JP2011103804A - Microorganism number measuring device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a microorganism count measuring apparatus, and an object thereof is to improve usability.
In order to achieve this object, the present invention relates to a container 6 in which a collection part 21 provided at the lower end of a rod-shaped sample collection carrier 19 is inserted from the upper surface opening, and the inside of the container 6 A measurement space 7 and a liquid storage space 8 provided sequentially from the bottom of the measurement space 7, a stirrer 26 provided on the bottom of the measurement space 7, and a measurement electrode 16 provided on the stirrer 26 of the measurement space 7, 17, a motor 25 that is provided outside the measurement space 7 of the container 6 and drives the agitator 26, and pure water 11 provided in the liquid storage space 7, On the upper side, a through-hole 21A for movably supporting the outer periphery of the rod-shaped specimen collection carrier 19 is provided.
[Selection] Figure 8

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring the number of microorganisms for measuring, for example, an inspected object (bacteria) in the oral cavity.

  Oral care to manage the mouth is aimed at preventing oral diseases such as periodontal disease, aspiration pneumonia, etc. This technology has been used in various places until oral care, and has been attracting attention in recent years.

  Furthermore, in recent studies, when oral care is performed before and after a patient's surgery in a hospital, for example, the number of days the patient stays after surgery for cancer or the frequency of fever after surgery decreases, etc. It has been found that the burden after surgery is greatly reduced, and it has been pointed out that there is a relationship between reducing bacteria in the mouth and preventing or reducing various symptoms after surgery.

  That is, reducing the number of bacteria in the mouth has a great effect even in surgery in a hospital, and the importance of oral care is being further recognized.

  However, although these oral care has gradually been recognized as a preferred product, one of the reasons they are still not sufficiently continuous is that oral care can reduce bacteria. However, it is raised that it is not clarified as a numerical value. Therefore, in recent years, a method for quantifying the number of these bacteria has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1 below).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-125846

  The device in the above conventional example is an epoch-making device in that the total number of bacteria in the mouth can be measured and digitized, and is very convenient when performing oral care. there were.

  On the other hand, as the importance of oral care has been recognized, there has been an increasing demand for more easily grasping the number of bacteria.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to improve usability.

  In order to achieve this object, according to the present invention, a collecting portion provided at the lower end of the rod-shaped sample collecting carrier is provided in order from the container inserted through the upper surface opening and the bottom from the inside of the container. A measurement space, a liquid storage space, a stirrer provided on the bottom surface of the measurement space, a measurement electrode provided on the stirrer of the measurement space, provided outside the measurement space of the container, and the stirrer A drive unit for driving and a liquid provided in the liquid storage space, and a support unit for movably supporting the outer periphery of the rod-shaped specimen collection carrier is provided above the upper surface opening of the container. It is a composition, which achieves the intended purpose.

  As described above, the present invention provides a container in which the collection portion provided at the lower end of the rod-shaped sample collection carrier is inserted from the upper surface opening, a measurement space sequentially provided upward from the bottom surface in the container, and A liquid storage space; a stirrer provided on a bottom surface of the measurement space; a measurement electrode provided on the stirrer in the measurement space; and a drive unit that is provided outside the measurement space of the container and drives the stirrer And a liquid provided in the liquid storage space, and a support portion is provided above the upper surface opening of the container so as to movably support the outer periphery of the rod-shaped sample collection carrier. Therefore, usability can be improved.

  That is, the microorganism count measuring apparatus of the present invention inserts a rod-shaped sample collection carrier (for example, a cotton swab) having a collection section at the lower end into, for example, the oral cavity and traces the oral cavity. ) Is collected by a cotton swab collection section, and this cotton swab is inserted into the measurement space through the liquid storage space of the container. In addition, the upper portion of the cotton swab container is movably supported by a support portion.

  And if the stirrer provided on the bottom surface of the container is driven by the drive unit, the sampling part of the cotton swab is subjected to an impact such as hitting by this stirrer, whereby the bacteria in the oral cavity collected by the sampling part are Since it easily flows out into the liquid in the container, the number of bacteria can be measured by the measurement electrode provided in the measurement space.

  Therefore, the number of bacteria can be easily measured, and as a result, usability can be improved.

  Further, in the present invention, since the support portion for movably supporting the outer periphery of the swab is provided, the swab portion below the support portion is used as a fulcrum and is rotated in the same manner as the sampling portion. Will move.

  For this reason, the liquid is sufficiently stirred in the measurement space, so that the liquid containing bacteria appropriately flows to the measurement electrode without increasing the stirring speed of the stirring body by the drive unit. As a result, the measurement accuracy can be increased.

