Full-automatic three-gas incubator

Abstract

The utility model relates to the technical field of cell culture experiments, and discloses a full-automatic three-gas incubator which comprises at least one group of culture brackets, a plurality of support plates used for containing culture dishes are arranged on the culture brackets in an array mode, and the culture brackets can be driven by a bracket movement mechanism to move between a culture position and a pick-and-place position; the automatic door assembly is arranged on a side plate of the incubator and is used for opening or closing the taking and placing opening; the pick-and-place mechanical arm is used for transferring the culture dishes between the supporting plate and the pick-and-place opening; the bracket movement mechanism, the automatic door assembly and the taking and placing mechanical arm are all in signal connection with the control device. According to the full-automatic three-gas incubator, automatic taking and placing of the culture dishes are achieved, the taking and placing efficiency is improved, the culture dishes enter and exit through the taking and placing openings in the side plates of the incubator, and the influence of taking and placing of the culture dishes on the internal environment of the incubator is reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of cell culture experiments, and more specifically to a full-automatic three-gas incubator. Background Art

[0002] During cell culture, the lab worker needs to open the door to place the culture dish, remove the dish for observation and experiment, and then return the dish to the incubator. This cell culture work is monotonous and repetitive, which can easily lead to fatigue and significantly affect work efficiency and quality. Furthermore, frequent opening and closing of the incubator can cause environmental fluctuations inside the incubator, adversely affecting cell culture and leading to inaccurate experimental data.

[0003] In summary, how to reduce the impact of taking and placing culture dishes on the internal environment of the incubator is an urgent problem to be solved by those skilled in the art. Utility Model Content

[0004] In view of this, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a fully automatic three-gas incubator, which realizes the automatic taking and placing of culture dishes, improves the taking and placing efficiency, and the culture dishes are put in and out through the taking and placing openings on the side panels of the incubator, reducing the impact of taking and placing culture dishes on the internal environment of the incubator.

[0005] In order to achieve the above purpose, the present invention provides the following technical solutions:

[0006] A fully automatic three-gas incubator, comprising:

[0007] At least one group of culture trays, on which a plurality of support plates for holding culture dishes are arranged in an array, and the culture trays can be moved between a culture position and a loading and unloading position under the drive of the tray movement mechanism;

[0008] An automatic door assembly provided on the side panel of the incubator, used to open or close the access opening;

[0009] A pick-and-place robotic arm, used for transferring the culture dish between the support plate and the pick-and-place opening;

[0010] A control device is provided, wherein the bracket movement mechanism, the automatic door assembly and the pick-and-place robotic arm are all connected to the control device by signal.

[0011] Preferably, a pulley and a pulley driver for driving the pulley to rotate are provided at the bottom of the culture bracket, and the pulley can move along a guide rail on the bottom surface of the culture area.

[0012] Preferably, the culture tray is mounted on a turntable, and the turntable is connected to an output shaft of a rotary motor. When the rotary motor rotates, the culture tray rotates synchronously around the axis of the turntable.

[0013] Preferably, a slide rail is provided on the top of the turntable, and a pulley is provided on the bottom of the culture tray. The pulley is slidably installed in the slide rail, and a locking member is provided between the pulley and the slide rail, and the locking member is used to fix the relative position of the culture tray and the turntable.

[0014] Preferably, the pick-and-place robotic arm includes a tray for holding culture dishes, a horizontal telescopic mechanism for driving the tray to extend and retract in a horizontal plane, and a lifting mechanism for driving the horizontal telescopic mechanism to rise and fall in a height direction, and the fixed end of the horizontal telescopic mechanism is connected to the movable end of the lifting mechanism.

[0015] Preferably, the horizontal telescopic mechanism includes a base for connecting to the fixed end of the lifting mechanism, the base is provided with a horizontal guide rail, the tray is slidably mounted on the horizontal guide rail, and the tray is connected to the telescopic power mechanism to drive the tray to reciprocate along the horizontal guide rail.

