JP3587345B2 - Dispensing device and dispensing method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a dispensing apparatus and a dispensing method for supplying a predetermined medium solution to a large number of containers, and particularly to a medium solution (medium) for an agar medium used for various microbial tests and the like. And a dispensing method for dispensing a predetermined amount.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Generally, for example, microbial tests related to GMP validation (Good Manufacturing Practice Validation), such as sterility test, bacterial count limit test, environmental drop bacteria test, antibiotic titer (efficacy) measurement, body fluid concentration measurement, etc. in the pharmaceutical industry. For example, medium such as agar medium is widely used for microbial tests related to measures for preventing harmful bacteria based on Haspp (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) such as viable cell count test and fungal count test in the food industry. Have been.
Such various microbial tests are roughly classified into a qualitative test and a quantitative test, and an agar medium is always used for the quantitative test.
[0003]
Usually, the medium is injected into a petri dish, and then is provided in a state where the medium is extended into a plate having a uniform thickness. Depending on the test, the medium previously injected into the petri dish may be spread into a flat plate to form a base medium, and then the medium may be further dispensed onto the solidified base medium to form an overlay medium.
When injecting a culture medium into a petri dish, it is needless to say that the injection amount is made accurate, but there are many other severe conditions, and skill such as manual operation is required. Furthermore, in the various tests described above, when the number of samplings is large and there are a plurality of types of culture media, it takes a long time to sample the sample and dispense the culture media. In addition, it is necessary to perform the above-described dispensing operation of the culture medium in a sterile room or the like in order to increase the test accuracy.
[0004]
From such a background, apparatuses for automatically performing sample sampling and medium dispensing work are disclosed in, for example, JP-A-5-153961, JP-A-4-248980, and JP-A-3-49676. It has been disclosed.
As a configuration of such an apparatus, for example, a culture medium container for storing a culture medium liquid, a dispensing nozzle for injecting a culture medium into a petri dish that is a dispensing container, and a culture medium liquid in the culture medium container to the nozzle A medium dispensing device having a configuration including a medium flow path to be guided, a liquid feeding driving unit such as a pump for sequentially feeding the medium liquid in the medium container to the medium flow path, and a control device that controls these operations. Various proposals have been made.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, the dispensing / pouring of the medium as described above is different in processing depending on the type of the test in which the medium is used, and various forms are used. Good supply condition is required.
However, conventionally, when the culture medium liquid is supplied from the culture container to the petri dish by a liquid supply driving means such as a pump, the supply amount and the supply amount are controlled by opening and closing a valve means (for example, an on-off valve) provided in the liquid supply driving means. Supply timing is set. During or at the moment when the supply is stopped, dripping from the dispensing nozzle may occur, and the supply amount may vary, or bubbles may occur in the culture medium during the next dispensing due to the dripping. Also, when the culture medium liquid is discharged from the dispensing nozzle, the discharge of the culture medium is pulsated by the pulsation of the liquid sending drive means, and further, the shape of the culture medium at the tip of the nozzle becomes concave. There is a problem that not only the injection becomes unstable, but also that bubbles are easily generated in the medium. If such bubbles are minute bubbles, they may be mistaken for bacteria during measurement.
[0006]
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid dripping method that generates a variation in the dispensed amount of the medium and bubbles even when the dispensed amount of the medium is small. It is an object of the present invention to provide a dispensing device and a dispensing method which prevent pulsation discharge and enable reliable supply of a culture medium.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The dispensing apparatus according to the present invention includes: a dispensing nozzle that supplies a specific amount of a medium liquid to a predetermined container; a liquid feeding driving unit that sends the medium liquid to the dispensing nozzle; A dispensing path forming a sealed liquid flow path between a pouring nozzle and the liquid sending drive means, and a valve means for opening and closing the liquid flow path to control a supply amount of the culture medium liquid to the container. Wherein the liquid sending drive means generates pulsation at the time of liquid sending, and a throttle having a smaller diameter than the flow path diameter of the other part of the dispensing path in the dispensing path. The feature is that two or more parts are provided, whereby the above object can be achieved.
[0008]
Further, at least a part of the dispensing channel is formed of an elastic material, and the portion made of the elastic material is sandwiched by a pressing means, so that the throttle portion can be formed.
Further, the pressing means may be configured to be able to adjust the aperture diameter of the aperture section.
