JPS6324903Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a freezing device for fertilized eggs, sperm, etc.

(Conventional technology) In recent years, artificial insemination has become popular in order to improve the breeding and propagation of livestock.
Sperm is stored by freezing.

Conventionally, the method of freezing fertilized eggs, sperm, etc. described above involves freezing fertilized eggs, sperm, etc. in a buffer solution that is already stored in a storage tube.
It is known to add sperm and freeze this buffer.

By the way, the temperature change over time when a pure substance is cooled below a certain pressure is generally known as a cooling curve, and according to this, solidification does not necessarily begin immediately when the substance reaches its freezing point. Generally, after being supercooled to a temperature lower than the freezing point, solidification begins, and at the same time the temperature rises to reach the true freezing point, and then the temperature decreases again after all the substances have solidified. I'm going to go there.

Therefore, when using the above-mentioned conventional freezing method, which involves simply cooling, the buffer solution becomes supercooled during the freezing process, which then causes a rapid temperature rise, resulting in the thermal shock caused by this sudden temperature change. This has a serious defect in that the fertilized eggs and sperm die.

Therefore, the applicant has already submitted Utility Model Publication No. 58-31537,
As described in JP-A No. 58-86374 and JP-A No. 60-56, it is a practical freezing method that allows objects to be frozen, such as fertilized eggs and sperm, to be frozen at a high survival rate without supercooling, and is also compatible with automatic control. We are proposing a device.

All of these devices are based on the technology described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-34135, which proposes a freezing method, in which the non-storage section is cooled with the desired refrigerant before the storage section of the frozen object. The purpose of this method is to plant ice, grow ice crystals from it, and finally safely freeze the frozen object without causing supercooling.

However, these devices also have the following problems.

In the case disclosed in Utility Model Publication No. 58-31537, by penetrating and supporting the storage pipe on a float floating on the surface of the liquid refrigerant, the surface of the cooling liquid and the part of the storage pipe where frozen objects are not stored are buffered. Improvements have been made to ensure ice planting in non-storage areas by keeping the distance from the upper liquid level constant regardless of fluctuations in the refrigerant liquid level, but the equipment is rather complicated. In addition, if an air plug or cotton plug is installed in the storage pipe to prevent frozen objects from moving to the non-storage area, which is the ice planting area, The position must be limited to ensure that the object to be frozen is in the refrigerant, which imposes restrictions on the structure of the storage pipe.

Furthermore, in the case of the device disclosed in JP-A No. 58-86374, the storage pipe is erected on a pipe stand in the liquid refrigerant, and the non-storage part is exposed to the refrigerant gas phase by an appropriate length. The upper end of the block is fitted with a heat transfer block that can be cooled by storing a liquefied gas cold source such as LN ₂ , and the ice is planted from the tip. Although it is simpler than the previous example, the problem of limiting the position of the air plug and cotton plug, as well as the position of the object to be frozen, remains unsolved.

Furthermore, the device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-56 has a lower heat transfer block for planting ice, which has a hole or circumferential groove that fits with the storage pipe in the lower part of the device, and a lower heat transfer block for planting ice in the upper part. The ice is planted in the lower heat transfer block and frozen in the upper heat transfer block, and can be operated using only liquefied gas such as _LN2 without using liquid refrigerant, greatly improving operability. Although this method has been improved, it still has the disadvantage of limiting the position of the object to be frozen, the air plug, and the cotton plug.

Furthermore, as a problem common to the above three conventional examples, in addition to the limited position of the frozen object in the storage tube, all of these devices are set with the storage tube upright, Depending on the specific gravity of the frozen object, it may float or sink, so the object to be frozen may move after being set, making it impossible to hold it in the optimal position, or causing it to get stuck inside the cotton plug. The inconvenience of
Further, there are other problems such as difficulty in confirming the position of the object to be frozen after the storage tube is set.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and includes a partition for the storage pipe inside the insulating box, a freezing plate having rising ribs that also serves as heat transfer fins, and a refrigerant. The ice-planting block to be cooled and the partition plate are installed horizontally, and the storage pipe is placed horizontally on top of these to plant and freeze the ice. The purpose is to make it possible to enhance it.

