TRANSPORT CONTAINER, TRANSPORTING METHOD FOR THE SAME, AND CONSTANT TEMPERATURE TRANSPORT CONTAINER

Abstract

A transport container comprising a spherical container 1 and a heat accumulating material 2a, 2b disposed inside of the spherical container 1, wherein; the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b is provided with a space for holding a transported object therein, and the space is formed at the central part of the inside of the spherical container 1.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perpendicular cross sectional view to show the constant temperature transport container of the first embodiment in the present invention,

FIG. 2( a) is a drawing to show an example of trial results of the heat loss by the heat insulating wall composed of a vacuum heat insulator and a heat conductive member in the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2(b) is a cross sectional view to show the constitution of the heat insulating wall composed of a vacuum heat insulator and a heat conductive member in the embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view to show the spherical container of the second embodiment in the present invention,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view to show the spherical container of the fourth embodiment in the present invention,

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of data transmission and reception of the fourth embodiment in the present invention,

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view to show the spherical container of the third embodiment in the present invention, and

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view to show the constant temperature transport container and the spherical container of the fifth embodiment in the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the constant temperature transport container relating to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal cross sectional view of the constant temperature transport container. A constant temperature transport container 20 is composed of a heat insulating container 21, a heat insulating wall 28 combining a plurality of heat insulators such as vacuum heat insulators 22a, 22b, and 22c and a heat conductive member 23 such as heat conductive copper or aluminum, a cushioning material 30 using a material of expanded polystyrene, urethane foam, or sponge, and a protective material 29.

Inside of the constant temperature transport container 20, a heat accumulating container 27 for storing a first heat accumulating material and a heat accumulating container 26 for storing a transported object and the first heat accumulating material are installed. Here, the vacuum heat insulator is formed by sealing the periphery of the member, which is a fibriform core such as glass-wool, with a film material such as aluminum and evacuating the inside thereof.

On the bottom of the constant temperature transport container 20, a second heat accumulating material 24 having an almost same temperature characteristic as that of the first heat accumulating material is installed and is arranged so as to make thermally contact with a part of the heat conductive material 23.

Inside of a cover 25 positioned at the upper part of the constant temperature transport container 20, the cushioning material 30 serving as heat insulation and shock absorption is installed, and the cover 25 is structured so as to keep the airtightness of the inside of the container 20 using the elasticity of the cushioning material 30 and can be opened and closed the container 20.

Further, although not shown in FIG. 1, the second heat accumulating material 24, independently of the opening and closing operation of the cover 25 of the constant temperature transport container 20, is structured so as to be exchanged externally.

When there is a temperature difference between the inside of the container and the outer periphery of the container, a heat transfer is generated by driving force of the temperature difference, and the accumulated heat amount of the heat accumulating material disposed in the container is lost. However, in this embodiment, the heat insulating wall 28 surrounding the inside of the container 20 is composed of the heat conductive member 23 and vacuum heat insulators 22a, 22b, and 22c and the temperature of the heat conductive member 23 is maintained almost at the same temperature as that of the inside of the container 20 by the heat of the second heat accumulating material 24, so that the heat loss of the first heat accumulating material disposed inside of the container 20 can be reduced.

Next, the reduction in the heat loss due to a difference in the constitution of the heat insulating wall will be explained by referring to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2( b) is a cross sectional view showing the constitution of the heat insulating wall 28 composed of the three vacuum heat insulators 22a, 22b, and 22c and heat conductive member 23. As a position for installing the heat conductive member 23, there are three locations available such as the position A inside the vacuum heat insulator 22a, the position B between the vacuum heat insulators 22a and 22b, and the position C between the vacuum heat insulators 22b and 22c, and FIG. 2(b) shows a case that the heat conductive member 23 is installed at the position B.

FIG. 2( a) shows an example of trial results of the heat loss by the heat insulating wall 28 composed of the vacuum heat insulator 22 and heat conductive member 23. The heat insulating wall 28 used for the trial is composed of three vacuum heat insulators 22a, 22b, and 22c and one heat conductive member 23. The vacuum heat insulator 22 has dimensions of 5 mm in thickness, 0.5 m in height, and 1 m in length and thermal conductivity of 5 mW/(m·K). The heat conductive member 23 is a copper plate of 1 mm in thickness, 0.5 m in height, and 1 m in length. The temperature conditions are set such that the intra-container temperature on the side of the inner vacuum heat insulator 22a is 37° C., the temperature around the container on the side of the outer vacuum heat insulator 22c is 0° C., and the temperature at the base of the heat conductive member 23 is 37° C.

