Patent Grant
10486170
This patent application claims priority to German patent application no. DE 10 2015 113 855.7, filed Aug. 20, 2015. German patent application no. DE 10 2015 113 855.7, filed Aug. 20, 2015, is incorporated herein by reference hereto in its entirety.
The invention relates to a rotor of a centrifuge as well as to a centrifuge with a rotor of this type.
A multitude of rotors for centrifuges are known from the prior art which each have a receiving chamber that can be sealed with a lid. This protects the centrifuge and the environment from contamination in the event of a vessel rupture.
Operation safety will be increased if a mechanism is provided which locks the closure of the lid. For example, the closure can include a latching element which has an activating element provided on the top of the lid, for example a pushbutton. The latching element may furthermore be spring-loaded in a locking direction thereof so that it will automatically latch into engagement when the lid is closed, and will only be deactivated by pressing down on the pushbutton. Locking and unlocking the lid in this way is very convenient for the user.
However, practice has shown that especially with solutions of the type which enable particularly simple unlocking of the lid, there is the inherent risk of the locking device being released unintentionally. Because the lid often has a handle which can be used to carry the rotor with the lid in place. If the locking device is inadvertently deactivated in transport, the rotor will become detached from the rotor and fall to the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,331 B discloses a centrifuge whose lid can be detached from the rotor by means of a quick-release fastener without the aid of a tool. The rotor in turn is screwed to a drive shaft. The screw can be released using a special tool. For this purpose, the tool is inserted through a pushbutton of the quick-release fastener. To prevent the pushbutton from being activated inadvertently, it is located in a recess provided in the handle. Nonetheless, even in this configuration, the pushbutton may still be pressed by accident, thus causing the lid to become detached from the rotor carried by means of the handle.
It is the object of the invention to create a rotor which avoids the above mentioned shortcomings and which has a lid with a handle for carrying the rotor with the lid in place, wherein said rotor and lid are adapted to be interlocked by means of a quick-release fastener and the locking is secured against being released for as long as the rotor is carried by means of the handle.
The invention is based on the finding that by securing the locking of the rotor to the lid in the handle, the above mentioned disadvantages can be avoided in a simple manner.
In accordance with the invention, the rotor of a centrifuge comprises a receiving chamber for samples to be centrifuged, a concentrically mounted seat which is associated with a support of a drive shaft of the centrifuge, a lid which delimits the receiving chamber at the top and which is concentrically mounted with respect to the rotor and on whose far side, with respect to the receiving space, a handle is provided for carrying the rotor and the lid is provided. Furthermore, the rotor includes a locking mechanism for locking the lid onto the rotor, which locking mechanism comprises a locking element that can be moved between a locking position and an unlocking position thereof and which is provided in the form of a quick-release fastener. No additional tool is required for the quick-release fastener. In accordance with the present invention, the handle is designed to be partially movable and is operatively connected to a retaining element which can be moved, by means of the handle, between a first position thereof which prevents actuation of the locking element, and a second position thereof which releases the locking element. This allows the handle to be fixed in a position, preferably for carrying the rotor, in which the retaining element is activated so that actuating the locking element will be prevented and the locking mechanism will thus remain in either the locking position or the unlocking position until the position of the handle is changed again. This contributes to avoiding user errors and improves the safety of the rotor.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the retaining element is designed as a cover element which, in an activated state thereof, prevents access to the locking element, and/or the retaining element is designed as a blocking element which, in an activated state thereof, fixes the locking element in a locking position thereof. If activation of the cover element and/or of the blocking element has been chosen appropriately, this will prevent unintentional release of the locking mechanism in transport, thus preventing the rotor from falling off, which improves the safety of the rotor considerably.
In one aspect of the invention, the lid includes a support for the locking element. This stabilizes the locking mechanism, thus reducing the incidence of errors.
It is very advantageous for the support to be mounted concentrically relative to the bearing body which is located in the lid and which is firmly connected thereto, which bearing body more specifically takes the form of a cylinder. This will further increase the stability of the locking mechanism.
