Patent ID: 8029729

Claim:
An antigen exposure chamber system for exposing a subject to an antigen, the system comprising: an antigen exposure chamber having a ceiling, a floor, and four corners, said antigen exposure chamber having a square horizontal cross section and a center vertical axis passing through the center of the antigen exposure chamber; only a single outdoor air inlet diffuser provided in a ceiling surface at the center vertical axis of the antigen exposure chamber so as to supply outdoor air out from the outdoor air diffuser in the ceiling surface into the antigen exposure chamber, the air diffuser being configured to diffuse outdoor air in a horizontal direction within the antigen exposure chamber; a fan unit provided at each of the four corners of the antigen exposure chamber, each fan unit having a supply port and a suction port and providing a circulating flow of air flowing with circulation in the horizontal direction within the antigen exposure chamber, the circulating flow of air being controlled to a level that the subject does not feel a draft of blown air; and five air exhaust outlet ports positioned along the floor of the antigen exposure chamber to carry air from the antigen exposure chamber to outside of the chamber, one of which is provided at a central point of the floor along the central vertical axis of the antigen exposure chamber below the air inlet diffuser, and four others of the air exhaust outlet ports being symmetrically provided at points on a concentric circle with a diameter of ⅖r to r, where r is a radius of the inscribed circle of the chamber with the center vertical axis as its center, so as to exhaust air from the floor surface of the antigen exposure chamber, wherein the antigen is supplied from an antigen supply device so as to mix the antigen with the outdoor air by blowing the antigen into the outdoor air supplied from the outdoor air inlet diffuser provided in the ceiling surface into the antigen exposure chamber, and a uniform concentration antigen exposure is enabled by the circulating flow of air; wherein each of the outdoor air diffuser, the air exhaust ports, the fan units and the antigen supply device is symmetrically positioned horizontally in fore-and-aft and right-and-left directions about the center vertical axis passing through the center of the antigen exposure chamber.