JP7725007B2 - Airtight work box - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an airtight work box, and more specifically to an airtight work box with a large opening.

When handling samples that are easily affected by components in the air or that are dangerous to workers, the samples must be placed in an enclosed space and work must be carried out in a manner that prevents contamination from outside or leakage to the outside.

Patent Document 1 discloses that by providing a side box with a double-door adjacent to a glove box, separating the side box from the glove box with a door, and loading and unloading samples through the side box, it is possible to prevent dust and other particles from getting into the glove box.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-145893

However, in the glove box described in Patent Document 1, access to the inside of the glove box is via the side box, so it is not possible to put in or take out devices larger than the side box.

As a result, in order to load and unload large equipment, it is necessary to provide a separate large maintenance door or enlarge the side box to accommodate the size of the equipment, which reduces maintainability.

The present invention was made in consideration of these problems with the prior art, and its purpose is to provide an airtight work box with a large opening that allows direct access to the work space.

After extensive research to achieve the above objective, the inventor discovered that by providing sealing members around the perimeter of the opening and on the leading edge side surfaces of the double-hinged doors that close the opening, and by using these sealing members to seal the gap between the doors and the opening and between the doors themselves, it is possible to eliminate the need for a support where the two doors meet, leading to the completion of the present invention.

That is, the airtight work box of the present invention comprises a box body having an opening that leads directly to the internal work space, and two doors that open and close the opening in a double swing-out manner.
The door has at least two through holes formed therein, through which gloves can be attached for performing work from the outside while maintaining an airtight state.
The opening has no support pillar at the location where the two doors join in the closed state, and has a first seal member around the periphery;
The two doors are each rotatably supported by a movable portion having at least three parallel shafts and attached to both left and right or top and bottom ends of the box body , and a second seal member is provided on either of the leading end side surfaces of the doors facing each other in a closed state,
The two doors and the second seal member abut against the first seal member to seal the box body.

According to the present invention, sealing members are provided around the opening and on the leading edge side surfaces where the double-hinged doors that close the opening face each other when closed. This eliminates the need for a support where the double-hinged doors meet, making it possible to provide an airtight work box with a large opening.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an airtight work box of the present invention with the door closed. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an airtight work box of the present invention with the door open. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a movable part. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the sealed state of the cross section AA in FIG. 1. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the second seal member is compressed. A cross-sectional view showing the closed state of the door with the door lock formed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a guide member. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the airtight work box of the present invention.

The airtight work box of the present invention will now be described in detail.
As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the airtight work box has a box body with an internal work space and an opening that leads directly to this work space, and two doors that open and close the opening in a double-hinged manner.

The two doors have transparent windows so that the work space can be seen from the outside. The box body may also have a transparent portion formed on its top surface, etc.

The two doors are each supported by a movable part so that they can rotate freely, and are attached to both ends of the box. As shown in Figure 3, the movable part has three or more parallel shafts, and rotates around the shafts to not only open and close the doors, but also move the doors back and forth along the opening surface.

As shown in Figure 1, a frame is provided on the inner periphery of the opening of the box, and the door fits inside the box using the movable part. As shown in Figure 2, the door abuts against the frame, making the door almost flush with the opening surface of the box and closing the opening.

As shown in Figure 2, a first seal member is provided around the entire periphery of the frame surrounding the opening. Furthermore, the two doors have a second seal member running from one end to the other on either side of the leading edge of the doors that face each other when closed, sealing any gaps that may occur between the two doors when they are closed.

When the doors are closed, as shown in Figure 4, the second seal member also abuts against the first seal member at its end, sealing the box together with the two doors and the first seal member.

The airtight work box of the present invention uses a second sealing member to seal the gap that forms between the two double-hinged doors when they are closed. This means that when the boxes are closed, the opening can be sealed without the need for a support pillar at the tip of the doors to abut against, creating a large opening without any support pillars.

Furthermore, as described above, the airtight work box of the present invention has a sealed opening that allows direct access to the work space, allowing the work space environment to be maintained, eliminating the need for a side box and resulting in space savings.

