Patent Grant
10493469
This patent application claims priority to German patent application no. DE 10 2015 113 854.9, filed Aug. 20, 2015. German patent application no. DE 10 2015 113 854.9, filed Aug. 20, 2015, is incorporated herein by reference hereto in its entirety.
The invention relates to a rotor.
A multitude of centrifuge rotors 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 inside the receiving chamber of the rotor.
DE 10 2005 014 218 B4 discloses a mounting device for the lid of a centrifuge rotor. The mounting device comprises a latching element which cooperates with a rotor pin and is provided in a handle for the lid, with the latching element partly protruding from the handle and being supported such that the centrifugal force acting on the latching element will urge it into a locking position.
The above mentioned mounting device allows the lid to be securely locked on the rotor and to be left in its locked state in the event of uncontrolled leakage of sample material in operation. The handle provided on the lid can be used for carrying the rotor when the latter needs to be cleaned, and/or decontaminated, if necessary.
However, this locking mechanism takes up a lot of space as the actual locking action is achieved by bringing the latching element into a latching position where it will cooperate with the rotor pin in the handle of the lid, i.e. locking is accomplished above the lid. To ensure reliable locking, an adequately dimensioned rotor pin has to move through the plane of the lid and then engage the handle. If the axial extension of the rotor pin is too short, reliable locking cannot be achieved. If the radial expansion of the rotor pin is too small, the required stability cannot be ensured. Consequently, this type of locking mechanism is ill-suited for fixed angle rotors in which relatively large sample vessels are used, since the rotor pin takes up a lot of space in the receiving chamber, thus making insertion and removal of sample containers difficult.
Furthermore, the asymmetrical design and the specific location of the latching element will invariably cause imbalances in operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,331 A discloses a generic centrifuge in which the rotor is securely screwed onto the drive shaft for axially securing the rotor thereon. For this purpose, a tool needs to be passed through the lid and the drive shaft in order to turn a screw to either detach the rotor from the drive shaft or to secure the rotor to the drive shaft. Moreover, the rotor can be connected to a lid by means of a quick-release fastener. Operating an actuating member in the form of a pushbutton provided in the lid will detach the lid from the rotor by moving an axially offset latching element from a locking position thereof. Placing the lid onto the rotor will activate the quick-release fastener by displacing the latching element from an unlocking position into a locking position thereof, thus firmly connecting the lid to the rotor.
It is the object of the present invention to create a rotor which avoids the above mentioned shortcomings, whose locking mechanism takes up little space in the receiving chamber of the rotor and which reduces the risk of imbalances in operation.
The invention is based on the finding that choosing an axial design and arrangement for the locking element in the lid will save space in the receiving chamber of the rotor since no measures will be required in the rotor for bridging the axial offset of centric fixing means and lid. Moreover, such axial design and arrangement will make it easier to prevent imbalances. This can be implemented easily by means of a tilt lever.
In accordance with the invention, the rotor of a centrifuge comprises a rotor shaft, a receiving space for samples to be centrifuged, and a lid. The lid constitutes the upper boundary of the receiving chamber and is concentrically mounted relative to the rotor. Provided on the side of the lid facing away from the receiving space is a handle for carrying the rotor and the lid. Furthermore, a mechanism for locking the lid onto the rotor is provided which is mounted in a support in the lid. This locking mechanism comprises a locking element which can be moved between locking and unlocking positions and which is in the form of a quick-release fastener. No additional tool is required for the quick-release fastener. The locking element has an actuating member and a latching element which are axially spaced from each other with respect to the rotor shaft. This allows the position of the actuating member to be chosen regardless of the arrangement and the design of the rotor lid. For example, the actuating member can be disposed at a position above the rotor lid which can easily be accessed by the operator. This facilitates the operation of the locking mechanism and, at the same time, allows more flexibility regarding the lid design, thus providing more space for the receiving chamber.
According to the invention, the locking element is formed by a tilt lever which has the actuating member mounted on its upper end and the latching element on its lower end. The pivot axis extends in perpendicular to the rotor shaft. The dimensions of the one or plural tilt lever(s), their support and the position of the pivot axis can easily be chosen so as to achieve a locking action which, on the one hand, is sufficiently stable to allow secure transport of the rotor by means of the handle of the locked lid, and which, on the other hand, can be unlocked fast by the operator after transport. As a result, the lid will be locked onto the rotor in a safe and at the same time flexible manner.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, in the locking position, the latching element will engage a recess in the rotor. The position of the recess can easily be adapted to the structural features of the rotor and be chosen such that sufficiently stable locking can be achieved for transporting the rotor with the lid in place thereon. This results in more efficient use of the rotor and increased safety.