  In addition, when the stirring speed by the drive unit is increased to promote the circulation of the liquid containing bacteria, the bacteria collected on the measurement electrode are released, and as a result, the measurement value may fluctuate. In the present invention, as described above, the support part is used as a fulcrum, and the cotton swab part below it is rotated in the same manner as the collection part, so that the bacteria can be removed without increasing the stirring speed of the stirring body by the drive part. The contained liquid will flow appropriately to the measurement electrode. If this happens, the bacteria collected on the measurement electrode will not be released, and the measurement accuracy can also be improved from this point.

The perspective view of the microorganisms number measuring apparatus of one embodiment of the present invention. The perspective view of the microorganisms number measuring apparatus of one embodiment of the present invention. Cross section of the cell for measuring bacteria used for it Front view of the measuring electrode 3 An enlarged front view of the measuring electrode 3 The perspective view of the microorganisms number measuring apparatus of one embodiment of the present invention. Its electrical block diagram Cross section

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a microorganism count measuring apparatus for measuring an inspected object (bacteria) in the oral cavity. On the upper surface thereof, there is a mounting part 2 for mounting the cell 1 for measuring bacteria shown in FIG. The measurement unit 4 shown in FIG. 7 is connected to the measurement electrode 3 of the bacterial measurement cell 1 shown.

  The mounting portion 2 has a cylindrical configuration with an upper surface serving as an opening 5, and the lower portion of the cell 1 for measuring bacteria is inserted from the opening 5 as shown in FIG. 2.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the cell 1 for measuring bacteria.

  First, the bacterial measurement cell 1 includes a bottomed cylindrical container 6 made of polycarbonate having an open upper surface, and a first thin film 9 that partitions the inside of the container 6 into a lower measurement space 7 and an upper liquid storage space 8. And the second thin film 10 covering the liquid storage space 8 of the container 6, the measurement electrode 3 is provided in the measurement space 7, and the measurement space 3 is used for measurement in the liquid storage space 8. The pure water 11 is provided as the liquid.

  That is, the measurement space 7 and the liquid storage space 8 are sequentially provided upward from the bottom surface of the container 6.

  In FIG. 3, the outer periphery of the first thin film 9 is fixed to the container 6, and then pure water 11 for measurement is put into the liquid storage space 8 on the first thin film 9, and then the container The bacterial measurement cell 1 is formed by fixing the outer periphery of the second thin film 10 on the liquid storage space 8.

  The first thin film 9 and the second thin film 10 are made of metal foil, specifically aluminum foil.

  Further, in order to increase the fixing strength of the outer peripheral portions of the first thin film 9 and the second thin film 10, first, the container 6 is designed so that the opening of the measurement space 7 is smaller than the opening of the liquid storage space 8. 6, the lower opening of the liquid storage space 8 is squeezed to be smaller than the upper opening of the liquid storage space 8, and a step portion 12 is formed in the lower opening throttle portion. The outer periphery of 9 is fixed. Specifically, the step 12 which is a part of the polycarbonate container 6 and the first thin film 9 made of aluminum foil are thermally welded.

  In addition, a flange 13 extending outward is formed in the upper opening of the liquid storage space 8 of the container 6, and the outer periphery of the second thin film 10 is fixed to the flange 13. Specifically, the flange 13 which is a part of the container 6 made of polycarbonate and the second thin film 10 made of aluminum foil are heat-welded.

  For this reason, the first thin film 9 and the second thin film 10 are firmly fixed (welded) to the container 6 and are not peeled off from the container 6.

  Here, the measurement electrode 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

  In FIG. 4, reference numerals 14 and 15 denote terminals, and the comb-like electrodes 16 and 17 shown in FIG. 5 are connected between the terminals 14 and 15.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the comb-like electrodes 16 and 17 are in a facing state in which they are very close to each other over a long path, and thereby, capacitance is generated between them. Yes.

  When the number of bacteria is large, the capacitance between the electrodes 16 and 17 is also increased, and the number of bacteria is measured from this capacitance.

  FIG. 6 shows a case in which, for example, a cap 18 is covered as a container lid of the bacterial measurement cell 1 after the bacterial measurement cell 1 shown in FIG. Is provided with a through hole 21A through which a rod 20 constituting a rod-shaped specimen collection carrier 19 (for example, a cotton swab) passes.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the sample collection carrier 19 is provided with a collection unit 21 in which cotton is rounded at the lower end portion. In this embodiment, first, the rod body 20 of the sample collection carrier 19 is attached to the sample collection carrier 19. Then, the inside of the oral cavity is traced by the collection unit 21, and thereby bacteria are collected from the oral cavity by the collection unit 21.

