JPH0443230Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] <Industrial application field> The present invention relates to a continuous freezing device for drug solutions such as those used for filling vials or syringes using liquefied nitrogen, which speeds up the freezing process and To provide a freezing device that can operate smoothly.

<Prior art> Conventionally, drugs were frozen into powder using liquefied nitrogen.
For example, vials filled with chemical solutions were immersed one by one in a cryogenic bath of liquefied nitrogen, so to speak, in batch fashion.

<Problems to be solved by the invention> In the above-mentioned conventional technology, the productivity of frozen chemicals is poor due to the batch method.

Therefore, it is conceivable to increase productivity by continuously immersing the vials in a liquefied nitrogen bath, but it is difficult to find a good positional relationship between the bath and the heat radiation protective case that covers it, for example.

In other words, if the two are brought close to each other in order to suppress the heat dissipation of liquefied nitrogen, condensation of several millimeters may form in the gap between them, and this may grow and hinder the continuous transportation of vials. If the two are separated to prevent condensation, there is a risk that the cooling energy of the liquefied nitrogen will be wasted.

The technical problem of the present invention is to improve the productivity of frozen drugs and to operate the freezing device smoothly.

<Means for Solving the Problems> Means for achieving the above problems will be described below with reference to drawings showing embodiments.

That is, the present invention includes a transport device 4 for a chemical liquid filling container 1, a freezing tank 2 for the container 1, and a heat radiation protection case 3 covering the freezing tank 2.
and a forced exhaust device 5 that forcibly exhausts the inside of the protective case 3. A long freezing tank 2 is arranged in the front and back inside the freezing chamber 6 of the heat radiation protection case 3, and the left and right upper walls 7 of the freezing tank 2 are The cooling tank 2 is placed close to the inner surface 8 of the upper wall of the heat radiation protection case 3, and the freezing tank 2 is filled with liquefied nitrogen. The forced exhaust device 5 is constructed by interposing a blower 13 in the air blower 13 , the air suction part 14 of the air passage 12 is connected to the freezing chamber 6 of the heat radiation protection case 3 , and the conveyor 4 is used to move the air along the conveyor path 11 . The sent container 1 is immersed in a freezing tank 2 so that the chemical solution can be continuously frozen, and the nitrogen gas generated when the liquefied nitrogen is heated by the chemical solution is forcibly exhausted from the freezing chamber 6 to the outside via the air passage 12. This is a continuous chemical freezing device using liquefied nitrogen, characterized in that it is configured to:

<Function> Since the chemical liquid filling container 1 is continuously conveyed to the freezing tank 2 by the conveying device 4 and immersed in the chemical liquefied nitrogen one after another, the chemical liquid can be automatically frozen into a powder and its productivity can be improved.

In this case, the freezing tank 2 arranged in the freezing chamber 6 of the heat radiation protection case 3 is configured so that its left and right upper walls 7 are close to the upper wall inner surface 8 of the heat radiation protection case 3. The cold energy of the chemical liquefied nitrogen filled in the freezing tank 2 is directed to freezing the chemical liquid filling container 1, and wasteful heat dissipation throughout the freezing chamber 6 is suppressed, thereby increasing the freezing efficiency.

In addition, when the chemical solution is immersed, a portion of the liquefied nitrogen heated by the relatively high temperature chemical solution becomes nitrogen gas and vaporizes, and as described above, the freezing tank 2 which approaches and faces the
The dew tends to come into contact with the upper wall 7 and the upper wall inner surface 8 of the heat radiation protection case 3.

Incidentally, the above-mentioned proximate portion is located around the conveyance path 11 of the conveyance device 4, and there is a risk that dew condensation may have an adverse effect on this conveyance mechanism. Since the air is exhausted, dew condensation in the vicinity is smoothly prevented.

<Effects of the invention> (1) The container filled with chemical liquid is continuously immersed in the liquefied nitrogen in the freezing tank using the transport device, and the left and right upper walls of the freezing tank are brought close to the inner surface of the upper wall of the heat radiation protection case, so that the frozen powdered chemical In addition to improving productivity,
It is also possible to improve the efficiency of using cold energy in freezing processing.

(2) Even if some of the liquefied nitrogen vaporizes and nitrogen gas is generated due to immersion in the chemical solution, this nitrogen gas is forcibly exhausted outside the freezing chamber by the forced exhaust device, and condensation occurs in the vicinity of the freezing tank and the heat dissipation armor case. Therefore, there is no problem with the operation of the conveying device, and the freezing operation can be continued smoothly.

<Example> Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a front view schematic system diagram of a continuous chemical freezing device using liquefied nitrogen, Fig. 2 is a schematic longitudinal right side view of the device, and Fig. 3 is a schematic plan view of the device. It is composed of a transport device 4, a freezing tank 2, a heat radiation protection case 3, a forced exhaust device 5, and a liquefied nitrogen supply device 18.

A long freezing tank 2 is arranged in the freezing chamber 6 of the protective heat dissipation case 3 in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped, and the side walls of the freezing tank 2 are thickly covered with a heat insulating material 16 such as foamed resin. is made to approach and face the inner surface 8 of the upper wall of the heat radiation protection case 3.

The liquefied nitrogen cylinder 19 is connected to the freezing tank 2 through a supply line 20 to constitute the liquefied nitrogen supply device 18, and the supply device 18 supplies the storage section 1 of the freezing tank 2.
Supply and store liquefied nitrogen to 7.