It is expedient for the locking mechanism to include a plurality of locking elements, more specifically also a plurality of actuating members, which are of identical design and are arranged at the same level relative to the rotor shaft and symmetrically to one another. This results in a more stable locking action which also has a beneficial effect on the rotors safety in operation.
Preferably, the pivot axis subdivides the locking element into the actuating member and the latching element. As a result, the locking elements are easy to produce and to install. This also reduces the cost of the rotor.
In practice, it has proven advantageous for the latching element and the actuating member to be of the same length. The tilt lever will pivot by the same amount on both sides of the pivot axis. Consequently, a compact design is possible for the locking mechanism.
In another advantageous embodiment, a pin is coaxially mounted in the receiving space of the rotor, which pin has at least one recess for engagement with the one or plural latching element(s). Integrally forming the recess in the pin results in a shorter distance between the recess and the actuating member, and also allows the tilt levers to be made shorter. This clearly improves the stability of the locking system and facilitates its operation.
To further simplify the locking system, the recess provided in the pin can be formed by an annular groove. As a result, a latching element can engage the recess at any point in the plane in which the locking is performed. Consequently, when placing the lid onto the rotor, there is no need to align the locking device and/or the lid at a certain angle horizontally so that the latching element can engage the respective associated recess. This results in faster and more intuitive locking.
In one aspect of the invention, the pin engages the handle at least partially via a recess in the lid. This shortens the distance between the annular groove and the actuating member even more, thus making for an even more stable locking action.
It is considered advantageous for the pin to be of a conical design and to taper towards its free end. Firstly, it will take up less space in the handle, and the handle can be of a more compact design. Secondly, the conical free end also makes it easier to centre the lid when the latter is placed onto the rotor. This considerably improves handling of the rotor.
In an alternative embodiment, the pin is arranged on a coaxial shoulder on which a seal surrounding the pin is mounted. In the locked state, the lid rests on the seal, and the seal seals the receiving space of the rotor with respect to the pin and the recess in the lid. As a result, provided a seal is in place between the lid and the rotor head in the mutually associated contact area, the receiving space can be sealed well, more specifically, can be made aerosol-tight. The rotor can thus also be used for centrifuging samples which are potentially harmful to the operator or the environment, as even in case of a vessel rupture, no substances will leak from the receiving space and the rotor can be removed from the centrifuge with the lid locked on it. This considerably expands the range of rotor applications.
It is advantageous for the tilt lever to be spring-loaded in the direction of the locking position. This ensures safe automatic locking of the lid as it is placed onto the rotor, thus facilitating handling of the rotor.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the handle is operatively connected to a blocking element which can be activated and which, when activated, will fix the locking element of the lid and the rotor in its locking position. The handle thus ensures that the locking mechanism will remain activated during transport of the rotor. This also prevents the locking mechanism from being released unintentionally during transport of the rotor, and thus the rotor from falling down—which considerably increases the safety of the rotor.
It is considered very advantageous for the support of the locking mechanism to be incorporated in a bearing body, more specifically in the form of a cylinder, which is arranged on top of the lid concentrically, as well as firmly connected, thereto. This further increases the stability of the locking mechanism.
It is expedient for the handle to be concentrically arranged and movably mounted relative to the bearing body. As a result, the handle can be assigned an additional function which it fulfils when 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 one direction will activate this element, and moving the handle in the respective opposite direction will deactivate this element.
Preferably, the handle is integrally formed with the blocking element that can be activated, and is thus adapted to be moved together with the blocking element relative to the bearing body between a first position which will block the locking element in the locking position, and a second position which will release the locking element. It should be noted here that moving the locking element from the locking position into the releasing position will only be possible in the second position.
In one embodiment of the invention, it has proven advantageous to provide for the handle to be moved from the first position into the second position and vice versa on the bearing body, along the rotor shaft. Since the handle is also moved along the axis of rotation for placing the rotor into the centrifuge and for removing the rotor from the centrifuge, displacing the handle for activating/deactivating the blocking element and displacing the handle for removal/insertion are movements that are performed coaxially. This saves the operator an additional movement, thus facilitating handling of the rotor.
