Incubators and biological sample morphology imaging equipment

Abstract

The disclosed embodiment of the present invention discloses an incubator and a biological sample morphological imaging device. The incubator includes: a box body, the box body includes at least one box door, and the bottom of the box body has an opening; a temperature control system, including a temperature sensor, a temperature regulating device and a control circuit, the control circuit is used to control the operation of the temperature regulating device according to the temperature obtained by the temperature sensor and the target temperature. According to the disclosed embodiment of the present invention, by opening a hole at the bottom of the constant temperature incubator, a specific object can be passed through the incubator and fixed on the seismic isolation platform. The specific object is not easily affected by the shaking of the incubator and can remain stable. At the same time, the upper surface of the seismic isolation platform forms a seal with the bottom of the incubator to maintain the airtightness of the inside of the incubator.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of biological instruments, and in particular to an incubator and a biological sample morphology imaging device. Background Art

[0002] The biological incubator has a temperature control function, which can control the temperature inside the incubator at a predetermined temperature, such as 20°C, 25°C, 37°C, etc., to control the temperature variables in the environment and achieve specific purposes. However, the inventors have found that in some special scenarios, the stability requirements for objects in the incubator are very high, and the disturbance needs to be reduced as much as possible. The existing technology cannot meet this requirement. Summary of the invention

[0003] In order to solve the problems in the related art, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide an incubator and a biological sample morphology imaging device.

[0004] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides an incubator, comprising:

[0005] A box body, the box body comprising at least one box door, and the box body bottom having an opening;

[0006] A temperature control system comprises a temperature sensor, a temperature regulating device and a control circuit, wherein the control circuit is used to control the operation of the temperature regulating device according to the temperature obtained by the temperature sensor and the target temperature.

[0007] In combination with the first aspect, in a first implementation of the first aspect of the present disclosure, the temperature adjustment device includes a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator and a circulation fan, wherein the compressor is arranged outside the box.

[0008] In combination with the first aspect, in a second implementation of the first aspect of the present disclosure, an observation window is provided on at least one side of the box, and both sides of the observation window are covered with a coating to increase the transmittance of the observation window in the visible light and / or infrared light band.

[0009] In combination with the second implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third implementation manner of the first aspect of the present disclosure, a heating element is installed around the observation window.

[0010] In combination with the first aspect, in a fourth implementation of the first aspect of the present disclosure, a through hole is provided on the box body, a socket is provided inside the box body, and the socket is electrically connected to the outside through the through hole.

[0011] In combination with the first aspect, any one of the first to fourth implementations of the first aspect, in a fifth implementation of the first aspect of the present disclosure, the box body is provided with an air inlet and an exhaust port, the incubator further includes a gas control device connected to the air inlet, and the gas control device includes:

[0012] A variety of gas sources with different compositions,

[0013] Gas mixing equipment; and

[0014] The gas sensor is arranged in the box and is used to detect the gas concentration in the box.

[0015] In combination with the fifth implementation of the first aspect, in a sixth implementation of the first aspect of the present disclosure, the gas mixing device includes:

[0016] a plurality of gas paths corresponding to the gas source;

[0017] a controller, controlling the gas flow of the plurality of gas paths by controlling the stop valves and flow controllers of the plurality of gas paths; and

[0018] A gas mixing tank is connected to the plurality of gas paths, used for mixing gases, and is connected to the gas inlet.

[0019] In combination with the fifth implementation of the first aspect, in a seventh implementation of the first aspect of the present disclosure:

[0020] The gas source comprises a nitrogen gas source; and / or

[0021] The gas source comprises an ethylene gas source; and / or

[0022] The gas source includes a carbon dioxide gas source; and / or

[0023] The gas source comprises an air source, and a bypass solenoid valve is arranged on a gas path corresponding to the air source.

[0024] In combination with the fifth implementation manner of the first aspect, in an eighth implementation manner of the first aspect of the present disclosure, an exhaust solenoid valve is provided at the exhaust port.

[0025] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a biological sample morphology imaging device, comprising:

[0026] An incubator as described in any one of the first aspect and the first to eighth implementations of the first aspect;

[0027] A biological sample culture module is arranged inside the culture box;

[0028] The imaging module is used to collect images of the plant seedlings cultured in the biological sample culture module.