In the drawing, the axis of ordinate indicates a heat loss 31 inside the container and a heat loss 32 to the periphery of the container and the axis of abscissa indicates a difference in the constitution of the heat insulating wall. In the axis of abscissa, V indicates a constitution when the heat insulating wall 28 is composed of only a vacuum heat insulator 22, and A indicates a constitution when the heat conductive member 23 is arranged at the position A shown in FIG. 2(b), B a constitution when the heat conductive member 23 is arranged at the position B shown in FIG. 2(b), and C a constitution when the heat conductive member 23 is arranged at the position C shown in FIG. 2(b).

In the constitution V that the heat insulating wall 28 is composed of only a vacuum heat insulator 22, heat of about 5.8 W is transferred from the inside of the container 20 to the periphery, though the heat conductive member 23 is installed at the position B of the heat insulating wall 28 so as to be held by the vacuum heat insulator 22 and the base thereof is heated at the same temperature as that of the inside of the container 20, thus it is found that the heat loss WI-B inside the container 20 can be lowered to about 22%. As a result, the quantity of heat per unit time lost from the first heat accumulating material installed in the container 20 is reduced and the time for retaining the temperature of the transported object can be extended.

On the other hand, the heat loss WO-B to the periphery of the container 20 is increased due to installation of the heat conductive member 23, though the heat loss is compensated by the accumulated heat amount of the second heat accumulating material 24. The second heat accumulating material 24 can be exchanged from the outside of the container 20, so that it is exchanged with a new heat accumulating material at an appropriate time interval, thus the temperature can be retained for a long time.

Further, the exchange time of the heat accumulating material 24 is desirably decided by installation of a means for detecting the temperature of the heat accumulating material 24 or detecting the temperature of the heat conductive member 23 in contact with the heat accumulating material 24.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2(a), the magnitude of the heat loss varies greatly with the installation position of the heat conductive member 23. When the heat conductive member 23 is installed at the position A of the heat insulating wall 28, the reduction effect of the heat loss WI-A in the container 20 is small such as about 40%, though the heat loss WO-A to the periphery of the container 20 is different little from the heat loss WO-V in the case of only the vacuum heat insulator 22 used. However, when the heat conductive member 23 is installed at this position, it induces a natural convection current of internal air on the surface in contact with the inside of the container 20 and there is a risk actually that the heat loss WI-A in the container 20 may increase more. Further, when the heat conductive member 23 is installed at the position C of the heat insulating wall 28, it is found that compared with the heat loss WI-C in the container 20, the heat loss WO-C to the periphery of the container 20 is increased greatly.

Therefore, the heat conductive member 23 is desirably installed between the vacuum heat insulators 22 and as an installation method for the vacuum heat insulators 22, more vacuum heat insulators 22 are desirably installed on the surface in contact with the periphery of the container 20 instead of the surface in contact with the inside of the container 20.

In this embodiment, to maintain the temperature of the heat insulating wall 28, the heat accumulating material 24 is used, though an electric heater or a Peltier element using a portable power source as a drive source can be used. In this case, to control the base temperature of the heat conductive member 23 within a predetermined temperature range, the respective devices are controlled, though the temperature of the transported object is retained with high precision by the first heat accumulating material disposed inside the container 20, so that for the temperature of the heat insulating wall 28, highly precise control is not necessary. Therefore, the heat source device can be structured by a simple constitution and the consumed power can be suppressed as fully as possible.

Another embodiment of the transport container relating to the present invention will be explained by referring to FIG. 3. This embodiment relates to a storing method for a transported object.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross sectional view showing the storing container of a transported object. A spherical container 1 is composed of an upper hemispherical capsule 1a and a lower hemispherical capsule 1b, and a heat accumulating material 2a is disposed in the upper hemispherical capsule 1a, and a heat accumulating material 2b is disposed in the lower hemispherical capsule 1b. The heat accumulating materials 2a, 2b, to prevent scattering and leakage, are sealed and used in different containers from the upper and lower hemispherical capsules 1a, 1b. In this specification, unless otherwise specified, description of a container sealing a heat accumulating material will be omitted. Further, tools for fixing the upper and lower hemispherical capsules and keeping them unopened are not shown in the drawings.

