JPH0213066Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (Technical field) The present invention relates to a device that can easily obtain sterile liquid in the fields of medicine, biochemistry, bacteriology, etc., and is particularly applicable to contact lens cleaning solutions and storage solutions. The present invention relates to a simple liquid purification device that can be advantageously used for supplying enzyme cleaners, dissolving water for enzyme detergents, and the like.

(Prior art and its problems) Conventionally, medical and health care liquids, such as contact lens cleaning solutions and storage solutions, have been provided to users in solution form in a predetermined container, or buys purified water,
In many cases, a granule or tablet-like drug is dissolved in this to prepare a desired solution.

However, in the former case, there is no problem when opening and using a new container, but since such a container contains a large amount of solution, it may be left unsealed for a long time. Solutions held in such opened containers, which may be used over a period of time, have the inherent problem of being susceptible to contamination by bacteria entering through the opening of the container. Also, in the latter case,
Purified water is not sterile, which poses problems such as bacterial growth during solution storage, which can become dangerous. In addition, instead of such purified water, tap water that is readily available may be used for cleaning, but in this case, in addition to the problem of bacterial contamination mentioned above, contact lenses are contaminated with colloids such as iron and manganese and fine particles. , occurrence of scratches, etc. also becomes a problem.

For this reason, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-150514 proposes a hand-held liquid filtering and dispensing device for cleaning contact lenses, but this device has a flat membrane-like hydrophobic film at the opening of the container. The structure is complicated because the filtration medium and the housing, which also has a flat membrane-shaped hydrophilic filtration medium, are attached as separate parts. Therefore, a large filtration area is required, and the housing inevitably becomes large. In particular, if a filtration medium capable of removing bacteria is installed as a hydrophilic filtration medium in such a housing, an extremely large filtration area will be required. Due to the lack of surface area, the pore size of the filtration medium must be increased to ensure good water permeability, and in practice this only removes particles such as dirt, making it difficult to sterilize the solution. It is.

In addition, as a precision filtration element applied to the medical field, drinking water purification field, etc., Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 58-40202 discloses that a hollow fiber-like filtration material is housed in a bag-like housing. By constructing the housing from a soft or elastic polymer material,
By rubbing the housing with your fingertips, fine particles adhering to the filtration material inside the housing are removed, preventing clogging of the filtration material during the filtration process, and restoring the flow rate. However, with such a structure, air cannot flow into the housing if it is used as a simple water purifier with a sealed plug instead of being used for water flow. Therefore, the deformation of the housing is difficult to recover even after the pinching pressure is removed, and therefore, although it is possible for use in an emergency, it is unsuitable for continuous daily use.

(Solution) Here, the present invention has been made against the background of the above circumstances, and is a liquid solution that completely solves the problem of bacterial contamination without requiring the adoption of an expensive or complicated structure. The object of the present invention is to provide a device that can be easily, inexpensively, and advantageously implemented especially as a container for contact lens cleaning solution or storage solution.

That is, the simple liquid purification device according to the present invention has the following features:
A container comprising a purified liquid outlet and an air inlet that communicates with the outside only through a hydrophobic porous membrane, and is made of an elastic material that can be compressed and can return to its original shape when released from the clamping pressure; A hydrophilic porous hollow fiber membrane capable of inhibiting bacteria is housed in a container, and only one surface of the hydrophilic porous hollow fiber membrane faces a space communicating with a purified liquid outlet. It is characterized by the fact that

(Specific Description/Examples of Configuration) Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to drawings showing some embodiments of the present invention.

First, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a pot-shaped container body, and an opening 4 of a predetermined size is provided in the upper part of the container body 2 so that a predetermined aqueous liquid can be accommodated in the container body 2 through this opening 4. It's getting old. The container body 2 is made of an elastic material that can be compressed with fingers or the like and can easily return to its original shape when released from such clamping pressure, and is generally made of a suitable resin material, such as polypropylene. , polyethylene, polycarbonate, polyvinyl chloride, and other elastic polymer materials. The shape of the container main body 2 can be arbitrarily determined depending on the application, but generally a container body 2 having a bottomed cylindrical shape, such as a pot shape or a bottle shape, is used.

A cap 8, which is a resin molded product, is attached to the cylindrical attachment part 6 forming the upper opening 4 of the container body 2 in a structure such as screwing or fitting, and closing the opening 4. are doing. More specifically, the cap 8 has a tapered cylindrical liquid outlet 10 projecting outward at its center, and a tip of the liquid outlet 10 has a predetermined size, preferably an inner diameter. While an outflow port 12 with a diameter of 3 mm or less is provided, a ring-shaped liquid leakage prevention piece 14 is integrally formed inside the cap 8.
Due to the presence of the cap 8, the container body 2
When attached to the mounting part 6 of the
It is designed so that it can be kept liquid-tight.

