Bio-containment animal cage system

• US 6,308,660 B1
• Filed: 06/17/1999
• Issued: 10/30/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Allentown, LLC
• Original Assignee: Allentown Caging Equipment Company Incorporated
• Inventors: Herdt, Frank J., Bilecki, Brian M., Coiro, Michael A. Sr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Carone, Michael J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ABBOTT, YVONNE RENEE
• Application Number:
  US09/334,955
• Time in Patent Office: 866 Days
• Field of Search: 119/419, 119/418, 119/420, 119/493, 119/500, 119/72, 119/72.5, 119/75
• US Class Current: 119/419
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 1/031 Cages for laboratory animals; Cages for measuring metabolism of animals

Abstract

The present invention comprises an animal caging system including a self-sealing animal cage removably connected to an air supply and an exhaust. The self-sealing animal cage is supported by a rack. The self-sealing animal cage is sealed by an air inlet connection and an air outlet connection to the air supply and the exhaust connection. After the cages are removed from the air supply and the exhaust, the air inlet connection and the exhaust connection seals the cage to prevent air from entering or exiting the cage. Accordingly, the animal caging system provides isolation of the self-sealing animal cage and provides containment of airborne pathogens within the caging system. A bio-sensing cage is used in the animal cage system to measure pressure of animal cage connected to the air supply and exhaust which contains an animal. The measurement of pressure in the bio-sensing cage is used by a controller to maintain pressure in the cages independently of environment and cage conditions. The measurement of pressure in the bio-sensing cage can be displayed. An alarm can be activated in the measured pressure in the cage is outside a predetermined tolerance for the cage.

Claims

1. An animal cage system comprising:

at least one self-sealing animal cage;

a rack for supporting said at least one self-sealing animal cage;

air supply means for supplying air to said self-sealing animal cage being removably connected with an air inlet connection to said self-sealing animal cage, said air inlet connection being coupled to said self-sealing animal cage; and

exhaust means for removing exhaust from said self-sealing animal cage being removably connected with an exhaust outlet connection to said self-sealing animal cage, said exhaust outlet connection being coupled to said self-sealing animal cage;

said air inlet connection being sealed when said air inlet connection is removed from said air supply means and said exhaust outlet connection being sealed when said exhaust outlet connection is removed from said exhaust means.

2. The animal cage system of claim 1 wherein said air supply means comprises an air supply plenum and said exhaust means comprises an exhaust plenum said air supply plenum and said exhaust plenum being connected to an air delivery and exhaust apparatus.

3. The animal cage system of claim 2 wherein said rack comprises a plurality of platforms and further comprises:

a plurality of said air supply plenums and a plurality of said exhaust plenums, each pair of said air supply plenums and said exhaust plenums being associated with one of said plurality of platforms; and

a plurality of said self-sealing animal cages being supported by said plurality of platforms.

4. The animal cage system of claim 3 wherein said air supply means further comprises:

a vertical air supply plenum connected with a plurality of supply plenum connections to said plurality of said air supply plenums;

a vertical exhaust plenum connected with a plurality of exhaust plenum connections to said plurality of exhaust plenums, said vertical air supply plenum and said vertical exhaust plenum being connected to said air delivery and exhaust apparatus,

wherein said vertical air supply plenum and said vertical exhaust plenum are positioned on the same side of said rack.

5. The animal cage system of claim 4 wherein said plurality of exhaust plenum connections and said plurality of supply plenum comprise:

a first ferrule coupled to said air supply plenum or said exhaust plenum;

a second ferrule attached to a respective exterior of said vertical air supply plenum and said vertical exhaust plenum;

a gasket positioned between said first ferrule and said second ferrule; and

a removable clamp clamping said first ferrule to said second ferrule.

6. The animal cage system of claim 4 wherein said vertical exhaust plenum and said vertical air supply plenum comprise:

a pair of side portions;

a gasket positioned between said side portions; and

a plurality of bolts for bolting said pair of side portions together.

