KR200439554Y1 - Top driving agitator for culture medium using magnetic coupling - Google Patents

Abstract

The upper drive stirrer for the incubator of the present invention comprises an upper plate and a lower plate and a culture tank therebetween, the bearing housing of the upper drive stirrer is installed on the upper plate of the incubator, and the ball bearing is provided inside the bearing housing. Agitator shafts with impellers for agitation are supported by the ball bearings. The upper end of the stirrer shaft is equipped with a disk of the stirrer shaft and a magnet is provided inside the disk. The disk is installed inside the disk with circular magnets crossing each other with magnetic poles. The motor shaft disk is located at a position facing the disk of the stirrer shaft with the partition wall interposed therebetween. The motor shaft disk is provided with a circular magnet intersecting the magnetic poles inside each other. The partition has a cap shape and has a shape for accommodating a disk of the stirrer shaft therein.

Magnetic Coupling, Disc, Stirrer, Stirrer Shaft, Bulkhead, Motor Adapter

Description

TOP DRIVING AGITATOR FOR CULTURE MEDIUM USING MAGNETIC COUPLING}

1 is a perspective view of an incubator having an upper drive stirrer according to the present invention,

Figure 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the upper drive stirrer for incubator according to the present invention,

3 is an exploded view of the disk of the magnetic coupling,

4 is a cross-sectional view of the motor with a disk of the configuration of FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view of the agitator shaft provided with a bearing housing and a disk of the configuration of FIG.

6 is a perspective view of the motor adapter and the partition wall in the configuration of FIG.

7 is a conventional stirrer of the incubator.

100: upper drive stirrer

1: upper plate 2: culture tank

3: lower plate 4: motor

5: motor shaft 6: disk of the motor shaft

6a: Magnet 7: Motor Connection

8 disc of agitator shaft 9 agitator shaft

10: bulkhead 11: space cylinder

12 ball bearing 13 bearing housing

14 annular seal member 15 O-ring groove

16: O-ring 20: motor adapter

30: Bearing of conventional stirrer shaft

The present invention relates to a stirrer used in a cell incubator, and specifically, in a cell incubator for cultivation of microorganisms, plant cells or animal cells, which is used to evenly supply a culture medium which is a respiratory gas such as air and nutrients to air. It relates to an agitator.

The stirrer is composed of a rotating spindle and an impeller (rotary blade) attached to the main shaft, and can adjust the stirring method of the culture solution in the cell incubator according to the number and shape of the impeller. In order to cultivate the desired cells, first, the culture medium is filled into the cell culture tank, and then the whole culture tank is put in a steam sterilizer and heated to a temperature of 121 ° C. to sterilize heterologous cells, microorganisms, or viruses that may be in the culture tank and the culture medium. Take out the steam sterilized culture tank and place it in the temperature control device to adjust the culture solution to the temperature suitable for the growth condition of the cell, and stir the culture solution while supplying the respiratory gas such as air through the sparger. do. At this point, if the cells to be cultured are injected into the culture tank by means of injection or the like, the culture conditions and proliferation of the cells proceed if the culture conditions are maintained. Culture of cells is generally carried out by subculture, and passage 1 takes hours (about 8 hours) for microorganisms and days (about 15 days) for animal cells. B. If microorganisms and viruses penetrate into the culture tank and proliferate, the culture process is contaminated and the purity of the culture material cannot be guaranteed.

In the cell culture process, the causes of contamination are very diverse, but in most cases, the maintenance of the sealed state of the cell culture tank is the most important factor because it is caused by the contamination introduced from the outside. In many culture tanks, sparger and stirrer have a weak disadvantage in sealing. In case of sparger, microorganisms can be introduced while supplying external gas, so the perfection of the filter becomes important. To prevent the introduction of microorganisms. In the case of the stirrer, a seal member or the like is used to seal, but there is a fundamental vulnerability in maintaining the sealability for a long time. Therefore, it performs well in the short-term culture process such as microorganisms, but it is difficult to maintain reliability when a long-term culture process such as animal cells is required.

In order to completely isolate the inside and the outside of the culture tank while rotating the stirrer by receiving the rotational force of the motor applied from the outside, a power transmission method using magnetic force is generally employed. To this end, the existing magnetic coupling generally installs a driving motor and a magnetic coupling in the lower part of the culture tank, so that the bearing supporting structure of the stirring shaft is in the form of a conical sliding bearing, and the support structure of the bearing has to be weak. . The shape of the conventional magnetic coupling is shown in FIG. 7, in which the conical sliding bearing 30 is formed integrally with the lower portion of the upper magnetic coupling. In such a magnetic coupling structure, friction, noise, heat generation, and the like may occur, and in particular, high speed operation may cause outage, and thus, the stirring speed may be limited.

The present invention is to solve the problems of the stirrer used in the conventional cell culture, as described above, to provide a stirrer that can operate reliably even when performing a short-term as well as a long-term culture process. In other words, the sealing state of the incubator is reliably maintained during the incubation period, to prevent contamination from an external pollutant source, and at the same time to manufacture a stirrer which can rotate in a more stable state without friction or noise even at a high speed rotation. will be.