[0009]
In addition, the dispensing method according to the present invention is characterized in that the liquid sending drive means feeds a culture medium liquid to a predetermined container from a dispensing nozzle by sending a liquid by a liquid sending drive means and opening and closing an opening / closing valve. Is configured to generate a pulsation at the time of liquid feeding, while keeping a dispensing path, which is a liquid flow path from the liquid feeding driving means to the dispensing nozzle, in a sealed state, and in the middle of the dispensing path. The method is characterized in that the medium solution is supplied while forming a narrowed portion for reducing the diameter of the dispensing passage at at least two places, whereby the above object can be achieved.
[0010]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of a dispensing device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a first embodiment of a dispensing device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view in a direction along a liquid flow path in a portion where the holding means shown in FIG. 1 is provided. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line XX in FIG.
[0011]
(First Embodiment)
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the dispensing apparatus 1 according to the present invention has a dispensing nozzle 7 for supplying a specific amount of culture solution (culture medium) to a predetermined container 21 such as a petri dish at the tip. It has a configuration in which the medium liquid 2 stored in the medium container 3 is sent to the dispensing nozzle 7.
[0012]
More specifically, a medium container 3 for storing the medium solution 2 such as an agar medium, stirring means 5 for stirring the medium solution 2 in the medium container 3, and a medium solution 2 in the medium container 3 at a desired temperature. A heating means 6 for adjusting the heating, a nozzle 7 which is moved between a predetermined dispensing position A and a standby position B and injects the culture medium liquid 2 into the dispensing container, and a medium medium 2 in the culture medium container 3 A medium delivery tube 11 as a medium delivery channel serving as a medium passage leading to the nozzle 7, a branch connection three-pronged pipe joint 12 provided in the middle of the medium delivery tube 11, and one end via a three-pronged pipe joint 12. A medium return tube 14 serving as a medium return flow path serving as a medium flow path serving as a medium flow path that is connected to the culture medium delivery tube 11 and has the other end connected to the culture medium container 3 to return the culture medium solution 2 to the culture medium container 3; The amount of the medium return tube 14 on the tube 11 A dispensing pump 15 that is provided upstream of the position C (that is, the position of the three-pronged pipe joint 12) and moves the medium solution in the medium delivery tube 11, and downstream of the branch position C of the medium delivery tube 11. A supplementary heating means 16 for heating and adjusting the medium solution 2 in the medium delivery tube 11 to a desired temperature in the section on the side, and the medium delivery tube 11 provided on the medium delivery tube 11 downstream of the branch position C. A first on-off valve 18 for opening and closing the flow path, a second on-off valve 19 provided on the culture medium return tube 14 downstream of the branch position C to open and close the flow path of the culture medium return tube 14, A container transporting means 23 for loading / unloading a petri dish 21 which is a dispensing container for receiving the dispensing of the culture medium liquid 2 from the dispensing position A through a predetermined route; Aperture section to narrow A pressing means 40 for forming the 0,51 (see Fig. 2), and a.
[0013]
The heating means 6 monitors the temperature of the culture medium container 3 and the like so that the culture medium liquid 2 in the culture medium container 3 has an appropriate temperature, and is heated and controlled by a temperature controller (not shown).
The stirring means 5 includes a medium stirring rotor 5a submerged in the medium container 3, a medium stirring rotor 5b submerged at the inner bottom of the heating tank 6a, and a noncontact magnetic rotor. The agitation intensity is adjusted by simultaneously controlling the rotation of both by means of a means.
Further, in the case of the present embodiment, a silicon tube excellent in elasticity and durability is used for each of the tubes 11 and 14.
[0014]
The dispensing pump 15 has a known structure in which a medium for a medium in a tube is pushed out by a group of rollers rotating so as to crush the tube 11, and controls the rotation amount of a table supporting the group of rollers. The amount of the culture medium discharged is adjusted. In particular, in a channel system requiring sterility, the dispensing pump having such a configuration is effective in preventing contamination of various bacteria.
Each of the on-off valves 18 and 19 is provided with a pair of holding members 25 and 26 so as to be able to advance and retreat in the radial direction of the tube, and closes the flow path by crushing the tube with the pair of holding members 25 and 26. In the figure, the first on-off valve 18 is closed and the second on-off valve 19 is open. The holding members 25 and 26 can be driven by an actuator such as a solenoid.