7. The animal cage system of claim 1 wherein said air inlet connection and said exhaust connection comprise

a female automatic sealing entry port;

and

a male automatic sealing entry port,

wherein said male automatic sealing entry port is adapted to be received in said female automatic sealing entry port.

8. The animal cage system of claim 7 wherein said male automatic sealing entry port and said female automatic sealing entry port are closed until opened by the insertion of said male automatic sealing entry port into said female automatic sealing entry port, said female automatic sealing entry port of said air inlet connection seals said air inlet connection of said self-sealing animal cage, said female automatic sealing entry port of said exhaust outlet connection seals said exhaust outlet connection of said self-sealing animal cage, said male automatic sealing entry port of said air inlet connection seals said air supply means and said male automatic sealing entry port of said exhaust outlet connection seals said exhaust means.

9. The animal cage system of claim 8 wherein said air inlet connection is coupled to a bottom section of said cage and surrounds a first aperture in said cage in a first wall of said bottom section said exhaust outlet connection is coupled to a top section of said cage and surrounds a second aperture in said cage in a second wall of said top section.

10. The animal cage system of claim 9 further comprising:

a protection nozzle positioned over said first aperture, said protection nozzle having a first end adapted to be connected to said female automatic entry port of said air inlet connection and said connection nozzle having at least one opening formed in a second end extending into said cage.

11. The animal cage system of claim 10 wherein said protection nozzle is connected to said female automatic sealing entry port with a threaded connection.

12. The animal cage system of claim 11 wherein said protection nozzle has a plurality of said openings formed in said second end extending into said cage.

13. The animal cage system of claim 12 further comprising:

a first O-ring seal positioned between an outside surface of said protection nozzle and said first aperture.

14. The animal cage system of claim 8 wherein said air inlet connection is coupled to a top section of said cage and surrounds a first aperture in said cage in a first wall of said top section and said exhaust outlet connection is coupled to a bottom section of said cage and surrounds a second aperture in said cage in a second wall of said bottom section.

15. The animal cage system of claim 14 further comprises:

a removable filter housing positioned over said second aperture.

16. The animal cage system of claim 15 further comprising a filter housing coupling for coupling said filter housing to said self-sealing animal cage, said filter housing coupling having a first end adapted to be connected to said female automatic sealing entry port of said exhaust outlet connection.

17. The animal cage system of claim 16 wherein a filter medium is positioned within said filter housing.

18. The animal cage system of claim 17 wherein said filter medium is formed of plastic foam or rubber foam and spun bound polyester.

19. The animal cage system of claim 16 further comprising:

a second O-ring seal positioned between an outside surface of said filter housing coupling and said second aperture.

20. The animal cage system of claim 1 further comprising:

a food and water suspension lid suspended within said self-sealing animal cage.

21. The animal cage system of claim 20 wherein said food and water suspension lid comprises an edge, said edge having circumference which is slightly smaller than a circumference of an inner circumference of a bottom section of said self-sealing animal cage;

and

a plurality of wires connected to said edge, said plurality of wires adapted to hold food and a water dispenser.

22. The animal cage system of claim 21 further comprising:

at least one block attached to an inner wall of said bottom section, said edge of said food and water suspension lid being received or said block, wherein said block is positioned at a distance from a rim of said bottom section for recessing said food and water suspension lid below said rim.

23. The animal cage system of claim 22 wherein said edge has a rectangular circumference and further comprising:

a plurality of said blocks, each of said blocks being positioned at a corner of said edge.

24. The animal cage system of claim 1 wherein said self-sealing animal cage comprises:

a top section; and

a bottom section, said top section being sealed to said bottom section.

25. The animal cage system of claim 24 wherein a wall of said top section has a first rim at a periphery thereof, a channel is formed around an inner portion of said rim and a gasket seal is adapted to be received in said channel, and a wall of said bottom section having a rim at an upper portion thereof, said rim of said bottom section being adapted to be pressed against said gasket seal for sealing said top section to said bottom section.

