Homogenizer and storage cooler

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9556410-B2
Application number	US-201313851549-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2013
Priority date	Mar 29, 2012
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

A homogenizer, for homogenizing a tissue sample collected from a living body, comprising: a main body; and a storage cooler, comprising a container holder for holding a sample container, configured to cool a tissue sample in the sample container held by the container holder, the storage cooler being detachably installed to the main body, wherein the main body has a blender for crushing the tissue sample in the sample container held in the storage cooler is disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A homogenizer, for homogenizing a tissue sample collected from a living body, comprising:
a main body; and
a storage cooler, comprising a container holder for holding a sample container, configured to cool a tissue sample in the sample container held by the container holder, the storage cooler being detachably installed to the main body,
wherein the main body has a blender for crushing the tissue sample in the sample container held in the storage cooler, wherein the main body comprises:
an installation section for receiving the storage cooler set by the user; and
a moving section configured to guide the movement of the installation section between an installing position at which the user installs the storage cooler on the installation section, and a homogenizing position at which the blender accesses in the sample container held by the storage cooler, wherein:
the main body has a magnet and the storage cooler has a magnetic plate, and when the storage cooler is at the homogenizing position, the magnet of the main body and the magnetic plate of the storage cooler are mutually attractive.

2. The homogenizer of claim 1 , wherein
the storage cooler is configured to hold the sample container with an opening;
the blender is configured to be inserted through the opening of the sample container held by the storage cooler installed on the installation section; and
the moving section guides the installation section in a direction that intersects the direction of insertion of the blender into the sample container.

3. The homogenizer of claim 1 , wherein
the storage cooler has an upper cover that constitutes the upper surface of the storage cooler,
the main body has a restriction part that restricts an opening of the upper cover of the storage cooler installed in the installation section,
the restriction part does not restrict the opening of the upper cover when the storage cooler is at the installing position, and
the restriction part restricts the opening of the upper cover when the storage cooler is at the homogenizing position.

4. The homogenizer of claim 1 , wherein
the storage cooler has an upper cover that constitutes the upper surface of the storage cooler,
the moving section is configured as capable of moving between the homogenizing position where the storage cooler is beneath the blender and the installing position where the storage cooler is positioned forward from the homogenizing position,
the upper cover is rotatable around a horizontal axis provided at a back side of the upper cover, and
the maximum angle of the opened upper cover is restricted such that the upper cover does not contact with the blender.

5. A homogenizer, for homogenizing a tissue sample collected from a living body, comprising:
a main body; and
a storage cooler, comprising a container holder for holding a sample container, configured to cool a tissue sample in the sample container held by the container holder, the storage cooler being detachably installed to the main body, wherein
the main body has a blender for crushing the tissue sample in the sample container held in the storage cooler, and the main body comprises:
a detection section for detecting the presence of the storage cooler; and
a controller,
wherein the controller executes the homogenizing operation to homogenize the tissue sample in the sample container by the blender when the storage cooler is detected by the detection section, and disallows an execution of the homogenizing operation by the blender when the storage cooler is not detected by the detection section.

6. The homogenizer of claim 5 , wherein
the main body comprises:
a cover provided on the front side of the homogenizer so as to open and close; and
a cover detector for detecting the closed cover;
the controller executes the homogenizing operation by the blender when the detection section detects the storage cooler and the cover detector detects the closed cover, and disallows an execution of the homogenizing operation by the blender when the storage cooler is not detected by the detection section or the cover detector does not detect the closed cover.

7. The homogenizer of claim 6 , wherein
the main body comprises:
an instruction section for issuing an instruction to start the homogenizing operation by the blender; and
a locking mechanism to lock the cover;
when the detection section detects the storage cooler and the cover detector detects the closed cover and the instruction section issues an instruction to start the homogenizing operation, the controller locks the cover by the locking mechanism, executes the homogenizing operation by the blender, and unlocks the cover by the locking mechanism after the homogenizing operation ends.

8. The homogenizer of claim 7 , wherein
the cover is positioned at a front of the blender when closed and is positioned at a front of the instruction section when opened.

9. The homogenizer of claim 5 , wherein
the blender has a blade that is rotatable on an axis along which the blender is inserted to the sample container, and is configured to homogenize the tissue sample by rotating the blade while in contact with the tissue sample in the sample container, and

the controller inserts the blender into the sample container held by the storage cooler and rotates the blade to homogenize the tissue sample in the sample container, then moves the blender in a direction adjacent to the opening of the sample container and again rotates the blade to remove the tissue sample adhered to the blade.

10. The homogenizer of claim 5 , wherein
the storage cooler is configured to hold a plurality of sample containers, and
the main body has the same number of blenders as the number of sample containers that can be held by the storage cooler.

11. The homogenizer of claim 5 , wherein
the main body comprises a cover provided on the front side of the homogenizer so as to open and close, and
the storage cooler can be installed on the main body when the cover is open, and is configured to not be installed on the main body when the cover is closed.

12. The homogenizer of claim 11 , wherein
the blender hangs down in the main body,
the storage cooler is installed in the main body by sliding front to back under the blender, and
the cover is opened and closed by sliding vertically.

13. The homogenizer of claim 5 , wherein
the storage cooler comprises a cabinet to internally accommodate a cooling medium.

14. The homogenizer of claim 13 , wherein
the storage cooler has an opening to allow access for the blender into the sample container held in the cabinet.

15. The homogenizer of claim 14 , wherein
the storage cooler has a cylindrical part that protrudes around the opening.

16. The homogenizer of claim 13 , wherein
the storage cooler is provided with a detachable inner cover that covers the cooling medium accommodated therein, and an outer cover that opens and closes on the top surface of the storage cooler.

17. A homogenizer, for homogenizing a tissue sample collected from a living body, comprising:
a storage cooler including a container holder for holding a sample container with cooling, and
a main body on which the storage cooler is detachably equipped,
wherein the main body includes:
a blender that homogenizes a tissue sample in the sample container held by the container holder;
a detector that detects the equipped storage cooler;
an instruction receiver that receives an instruction to start a homogenization; and
a controller for controlling the operation of the

Assignees

• Sysmex Corp

Inventors

• Jindo Katsuhiko
• Ooi Yoshinori
• Asada Shoichiro
• Obinata Daijyu
• Shohmi Keiichiro

Classifications

• C12M47/20

  Heating or cooling (heating or cooling apparatus for laboratory uses B01L7/00) · CPC title

• C12M47/08

  Homogenizing · CPC title

• C12M45/02 Primary

  by mechanical forces; Stirring; Trituration; Comminuting (crushing, pulverizing, disintegrating in general B02C) · CPC title

• B01F13/1041

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B01F13/1022

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic