CN113219192B

CN113219192B - Reactor transfer process

Info

Publication number: CN113219192B
Application number: CN202010069992.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张震; 姚言义; 于怀博; 何太云; 刘奇林
Original assignee: Shenzhen Increcare Biotech Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Increcare Biotech Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-01-21
Filing date: 2020-01-21
Publication date: 2023-10-20
Anticipated expiration: 2040-01-21
Also published as: CN113219192A; WO2021147188A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a reactor transfer method, which comprises the following steps: sorting beats of transfer operations in one cycle in the first test item according to the execution order, wherein the beats are time required by each transfer operation; and in the execution period of the first test item, when the second test item is judged to be executed after one beat, whether the first test item and the second test item have mutually exclusive transfer operation or not is judged to be executed in sequence in each beat of the first test item, and if the mutually exclusive transfer operation does not exist in the first test item and the second test item in the same beat, the second test item is executed.

Description

Reactor transfer process

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of analysis and test, in particular to a reactor transfer method.

Background

The chemiluminescent immunoassay system utilizes the principle of chemiluminescence and immunoreaction to correlate an optical signal with the concentration of a substance to be detected, so that the content of the substance to be detected in a sample is analyzed, and the chemiluminescent immunoassay system is increasingly widely applied due to the characteristics of high sensitivity, specificity, wide linear range and the like. As the amount of test specimen increases, clinical laboratories are increasingly demanding volumes and test fluxes (fluxes per unit area) of chemiluminescent immunoassay systems. The chemiluminescent immunoassay system is required to realize functions such as sample transportation, reagent storage, discharge of analysis liquid such as sample reagent, transfer of a reactor, cleaning and separation, and the like, and has extremely high requirements for automatic control.

In the prior art, independent and non-overlapping beats are set for each transfer operation in a period, and when the mutually exclusive transfer operation exists even when the period is different, two different beats are required to be occupied, so that the idle condition of the period beat is increased, the period time is prolonged and the test efficiency is reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

Based on this, it is necessary to provide a reactor transfer method in view of the above problems.

A reactor transfer method comprising at least two test items, each of said test items comprising a plurality of transfer operations, each of said transfer operations transferring a reactor between two different operating stations, at least two of said transfer operations being mutually exclusive; mutually exclusive transfer operations do not exist simultaneously in the same working period, and beats in different working periods overlap.

In one embodiment, a number of beats are included in each cycle, one beat for each transfer operation.

In one embodiment, each cycle includes at least three beats.

In one embodiment, the beats of the mutually exclusive transfer operations overlap in part.

In one embodiment, the beats of the mutually exclusive transfer operation overlap entirely.

In one embodiment, the mutually exclusive transfer operations have at least the same operating stations.

In one embodiment, the transfer of a reactor at the same station is performed by first moving the reactor at that station out and then moving it into another reactor at that station.

In one embodiment, the transferring operation is accomplished by a transferring device comprising a first gripping unit and a second gripping unit.

In one embodiment, the transfer tracks of the first gripping unit and the second gripping unit at least partially overlap.

In one embodiment, the overlapping transfer trajectories cover at least two stations.

In one embodiment, the covered stations include at least relay stations.

In one embodiment, the covered stations further comprise incubation and/or measurement stations.

In one embodiment, the test items at least include an xth test item and a yth test item, and the method includes the steps of determining whether, when the xth test item and the yth test item are executed in parallel, in each cycle of the xth test item, there is a transfer operation mutually exclusive to the xth test item:

If the mutual exclusion transfer operation does not exist in the corresponding period, executing the X test item and the Y test item simultaneously;

if the mutual exclusion transfer operation exists in the corresponding period, when the X-th test item is executed, the Y-th test item is judged to start to be executed every last period in sequence until the Y-th test item does not have the mutual exclusion transfer operation with the X-th test item in each period of the X-th test item, and the Y-th test item is started to be executed.

The beneficial effects are that: at least two transfer operations are mutually exclusive, the mutually exclusive transfer operations do not exist simultaneously in the same working period, and the mutually exclusive transfer operations are staggered in time and the beats in the period are overlapped, so that the period time is shortened in the process of transferring the reactor, the idle time of the beats in the period is reduced, and the test can be guaranteed to be carried out continuously for the period time to the maximum extent. Thus improving the working efficiency.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an analysis device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a step diagram of an immunoassay in one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a transfer device included in an analysis device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of reaction sites on a reaction apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a transfer device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a transfer trajectory diagram of a transfer device in one embodiment of the application;

FIG. 7 is a cycle length diagram of an analysis device in one embodiment of the application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a dilution unit in accordance with one embodiment of the application;

FIG. 9 is a diagram of the execution of actions by the gripper unit during a cycle in one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the execution of the gripping unit of the transfer device in a certain cycle according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a plot of the execution behavior of the embodiment of FIG. 10 at multiple test items.

Reference numerals: 11. a first station; 12. a second station; 13. a third station; 14. a fourth station; 15. a fifth station; 16. a sixth station; 100. a reagent supply device; 110. a reagent storage unit; 111. a first reagent disk; 112. a second reagent disk; 120. a reagent discharging unit; 121. a first row of reagent elements; 122. a second row of reagent elements; 200. a sample supply device; 300. a reactor supply device; 310. a bin structure; 320. a feed slide; 400. a reaction device; 410. a reaction plate; 420. a reaction site; 421. cleaning a separation position; 422. incubation position; 423. measuring a position; 430. a measurement assembly; 500. a transfer device; 510. a transfer driving piece; 520. a middle rotary disc; 530. temporary storage; 600. a transfer device; 611. a first grasping unit; 612. a second grasping unit; 621. a first grip drive; 622. a second grip drive; 630. a guide rail; 631. cleaning, separating and aligning; 632. incubating and aligning; 633. measuring and aligning; 634. discarding the alignment; 635. relay alignment; 636. transferring and aligning; 700. a supply unit; 710. a supply tray; 720. a temporary storage groove; 800. a mixing unit; 810. a vibrating member; 820. a vibration hole; 830. uniformly mixing the driving piece; 900. diluting and transporting the device.