The airtight work box can include a first fixing member and a second fixing member.
The first fixing member is a member that presses the door against the box body, compressing the first sealing member and fixing the door to the box body, and the second fixing member is a member that draws the doors together and compresses the second sealing member.

By closing the two double-hinged doors and pulling them together with the second fixing member and compressing the second sealing member, the airtightness between the two doors is improved and the two doors are connected to form a single door. Then, by pressing the doors against the box body with the first fixing member in this single door state, the airtightness between the doors and the box body is improved and this good airtight state can be maintained.

The first fixing member may be, for example, an open/close latch or a push-type toggle clamp, and the second fixing member may be, for example, a pull-type toggle clamp.

The compression ratio of the first and second sealing members is preferably 30% or more of their thickness, and more preferably 35-50%.

By compressing the sealing material by 30% or more of its thickness, even if there are manufacturing errors due to welding distortion at the opening or the edge of the door, this can be absorbed and a tight seal can be maintained. Furthermore, if the compression rate exceeds 50%, compression cracks may occur in the sealing material, reducing its airtightness.

The sealing material can be made of rubber or elastomer with a compressive strength sufficient to withstand the above-mentioned crushing rate, i.e., a deformation of 30% or more before cracking occurs. Sponge-like silicone rubber is preferred. Because the internal voids of sponge-like silicone rubber are crushed by compression, the deformation rate of the silicone rubber itself can be reduced even when the crushing rate increases, increasing the compressive strength and preventing compression cracking of the sealing material.

As shown in Figure 5, when the second fixing member draws the two doors together and compresses the second seal member, it is preferable that the leading edge side of the door that abuts the second seal member be perpendicular to the direction in which the doors are drawn together, i.e., the in-plane direction of the opening surface (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as the "opening surface direction").

The second seal member is compressed by the tip side surface perpendicular to the opening surface direction, so the compression force is transmitted efficiently to the second seal member, preventing distortion of the second seal member and ensuring uniform adhesion to the tip side surface, thereby maintaining a good seal.

In addition, the second seal member is crushed by compression from the tip side, protruding from the tip side to escape the compressive force, and its end abuts against the first seal member on the opening surface together with the door, so there is no gap where the three elements - the box body and the two doors - intersect.

At this time, the two doors and the second seal member sandwiched between them are not flush, as shown in Figure 5, and the second seal member protrudes beyond the doors, so the force pressing against the first seal member is locally large at the protruding portion. However, because the seal member is made of soft, sponge-like silicone rubber with high compression resistance, the seal members absorb this protrusion and adhere tightly to each other without creating gaps.

As shown in Figure 6, the two doors preferably have thinner sections at their leading edges, and when closed, these thinner sections join together to form a stepped joint in cross section.

By fitting the seal together, the tip side surface perpendicular to the opening is divided into multiple sections, and by providing the second seal member only on the tip side surface closest to the box body, the compression area of the second seal member is reduced and the surface pressure is increased. This increases the amount of protrusion toward the first seal member, allowing the end of the second seal member to tightly adhere to the first seal member.

When the two doors join together, it is preferable that a second seal member also be provided on a surface parallel to the opening surface, as shown in Figure 6. By providing a continuous second seal member that bends from a surface perpendicular to the opening surface to a surface parallel to it at the tip of the door, it is possible to prevent the second seal member from peeling off when the door is opened or closed.

In the present invention, since the door slides toward the opening surface, it is preferable to apply a lubricant to the area where the first seal member and the door come into contact. Applying a lubricant here prevents the first seal member from sticking, prevents the first seal member from twisting, maintains close contact with the door, and prevents peeling when opening and closing.

The lubricant used should be one that prevents the first seal member and the door from sticking, and while liquid or solid lubricants can be used, sliding powder made from materials such as talc or talc is preferred. Dust and other particles do not easily adhere to sliding powder, eliminating the risk of foreign matter becoming trapped between the first seal member and the door.

Furthermore, since the door of the present invention not only opens and closes, but also slides toward the opening surface and moves in two axial directions, it is preferable to have a guide member that guides the door's closing operation.

