阅读说明：本技术 细胞培养箱 (Cell culture box ) 是由 不公告发明人 于 2021-08-17 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请涉及一种细胞培养箱,包括：底部安装板,形成具有顶部开口的器皿形状；气体混合组件,设置在底部安装板上；气路分气排,设置在气体混合组件之上；集成电路板,设置在气路分气排之上,用于采集混合气体的分配信号,并且与上位机通信；培养舱安装板,包括多个凹槽,设置在集成电路板之上；以及多个细胞培养舱室单元,设置在培养舱安装板的多个凹槽中。多个细胞培养舱室单元的每一个为独立的细胞培养舱室单元,当上壳体与下壳体扣合时,它们的侧壁彼此相对且二者之间通过气密密封封闭,并且气路分气排与多个细胞培养舱室单元的每一个可控地流体相通。根据本申请的细胞培养箱具有多个独立的细胞培养舱室单元且可单独控制,因此可一机多用。(The present application relates to a cell culture chamber, comprising: a bottom mounting plate formed in a vessel shape having a top opening; the gas mixing component is arranged on the bottom mounting plate; the gas path gas distribution row is arranged above the gas mixing component; the integrated circuit board is arranged on the gas path gas distribution row, is used for collecting distribution signals of the mixed gas and is communicated with the upper computer; the culture cabin mounting plate comprises a plurality of grooves and is arranged on the integrated circuit board; and a plurality of cell culture compartment units disposed in the plurality of recesses of the culture compartment mounting plate. Each of the plurality of cell culture compartment units is an independent cell culture compartment unit, when the upper housing and the lower housing are snapped together, the side walls thereof are opposed to each other and are sealed by an airtight seal, and the gas circuit gas distribution row is controllably in fluid communication with each of the plurality of cell culture compartment units. The cell culture box according to the application has a plurality of independent cell culture chamber units and can be independently controlled, so that the cell culture box can be used for multiple purposes.)

1. A cell culture chamber comprising:

a bottom mounting plate having a bottom surface and sidewalls extending upward from edges of the bottom surface at equal distances to form a vessel shape having a top opening;

the gas mixing assembly is arranged on the bottom mounting plate and is used for mixing and filtering gas required by the cell culture box;

the gas path gas distribution row is arranged on the gas mixing assembly, receives the mixed gas from the gas mixing assembly and distributes the mixed gas to a specified position according to the set requirement;

the integrated circuit board is arranged on the gas path gas distribution row, is used for collecting distribution signals of the mixed gas and is communicated with an upper computer;

the culture cabin mounting plate comprises a plurality of grooves and is arranged on the integrated circuit board; and

a plurality of cell culture compartment units disposed in the plurality of recesses of the culture compartment mounting plate,

wherein each of the plurality of cell culture compartment units comprises:

a lower case including a bottom surface and a sidewall vertically extending upward from an edge of the bottom surface to form a vessel shape having an upward opening;

an upper case including a top surface corresponding to a bottom surface of the lower case and a sidewall vertically extending downward from the top surface to form a vessel shape with a downward opening;

a hinge provided between a sidewall of the lower case and a corresponding sidewall of the upper case to form a hinged connection of the upper case with respect to the lower case;

a culture dish support plate accommodated in the lower case in parallel with the bottom surface of the lower case and including at least one culture dish accommodating hole;

a first electric heating sheet disposed in the upper case in parallel with a top surface of the upper case;

the second electric heating piece is arranged in the lower shell in parallel with the bottom surface of the lower shell and is positioned between the culture dish supporting plate and the bottom surface of the lower shell;

the first heat conducting plate is arranged in the upper shell and is positioned on one side, away from the top surface of the upper shell, of the first heating plate so as to uniformly conduct heat generated by the first electric heating plate to the top of the culture dish;

the second heat conduction plate is arranged in the lower shell and positioned between the second electric heating plate and the culture dish bracket so as to uniformly conduct the heat generated by the second electric heating plate to the bottom of the culture dish; and

a mixed gas distributor for uniformly distributing the mixed gas for the culture dish to create an atmosphere simulating a living body environment in advance,

wherein, when the upper case and the lower case are engaged, their side walls are opposed to each other and are closed by airtight sealing therebetween, and

wherein the gas circuit gas distribution row is in controllable fluid communication with each of the plurality of cell culture compartment units.

2. The cell culture chamber of claim 1, wherein the mixed gas is a mixture of carbon dioxide, oxygen, and nitrogen.

3. The cell culture chamber of claim 1, wherein the plurality of recesses of the culture compartment mounting plate are arranged in an array, 2X4-10, 3X4-10, 4X 4-10.

4. The cell culture chamber of claim 3, wherein the plurality of recesses of the culture compartment mounting plate are arranged in an array of 4X4 or 4X 8.

5. The cell incubator of claim 1, further comprising an air inlet port connected to a gas source and an air outlet port connected to a recovery device.

6. The cell incubator of claim 5, wherein the gas source is a cylinder of carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen.

7. The cell culture box of claim 1, further comprising a signal acquisition circuit board arranged on one side of the gas path gas distribution row, wherein the signal acquisition circuit board is electrically connected with an upper computer.

8. The cell incubator of claim 7, further comprising a signal input output port, wherein the integrated circuit board and the signal acquisition circuit board are electrically connected to an upper computer through the signal input output port.

9. The cell culture chamber of claim 1, further comprising a power supply disposed on a side wall of the bottom mounting plate for charging a storage power supply of the cell culture chamber.

10. The cell culture chamber of claim 9 wherein the stored power source is a 24 volt direct current power source.

11. The cell culture chamber of claim 5, wherein the inlet and outlet ports comprise quick connect fittings in fluid communication with a gas source.

