrophilic portions 38 are aligned in the fiber length direction. It goes without saying that various forms of coexistence are possible, such as being arranged side by side.

Further, the dimensions of the hollow fibers 28 are not particularly limited, but usually have an inner diameter of 50 to 2000 μm,
It will be translated into 351 within the range of film thickness 10 to 200 μm.

On the other hand, the hollow fibers 2 constituting the hollow fiber module 26
8, the hydrophobic portion 36 and the hydrophilic portion 3 as described above
It is not necessary that the hollow fibers 8 coexist with the hollow fibers 28, and a part of the hollow fibers 28 may be such a coexisting hollow fiber 28. However, if part of the hollow fiber module 26 is constituted by such coexisting hollow fibers 28, it is desirable that all other hollow fibers be constituted by hydrophilic hollow fibers. However, in the case of a hollow fiber whose entire surface is hydrophobic, if the inside of the hollow fiber is filled with an aqueous liquid, even if the inside of the container body 1O is depressurized, the aqueous liquid inside the hollow fiber will not be absorbed by the aqueous liquid. This is because air cannot easily pass through the walls of the hollow fibers, which may make it difficult for air to flow in from the outside through the hydrophobic hollow fibers.

Furthermore, the hollow fiber module 26 has a structure in which the hollow fibers 28 are bundled in a loop shape, and both ends are opened and closed in the liquid passage 32 as hollow fiber openings 3 and 1. However, instead of this, It is also possible to have a structure in which one end of the hollow fiber is sealed and the other end is bonded with an adhesive to form a holding portion and opened to the liquid passage 32. In addition, the hollow fiber module 26
Regarding the mounting structure for the cap 18, in addition to the fitting structure shown on the upper side, a screw structure or the like may be employed, and there is no problem even if the cap 18 is bonded using an adhesive.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5, a perforated cover or skirt 40 may be provided to cover the hollow fiber module 26.
By surrounding the hollow fibers 28, it is possible to prevent damage to the hollow fibers 28 when the cap 18 is attached to and removed from the container body 10, which is an advantageous means in the present invention. In addition,
The predetermined aqueous liquid 14 in the container body 10 passes through the holes 42 of such a cover or scar) 40, and enters the hollow fiber 2.
8.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a chemical liquid inlet 44 is provided as a supply port for the aqueous liquid 14 in addition to the opening 12 to which the cap 18 is attached. It is also possible to have a structure that can be sealed, and in such a simple liquid purification device, the camp 18 can be integrally molded with the container body 10, making it easy to manufacture, and making it possible to Since it is not necessary to remove each hollow fiber module 26 when supplying the solution, the durability of the device can be improved.

By the way, hollow fiber module 2 as explained above
6, when the container body 10 is tilted or overturned, if the body of the container body 10 is squeezed with fingers or the like, the predetermined amount stored in the container body 10 can be released. The aqueous liquid 14 causes the pores in the hollow fiber walls of the hydrophilic portions 38 (and hydrophilic porous hollow fibers) in the coexisting hollow fibers 28 constituting the hollow fiber module 26 to increase due to the increase in pressure within the container body 10. The liquid is passed through the hollow fiber opening 34 at the end thereof into the liquid passage 32, and then flows out from the outlet 22 of the cap 18 (J).
release). At that time, the 11 holes in the wood-friendly wall of the hollow fiber 28 are filled with the aqueous liquid 14.
Since the bacteria inside can be removed, even if bacteria are present in the aqueous liquid 14 inside the container body 10,
Effectively separated, the outlet 22 of the cap 18
The aqueous liquid released from the container is free of bacteria and can therefore be supplied as a clean liquid.

Furthermore, after the aqueous liquid 14 in the container body 10 is discharged from the outlet 22 of the camp 18, when the pressure on the body of the container body 10 is released, the container body 10 is restored to its original shape. The pressure inside the container is reduced, and the container (main body 10)
is in a deformed state, but such deformation means that the outlet 2
2 and through the liquid passageway 32, the hollow fiber module 26
The hydrophobic portion 36 in the coexisting hollow fiber 28 constituting the
The air that escapes through the holes in the hollow fiber wall of the container body 10
This causes the inside of the container to return to atmospheric pressure and restore the container (main body 10) to its original shape.

In this case, if the membrane pores of the hydrophobic wall of the hollow fiber 28 are designed to remove bacteria from the air, the air supplied into the container body 10 may contain bacteria. Instead, it can be supplied as clean air.

In this way, after the container body 10 is compressed,
By allowing air to flow in and returning the container body 10 to its original shape, clean liquid can be easily and conveniently supplied. However, with the container body 10 still in its deformed state, it takes a lot of effort to squeeze the container body 10 with your fingers or the like to force the liquid to flow out of the container in order to supply more purified liquid. This is because it is necessary and impractical.

Further, the simple liquid purification device according to the present invention can also be formed as a structure as shown in FIG.

That is, in such a simple liquid purification device, the elongated liquid outlet portion 20 and the liquid guide portion 47 pass through the cap 18.
A conduction pipe 48 is airtightly attached to the camp 18, and a hollow fiber module 26 is provided so as to partition an internal passage located at a portion of the camp 18. Liquid passage 3 of 22 outflow parts
2, the liquid guide part 47 side is the hollow fiber module 26
On the other hand, the lower end of the liquid guide portion 47 is opened into a predetermined aqueous liquid 14 near the inner bottom surface of the container body 10.