(Means for solving the problem) That is, the present invention has a plurality of pieces made of a material with good thermal conductivity, which are placed approximately in the middle of the insulating box and whose upper surface functions as a storage pipe partition and a heat transfer fin. The freezing plate having rising ribs, the ice-planting block, and the partition plate are on the same plane so that the storage tube can be placed on top of these in a horizontal state, and the ice-planting block is connected to the freezing plate and the partition plate. The space inside the insulated box is divided into an upper and lower storage pipe mounting chamber and a cooling chamber, and a refrigerant is flowed into the ice-planting block. The above-mentioned problems were solved by embedding a cooling pipe for cooling the cooling chamber, and by providing a cooling means in the cooling chamber.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail based on the drawings. As shown in FIGS. Approximately in the middle of the space, a freezing plate 3 made of a material with high thermal conductivity such as aluminum or copper alloy, an ice-planting block 4, and a partition plate 5 are arranged horizontally on the same plane and arranged horizontally in number. They are removably fixed to the mounting plate 7 with screws 6 at intervals of mm, and the overall insulation space is the storage pipe mounting chamber 8 which is the upper chamber.
The freezing plate 3, ice planting block 4, and partition plate 5 are all covered with a heat insulating cover plate 10, which is a separate member.

On the upper surfaces of the freezing plate 3 and the ice-planting block 4, there are at least rising ribs 3' and 4', which serve as storage pipe partitions and heat transfer fins, having a height at least equal to the diameter of the storage pipe 11. A large number of them are provided on the front surface in the lateral direction at intervals that are equal to or larger than the diameter of the storage tube.

Further, in the thick-walled lower part of the ice-planting block 4, an ice-planting block cooling pipe 12 for flowing a liquefied gas such as LN ₂ is embedded.

Further, in order to partition the ice planting block 4 and the cooling chamber 9, a partition plate 13 is fixed to the mounting plate 7 so as to cover the lower part of the ice planting block 4.

Further, a cooling means 14 is installed inside the cooling chamber 9, and according to the illustrated example, the cooling means 14 is
A spray pipe 15 for spraying liquefied gas and an electric heater 16 for temperature control are connected to a circulation fan 17.
A guide plate 18 is provided near the outlet of the liquefied gas to effectively circulate the liquefied gas, and a guide plate 18 is arranged horizontally in the substantially central part, and an exhaust hole 19 for discharging excess gas is provided with heat insulation. They are provided at appropriate locations on the box body 1.

The above is the configuration of the freezing device according to the present invention,
An example of the control unit 20 will be described below for reference.

The control section 20 includes a control section for the ice-planting block 4 and a control section for the freezing plate 3. The control section for the ice-planting block 4 includes a temperature sensor 21 attached to the ice-planting block 4 and detecting its temperature. , a temperature measuring device 22, a programmable controller 23, and a solenoid valve 24 attached to the ice block cooling pipe 12, which are electrically connected in sequence.

On the other hand, the control section of the freezing plate 3 includes a temperature sensor 25 attached to the freezing plate 3 and detecting its temperature.
, a temperature measuring device 26, a programmable controller 27, a solenoid valve 28 connected to the spray pipe, and an electric heater 16, which are electrically connected in sequence, but preferably, the solenoid valve 28 and A regulating valve 29 is also provided for regulating the amount of liquefied gas sprayed adjacently.

Next, the operation of the present invention configured as described above will be explained.

First, open the lid 2 and remove the heat insulating cover plate 10, then each rib 3' of the freezing plate 3 and the ice planting block 4,
The storage tube 11 is placed between 3', 4', and 4'.
At this time, the type of storage tube 11 is, for example, P as shown in the figure.
1, P2, if the storage part and non-storage part of the frozen object a are not separated by air plugs, cotton plugs, etc., the frozen object a is of type P in the storage pipe 11.
1, P2, it is sufficient to place it so as to maintain an appropriate distance relative to the ice-planting block 4. Therefore, the storage pipes 11 with different positions of the non-frozen objects a
In the case of the types P1 and P2, they may be placed as shown in the figure.