12. The cell incubator of claim 8, wherein said input and output ports comprise quick-connect plugs.

Technical Field

The present application relates to cell culture devices, and more particularly, to cell incubators.

Background

At present, as a main device for biological cell culture, conventional desktop dry carbon dioxide (CO) is generally adopted₂) The incubator has the main function of simulating a stable external environment to ensure that the cells can grow and develop in the environment. In addition, in the control mode of the incubator, a single CPU system control mode is mainly adopted, the reliability of the equipment is mainly guaranteed by the stability of the device, and once the single CPU system fails, certain risks exist for the safe culture of the cells. In particular, in the case of unattended operation, the failure of the equipment would lead to irreparable consequences.

Therefore, improvements to cell culture compartment units, incubators and their control systems have been a technical problem to be solved in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

The technical problem that this application will be solved is to improve cell culture cabin unit, incubator and control system thereof.

In order to solve the above technical problem, according to one aspect of the present application, there is provided a cell culture compartment unit comprising: a lower case including a bottom surface and a sidewall vertically extending upward from an edge of the bottom surface to form a dish shape having an upward opening; an upper case including a top surface corresponding to a bottom surface of the lower case and a sidewall vertically extending downward from the top surface to form a vessel shape with a downward opening; a hinge provided between a sidewall of the lower case and a corresponding sidewall of the upper case to form a hinged connection of the upper case with respect to the lower case; a culture dish support plate accommodated in the lower casing in parallel with the bottom surface of the lower casing and including at least one culture dish accommodating hole; the first electric heating piece is arranged in the upper shell in parallel with the top surface of the upper shell; the second electric heating piece is arranged in the lower shell in parallel with the bottom surface of the lower shell and is positioned between the culture dish supporting plate and the bottom surface of the lower shell; the first heat conducting plate is arranged in the upper shell and positioned on one side of the first heating sheet, which is far away from the top surface of the upper shell, so that heat generated by the first electric heating sheet is uniformly conducted to the top of the culture dish; the second heat conducting plate is arranged in the lower shell and positioned between the second electric heating plate and the culture dish bracket so as to uniformly conduct the heat generated by the second electric heating plate to the bottom of the culture dish; and a mixed gas distributor for uniformly distributing the mixed gas to the culture dish to create an atmosphere predetermined to simulate the living body environment. When the upper and lower cases are snapped together, their side walls face each other and are closed by an airtight seal therebetween.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit may further comprise a sampling control circuit board, located under the second electric heating plate, for collecting environmental information inside the cell culture compartment unit and outputting a corresponding signal.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit may further include isolation pillars disposed between the sampling control circuit board and the second electric heating plate, the isolation pillars being 4 in number, which are uniformly distributed, to define a space between the sampling control circuit board and the second electric heating plate.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit may further include a compartment body pressing plate disposed on the bottom surface of the lower housing, the compartment body pressing plate being configured to support and position the sampling and control circuit board.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit may further comprise a signal indicator lamp positioned between the first electric heating plate and the top surface of the upper housing to emit a light signal outward through the light guide block of the top surface. The signal indicator light may have two color indications, one when the upper and lower housings of the cell culture compartment unit are closed and the other when the upper and lower housings of the cell culture compartment unit are separated. Alternatively, the signaling light may have three color indications, one when the upper and lower housings of the cell culture compartment unit are closed, another when the upper and lower housings of the cell culture compartment unit are separated, and yet another color when a malfunction occurs.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit may further comprise a locking mechanism that compresses the upper and lower housings. The locking mechanism may include a compression knob that removably connects the upper housing and the lower housing. Alternatively, the locking mechanism may include a snap that removably connects the upper housing with the lower housing.

According to an embodiment of the application, the at least one culture dish receiving hole is 1-4 culture dish receiving holes, preferably 2-4 culture dish receiving holes, more preferably 4 culture dish receiving holes evenly distributed. The shape of each of the at least one culture dish receiving apertures may comprise a circle, a rectangle, a square, a triangle, or a combination of one or more thereof.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit may further include temperature sensors respectively disposed on the culture dish trays, the temperature sensors outputting sensed temperature signals to the upper computer. The temperature sensor can be a calibration-free high precision temperature sensor TMP116 or TMP 117. In addition, the top surface of the upper shell, the first electric heating plate and the first heat conducting plate can respectively comprise a geometric central hole serving as a self-aligning limit, and the temperature sensor is detachably inserted in the geometric central hole; the bottom surface of the lower shell, the second electric heating plate and the second heat conducting plate can respectively comprise a geometric central hole serving as a self-aligning limit, and the temperature sensor is detachably inserted in the geometric central hole.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit may further include a PH sensor disposed on the culture dish support plate, the PH sensor outputting the sensed PH signal to the upper computer.

According to embodiments of the present application, the material of the first and second heat-conducting plates may comprise a material with good thermal conductivity, such as aluminum, copper or alloys thereof.

