AUTOMATIC WATER TOXICITY MEASURING APPARATUS

Abstract: The present invention relates to an automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an apparatus that measures water toxicity and contamination successively and automatically by using luminescent microorganisms that live in freshwater.

Description: AUTOMATIC WATER TOXICITY MEASURING APPARATUS Technical Field The present invention relates to an automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an apparatus that measures water toxicity and contamination successively and automatically by using luminescent microorganisms that live in freshwater. Background Art A public has known the method of using luminescent microorganisms to measure water toxicity and contamination. The luminescent mechanism of the luminescent microorganism is affected when the biochemical environmental conditions of the luciferase that controls the emission of light is activated, then the luminosity of the microorganism is changed. The Microtox Assay System (hereinafter, MAS) commercialized by the MICROBICS Co. an apparatus that measure water toxicity and contamination using luminescent microorganisms. The MAS method measures the luminosity of light emitted by luminescent microorganism in toxicity condition on the basis of the luminosity of the luminescent microorganism live non-toxic condition. The measuring value of MAS is EC50 that represents the concentration of toxic chemical that causes 50% reduction of luminosity. However, since seawater microorganism is used in MAS system, an amount of salts that is equivalent to the seawater should be added separately to test sample to manifest the physiological function of luminescent microorganism and in this case, toxicity of chemicals that have reactivity with metals and salts are concerned to be offset. For these reasons, the most part of the data measured from MAS show the results similar with those obtained from other microorganism toxicity measurement, however, in case of ammonia or cyanide and alike toxic chemical materials, the results from MAS do not align with the results obtained from other microorganism toxicity measurements. Additionally, in order to measure the toxicity of the sample through MAS, the lyophilized microorganism contained in each ampoule should be rehydrated one by one, and then mixed with aqueous sample, and luminescence thereof is measured by luminometer. Also, MAS is operated in a batch operation system, wherein an operator who measures luminescence of each individual sample manually, is required. Therefore, in order to successively measure and observe the water toxicity continuously by using MAS method, an ampoule containing luminescent microorganism is needed each measuring time, and thus an operator should be required to operate the toxicity measuring apparatus. Due to these problems, it has been a very laborious work to measure water toxicity successively by using apparatus developed until now. Therefore, it has been substantially impossible to monitor water toxicity continuously by means of the method that has been developed up to now for measuring water toxicity. Until presently, it has never been developed an automatic apparatus for measuring and monitoring water toxicity. Despite of importance of successive automatic monitoring of water toxicity, automatic measurements are limited within the scope of pH, DO, water level, flow rate, and et al . . It has been reported that automatic measuring and monitoring of COD and SS of several limited samples can partly be available. Moreover, the environmental monitoring system is mainly limited to air pollution field. Thus, in the water field, only monthly monitoring has been done in each water system, and continuous and automatic system for measuring and monitoring of water pollution has not yet been commercialized. Disclosure of Invention Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus that can measure water toxicity automatically and continuously. The above object of the present invention is achieved by providing an automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus that comprises: A sample supplier for gathering samples from water system at regular intervals and successively and for supplying test sample to luminescent microorganism; Multi-well plates which are containing luminescent microorganism, of which the top of the well is sealed with gas-impermeable film; A multi-well plate storage unit that keeps and provides sequentially, multi-well plate in which each well contains lyophilized luminescent microorganism; A transportation means for moving said numerous multi-well plates; An injection needle for providing test samples and reagents in an accurate dose into luminescent microorganism contained said multi-well plate; A sensor for detecting luminosity after the lapse of some times from injection of sample and reagent into luminescent microorganism; and A control unit that control or regulate electrically or mechanically, the automatic operation of said each unit . In addition, the apparatus of the present invention may further comprises a temperature control unit which control and/or maintain the interior temperature of the apparatus in constant. Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus that water toxicity can be measured successively without handling of operator. Another object of the present invention is to provide multi-well plates which are containing luminescent microorganism, of which the top of the well is sealed with gas-impermeable film. Brief Description of the Drawings The above object and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail a preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the attached drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a front view of the automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plane view of the automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a right-side view of the automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a left-side view of the automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus of the present invention. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Hereinafter, the apparatus of the present invention will be described in more detail. However, the automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus explained in below is given only for the explanation of embodiment of the present invention and not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. The automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus of the present invention is characterized in comprising: A sample supplier for gathering samples from water system at regular intervals and successively, and for supplying test sample to luminescent microorganism; Multi-well plates which are containing luminescent microorganism, of which the top of the well is sealed with gas-impermeable film; A multi-well plate storage unit that keeps and provides sequentially, the multi-well plate in which each well contains lyophilized luminescent microorganism; A transportation means for moving said multi-well plates; A reagents storage unit that stores and provides various reagents to injection needles; Injection needles for providing samples and reagents in an accurate dose into luminescent microorganism contained said multi-well plate; A sensor for detecting luminosity after the lapse of some times from injection of sample and reagent into luminescent microorganism; and A control unit that controls or regulates electronically or mechanically, the automatic operation of said each unit. In addition, the apparatus of the present invention may further comprises a temperature control unit that preferably employs Peltier device and heat radiation board as the temperature controls means. The said sample supplier is composed of circulation pump, sample-collecting block to collect aqueous samples from water system as like river, brook, lake, marshes, and etc., and sample supply tube. The said control unit initiates the circulation pump operation in preset time interval. Then the said circulation pump takes in the sample from water system through the sample supply tube. The aqueous sample collected by the said sample supplier is transferred into the injection needle by the operation of the said circulation pump through the sample supply tube. At the end of the sample supply tube of the sample supplier, there is a filter that prevents entering of non-liquid substances and also, is an apparatus for creating reverse stream to prevent clogging of the said filter with the non-liquid substances. The said multi-well plate storage unit that stores and supplies the multi-well plates that contain lyophilized luminescent microorganism, is composed of rack which stores numerous multi-well plates in layering, operation means which moves the said rack in up/down directions, and the transportation means that transport the multi-well plate in front/back directions in order to take out the multi-well plates. The luminescent microorganism of the present invention may be the freshwater luminescent microorganism obtained preferably from freshwater or prepared by gene manipulation. The luminescent microorganisms are set in each well of the multi-well plate and then lyophilized. The said well is purged with nitrogen then the front of the plate is sealed with gas-impermeable film thereby securing the long-term preservation of the microorganism. The rack of the present invention can store numerous multi-well plates. The operation means of rack consists of stepping motor and ball screw. The rack is driven by stepping motor to transport the multi-well plate in up/down directions thus desired plate can be selected. The transportation means for the multi-well plate is to bring out the plate from inside the rack and mounting the multi-well plate on the stage by moving the plate in front/back directions to desired positions. That is, the said transportation means adjusts the position of the multi-well plate wherein the reagent and test sample can be precisely injected on the desired well through the injection needle and wherein the sensor can precisely measure the luminosity of light emitted by the microorganism contained in desired well. The said transportation means consists of a pulley and belt mounted thereon, and stepping motor connected with pulley through the belt, and by the operation of the belt driven by the stepping motor, the transportation means take out the multi-well plate from the rack. The said injection needle is composed of syringe, which takes in aqueous test sample, and reagent from sample supplier and reagent storage unit, and the piston operation means that control the amounts of test sample and reagents discharged. The said piston operation means composed of stepping motor and ball screw, pulley and belt to control the movement of piston through the operation of stepping motor. Therefore, the injected amount through the syringe of the present invention can be quantitatively controlled by the control of stepping motor to an extent of below μl . The position of the said syringe can be adjusted in up/down directions by means of pulley and the belt mounted thereon, ball spline and stepping motor, and thereby the movement of the syringe is driven by the operation of stepping motor. The transportation means for moving syringe and sensor in left/right directions consist of pulley, stepping motor, and linear motion (LM) guide, and the syringe and the sensor unit move along with the LM guide by the operation of stepping