As shown in FIG. 1, the liquefied nitrogen supply device 18 controls when the liquid level detected by the liquid level detector 21 attached to the freezing tank 2 becomes lower than the set liquid level of the control device 15 due to consumption of liquefied nitrogen. The device 15 is configured to open an electromagnetic on-off valve 22 interposed in a supply line 20 to automatically fill the freezing tank 2 with liquefied nitrogen.

The conveyance device 4 is composed of a power chain conveyor mechanism, and as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, it has a conveyance path 11 formed in a closed loop, a chain 23 passing through the inside of the conveyance path 11, and a chain 23 connected to the conveyance path 11. It is composed of a truck 25 that travels within the conveyance path 11, a container holder 26 suspended from the truck 25, and an electric motor 24 that drives the chain 23.

In order to prevent frost formation around the transport path 11, the lower surface 31 of the rail portion of the transport path 11 and the inner surface 32 of the arm that supports the transport path 11 raised from the heat radiation protection case 3 are covered with a heat insulating agent 33.

A part of the conveyance path 11 runs in the front and back direction of the upper part 10 of the heat dissipation protective case 3, and as shown in FIG. , the central part of the protective case 3 is formed at a low level close to the freezing tank 2.

Further, the container holder 26 holds a container 1 (glass bottle, plastic container, etc.), and the container 1 is filled with a liquid medicine such as a filling liquid for a vial, a blood product, or a vaccine.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, this chemical liquid filling container 1 is transported by a carry-in conveyor 28 that runs on the front side of the heat radiation protection case 3, and then is gripped by a container holder 26 that runs on a transport path 11 and frozen. After being immersed in the freezing tank 2 in the chamber 6 and transferred to the outside of the freezing chamber 6, it is removed from the conveyance path 11 and carried out by the carrying-out conveyor 29 running behind the heat radiation protection case 3.

The switching operation between gripping and removing the container holder 26 from the chemical liquid filling container 1 may be performed manually, or the transfer device 4 may be equipped with a control device (the control device 15 of the liquefied nitrogen supply device 18 is also used). (or a dedicated device may be provided for the transport device 4) may be linked and automatically performed by the control device.

Further, the forced exhaust device 5 may be connected to an air blowing path 12;
The blower 13 installed in the air passage 12 and the air passage 12
A butterfly valve 27 attached near the inlet of the air intake section 14 of the air passage 12 corresponding to the upper side of the air blower 13 is communicated with the freezing chamber 6 of the heat radiation protection case 3.

Therefore, the functions of this continuous chemical freezing device using liquefied nitrogen will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, the chemical solution filled containers 1 transported by the transport conveyor 28 are held by the container holders 26 on the transport path 11 and transported to the freezing chamber 6 in the heat radiation protection case 3, where they are sequentially frozen. After being immersed in the liquefied nitrogen stored in the tank 2, it is transferred from the conveyance path 11 to the carry-out conveyor 29 and carried out.

Therefore, the drug solution filled in the container 1 is continuously frozen and powdered, and the productivity of powdered drugs is greatly improved.

In this case, the left and right upper walls 7 of the freezing chamber 2 are brought close to the upper wall inner surface 8 of the heat radiation protection case 3 to suppress wasteful radiation of the cold heat of the liquefied nitrogen to the entire freezing chamber 6, so the freezing process can improve the efficiency of cooling and heat utilization.

Further, when the chemical solution filling container 1 is immersed in liquefied nitrogen, a part of the heated liquefied nitrogen becomes nitrogen gas and vaporizes.
Since the air is forcibly exhausted to the outside of the air passage 12, dew does not form in the area where the freezing tank 2 and the protective case 3 are close to each other.

Incidentally, since the proximate portion is close to the conveyance path 11, there is a risk that condensation will have an adverse effect on the conveyance mechanism, but in this embodiment, where condensation can be prevented as described above, the operation of the conveyance device will not be hindered and the operation will be smooth. condensation work can be continued.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1 is a front view schematic system diagram of a continuous freezing layer device for chemical liquids using liquefied nitrogen, Fig. 2 is a schematic longitudinal right side view of the outer layer, and Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the device. FIG. 1... Chemical solution filling container, 2... Freezing tank, 3... Heat radiation protection case, 4... Transfer device, 5... Forced exhaust device, 6... Freezing chamber, 7... Left and right upper walls of 2, 8
...Inner surface of the top wall of 3, 10...Top of 3, 11...
4 conveyance path, 12... air passage, 13... air blower,
14... 12 air suction parts, 15... Forced exhaust device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of claim for utility model registration] A transport device 4 for a chemical liquid filling container 1, a freezing tank 2 for the container 1, and a heat radiation protection case 3 covering the freezing tank 2.
and a forced exhaust device 5 that forcibly exhausts the inside of the protective case 3. A long freezing tank 2 is arranged in the front and rear inside the freezing chamber 6 of the heat radiation protection case 3, and the left and right upper walls 7 of the freezing tank 2 are used to radiate heat. Close to the inner surface 8 of the upper wall of the protective case 3,
Fill the freezing tank 2 with liquefied nitrogen and install the heat radiation protection case 3.
A conveying path 11 of the conveying device 4 is provided in the front and back direction on the upper part 10 of the air blowing path 12, and a blower 13 is interposed in the air blowing path 12 to constitute the forced exhaust device 5. 3, the container 1 sent along the transport path 11 by the transport device 4 is immersed in the freezing tank 2 so that the chemical solution can be continuously frozen, and the liquefied nitrogen is heated by the chemical solution. 1. A continuous chemical freezing device using liquefied nitrogen, characterized in that the nitrogen gas produced by the liquefied nitrogen is forcibly exhausted from the freezing chamber 6 to the outside through an air blowing path 12.