According to an embodiment of the application, the openings of the mixed gas distributor are upwards to avoid blowing directly to the sample in the culture dish. The gas supply lines of the mixed gas distributor may include quick connect interfaces to accommodate manual or robotic removal and replacement of the entire assembly.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the shapes of the top surface of the upper case and the bottom surface of the lower case may include a circle, an ellipse, a rectangle, and a square.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a cell incubator comprising: a bottom mounting plate having a bottom surface and sidewalls extending upward from edges of the bottom surface at equal distances to form a vessel shape having a top opening; the gas mixing assembly is arranged on the bottom mounting plate and is used for mixing and filtering gas required by the cell culture box; the gas path gas distribution row is arranged on the gas mixing assembly, receives the mixed gas from the gas mixing assembly and distributes the mixed gas to a specified position according to the set requirement; the integrated circuit board is arranged on the gas path gas distribution row, is used for collecting distribution signals of the mixed gas and is communicated with the upper computer; the culture cabin mounting plate comprises a plurality of grooves and is arranged on the integrated circuit board; and a plurality of cell culture compartment units disposed in the plurality of recesses of the culture compartment mounting plate. Each of the plurality of cell culture compartment units comprises: a lower case including a bottom surface and a sidewall vertically extending upward from an edge of the bottom surface to form a dish shape having an upward opening; an upper case including a top surface corresponding to a bottom surface of the lower case and a sidewall vertically extending downward from the top surface to form a vessel shape with a downward opening; a hinge provided between a sidewall of the lower case and a corresponding sidewall of the upper case to form a hinged connection of the upper case with respect to the lower case; a culture dish support plate accommodated in the lower casing in parallel with the bottom surface of the lower casing and including at least one culture dish accommodating hole; the first electric heating piece is arranged in the upper shell in parallel with the top surface of the upper shell; the second electric heating piece is arranged in the lower shell in parallel with the bottom surface of the lower shell and is positioned between the culture dish supporting plate and the bottom surface of the lower shell; the first heat conducting plate is arranged in the upper shell and positioned on one side of the first heating sheet, which is far away from the top surface of the upper shell, so that heat generated by the first electric heating sheet is uniformly conducted to the top of the culture dish; the second heat conducting plate is arranged in the lower shell and positioned between the second electric heating plate and the culture dish bracket so as to uniformly conduct the heat generated by the second electric heating plate to the bottom of the culture dish; and a mixed gas distributor for uniformly distributing the mixed gas to the culture dish to create an atmosphere predetermined to simulate the living body environment. When the upper and lower housings are mated, their sidewalls oppose each other and are sealed by an air-tight seal, and the air-path air-distribution row is in controllable fluid communication with each of the plurality of cell culture compartment units.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the mixed gas may be a mixture of carbon dioxide, oxygen, and nitrogen having a predetermined mixture ratio.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the plurality of grooves of the culture compartment mounting plate are arranged in an array, for example, a 2X4-10 array, a 3X4-10 array, a 4X4-10 array. Preferably, the plurality of grooves of the culture compartment mounting plate are arranged in an array of 4X4 or 4X 8.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell culture chamber may further include an air inlet hole connected to the air source and an air outlet hole connected to the recovery device. The gas source may be a cylinder of carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen.

According to the embodiment of the application, the cell culture box can further comprise a signal acquisition circuit board arranged on one side of the gas path gas distribution row, and the signal acquisition circuit board is electrically connected with an upper computer.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell incubator may further include a signal input/output port, and the integrated circuit board and the signal collection circuit board are electrically connected to the upper computer through the signal input/output port.

According to an embodiment of the application, the cell culture box can further comprise a power supply source arranged on the side wall of the bottom mounting plate, and the power supply source is used for charging the electric power storage power supply of the cell culture box. The stored power source may be a 24 volt dc power source.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the inlet and outlet apertures include quick connect fittings in fluid communication with a source of air.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the input and output ports include a quick-connect plug.

According to still another aspect of the present application, there is provided a control system of a cell incubator, comprising: a first CPU electrically connected to the cell incubator through a serial bus, and receiving and outputting signals from and to the cell incubator; a second CPU connected to the cell incubator through a serial bus, and receiving and outputting signals from and to the cell incubator, the second CPU being connected in parallel and operating alternately with the first CPU; a first isolation driving IC isolated from the first CPU signal and connected to each other through a serial bus; a second isolation driving IC isolated from the second CPU signal and connected to each other through a serial bus; and a cabin control unit connected with the first isolation drive IC and the second isolation drive IC through serial buses, respectively, including: PID control unit, heating plate drive circuit, thermistor, red green blue emitting diode control circuit, gate switch. The heating sheet adopts a PWM modulation mode to control the heating temperature, and the temperature is collected through PT1000 to realize the temperature closed-loop PID control.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the control system of the cell incubator may further include a first power supply electrically connected to the heater chip driving circuit of the compartment control unit through the voltage current monitoring and switching device. The first power supply may be a 24 volt dc power supply. The voltage and current monitoring and switching device is connected with the first isolation drive IC and the second isolation drive IC and is switched on or switched off according to instructions of the first isolation drive IC or the second isolation drive IC.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the control system of the cell incubator may further include a second power supply and a third power supply that are separate power supplies for the first CPU and the second CPU, respectively. The second power supply and the third power supply may be 5 volts to 3.3 volts dc power supplies.

According to embodiments of the application, both the first CPU and the second CPU may be STM32F429IGT 6.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the serial bus may be a 485 bus or a CAN bus.

According to an embodiment of the application, the PID control unit of the cabin control unit may be ADCM360 temperature PID regulated.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the lighting circuit may be an LED control circuit.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the first isolation drive IC drives the first CPU to occupy the serial bus to be in an operating state, and the second CPU maintains a high impedance state. Alternatively, the second isolation drive IC drives the second CPU to occupy the serial bus to be in an operating state, and the first CPU maintains a high impedance state.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the first isolation drive IC and the second isolation drive IC may include overcurrent protection when the first isolation drive IC or the second isolation drive IC stops the first CPU or the second CPU driven by the first isolation drive IC or the second isolation drive IC from working. The first isolation drive IC and the second isolation drive IC can mutually exchange nonparametric running states through the serial bus, and when the first isolation drive IC stops the work of the first CPU driven by the first isolation drive IC, the second isolation drive IC drives the second CPU to work. Or the first isolation drive IC and the second isolation drive IC can mutually exchange nonparametric running states through the serial bus, and when the second isolation drive IC stops the second CPU driven by the second isolation drive IC to work, the first isolation drive IC drives the first CPU to work.