[0016] Preferably, the telescopic power mechanism includes a rotating shaft arranged along the height direction, one end of the rotating shaft is connected to the telescopic motor, and the other end of the rotating shaft is connected to the tray through a paddle. When the telescopic motor drives the rotating shaft to rotate, the paddle pushes the tray to reciprocate along the horizontal guide rail.

[0017] Preferably, the lifting mechanism includes a lifting motor, a lifting screw and a lifting nut, the output shaft of the lifting motor is connected to the lifting screw, the lifting nut is sleeved outside the lifting screw, the lifting nut is connected to the base, and the lifting motor and the telescopic motor are both arranged outside the culture area.

[0018] Preferably, the automatic door assembly includes an automatic door, an automatic door track and a linear power mechanism. The inner side of the incubator side panel is provided with an automatic door track. The automatic door can be raised and lowered in the height direction relative to the automatic door track under the drive of the linear power mechanism to open or close the access port.

[0019] Preferably, the linear power mechanism includes a drive motor, an automatic door lifting screw, a vertical guide rail and a moving block, the output shaft of the drive motor is connected to the automatic door lifting screw, the moving block is sleeved outside the automatic door lifting screw, and the moving block is slidingly connected to the vertical guide rail.

[0020] The fully automatic three-gas incubator provided by the utility model can realize the transfer of culture dishes between the culture bracket and the access port on the side of the incubator through the access robot arm, which not only realizes the automation of culture dish access and improves the access efficiency of culture dish access, but also avoids the need to manually open and close the main cabinet door of the incubator to access and place culture dishes. The size of the access port is much smaller than that of the main cabinet door, which effectively reduces the impact of access to and from culture dishes on the internal environment of the incubator. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, the drawings described below are merely embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on the provided drawings without paying any creative work.

[0022] Figure 1 This is a structural diagram of a specific embodiment of the fully automatic three-gas incubator provided by the utility model;

[0023] Figure 2 It is a side view schematic diagram of a fully automatic three-gas incubator;

[0024] Figure 3 This is a main schematic diagram of the culture area;

[0025] Figure 4 is a side view schematic diagram of the culture area;

[0026] Figure 5 It is a structural schematic diagram of the turntable bracket assembly;

[0027] Figure 6 is a top view schematic diagram of the turntable bracket assembly;

[0028] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the main view of the pick-and-place robotic arm;

[0029] Figure 8 A side view schematic diagram of a pick-and-place robotic arm;

[0030] Figure 9 It is a schematic diagram of the main view of the automatic door assembly;

[0031] Figure 10 A side view schematic diagram of an automatic door assembly.

[0032] Figures 1-10 middle:

[0033] 1-cabinet; 11-main cabinet door; 12-main cabinet door lock; 13-pick-up plate; 2-display screen; 3-inner cabin assembly; 4-turntable bracket assembly; 41-culture bracket; 411-pulley; 42-turntable; 421-lock; 43-rotating motor; 5-pick-up robot arm; 511-lifting motor; 512-lifting screw; 513-sliding guide rail; 52-bottom support; 521-horizontal guide rail; 531-telescopic motor; 532-rotating shaft; 533-paddle; 54-tray; 6-automatic door assembly; 611-drive motor; 612-automatic door lifting screw; 613-moving block; 614-vertical guide rail; 62-automatic door; 63-automatic door frame; 7-control device; 8-water box; 9-disinfection module. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the embodiments described are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0035] The core of the utility model is to provide a fully automatic three-gas incubator, which realizes the automatic taking and placing of culture dishes, improves the taking and placing efficiency, and the culture dishes are put in and out through the taking and placing openings on the side panels of the incubator, reducing the impact of taking and placing culture dishes on the internal environment of the incubator.

