Environmental evaluation installation and environmental evaluation method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9365884-B2
Application number	US-37424107-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2007
Priority date	Jul 20, 2006
Publication date	Jun 14, 2016
Grant date	Jun 14, 2016

Abstract

An environmental evaluation installation including an evaluation chamber 1 isolated from outer space by isolation walls 2 , minute substance supply means 3 configured to supply a microorganism into the evaluation chamber 1 , a minute substance removing means 4 configured to supply removal particles for removing the microorganism into the evaluation chamber 1 , and a minute substance collecting means 5 configured to collect the microorganism in the evaluation chamber 1 , and which is characterized in that many air supply holes 21 are provided for almost the whole surfaces of the isolation walls 2 except at least the floor surface of the isolation walls 2 and that air is made to flow into the evaluation chamber 1 from the air supply holes 21.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An environmental evaluation method, comprising:
supplying a plurality of microorganisms into an evaluation chamber isolated by isolation walls from an outer space such that the microorganisms are suspended in air within the evaluation chamber;
supplying removal particles into the evaluation chamber for removing the microorganism from the evaluation chamber, wherein a charged particle, a radical or a particle having a sterilizing ability is used as the removal particles;
collecting a sample of the microorganisms from the evaluation chamber;
measuring the collected sample of the microorganism; and
evaluating an ability of the removal particles to remove the microorganism from the evaluation chamber, based on the measurement of the collected sample,
wherein for preventing the microorganisms from adhering to the isolation walls, each isolation wall has an outer wall and an inner wall, and via an air flow passage formed between the inner wall and the outer wall, an air current flows, through a plurality of air supply holes formed on all wall surfaces excluding the floor surface of the inner wall or all wall surfaces including the floor surface of the inner wall, into the center of the evaluation chamber while maintaining the inside of the evaluation chamber in the negative pressure state, a plurality of samples are collected and measured periodically during supply of the removal particles into the evaluation chamber, and the ability of the removal particles to remove the microorganism from the evaluation chamber over time is evaluated based on the plurality of measurements, and
substantially only spore-forming bacteria in a sporulated state are used as the microorganism in order to prevent the spontaneous decrease of the microorganism from suspension within the evaluation chamber.

2. The environmental evaluation method according to claim 1 , wherein the spore-forming bacteria is Bacillus subtilis.

3. The environmental evaluation method according to claim 2 , wherein measuring the collected sample of the microorganism includes measuring a concentration of the microorganism, a cell infection rate, or an allergic reaction rate.

Assignees

• Nishikawa Kazuo
• Matsuoka Norihiro
• Yoneda Tetsuya
• Yagi Hisaharu
• Kawai Masashi
• Sharp Kk

Inventors

• Nishikawa Kazuo
• Matsuoka Norihiro
• Yoneda Tetsuya
• Yagi Hisaharu
• Kawai Masashi

Classifications

• C12Q1/06 Primary

  Quantitative determination · CPC title

• G01N2015/0088

  Physics · mapped topic

• G01N1/2202

  involving separation of sample components during sampling · CPC title

• G01N33/48

  Biological material, e.g. blood, urine (G01N33/02, G01N33/26, G01N33/44, G01N33/46 take precedence); Haemocytometers (counting blood corpuscules distributed over a surface by scanning the surface G06M11/02) · CPC title

• C12Q1/04

  Determining presence or kind of microorganism; Use of selective media for testing antibiotics or bacteriocides; Compositions containing a chemical indicator therefor {(C12Q1/6897 takes precedence)} · CPC title