Patent Application
20220228789
The present invention relates to a freezing transport container which stores and transports biological samples in medical and biotechnology fields and the like such as cells in a frozen state, and a cryogenic liquefied gas absorber case which is installed in the freezing transport container and used to keep the inside of the container at a low temperature.
A dry shipper with a vacuum heat-insulating structure as a means for transporting a biological sample in a frozen state is known in the art. Since an absorbent material for liquid nitrogen, which is a cryogenic liquefied gas, is arranged inside the dry shipper, and the liquid nitrogen is absorbed by the absorbent material, there is no risk of spilling the liquid nitrogen even if it falls during transportation.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a cryopreservation container using an impregnating material impregnated with cryogenic liquefied gas such as liquid nitrogen.
The cryopreservation container of Patent Document 1 includes a heat-insulating container having a small-diameter sample inlet/outlet and a cylindrical storage area which has a diameter larger than the diameter of the sample inlet/outlet, and is formed below the sample inlet/outlet, and the impregnating material is arranged on the bottom and inner peripheral walls of the heat-insulating container.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 4881046
In order to make the cryopreservation container disclosed in Patent Document 1 less susceptible to the influence of the outside air temperature, the sample inlet/outlet has a smaller diameter than that of the storage area for storing the sample. Therefore, it is not possible to take in a large sample such as a bag shape.
Further, there is a problem in that since the impregnating material is arranged on the peripheral wall of the sample storage area, the inner diameter of the sample storage area becomes small, and an elongated sample such as a vial can be stored, but a large sample having a bag shape or the like cannot be stored.
Further, the impregnating material used in the cryopreservation container disclosed in Patent Document 1 is fixed in a heat-insulating container and cannot be removed. However, it is conceivable that the impregnating material gradually deteriorates reducing the absorption amount of liquid nitrogen or becoming contaminated, and a replaceable structure is required.
The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a freezing transport container which can store large samples such as bag shapes and allows easy removal and installation of a cryogenic liquefied gas absorber which is impregnated with cryogenic liquefied gas such as liquid nitrogen, and a cryogenic liquefied gas absorber case which can be installed in the freezing transport container.
In order to solve the problems, the present invention provides the following freezing transport container and cryogenic liquefied gas absorber case.
(1) A freezing transport container including a main body which has a heat-insulating structure, an opening at the top, and a bottomed tubular shape, and a lid which is installed at the opening of the main body so as to open and close the opening of the main body,
wherein the main body has the same diameter at the opening at the top and the bottom,
the freezing transport container further includes a cryogenic liquefied gas absorber case which is installed removably at the bottom of the main body, and
the cryogenic liquefied gas absorber case includes a case portion which has a bottomed tubular shape and a cryogenic liquefied gas absorber which is installed replaceably inside the case portion.
(2) The freezing transport container according to (1),
wherein the case portion is formed by a heat conductor, has a side wall portion arranged along the inner peripheral wall of the main body, and an inner space of the side wall portion functions as a sample storage portion, and
a height of the side wall portion is higher than a height of the cryogenic liquefied gas absorber.
(3) The freezing transport container according to (1) or (2),
wherein the main body having a heat-insulating structure has a vacuum double structure formed by stainless steel, and the case portion is made of aluminum or copper.
(4) The freezing transport container according to any one of (1) to (3),
wherein the case portion includes a fixing plate, and the fixing plate and the cryogenic liquefied gas absorber are provided with a sample insertion hole which is configured to be received with a sample to be stored.
(5) A cryogenic liquefied gas absorber case which is configured to be installed removably on the bottom of a freezing transport container including a main body which has a heat-insulating structure, an opening at the top, a bottomed tubular shape, and the same diameter at the opening at the top and the bottom, and a lid which is installed into the opening in the main body so as to open and close the opening of the main body,
wherein the cryogenic liquefied gas absorber case includes a case portion which has a bottomed tubular shape, and a cryogenic liquefied gas absorber which is installed replaceably inside the case portion.
(6) A cryogenic liquefied gas absorber case according to (5),
wherein the case portion is formed by a heat conductor and has a side wall portion arranged along an inner peripheral wall of the main body,
an inner space of the side wall portion functions as a sample storage portion, and
a height of the side wall portion is higher than a height of the cryogenic liquefied gas absorber.