According to embodiments of the present application, each cell culture compartment unit of the cell incubator may comprise independent power supply, temperature acquisition and control, PH detection, on-off detection, status control, and alarm output, and the control system of the cell incubator may control each cell culture compartment unit of the cell incubator individually. When a certain cell culture cabin unit of the cell culture box does not work, the control system of the cell culture box can send out an alarm signal to prompt an operator on duty to replace the cell culture cabin unit in time through plugging and unplugging.

Compared with the prior art, the cell culture cabin unit, the cell culture box and the control system of the cell culture box according to the application can at least realize the following beneficial effects:

the cell culture compartment unit according to the embodiment of the present application is an independent closed unit, and the first electric heating plate and the second electric heating plate are respectively disposed above and below the culture dish and are heated by the first heat conduction plate and the second heat conduction plate, respectively. The first electric heating sheet and the second electric heating sheet are independently controlled by the upper computer respectively, so that overheating or over-low temperature of any part around the culture dish is avoided. The first heat-conducting plate and the second heat-conducting plate can conduct heat to the culture dish and can also evenly distribute the heat from the electric heating plate. Compared to prior art cell culture incubators, the cell culture compartment unit according to embodiments of the present application is relatively large and has at least one culture dish receiving hole, preferably 3-4 culture dish receiving holes, in the culture dish carrier, so that 3-4 culture dishes can be received in each cell culture compartment unit. Thus, 3-4 cell samples can be cultured in one cell culture, which greatly improves the cell culture capacity. Moreover, each cell culture cabin unit is equipped with independent acquisition and control circuit board and pressure and temperature sensor etc. consequently, each cell culture cabin unit all can communicate with the host computer alone to obtain the corresponding temperature of host computer and pressure threshold control.

The cell culture chamber according to the embodiments of the present application comprises a plurality of cell culture chamber units, for example, when the cell culture chamber comprises 32 cell culture chamber units as 4X8, since each cell culture chamber unit can be operated and controlled individually, if each cell culture chamber unit cultures the same cell, 32 cells can be cultured simultaneously, approaching the culture capacity of one cell laboratory; if different cells are cultured in each culture dish of each cell culture chamber unit, 32 groups of cells can be cultured simultaneously; if each cell culture compartment unit comprises 4 culture dishes, 128 cells can be cultured simultaneously. Because the cell culture case according to this application embodiment includes the integrated circuit board that the gas circuit divides the gas row and control gas circuit to integrated circuit board and the circuit board module that every cell culture cabin unit corresponds, so every cell culture cabin unit of cell culture case according to this application embodiment can supply air alone under the control of circuit board module and host computer, consequently guarantees that every cell culture cabin unit steady operation under the operating mode of difference.

The control system of the cell incubator according to the embodiment of the application includes two CPUs connected in parallel, namely a first CPU and a second CPU. The dual-system CPUs are mutually redundant, the communication bus realizes redundancy switching and cabin control modularization design, and the safety and reliability of the traditional desktop incubator are improved. Firstly, by introducing an online main-standby redundancy design, the system reliability does not simply depend on the failure of a single control chip of the control panel device, so that the normal work of the whole machine is not influenced, and a user is timely informed in an alarm mode when an error occurs; through the plug design of a single cabin module, the reliability and maintainability of the incubator are improved, so that the complete machine cannot be stopped and maintained due to the failure of the single incubator module; the 485 bus communication mode can ensure the convenient expansion of the system. The single module fault can be conveniently maintained in a plugging mode; the design of the redundant system can ensure that the whole incubator obtains higher safety and reliability; through 485 bus (CAN) connected mode, CAN make the incubator communication expand more easily. The single module fault can be conveniently maintained in a plugging mode; the design of the redundant system can ensure that the whole incubator obtains higher safety and reliability; through 485 bus (CAN) connected mode, CAN make the incubator communication expand more easily. The cabin control modularized design makes the control panel through the mode mounting of connector on power supply bus and communication bus, and other cabin operation has not been influenced to arbitrary one bad, owing to adopt the modularized design for the state of each cabin, for example temperature (including the temperature of upper and lower lid), temperature control curve all can adopt solitary control algorithm.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below, and it is apparent that the drawings in the following description only relate to some embodiments of the present application and are not limiting on the present application.

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a cell culture compartment unit according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional perspective view of an assembled cell culture compartment unit according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a cell culture compartment unit according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a cell culture chamber according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 5 is an assembled perspective view of a cell culture chamber according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 6 is a top cross-sectional view of a cell culture chamber according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a gas mixing assembly of a cell culture chamber according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a control system for a cell culture enclosure according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings of the embodiments of the present application. It should be apparent that the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the described embodiments of the application without any inventive step, are within the scope of protection of the application.

Unless defined otherwise, technical or scientific terms used herein shall have the ordinary meaning as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. The use of "first," "second," and similar terms in the description and claims of this patent application do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather the terms are used to distinguish one element from another. Also, the use of the terms "a" or "an" and the like do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one.

Embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a cell culture compartment unit according to an embodiment of the present application, fig. 2 is a sectional perspective view of the cell culture compartment unit according to the embodiment of the present application after assembly, and fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the cell culture compartment unit according to the embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 1-3, according to an embodiment of the present application, a cell culture compartment unit 100 is provided. The cell culture compartment unit 100 according to the embodiment of the present application includes a lower housing 110, an upper housing 120, a hinge 130, a dish support plate 140, a first electric heating plate 150a, a second electric heating plate 150b, a first heat conduction plate 160a, a second heat conduction plate 160b, and a mixed gas distributor (not shown). The following description is made separately.

First, the lower case 110 may include a bottom surface and a sidewall vertically extending upward from an edge of the bottom surface to form a vessel shape with an upward opening. The shape and area of the bottom surface of the lower housing 110 can be selected according to the actual requirements of the cell culture compartment unit for culturing cells. For example, the bottom surface may be rectangular, square, circular or oval in shape, and the area of the bottom surface may ultimately be adapted to the needs of the culture dish. The material of the lower housing 110 may include medical grade stainless steel, such as stainless steel 316.

Second, the upper case 120 may include a top surface corresponding to the bottom surface of the lower case 110 and a sidewall vertically extending downward from the top surface to form a vessel shape with an opening downward. The upper housing 120 and the lower housing 110 have corresponding shapes and sizes, and thus the opening of the upper housing 120 and the opening of the lower housing 110 also have corresponding shapes and sizes to facilitate the anastomosis therebetween. The material of the upper housing 120 may include medical grade stainless steel, such as stainless steel 316.

Further, a hinge 130 may be disposed between one sidewall of the lower housing 110 and a corresponding sidewall of the upper housing 120 to form a hinged connection of the upper housing 120 with respect to the lower housing 110. Thus, the upper case 120 and the lower case 110 connected by the hinge 130 form an openable and closable case. When the upper case 120 and the lower case 110 are closed, they form a closed box; when the upper case 120 is opened, the user may put or take the items into or out of the case.

Other features of the enclosure housing are described below in connection with fig. 1-3.

First, the culture dish support plate 140 may be received in the lower housing 110 in parallel with the bottom surface of the lower housing 110, including at least one culture dish receiving hole. The at least one dish receiving hole may be freely selected according to the actual requirements of the cell culture. For example, the dish support plate 140 may be provided with only one dish receiving hole when only one dish is required for each cell culture. When two dishes are required for each cell culture, the dish support plate 140 may be provided with two dish receiving holes. And so on. The inventors of the present application, considering the actual situation in cell culture, recommend to arrange 1-4 dish receiving holes, preferably 2-4 dish receiving holes, and more preferably 4 dish receiving holes evenly distributed. The 4 accommodating holes of the culture dish can meet the actual requirement of the current cell culture in the same batch. In addition, although the dish receiving plate 140 is provided with 4 dish receiving holes, it is possible to completely satisfy various needs for culturing one, two, or three culture samples in one batch. When the dish support plate 140 has 2-4 dish receiving holes, preferably 2-4 dish receiving holes are uniformly distributed in the dish support plate 140 to form a straight line, a triangle and a quadrangle. The shape of the dish receiving hole may depend on the shape of the dish, and may be, for example, rectangular, square, triangular, circular, or a combination of two, three, or four of these shapes. For example, the four dish receiving holes have a rectangular, square, triangular and circular shape, respectively. The material of the culture dish support plate 140 may include medical grade stainless steel, such as stainless steel 316.

Secondly, the first electric heating sheet 150a may be disposed in the upper case 120 in parallel with the top surface of the upper case 120; the second electric heating plate 150b may be disposed in the lower case 110 in parallel with the bottom surface of the lower case 110 between the dish support plate 140 and the bottom surface of the lower case 110. The first and second electric heating sheets 150a and 150b may be electric heating sheets having the same power, for example, resistance heating sheets, each of which is separately powered by a dc system power source such as 24V voltage. The power supply to the first and second electric-heating sheets 150a and 150b is controlled by a control system of the incubator. How the control system of the incubator individually controls each electric heating sheet will be described later in detail. As shown in fig. 2, to heat the side walls of the bacterial culture compartment unit, a first electrical heating strip 150a may extend down the side walls of the cell culture compartment unit and a second electrical heating strip 150b may extend up the side walls of the cell culture compartment unit.

Furthermore, the first heat conduction plate 160a may be disposed in the upper housing 120 on a side of the first electric heating plate 150a away from the top surface of the upper housing 120 to uniformly conduct heat generated by the first electric heating plate 150a to the top of the culture dish. The second heat conduction plate 160b may be disposed in the lower housing 110 between the second electric heating plate 150b and the culture dish bracket to uniformly conduct heat generated from the second electric heating plate 150b to the bottom of the culture dish. The material of the first and second heat conduction plates 160a and 160b may include a material having good thermal conductivity, such as aluminum, copper, or an alloy thereof. The first and second heat conduction plates 160a and 160b have shapes and sizes corresponding to the first and second electric heating sheets 150a and 150b, respectively.

Next, although not shown in FIGS. 1-3, a mixed gas distributor is included in the cell culture compartment unit, which can uniformly distribute the mixed gas to the culture dish to create an atmosphere that is predetermined to simulate the environment of a living body. When the upper case 120 and the lower case 110 are fastened, their side walls are opposed to each other and are closed by airtight sealing therebetween. Thus, an atmosphere predetermined to simulate the living body environment is formed in the cell culture compartment unit.