motor. The syringe and the sensor of the present invention are formed in one body and set. Thus, the syringe and the sensor move in left/right directions at the same time. The said reagent storage unit comprises some bottles that contain various reagents and dilution buffer required for luminescence of microorganism. The said sensor unit comprises of sensor and operation means thereof required for measuring the light reduction degree and luminosity of the luminescent microorganism. Preferably, photon multiplier tube(PMT) is employed as a sensor of the apparatus of the present invention. In case of the door of the apparatus is open, the control unit cut off the PMT operation power to secure the PMT safety. The apparatus of the present invention may further comprise a temperature control unit. The temperature control unit of the present invention preferably employs Peltier device and heat radiation board as the temperature control means. The interior temperature of the apparatus of the present invention should be maintained in a certain level to secure luminescent reaction and appropriate storage of microorganism and reagents. Since the interior temperature of the apparatus of the present invention should be constant continuously throughout the four (4) seasons, cooling during the summer season and heating during the winter season are required. Therefore, the apparatus of the present invention employs Peltier device that can cool and/or heat as one device the interior of the apparatus, together with air circulation devices, to control the interior temperature of the apparatus. The thermostatic system of the apparatus that ensure uniform temperature in the interior of the apparatus, can minimize measuring error, which may be caused by temperature change, and also can secures long-term storage of microorganism. The control unit of the apparatus of the present invention controls the operation of the stepping motors that control precise positions of each units, the analog- digital converter that converts the output data of sensor into digital data that can be acknowledged by the computer, various solenoid valve that convert electric signal into mechanical signal, the power supplier that supplies required DC power, the temperature sensor that measures the interior temperature of the apparatus and/or the power controller that controls the heat generated from Peltier device. The control unit of the present invention comprises μ-COM, SRAM, EEPROM, RS232C serial port, exterior sensor, and SRAM and EEPROM constitute memory unit. The analog-digital converter of the present invention converts the analog output data of the sensor (PMT) into digital data, which can be acknowledged by the computer. An automatic gain adjustment device is installed between the PMT sensor and the analog-digital converter in order to increase the applicability of the apparatus. That is, when the PMT output is weak, degree of gain is automatically increased, and contrarily when PMT output is strong, degree of gain is automatically reduced to maintain appropriate degree of gain. In the present invention, solenoid valves controlled by electronic signals generated from the said control unit, is used for selective operation of the circulation pump, PMT device, and the apparatus for creating reverse stream to prevent clogging of filter located at the end of the said sample supply tube. The stepping motors of the apparatus rotate in accordance with the number of pulse inputted for purpose of the precise position control of each unit, and also are controlled by the control unit. In the apparatus of the present invention, a graphic user interface (GUI ) commercialized for personal computers is employed. Thus, all information regarding to the operation status of the apparatus can be processed through the monitor screen of the computer. In addition, through the control unit, self-diagnosis, and detection of exterior environment change and respond thereto are processed automatically to secure the safety of the apparatus . The apparatus of the present invention can be controlled remotely and/or automatically operates to measures toxicity of aqueous sample and processes the data obtained therefrom for a prescribed period, without the operator' s manipulation by using reagents and luminescent microorganism stored in this apparatus. Hereinafter, an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the following Figures. The Figures are given only for the illustrations of the invention and are not intended to limiting the scope of the present invention. In preferable embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention, the test sample supplier is composed of circulation pump (10), sample-collecting block (11) to collect aqueous samples from water system as like river, brook, lake, marshes, and etc., and sample supply tube (12). The control unit initiates the circulation pump (10) operation in preset time interval. Then the said circulation pump takes in the test sample from water system. The aqueous sample collected by the said test sample supplier is transferred into the injection needle by the operation of the said circulation pump (10) through the sample supply tube (12). At the end of the sample supply tube of the said sample supplier, there is a filter that prevents entering of non-liquid substances and also, is an apparatus for creating reverse stream to prevent clogging of the said filter with the non-liquid substances . The said multi-well plate (17) storage unit that stores and supplies the multi-well plates that contain lyophilized luminescent microorganism, is composed of rack(18) which stores numerous multi-well plates (17) in layering, operation means (19) which moves the said rack in up/down directions, and the