JPH0923877A - incubator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To provide an incubator that can cool as well as heat, at a low cost, while minimizing the temperature change and temperature gradient in the incubator to minimize the effect on incubation and culture. [Constitution] Part or all of the wall surrounding the article storage space of the incubator is constituted by a heat transfer wall having a large heat capacity made of a material having good heat conductivity, and one of the thermoelectric conversion elements is provided at an appropriate position on the outer surface of the heat transfer wall. A heat exchanger is provided on the other heat absorbing and radiating surface of the thermoelectric conversion element while closely mounting the heat absorbing and radiating surface,
An incubator, characterized in that the other part of the heat transfer wall is covered with a heat insulating material.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of an incubator used for artificially hatching chicken or fish eggs, and for culturing and preserving microorganisms or enzymes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, in this type of apparatus, an electric heater and a blower are installed in a heat insulating box, and the electric heater is controlled according to a measured value of a temperature sensor provided inside to adjust the temperature inside the room. .

[0003]

According to the device of this structure, the temperature inside the room can be easily adjusted, but the temperature rises sharply when the electric heater is energized, and the temperature rises when the energization is stopped. However, there is a drawback in that the temperature change is large and the incubation and culture are adversely affected because the temperature tends to drop.

Further, in the case where the function of lowering the room temperature below the outside temperature is required, a cooling circuit by a refrigerator must be provided separately, and there is a drawback that the cost such as equipment cost becomes high. It was

[0005]

It is an object of the present invention to provide an incubator which can cool not only heating but also cooling, as well as reducing the influence on the incubation and culture by minimizing the temperature change and temperature gradient in the incubator. It is intended.

A first aspect of the present invention is to provide a part of or a whole wall surrounding an article storage space of an incubator,
It is composed of a heat transfer wall having a large capacity made of a material having good thermal conductivity, and one of the heat absorbing and radiating surfaces of the thermoelectric conversion element is closely attached to an appropriate place on the outer surface of the heat transfer wall and the other side of the thermoelectric conversion element is absorbed. In the incubator, a heat exchanger is provided on the heat radiation surface, and the other part of the heat transfer wall is covered with a heat insulating material.

A second aspect of the present invention is to provide at least three or more walls surrounding a rectangular article storage space of an incubator, and a heat conductive slab that allows the three or more walls to conduct heat to each other. And a heat exchanger is provided on the other heat absorbing / releasing surface of the thermoelectric conversion element, and one heat absorbing / releasing surface of the thermoelectric conversion element is closely attached to one surface of the heat transfer wall. The incubator is characterized in that the outer surface of the heat transfer wall except the exchanger is covered with a heat insulating material.

A third gist of the present invention is that a part of the wall or the entire wall is constituted by a heat transfer wall having a large heat capacity and made of a material having good heat conductivity, and the thermoelectric conversion element is provided at an appropriate position on the outer surface of the heat transfer wall. One heat absorbing / dissipating surface is closely attached, a heat exchanger is provided on the other heat absorbing / dissipating surface of the thermoelectric conversion element, and the other part of the heat transfer wall is covered with a heat insulating material to form an article storage space. In addition, the incubator is characterized by providing a box-shaped shelf that has a large number of ventilation holes and can be freely taken in and out from the door.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on examples.

[0009]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, avoiding complication, it is illustrated as a case where the egg or the like is used as an incubator for storage at a temperature higher than room temperature, but it is used for culturing microorganisms or enzymes at a temperature lower than room temperature. Of course, it does not exclude. An incubator 1 having a door 2 that can be opened and closed to cover a front opening 3 has a rectangular storage space 4 for storing poultry eggs and the like, and, together with the door 2, has corrosion resistance and heat conductivity such as a stainless steel thin plate. An inner case 5 made of the provided material surrounds the storage space 4 in a gas- and liquid-tightly closed state except for the peripheral edge of the opening that closes the door 2.

On the outer surface of the inner case, welding bolts 6, 6, ... Are erected at a plurality of points at right angles to the surface. On the outer side of the inner case 5, five heat transfer plates 8a to 8e made of an aluminum thick plate are provided in close contact with each other, and the heat transfer wall enclosing five surfaces of the box-shaped storage space 4 excluding the opening. Are configured. Bolt holes 9 are formed in the respective heat transfer plates in correspondence with the positions of the welding bolts 6 ,.
The bolt hole 9 is provided with a nut chamber 9a having a stepwise enlarged diameter near the outer surface of the heat transfer plate, and the length of the bolt 6 is smaller than the thickness of the heat transfer plate. Even if the heat transfer plates 8a to 8e and the inner case are tightly fixed by tightening the nut by setting to, the bolts and nuts do not project to the outer surfaces of the heat transfer plates 8a to 8e.

Further, the abutting portions of the peripheral portions of the heat transfer plates are firmly and closely fixed to each other by screw bolts 7, 7, .... In a location on the outer surface of such a box-shaped heat transfer wall, preferably near the center of the outer surface of the heat transfer plate 8a equidistant from each heat transfer plate, the thermoelectric conversion element 11 is in a state where its heat absorption surface is in close contact. A heat-conductive block body 13 made of the same material as the heat transfer plate is provided with a heat-conductive surface on which a liquid flow path is bored in a meandering shape, and cooling is performed at the inlet and outlet of the flow path. An exchanger as a radiator 12, which is formed by connecting the water conduits 14 and 14, is closely provided so that heat can be exchanged. The surface of the heat transfer wall, excluding the radiator 12, is covered with a heat insulating material 10 such as polyurethane foam. As described above, since the heat transfer wall has no protrusions such as bolts, the heat transfer wall is sufficiently adhered to the heat transfer wall with a plate-shaped heat insulating material, and the foam molding step is unnecessary.