[0015]
The container transport means 23 transports the petri dish 21 at a predetermined interval and a predetermined speed by using a known traveling means or a moving mechanism. Normally, when the petri dish 21 arrives at the dispensing position A, the transport of the petri dish 21 is temporarily stopped until the dispensing operation is completed, and the dispensed petri dish 21 is rotated while being inclined so that the medium is evenly spread. However, when the transport speed is slow and the dispensing operation can be performed even while the transport is being performed, the petri dish 21 may be dispensed without stopping at the dispensing position A.
On the other hand, aseptic air is constantly replenished in the upper part of the medium container 3 through a disposable filter 27 in which a commercially available membrane filter and a folder are integrated. The disposable filter 27 sterilizes the outside air replenished into the medium container 3 when dispensing the medium, prevents direct contact between the medium solution 2 and the outside air, and always keeps the medium solution 2 in a sterile state. can do.
[0016]
A characteristic configuration in the present embodiment is a configuration in which, as shown in FIG. 2, two narrow portions 50 and 51 having a smaller diameter than the flow path diameter of the other portion of the tube 11 are provided in the tube 11. It is.
The restricting portions 50 and 51 are formed, for example, by the pressing means 40 having an upper plate 45 having an opening 45a and a lower plate 46 having an opening 46a sandwiching the tube 11 constituting the dispensing path. , 46a. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, since the tube 11 serving as a dispensing channel is pushed by the upper plate 45 and the lower plate 46, for example, the cross-sectional shape of the narrowed portions 50 and 51 is usually The maximum diameter d of the circular flow path 11a of about several millimeters has a flat shape that is about a fraction of the maximum diameter d.
[0017]
For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the holding means 40 has a lower plate 46 attached to a fixing plate 30 a of the holder set table 30, and an upper plate 45 is connected to the lower plate 46 via a hinge 43. It is mounted so that it can swing freely. A locking pin 47 having a flange 48 is swingably attached to one end of the lower plate 46, while a concave portion 49 for receiving the locking pin 47 is formed at one end of the upper plate 45. ing.
Therefore, as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 4, the upper plate 45 is closed (in the direction of arrow D) with the tube 11 positioned on the lower plate 46, and then the locking pin 47 is engaged with the concave portion 49. By rotating (in the direction of arrow E) such that the tube 11 is sandwiched, the throttle portions 50 and 51 (see FIG. 2) can be formed.
[0018]
When the flange 48 of the locking pin 47 is configured to be movable in the axial direction of the locking pin (movable by screwing or the like), the interval between the upper and lower plates 45 and 46 can be adjusted. Furthermore, as a preferable structure for adjusting the interval between the upper and lower plates 45 and 46, the upper plate 45 is moved in the closing direction (the direction of arrow D in the drawing) by a biasing means (a torsion spring or the like provided on a hinge portion) not shown. The structure is biased.
[0019]
The dispensing nozzle 7 is fixed, for example, to the upper end side of the holder set table 30 via a nozzle holder 7a. A container conveying means 23 is arranged near the dispensing nozzle 7, and the petri dish 21 is continuously conveyed by the container conveying means 23.
The holder set table 30 is configured to be able to move back and forth by a drive cylinder (not shown).
[0020]
Next, description will be made with reference to the operation of the dispensing device 1 of the present embodiment.
When dispensing by the above-described dispensing apparatus 1, the petri dish 21 supplied from a container supply unit (not shown) such as a petri dish is moved to a predetermined position (the area where the dispensing nozzle is arranged) by the container conveying means 23. Transport to
[0021]
After the petri dish 21 conveyed to a predetermined position is removed from the petri dish 21 by a lid holding mechanism (not shown), a predetermined amount (approximately 5 cc) of the medium liquid containing viable bacteria is supplied to the medium dispensing nozzle. Dispensed from 7.
At the time of this dispensing, the second on-off valve 19 is closed, and the first on-off valve 18 is opened and closed, so that the medium liquid 2 is supplied in a predetermined amount. As described above, when the culture medium 2 is supplied from the dispensing nozzle 7 to the predetermined petri dish 21, the tube 11, which is the liquid flow path from the pump 15, which is the liquid feeding driving means, to the dispensing nozzle 7 is closed. Has become. Since the diameter of the tube 11 was narrowed at two places in the middle of the tube 11, no dripping occurred at all, and the drainage of the liquid could be improved.