[0029] According to the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, by opening a hole at the bottom of the constant temperature incubator, a specific object can pass through the incubator and be fixed on the seismic isolation platform. The specific object is not easily affected by the shaking of the incubator and can remain stable. At the same time, the upper surface of the seismic isolation platform forms a seal with the bottom of the incubator to maintain the airtightness of the inside of the incubator.

[0030] It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] Other features, objectives and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent through the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings:

[0032] Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing an incubator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0033] Figure 2 A schematic diagram showing a gas control device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0034] Figure 3 A schematic diagram showing a biological sample morphology imaging device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily implement them. In addition, for the sake of clarity, parts not related to the description of the exemplary embodiments are omitted in the accompanying drawings.

[0036] In the present disclosure, it should be understood that terms such as "include" or "have" are intended to indicate the presence of features, numbers, steps, behaviors, components, parts, or a combination thereof disclosed in the present specification, and are not intended to exclude the possibility that one or more other features, numbers, steps, behaviors, components, parts, or a combination thereof exist or are added.

[0037] It should also be noted that, in the absence of conflict, the embodiments and features in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be combined with each other. The present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and in combination with the embodiments.

[0038] The biological incubator has a temperature control function, which can control the temperature inside the incubator at a predetermined temperature, such as 20°C, 25°C, 37°C, etc., to control the temperature variables in the environment and achieve specific purposes. However, the inventors have found that in some special scenarios, the stability requirements for objects in the incubator are very high, and the disturbance needs to be reduced as much as possible. The existing technology cannot meet this requirement.

[0039] The incubator provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure includes a box body, the box body includes at least one box door, and the bottom of the box body has an opening; a temperature control system includes a temperature sensor, a temperature regulating device and a control circuit, and the control circuit is used to control the operation of the temperature regulating device according to the temperature obtained by the temperature sensor and the target temperature. According to the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, by opening a hole at the bottom of the constant temperature incubator, a specific object can be passed through the incubator and fixed on the seismic isolation platform. The specific object is not easily affected by the shaking of the incubator and can remain stable. At the same time, the upper surface of the seismic isolation platform forms a seal with the bottom of the incubator to maintain the airtightness of the inside of the incubator.

[0040] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of an incubator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 1 As shown, the incubator includes:

[0041] A box body 8, wherein the box body 8 comprises at least one box door 81, and the bottom of the box body 8 has an opening 14;

[0042] The temperature control system 7 includes a temperature sensor, a temperature regulating device and a control circuit. The control circuit is used to control the operation of the temperature regulating device according to the temperature obtained by the temperature sensor and the target temperature.

[0043] According to the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, by opening a hole at the bottom of the constant temperature incubator, a specific object can pass through the incubator and be fixed on the seismic isolation platform. The specific object is not easily affected by the shaking of the incubator and can remain stable. At the same time, the upper surface of the seismic isolation platform forms a seal with the bottom of the incubator to maintain the airtightness of the inside of the incubator.

[0044] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, in order to further enhance the airtightness between the bottom of the incubator and the seismic isolation platform, a layer of rubber pads may be provided at the bottom of the incubator. Specific objects may pass through the opening 41 and the rubber pads and be fixed on the seismic isolation platform.

[0045] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the temperature adjustment device 7 includes a compressor 6, a condenser, an evaporator and a circulating fan, wherein the compressor 6 is arranged outside the box 8, and the other parts are arranged inside the box 8. For example, Figure 1 As shown, the compressor 6 is arranged outside the box 8 and connected to the box 8 by a copper tube, so as to prevent the vibration generated by the compressor 6 when working from interfering with the specific objects in the box 8 that need to be kept stable. An air outlet 9 is also arranged in the box 8. When the door 81 of the box 8 is closed, the air cooled or heated by the temperature regulating device 7 is blown out from the air outlet 9 and sucked back from the circulating fan to achieve temperature control of the enclosed space in the box 8. The air outlet 9 can be arranged at the bottom of the box and can be arranged in a long strip shape to increase the outlet cross-sectional area, so as to improve the temperature control ability at the same wind speed.

[0046] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the temperature regulating device can be used to control the interior of the box to maintain a constant temperature, or to control the temperature change inside the box according to a predetermined temperature program. For example, the temperature inside the box can be controlled to change repeatedly between 20 degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius at a rate of 2 degrees Celsius per minute, etc.

[0047] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an observation window is provided on at least one side of the box, and both sides of the observation window are covered with a coating to increase the transmittance of the observation window in the visible light and / or infrared light band.