It is expedient to mount the handle concentrically with respect to the bearing body and to adapt it to be movable relative to the bearing body. The handle can thus be given an additional function which it fulfils when it is being moved relative to the bearing body. For example, the handle can be connected to a further element in such a way that moving the handle in the one direction will activate said element and moving the handle in the respective other direction will deactivate said element.
The handle is preferably integrally formed with the activatable blocking element and adapted to be movable, together with the blocking element, relative to the bearing body, between a first position which blocks the locking element in a locking position and a second position which releases the locking element. It should be noted here that moving the locking element from the locking position into the unlocking position will only be possible when the locking element is in the second position.
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, it has proven advantageous to displace the handle from the first position to the second position and vice versa along the rotor axis on the bearing body. Because the handle will also be moved along the axis of rotation for inserting the rotor into the centrifuge as well as for removing the rotor from the centrifuge, displacing the handle for activating/deactivating the blocking element and displacing the handle for removal/insertion will be coaxial movements. This will save the user an additional movement, thus facilitating operation of the rotor.
It is expedient for a movement of the handle together with the blocking element away from the lid to correspond to a movement into the first position, and a movement of the handle together with the blocking element towards the lid to correspond to a movement into the second position. Provided the locking element has not been previously moved into the unlocking position, lifting the handle will thus activate the blocking element, and the rotor will be lifted together with the lid. Owing to the force of gravity acting on the rotor, the handle with the blocking element will remain in the first position remote from the lid, which position blocks the locking element and thus prevents it from being inadvertently released. This arrangement thus ensures reliable blocking of the locking elements and considerably increases the safety of the rotor in transport.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the handle is spring-loaded in the direction of the lid. This will cause the handle together with the blocking element to automatically move into the second position as soon as the rotor is inserted into a centrifuge or placed on a surface, the operator releases the handle and thus no force is exerted on the handle any more in a direction away from the lid. The locking element can then be moved into an unlocking position. This automatic movement of the handle saves the user another movement which in turn facilitates operation of the rotor.
In one aspect of the invention the locking mechanism reaches through part of the handle, in particular on a side thereof. This makes the locking mechanism readily accessible which increases the ease of use of the rotor. At the same time, it will be easier to distinguish activation/deactivation of the locking mechanism and of the blocking device from each other haptically. These two actions can be distinguished from each other particularly well if the directions of activation of the locking mechanism and the blocking device are at approximately right angles to each other. This further increases the safety of the rotor.
In another embodiment of the invention, the locking element is a tilt lever. Tilt levers are well suited for interlocking two components in a way that can be released without difficulty, and are easy to install. This reduces both the design effort as well as the costs. In addition, tilt levers can be used to bridge spaces in a vertical direction, thus resulting in further options for optimizing the design.
It is considered advantageous for the tilt lever to be spring-loaded in the direction of the locking position. This will ensure secure automatic locking of the lid when placed onto the rotor and thus facilitates operation of the rotor.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the lower end of the tilt lever is provided in the form of a latching element which, in the locking position, will engage a groove provided in the rotor and which is open towards the receiving chamber. Pressing down on the upper end of the tilt lever will release the lever from the locking position. The dimensions of the one or plural tilt lever(s), their supports and the arrangement of the tilt axis can easily be chosen such that a locking action is obtained which is first of all sufficiently stable to safely transport the rotor via the handle of the locked lid and which, secondly, can be released quickly by the operator after transport. As a result, the lid and the rotor will be interlocked in a safe and at the same time flexible manner.
In another aspect of the invention, a blocking device is provided for fixing the rotor relative to the drive shaft of the centrifuge, in which an activating element is mounted in the lid for activating the blocking device, which element will be accessible when the lid is in place. Consequently, the blocking device can be activated and deactivated without first having to remove the lid from the rotor. This is of particular advantage, for example, if contamination of the environment has to be prevented after a vessel has ruptured inside the rotor. The rotor can then be disconnected from the drive shaft and removed from the centrifuge with the lid still in place. This will ensure even safer operation of the rotor.
Preferably, the blocking device includes a blocking unit which can be moved between a blocking position and a release position thereof by means of the activating element. The activating element can easily be integrated into a simple pushing or sliding mechanism. This is an inexpensive way of achieving secure locking and unlocking of the rotor with only little constructional effort.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the blocking unit is spring-loaded in the direction of the blocking position. This blocking device will thus be activated into the blocking position by the insertion of the rotor, without any additional manual action.
