Climatic cabinet, turntable and use of the turntable

A climate cabinet, turntable and use of the turntable. The climatic cabinet (1) can be loaded automatically and manually and has a conventional door (3) and a controllable door (2) as well as a turntable (4) which is connected via a releasable coupling (9) disposed in the interior of the climatic cabinet (1) with a positioning drive (5) and is seated on the floor of the climatic cabinet (1). The controllable door (2) is movably seated on two guide systems (6, 7) perpendicularly and parallel with the loading side (21). The positioning drive (5) is controllable by a higher system or by a user. The turntable (4) has a support shaft (45), tray disks (41) and spacer sleeves as well as spacer tubelets (47, 46) for spacing the tray disks apart, also positioning elements (51) for receiving storage pieces (50). The turntable (41) is suitable for use in a device, for example a climatic cabinet (1), or outside of this device.

FILED OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates to a climatic cabinet which can be automatically 
loaded by a higher system, a turntable for receiving a plurality of 
storage pieces on at least two tray disks disposed concentrically above 
each other on a support shaft, and to the use of the turntable in an 
appliance, for example a climatic cabinet, for treating the storage pieces 
or their content. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Climatic cabinets are used for the creation of defined climatic conditions. 
Very high demands are made on the homogeneity of the temperature 
distribution in the interior of the climatic cabinet as well as the 
thermal insulation of the climatic cabinet, particularly in applications 
where extreme humidity of the air must be assured. Often such climatic 
cabinets additionally have double walls with a space between them, in 
which a temperature-regulating medium (water, air) is present. This 
requires large wall thicknesses of several centimeters. In uses with 
automatic loading, access to the climatic cabinet is not only automatic, 
but often also manual by the user. Particular attention must be paid to 
the restricted space conditions, on the one hand because of automatic 
loading provided, mainly by robots and, on the other hand, because of the 
desire for optimal use of the space. Furthermore, the cleanliness of the 
interior of the climatic cabinet and the flexible spatial division thereof 
is of great importance. 
An incubator with a rotatable dish storage and an auxiliary door is 
described by way of example in European Patent Publication EP 0 293 782 
B1. This arrangement is not suitable for applications with increased 
climatic demands, because the auxiliary door provided does not permit the 
trouble-free bridging of large wall thicknesses. The auxiliary door 
furthermore is integrated into the service door, which makes simultaneous 
access by robots and users impossible. The removal of the dish storage is 
difficult, since the rotational shaft of the dish storage extends past the 
upper wall of the incubator. Furthermore, the arrangement of the dish 
storage and the drive mechanism require the placement of the drive 
mechanism outside the interior of the climatic cabinet, which makes its 
use difficult in applications where price is a consideration. The 
structure of the dish storage furthermore is not very stable and does not 
permit great precision, exact positioning of the shells and only low 
acceleration. 
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore a first object of the invention to provide a climatic 
cabinet which, on the one hand, avoids the disadvantages of the various 
known devices and, on the other hand, assures the satisfactory capability 
for loading by means of robotic systems. 
A second object of the invention lies in proposing a turntable capable of 
receiving storage pieces and suitable for use inside as well as outside of 
a device for treating the storage pieces or their contents. 
A third object of the invention lies in disclosing the use of such a 
turntable. 
The first object is attained in connection with a climatic cabinet of the 
type mentioned at the outset by the features of the characterizing part of 
claim 1. Preferred further developments and advantageous exemplary 
embodiments of the climatic cabinet in accordance with the invention are 
defined in dependent claims 2 to 12. 
The second object is attained in a turntable of the type mentioned at the 
outset by means of the characteristics of claim 13. Preferred exemplary 
embodiments of the turntable in accordance with the invention are 
described in dependent claims 14 to 18. 
The third object of the invention is contained in claim 19. A special use 
of the turntable is defined in dependent claim 20. 
Thus the novel climatic cabinet has the following features: 
it includes a conventional door on the user side and a controllable door on 
the loading side; 
the controllable door is seated on one side on a first guidance system so 
it is movable perpendicularly to the loading side and on the other side on 
a second guidance system so it is movable parallel with the loading side; 
the turntable is supported on its bottom by means of a bearing; 
the turntable is constructed of tray disks and spacer sleeves; 
positioning elements are provided on the tray disks, constructed on the 
surface of the tray disks; 
the connection between the turntable and the positioning device is disposed 
in the interior of the climatic cabinet; and 
the positioning drive can be controlled by the user as well as by the 
higher system. 