[0048] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the imaging device on the outside of the box 8 can shoot the objects in the box through the observation window 10. The glass used for the observation window 10 is double-sided coated, and the transmittance of the glass in the visible light and infrared light bands such as 940nm is increased at the same time, so as to reduce the reflection of the infrared lighting source on the outside of the box 8 into the lens, and reduce the loss of light signals when the objects in the box 8 are detected by the sensor on the outside of the box 8.

[0049] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, a heating element is installed around the observation window 10 to prevent frost on the surface of the inner observation window glass when the internal low temperature environment is low.

[0050] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the box is provided with a through hole, and a socket is provided inside the box, such as an aviation socket on the aviation socket panel 13, and the socket is electrically connected to the outside through the through hole. The electrical connection between the internal equipment of the box 8 and the outside world is through the aviation socket on the panel to ensure that the wiring is light-proof and airtight.

[0051] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the box body is provided with an air inlet 11 and an exhaust port 12, and the incubator further includes a gas control device connected to the air inlet 11. The gas control device delivers gas into the box body 8 through the air inlet 11 and exhausts it from the exhaust port 12 to control the concentration of each gas component inside the box body 8.

[0052] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, an exhaust solenoid valve is provided at the exhaust port 12. Under normal conditions, the exhaust solenoid valve is in a closed state to maintain the airtightness inside the box. After ventilation is introduced into the box 8, a certain pressure is generated due to the inability to exhaust air, so as to maintain a small positive air pressure inside the box, further avoiding interference of external gas on the internal environment of the box. During the process of introducing high-pressure air for rapid flushing, the exhaust solenoid valve can be opened to quickly discharge the gas in the box out of the box.

[0053] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, after the box door is closed, the interior of the box remains airtight, a small positive air pressure can be maintained inside, and light is not allowed to pass except through the observation window; the interior of the box remains airtight, and when the exhaust solenoid valve is closed, gas is introduced from the air inlet 11 to generate a small positive air pressure inside the box, which can prevent external air from infiltrating through possible gaps caused by production and manufacturing process problems and causing pollution to the internal environment.

[0054] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a gas control device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0055] like Figure 2 As shown, the gas control device includes: a plurality of gas sources with different components, a gas mixing device and a gas sensor 22. The gas sensor 22 is arranged in the box 8 and is used to detect the gas concentration in the box 8.

[0056] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the gas mixing device includes:

[0057] a plurality of gas paths corresponding to the gas source;

[0058] Controllers, such as Figure 2 The main control board 18 shown controls the gas flow of the multiple gas paths by controlling the stop valves 15 and the flow controller 16 (referred to as flow meter in the figure) of the multiple gas paths; and

[0059] The gas mixing tank 19 is connected to the plurality of gas paths, is used for mixing gases, and is connected to the gas inlet 11 .

[0060] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, each gas path may include a stop valve 15, a flow controller 16, and a check valve 17. The controller may control the on-off and flow rate of each gas path, and mix the gases in a gas mixing tank 19 and pass them into the incubator body 8. The air circulation system inside the body 8 may quickly mix the internal gas.

[0061] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the gas source may include, for example, oxygen, carbon dioxide, ethylene and other gas components closely related to plant growth and development. By controlling the gas flow rate of each passage through the feedback of the detection result of the gas sensor 22, the concentration of a given gas inside the incubator can be stably maintained near the target value. The controllable gas composition and gas concentration range are determined by the type and detection range of the gas sensor, and the various parameters of the control algorithm are adjusted accordingly, and are not limited to the aforementioned three gases.

[0062] In principle, if the target concentration to be controlled is higher than the normal concentration in the atmosphere, it can be achieved by adjusting the mixing ratio and inflow rate of compressed air and high-concentration target gas. If the target concentration is lower than the normal concentration in the atmosphere, the type of gas source can be adjusted. The gas source of the disclosed embodiment may also include a nitrogen gas source to achieve a scenario in which the target concentration is lower than the normal concentration in the atmosphere. For example, for an oxygen-deficient environment, for example, in order to maintain the oxygen concentration at 5%, the mixing ratio and flow rate of compressed air and pure nitrogen can be controlled separately, and the oxygen in the closed incubator can be discharged through nitrogen to achieve hypoxic conditions. For another example, in order to achieve a low carbon dioxide concentration of less than 400ppm, the mixing ratio and flow rate of the nitrogen-oxygen mixture and pure carbon dioxide can be controlled separately, and the carbon dioxide in the air can be discharged through the nitrogen-oxygen mixture to achieve low carbon dioxide conditions.