It is expedient if moving the handle with the blocking element away from the lid corresponds to a movement into a first position, and moving the handle with the blocking element toward the lid corresponds to a movement into a second position. Consequently, provided the locking element was not previously moved into the releasing position, lifting the handle will activate the blocking element, thus causing the rotor to be lifted along 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, which is remote from the lid, during transport, in which position the locking element is blocked, thus preventing the handle from being released unintentionally. This arrangement thus reliably blocks the locking mechanism and considerably increases the safety of the rotor in transport.
In an advantageous further development of the invention, the handle is spring-loaded in the direction of the lid. Consequently, the handle with the blocking element will automatically move into the second position when the rotor is inserted into a centrifuge or placed on a surface, the operator releases the handle and thus there is no force acting on the handle in a direction away from the lid anymore. The locking element can then be moved into an unlocking position. This automatic movement of the handle saves the operator another movement, which in turn considerably facilitates handling of the rotor.
In another aspect of the invention, a locking device is provided for fixing the rotor in place with respect to the drive shaft of the centrifuge, wherein an activating element is provided in the lid for activating the locking device, which activating element can be accessed when the lid is in place on the rotor. The locking device can thus be activated and deactivated without the lid having to be removed from the rotor. This is of particular advantage, for example, when a vessel has ruptured inside the rotor and contamination of the environment has to be prevented. The rotor can then be disconnected from the drive shaft and be removed from the centrifuge with the lid in place. As a result, operation of the rotor is safer.
In accordance with the invention, a centrifuge is furthermore provided which includes a drive and a drive shaft, with the seat of a support for a rotor abutting on the free end of the drive shaft.
Additional advantages, features and possible applications of the present invention can be gathered from the description which follows, in which reference is made to the 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.
Mounted concentrically in the 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 joined by a cylindrical second portion 20b in an axial direction. 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. The function of this locking ball 22 will be described in more detail with reference to
Above the locking ball 22, a shoulder 35 is formed in the receiving chamber 18 which is concentric to the rotor axis R. Likewise concentrically formed on said shoulder 35 is a rotor pin 34 whose external contour 34a 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 can be used to place the lid 40 on the rotor 10 and to remove the lid 40 from the rotor 10. The handle 44 is partially inserted in a blind hole shaped cylindrical recess 42 of the lid 40 and firmly connected to the lid 40 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 The axial extension of the recess 42 is dimensioned such that—in the state of the lid 40 in place on the rotor 10—the front face 42b of the recess 42 which faces the rotor seat 20 will extend right up to a front face 35a of the shoulder 35. A seal 43 provided in the front face 35a of the shoulder 35 seals the lid 40 from the shoulder 35 so as to prevent leakage of sample material from the receiving chamber 18 into the handle 44 and thus into the environment in the event of a vessel rupture or the like.
For the sake of clarity, the handle 44 is illustrated in detail in the views of
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 the actuating members 56 partially protrude 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
The relative change in position of the wall 48 also displaces a projection 48b which is located on the end of the wall 48 that points in the direction of the receiving space 18, and extends in the direction of the rotor axis R and which penetrates a recess (not shown) in the bearing body 46. 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 keep it from being tilted about the strut, and the latching element 58 will thus be secured within the groove 34b. The locking effected between the rotor 10 and the lid 40 cannot be released in this blocked position.
A force which acts in a direction opposite to that of the removal direction E is applied to the wall 48 by a spring which is not shown for the sake of clarity. As soon as the operator turns off the rotor 10 or places it inside a centrifuge 100 and thus neutralizes 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 wall 48 thus constitutes a safety element which either blocks or allows actuation of the tilt lever 50, as required, depending on its respective position.
As can be seen in
In
The essentially axial design and arrangement of the tilt levers 50 allows for numerous possible designs of the locking of the lid 40 to the rotor 10. The rotor pin 34 could be made much more compact, for example, and the recess 42 of the lid 40 could be made longer so that—with the lid removed—more space is available in the receiving chamber 18 for sample containers 16 which then can simply be removed from the rotor or placed inside the rotor. Furthermore, the length of the tilt levers 50 and the length ratio of a leg associated with the actuating member 56 and a leg associated with the latching element 58 can be varied relative to each other and thus adapted to the respective conditions. In any case, the lid 40 will be firmly locked onto the rotor 10 by a latching element 58 mounted in the lid which engages a recess 34b made in the rotor 10, and the locking can be released via actuating members 56 arranged above the lid 40 at a position which can be reached conveniently by the operator.
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, projects 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 height of stroke 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
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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