As shown in FIG. 7, the guide member may be a combination of a pin and a plate having a through hole through which the pin can slide.
Specifically, by having the pin on the box body pass through the through hole in the plate on the door, the door can be guided to the appropriate position where the first sealing member can be pressed evenly, thereby ensuring that the opening is sealed.

The two doors have a total of at least two through holes. At least one pair of gloves is attached to these through holes so that they can be used to cover the through holes and maintain an airtight condition while allowing work to be performed on the sample in the work space from outside.

If the above-mentioned double-door opens and closes from left to right, it is preferable to provide one glove on each door so that they form a pair of gloves.

By providing one glove per door, a pair of gloves can be attached at positions roughly symmetrical about the center line of the opening, i.e., in the center of the work space, allowing for work to be carried out in an efficient manner.

In this case, as shown in Figure 8, it is preferable to make the left and right doors different sizes and offset the position where the doors join when closed from the center line of the opening so that they are not directly in front of the worker.

By making the left and right doors different sizes, workers can see into the work space mainly through one of the doors, meaning their view is not obstructed by the area where the doors meet, ensuring good visibility.

Also, if the double doors open and close vertically, placing a pair of gloves on the lower door allows the worker to see the work space through the upper door.

The distance between each pair of gloves is approximately 40 to 50 cm, and the distance from the gloves to the top of the door is approximately 50 to 80 cm.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Airtight work box 2 Box body 21 First sealing member 22 First fixing member 23 Frame body 3 Door 31 Second sealing member 32 Second fixing member 33 Tip side surface 34 Transparent window 4 Movable part 5 Guide member 51 Pin 52 Plate 6 Gloves S Work space O Opening surface C Center line

Claims (12)

a box body having an opening directly communicating with an internal working space;
An airtight work box having two doors that open and close the opening in a double swing-open manner,
The door has at least two through holes formed therein, through which gloves can be attached for performing work from the outside while maintaining an airtight state,
The opening has no support pillar at the location where the two doors join in the closed state, and has a first seal member around the periphery;
The two doors are each rotatably supported by a movable portion having at least three parallel shafts and attached to both left and right or top and bottom ends of the box body , and a second seal member is provided on either of the leading end side surfaces of the doors facing each other in a closed state,
An airtight work box characterized in that the two doors and the second seal member abut against the first seal member to seal the box body. moreover,
A first fixing member and a second fixing member are provided,
the first fixing member presses the door against the box body, compressing the first seal member and fixing it to the box body;
2. The airtight work box according to claim 1, wherein the second fixing member pulls the doors together and compresses the second sealing member to fix the doors together. The two doors above open and close to the left and right,
3. The airtight work box according to claim 1, wherein each of the two doors is provided with one pair of gloves. The position where the doors meet in the closed state is offset from the center line of the opening,
4. The airtight work box according to claim 3, wherein one glove provided on each of the two doors is provided symmetrically with respect to the center line of the opening. The two doors above open and close vertically,
3. The airtight work box according to claim 1, wherein the lower door is provided with a pair of gloves. An airtight work box as described in any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the compression ratio of the first sealing member and the second sealing member is 30% or more of their thickness. 7. The airtight work box according to claim 1, wherein the first seal member and the second seal member are made of sponge-like silicone rubber. An airtight work box as described in any one of claims 2 to 7, characterized in that the leading edge side of the door that abuts against the second seal member is perpendicular to the direction in which the doors are drawn together. The two doors have thinner portions at the front end, forming a stepped doorway when closed.
The airtight work box according to claim 8, characterized in that the second sealing member is provided only on the tip side surface closest to the box body among the tip side surfaces perpendicular to the direction in which the doors are pulled together. An airtight work box as described in claim 9, characterized in that the second sealing member is bent along the joint and is also provided on a surface parallel to the direction in which the doors are pulled together. An airtight work box as described in any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that a lubricant is applied to the area where the first seal member and the door come into contact. An airtight work box as described in any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that it has a guide member that guides the closing operation of the two doors.