A container 3 for storing a transported object such as cells is stored and held at the central part of the spherical container 1. The heat accumulating material 2a, 2b disposed inside of the spherical container 1 has a property of accumulating or emitting latent heat at time of phase change between a liquid and a solid. Using this property, the container 3 for storing a transported object can be protected from a thermal influence and shock.

When transporting a transported object near at the body temperature (about 37° C.), a transport container is roughly assembled by the following procedure.

Firstly, in a constant temperature bath, the upper and lower hemispherical capsules 1a, 1b are heated up to a set temperature. Furthermore, the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b is heated and melted at the solidification point or higher, thereby accumulates heat. At this time, if the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b in the liquid phase is heated excessively, when the container for storing the transported object therein is set in the spherical container 1, the transported object is heated to the body temperature or higher and there is a risk that the quality of the transported object may be damaged, so that it is necessary to note setting of the heating temperature. The container sealing the heat accumulating materials 2a, 2b respectively in the upper and lower spherical capsules 1a, 1b is mounted, and the container 3 storing the transported object therein is put on the heat accumulating material 2b, and the upper hemispherical capsule 1a and lower hemispherical capsule 1b are combined and fixed so as to be held by the upper and lower heat accumulating materials 2a, 2b.

At this time, the transport container 1 is spherical, so that it rolls easily. Therefore, when the lower hemispherical capsule 1b is made heavier than the upper hemispherical capsule 1a or a metallic lump having a specific gravity larger than that of the heat accumulating material 2b is put in the lower hemispherical capsule 1b, the gravity is positioned at the lower part of the transport container 1.

Further, to make the heat insulating time of each transport container uniform, the work is desirably executed in the constant temperature room.

Next, the advantages of the spherical container 1 will be explained. When there is no leakage of heat from the spherical container 1, the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b holds the latent heat straight in the liquid phase and can retain the transported object at a uniform temperature. On the other hand, when the external temperature of the spherical container 1 is lowered below the solidification point of the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b, heat begins to leak from the outer peripheral part and in correspondence with it, the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b emits the latent heat and starts solidification. In correspondence with progress of heat radiation, the solidification interface (the interfacial boundary between the solid and the liquid), according the balance between the heat radiation amount from the outer peripheral part of the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b and the latent heat radiation amount, moves toward the central part almost concentrically, though around the container 3 for storing the transported object located at the central part, the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b in the liquid phase exists still, so that the temperature can be kept constant. At the point of time when the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b in contact with the container 3 for storing the transported object solidifies, the temperature retaining function is lost, though the transported object and heat accumulating material 2a, 2b are installed in the spherical container 1 and the transported object is installed at the central position thereof, thus the accumulated heat amount of the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b can be used effectively to maintain the temperature of the transported object.

Further, the solidified heat accumulating material increases the heat resistance for obstructing heat transfer, so that an effect such that in correspondence with progress of solidification, the heat leakage amount is reduced can be obtained.

Still another embodiment of the transport container relating to the present invention will be explained by referring to FIG. 6. This embodiment adds a function for always keeping the transported object in the same posture to the spherical container 1 described in the second embodiment.

When transporting a transported object including a culture fluid such as cultured cells, to prevent the fluid from falling during transport, it is necessary to keep the posture of the container 3 storing the transported object horizontal. As shown in FIG. 6, among the hemispherical capsules 1a, 1b composing the spherical container 1, inside the capsule 1b positioned at the lower part, a balance weight 18 is installed, thus the spherical container 1 is prevented from rotation and during transport, the transported object can be kept horizontal.

Further, instead of the balance weight 18, by use of such a constitution that the lower hemispherical capsule 1b is composed of a material heavier than that of the upper hemispherical capsule 1a, or in the lower hemispherical capsule 1b, iron or a magnet is installed and the installation surface of the spherical container 1 is made of a magnet or iron, thereby is fixed by the magnetic force, or furthermore, on the bottom of the spherical container 1, a flat portion is provided, the similar effect can be obtained.

A further embodiment of the transport container relating to the present invention will be explained by referring to FIGS. 4 and 5. This embodiment adds a data recording and dispatching means 5a concerning a transported object and a data recording and dispatching means 4a, 4b concerning the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b to the spherical container described in the second embodiment.