(7) The cryogenic liquefied gas absorber case according to (5) or (7),
wherein the case portion is formed by aluminum or copper.
The freezing transport container according to the present invention includes a main body having a heat-insulating structure, an opening at the top, and a bottomed tubular shape, and a lid which is installed at the opening of the main body so as to open and close the opening of the main body, wherein the main body has the same diameter at the opening at the top and the bottom, the freezing transport container further includes a cryogenic liquefied gas absorber case which is installed removably at the bottom of the main body, and the cryogenic liquefied gas absorber case includes a case portion which has a bottomed tubular shape and a cryogenic liquefied gas absorber which is installed replaceably inside the case portion.
Since the cryogenic liquefied gas absorber case can be taken out and the cryogenic liquefied gas absorber can be easily replaced, the cryogenic liquefied gas absorber can be recovered against deterioration and contamination.
In addition, since the main body has the same diameter at the top and the bottom, the inner space is wide and a large sample such as a bag can be stored, which makes it possible to transport a large sample, which was difficult in the past.
A freezing transport container according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to
As shown in
Below, each configuration will be explained in detail.
<Sample>
A sample is a biological sample mainly contained in a vial, a blood bag, and the like. The volume of the vial, the bag, and the like, is, for example, 25 ml, 50 ml, and 100 ml. The freezing transport container 1 contains 10 or about 10 of the vials, the bags, and the like.
<Main Body>
The main body 3 has a heat-insulating structure, the opening 3a at the upper end, and a bottomed cylindrical shape as shown in
An example of the external dimensions of the main body 3 is as follows.
External dimensions: φ200×H 300 mm
Opening and bottom: φ189 mm
<Lid>
The lid 5 is attached on the opening 3a of the main body 3 so as to be openable and closable. Further, as shown in
<Liquid Nitrogen Absorber Case>
As shown in
The liquid nitrogen absorber 13 is formed of a plurality of circular sheets. As shown in
The liquid nitrogen absorber 13 is, for example, made of polypropylene, and has a diameter of φ180 mm, and a thickness of 50 mm when the plurality of circular sheets are stacked.
The liquid nitrogen absorber 13 is provided with a plurality of holes 15 in order to increase the speed at which liquid nitrogen is immersed therein (see
The shape of the hole 15 is not limited to a circular shape when the sample or the like is a vial, and may be, for example, a rectangular shape into which a bag-shaped sample 16 is inserted, as shown in
When the hole 15 provided in the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 functions as a sample insertion hole, the liquid nitrogen absorber case 7 is preferably provided with a fixing plate 19 described later and shown in
The fixing plate 19 is placed on the upper surface of the liquid nitrogen absorber 13. The fixing plate 19 is fixed to the case portion 11 by a fixing screw 23 and a spacer 21 provided so as to penetrate the stacked liquid nitrogen absorber 13 in the thickness direction. As a result, the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 formed by stacking a plurality of sheets is fixed inside the case portion 11. A method for fixing the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 using the spacer 21 and the fixing plate 19 will be described in more detail as follows.
The spacer 21 is a thin cylindrical metal fitting, and is threaded inside. A screw hole corresponding to the spacer 21 is formed at the bottom of the case portion 11. First, the fixing screw 23 is screwed into the spacer 21 from the lower surface side of the bottom of the case portion 11. As a result, the spacer 21 is erected on the bottom of the case portion 11. Next, the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 made of the plurality of sheets is placed in the case portion 11. Since the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 has a spacer insertion hole formed in a portion corresponding to the spacer 21, the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 is placed so that the spacer is inserted into the spacer insertion hole. After placing, the fixing plate 19 is arranged on the liquid nitrogen absorber 13, and the fixing screw 23 is screwed into the spacer 21 from the upper surface side of the fixing plate 19. Thereby, the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 can be attached into the case portion 11 by the spacer 21 and the fixing plate 19. By disposing the fixing plate 19, the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 is sandwiched between the bottom of the case portion 11 and the fixing plate 19 and does not fall off from the case portion 11.