Incidentally, inside the cap 8, a cylindrical conduit portion 18 extending inward of the container body 2 is integrated so as to guide the liquid passage 16 inside the liquid outflow portion 10 to the inside of the container body 2. The hollow fiber module 2 is provided at the tip opening of this conduit portion 18.
0 is attached and is constructed integrally with the cap 8. This hollow fiber module 20 is made by bundling a large number of hydrophilic porous hollow fibers 22 into a loop shape (U-shape), and bonding and fixing the ends with a suitable adhesive such as polyurethane resin to the hollow fiber holding part 2.
4, and is fitted into the conduit portion 18 of the cap 8 in this holding portion 24, and is attached in a fixed or detachable manner.
As shown in FIG. 3, each hollow fiber 22 has a hollow fiber opening 26 that is opened to the liquid passage 16 at its end.

By the way, the large number of hydrophilic porous hollow fibers 22 constituting the hollow fiber module 20 each have a pore size that allows the aqueous liquid contained in the container body 2 to pass through but does not allow bacteria to pass through. In other words, it needs to have a membrane pore size that allows bacteria to be removed, and it needs to have low filtration resistance. The membrane pore size that allows removal of this bacterium is Pseudomonas deminiuta ATCC19146.
It is desirable to have something that can prevent this, usually 0.2~
A suitable material is one that blocks standard particles of 0.3 μm. The hydrophilic porous hollow fibers 22 are made of hydrophilic fibers obtained according to known methods using polymeric materials such as polyolefin, polyvinyl alcohol, polysulfone, polyacrylonitrile, cellulose acetate, polymethyl methacrylate, and polyamide. It is a porous hollow fiber. In addition, hollow fiber 2
When the material No. 2 is hydrophobic, such as polyolefin, it will be made hydrophilic by surface treatment of the hollow fiber membrane as is known. In addition, when manufacturing such hollow threads, a known method is adopted, for example, the polio lefin porous central thread has been eluted by a micro -separation method and a soluble ingredient after a mixture. Although hollow fibers made porous by a stretching method have slit-like pores and can inhibit bacteria and have high water permeability, they are preferably used in the present invention. Further, the dimensions of the hollow fibers 22 are not particularly limited, but usually have an inner diameter of 50 to 50 mm.
2000 μm, and the film thickness will be selected within the range of 10 to 200 μm.

In addition, such a hollow fiber module 20 has hollow fibers 22 bundled in a loop shape, and both ends of the hollow fibers are connected to the hollow fiber openings 2.
6 has a structure in which the liquid passage 16 is opened, but instead of this, one end of the hollow fiber is sealed and the other end is bonded with an adhesive to form a holding part, and the liquid passage 16 is opened. It is also possible to have an open structure. Furthermore, regarding the attachment structure of the hollow fiber module 20 to the cap 8, in addition to the above-mentioned fitting structure, a screw structure or the like may be adopted, and furthermore, it may be bonded using an adhesive. There is no difference whatsoever. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, if a perforated cover or skirt 28 is provided to surround the hollow fiber module 20, the hollow fiber 2 can be removed when the cap 8 is attached to or removed from the container body 2.
This is an advantageous means in the present invention because it can prevent damage to the second part. Note that the predetermined aqueous liquid 30 in the container body 2 is brought into contact with the hollow fibers 20 through the holes 32 of the cover or skirt 28 and the like.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cap 8 has a plurality of communication holes 34 arranged around the base of the liquid outflow portion 10 for communicating the inside and outside of the container body 2. A hydrophobic porous membrane 36 as a hydrophobic porous member is integrally provided in a state where the communicating holes 34 are blocked.
This hydrophobic porous membrane 36 allows air to pass through, but
The aqueous liquid 30 in the container body 2 has a porous structure with pores that cannot pass therethrough, and is made of a material such as polytetrafluoroethylene or polyolefin. Note that this hydrophobic porous membrane 36 allows air to pass through, removes fine particles in the air, and prevents aqueous liquid from leaking from the communication holes 34 when the container body 2 is tilted or overturned. However, in the present invention, a porous membrane having pores with a pore size of about 0.45 μm or less is preferably used to prevent the inflow of bacteria in the air. Become. However, even if there are bacteria in the container, a filtrated solution that is sterilized by the hollow fibers 22 of the hollow fiber module 20 described above can be obtained, but it is preferable to keep the inside of the container sterile as well, so that bacteria flowing into the container can be obtained. This is because it is preferable to also sterilize the air.

In particular, in this way, the cap 8 has a communication hole 34,
The bottle provided with the hydrophobic porous membrane 36 and the hollow fiber module 20 can have all of the desired functions simply by attaching the cap 8 to a normal bottle container.