26. The animal cage of claim 25 wherein said gasket seal is removable from said channel.

27. The animal cage system of claim 26 wherein said gasket seal is formed of silicone rubber.

28. The animal caging system of claim 24 wherein said top section is solid.

29. The animal caging system of claim 28 wherein said top section is formed of molded polysulfone.

30. The animal cage system of claim 29 further comprising latching means for latching said top section to said bottom section.

31. The animal cage system of claim 30 wherein said, latching means comprises:

a plate mounted to said bottom section;

a rotatable latch extending from said plate, said latch contacting a rim of said top section and an outer surface of said bottom section.

32. The animal cage system of claim 1 wherein said air supply means comprises at least one supply blower and said exhaust means comprises at least one exhaust blower.

33. The animal cage system of claim 32 further comprising a high efficiency filter attached to each of said supply blower and said exhaust blower for filtering air entering or exiting said supply blower or said exhaust blower.

34. The animal cage system of claim 33 wherein said air supply means operates in a positive pressure mode in which said supply blower is active and said exhaust blower is inactive for pushing air into said self-sealing animal cage.

35. The animal cage system of claim 33 wherein said air supply means operates in a negative pressure mode in which said exhaust blower is active and said supply blower is inactive for pulling air from said self-sealing animal cage.

36. The animal cage system of claim 33 further comprising:

a pair of said supply blowers and a pair of said exhaust blowers.

37. The animal cage system of claim 1 further comprising

a bio-sensing self-sealing animal cage being removably connected to said air supply means with said air inlet connection and being removably connected to said exhaust means with said exhaust connection;

and

a flexible hose between said bio-sensing self-sealing animal cage and a pressure measurement device, said pressure measurement device measuring pressure exiting said bio-sensing self-sealing animal cage.

38. The animal cage system of claim 37 further comprising:

wherein said pressure measurement device measures pressure of the environment outside said rack and said pressure measurement device determines a differential pressure measurement from the difference between the measured pressure of the environment and the measured pressure exiting bio-sensing self-sealing animal cage.

39. The animal cage system of claim 38 further comprising a display for displaying said differential pressure measurement.

40. The animal cage system of claim 39 wherein said display is a light emitting diode, said light emitting diode displaying said differential pressure measurements in real time.

41. The animal caging system of claim 37 wherein said air supply means comprises at least one supply blower and said exhaust means comprises at least one exhaust blower and further comprising:

controlling means for controlling the pressure in said self-sealing animal cage and said bio-sensing self-sealing animal cage by controlling the speed of said at least one supply blower or the speed of said at least one exhaust blower.

42. The animal cage system of claim 1 further comprising an alarm means for activating an audible alarm when said speed of said supply blower or said speed of said exhaust blower exceeds a tolerance.

43. The animal cage system of claim 1 further comprising:

a plurality of cage guides attached to said rack, said cage being received between a pair of said cage guides; and

a latching device for automatically locking said self-sealing animal cage to said cage guides.

44. A method of maintaining pressure in an animal cage system comprising the steps of:

placing a bio-sensing self-sealing animal cage on a rack for supporting said cage;

removably connecting an air supply means for supplying air to said bio-sensing self-sealing animal cage and an air exhaust means for removing exhaust from said bio-sensing self-sealing animal cage;

measuring pressure in said bio-sensing cage with a pressure measurement means; and

controlling said air supply means or said air exhaust means in response to the measured pressure in the bio-sensing cage, thereby maintaining a predetermined pressure in said bio-sensing cage.

45. The method of claim 44 further comprising the step of:

activating an alarm when a tolerance of said predetermining pressure in said bio-sensing cage is exceeded.

46. The method of claim 45 further comprising the step of:

placing self-sealing animal cages on said rack for supporting said cage; and

removably connecting said air supply means for supplying air to said self-sealing animal cage and said air exhaust means for removing exhaust from said self-sealing animal cage.

