JPH11155406A - Laboratory small animal breeding equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a rearing installation for small-sized test animals that can be simply washed and sterilized. SOLUTION: This installation comprises a rack cart 10 having plural shelves 12 for placing cages 21 containing small-sized test animals and a chamber 11 that is detachably mounted to the back face of the rack cart 10 for sucking air through the individual shelves of the rack cart 10. The chamber unit 11 is equipped, on its front face, with an exhaustion chamber 30 that covers the periphery of the back face of the rack cart 10 to cause the sucking air flow and a sucking chamber 17 for sucking and exhausting the air in the exhaustion chamber 30.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an experimental small animal breeding apparatus for breeding small experimental animals such as mice.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a breeding apparatus for breeding a large number of small experimental animals such as mice is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-13175, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-79963, Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-2208, and the like. Then, a cage containing small experimental animals is placed on a multi-stage shelf, air is sucked from the front of the shelf, and exhausted from the rear.

As described above, by always providing a unidirectional air flow, air does not mix between the shelf stages, air infection can be prevented, and air diffusion can be suppressed even within the same shelf.

[0004]

However, in the conventional breeding apparatus, since the shelf and the device for air circulation are integrated, cleaning and disinfection is difficult. In particular, there is a problem that it is practically impossible to clean and disinfect the air circulation device while breeding small animals.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide an experimental small animal breeding apparatus that can be easily washed and sterilized.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rack cart in which shelves for mounting cages for accommodating small laboratory animals are formed in multiple stages, and A laboratory small animal breeding apparatus comprising: a chamber unit detachably engaged with a back surface and sucking and exhausting air through each shelf of a rack cart.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the chamber unit comprises:
The laboratory small animal breeding apparatus according to claim 1, comprising: an exhaust chamber that covers the periphery of the rear surface of the rack cart on the front surface to generate a suction flow; and a suction chamber that suctions and exhausts air in the exhaust chamber.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, an opening / closing door is provided on the front of each shelf of the rack carriage and a back plate for covering the shelf is provided on the back, and a plurality of exhaust ports are provided on the back plate in accordance with the shelf. The laboratory small animal breeding apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of suction ports having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the exhaust port are provided in the opening / closing door, and each shelf is maintained at a negative pressure.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a transparent door is provided on the rack cart to cover the front of each shelf, and clean air is supplied to the upper surface of the rack body of the rack cart between the transparent door and the front of the shelf. The laboratory small animal breeding apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a suction port.

[0010] In a fifth aspect of the present invention, the chamber unit comprises:
The laboratory small animal breeding apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising an air supply unit that forms an air curtain downward on the front surface of the rack when the rack cart is closely engaged.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 5 show a first embodiment of a small animal breeding apparatus for laboratory use according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the laboratory small animal breeding apparatus of the present invention, a rack cart 10 and a chamber unit 11 are basically separated, and the rack cart 10 is detachably engaged with the chamber unit 11. It has become.

The rack carriage 10 is mainly composed of a rack body 13 having a multi-stage shelf 12 formed thereon and casters 14 provided at four corners at the bottom of the rack body 13. The chamber unit 11 has a U-shape. Between the frames 15, a back plate 16
A suction chamber 17 is provided above the U-shaped frame 15, a filter box 19 having a filter 18 such as a HEPA filter is provided on the suction chamber 17, and a suction port 20 of the filter box 19 is provided. Is connected to a duct (not shown) connected to an exhaust fan or the like.

The rack cart 10 and the chamber unit 1
1 will be described in more detail.

On each of the shelves 12 of the rack body 13, a cage 21 for accommodating small experimental animals is provided, for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (c), two front and rear and eight in the width direction can be accommodated, and a transparent sliding door 22 is provided on the front surface thereof. For example, three suction ports 23 are formed in the door 22.
An exhaust port 25 facing the suction port 23 of the front opening / closing door 22 and having a hole diameter larger by 20 to 80% than the suction port 23 is formed in the back plate 24 covering the rear surface of the rack body 13.