When replacing the liquid nitrogen absorber 13, the liquid nitrogen absorber case 7 may be taken out from the main body 3 and the fixing plate 19 may be removed.
In addition to the insertion holes for the fixing screw 23, the fixing plate 19 is provided with a large number of passage holes 25 through which liquid nitrogen passes when the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 is impregnated with the liquid nitrogen.
Further, as described above, when the hole 15 provided in the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 functions as a sample insertion hole, the fixing plate 19 is provided with an opening 17. The opening 17 is provided at a position corresponding to the hole 15 provided in the liquid nitrogen absorber 13. For example, a sample such as a vial can be inserted into the opening 17.
The fixing plate 19 is formed by a metal heat conductor having high thermal conductivity such as aluminum, and copper, similar to the case portion 11 described later.
As shown in
The case portion 11 having the side wall portion 27 and the bottom portion is formed of a heat conductor, for example, metal having high thermal conductivity, such as aluminum and copper. By using a metal having high thermal conductivity, the cold heat of liquid nitrogen can be transferred to the upper part of the container faster and cool the upper part of the container. When the main body 3 is made of stainless steel, the case portion 11 is more preferably made of aluminum, which is less likely to rust.
An example of the dimensions of the case portion 11 is φ183 mm×H 200 mm. The thickness of the case portion is 0.5 mm, and the inner diameter of the side wall portion 27 is φ182 mm.
Although the description above illustrates the case in which the bottom of the case portion 11 is circular, the shape is not limited to a circular shape, and a shape such as a quadrangle or a polygon can be selected according to the application and the shape of the main body 3.
The case portion 11 has a function of transmitting the cold heat of the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 and effectively cooling the sample contained therein. When the case portion 11 having such functions comes into contact with the cylindrical portion 9 made of the heat-insulating material in the lid 5, the heat of the heat-insulating material itself is transferred to the inside of the container. Therefore, it is preferable that the case portion 11 and the cylindrical portion 9 not come into contact with each other, and it is preferable to set a gap of 2 to 3 mm between them.
When the side wall portion 27 of the case portion 11 has a height such that the upper end thereof is the same as the upper end of the inner wall surface of the main body 3, the cold heat of liquid nitrogen can be efficiently transmitted to the upper portion of the main body 3. Therefore, the inside of the main body 3 can be kept at a lower temperature.
On the other hand, as described above, the amount of evaporation loss of liquid nitrogen increases because the heat from the opening 3a is easily transferred to the inside of the container.
Therefore, it is preferable that the height of the side wall portion of the case portion 11 satisfy the following relationship.
(Distance from the upper end of the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 to the bottom of the cylindrical portion 9 of lid 5):(Height of the side wall portion 27) is preferably 100:0 to 95, and more preferably 100:70 to 90.
When (Distance from the upper end of the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 to the bottom of the cylindrical portion 9 of lid 5):(Height of the side wall portion 27) is 100:0, as shown in
In order to secure a wide space, it is preferable that the outer diameter of the side wall portion 27 of the case portion 11 be substantially the same as the inner diameter of the main body 3.
Further, when it is desired to rapidly cool the inside of the freezing transport container 1 or lower the temperature, fins may be provided on the inner wall of the side wall portion 27 in order to improve the heat-transfer performance.
The liquid nitrogen absorber case 7 is installed removably in the main body 3, and it is preferable that the liquid nitrogen absorber case 7 can be taken out easily. For example, it is preferable to use an annular case fixture 29 which is detachably attached in the vicinity of the opening 3a of the main body 3 (see
The outer diameter of the case fixture 29 is preferably slightly larger than the inner diameter of the opening 3a of the main body 3. Further, the case fixture 29 is preferably formed of a heat-insulating and flexible member such as polyurethane foam and polystyrene foam. As shown in
Since the outer diameter of the case fixture 29 is slightly larger than the inner diameter of the main body 3, the case fixture 29 is detachably attached to the main body 3 in a compressed state. In this way, the case fixture 29 is press-fitted into the main body 3 and is arranged in close contact with the inner wall of the main body 3 at the upper part of the liquid nitrogen absorber case 7. Accordingly, even if the freezing transport container 1 is tilted, the liquid nitrogen absorber case 7 will not come out.