[0063] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the gas source includes an air source, and a bypass solenoid valve 20 is provided on the gas path corresponding to the air source. When the bypass solenoid valve 20 is opened, high-pressure compressed air can be directly pumped into the box body 8 for rapid flushing to quickly exhaust other gas components in the incubator. At this time, the exhaust solenoid valve 21 should be opened to exhaust the gas in the closed incubator to the outside of the device through the exhaust passage.

[0064] The following uses four representative usage scenarios: fresh air, target concentration higher than the atmosphere, target concentration lower than the atmosphere, and rapid flushing to restore to the atmospheric concentration as examples to illustrate the implementation method:

[0065] 1. Maintain the stable gas environment in the incubator without being disturbed by the indoor environment

[0066] a) Connect the air compressor or compressed air cylinder to the air passage and adjust the input air pressure to 0.2-0.4MPa;

[0067] b) Open the air stop valve 15 and the exhaust port stop valve 21, close the other stop valves 15, and close the bypass stop valve 20;

[0068] c) Enable the air path flow controller 16 and set the flow rate to 5-20 L / min.

[0069] 2. Example of the target concentration to be controlled being higher than the normal concentration in the atmosphere: Applying 10ppm ethylene gas to the incubator

[0070] a) Connect the air compressor or compressed air cylinder to the air passage, and adjust the input air pressure to 0.2-0.4 MPa; connect the ethylene standard gas cylinder with a concentration of about 300 times the target concentration to the ethylene passage (if the target control concentration is 10 ppm, use 3000 ppm ethylene standard gas, with nitrogen or air as the carrier gas), and adjust the input air pressure to 0.2-0.4 MPa;

[0071] b) Open the stop valves 15 of the air and ethylene circuits and the exhaust port stop valve 21, close the other stop valves, and close the bypass stop valve 20;

[0072] c) enabling the air and ethylene two-way flow controller 16, setting the air flow rate to 5-20 L / min, and using the PID (Proportion Integral Differential) algorithm to dynamically set the ethylene flow rate to 0-100 mL / min according to the ethylene sensor reading;

[0073] d) After the ethylene sensor reading reaches the target concentration value, the exhaust port stop valve 21 is closed, the air flow rate is set to a maximum of no more than 1 L / min, and the PID algorithm is used to dynamically set the air and ethylene flow rates according to the ethylene sensor reading.

[0074] 3. Example of achieving a target concentration lower than the normal concentration in the atmosphere: Applying hypoxic conditions (5% oxygen concentration) to the incubator

[0075] a) Connect the air compressor or compressed air cylinder to the air passage, connect the nitrogen cylinder to the nitrogen passage, and adjust the input air pressure to 0.2-0.4MPa;

[0076] b) Open the stop valve 15 of the nitrogen and air circuits and the exhaust port stop valve 21, close the stop valves 15 of other circuits, and close the bypass stop valve 20;

[0077] c) Enable the nitrogen and air flow controllers 16, set the maximum flow rate to 30L / min, and use the PID algorithm to dynamically set the flow rates of nitrogen and air according to the readings of the oxygen sensor;

[0078] d) After the oxygen sensor reading reaches the target concentration value, the exhaust port stop valve 21 is closed, and the air and nitrogen flow rates are dynamically set according to the oxygen sensor reading using a PID algorithm.

[0079] 4. Rapid recovery of normal atmospheric levels after applying gas treatment (withdrawal of gas treatment)

[0080] a) Connect the air compressor or compressed air cylinder to the air passage and adjust the input air pressure to 0.2-0.4MPa;

[0081] b) Open the stop valve 15 of the air circuit, close the stop valves 15 of the gas circuits other than the air circuit, close the flow controller 16 of the air circuit, open the bypass stop valve 20 and the exhaust port stop valve 21, so that high-pressure air is directly filled into the closed incubator and the original gas is squeezed out;

[0082] c) After the applied gas treatment corresponding sensor reading returns to the threshold line, close the bypass shut-off valve, enable the air path flow controller 16, and set the flow rate to 5-20 L / min.