As shown in FIG. 5, the chamber unit 11 is provided with a seal frame 27 on the front surface of the U-shaped frame 15, and a packing 28 made of rubber or the like is attached to the seal frame 27. Is closely contacted with the periphery of the back plate 24 of the rack carriage 10, and an exhaust chamber 30 for generating a suction flow between the back plate 24 and the back plate 16 of the chamber unit 11 is formed.

The upper part of the seal frame 27 is opened to the suction chamber 17, the exhaust chamber 30 communicates with the suction chamber 17, and the suction chamber 17 is suctioned to make the exhaust chamber 30 a negative pressure.

A caster 31 is provided at the bottom of the frame 15.

The rack carriage 10 and the chamber unit 11 are connected by joint fittings 32 provided on the upper and lower sides of both sides thereof. The joint fitting 32 is connected to the rack body 13.
Engaging rack 33 is provided on the shelf 12 of the rack unit. The engaging rack 33 detachably engages with the engaging rack 33 on the side of the chamber unit 11, and draws the rack carriage 10 toward the chamber unit 11 when engaged. The rear plate 24 of the carriage 10 includes an engagement lever 34 that comes into close contact with the packing 28 of the seal frame 27.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the chamber unit 11
Is moved to the exhaust chamber 30 of the chamber unit 11, and the rear plate 24 of the rack cart 10 is brought into contact with the packing 28 of the seal frame 27. Can be tightly integrated by engaging with the engaging claw 33 and can be detached by the joint fitting 32, so that the inside of the chamber unit 11 can be easily cleaned. Further, the rack carriage 10 can be sterilized by an autoclave (not shown) as it is when the cage 21 accommodating the small laboratory animal is moved.

When the rack cart 10 is mounted on the chamber unit 11 and a cage 21 containing small laboratory animals is placed on each shelf 12 for rearing, the exhaust chamber 30 is passed from the filter box 19 through the suction chamber 17. Is maintained at a negative pressure, whereby air is sucked into the shelf 12 from the suction port 23 of each opening / closing door 22 of each shelf 12, as shown in FIG.
The air flows into the exhaust chamber 30 from the exhaust port 25 through the shelf 12, is cleaned from the suction chamber 17 through the filter box 19, and is exhausted by the exhaust fan.

As described above, a one-way airflow is constantly generated on the respective shelves 12 in the forward and backward directions, so that the influence of the infection can be eliminated even within the same shelf 12 as well as between the different shelves 12. And air under the same conditions can be always supplied to each shelf 12.

In particular, since the hole diameter of the suction port 23 of the opening / closing door 22 is formed small with respect to the exhaust port 25 on the rear surface, the inside of the shelf 12 is always kept at a negative pressure with respect to the breeding room. In addition, even if the opening / closing door 22 is opened, the air in the shelf 12 is prevented from going outside through the opening, so that secondary infection and the like can be reliably prevented.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the present invention.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the chamber unit 11 has been described as being capable of traveling independently of the rack carriage 10, but in the present embodiment, the chamber unit 11 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (c), the rack cart 10 is the same as the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 5, but the chamber unit 40 is supported by the rack cart 10 instead of running independently. is there.

As shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b), the chamber unit 40 includes a suction chamber unit 42 having a pre-filter unit 41 detachably mounted on the upper surface of the rack carriage 10 with a joint fitting 32. An exhaust chamber unit 43 is provided on the rear plate 24 of the rack cart 10 so as to be detachable with the joint fitting 32. The suction chamber of the suction chamber unit 42 and the exhaust chamber in the exhaust chamber unit 43 are connected to the rack cart 10. By mounting, the suction air flow is generated on each shelf 12 of the rack carriage 10 as in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 5.

In this embodiment, the chamber unit 40
Is mounted on the rack trolley 10, the mobility is good, and the chamber unit 40 can be disassembled into the suction chamber unit 42 and the exhaust chamber unit 43, so that cleaning and sterilization becomes easy.