The advantages of the invention lie in that the novel climatic cabinet 
has an optimal arrangement of the user and loading doors for robotic 
applications; 
permits the bridging of great wall thicknesses with a minimal disturbance 
of the insulation or the temperature-regulating medium; 
precise positioning is possible because of the great stability of the 
turntable; 
permits a defined position of objects because of the advantageous design of 
the tray disks and positioning elements; 
assures maximum use of the space on the loading side; 
makes possible the unhampered movement of the loading robot independently 
of the door position because of the minimum space requirement when the 
door is opened; 
allows easy removal of the turntable for maintenance work; 
assures easy and secure access for the user; 
assures optimal use of the space in the interior of the climatic cabinet; 
is constructed in such a way that the turntable structure can always be 
adapted to new requirements; and 
because of the stable structure of the turntable, rapid acceleration, such 
as required with shaking movements, is made possible. 
The advantages of the novel turntable ensue from the respective 
advantageous properties of the climatic cabinet. It is particularly 
advantageous that the turntable is usable as a storage device as well as 
for use in an installation such as a climatic cabinet. 
The invention will be described below by means of several exemplary 
embodiments represented in the drawing figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The top view of a climatic cabinet 1 with a controllable door 2 on a 
loading side 21, a conventional door 3 on a user side 31 and a work 
chamber 11 is shown in FIG. 1. A turntable, hereinafter called turntable 
structure 4, is provided in the work chamber 11 and is rotated or 
positioned by means of a positioning drive 5. The turntable structure 4 
and the positioning drive 5 are disposed on a plate 10. A wall 12 
separates the work chamber 11 from the exterior wall of the climatic 
cabinet 1. A position selector 80 for semi-automatic positioning of the 
turntable structure 4 is also disposed on the user side 31. The reference 
numeral 32 identifies the opened conventional door 3, the reference 
numeral 22 the controllable door 2 in the completely opened state. 
The controllable door 2 is fastened on a first linear guide system 6, which 
moves the controllable door 2 perpendicularly in respect to the loading 
side 21. In this case the first linear guide system consists of lift rails 
61a, 61b and lift bushings 62a, 62b. The controllable door 2 can perform a 
lifting motion perpendicularly in respect to the loading side 21 by means 
of the first linear guide system 6. The first linear guide system 6 itself 
is fastened on a second linear guide system 7 extending parallel with the 
loading side 21. The controllable door 2 can be moved parallel with the 
loading side 21 on the second linear guide system 7 by means of slide 
bushings 72a, 72b moving on at least one slide rail 71a. The second linear 
guide system 7 is fastened on the loading side 21 of the climatic cabinet 
1. By means of the above arrangement it is possible to bridge large walls 
12 or to realize groat wall thicknesses of the controllable door 2 without 
having to settle for great displacement of the controllable door 2 or 
large door gaps between the controllable door 2 and the wall 12. 
Position selector elements are identified by 8 which make it possible for 
the user to gain manual access to the turntable structure 4. The position 
selector 80 is designed in such a way that it allows spatially correct 
positioning of the turntable structure 4. In the process, a user can 
determine by means of a first signal lamp 81 or a second signal lamp 82 
when the turntable structure 4 is positioned and manual access is 
possible. 
A second exemplary embodiment of the controllable door 2 is represented in 
FIG. 2. In this exemplary embodiment the controllable door 2 is tilted out 
of the wall 12 by means of tilt levers 65a, 65b and is displaced along the 
slide rail 71a by means of the slide bushings 72. It is possible to 
control the tilt levers 65a, 65b by means of a cam plate, not shown, for 
example. 
A lateral view of the loading side 21 of the climatic cabinet 1 is 
represented in FIG. 3a. The turntable structure 4 and the positioning 
drive 5 are disposed on a plate 10, the seating device for the turntable 
structure 4 being identified by 13. A connecting point 9b between the 
turntable structure 4 and the positioning drive 5 is located inside the 
work chamber 11 and--viewed in a plan view--outside the area of the 
turntable structure 4. Because the positioning drive 5 is disposed on the 
plate 10 together with the turntable structure 4 it is possible in a 
simple manner to remove the entire turntable structure 4 from the work 
chamber 11 together with the plate 10. The turntable structure is 
otherwise designed in such a way that it is also suited for use outside of 
the climatic cabinet 1. 
A lateral view of the climatic cabinet 1 from the direction of the loading 
side 21 is also shown in FIG. 3b. The turntable structure 4 rests on the 
floor of the work chamber 11, wherein the seating is again indicated by 
13. An optimal use of the space in the work chamber 11 is possible because 
of this arrangement. The connection between the turntable structure 4 and 
the positioning drive 5 is made by a coupling 9. In this exemplary 
embodiment the positioning drive 5 has the same axis of rotation as the 
turntable structure 4. A drive shaft 43 of the positioning drive 5, 
wherein the change in direction is also realized by means of the latter, 
is connected via the coupling 9 with a support shaft 45 of the turntable 
structure 4. The coupling 9 is disposed inside the work chamber 11. This 
permits the simple installation or removal of the turntable structure 4. 
