INCUBATOR

• US 20120083030A1
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PHC Holdings Corporation
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Busujima, Hiroki, Takahashi, Yoshihiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,563,300 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 435/303.1
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 37/00 Means for sterilizing, maintaining sterile conditions or avoiding chemical or biological contamination C12M23/38 takes precedence; filtration in general and filters per se B01D24/00-B01D41/00; autoclaves B01J3/04; treatment of microorganisms with electrical or wave energy C12N13/00
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 41/14 Incubators; Climatic chambers per se B01L1/00

Abstract

An incubator comprising: a culture chamber configured to accommodate culture; a dish structure configured to contain a liquid; an ultrasonic vibrator provided in a part of the dish structure, the ultrasonic vibrator configured to atomize the liquid; and a gas-liquid contact structure configured to bring the atomized liquid into contact with air in the chamber to be cultured.

Claims

1. An incubator comprising:

a culture chamber configured to accommodate culture;

a dish structure configured to contain a liquid;

an ultrasonic vibrator provided in a part of the dish structure, the ultrasonic vibrator configured to atomize the liquid; and

a gas-liquid contact structure configured to bring the atomized liquid into contact with air in the chamber to be cultured.

2. The incubator of claim 1, wherein

the dish structure includes:

a first containing unit defined by a first bottom face and a first side face set up around the first bottom face; and

a second containing unit provided in the first containing unit, and defined by a second bottom face and a second side face set up around the second bottom face, the second side face having a height shorter than that of the first side face, and wherein

the ultrasonic vibrator is provided on the second bottom face.

3. The incubator of claim 2, wherein

water is retained in the first containing unit to maintain humidity inside the culture chamber at a predetermined humidity, and

the water or a processing liquid to sterilize an inside of the culture chamber is retained in the second containing unit.

4. The incubator of claim 1, further comprising:

a drawer structure through which the dish structure is pulled out or pushed in the dish structure with respect to the incubator.

5. The incubator of claim 1, wherein

the gas-liquid contact structure includes:

a circulating mechanism configured to circulate the air inside the culture chamber; and

a mechanism configured to bring the air circulated in the culture chamber by the circulating mechanism into contact with the liquid atomized by the ultrasonic vibrator.

6. The incubator of claim 5, wherein

the culture chamber is substantially of a rectangular parallelepiped shape, wherein

a plurality of shelf boards, on which the culture is placed, are provided in parallel in the culture chamber, wherein

the gas-liquid contact structure further includes a flow path configured to circulate the air along a lower face of the culture chamber, a first side face of the culture chamber, an upper face of the culture chamber, and a second side face opposed to the first side face, wherein

the dish structure is arranged so that the air circulating along the lower face of the culture chamber gets in contact with a liquid face of the liquid retained in the dish structure, and wherein

the gas-liquid contact structure further includes a flow path configured to cause the air flowing upward along the first side face to flow into a space between the shelf boards adjacent to each other and cause the air flowing out of the space between the shelf boards to join the air flowing downward along the second side face.

7. The incubator of claim 1, wherein

the culture chamber is substantially of a rectangular parallelepiped shape, wherein

a plurality of shelf boards, on which the culture is placed, are provided in parallel in the culture chamber, wherein,

the circulating mechanism includes a flow path configured to cause the air to flow downward along a back face of the culture chamber, wherein

the dish structure is arranged below the culture chamber so that the air flowing downward along the back face gets in contact with a liquid face of the liquid retained in the dish structure, and wherein

air holes are formed on faces of the shelf boards to guide the air, having got in contact with the liquid, toward an upper part of the culture chamber.

8. The incubator of claim 1, further comprising:

a CO₂ gas supply mechanism configured to supply a CO₂ gas into the culture chamber;

a CO₂ density control mechanism configured to control density of the CO₂ gas inside the culture chamber; and

a heater configured to heat the air to be supplied into the culture chamber.