47. The method of claim 46 wherein in said placing step, each said self-sealing bio-sensing animal cage and said self-sealing animal cage comprise a filter housing attached to the inside of said self-sealing bio-sensing animal cage and said self-sealing animal cage and a filter medium received in said filter housing and further comprising the steps of:

after the step of activating said alarm removing said filter medium from said filter housing; and

inserting clean filter medium into said filter housing.

48. The method of claim 47 wherein said air supply means and said air exhaust means comprise a high efficiency particulate filter and further comprising the steps of:

after the step of activating said alarm, observing said high efficiency particulate filter of said air supply means or said exhaust means; and

inserting a high efficiency particulate filter if said high efficiency particulate filter has been compromised.

49. A self-sealing animal cage comprising:

a top section;

a bottom section; and

sealing means for sealing said top section to said bottom section,

wherein a wall of said top section has a first rim at a periphery thereof, a channel is formed around an inner portion of said first rim and a wall of said bottom section has a rim at an upper portion thereof, a gasket seal received in said channel, wherein said rim of said bottom section being adapted to be pressed against said gasket seal for sealing said top section to said bottom section.

50. The cage of claim 49 wherein said gasket seal is removable from said channel.

51. The cage of claim 50 wherein said gasket seal is formed of silicone rubber.

52. The animal cage of claim 50 wherein said top section is solid.

53. The animal cage system of claim 52 wherein said top section is formed of plastic.

54. The animal cage of claim 49 wherein an air inlet connection is coupled to said bottom section of said cage and surrounds a first aperture in said cage in a first wall of said bottom section and an exhaust outlet connection is coupled to said top section of said cage and surrounds a second aperture in said cage in a second wall of said top section;

and said inlet connection and said exhaust outlet connection being sealed.

55. The animal cage of claim 54 further comprising:

a protection nozzle positioned over said first aperture, said protection nozzle having a first end adapted to be connected to said air inlet connection and said connection nozzle having at least one opening formed in a second end extending into said-cage.

56. The animal cage of claim 55 wherein said protection nozzle has a plurality of said openings formed in said second end extending into said cage.

57. The animal cage of claim 55 wherein said protection nozzle is connected to said air inlet connection with a threaded connection.

58. The animal cage of claim 55 further comprising:

a first O-ring seal positioned between an outside surface of said protection nozzle and said first aperture.

59. The animal cage of claim 54 further comprising:

a removable filter housing positioned over said second aperture.

60. The animal cage of claim 59 further comprising:

a filter housing coupling for coupling said filter housing to said self-sealing animal cage, said filter housing coupling having a first end adapted to be connected to said exhaust outlet connection.

61. The animal cage of claim 60 wherein a filter medium is positioned within said filter housing.

62. The animal cage of claim 61 wherein said filter medium is formed of plastic foam or rubber foam and spun bound polyester.

63. The animal cage of claim 60 further comprising:

a O-ring seal positioned between an outside surface of said filter housing coupling and said second aperture.

64. A self-sealing animal cage comprising:

a top section;

a bottom section; and

sealing means for sealing said top section to said bottom section;

a food and water suspension lid suspended within said self-sealing animal cage,

wherein said food and water suspension lid comprises an edge, said edge having circumference which is slightly smaller than a circumference of an inner circumference of said bottom section of said self-sealing animal cage; and

a plurality of wires connected to said edge, said plurality wire adapted to hold food and a water disperses.

65. The animal cage of claim 64 further comprising:

at least one block attached to an inner wall of said bottom section, said edge of said food and water suspension lid being received or said block, wherein said block is positioned at a distance from a rim of said bottom section for recessing said food and water suspension lid below said rim.

66. The animal cage of claim 65 wherein said edge has a rectangular circumference and further comprising a plurality of said blocks, each of said block positioned at a corner of said edge.