Next, as shown in fig. 1 to 3, according to the embodiment of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit 100 may further include a sampling circuit board 170, located below the second electric heating plate 150b, for collecting environmental information in the cell culture compartment unit 100 and outputting a corresponding signal to the upper computer. In addition, the cell culture compartment unit 100 may further include an isolation support column 171 disposed between the sampling control circuit board 170 and the second electric heating piece 150b, and the isolation support column 171 may be uniformly distributed in 4 numbers, as shown in fig. 1, and respectively located at 4 corners of the sampling control circuit board 170 so as to define a space between the sampling control circuit board 170 and the second electric heating piece 150 b. However, the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto, and the number of the isolation pillars 171 may be 6, 8, or 10, which are uniformly distributed around the edge of the sampling circuit board 170.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, according to an embodiment of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit 100 may further include a compartment pressing plate 111 disposed on the bottom surface of the lower housing 110, the compartment pressing plate 111 being used to support and position the sampling and control circuit board 170.

Next, as shown in fig. 1-3, according to embodiments of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit 100 may further comprise a signaling module. The signaling module includes a signaling light 181 between the first electric heating sheet 150a and the top surface of the upper housing 120 to emit a light signal outward through a light guide block 182 of the top surface. The signal indicator light 181 may have two color indications, one when the upper housing 120 and the lower housing 110 of the cell culture compartment unit 100 are sealed and the other when the upper housing 120 and the lower housing 110 of the cell culture compartment unit 100 are separated. Alternatively, signal indicator light 181 may have three color indications, one when upper housing 120 and lower housing 110 of cell culture compartment unit 100 are sealed, another when upper housing 120 and lower housing 110 of cell culture compartment unit 100 are separated, and yet another color indication when a malfunction occurs.

Next, as shown in fig. 1-3, according to an embodiment of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit 100 may further include a locking mechanism 190 that compresses the upper case 120 and the lower case 110. The locking mechanism 190 may include a compression knob that removably connects the upper housing 120 with the lower housing 110. Alternatively, although not shown in fig. 1, the locking mechanism 190 may include a snap that removably connects the upper housing 120 with the lower housing 110.

Although not shown in fig. 1-3, according to embodiments of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit 100 may further include temperature sensors respectively disposed on the dish trays 140, and the temperature sensors output sensed temperature signals to the upper computer. The temperature sensor can be a calibration-free high precision temperature sensor TMP116 or TMP 117. In addition, the top surface of the upper housing 120, the first electric heating sheet 150a, and the first heat conduction plate 160a may respectively include a geometric center hole as a self-aligning stopper, in which the temperature sensor is detachably inserted; the bottom surface of the lower housing 110, the second electric heating sheet 150b, and the second heat conduction plate 160b may respectively include a geometric center hole as a self-aligning stopper, in which the temperature sensor is detachably inserted.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit may further include a PH sensor disposed on the culture dish support plate 140, and the PH sensor outputs a sensed PH signal to the upper computer.

Also, although not shown in fig. 1-3, according to embodiments of the present application, the cell culture compartment unit 100 may further include a pressure sensor disposed on the culture dish support plate 140, the pressure sensor outputting a sensed pressure signal to the upper computer.

Also, although not shown in fig. 1-3, according to embodiments of the present application, the openings of the mixed gas distributor are upward to avoid blowing directly into the sample in the culture dish. The gas supply lines of the mixed gas distributor may include quick connect interfaces to accommodate manual or robotic removal and replacement of the entire assembly.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the shapes of the top surface of the upper case 120 and the bottom surface of the lower case 110 may include a circle, an ellipse, a rectangle, and a square.

The host computer referred to herein is a control system of the cell culture chamber, which will be described in detail later.

Next, an example of a cell incubator according to an embodiment of the present application will be described.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a cell culture chamber according to an embodiment of the present application, FIG. 5 is an assembled perspective view of the cell culture chamber according to the embodiment of the present application, FIG. 6 is a top sectional view of the cell culture chamber according to the embodiment of the present application, and FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a gas mixing assembly of the cell culture chamber according to the embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 4-7, according to an embodiment of the present application, a cell culture chamber 200 is provided. Cell incubator 200 comprises a bottom mounting plate 210, a gas mixing assembly 220, a gas circuit gas manifold 230, an integrated circuit board 240, a culture compartment mounting plate 250, and a plurality of cell culture compartment units (not shown in figures 4-7). Hereinafter, the details will be described separately.

First, the bottom mounting plate 210 has a bottom surface and sidewalls extending upward from edges of the bottom surface at equal distances to form a vessel shape having a top opening. Bottom mounting plate 210 is the base or chassis of cell culture chamber 200 within which most of the components of cell culture chamber 200 are housed. The material of the bottom mounting plate 210 may include steel, aluminum, industrial plastic, stainless steel, such as stainless steel 304.

Second, a gas mixing assembly 220 may be provided on the bottom mounting plate 210 for mixing and filtering the gas required by the cell culture chamber 200. As shown in FIG. 7, the gas mixing assembly 220 includes a gas mixing assembly disposed on the bottom mounting plate 210 and a filter disposed outside the bottom mounting plate 210. The filter is used to filter impurities in the mixed gas because of its large volume and the filter is disposed outside the bottom mounting plate 210 for easy cleaning. Embodiments of the present application are not so limited and the filter may be integrated within the bottom mounting plate 210. If necessary, all the gas mixing modules 220 may be disposed outside the bottom mounting plate 210.

Further, the gas path distribution row 230 may be disposed above the gas mixing assembly 220, receive the mixed gas from the gas mixing assembly 220, and distribute the mixed gas to a designated location according to a set requirement.

Next, an integrated circuit board 240 may be disposed on the gas path gas distribution row 230 for collecting a distribution signal of the mixed gas and communicating with the upper computer.