  Next, the upper end portion (the end portion where the collection portion 21 is not provided) of the sample collection carrier 19 is arranged at the center of the second thin film 10 of the bacterial measurement cell 1 shown in FIG. After that, the sample collection carrier 19 is held down and the upper end of the sample collection carrier 19 is pushed down right below. That is, the second thin film 10 is pierced at the upper end portion of the specimen collection carrier 19, and then the first thin film 9 is pierced.

  Then, from this state, the rod body 20 of the specimen collection carrier 19 is manually moved toward the outer periphery while rotating so as to draw a concentric circle, whereby the second thin film 10 and the first thin film 10 and the first thin film 10 are moved by the rod body 20. As a result, the hole formed in the thin film 9 greatly expands. As a result, the pure water 11 in the liquid storage space 8 flows into the measurement space 7, and the measurement electrode 3 is disposed below the surface of the pure water 11. It will be in the state.

  Next, the sample collection carrier 19 is once withdrawn from the bacterial measurement cell 1 and is changed over so that the collection unit 21 of the sample collection carrier 19 is at the bottom. As shown in FIG. The cell 1 is inserted into the measurement space 7, and finally, the upper end of the rod 20 of the sample collection carrier 19 is passed through the through-hole 21 </ b> A of the cap 18 from the bottom to the top. Then, set as shown in FIG. Then, the collection part 21 will be in the state arrange | positioned under the water surface of the pure water 11 in the measurement space 7, as shown in FIG.

  In this state, as shown in FIG. 8, the through hole 21 </ b> A of the cap 18 serves as a support unit that movably supports the upper portion of the rod 20 of the sample collection carrier 19 above the container 6 of the bacteria measurement cell 1. ing. That is, as a result of the through-hole 21A movably supporting the upper portion of the rod body 20 at substantially one point, the rod body 20 below the support portion and the sampling portion 21 are arranged in the horizontal direction with the support portion as a gentle axis. To rotate.

  FIG. 7 shows an electrical block diagram, in which a rotor 22 is disposed below the bottom surface of the container 6, and magnets 23 and 24 are disposed on the rotor 22.

  That is, if the rotor 22 is rotated by the motor 25 that is a driving unit thereof, the rod-like stirring body 26 that is movably disposed at the bottom of the container 6 rotates with the rotation of the magnets 23 and 24, thereby The stirrer 26 strikes the collection part 21 of the sample collection carrier 19.

  Therefore, the collection unit 21 receives an impact that is struck, whereby bacteria in the oral cavity collected by the collection unit 21 flow out into the pure water 11 (to the pure water 11 of the bacteria). The rotor 22 is continuously driven for 1 minute at a speed of 3000 rpm).

  At this time, the sampling unit 21 is flipped up by the impact that is struck, but does not jump out greatly due to friction with the through hole 21A supporting the rod 20 and its own weight. Then, it descends again, and the rotational driving force by the stirring member 26 is transmitted.

  At this time, the rod body 20 moves so as to draw a cone with the through hole 21A supporting the rod body 20 as a vertex. As a result, the sampling unit 21 performs a circular motion on the bottom surface in the container 6 while repeating the jumping force by the stirring body 26 and the subsequent descent due to its own weight.

  As a result, bacteria in the oral cavity collected by the collection unit 21 can be efficiently discharged into the pure water 11.

  In addition, since the rod 20 moves so as to draw a cone with the through hole 21A supporting the rod 20 as a vertex, not only the rotational force of the sampling unit 21 in the measurement space 7, The rotational force of the rod 20 adjacent to the sampling part 21 also becomes a force for stirring the pure water 11, and as a result, as shown in FIG. 8, the pure water 11 in the measurement space 7 is measured by the upper measurement electrodes 16, 17 as shown in FIG. In this state, a large stirring action that is sufficiently reached is obtained.

  When one minute of the outflow operation has elapsed, the rotation speed of the rotor 22 is reduced to 1200 rpm, and then bacteria are detected using the measurement electrodes 16 and 17.

  In the present embodiment, when the bacteria are detected, the rotational speed of the rotor 22 is reduced as described above so that the bacteria collected on the measurement electrodes 16 and 17 are not released from the measurement electrodes 16 and 17. .