It is advantageous for the activating element to be capable of being actuated in a direction parallel to a rotor axis. As a result, locking and unlocking of the rotor will be in parallel to the direction in which the rotor is inserted into the centrifuge and/or the rotor is removed from the centrifuge. The activating element can thus be integrated even more easily into the rotor, thus minimizing the risk of the blocking device getting jammed.
In order to further facilitate the use of the rotor for the operator, it has proven advantageous to support at least part of the activating element in the handle. This facilitates one-handed activation of the activating element since the handle will simultaneously function as a guide for the activating element and as a support for the operator's hand.
Preferably, on the far end of the activating element, with respect to the blocking unit, a pushbutton is provided, at least part of which will be outside the handle when the activating element is in the blocking position. The longitudinal extension of the pushbutton portion which is outside the handle will correspond to at least a lifting height h required to unlock the blocking device. Thus the blocking device can be deactivated by a simple pressing action which is particularly convenient for the user.
According to the invention, a centrifuge is furthermore provided which comprises a drive and a drive shaft, which latter has the seat of a support for a rotor as mentioned above abutting on its free end.
In one aspect of the invention, the blocking device has a blocking body which cooperates with the blocking unit and thus fixes the rotor in position relative to the drive shaft. This increases the blocking action of the blocking device and makes operation of the centrifuge clearly safer.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the blocking body is provided on the seat of the rotor, at least partially engages the support through a recess provided in the support and, in a blocking position, is embraced by the blocking unit in such a way that the outer circumference of the blocking unit embracing the blocking body will be larger than the inner circumference of the recess. This will reliably fix the rotor in position relative to the drive shaft without major constructional effort, thus considerably increasing the safety of the centrifuge.
Additional advantages, features and possible applications of the present invention can be gathered from the description which follows, in which reference is made to embodiments illustrated in the drawings.
Throughout the description, claims and drawings, those terms and associated reference signs are used as are listed in the List of Reference Signs which follows below.
In the drawings,
The rotor 10 has the basic shape of a truncated cone which tapers toward the top. Provided in a rotor head 12 in a conventional manner and uniformly spaced from each other are receiving units 14 for sample containers 16. The longitudinal extension of the receiving units 14 is parallel to the lateral surface 12a of the rotor head 12. The view of
Mounted concentrically in a bottom 12b of the rotor head 12 is a rotor seat 20 which is associated with the support 106 of the centrifuge 100. The rotor seat 20 has a frusto-conical first portion 20a which tapers in a removal direction E and which is adjoined in an axial direction by a cylindrical second portion 20b. The upper boundary of the rotor seat 20 is a boundary surface 20c which is perpendicular to the rotor axis R. Concentrically mounted on this boundary surface 20c is a locking ball 22 which faces the support 106 of the centrifuge 100 and extends away from the boundary surface 20c along the rotor axis R and whose function will be explained in more detail below with reference to
Above the locking ball 22, a rotor pin 34 is mounted within the receiving chamber 18 which is concentric relative to the rotor axis R and which has an external contour 34a that conically tapers towards its free end. The rotor pin 34 is shown in more detail in
Placed on the rotor 10 is a lid 40 which seals the receiving chamber 18 from the outside in an aerosol-tight manner. Mounted concentrically relative to the lid 40 is a handle 44 which is used to place the lid 40 on the rotor 10 and to remove the lid 40 from the rotor 10. Part of the handle 44 is inserted in a blind-hole shaped recess 42 of the lid 40 and firmly connected to the latter in a conventional manner. The recess 42 has an aperture 42a which is concentric to the rotor axis R and provided in the cylindrical bottom of the recess, and through which the free end of the rotor pin 34 engages the handle 44.
For the sake of clarity, the handle 44 is shown in enlarged detail in
The actuating members 56 each have an associated recess 46a in the bearing body 46 and a recess 48a in the wall 48 through which part of the actuating members 56 protrudes laterally from the handle 44.