Further, the pump 15 is of a type that generates a pulsation at the time of feeding the liquid. However, the pulsation of the pump 15 did not occur in the discharge of the culture medium liquid from the dispensing nozzle 7.
[0022]
(Other embodiments)
As another embodiment of the dispensing device according to the present invention, a dispensing test was performed under exactly the same conditions when three and four throttle portions were formed in the tube 11.
As a result, even in these cases, no dripping occurred, and no pulsation of the medium liquid discharge occurred, and the same effect as in the first embodiment could be obtained.
[0023]
On the other hand, as a comparative test, a dispensing test was performed for the case where the tube 11 had one throttle portion and the case where it did not have one.
In these tests, dispensing tests were performed under exactly the same conditions except for the narrowed portion.
As a result, in both the case where there is one narrowed portion and the case where there is no narrowed portion, pulsation at the time of dripping of the liquid and discharge of the medium liquid occurred.
[0024]
In addition, in the dispensing apparatus according to the present invention, a medium flow path such as a dispensing path used in a silicon tube is used, but the present invention is not particularly limited thereto. Various changes can be made to the pump.
Also, the interval (L) between the constricted portions is not particularly specified, but can be set as appropriate.
[0025]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the dispensing apparatus and the dispensing method according to the present invention, even if the liquid is easy to drip like an agar medium, the flow of the other part of the dispensing path is supplied to the dispensing path. By providing two or more narrowed portions having a diameter smaller than the path diameter, it is possible to completely avoid dripping of the liquid for the culture medium from the dispensing nozzle, so that accurate supply of the culture medium and dispensing of the culture medium can be prevented. The generation of bubbles can be eliminated.
Therefore, it is possible to avoid a decrease in inspection accuracy due to the generation of bubbles and a non-uniformity of inspection conditions due to uneven supply of the culture medium, thereby improving the inspection accuracy and reliability.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of a culture medium dispensing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a portion provided with a holding unit shown in FIG. 1 in a direction along a liquid flow path.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line XX in FIG. 2;
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Culture medium dispensing apparatus 2 Culture medium liquid 3 Medium container 5 Stirring means 6 Heating means 7 Dispensing nozzle 11 Medium delivery tube 12 Three-way fitting 14 Medium return tube 15 Dispensing pump 16 Auxiliary heating means 18 First open / close valve 19 2 open / close valve 21 Petri dish (dispensing container)
23 Container transport means 27 Disposable filter 30 Holder set table 40 Pressing means 42 Pump (liquid sending driving means)
43 Hinge part 45 Upper plate 46 Lower plate 47 Lock pin 49 Recess 50, 51 Squeeze part A Dispensing position B Standby position C Branching position

Claims (4)

A dispensing nozzle that supplies a specific amount of culture medium liquid to a predetermined container,
A liquid sending drive means for sending the medium solution to the dispensing nozzle,
A dispensing path that forms a sealed liquid flow path between the dispensing nozzle and the liquid sending drive unit,
Valve means for opening and closing the liquid flow path to control the supply amount of the medium liquid to the container,
With
The liquid sending drive means is of a type that generates pulsation at the time of liquid sending,
A dispensing apparatus, wherein the dispensing path is provided with two or more throttle portions having a smaller diameter than the flow path diameter of the other part of the dispensing path. 2. The dispenser according to claim 1 , wherein at least a part of the dispensing path is formed of an elastic material, and the portion made of the elastic material is sandwiched by pressing means to form the narrowed portion. 3. apparatus. The dispensing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the pressing means is configured to be able to adjust a diameter of the diaphragm of the diaphragm. By feeding the liquid by the liquid sending drive means and opening and closing the opening and closing valve, when supplying the medium liquid from the dispensing nozzle to a predetermined container,
The liquid sending drive unit is configured to generate pulsation at the time of liquid sending,
A dispensing path, which is a liquid flow path from the liquid feeding driving means to the dispensing nozzle, is kept in a sealed state, and the diameter of the dispensing path is reduced at least at two places in the middle of the dispensing path. A dispensing method, wherein the medium solution is supplied while forming a narrowed portion.

Images