transportation means (20) that transport the multi-well plate (17) in front/back directions in order to take out the multi-well plates. The luminescent microorganism of the present invention may be the freshwater luminescent microorganism obtained preferably from freshwater or prepared by gene manipulation. The luminescent microorganisms are set in each well of the multi-well plate and then lyophilized. The said well is purged with nitrogen then the top of the plate is sealed with gas-impermeable film thereby securing the long-term preservation of the microorganism. The rack of the present invention can store numerous multi-well plates. The operation means of rack consists of stepping motor and ball screw. The rack is driven by stepping motor to transport the multi-well plate in up/down directions thus desired plate can be selected. The transportation means for the multi-well plate is to bring out the plate from inside the rack and mounting the multi-well plate on the stage by moving the plate in front/back directions to desired positions. That is, the said transportation means adjusts the position of the multi-well plate wherein the reagent and test sample can be precisely injected on the desired well through the injection needle and wherein the sensor can precisely measure the luminosity of light emitted by the microorganism contained in desired well. The said transportation means consists of a pulley and belt mounted thereon, and stepping motor connected with pulley through the belt, and by the operation of the belt driven by the stepping motor, the transportation means take out the multi-well plate from the rack. The said injection needle is composed of syringe (13) which takes in aqueous test sample and reagent from sample supplier and reagent storage unit, the piston operation means (14) that control the amounts of test sample and reagents discharged, and syringe transportation means (15, 16) . The said piston operation means (14) composed of stepping motor and ball screw, pulley and belt to control the movement of piston through the operation of stepping motor. Therefore, the injected amount through the syringe of the present invention can be quantitatively controlled by the control of stepping motor to an extent of below μl . The position of the said syringe can be adjusted in up/down directions by the means (15) is composed of pulley and the belt mounted thereon, ball spline and stepping motor, and thereby the movement of the syringe is driven by the operation of stepping motor. The transportation means (16) for moving syringe and sensor in left/right directions consist of pulley, stepping motor, and linear motion (LM) guide, and the syringe and the sensor unit move along with the LM guide by the operation of stepping motor. The syringe and the sensor of the present invention are formed in one body and set. Thus, the syringe and the sensor move in left/right directions at the same time. The luminescent microorganism used in the present invention may be freshwater luminescent microorganism separated from freshwater is desirable (Kim, E. -C . , T. - S. Byun, K. -J. Park, and K. -H. Lee, 1998, Toxicity Test Using a Luminescently Transformed Bacterium with an highly Increased Sensitivity, The 38 th Korea Microorganism Scholarly Symposium and Spring Plenary Session; Park, K. -J., S. -J. Chun and K. -H. Lee, (1997), Development of toxicity test system using a luminescently transformed freshwater bacterium 52 nd Korean As. Biol. Sci., Chunbuk Univ. ) . In addition, the luminescent microorganism used in the apparatus of the present invention, all luminescent microorganisms that can be luminous on contact with chemical substances, can be used. These luminescent microorganisms are natural or prepared by gene manipulation. Various luminescent microorganisms may be employed in the apparatus of the present invention can be obtainable from microorganism depository throughout the world. Especially, YH9-RC unit of which accession number is KCTC 0730BP is preferable. The appropriate luminescent microorganisms used in the apparatus of the present invention and the proliferation method thereof are described in detail in Korea Patent Application No. 2000- 010763. Also, the method of lyophilizing luminescent microorganism used in the apparatus of the present invention is described in the Korea Patent Application No. 2000-37709. In order to operate the apparatus of the present invention as long term-automated system, the rack stores numerous multi-well plate as like 384 well plate. In order to arrange numerous plates efficiently, and to minimize the size of the apparatus, the preferred embodiment of the present invention employs rack structure wherein six (6) or more 384 well plates can be layered in two (2) row. In case that the aqueous sample is tested every 10 minutes, 4,320 [ 6X24 (hours) X30 (days) ] of wells which contains luminescent microorganism are required to measure and monitor water toxicity for one(l) month. Since the apparatus of the present invention can store twelve (12) or more of 384 well plates, 4,608 [384X12] or more of aqueous samples can be measured. The rest of well[4, 608-4, 320=288] can be used as control. Thus, 24 wells can be used as control well per each 384 well plate. In preferred embodiment of the present invention, twelve (12) or more of 384 well are set in the apparatus. Therefore, upon measuring aqueous sample every 10 minutes, automatic operation of the apparatus for one ( 1 ) month is possible. By supplying multi-well plates every one(l) month, automatic continuous water toxicity monitoring can be achieved. The solution storage unit of the apparatus of the present invention stores bottles (21) that are containing reagents, dilution solution required for the