[0036] The fully automatic three-gas incubator provided by the utility model comprises:

[0037] At least one group of culture trays 41, on which a plurality of trays for holding culture dishes are arranged in an array, and the culture trays 41 can be moved between a culture position and a loading and unloading position under the drive of a tray movement mechanism;

[0038] An automatic door assembly 6 provided on the side panel of the incubator, for opening or closing the access opening;

[0039] A pick-and-place robot 5 is used to transfer the culture dish between the support plate and the pick-and-place port;

[0040] The control device 7 , the bracket movement mechanism, the automatic door assembly 6 and the pick-and-place robot arm 5 are all connected to the control device 7 via signals.

[0041] Please refer to Figure 1-Figure 4 The front of the cabinet 1 of the incubator is provided with a main cabinet door 11, which is locked to the cabinet 1 by a main cabinet door lock 12 to ensure the sealing of the main cabinet door 11 and prevent the external environment from affecting the internal environment of the cabinet 1, especially the internal environment of the culture area for cell culture;

[0042] The side of the cabinet 1 is provided with a take-and-place opening, the size of which is smaller than that of the main cabinet door 11. The take-and-place opening is used to take and place a single or a small number of culture dishes during observation experiments. A take-and-place plate 13 is preferably provided below the take-and-place opening to temporarily store the culture dishes to be taken and placed. The side panel of the cabinet 1 is provided with an automatic door assembly 6, which can be translated or rotated relative to the take-and-place opening so as to open the take-and-place opening when the culture dish is taken and placed, and close the take-and-place opening during cell culture.

[0043] The cabinet 1 is provided with a culture area for placing culture dishes for cell culture, a regulating device for regulating the temperature, humidity and air composition in the culture area, such as a water box 8, a disinfection module 9, etc., and a control device 7. In order to prevent the regulating device and the control device 7 from affecting the cell culture environment, a culture area box is preferably provided to separate the culture area from the regulating device and the control device 7 to form an inner cabin group 3.

[0044] The culture tray 41 is arranged in the culture area of ​​the incubator. A plurality of trays are arranged in an array in the culture tray 41. The trays are used to hold the culture dishes to be cultured. In order to facilitate the taking and placing of the culture dishes, the trays are usually arranged on the side of the culture tray 41 close to the main cabinet door 11 and the taking and placing port. The trays are usually evenly distributed along the height direction of the culture tray 41 so as to increase the number of culture dishes that can be held in the culture tray 41 while ensuring appropriate taking and placing space.

[0045] The number and distribution of the culture trays 41 , as well as the number and distribution of the support plates in each culture tray 41 , are determined based on the design capacity and size of the incubator in actual production, and will not be described in detail here.

[0046] The culture tray 41 can be moved between the culture position and the pick-up and placement position under the drive of the tray movement mechanism. The culture tray 41 can move in the horizontal plane relative to the cabinet 1, or it can rotate in the height direction relative to the cabinet 1. The specific type and structure of the tray movement mechanism are determined according to the movement mode of the culture tray 41 and will not be repeated here.

[0047] In order to realize the transfer of the culture dish between the pick-up and placement position and the pick-up and placement port of the culture bracket 41, a pick-up and placement robot 5 is provided in the incubator, and the pick-up and placement robot 5 can transport the culture dish by translation and / or rotation.

[0048] The control device 7 is used to receive input control instructions and adjust the working state of the incubator according to the control instructions, such as adjusting the temperature, humidity and air composition of the culture area, automatically taking and placing culture dishes, etc.; in order to facilitate the experimenter to better understand the real-time environment inside the incubator, a display screen 2 is provided on the outside of the cabinet 1, and the display screen 2 is used to display the real-time temperature and humidity information and air composition information of the internal environment of the culture area.

[0049] In this embodiment, the culture dish can be transferred between the culture tray 41 and the pick-up and placement port on the side of the incubator by the pick-up and placement robot arm 5, which not only realizes the automation of the culture dish picking-up and placement, improves the efficiency of the culture dish picking-up and placement, but also avoids the manual opening and closing of the main cabinet door 11 of the incubator to pick up and place the culture dish. The size of the pick-up and placement port is much smaller than that of the main cabinet door 11, which effectively reduces the impact of the picking-up and placement of the culture dish on the internal environment of the incubator.