At the upper end of each tilt lever 50 is a recess 60 each which is engaged by an end of a spring 62, more specifically a leaf spring, which is arranged along the bearing body 46 of the handle 44. The ends of the springs 62 which are remote from the recesses 60 are clamped onto the bearing body 46 and radially preloaded toward the outside. The spring 62 will thus urge the upper ends of the tilt levers 50 radially outwards, if, as shown in
As the wall 48 changes position, a projection 48b which is located on the end of the wall 48 that points in the direction of the receiving chamber 18, and which extends in the direction of the rotor axis R and which reaches through a recess (not shown) in the bearing body 46 will also be entrained. Lifting the wall 48 in the removal direction E will cause the projection 48b to abut on the tilt lever 50 in the area between the thickened portion 52 and the latching element 58. This will block the tilt lever 50 so as to prevent it from tilting about the strut, and the latching element 58 will thus be secured within the groove 34b. The locking between the rotor 10 and the lid 40 cannot be released in this blocking position.
A spring not shown here for the sake of clarity applies a force to the wall 48, which force acts against the removal direction E. As soon as the operator sets down the rotor 10 or places it inside a centrifuge 100, which will neutralize the weight force acting on the handle 44, the wall 48 will return to its initial position, and the blocking of the tilt levers 50 by each projection 48b will be released. The projection 48b of the wall 48 thus constitutes a safety element which either blocks or releases actuation of the tilt lever 50, as required, depending on its respective position.
As can be seen in
In
When the rotor 10 is placed onto the support 106 of the centrifuge 100, the locking ball 22 will engage an aperture 110 of an abutment insert 108 which is concentrically arranged on the support 106 and screwed together with the latter. The aperture 110 is dimensioned so as to allow passage of the locking ball 22 with minimum clearance. Following after the aperture 110 is an internal contour 112 of the abutment insert 108 which widens conically in a direction opposite to the direction of removal E.
Arranged in a cylindrical inner area 114 of the support 106 is a spring 24 in which a blocking unit 26 is mounted to which a spring force is applied which acts in the removal direction E, which blocking unit 26 is separately shown in
The locking ball 22 is penetrated by a bore 32. The bore 32 extends from the locking ball 22 through the rotor head 12 and the adjacent rotor pin 34. As viewed in the removal direction E, the inner diameter of the bore 32 widens at a first shoulder 32a and again at a second shoulder 32b.
Reaching through the bore 32 is an unlocking pin 36 which in turn has a first shoulder 36a which is associated with the first shoulder 32a of the bore 32, and a second shoulder 36b which is associated with the second shoulder 32b of the bore 32. For reasons of clarity, the area marked III a in
The longitudinal extension of the unlocking pin 36 is dimensioned such that a free end 38 thereof will be made to protrude from the locking ball 22 as the unlocking pin 36 is moved against the removal direction E, will engage the blocking unit 26 and increasingly displace the blocking unit 26 against the force of the spring 24, with the blocking elements 30a also moving along the locking ball 22 into the area of the internal contour 112 which is wider than the aperture 110 of the abutment insert 108, thus allowing the blocking elements 30a to bend outwardly. Once unlocking pin 36 reaches the above described final position, the blocking unit 26 has been moved by a distance sS to such an extent that the blocking elements 30a will completely release the locking ball 22, i.e. as the locking ball 22 passes the blocking elements 30a, the latter will be bent radially outwardly. The locking ball 22 will then be able to pass through the aperture 110 of the abutment insert 108 again, and the rotor 10 can be taken off the support 106 of the centrifuge 100.
It is also conceivable to interchange the positions of the locking ball 22 and of the blocking unit 30, i.e. to have the locking ball 22 arranged on the side of the shaft, to mount the blocking unit 30 for axial movement in the rotor 10, with the internal contour 112 of the abutment insert 110 consequently tapering in the removal direction E.
For activating the unlocking pin 36, an actuating pin 74 is provided in the handle 44, which—together with the unlocking pin 36—forms an activating element 36, 74.
For this purpose, a support insert 70 is incorporated in the bearing body 46 of the handle 44, concentrically to the rotor axis R, which is flush with the handle pieces 45 on the side facing away from the rotor 10. An axial bore 72 runs through the support insert 70 and tapers in steps at the end facing the rotor 10 so as to form an aperture 72a there which is smaller in diameter than the diameter of the bore 72.