2 to 6, the upper drive stirrer for the incubator of the present invention, the incubator consisting of the upper plate 1 and the lower plate 3 and the culture tank 2 therebetween, the upper plate (1) of the incubator The bearing housing 13 of the upper drive stirrer is installed, the ball bearing 12 is provided inside the bearing housing 13, and the stirrer shaft having an impeller for stirring is supported by the ball bearing 12. The upper end of the stirrer shaft 9 is equipped with a disk 8 of the stirrer shaft 9 and a magnet 8a is provided inside the disk. The disk is installed inside the disk with circular magnets crossing each other with magnetic poles. In the position facing the disk 8 of the stirrer shaft 9, the motor 4 shaft disk 6 is positioned with the partition 10 interposed therebetween. The motor shaft disk 6 is provided inside the disk 6 with a circular magnet 6a intersecting magnetic poles with each other. The partition 10 has a cap shape and has a shape for accommodating the disk 8 of the stirrer shaft therein.

The top drive stirrer of the present invention is also connected to each other by the motor adapter 20 of the hollow cylindrical shape of the motor 4 and the bearing housing 13. The motor is provided with a connecting portion 7 such as a screw thread, which is connected to the motor adapter 7, and the motor adapter 7 is connected to the bearing housing 13. When the motor adapter 7 is fastened, the partition 10 accommodating the disc 6 of the motor shaft and the disc 8 of the agitator shaft is positioned inside the hollow motor adapter 20. When the agitator of the present invention is installed, the motor (4) and the motor adapter (7) during the washing or sterilization of the incubator has a structure that can be easily separated to the upper side of the culture tank, so that the disassembly and assembly for washing and the like are easy. Is done.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the ball bearing 12 is made of two or more, the spacer cylinder 11 is mounted between the two or more ball bearings 12 so that the ball bearings maintain a constant distance It may be configured. In addition, an O-ring 16 may be provided between the cap-shaped partition 10 and the bearing housing 13 to maintain the seal, and the lower portion of the ball bearing 12 may surround the stirrer shaft 9 and annular around it. Seal member 14 may be provided to maintain the seal.

The present invention adopts a magnetic coupling that uses magnetic force to efficiently transfer the driving force generated from the motor to the stirrer shaft while stirring occurs in a state in which the inside and the outside of the incubator are separated. Specifically, as shown in FIG. Four circular magnets are provided with a disk installed across the magnetic poles, and the magnetic and cover plates are impregnated and bonded using waterproof epoxy or silicone. The two disks thus configured are installed at the upper end of the stirrer shaft 9 and are also installed at the shaft end of the motor 4 to form magnetic couplings facing each other. The two disks of the magnetic coupling in the present invention are installed facing each other in a state where they are separated inside and outside the culture tank by the cap-shaped partition 10. An O-ring 16 may be provided between the partition wall and the bearing housing for sealing the partition wall, and the partition wall 10 is coupled to the bearing housing using screws (not shown).

In addition, the agitator shaft is supported up and down by the deep groove ball bearings 12 made of two stainless steels, and the two ball bearings 12 are spaced by the space cylinder 11. In order to prevent the inflow of moisture and foreign matter into the bearing, an annular seal member 14 having a round ring shape is provided under the stirrer shaft 9. In addition, an O-ring may be installed between the bearing housing 13 and the culture tank to increase the sealing property.

In the case of sterilizing the culture tank equipped with such agitator, sterilization is performed with only the bearing housing and the partition wall installed at the upper portion of the culture tank while the motor 4 and the motor adapter 20 are removed. Install the motor adapter in the bearing housing and start the stirrer.

When the incubation process is performed using the incubator upper drive stirrer according to the present invention, since agitation occurs in a completely separated state from the inside and outside of the incubator, the sealing state of the incubator can be reliably maintained during incubation, thereby preventing contamination from the outside. It can effectively block the, and even if the stirrer shaft rotates at a high speed has the advantageous effect of maintaining a more stable state. In addition, the motor and the motor adapter of the incubator has a structure that can be easily disassembled upwards and becomes effective during sterilization and washing operations.

Claims (4)

delete In the upper drive type stirrer provided in the cell incubator consisting of the upper plate 1, the lower plate 3 and the culture tank 2, A bearing housing 13 installed on the upper plate 1 of the culture tank 2; A ball bearing 12 provided inside the bearing housing 13; A disk 8 of the agitator shaft mounted on one end of the agitator shaft 9 supported by the ball bearing 12 and provided with a magnet 8a therein; A cap-shaped partition wall 10 accommodating the disk 8 of the agitator shaft therein and mounted to the bearing housing 13; And A disk 6 of the motor shaft facing the disk 8 of the stirrer shaft with the partition 10 therebetween, and having a magnet 6a disposed therein and mounted to one end of the motor shaft 5; and, When sterilizing and washing the cell incubator, the motor 4 and the bearing housing 13 are hollow cylindrical motor adapters 20 so that the motor 4 and the motor adapter 20 can be disassembled in one direction. And a disk (6) and the partition wall (10) of the motor shaft are accommodated inside the hollow motor adapter (20). The method of claim 2, The ball bearings 12 are two bearings made of stainless steel, and the two ball bearings 12 are maintained at regular intervals by a spacer cylinder 11. The method of claim 2, An O-ring 16 is provided between the cap-shaped partition wall 10 and the bearing housing 13, and an annular seal member 14 around the stirrer shaft 9 is disposed below the ball bearing 12. Top drive type stirrer of the cell incubator, characterized in that is provided.

Images