On the other hand, when the liquid nitrogen absorber case 7 is taken out in order to exchange the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 or the like, the case fixture 29 may be slightly bent and removed.
As described above, in the freezing transport container 1 of the present embodiment, the liquid nitrogen absorber case 7 can be taken out and the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 can be easily replaced. Therefore, if the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 is deteriorated or contaminated, it can be replaced.
When the height of the side wall portion 27 of the case portion 11 is higher than the height of the liquid nitrogen absorber 13, since the side wall portion 27 is along the inner wall of the main body 3, and the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 is arranged only at the bottom of the portion 11, the internal space is wide and a large sample such as a bag can be accommodated, which makes it possible to transport a large sample, which has been difficult in the past.
For example, a 50 ml bag-shaped sample requires a space of 95 mm (length)×85 mm (width)×10 mm (thickness). The diameter of the opening of a part of the conventional general dry shipper is narrower than the outer diameter. For example, the opening is designed to have a diameter of 50 mm to 70 mm. Therefore, a bag-shaped sample cannot be stored in a dry shipper having such dimensions. Alternatively, in order to store the bag-shaped sample in a dry shipper of which the opening diameter is smaller than the outer diameter, a dry shipper having a larger outer diameter must be used. Therefore, there are inconveniences such as an increase in the amount of liquid nitrogen used.
On the other hand, in the present embodiment, since the diameter of the opening and the diameter of the bottom of the main body 3 are the same, the opening 3a is φ189 mm, and the inner diameter of the side wall portion 27 is φ182 mm, it is possible to store the samples in the mode shown in
Further, when the height of the side wall portion 27 of the case portion 11 is larger than the height of the liquid nitrogen absorber 13, it is possible to maintain a low temperature without narrowing the content volume of the upper part of the container storage space in which the temperature does not easily drop due to the heat-transfer from the lid 5 and the influence of the outside air temperature.
That is, in a conventional freezing transport container, an impregnating material (liquid nitrogen absorber) is arranged on the bottom portion and the inner peripheral wall of the main body 3 which is a heat-insulating container. On the other hand, the freezing transport container 1 of the present embodiment includes the bottomed tubular case portion 11 having a side wall portion 27, and the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 is installed in the case portion 11. In particular, when the height of the side wall portion 27 is higher than the height of the liquid nitrogen absorber 13, the sample storage space is kept large in volume and kept at a low temperature.
When the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 is installed on the bottom of the main body 3 having the same shape as that of the liquid nitrogen adsorber case 7 without providing the liquid nitrogen absorber case 7 in the main body 3, that is, in a conventional freezing transport container, the cold heat of the liquid nitrogen absorber 13 is transmitted to the inner wall of the main body 3 which is formed by stainless steel. However, since stainless steel has a low thermal conductivity, the upper part does not easily cool. Accordingly, as shown in
Since the freezing transport container shown in
In the case of the freezing transport container 1 shown in
In the embodiment above, an example in which the main body 3 of the freezing transport container 1 has a cylindrical shape has been described. In this case, the liquid nitrogen absorber case 7 installed in the main body 3 also has a similar cylindrical shape.
However, the main body 3 of the freezing transport container 1 is not limited to a cylindrical shape, and may be, for example, a rectangular tubular shape. In this case, it is preferable that the liquid nitrogen absorber case 7 installed in the main body 3 also have the same rectangular tubular shape.
Further, in the embodiment above, liquid nitrogen is taken as an example as the cryogenic liquefied gas. However, the cryogenic liquefied gas used in the present invention is not limited to liquid nitrogen, and as long as a suitable absorbent material is used, a liquefied gas of an inert gas such as liquid helium and liquid argon can also be used.
1 freezing transport container
3 main body
3
a opening
5 lid
7 liquid nitrogen absorber case
9 cylindrical portion
11 case portion
13 liquid nitrogen absorber
15 hole
16 bag-shaped sample
17 opening
19 fixing plate
21 spacer
23 fixing screw
25 passing hole
27 side wall portion
29 case fixture
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-110855 | Jun 2019 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2020/023187 | 6/12/2020 | WO | 00 |