The actuating pin 74 is movably mounted within the bore 72 and comprises a cylindrical first portion 76 which is adapted in diameter to the internal diameter of the bore 72, as well as a cylindrical second portion 78 which is adapted in diameter to the internal diameter of the aperture 72a. The second portion 78 runs through the aperture 72a and engages an inner space 47 of the handle 44 which is delimited laterally by the bearing body 46. A shoulder 80 formed between the first portion 76 and the second portion 78 thus serves as a boundary for axially moving the actuating pin 74 into a final position, against the removal direction E.
The free end of the first portion 76 is designed as a pushbutton 82 which, in its non-depressed state, will project completely from the support insert 70 and is of a height hD. When the pushbutton 82 is completely depressed, it will be flush with the free side of the support insert 70, and the actuating pin 74 will be moved against the removal direction E by a distance sB which corresponds to the height hD. The actuating pin 74 is thus moved into its above described final position.
As the lid 40 is placed onto the rotor 10, the rotor pin 34 housing the unlocking pin 36 will enter the inner space 47 of the bearing body 47 of the handle 44 through the aperture 42a. Centering the lid 40 will be facilitated by the conically tapering external contour 34a on the free end of the rotor pin 34.
The lengths of the unlocking pin 36 and the actuating pin 74 have been chosen such that their ends which face each other will abut on each other once the lid 40 is completely in place on the rotor 10. Thus the unlocking pin 36 and the actuating pin 74 together form an activating element 36, 74 which can be used to move the blocking unit 26 axially by the distance sS into a release position even with the lid 40 in place, and the lock between the rotor 10 and the shaft 104 can be deactivated in the manner described above, thus allowing the rotor 10 to be taken off the support 106.
In the present embodiment, the height hD of the pushbutton 82 is of the same length as the distance sB and the distance sS. The pushbutton 82 may also be designed to be higher, in which case it will also protrude from the support insert 70 in its activated state. However, the height hD must not be smaller or not much smaller than the length of the distances sB and sS, else the required lifting height of the blocking unit 26 for unlocking will not be obtained and unlocking cannot be reliably ensured anymore.
Similarly, it is possible to form the activating element 36, 74 as one piece and optionally either mount it in the handle 44 of the lid 40 or in the receiving chamber 18 of the rotor 10, in the rotor pin 34. When the activating element 36, 74 is mounted in the handle 44, the rotor pin 34 can be of a more space-saving design, or the rotor pin 34 can almost completely be omitted.
The perspective view of
Similarly to
As already described, the lid 40 is locked by means of the tilt levers 50. On the lower end of each tilt lever 50, a latching element 58 is provided which, in a locked state of the lid 40, will engage the groove 34a made in the rotor pin 34. This will secure the lid 40 axially to the rotor pin 34 and thus lock it together with the rotor 10.
The tilt levers 50 are pivotably supported on the struts 54. Exerting a force on the actuating members 56 arranged on the upper ends of the tilt levers 50 in the direction of the rotor axis R will cause the tilt levers 50 to be tilted for unlocking in such a way that the latching elements 58 will slide out of the groove 34a, thus releasing the secure connection of the lid 40 to the rotor pin 34.
As also already described with reference to
The difference to the embodiment shown in
The cover elements 48c mounted on the free end of the wall 48 and facing away from the rotor axis R, together with the wall 48 of the handle 44, feature a U-shaped cross-section which is open toward the top. The cover elements 48c are dimensioned such that their free ends which point upwards will reach up to below the actuating members 56 when the handle 44 is in its non-actuated initial position, as shown in
The view of
Finally,
As already described with reference to
For safety and soundproofing reasons, the rotor 10 is surrounded by a safety vessel 116. The motor 102 engages the safety vessel 116 via an aperture 116a.
Provided above the safety vessel 116 is a centrifuge lid 118 which is connected to the housing (not shown) in a conventional manner and seals the centrifuge 100 at its top.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2015 113 855 | Aug 2015 | DE | national |
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| 20170050195 A1 | Feb 2017 | US |