  However, even at this time, as described above, the rod 20 moves so as to draw a cone with the through hole 21A supporting the rod 20 as a vertex. In addition to the rotational force of 21, the rotational force of the rod 20 adjacent to the sampling part 21 also becomes a force for stirring the pure water 11, and as a result, as shown in FIG. Thus, a large stirring action that sufficiently reaches the upper measurement electrodes 16 and 17 is given.

  Therefore, the bacteria present in the pure water 11 are sufficiently circulated to the measurement electrodes 16 and 17 and collected there for appropriate measurement.

  Now, if this measurement is further described with reference to FIG. 7, an alternating voltage is applied to the terminals 14 and 15 (FIG. 4) of the measurement electrode 3 by the power supply unit 27 in order to collect the bacteria extracted into the pure water 11. Applied. Then, the bacteria in the pure water 11 are polarized to plus and minus by the dielectrophoretic force due to voltage application, and as a result, the bacteria are attracted to the comb-like electrodes 16 and 17 shown in FIG. become. At this time, if the number of bacteria gathered between the electrodes 16 and 17 is large, the capacitance increases.

  The measuring unit 4 of FIG. 7 measures the magnitude of this capacitance in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 28 and sends the result to the computing unit 29. In this calculation unit 29, the rate of change in capacitance is obtained based on the measurement result of the measurement unit 4, converted into the number of bacteria by the same technique as before, and displayed on the display unit 30 via the control unit 28. Will do.

  Note that the operation unit 31 in FIG. 7 is used to input an instruction for the series of operations described above.

  As described above, according to the microorganism count measurement apparatus of the present embodiment, after collecting bacteria (microorganisms) in the oral cavity with the sample collection carrier 19 (for example, a cotton swab), the sample collection carrier 19 is stored in the container 6. Then, after that, the number of bacteria can be easily measured by operating the operation unit 31.

  As a result, usability can be improved.

  Further, in the present embodiment, as described above, the cap 18 that covers the upper surface opening of the container 6 is provided, and the support portion is configured by the through hole 21A formed in the cap 18. As shown in FIG. 8, the upper surface is formed of a curved surface whose central portion protrudes upward.

  Further, the cap 18 is formed of a transparent body.

  For this reason, when penetrating the rod body 20 from below the cap 18 into the through hole 21A, this penetrating operation is very easy, and the rod body 20 is not bent.

  This point will be explained a little more. At the time of this penetrating operation, even if the upper end of the rod body 20 abuts on the curved surface of the cap 18, the curved surface can be smoothly guided to the through hole 21A. The state at that time can be visually confirmed because the cap 18 is formed of a transparent body. As a result, the penetrating operation is very easy to perform, and the rod body 20 is not bent.

  For this reason, since the rod 20 moves smoothly so as to draw a cone having the through hole 21A as a vertex, not only the rotational force of the sampling unit 21 but also the sampling unit 21 in the measurement space 7 is obtained. The rotational force of the rod 20 adjacent to the water also becomes a force for stirring the pure water 11, and as a result, as shown in FIG. 8, the pure water 11 in the measurement space 7 sufficiently reaches the upper measurement electrodes 16 and 17 as well. The large stirring action is given.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the upper surface of the cap 18 is formed by a curved surface whose central portion protrudes upward, so that the rotation of the rod 20 and the upper surface of the pure water 11 in the measurement space 7 are formed. When visually confirming this state, for example, indoor lighting fixtures are not reflected on the surface connecting the eye viewpoint and the eyes of the confirmer, and as a result, this visual confirmation is extremely easy to perform.

  Furthermore, the diameter of the through-hole 21A of the cap 18 in this embodiment is smaller than the diameter of the collection unit 21 provided at the lower end of the sample collection carrier 19, that is, the rotation axis of the collection unit 21 is small. Therefore, the rotation operation becomes stable.

  As described above, the diameter of the through hole 21A of the cap 18 is smaller than the diameter of the collection portion 21 provided at the lower end of the sample collection carrier 19, so that the through hole 21A is attached after the cap 18 is attached. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the bacteria from being appropriately measured due to misuse by forcibly inserting the collection unit 21.

  That is, when the collection part 21 is forcibly inserted from the through hole 21A after the cap 18 is attached, the collection part 21 is strongly rubbed into the through hole 21A, and the collected bacteria are released. At this time, bacteria are not properly measured. As in this embodiment, the diameter of the through-hole 21A of the cap 18 is made larger than the diameter of the collection unit 21 provided at the lower end of the sample collection carrier 19. If it is made smaller, it is difficult to forcibly insert the sampling portion 21 through the through hole 21A after the cap 18 is attached, and as a result, it is possible to prevent the bacteria from being appropriately measured. It is.