Next, the culture compartment mounting plate 250 may include a plurality of recesses disposed over the integrated circuit board. A plurality of cell culture compartment units may be disposed in a plurality of recesses of the culture compartment mounting plate 250. Each of the plurality of cell culture compartment units may be a cell culture compartment unit 100 as described above with reference to fig. 1-3 and will therefore not be described in further detail herein.

It is noted that gas manifold 230 is in controllable fluid communication with each of the plurality of cell culture compartment units. The air manifold 230 is connected to each of the plurality of cell culture compartment units via an air pipe 231. The integrated circuit board 240 individually monitors the air supply parameters and the like of each of the plurality of cell culture compartment units, and outputs monitoring signals to an upper computer in real time to individually control each of the plurality of cell culture compartment units.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the mixed gas may be a mixture of carbon dioxide, oxygen, and nitrogen having a predetermined mixture ratio.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the plurality of grooves of the culture compartment mounting plate 250 are arranged in an array, for example, a 2X4-10 array, a 3X4-10 array, a 4X4-10 array. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the plurality of grooves of the culture compartment mounting plate 250 may be arranged in an array of 4X4 or 4X 8.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell culture chamber 200 may further include an air inlet hole connected to an air source and an air outlet hole connected to a recovery device. Or the inlet and outlet holes may be used in combination, i.e., in and out of the air holes 260. The gas source may be a cylinder of carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen (not shown).

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell incubator 200 may further include a signal collecting circuit board 241 disposed at one side of the air path air distribution row 230, and the signal collecting circuit board 241 is electrically connected to the upper computer.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell incubator 200 may further include a signal input/output port 242, and the integrated circuit board 240 and the signal collection circuit board 241 are electrically connected to the upper computer through the signal input/output port 242.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the cell culture chamber 200 may further include a power supply 270 disposed on a sidewall of the bottom mounting plate, the power supply 270 being for charging the storage power source 271 of the cell culture chamber 200. The storage power source 271 may be a 24-volt dc power source.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the inlet and outlet apertures include quick connect fittings in fluid communication with a source of air. The carbon dioxide gas source, the oxygen gas source and the nitrogen gas source are respectively two gas cylinders, one gas cylinder works, the other gas cylinder is standby, the two gas cylinders are connected with each other through an automatic switching valve, and the automatic switching valve can be a mechanical automatic switching valve and also can be an electric automatic switching valve. However, for safety reasons, an alarm is issued after the success or failure of the automatic switching to prompt the user to replace the cylinder with insufficient pressure or to perform manual switching and replacement. Therefore, in order to ensure the normal operation of the cell culture box, the air supply pipeline and the air inlet and outlet are in a quick connection mode, and necessary quick-connection joints are arranged.

Also, according to embodiments of the present application, the input and output ports may include a quick-connect plug. In addition to the dual-computer fault-tolerant control described in detail below to ensure the safety of the cell incubator, the electrical hardware components, such as the input/output ports, are all provided with quick plug connectors to ensure quick manual switching and replacement, thereby ensuring the safe operation and reliability of the cell incubator in all directions.

In addition, as shown in fig. 7, the cell culture chamber 200 according to the embodiment of the present application may further include a front panel 280 and an upper protective case 281. A display 282 may be provided on the front panel 280. The display 282 may communicate with the upper computer and display various information required by the user. Thus, the display 282 may be a touch screen to enable human-computer interaction. Although not shown in detail, the upper protective case 281 may be provided with a transparent viewing window. Further, the upper protective shell 281 may include pneumatic jacking and position locking devices.

Next, a control system of a cell incubator according to an embodiment of the present application will be described with reference to fig. 8.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a control system for a cell culture enclosure according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 8, according to an embodiment of the present application, a control system of a cell incubator is provided. The control system of the cell incubator comprises a first CPU, a second CPU, a first isolation drive IC, a second isolation drive IC, a cabin control unit and a cabin control unit

The first CPU, also referred to as a first central processing unit or a line a processor or main processor, may be electrically connected to the cell incubator via a serial bus and receive signals from and output signals to the cell incubator.

The second CPU, also referred to as a second central processing unit or B-line processor or standby processor, may be connected to the cell incubator by a serial bus and receive signals from and output signals to the cell incubator. The second CPU may be identical to the first CPU, connected in parallel and operated alternately with each other.

According to an embodiment of the present application, both the first CPU and the second CPU may be STM32F429IGT6, and STM32F429IGT6 host chip external addresses. The present application is not limited thereto and other CPUs having similar functions may be employed.

The first isolation driver IC, also referred to as a first isolation driver IC or a series a integrated circuit or a series a isolation driver IC, is isolated from the first CPU signal and connected to each other through a serial bus.

The second isolation driver IC, also called a second isolation driver IC or a B-system integrated circuit or a B-system isolation driver IC, is isolated from the second CPU signal and connected to each other by a serial bus.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the first isolation drive IC drives the first CPU to occupy the serial bus to be in an operating state, and the second CPU maintains a high impedance state. Alternatively, the second isolation drive IC drives the second CPU to occupy the serial bus to be in an operating state, and the first CPU maintains a high impedance state.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the first isolation drive IC and the second isolation drive IC may include overcurrent protection when the first isolation drive IC or the second isolation drive IC stops the first CPU or the second CPU driven by the first isolation drive IC or the second isolation drive IC from working. The first isolation drive IC and the second isolation drive IC can mutually exchange nonparametric running states through the serial bus, and when the first isolation drive IC stops the work of the first CPU driven by the first isolation drive IC, the second isolation drive IC drives the second CPU to work. Or the first isolation drive IC and the second isolation drive IC can mutually exchange nonparametric running states through the serial bus, and when the second isolation drive IC stops the second CPU driven by the second isolation drive IC to work, the first isolation drive IC drives the first CPU to work.

