An incubator includes: an enclosure including a culture chamber; a heater configured to heat the culture chamber; a refrigerator including an evaporator and a condenser, and configured to cool the culture chamber; a temperature sensor configured to measure the culture chamber temperature; a refrigerator control unit configured to cause the refrigerator to operate, when a measured temperature measured by the temperature sensor reaches a refrigerator-operation temperature, higher than the set temperature by a first temperature, and cause the refrigerator to stop operating, when the measured temperature reaches a refrigerator-operation stopping temperature, lower than the set temperature by a second temperature; a heater control unit configured to control the heater in such a manner that the measured temperature reaches the refrigerator-operation temperature, when operation of the refrigerator is stopped; and a drain mechanism configured to discharge dew condensation water generated through heat absorption by the evaporator out of the enclosure.
1. An incubator comprising:
an enclosure including a culture chamber whose temperature is controlled depending on a set temperature;
a heater configured to heat the culture chamber;
a refrigerator including an evaporator configured to evaporate a cooling medium to allow the cooling medium to absorb heat from the culture chamber and a condenser configured to allow the cooling medium to release heat to condense the cooling medium, the refrigerator configured to cool the culture chamber;
a temperature sensor configured to measure the temperature of the culture chamber;
a refrigerator control unit configured to
cause the refrigerator to operate, when a measured temperature measured by the temperature sensor reaches a temperature for refrigerator-operation, which is higher than the set temperature by a first temperature, and
cause the refrigerator to stop operating, when the measured temperature reaches a temperature for stopping refrigerator-operation, which is lower than the set temperature by a second temperature;
a heater control unit configured to control the heater in such a manner that the measured temperature reaches the temperature for refrigerator-operation, when operation of the refrigerator is stopped; and
a drain mechanism configured to discharge dew condensation water generated through heat absorption by the evaporator out of the enclosure; and wherein
the heater control unit switches between a first mode and a second mode in accordance with a selection signal, wherein
the first mode is a mode where the heater is controlled in such a manner that the measured temperature matches the set temperature, and
the second mode is a mode where the heater is controlled to generate heat greater in amount than heat in the first mode in such a manner that the measured temperature reaches the temperature for refrigerator-operation when operation of the refrigerator is stopped.
2. The incubator of claim 1 , wherein
the heater control unit inputs to the heater a first control value calculated based on PID control in the first mode, and inputs to the heater a second control value obtained by adding a predetermined addition value to the first control value in the second mode.
3. The incubator of claim 2 , wherein
the heater control unit switches between the first mode and the second mode in accordance with the selection signal and the set temperature.
4. The incubator of claim 1 , wherein
the heater control unit switches between the first mode and the second mode in accordance with the selection signal and the set temperature.
5. The incubator of claim 1 , further comprising:
a partition panel having a gas blowout hole and a gas suction hole on an upper part thereof and a lower part thereof, respectively, the partition panel partitioning an interior of the enclosure into the culture chamber and a space in which the heater and the evaporator are disposed; and
a blower configured to blow a gas out through the blowout hole into the culture chamber, and suck a gas in through the suction hole from the culture chamber, wherein
the heater heats a gas sucked in through the suction hole, and
the evaporator allows the cooling medium to absorb heat from a gas sucked in through the suction hole.
6. The incubator of claim 1 , wherein
the drain mechanism includes
a dew-receiving tray for receiving the dew condensation water deposited on the evaporator, and
an evaporation tray for receiving the dew condensation water, which is discharged from the dew-receiving tray to an outside of the enclosure, to be evaporated.