Climatic cabinet, turntable and use of the turntable

• US 5,735,587 A
• Filed: 02/05/1996
• Issued: 04/07/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kendro Laboratory Products GmbH, LiCONiC AG
• Original Assignee: Heraeus Holding GMBH, LiCONiC AG
• Inventors: Sawatzki, Harry, Gentsch, Jurg, Malin, Cosmas, Helwig, Gunter
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Peter R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAN, HANH VAN
• Application Number:
  US08/597,894
• Time in Patent Office: 792 Days
• Field of Search: 312/97.1, 312/35, 312/125, 312/135, 312/139, 312/212, 312/266, 312/287, 312/249.2, 312/305, 312/319.5, 312/319.7, 312/319.8, 108/21, 108/26, 108/91, 49/210, 49/211, 49/219, 435/809, 435/303.1
• US Class Current: 312/305
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 23/48 Holding appliances; Racks; Supports holding devices for laboratory apparatus B01L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 23/50 Means for positioning or orientating the apparatus C12M41/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 41/14 Incubators; Climatic chambers per se B01L1/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 435/809 Incubators or racks or holders for culture plates or containers

Abstract

A climate cabinet, turntable and use of the turntable. The climatic cabinet (1) can be loaded automatically and manually and has a conventional door (3) and a controllable door (2) as well as a turntable (4) which is connected via a releasable coupling (9) disposed in the interior of the climatic cabinet (1) with a positioning drive (5) and is seated on the floor of the climatic cabinet (1). The controllable door (2) is movably seated on two guide systems (6, 7) perpendicularly and parallel with the loading side (21). The positioning drive (5) is controllable by a higher system or by a user. The turntable (4) has a support shaft (45), tray disks (41) and spacer sleeves as well as spacer tubelets (47, 46) for spacing the tray disks apart, also positioning elements (51) for receiving storage pieces (50). The turntable (41) is suitable for use in a device, for example a climatic cabinet (1), or outside of this device.

Claims

1. A climatic cabinet including an interior work chamber (11) with access for a user thereto on a user side (31) and with access for an automatic system thereto on a loading side (21), comprising:

(a) a conventional door (3) accessing the work chamber on the user side;

(b) a controllable door (2) accessing the work chamber on the loading side, the controllable door being mounted to the cabinet by

a first guidance system (6) including means for moving the controllable door perpendicularly to the loading side, and by

a second guidance system (7) including means for moving the controllable door parallel to the loading side;

(c) a turntable (4) rotatably supported on a bearing (13) disposed on a floor of the work chamber, the turntable further comprising

a support shaft (45),

a plurality of tray disks (41), and

at least three spacer sleeves (47), and wherein

the support shaft and the spacer sleeves are disposed perpendicularly to the tray disks;

the tray disks including respective tray surfaces including positioning elements (51) arising therefrom;

(d) a positioning drive (5);

means for controlling the positioning drive by both the user and the automatic system; and

(e) a coupling (9) between the turntable (4) and the positioning drive (5), the coupling being disposed inside the work chamber;

wherein

the first guidance system (6) and the second guidance system (7) each comprise a respective linear guide system, the second guidance system (7) is mounted parallel to the loading side (21) and the first guidance system (6) is disposed on the second guidance system (7).

2. A climatic cabinet including an interior work chamber (11) with access for a user thereto on a user side (31) and with access for an automatic system thereto on a loading side (21), comprising:

(a) a conventional door (3) accessing the work chamber on the user side;

(b) a controllable door (2) accessing the work chamber on the loading side, the controllable door being mounted to the cabinet by

a first guidance system (6) including means for moving the controllable door perpendicularly to the loading side, and by

a second guidance system (7) including means for moving the controllable door parallel to the loading side;

(c) a turntable (4) rotatably supported on a bearing (13) disposed on a floor of the work chamber, the turntable further comprising

a support shaft (45),

a plurality of tray disks (41), and

at least three spacer sleeves (47), and wherein

the support shaft and the spacer sleeves are disposed perpendicularly to the tray disks;

the tray disks including respective tray surfaces including positioning elements (51) arising therefrom;

(d) a positioning drive (5);

means for controlling the positioning drive by both the user and the automatic system; and

(e) a coupling (9) between the turntable (4) and the positioning drive (5), the coupling and the positioning drive being disposed inside the work chamber.

3. The climatic cabinet in accordance with claim 2, wherein

the first guidance system (6) is a rotational guide system and the second guidance system (7) is a linear guide system, wherein the rotational guide system moves the controllable door (2) perpendicularly to the loading side (21) and is arranged on the second linear guide system (7) which is parallel with the loading side (21).

4. The climatic cabinet in accordance with claim 2, wherein

the spacer sleeves comprise at least three external spacer sleeves (47), which are disposed in the rim area of the tray disks (41) and have centering steps, and the tray disks (41) are kept together by bracing elements extending parallel with the spacer sleeves (47).

5. The climatic cabinet in accordance with claim 2, characterized in that

the positioning elements (51) comprise slits in the tray disk (41) and include tongues (51b to 51d) bent up out of the tray disk surface along the slits.

6. The climatic cabinet in accordance with claim 2, wherein

the positioning elements (51) are pins (51e to 51g) pressed perpendicularly into the tray disk (41).

7. The climatic cabinet in accordance with claim 2, comprising

means for intermittently controlling the direction of rotation of the turntable (4) provided in the positioning drive (5).

8. The climatic cabinet in accordance with claim 7, wherein the means for intermittently controlling include means such that a rotational movement can be superimposed on a change of rotational direction.

9. The climatic cabinet in accordance with claim 2, wherein

comprising a position selector (80) for presetting the desired stop position of the turntable and at least one signal lamp or buzzer for indicating the end of the positioning process.