The cabin control unit may be connected with the first isolation drive IC and the second isolation drive IC through a serial bus, respectively, and include: PID control unit, heating plate drive circuit, thermistor, red green blue emitting diode (RGB _ LED) control circuit, gate switch. The heating sheet adopts a PWM modulation mode to control the heating temperature, and the temperature is collected through PT1000 to realize the temperature closed-loop PID control.

According to the embodiment of the application, the serial bus CAN be a 485 bus or a CAN bus, and eight 360 control chips CAN be hung on one 485 bus.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the control system of the cell incubator may further include a first power supply or C power supply module electrically connected to the heater chip driving circuit of the compartment control unit through a voltage current monitoring and switching device. The first power supply may be a 24 volt dc power supply. The voltage and current monitoring and switching device is connected with the first isolation drive IC and the second isolation drive IC and is switched on or switched off according to instructions of the first isolation drive IC or the second isolation drive IC.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the control system of the cell incubator may further include a second power supply or a power supply module and a third power supply or B power supply module, the second power supply and the third power supply being separate power supplies for the first CPU and the second CPU, respectively. The second power supply and the third power supply may be 5 volts to 3.3 volts dc power supplies.

According to an embodiment of the application, the PID control unit of the cabin control unit may be ADCM360 temperature PID regulated. ADCM360 temperature PID regulation may implement algorithms required for proportionality, differentiation, integration, etc. of temperature.

According to embodiments of the present application, each cell culture compartment unit of the cell incubator may comprise independent power supply, temperature acquisition and control, PH detection, on-off detection, status control, and alarm output, and the control system of the cell incubator may control each cell culture compartment unit of the cell incubator individually. When a certain cell culture cabin unit of the cell culture box does not work, the control system of the cell culture box can send out an alarm signal to prompt an operator on duty to replace the cell culture cabin unit in time through plugging and unplugging.

Compared with the prior art, the cell culture cabin unit, the cell culture box and the control system of the cell culture box according to the application can at least realize the following beneficial effects:

the cell culture compartment unit according to the embodiment of the present application is an independent closed unit, and the first electric heating plate and the second electric heating plate are respectively disposed above and below the culture dish and are heated by the first heat conduction plate and the second heat conduction plate, respectively. The first electric heating sheet and the second electric heating sheet are independently controlled by the upper computer respectively, so that overheating or over-low temperature of any part around the culture dish is avoided. The first heat-conducting plate and the second heat-conducting plate can conduct heat to the culture dish and can also evenly distribute the heat from the electric heating plate. Compared to prior art cell culture incubators, the cell culture compartment unit according to embodiments of the present application is relatively large and has at least one culture dish receiving hole, preferably 3-4 culture dish receiving holes, in the culture dish carrier, so that 3-4 culture dishes can be received in each cell culture compartment unit. Thus, 3-4 cell samples can be cultured in one cell culture, which greatly improves the cell culture capacity. Furthermore, each cell culture compartment unit is equipped with individual and pressure and temperature sensors and the like, so that each cell culture compartment unit can communicate with the upper computer individually and get corresponding temperature and pressure threshold control of the upper computer.

The cell culture chamber according to the embodiments of the present application comprises a plurality of cell culture chamber units, for example, when the cell culture chamber comprises 32 cell culture chamber units as 4X8, since each cell culture chamber unit can be operated and controlled individually, if each cell culture chamber unit cultures the same cell, 32 cells can be cultured simultaneously, approaching the culture capacity of one cell laboratory; if different cells are cultured in each culture dish of each cell culture chamber unit, 32 groups of cells can be cultured simultaneously; if each cell culture compartment unit comprises 4 culture dishes, 128 cells can be cultured simultaneously. Because the cell culture case according to this application embodiment includes the integrated circuit board that the gas circuit divides the gas row and control gas circuit to integrated circuit board and the circuit board module that every cell culture cabin unit corresponds, so every cell culture cabin unit of cell culture case according to this application embodiment can supply air alone under the control of circuit board module and host computer, consequently guarantees that every cell culture cabin unit steady operation under the operating mode of difference.

The control system of the cell incubator according to the embodiment of the application includes two CPUs connected in parallel, namely a first CPU and a second CPU. The dual-system CPUs are mutually redundant, the communication bus realizes redundancy switching and cabin control modularization design, and the safety and reliability of the traditional desktop incubator are improved. Firstly, by introducing an online main-standby redundancy design, the system reliability does not simply depend on the failure of a single control chip of the control panel device, so that the normal work of the whole machine is not influenced, and a user is timely informed in an alarm mode when an error occurs; through the plug design of a single cabin module, the reliability and maintainability of the incubator are improved, so that the complete machine cannot be stopped and maintained due to the failure of the single incubator module; the 485 bus communication mode can ensure the convenient expansion of the system. The single module fault can be conveniently maintained in a plugging mode; the design of the redundant system can ensure that the whole incubator obtains higher safety and reliability; through 485 bus (CAN) connected mode, CAN make the incubator communication expand more easily. The single module fault can be conveniently maintained in a plugging mode; the design of the redundant system can ensure that the whole incubator obtains higher safety and reliability; through 485 bus (CAN) connected mode, CAN make the incubator communication expand more easily. The cabin control modularized design makes the control panel through the mode mounting of connector on power supply bus and communication bus, and other cabin operation has not been influenced to arbitrary one bad, owing to adopt the modularized design for the state of each cabin, for example temperature (including the temperature of upper and lower lid), temperature control curve all can adopt solitary control algorithm.

The above description is only exemplary of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application, which is defined by the appended claims.