Data recorded and dispatched by a data recording and dispatching means 5 concerning a transported object is received by a data reception and display device 6 installed outside the spherical container 1. As data recorded and dispatched, name, date, history, transport destination name, and dispatching source name may be cited. These information is mainly inputted by the dispatching source of the transported object and is protected from rewriting during transport.

Data dispatched by data recording and dispatching means 4a and 4b concerning the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b is received by the data reception and display device 6 and then is transferred to a data calculation and output device 7. As data recorded and dispatched, the condition amounts of the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b such as temperature and distortion (deformation amount) may be cited. From these data, the data calculation and output device 7 calculates the solidification state of the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b or the like. Further, it has a function for calculating the remaining accumulated heat amount from the calculated solidification state of the heat accumulating material 2a, 2b and dispatching output of the remaining possible heat insulating time and alarm. As an example, when the estimated possible heat insulating time is shorter than the transport time, a warning is issued by a warning issuing means 15 and it is possible to promote a transport manager to cope with it by a communication means 16 to the transport manager and when the constant temperature transport container body is equipped with a temperature control unit, to transmit a signal instructing heating by a control signal generating means 17.

When a transported object is difficult to directly measure the temperature such as cultured cells used to the regenerating medical treatment, the surface temperature of the container 3 for storing the transported object is measured by the data recording and dispatching means 5 concerning the transported object and it is controlled as a transport control temperature.

According to this embodiment, without opening the spherical container 1, the information of a transported object and transport history such as temperature can be obtained, and the possible heat insulating time is estimated from the condition amount of the heat accumulating material, and the temperature is adjusted, thus the exactitude for the quality guarantee of the transported object can be improved.

A still further embodiment of the constant temperature transport container relating to the present invention will be explained by referring to FIG. 7. This embodiment relates to the storing method for the spherical container 1 in the constant temperature transport container 20.

In the constant temperature transport container 20, a plurality of spherical containers 1 storing transported objects are installed in the stacked state. The constant temperature transport container 20 includes a temperature control unit 10 such as an electric heater 11 driven by a portable power source, a circulating fan 13 for circulating air in the container 20 to make the temperature uniform, and a temperature measurement sensor 14 for measuring the internal temperature.

The plurality of spherical containers 1 are stacked and installed, thus during transport, the containers 1 are respectively prevented from moving and a space for circulating air between the containers 1 can be obtained. When using square storing containers, a means for preventing movement of the containers and a means for forming a gap for circulating an internal fluid are necessary, though the embodiments of the present invention do not require those means.

Further, the containers 1 are spherical, so that the storing efficiency of the containers in the constant temperature transport container 20 is improved. Furthermore, the contact areas of the spherical containers 1 are small, so that thermal interference due to thermal conduction between the containers can be prevented.

According to the embodiments, an effect can be obtained that without using a particular fixing means, the spherical containers 1 are prevented from moving and even if the internal temperature of the constant temperature transport container 20 becomes non-uniform, the quality deterioration of the transported object can be prevented.

Claims

1. A transport container comprising a spherical container and a heat accumulating material disposed inside of the spherical container, wherein; the heat accumulating material is provided with a space for holding a transported object therein, and the space is formed at the central part of the inside of the spherical container.

2. A transport container according to claim 1, further comprising means for recording and dispatching information and a transport history of the transported object.

3. A transport container according to claim 1, wherein a center of gravity is positioned at a lower part of the transport container.

4. A transporting method for transporting a plurality of the transport containers as set forth in claim 1, wherein a plurality of the transport container are stacked inside of the constant temperature transport container, and the constant temperature transport container provides with means for keeping an inside of the container at a constant temperature.

5. A constant temperature transport container comprising a heat insulating container, a cover for tightly closing the heat insulating container, a plurality of heat insulating members stacked on an inner surface side of the heat insulating container, a transported object and a heat accumulating material are stored in a space in the heat insulating container formed by the heat insulating members, further comprising: a heat conductive member is arranged between the heat insulating members, and one end of the heat conductive member is connected to a heat source installed exchangeably without accompanied with an open-close operation of the cover, and heat from the heat source is transferred to the heat insulating wall composed of the heat insulating member through the heat conductive member.