Of course, such a hydrophobic porous membrane 36 is provided in the communication hole 34 provided in the cap 8 here, but together with or in place of this, as shown in FIG. It is also possible to provide a communication hole 34 directly in the container body 2 and provide a hydrophobic porous membrane 36 in the communication hole 34 . In addition, as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, the cap 8 or the container body 2
A pipe 38 extending into the container body 2 is integrally provided with respect to the hole penetrating through the hole, and the pipe 38 and the container body 2 are attached so that the inside and outside of the container body 2 are communicated through the pipe 38. There is no problem with a structure in which the hydrophobic porous membrane 36 is provided in the portion or pipe 38 as described above (for example, see FIG. 10).

Note that the communication hole 34 and pipe 38, which serve as a communication section (window section) that communicates the inside and outside of the container body 2, may be formed at the same time as the cap 8 or the container body 2, or may be formed in the presence of the pipe 38. In addition, through post-processing, the communication hole 34 is bored and the pipe 38 is attached. The formation of the hydrophobic porous membrane 36 in the communication holes 34 and the pipes 38 can be carried out, for example, by laminating such a hydrophobic porous membrane and a nonwoven fabric made of thermoplastic fibers and heat-sealing them. It will be done by.

Therefore, in the case of a container equipped with such a hollow fiber module 20, if the body of the container body 2 is squeezed with fingers or the like while the container is tilted or overturned, the container body The predetermined aqueous liquid 30 contained in the container body 2 is caused to pass through the holes in the hollow fiber wall of the hydrophilic porous hollow fibers 22 of the hollow fiber module 20 by the increase in pressure in the container body 2, and The liquid is introduced into the liquid passage 16 through the hollow fiber opening 26 at the end thereof, and is then allowed to flow out (discharge) to the outside through the outflow hole 12 of the cap 8. At that time, hollow fiber module 20
The hollow fibers 22 constituting the container body 2 have pores with a pore size that allows bacteria to be removed.
Even if bacteria are present in the aqueous liquid 30 in the cap 8, they are effectively separated and removed from the outlet 1 of the cap 8.
The aqueous liquid discharged from 2 is free of bacteria and can therefore be supplied as a clean liquid.

Furthermore, after the aqueous liquid 30 in the container body 2 is discharged from the outlet 12 of the cap 8, when the clamping pressure on the body of the container body 2 is released, the inside of the container is restored to its original shape. is depressurized and the container (main body 2) is in a deformed state, but such deformation is caused by
In addition, the air guided through the hydrophobic porous membrane 36 provided therein is made to flow into the container body 2, thereby returning the interior of the container to atmospheric pressure and restoring the container (main body 2) to its original shape. It is.

In this way, after the container body 2 is compressed, air is allowed to flow in to restore the container body 2 to its original shape, thereby making it possible to easily and conveniently supply the sterilized cleaning liquid. It is. Leaving the container body 2 in the deformed state,
Furthermore, it is not practical to squeeze the container body 2 with fingers or the like to cause the liquid to flow out of the container in order to supply purified liquid, which requires a lot of effort.

Further, FIGS. 5a and 5b show another embodiment constructed according to the present invention.

In the simple liquid purification device shown in these figures, a conduction pipe 40, in which an elongated liquid outlet part 10 and a liquid guide part 41 are integrated, is airtightly attached to the cap 8. A hollow fiber module 20 is provided so as to partition an internal passage located at the attachment part to the cap 8, and the liquid passage 1 on the liquid outlet part 10 side of the conduction pipe 40
6, the liquid guide part 41 side is communicated via the hollow fiber module 20, while the lower end of the liquid guide part 41 is connected to the predetermined aqueous liquid 30 near the inner bottom surface of the container body 2. It is opened inside. The inside of the cap 8 is opened at a position below the hollow fiber holding part 24, and the conduction pipe 40 is opened through the opening 43 of the conduction pipe 40.
A plurality of gas passages 42 are provided to communicate the internal space of the liquid guide portion 41 of No. 0 with the external space, and near the openings of these gas passages 42 to the external space,
A hydrophobic porous membrane 36 is provided in each case.

When using a simple liquid purification device having such a structure, there is no need to tilt or overturn the container body 2, but simply press the body of the container body 2 with your fingers or the like in the same state. Then, the predetermined aqueous liquid 30 contained in the container body 2 is caused to rise in the conduction pipe 40 due to the increase in pressure in the container body 2, and is discharged from the outlet 12 through the hollow fiber module 20. You will be forced to do so. In addition, at the initial stage of the release, the air existing in the conduction pipe 40 is discharged to the outside space via the gas passage 42 and the hydrophobic porous membrane 36, and the air is discharged into the container body 2 after the solution is discharged. Since the gas can be quickly introduced through the hydrophobic porous membrane 36 and the gas passage 42, the feeling of use can be further improved.