activation of the luminescent microorganisms. The sensor unit includes sensor (22) and operation means thereof, and the light reduction degree and luminosity of light emitted from luminescent microorganism is measured. Photon Multiplier Tube (PMT) is appropriately employed as the sensor device. The temperature control means of the present invention employs two (2) Peltier devices (23) and heat radiation board(24) . Industrial Applicability The automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus of the present invention comprises a test sample supplier for gathering test samples from water system at regular intervals and successively and for supplying test sample to luminescent microorganism, a multi-well plate storage that keep and provide sequentially multi-well plate in which each well contains lyophilized luminescent microorganism, a transportation mean for moving said numerous multi-well plates sequentially, an injection needle for providing test samples and reagents in an accurate dose into luminescent microorganism contained said multi-well plate and a sensor for detecting luminosity after the lapse of some times from injection of test sample and reagent into luminescent microorganism, and a control unit that control or regulate electrically or mechanically the operation of said each unit automatically. By using the apparatus of the present invention, toxicity and contamination of water system can be measured successively without operator's manipulation until the reagents and luminescent microorganism stored in this apparatus are consumed. In addition, by supplying multi-well plates periodically, automatic continuous water toxicity monitoring can be achieved. In conclusion, the automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus of the present invention is appropriate to be employed as a terminal for remote monitoring of the water toxicity. While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to particular embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be effected therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims: What is claimed is 1. An automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus which employs luminescent microorganism, which comprises : a sample supplier for gathering samples from water system at regular intervals and successively, and for supplying test sample to luminescent microorganism; multi-well plates which are containing luminescent microorganism, of which the top of the well is sealed with gas-impermeable film; a multi-well plate storage unit that keeps and provides sequentially, the multi-well plate in which each well contains lyophilized luminescent microorganism; a transportation means for moving said multi-well plates; a reagents storage unit that stores and provides various reagents to injection needles; Injection needles for providing samples and reagents in an accurate dose into luminescent microorganism contained said multi-well plate; a sensor for detecting luminosity after the lapse of some times from injection of sample and reagent into luminescent microorganism; and a control unit that controls or regulates electronically or mechanically, the automatic operation of said each unit. 2. The automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said sample supplier comprises circulation pump, sample collecting block to collect aqueous samples, and sample supplying tube. 3. The automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said luminescent microorganism is a freshwater luminescent microorganism obtained in freshwater. 4. The automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said luminescent microorganism is a freshwater luminescent microorganism prepared by gene manipulation. 5. The automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said multi-well plate storage unit comprises rack which stores numerous multi-well plate in layering, the rack operation means which moves the said multi-well plate in up/down directions, and the transportation means that transport the said plate in front/back directions from the rack. 6. The automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said injection needle comprises syringe which takes in aqueous test sample and reagent from sample supplier and reagent storage unit, piston operation means that control the amounts output by the said syringe, and the transportation means for moving syringe. 7. The automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a temperature control means for maintaining the interior temperature of the apparatus in constant. 8. The automatic water toxicity measuring apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said the end of sample supply tube of the sample supplier comprises filter that prevents entering of non-liquid substances and apparatus that creates reverse stream to prevent clogging. 9. A multi-well plate which is containing luminescent microorganism, of which the top of the well is sealed with gas-impermeable film. 10. The multi-well plate according to claims 9, wherein said luminescent microorganism is freshwater luminescent microorganism. 11. The multi-well plate according to claims 10, wherein said luminescent microorganism is separated from freshwater . 12. The multi-well plate according to claims 9, wherein said luminescent microorganism is prepared by gene manipulation. 13. The multi-well plate according to claims 9, wherein said luminescent microorganism is lyophilized. 14. The multi-well plate according to claims 9, wherein said well is purged with Nitrogen.

Inventors: CHOI ILKYU, PARK HANEE, PARK HANOH, CHOI, ILKYU, PARK, HANEE, PARK, HANOH
Applicants: BIONEER CORP, BIONEER CORPORATION
Application year: 2001
Main classification: C12Q1
IPC codes: C02F1, C12M1, C12Q1, G01N21, G01N33