FIG. 7 shows still another embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the chamber unit 11 is the same as the chamber unit 11 of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, but is a modification of the rack carriage 45.

In this embodiment, transparent doors 48 and 48 made of a transparent plate 47 such as a glass plate are provided on the front of the rack body 46 so as to be openable and closable, and a space is provided in front of the shelf 12. A slit-shaped suction port 49 with a filter is formed at the front.

In this case, when the transparent doors 48, 48 are opened, all the shelves 12 in each stage are opened, so that the open / close door 22 shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 is provided.

In the present embodiment, the rack body 46
Of the rack body 46 is closed by transparent doors 48, 48.
Since air is sucked in from the suction port 49 formed in front of the upper surface and clean air flows to each shelf 12, it is possible to prevent human-animal cross-contamination.

FIG. 8 shows still another embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the rack carriage 10 is the same as the rack carriage 10 of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, but is a modification of the chamber unit 50.

The chamber unit 50 is basically the same as the chamber unit 11 of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, except that the air flow which serves as an air curtain is provided in front of the suction chamber 17 and in front of the rack carriage 10. The air supply unit 51 that blows out the air is attached.

The air supply unit 51 includes the suction chamber 1
7 is isolated from the inside of the chamber 17 and the chamber 1
7 and an air supply chamber 53 having an air outlet 52 at a lower front part thereof,
And an air supply device 54 that is provided on the upper surface of the air supply chamber 3 and supplies clean air into the air supply chamber 53.

In this embodiment, a downward airflow is always generated on the front surface of the rack carriage 10, so that the airflow acts as an air curtain, thereby preventing human-animal cross-contamination.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made.

For example, in the figure, the shelf 12 of the rack
Has been described in the example of four stages, but may be three stages or five or more stages,
Further, the opening / closing door 22 has been described as an example of the sliding type, but may be of the double door type. Further, the example in which the casters 31 are provided at the bottom of the frame 15 has been described. It may be installed directly on the floor.

Also, in the embodiment of FIG. 7, an example has been described in which room air can be directly sucked through the suction port 49. However, a duct is connected to the suction port 49, and this duct is connected to the supply port shown in FIG. The air may be connected to the air unit 54 or an air conditioner to supply the air-conditioned and purified air into the rack carriage 10.

[0043]

In summary, according to the present invention, since the rack cart and the chamber unit are detachable, cleaning and sterilization can be easily performed. Further, the inside of the rack carriage can always be maintained at a negative pressure with respect to the rearing room.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which the rack cart and the chamber unit of FIG. 1 are closely engaged.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the rack cart shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2 (b).

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Rack trolley 11 Chamber unit 12 Shelf 21 Cage

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A rack truck having a multi-stage rack on which a cage for accommodating a small laboratory animal is placed, and detachably engaged with the back surface of the rack truck to suck and exhaust air through each shelf of the rack truck. A laboratory small animal breeding apparatus, comprising: 2. The small animal for experiments according to claim 1, wherein the chamber unit includes an exhaust chamber that covers the periphery of the rear surface of the rack cart on the front surface to generate a suction flow, and a suction chamber that suctions and exhausts air in the exhaust chamber. Breeding equipment. 3. An opening / closing door is provided on the front of each shelf of the rack carriage, and a back plate for covering the shelf is provided on the back, and a plurality of air outlets are provided on the back plate in accordance with the shelf. 3. The door according to claim 1, wherein the door is provided with a plurality of suction ports having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the exhaust port, and each shelf is maintained at a negative pressure.
The laboratory small animal breeding apparatus according to the above. 4. A rack car is provided with a transparent door covering the front of each shelf, and a suction port for supplying clean air between the transparent door and the front of the shelf is provided on the upper surface of the rack body of the rack car. An experimental small animal breeding apparatus according to claim 1. 5. The laboratory small animal breeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the chamber unit has an air supply unit that forms an air curtain downward on the front surface of the rack when the rack carriage is closely engaged. .