In addition, if it is separated by an air plug or cotton plug b, such as types P3 and P4, the air plug or cotton plug b
It is only necessary to position the ice-planting block 4 on the freezing plate 3 side from the boundary between the ice-planting block 4 and the freezing plate 3. Therefore, in the case of the types P3 and P4, which have storage pipes 11 with different positions of air plugs or cotton plugs b. may be placed as shown in the figure.

Furthermore, if the storage tube 11 is of a particularly long size such as P5, it can be placed as shown in the figure as long as the lengths of the freezing plate 3 and partition plate 5 allow; The permissible range of the positions of the non-frozen material a, the air plug, and the cotton plug b of No. 11 becomes extremely large.

After placing the desired number of storage tubes 11 in this way, reconfirm the position of the frozen object a, air plug or cotton plug b in each storage tube 11, and then cover with a heat insulating cover plate 10 and cover with a lid. Close body 2.

For operation, first, power is applied to the main valve control section 20 of the liquefied gas container 31 connected to the liquefied gas supply pipe 30 and the fan motor 17'.

As a result, the solenoid valves 24 and 28 are energized and opened, and the ice-planting block cooling pipe 12 and the spray pipe 1 are opened.
The liquefied gas is supplied to ice planting block 4.
is directly cooled by the liquefied gas flowing through the cooling pipe 12, and the liquefied gas is vaporized and passed through the exhaust pipe 1.
It is exhausted from 2'.

On the other hand, in the cooling chamber 9, the liquefied gas sprayed from the spray nozzles 15' installed in the spray pipe 15 becomes a mist or a gas, and is circulated through the cooling chamber 9 by a fan to cool it. The gas is exhausted to the outside through the exhaust hole 19.

Since the lower surface of the freezing plate 3 is in contact with the cooling chamber 9 and is made of a material with good thermal conductivity, the freezing plate 3 is cooled without delay by cooling the cooling chamber 9.

Furthermore, cooling control of the device is performed as follows.

The temperature of the ice-planting block 4 and the freezing plate 3 is controlled by the programmable controllers 23 and 27 by setting the cooling rate, the reached temperature, the holding time, etc., so that the temperature of the ice-planting block 4 and the freezing plate 3 are adjusted as shown in the first time period A in FIG. As shown by the solid line A in the figure, the storage pipe 11...
The temperature of the buffer solution c, which is made of an aqueous solution of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), glucose, glycerin, etc., contained in the solution is lowered until it reaches its freezing point, and the temperature is maintained at that temperature.

At the same time, the temperature of the freezing plate 3 is adjusted by controlling the amount of liquefied gas sprayed into the cooling chamber 9 and by operating the electric heater 16, as shown by the dashed line B in the figure. At the final point in the first time period A, the temperature is controlled to be about 5° C. higher than the freezing point.

Next, in the second time period B, the temperature of the ice-planting block 4, which has been maintained at the freezing point, is lowered to about -35°C, but at this time, the freezing plate 3 continues to lower the temperature as described above, and As in, the planting ice block 4 is -35
The freezing point is controlled when the temperature reaches ℃.

Now, if the temperature of the ice-planting block 4 is controlled to decrease as described above, the temperature of the buffer solution c in the portion of the storage tube 11 that is in contact with the ice-planting block 4 will also decrease as shown in A' in FIG.
During the second time period B, the buffer solution c in the relevant portion partially becomes supercooled, and the crystal nuclei grow toward the frozen object a.

Next, in the third time period C, the storage pipe 11...
Since all of the buffer solution c inside is frozen, the freezing plate 3 and the ice-planting block 4 are controlled to be kept at a constant temperature.

Furthermore, in the fourth time period D and the fifth time period E, only the freezing plate is controlled to be lowered in temperature to the final freezing temperature as shown in the figure. Ice crystals will gradually grow from the frozen portion without supercooling, and the object to be frozen will be safely frozen without supercooling.