In addition, the simple liquid purification device in this embodiment is provided with a liquid supply port 44 as a supply port for the aqueous liquid 30, in addition to the opening 4 to which the cap 8 is attached. Since the cap 8 has a structure that can be sealed with the liquid opening cap 46, it is also possible to form the cap 8 integrally with the container body 2, and it is not necessary to remove the hollow fiber modules one by one when supplying the solution. As a result, the durability of such devices can be improved.

Although various configurations of the present invention have been explained above based on several embodiments, the present invention should not be construed as being limited to such illustrative embodiments or even specific explanations accompanying them. It should be understood that various changes, modifications, improvements, etc. can be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, instead of the hydrophobic porous membrane 36 provided for the inflow of air into the container, a hollow fiber-shaped hydrophobic porous membrane member can be used, and such a hollow fiber can be replaced with a hydrophilic porous membrane member. It can also be used as a module like the porous hollow fiber 22.

Further, in order to prevent the outflow port 12 portion of the cap 8 from being contaminated by bacteria, etc., it is possible to provide a cover cap that covers at least the outflow port 12 portion of the cap 8 in order to enhance the effectiveness of the present invention. It is effective in

(Effects) The liquid purification device configured as described above can exhibit various excellent effects as described below.

a) It is possible to obtain a liquid that completely solves the problem of bacterial contamination with an inexpensive and simple structure without requiring expensive or complicated equipment, and is especially useful as a container for contact lens cleaning solution or storage solution. By using this method, it is possible to completely solve the problem of bacterial contamination, which has been a problem in the past, without adding expensive equipment.

b A communication part (window) fitted with a hydrophobic porous member (membrane/hollow fiber) to allow air to flow into the container or cap but to prevent liquid from flowing out.
After applying clamping pressure to the container and causing the desired amount of liquid to flow out of the container,
Through this communication part, external air flows in,
Therefore, the container can be restored to its original shape and can be used continuously.

c Compared to a flat membrane-like liquid filtration medium, since hollow fibers are used, a large filtration area can be easily obtained, and a hollow fiber module of a compact filtration medium can be formed. A relatively large force is not required for squeezing the liquid, and the liquid can be easily filtered, that is, purified.

d The hollow fiber module can be installed inside the container so that it communicates with the liquid outlet of the cap, so there is no need to provide a filtration housing outside the container, making it a very compact and simple liquid purification device. You can.

e The hollow fiber module has a very simple structure and can be manufactured by bundling hollow fibers and bonding the ends with adhesive, making it easy to use for the intended purification device. Can be easily manufactured.

f Since the hollow fiber module is attached directly or indirectly to the inside of the cap, the hollow fiber module together with the cap can be easily removed, and once the aqueous liquid in one container body is exhausted, the specified can be easily attached to the opening of another container body filled with an aqueous liquid.

g. Hydrophilic porous hollow fibers that can be sterilized are used to purify the aqueous liquid in the container, so a sterile liquid can be easily sterilized by just applying light pressure with fingers or the like.

h By using a hydrophobic porous member provided in the communication part, which is an air inflow hole, as a sterilizable membrane or hollow fiber, contamination of the liquid in the container by bacteria, etc. can be effectively prevented. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged sectional view of essential parts of an example of a simple liquid purification device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of a cap used in such a device.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the - cross section in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a sectional view corresponding to FIG. 1 showing another example of the present invention, and FIGS. FIG. 10 is a vertical cross-sectional explanatory view showing still another example of such a simple liquid purification device [however, FIG. 5 a is a partial sectional view, and FIG. 5 b is a partially enlarged explanatory view]. FIG. 9 is a partially enlarged explanatory diagram of the embodiment shown in FIG. 9; 2: Container body, 4: Opening, 6: Mounting part, 8:
Cap, 10: Liquid outlet, 12: Outlet, 1
4: Liquid leak prevention piece, 16: Liquid passage, 18: Conduit section, 20: Hollow fiber module, 22: Hydrophilic porous hollow fiber, 24: Hollow fiber holding section, 26: Hollow fiber opening, 28: Cover/ Skirt, 30: aqueous liquid, 32: hole, 34: communication section, 36: hydrophobic porous membrane, 38: pipe.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A container comprising a purified liquid outlet and an air inlet that communicates with the outside only through a hydrophobic porous membrane, and is made of an elastic material that can be compressed and can return to its original shape when released from the clamping pressure; A hydrophilic porous hollow fiber membrane capable of inhibiting bacteria is housed in a container, and only one surface of the hydrophilic porous hollow fiber membrane faces a space communicating with a purified liquid outlet. Simple liquid purification device.