[0050] Based on the above embodiment, the relative movement mode of the culture tray 41 is defined. The bottom of the culture tray 41 is provided with a pulley and a pulley driver for driving the pulley to rotate. The pulley can move along the guide rail on the bottom surface of the culture area.

[0051] The guide rail can be set as an annular guide rail. When the culture dish needs to be taken or placed, the pulley driver of each culture bracket 41 is controlled to rotate, so that each culture bracket 41 rotates in the same direction along the annular guide rail until the culture bracket 41 where the culture dish to be taken or placed is located moves to the take-or-place position;

[0052] The guide rail can also be set as a horizontal orthogonal guide rail, which includes a main rail arranged along the length direction of the cabinet 1, and a plurality of avoidance rails are vertically arranged on the main rail. A pick-up and placement rail is provided at one end of the main rail close to the pick-up and placement port. When it is necessary to pick up and place a culture dish, the culture tray 41 where the culture dish to be picked up and placed is located is controlled to move along the main rail toward the pick-up and placement port. If there is a culture tray 41 in front, it is controlled to move to the avoidance rail until the culture tray 41 containing the culture dish to be picked up and placed enters the pick-up and placement rail from the main rail, that is, enters the pick-up and placement position.

[0053] On the basis of the above embodiment, in order to reduce the number of bracket movement mechanisms and reduce equipment costs, please refer to Figure 5 and Figure 6 The culture bracket 41 is mounted on a turntable 42 , and the turntable 42 is connected to the output shaft of a rotary motor 43 . When the rotary motor 43 rotates, the culture bracket 41 rotates synchronously around the axis of the turntable 42 .

[0054] Compared with the culture tray 41 moving in the horizontal plane, the corresponding culture tray 41 is controlled separately by multiple sets of tray motion mechanisms. The turntable tray assembly 4 can use the rotating motor 43 to drive all culture trays 41 at the same time. The structure of the motion mechanism is simpler, low in cost and small in space.

[0055] The culture tray 41 can be fixed to the turntable 42 by welding, but in order to facilitate the maintenance and replacement of the culture tray 41, it is preferably provided with a slide rail on the top of the turntable 42, and a pulley 411 is provided at the bottom of the culture tray 41. The pulley 411 is slidably installed in the slide rail, and a locking part such as a lock 421 is provided between the pulley 411 and the slide rail. The locking part is used to fix the relative position of the culture tray 41 and the turntable 42 to prevent the culture tray 41 from moving during the cell culture process, causing the culture dish to collide with the culture tray 41 or even fall off.

[0056] Based on the above embodiment, the structure of the pick-and-place robot arm 5 is defined. The pick-and-place robot arm 5 includes a tray 54 for holding culture dishes, a horizontal telescopic mechanism for driving the tray 54 to extend and retract in the horizontal plane, and a lifting mechanism for driving the horizontal telescopic mechanism to rise and fall in the height direction. The fixed end of the horizontal telescopic mechanism is connected to the movable end of the lifting mechanism.

[0057] Among them, the lifting mechanism is used to drive the tray 54 to rise and fall in the height direction so as to take and place culture dishes placed at different heights on the culture bracket 41; the horizontal telescopic mechanism is used to drive the tray 54 to telescope in the horizontal plane so as to transfer the tray 54 between the take-and-place position and the take-and-place opening.

[0058] In order to avoid the displacement of the tray 54 during the telescopic process, preferably, a horizontal telescopic mechanism can be provided, including a base 52 for connecting to the fixed end of the lifting mechanism, the base 52 is provided with a horizontal guide rail 521, and the tray 54 is slidably installed on the horizontal guide rail 521. The tray 54 is connected to the telescopic power mechanism to drive the tray 54 to move back and forth along the horizontal guide rail 521.

[0059] Since the access opening is provided on the side panel of the cabinet 1 , the access opening is usually provided close to the side panel of the cabinet 1 , and therefore the horizontal guide rail 521 of the bottom bracket 52 is mostly extended along the length direction of the incubator.