Further, the storage pipes 11 are in contact with the freezing plate 3 or the ice-planting block 4, are surrounded by ribs 3', 4', which also serve as heat transfer fins, and are covered with a heat-insulating covering plate 10 at the top. Because of this, it is possible to effectively store the storage tube 11.
Heat exchange takes place with...

In order to promote heat exchange, fins may be provided on the lower surface of the freezing plate 3, and the fan 17 may be a propeller fan instead of a cross fan, and in this case, the guide plate 18 is unnecessary. .

Further, the partition plate 5 may also be provided with ribs, and the heater 16 may be provided with a rib, for example, on the guide plate 1.
It may also be a seat heater installed on top of the seat heater.

(Effects of the invention) As explained above, since the apparatus for freezing fertilized eggs, sperm, etc. according to the invention has been constructed, the freezing plate 3 having the raised ribs 3' and 4' which also serve as heat transfer fins,
A storage pipe 11 is installed on the ice planting block 4 and the partition plate 5...
By placing the storage tube horizontally, even if there are variations in the position of the frozen object a in the storage tube 11, or the position of the air plug or cotton plug b, or the length of the storage tube 11... Safe freezing without overcooling is possible by simply aligning the object to be frozen (a) or the air plug or cotton plug (b) in the appropriate position, and it is highly adaptable to the configuration and length of the storage pipe 11. high,
Furthermore, even if the frozen object a floats or sinks, it will not move after being accommodated in the device, so it can be reliably held in a predetermined position, resulting in high safety.

In addition, due to sedimentation and flotation, the frozen object a may become trapped inside the cotton plug b.
Furthermore, since the storage tubes 11 are arranged on an open plane, it is not only easy to store the storage tubes 11, but also the condition of the storage tubes 11 can be checked before freezing starts. It has many excellent practical effects, such as easy confirmation of the above conditions, and easy handling of the device because it can be operated only with liquefied gas such as LN ₂ without using a liquid refrigerant.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a plan view with the lid open showing one embodiment of the freezing device for fertilized eggs, sperm, etc. according to the present invention;
3 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the lines - and - in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a graph showing the cooling curve of the buffer solution in the same example. 1... Insulation box body, 3... Freezing liquid, 4... Ice planting block, 3', 4'... Standing rib, 5, 13...
...Partition plate, 8...Storage pipe mounting chamber, 9...Cooling room, 10...Heat insulation covering plate, 11...Storage pipe, 12
... Cooling pipe, 14 ... Cooling means, 15 ... Spray pipe, 16 ... Temperature control heater, 17 ... Fan.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) Approximately in the middle of the insulating box body, it is made of a material with good thermal conductivity and has a plurality of rising ribs on the top surface that serve as storage pipe partitions and heat transfer fins. The freezing plate, ice-planting block, and partition plate are on the same plane so that the storage tube can be placed horizontally on top of them, and the ice-planting block has a space between the freezing plate and the partition plate. , by separating them from each other, thereby making the space inside the insulating box into upper and lower storage pipe mounting chambers,
A freezing device for fertilized eggs, sperm, etc., which is defined in a cooling chamber, a cooling pipe for flowing a refrigerant is buried in the ice-planting block, and a cooling means is provided in the cooling chamber. (2) The apparatus for freezing fertilized eggs, sperm, etc. according to claim 1 of the utility model registration claim, wherein the freezing plate, the ice-planting block, and the partition plate are covered with a heat-insulating covering plate. (3) The freezing device for fertilized eggs, sperm, etc. according to claim 1 of the utility model registration claim, wherein the ice-planting block is covered with a partition plate to separate the lower part from the cooling chamber. (4) The cooling means includes a spray pipe that sprays a refrigerant;
A freezing device for fertilized eggs, sperm, etc. as set forth in claim 1 of the Utility Model Registration Claim, which comprises a heater for temperature control, a circulation fan, and a guide plate.