The turntable structure 4 is constructed of tray disks 41 located above 
each other. 
FIG. 4 shows an exemplary embodiment of a tray disk 41 in a top view. In 
addition to a central bore concentric in respect to the support shaft 45, 
the tray disk 41 has a plurality, at least three support bores 48 in the 
rim area of the tray disk 41. The tray disk 41 is divided in a star shape 
into segments 52. The segments 52 are respectively used for receiving a 
rectangular storage piece 50. The storage piece 50 is maintained by 
positioning elements 51 on the tray disk 41. In the exemplary embodiment 
of FIG. 4, the positioning elements 51 are provided in the form of 
depressions in the shape of the top-view contours of the storage piece 50, 
cut into the tray disk 41. 
FIG. 5 represents a partially sectional view of the turntable structure 4. 
Beside the support shaft 45, which forms the axis of rotation, the 
turntable structure 4 has at least three turntable supports 42 extending 
parallel with the support shaft 45 and perpendicular in respect to the 
tray disks 41. The support shaft 45 is disposed in the center of rotation 
of the turntable structure 4. The tray disks 41 are arranged 
concentrically with the support shaft 45 at defined distances on top of 
each other. The spaces between the tray disks 41 are formed by spacer 
sleeves 47. The spacer sleeves 47 comprise and/or external sleeves. They 
have centering steps and have a longitudinal bore 47a, a centering bore 
47b and centering collars 47c. The interior diameter of the center bore 
47b is equal to the exterior diameter of the centering collar 47c. The 
diameter of the support bores 48 in the tray disk 41 is equal to the 
diameter of the centering bore 47b. The centering collar 47c of each 
spacer sleeve 47 is guided by the support bore 48 of one tray disk 41. A 
chain of tray disks 41 and spacer sleeves 47 is formed in this way, in 
which respectively one tray disk 41, guided by the centering collar 47c, 
is located between two spacer sleeves 47. In the interior of the chain a 
bracing rod 42 extends along the longitudinal bores 47a and longitudinally 
braces the spacer sleeves 47 or the tray disks 41 at both ends of the 
chain in a manner not shown. A simplified collar 47' is also shown in FIG. 
5. 
To obtain optimal stability of the turntable structure 4 and a level 
placement of the tray disks 41, it is advantageous to additionally brace 
the turntable structure 4 in the center. In the present exemplary 
embodiment, spacer tubelets 46 are disposed between the tray disks 41. The 
spacer tubelets 46 have the same length as the spacer sleeves 47 of a 
respective level and enclose the support shaft 45. The spacer tubelets 46 
or the tray disks 41 rest on the underside of the turntable structure 4 on 
a flange 44, shown in FIG. 3b, which is connected with the support shaft 
45. On the top of the turntable structure 4 the spacer tubelets 46 are 
braced against the flange 44 by means of the coupling 9. 
FIG. 6a shows a section of a detailed representation of an exemplary 
embodiment of the tray disk 41 of FIG. 4 with specially designed 
positioning elements 51. In this case they are embodied as tongues 51b to 
51d, projecting past the surface of the tray disk 41. In this exemplary 
embodiment the storage piece 50 is held radially on the inside and outside 
of its lateral walls by the positioning elements 51c and 51d and 
tangentially by the positioning elements 51b and 51c. 
FIG. 6b explains the structure of FIG. 6 in a partial sectional view. 
FIG. 7a represents a variant of the design for holding the storage pieces 
50 by means of positioning elements 51. In this exemplary embodiment the 
positioning elements 51 are pins 51e to 51g which are pressed into the 
tray disk 41 in such a way that a portion of the pressed-in pins 51e to 
51g extends above the surface of the tray disk 41. In this case the pins 
51e and 51f are arranged in such a way that they hold the storage piece 50 
radially and the pins 51g hold it tangentially on the sidewalls of the 
storage piece 50. 
FIG. 7b explains the structure of FIG. 7a in a partial sectional view. 
In order to assure the same climatic conditions for all storage pieces 50, 
independently of their location inside the work chamber 11, the turntable 
structure 4 performs a continuously rotating movement. In cases where the 
mixing of a liquid in the storage pieces is required, shaking is generated 
by intermittent directional change of the rotary movement of the turntable 
structure 4. By means of a small deviation of the two periods of time for 
the forward and backward movement, a rotary movement is superimposed on 
the shaking movement in this case. The operating elements, i.e. the 
position selector elements 8, can also contain a higher system which 
allows the user to link the schedule and the contents of the storage 
pieces 50 in such a way that, for example, the user can determine when and 
how long the samples to be treated should remain in the climatic cabinet.