[0083] The incubator of the embodiment of the present disclosure has been introduced above. Figure 3 , introduces the biological sample morphology imaging device of the embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0084] Figure 3 A schematic diagram showing a biological sample morphology imaging device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0085] like Figure 3 As shown, the biological sample morphology imaging device includes:

[0086] An incubator 4 as described in the above embodiments;

[0087] A biological sample culture module 5 is disposed inside the culture box 4;

[0088] The imaging module 3 is used to collect images of the plant seedlings cultured in the biological sample culture module.

[0089] Since the biological sample morphology imaging device needs to continuously take pictures of the biological sample and achieve extremely high optical resolution, the biological sample culture module 5 inside the incubator 4 needs to maintain high stability. According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the biological sample morphology imaging device may include a housing 1 and an optical seismic isolation platform 2, and the biological sample culture module 5 may be fixed on the optical seismic isolation platform 2 through an opening at the bottom of the incubator 4.

[0090] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the biological sample can be a plant sample, especially a plant seedling sample. The biological sample morphological imaging device provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure can be a plant seedling imaging device, which is used to analyze the growth status of the plant seedlings. The biological sample culture module 5 may include a rotating bracket, on which a culture dish rack can be installed to accommodate culture dishes. The incubator 4 can flexibly adjust the environment in which the plant seedlings grow, including temperature, gas component concentration, etc., to meet the control requirements of various experimental condition variables. The observation window on the side wall of the incubator 4 allows the imaging module 3 outside the incubator to collect image data of the plant seedlings inside the incubator 4, for studying changes in the growth of the plant seedlings.

[0091] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure and an explanation of the technical principles used. Those skilled in the art should understand that the scope of the invention involved in the present disclosure is not limited to the technical solution formed by a specific combination of the above technical features, but should also cover other technical solutions formed by any combination of the above technical features or their equivalent features without departing from the inventive concept. For example, the above features are replaced with the technical features with similar functions disclosed in the present disclosure (but not limited to) by each other.

Claims

1. An incubator, characterized in that: Placed on a seismic isolation platform, the incubator includes: A box body, the box body comprising at least one box door, the box body having an opening at the bottom thereof, for allowing a biological sample culture module to pass through the culture box and be fixed on the seismic isolation platform; A temperature control system comprises a temperature sensor, a temperature regulating device and a control circuit, wherein the control circuit is used to control the operation of the temperature regulating device according to the temperature obtained by the temperature sensor and the target temperature.

2. The incubator according to claim 1, characterized in that: The temperature regulating device comprises a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator and a circulation fan, wherein the compressor is arranged outside the box.

3. The incubator according to claim 1, characterized in that: An observation window is arranged on at least one side of the box body, and both sides of the observation window are covered with a coating to increase the light transmittance of the observation window in the visible light and / or infrared light band.

4. The incubator according to claim 3, characterized in that: A heating element is installed around the observation window.

5. The incubator according to claim 1, characterized in that: The box body is provided with a through hole, and a socket is provided inside the box body. The socket is electrically connected to the outside through the through hole.

6. The incubator according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The box body is provided with an air inlet and an exhaust port, and the incubator further comprises a gas control device connected to the air inlet, and the gas control device comprises: A variety of gas sources with different compositions, Gas mixing equipment; and The gas sensor is arranged in the box and is used to detect the gas concentration in the box.

7. The incubator according to claim 6, characterized in that: The gas mixing device comprises: a plurality of gas paths corresponding to the gas source; a controller, controlling the gas flow of the plurality of gas paths by controlling the stop valves and flow controllers of the plurality of gas paths; and A gas mixing tank is connected to the plurality of gas paths, used for mixing gases, and is connected to the gas inlet.

8. The incubator according to claim 7, characterized in that: The gas source comprises a nitrogen gas source; and / or The gas source comprises an ethylene gas source; and / or The gas source includes a carbon dioxide gas source; and / or The gas source comprises an air source, and a bypass solenoid valve is arranged on a gas path corresponding to the air source.

9. The incubator according to claim 6, characterized in that: An exhaust solenoid valve is arranged at the exhaust port.

10. A biological sample morphology imaging device, characterized in that: include: The incubator according to any one of claims 1 to 9; A biological sample culture module is arranged inside the culture box; The biological sample culture module comprises a rotating support, on which a culture dish rack can be mounted for accommodating a culture dish; The imaging module is used to collect images of the plant seedlings cultured in the biological sample culture module.

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