[0060] The telescopic power mechanism can be set as a linear displacement mechanism such as a linear motor, but in order to reduce the impact of the telescopic power mechanism on the internal environment of the incubator, it is preferably set to include a rotating shaft 532 arranged along the height direction. The rotating shaft 532 can be set as a square shaft. One end of the rotating shaft 532 is connected to the telescopic motor 531, and the other end of the rotating shaft 532 is connected to the tray 54 through the paddle 533. When the telescopic motor 531 drives the rotating shaft 532 to rotate, the paddle 533 pushes the tray 54 to move back and forth along the horizontal guide rail 521.

[0061] At this time, in order to reduce the impact of the telescopic power mechanism on the internal environment of the incubator, the telescopic motor 531 can be Figure 8 As shown, it is arranged above the culture area, and can also be arranged below the culture area.

[0062] The lifting mechanism can be specifically configured as a linear motor and a linear guide mechanism, or as a rotary motor and a ball screw structure.

[0063] Taking into account the motion stability and motion control accuracy, preferably, a lifting mechanism can be provided including a lifting motor 511, a lifting screw 512 and a lifting nut, the output shaft of the lifting motor 511 is connected to the lifting screw 512, the lifting nut is sleeved on the outside of the lifting screw 512, the lifting nut is connected to the base 52, and the lifting motor 511 and the telescopic motor 531 are both arranged outside the culture area to reduce the impact of the lifting mechanism and the telescopic power mechanism on the internal environment of the culture area.

[0064] Of course, in order to prevent the movement direction of the bottom bracket 52 from being offset, a sliding guide rail 513 parallel to the lifting screw 512 can be further provided, and the bottom bracket 52 is slidably connected to the sliding guide rail 513 via a slider.

[0065] On the basis of the above embodiment, the structure of the automatic door assembly 6 is defined. The automatic door assembly 6 includes an automatic door 62, an automatic door track and a linear power mechanism. The inner side surface of the incubator side panel is provided with an automatic door track. The automatic door 62 can be raised and lowered in the height direction relative to the automatic door track under the drive of the linear power mechanism to open or close the take-in and put-out port.

[0066] Please refer to Figure 9 An automatic door 62 is provided on the inner side of the side panel of the cabinet 1, and an automatic door track is provided on at least one side of the left and right sides along the direction of movement of the automatic door 62. It should be noted that the automatic door track is used to limit the moving direction of the automatic door 62, and does not limit the sliding connection between the automatic door track and the automatic door 62.

[0067] Preferably, the automatic door track can be set as an automatic door frame 63, and the height of the automatic door frame 63 is greater than the sum of the height of the automatic door 62 and the lifting height of the automatic door 62; the automatic door frame 63 can be fixed to the inner side of the side panel of the cabinet 1 by bolt connection, pin connection, etc.

[0068] The linear motion mechanism is connected to the automatic door 62 and is used to drive the automatic door 62 to rise and fall along the height direction of the incubator, thereby opening or closing the access opening of the cabinet 1; the linear motion mechanism can be specifically set as a linear motor and a linear guide mechanism, or it can be set as a rotary motor and a ball screw mechanism, etc.

[0069] For example, see Figure 9 The linear power mechanism includes a drive motor 611, an automatic door lifting screw 612, a vertical guide rail 614 and a moving block 613. The output shaft of the drive motor 611 is connected to the automatic door lifting screw 612. The moving block 613 is sleeved outside the automatic door lifting screw 612, and the moving block 613 is slidingly connected to the vertical guide rail 614.

[0070] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. The same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referenced to each other.