  As described above, the present invention provides a container in which the collection portion provided at the lower end of the rod-shaped sample collection carrier is inserted from the upper surface opening, a measurement space sequentially provided upward from the bottom surface in the container, and A liquid storage space; a stirrer provided on a bottom surface of the measurement space; a measurement electrode provided on the stirrer in the measurement space; and a drive unit that is provided outside the measurement space of the container and drives the stirrer And a liquid provided in the liquid storage space, and a support portion is provided above the upper surface opening of the container so as to movably support the outer periphery of the rod-shaped sample collection carrier. Therefore, usability can be improved.

  That is, the microorganism count measuring apparatus of the present invention inserts a rod-shaped sample collection carrier (for example, a cotton swab) having a collection section at the lower end into, for example, the oral cavity and traces the oral cavity. ) Is collected by a cotton swab collection section, and this cotton swab is inserted into the measurement space through the liquid storage space of the container. In addition, the upper portion of the cotton swab container is movably supported by a support portion.

  And if the stirrer provided on the bottom surface of the container is driven by the drive unit, the sampling part of the cotton swab is subjected to an impact such as hitting by this stirrer, whereby the bacteria in the oral cavity collected by the sampling part are Since it easily flows out into the liquid in the container, the number of bacteria can be measured by the measurement electrode provided in the measurement space.

Therefore, the number of bacteria can be easily measured, and as a result, usability can be improved.
Further, in the present invention, since the support portion for movably supporting the outer periphery of the swab is provided, the swab portion below the support portion is used as a fulcrum and is rotated in the same manner as the sampling portion. Will move.

  For this reason, the liquid is sufficiently stirred in the measurement space, so that the liquid containing bacteria appropriately flows to the measurement electrode without increasing the stirring speed of the stirring body by the drive unit. As a result, the measurement accuracy can be increased.

  In addition, when the stirring speed by the drive unit is increased to promote the circulation of the liquid containing bacteria, the bacteria collected on the measurement electrode are released, and as a result, the measurement value may fluctuate. In the present invention, as described above, the support part is used as a fulcrum, and the cotton swab part below it is rotated in the same manner as the collection part, so that the bacteria can be removed without increasing the stirring speed of the stirring body by the drive part. The contained liquid will flow appropriately to the measurement electrode. If this happens, the bacteria collected on the measurement electrode will not be released, and the measurement accuracy can also be improved from this point.

  Therefore, it greatly contributes to hygiene management of the intraoral space.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Bacteria measurement cell 2 Mounting part 3 Measurement electrode 4 Measurement part 5 Opening part 6 Container 7 Measurement space 8 Liquid storage space 9 1st thin film 10 2nd thin film 11 Pure water 12 Step part 13 Flange 14 Terminal 15 Terminal 16 Electrode 17 Electrode 18 Cap 19 Sample Collection Carrier 20 Rod 21A Through Hole 21 Collection Portion 22 Rotor 23 Magnet 24 Magnet 25 Motor 26 Stirring Body (Metal Rod)
27 Power supply unit 28 Control unit 29 Calculation unit 30 Display unit 31 Operation unit

Claims (7)

A collection part provided at the lower end of the rod-shaped sample collection carrier, a container inserted from the upper surface opening,
A measurement space provided sequentially from the bottom in the container, and a liquid storage space;
A stirring body provided on the bottom surface of the measurement space;
A measurement electrode provided on the stirring body in this measurement space;
A drive unit provided outside the measurement space of the container and driving the agitator;
A liquid provided in the liquid storage space,
An apparatus for measuring the number of microorganisms provided with a support part for movably supporting the outer periphery of the rod-shaped sample collection carrier above the upper surface opening of the container. The microorganism count measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a cap that covers an upper surface opening of the container is provided, and the support is configured by a through hole formed in the cap. The microorganism count measuring apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cap is a cylindrical body having a lower surface opening, and a through hole is formed in an upper surface of the cylindrical body. 4. The microorganism count measuring apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the upper surface of the cap is formed by a curved surface whose central portion projects upward, and a through hole is formed in the central portion of the upper surface. The diameter of the through-hole of a cap is a microorganisms number measuring apparatus as described in any one of Claim 1 to 4 made smaller than the diameter of the collection part provided in the lower end part of the test substance collection support | carrier. The microorganism count measuring apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the cap is formed of a transparent body. The microorganism count measuring apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the stirrer is configured to strike a collection part of the sample collection carrier.

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