JPS643443Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a compact liquid concentrator for rapidly concentrating small amounts of liquid.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, with improvements in microanalytical techniques, it has become necessary to quickly obtain concentrated solutions from small amounts of liquid samples, such as plasma, cerebrospinal fluid, chromatographic eluate, and the like. In response to this request,
In Publication No. 41103, the property of absorbing a solvent is expressed by bringing an absorbent substance into contact with a liquid sample to be concentrated through a permeable membrane, and selectively passing the solvent in the liquid sample through the membrane and absorbing it. A method of concentrating a liquid sample by absorbing it into a chemical substance has been proposed.

However, in the above method, since the concentration of the liquid proceeds only by the solvent absorption capacity of the absorbent material, there is a problem that concentration requires a long time.

In view of the above, the present invention proposes a small-sized liquid concentrator that can quickly concentrate a liquid sample.
Its gist is that it consists of a sealable box and an absorbent material that is housed inside the box and expands in volume by absorbing a solvent. A part of the surface of the absorbent substance is covered with a permeable membrane, and the other part of the surface is covered with a stretchable membrane that can stretch according to the volume expansion of the absorbent substance. It is something.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line A-A' in FIG. 1. In Figures 1 and 2, upper box 1 and lower box 2
The box body B consisting of can be hermetically sealed by means of clasps 3 provided on each of its four side wall outer surfaces. Inside the lower box 2 is a liquid sample 4 to be concentrated.
As shown in the figure, the entire internal volume of the upper box 1 is filled with absorbent material 5. As the material constituting this absorbent substance, any material can be used as long as it absorbs the solvent contained in the liquid sample 4 and swells and expands in volume. For example, when the solvent is water, acrylamide can be used. - Starch copolymer and acrylonitrile starch copolymer are used, and when the solvent is an organic solvent such as benzene or toluene, natural or synthetic rubbers such as natural rubber and butyl rubber are used. The absorbent substance 5 may be used in the form of a solid, but in order to improve the absorbency of the solvent, it may be in a form with a large absorption surface area, such as a sponge, a foam containing closed cells, a powder, or a fiber deposit. It is preferable to use A substantially central portion of the surface 51 of the absorbent material 5 that comes into contact with the liquid sample 4 is covered with a permeable membrane 6, and the remaining surface portion is covered with a stretchable membrane 7. The peripheral edge of the permeable membrane 6 and the inner peripheral edge of the extensible membrane 7 are joined to each other at the overlapping portion by thermal fusion or by using an adhesive.
In addition, the outer peripheral edge of the stretchable membrane 7 extends to the outer surface of the side wall of the upper box 1, and is sandwiched between the upper box 1 and the lower box 2 when they are sealed with the stopper 3. This part acts as a packing together with the O-ring 8 provided on the lower box 2. As a permeable membrane, it is permeable to the solvent in the liquid sample 4 and non-permeable to the components to be retained in the liquid.
A known material having so-called semi-transparent properties is used. Depending on the size of the components to be retained in the liquid, microporous membranes such as reverse osmosis membranes, ultrafiltration membranes, or relatively large pores that are impermeable only to particulate matter such as blood cells may be used. A membrane with holes or the like is appropriately selected and used depending on the type of liquid sample. The stretchable membrane 7 is made of a material that can expand to follow the volumetric expansion of the absorbent material 5, such as an elastic material such as vulcanized rubber, or metal foil pleated in a bellows shape. has been done. It goes without saying that the stretchable membrane is impermeable, at least to the components that are to remain in the liquid sample.

Next, the usage of the above embodiment and the mechanism of liquid concentration will be explained.

First, fill the lower box 2 with the liquid sample 4 to the extent that it swells using its surface tension, and then fill the lower box 2 with care so that no air bubbles remain between the membranes 6 and 7 and the liquid sample 4. An upper box 1 is placed on top of 2, and both boxes are fastened with four fasteners 3 to seal them. As a result, the solvent in the liquid sample 4 passes through the permeable membrane 6 and is absorbed by the absorbent substance 5, starting concentration. On the other hand, the absorbent substance 5 attempts to swell and expand in volume due to the absorbed solvent, and the pressure of this expansion is transmitted to the liquid sample 4 due to the stretchability of the stretchable membrane 7, and as a result, the liquid sample Since No. 4 is placed under pressure, the permeation of the solvent is promoted. In this way, in addition to the solvent absorption power inherent in the absorbent material as in conventional devices, the permeation of the solvent is promoted due to the pressurization, so that the concentration rate is extremely rapid.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the constituent members of another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an A-
A sectional view taken along the line A', and FIG. 5 a sectional view taken along the line B-B'.

In FIGS. 3 to 5, a box B containing a rectangular parallelepiped absorbent material 5 is sealed by a top lid 1 and a stopper 3 via a packing 8. As shown in FIGS. Of the six sides of the absorbent material 5, two sides are covered with the permeable membrane 6, and the remaining two sides, the top surface, and the bottom surface are an integral stretchable membrane formed to cover the four sides. covered by 7. Further, the extensible membrane 7 and the permeable membrane 6 are bonded to each other at the overlapping portion 9 by fusion or by using an adhesive.

To explain how to use this embodiment, a liquid sample 4 is contained in the space between the box B and the absorbent material 5 covered with the membranes 6 and 7, and the space is sealed. Then, the solvent in the liquid sample 4 passes through the permeable membrane 6 and is absorbed by the absorbent material 5, and as a result, the absorbent material swells.
Due to the volume expansion, the liquid sample 4 is pressurized and the concentration of the liquid sample 4 proceeds rapidly for the same reasons as explained for the previous example.

In addition, when the absorbent substance used in the present invention is a compressible material, for example, a foam, after sealing the box B, the liquid sample 4 is press-fitted into the box B,
By utilizing the stretchability of the stretchable membrane 7 to bring the absorbent substance into a compressed state, the liquid sample 4 is maintained in a pressurized state from the start of concentration, thereby further promoting concentration. It happens.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line A-A' in FIG. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the constituent members of another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A' in FIG. 3, and FIG. It is a diagram. In Figures 1 to 5, B is a sealable box, 3 is a stopper for sealing box B, 5 is an absorbent material, 6 is a permeable membrane, and 7 is a stretchable membrane. , 4 is the liquid to be concentrated housed in the box B.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] It consists of a sealable box and an absorbent material that is housed in the box and expands in volume by absorbing a solvent, and a part of the surface of the absorbent material in contact with the liquid sample to be concentrated inside the box is A small liquid concentrating device characterized in that the device is covered with a permeable membrane, and the other part of the surface is covered with an extensible membrane that can stretch according to the volume expansion of the absorbent material.