[0071] The above is a detailed introduction to the fully automatic three-gas incubator provided by the present invention. This article uses specific examples to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of the present invention. The description of the above examples is only used to help understand the method and core ideas of the present invention. It should be pointed out that for ordinary technicians in this technical field, without departing from the principles of the present invention, the present invention can also be improved and modified, and these improvements and modifications also fall within the scope of protection of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A fully automatic three-gas incubator, characterized in that: include: At least one group of culture trays (41) are arranged on a plurality of trays for holding culture dishes, and the culture trays (41) can be moved between a culture position and a placement position under the drive of a tray movement mechanism; An automatic door assembly (6) provided on the side panel of the incubator, used for opening or closing the access opening; A pick-and-place robotic arm (5) for transferring the culture dish between the support plate and the pick-and-place opening; A control device (7), the bracket movement mechanism, the automatic door assembly (6) and the pick-and-place robotic arm (5) are all connected to the control device (7) via signals.

2. The fully automatic three-gas incubator according to claim 1, characterized in that: The bottom of the culture bracket (41) is provided with a pulley and a pulley driver for driving the pulley to rotate, and the pulley can move along the guide rail on the bottom surface of the culture area.

3. The fully automatic three-gas incubator according to claim 1, characterized in that: The culture bracket (41) is mounted on a turntable (42), and the turntable (42) is connected to the output shaft of a rotary motor (43). When the rotary motor (43) rotates, the culture bracket (41) rotates synchronously around the axis of the turntable (42).

4. The fully automatic three-gas incubator according to claim 3, characterized in that: A slide rail is provided on the top of the turntable (42), and a pulley (411) is provided on the bottom of the culture bracket (41). The pulley (411) is slidably installed in the slide rail, and a locking member is provided between the pulley (411) and the slide rail. The locking member is used to fix the relative position of the culture bracket (41) and the turntable (42).

5. The fully automatic three-gas incubator according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The pick-and-place robotic arm (5) comprises a tray (54) for holding a culture dish, a horizontal telescopic mechanism for driving the tray (54) to telescope in a horizontal plane, and a lifting mechanism for driving the horizontal telescopic mechanism to rise and fall in a height direction, wherein a fixed end of the horizontal telescopic mechanism is connected to a movable end of the lifting mechanism.

6. The fully automatic three-gas incubator according to claim 5, characterized in that: The horizontal telescopic mechanism comprises a base (52) for connecting to a fixed end of the lifting mechanism, the base (52) being provided with a horizontal guide rail (521), the tray (54) being slidably mounted on the horizontal guide rail (521), and the tray (54) being connected to a telescopic power mechanism so as to drive the tray (54) to reciprocate along the horizontal guide rail (521).

7. The fully automatic three-gas incubator according to claim 6, characterized in that: The telescopic power mechanism comprises a rotating shaft (532) arranged in a height direction, one end of the rotating shaft (532) is connected to the telescopic motor (531), and the other end of the rotating shaft (532) is connected to the tray (54) via a paddle (533); when the telescopic motor (531) drives the rotating shaft (532) to rotate, the paddle (533) pushes the tray (54) to reciprocate along the horizontal guide rail (521).

8. The fully automatic three-gas incubator according to claim 7, characterized in that: The lifting mechanism comprises a lifting motor (511), a lifting screw (512) and a lifting nut. The output shaft of the lifting motor (511) is connected to the lifting screw (512). The lifting nut is sleeved outside the lifting screw (512). The lifting nut is connected to the base (52). The lifting motor (511) and the telescopic motor (531) are both arranged outside the culture area.

9. The fully automatic three-gas incubator according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The automatic door assembly (6) includes an automatic door (62), an automatic door track and a linear power mechanism. The inner side surface of the incubator side panel is provided with an automatic door track. The automatic door (62) can be raised and lowered in a height direction relative to the automatic door track under the drive of the linear power mechanism to open or close the access opening.

10. The fully automatic three-gas incubator according to claim 9, characterized in that: The linear power mechanism comprises a drive motor (611), an automatic door lifting screw (612), a vertical guide rail (614) and a moving block (613); the output shaft of the drive motor (611) is connected to the automatic door lifting screw (612); the moving block (613) is sleeved outside the automatic door lifting screw (612); and the moving block (613) is slidably connected to the vertical guide rail (614).

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