When using a simple liquid purification device having such a structure, there is no need to tilt or overturn the container body 10, and the container body 10 can be used as it is.
When the body of the container body 10 is squeezed with fingers or the like, the predetermined aqueous liquid 14 contained in the container body 10 is caused to rise in the conduction pipe 48 due to the increase in pressure in the container body 10, and the hollow fiber It is discharged from the outlet 22 via the module 26, and its usability can be further improved.

Although various configurations of the present invention have been described above based on several embodiments according to the present invention, the present invention is not limited only to such illustrative embodiments and furthermore to the specific explanations accompanying them. It goes without saying that the present invention is not to be construed as such, and that various changes, modifications, improvements, etc. may be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, in order to prevent the outflow port 22 portion of the cap 18 from being contaminated by bacteria etc., it is effective to provide a cover cap that covers at least the outflow port 22 portion of the camp 18 in order to enhance the effects of the present invention. It is.

In addition, in the case of mounting the hollow fiber module 26 inside the cap 18, in addition to the structure in which the liquid leakage prevention piece 24 is fitted inside the cap 18 as shown above, a suitable hollow fiber module holding member is separately installed. It is also possible to provide the hollow fiber module 28 inside the cap 18 or to directly fix the hollow fiber module 28 to the inner surface of the cap 18.

(Effects) In the liquid purification device configured as above,
It can bring about various excellent effects such as the following.

a) It is possible to obtain a liquid that completely solves the problem of bacterial contamination with a cheap and simple structure without requiring an expensive or complicated device, especially as a container for contact lens cleaning or storage solution. By using it as
It is possible to completely solve the conventional problem of bacterial contamination without adding expensive equipment.

b) The hydrophilic part of the hollow fiber through which the aqueous liquid in the container passes has a pore size that allows for sterilization, so the sterile liquid can be easily sterilized by just applying light pressure with fingers, etc. is obtained.

C) If the hydrophobic portion of the hollow fiber through which air is allowed to pass is configured to have a pore size that allows sterilization, contamination of the liquid in the container by small seedlings, etc. can be effectively prevented, and the liquid can be This allows for long-term storage.

d) Since some or all of the hollow fibers constituting the hollow fiber module integrally provided in the cap are hollow fibers in which a hydrophilic portion and a hydrophobic portion coexist, it is assumed that Even when the hollow fiber is filled with liquid, the liquid can easily escape from the inside of the hollow fiber in the hydrophilic part by pressurization or depressurization, and air can enter and exit in the hydrophobic part.

Therefore, after applying pressure to the container to cause a desired amount of liquid to flow out, air from the outside flows in through the hydrophobic portion, allowing the container to easily return to its original shape. Yes, it can be used continuously.

c)? Since hollow fibers that have these functions are used as the F1 body and air filtration media, a larger filtration area can be easily obtained compared to flat membrane filtration media, and the air inflow area is Since there is no need to provide a separate filtration medium, the member equipped with such a filtration medium can be made extremely compact, and the force for pressing the container does not require a relatively large hole, making it easy to remove liquid. filtration,
That is, not only can purification be carried out, but also the restoration of the 2 g volume can be carried out quickly.

r) The hollow fiber module can be installed inside the container so that it communicates with the liquid outlet of the camp, so there is no need to provide a filtration housing outside the container, making it a very compact and simple liquid purification device. It can be done.

g) The hollow fiber module can be manufactured by bundling hollow fibers and bonding the ends with adhesive, and the hollow fibers can be used not only as liquid passages but also as air passages. Since the structure of the hollow fiber module is very simple, the desired purification device can be manufactured easily and economically.

h) If the hollow fiber module has a structure in which the hollow fiber module is attached directly or indirectly to the inside of the cap, the hollow fiber module can be easily removed together with the cap. Once the aqueous liquid is used up, it can be easily attached to the opening of another container body filled with a predetermined aqueous liquid.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory longitudinal cross-sectional view showing an example of a simple liquid purification device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory cross-sectional view taken along the and
FIG. 4 is an enlarged explanatory view showing the hollow fiber used in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2 showing another example of the present invention. , FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view corresponding to FIG. 1 showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view corresponding to FIG. 1 showing still another embodiment of the present invention. Moreover, FIG. 8 is a structural explanatory diagram of an apparatus suitably used in manufacturing the hollow fibers used in this example. 10: Container body 12: Opening 14: Aqueous liquid 16; Attachment 18: Cap 20
:Liquid outflow part 22:Outflow port 24:Liquid leak prevention piece 26:Hollow fiber module 28:Hollow fiber 30:Holding part 32:Liquid passage 34:Hollow fiber opening
36 Bi-hydrophobic portion 38 Bi-hydrophilic portion Applicant Tomey Sangyo Co., Ltd. Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd. Figure 4 Figure 6 Figure 2 F Figure 8

Claims (1)

[Claims] A container made of an elastic material having a purified liquid outlet, capable of being compressed, and capable of returning to its original shape when released from the compressing pressure, and a porous hollow fiber bundle housed within the container; The hollow fiber bundle is partially or entirely composed of hollow fibers that share a hydrophilic part and a hydrophobic part, and only one of the outer surface and the inner surface of the hollow fiber bundle faces a space communicating with the purified liquid outlet. Simple liquid purification device.