In the above embodiment, the heat transfer wall made of a material having good heat conductivity is made to butt against a thick metal plate made of aluminum, copper or the like with its end faces smoothed and fixed by screws, bolts or the like.
As shown in FIG. 4, this is closely fixed, but it is made of a lightweight casting alloy such as an aluminum alloy or a copper alloy, which is lightweight, and has a five-sided shape except for the door opening 21. 22a to 22e are formed as seamless one-piece castings, and the inner surface thereof is coated with a chemical resistant coating according to the characteristics of the casting alloy, for example, by performing alumite treatment in the case of aluminum alloy castings. In this case, the manufacturing man-hour can be greatly reduced. Further, as a heat exchanger, a large number of heat radiation fins 24 are integrally formed on the block body 23 having good heat conduction so that the cross-sectional shape is comb-shaped.
It may be of a type in which this is surrounded by a duct (not shown) and forcedly cooled.

Next, when the temperature in the storage space 4 is lower than the outside air temperature, the flow direction of the electric current of the thermoelectric conversion element 11 may be changed and reversed. By switching the polarity, the heating and cooling surfaces are changed, and the surface of the storage space 4 in contact with the heat conductive member 8 is also cooled, so that the storage space 4 is also cooled and the temperature is lowered.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, a box-shaped shelf 31 having a large number of ventilation holes 32 that can be freely taken in and out from the door portion 3 is housed in a storage space and a culture container is placed on the shelf 31. Even in such a case, it is used in the same way as the embodiment of FIG. 1 during normal use. The effect of this embodiment is that the cleaning property is good. That is, by pulling out the shelf 31 and taking it out of the apparatus, the shelf 31 itself can be easily washed. Furthermore, since the storage space 4 does not have unevenness such as shelving, it can be washed easily without getting dirty. Has an easy effect.

When used as an incubator in a carbon dioxide environment, a cylinder, a concentration adjuster and the like can be connected to the article storage space and used as in a normal carbon dioxide incubator.

[0016]

[Effect] In the incubator of the present application, the entire wall surface that surrounds the storage space is configured by the heat transfer wall, and one surface of this heat transfer wall is cooled by the thermoelectric conversion element. By exerting on the entire wall surface that surrounds the storage space, the interior of the room can be uniformly cooled by being wrapped by the heat transfer surface. Therefore, a fan for stirring the air in the room is not always necessary, but by providing the fan, the uniformity of the temperature distribution in the room and the cooling effect are further improved.

Further, since the thick heat transfer wall having a large heat capacity has a high heat storage effect, heat is prevented from entering the room through the wall surface, and the fluctuation of the room temperature is extremely small. In addition, even if the cooling capacity fluctuates due to a power failure or a refrigerator failure, the heat transfer wall keeps changes in the room temperature to a minimum for a certain period of time, causing unexpected alteration of the eggs, etc. It is possible to prevent a situation that causes Further, even if the refrigerator is detached at the time of failure or maintenance of the refrigerator, the effect on the room temperature can be made smaller than that of the conventional one.

Further, since it is not necessary to expose the cooling fins in the storage space, an opening for penetrating the electronic refrigerator in the wall surface is not required when mounting the refrigerator, and the airtight structure between the refrigerator and the opening periphery is provided. There is no troublesome work such as securing
Insulation processing, assembly, production of a structure that shields the storage space from the outside are easy, and the cost reduction effect is high.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional explanatory view showing a fixing structure of a heat transfer plate and an inner case in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a combined state of the heat transfer wall and the electronic refrigerator of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional explanatory view showing a main part of a second embodiment of the present invention with a heat insulating material coating removed.

FIG. 5 is a sectional explanatory view showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Incubator 2 Door 3 Opening 4 Storage Space 5 Inner Case 6 Welding Bolt 7 Screw Bolt 8a to e Heat Transfer Plate 9 Bolt Hole 10 Heat Insulating Material 11 Thermoelectric Converter 12 Water Cooling Radiator 13 Heat Conductive Block 14 Conduit 21 Door Opening 22a-e 5 surface 23 Block body 24 Radiating fin 31 Shelf 32 Vent hole

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A part or the whole of a wall surrounding an article storage space of an incubator is formed of a heat transfer wall having a large heat capacity and made of a material having good heat conductivity, and a thermoelectric conversion element is provided at an appropriate position on an outer surface of the heat transfer wall. An incubator in which one heat absorbing / dissipating surface is closely attached, a heat exchanger is provided on the other heat absorbing / dissipating surface of the thermoelectric conversion element, and the other part of the heat transfer wall is covered with a heat insulating material. 2. A heat transfer wall composed of a heat-conductive thick plate in such a manner that at least three or more walls surrounding a rectangular article storage space of an incubator are heat conductive to each other. The incubator according to claim 1, wherein the incubator is formed. 3. A wall or a part of the wall is constituted by a heat transfer wall having a large heat capacity, which is made of a material having good heat conductivity, and one of the heat absorbing and radiating surfaces of the thermoelectric conversion element is brought into close contact with an appropriate position on the outer surface of the heat transfer wall. A heat exchanger is provided on the other heat absorbing / dissipating surface of the thermoelectric conversion element, and the other part of the heat transfer wall is covered with a heat insulating material to form an article storage space, and at the same time, a large number of outer surfaces are provided. An incubator, which is provided with a box-shaped shelf that has a ventilation hole and can be freely taken in and out from a door portion.