Detailed Description

In order that the application may be understood more fully, the application will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Preferred embodiments of the present application are shown in the drawings. This application may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "fixed to" another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. When an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on" another element, there are no intervening elements present. The terms "vertical," "horizontal," "left," "right," and the like are used herein for illustrative purposes only.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of an analysis device according to an embodiment of the present application, which includes a reagent supplying apparatus 100, a sample supplying apparatus 200, a reactor supplying apparatus 300, and a reaction apparatus 400. In operation, the sample supplied from the sample supplier 200 is added to the reactor supplied from the reactor supplier 300, and the reagent supplied from the reagent supplier 100 is also added to the reactor supplied from the reactor supplier 300, and the mixture of the sample and the reagent is contained in the reactor, and then the mixture of the sample and the reagent is transferred to the reaction apparatus 400 for reaction. Since both functions and structures are similar, liquid is sucked and added to the reactor, the sample and reagent feeding means 200 and 100 may be combined into a feeding means or collectively referred to as a feeding means, i.e., the feeding means includes the sample and reagent feeding means 200 and 100. As shown in fig. 1, the sample supply device 200, the reagent supply device 100 and the reaction device 400 are disposed around the transfer device 500, that is, the transfer device 500 is disposed at a middle position to function as a transfer reactor, and the transfer device 500 is disposed at the middle position so that the transfer device 500 is relatively close to other structures, thereby shortening the overall transfer time of the reactor and improving the working efficiency. Further, the sample supply device 200, the reagent supply device 100, and the reaction device 400 are arranged around the transfer device 500 in the counterclockwise direction in the top view, so that the operation of each mechanism can be orderly performed, the interference in space can be reduced, and the working efficiency can be improved.

In particular, the reactor supply 300 may provide a clean and empty reactor and the sample supply 200 may add sample to the empty reactor. The analysis device in one embodiment further comprises a feeding unit 700, the feeding unit 700 being adapted to receive a reactor provided by the reactor feeding device 300, and the sample feeding device 200 being adapted to feed a sample to an empty reactor on the feeding unit 700. The analyzing apparatus in one embodiment further includes a relay apparatus 500 and a transfer apparatus 600, and the working path of the transfer apparatus 600 covers at least the supply unit 700, the relay apparatus 500, and the reaction apparatus 400. The transfer device 600 transfers the sample-added reactor from the supply unit 700 to the transfer device 500, and receives the reagent supplied from the reagent supply device 100 at the transfer device 500, i.e., the reagent supply device 100 may add the reagent to the sample-added reactor on the transfer device 500, where the mixture of the sample and the reagent is contained in the reactor. The transfer device 600 is also used to transfer a reactor containing a mixture of sample and reagent into the reaction device 400 for reaction, which may include one or more of incubation, washing, and measurement.

For example, the analysis device may be an immunoassay device which quantitatively or qualitatively measures a target substance to be measured, such as an antigen, an antibody, or the like contained in a blood sample. The overall operation of the immunoassay device will be described by taking a one-step method as an example. FIG. 2 is a step diagram of an immunoassay in one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, which completes the following steps in total:

s1, providing a reactor;

s2, adding a sample and a reagent into the reactor;

s3, uniformly mixing the sample and the reagent in the reactor;

s4, incubating the uniformly mixed sample and the reagent;

s5, washing and separating the incubated sample and the reagent;

s6, adding a signal reagent into the reactor, and performing signal incubation;

s7, measuring the luminous quantity.

Specifically, in S1, the reactor is first provided by the reactor supply device 300.

In S2, the reagent and the sample are added to the reactor by the reagent supply device 100 and the sample supply device 200, respectively, and the order of adding the reagent and the sample may be not limited, and the reagent and the sample may be sequentially added, or the sample and the reagent may be sequentially added. For example, a sample may be first supplied by the apparatus shown in fig. 1 through the sample supply device 200, added to a reactor, then a reagent is supplied by the reagent supply device 100, and then a reagent is added to the reactor. The sample may be a blood sample. Depending on the particular assay, the reagents typically comprise a plurality of components, including, for example, magnetic particles, enzyme labels, diluents, dissociating agents, and the like. Depending on the reaction mode, a plurality of reagent components required for one analysis item may be added to the reactor at one time or may be added to the reactor in a plurality of steps, respectively.

In S3, the reactor is oscillated to mix the reagent and sample in the reactor uniformly. Of course, in some tests, no blending step is required, and the step S3 may be skipped.

In S4, the mixture of sample and reagent in the reactor is incubated, typically for 5 to 60 minutes. Wherein incubation refers to the process of antigen-antibody binding reaction under isothermal environment, or the process of biotin-avidin binding reaction under isothermal environment.

In S5, washing separation refers to a process of capturing magnetic particles after the binding reaction with magnetic force while removing unbound labeled antibodies and other unreacted or bound components.

In S6, after washing and separation, a signal reagent is continuously added to the reactor, and signal incubation is performed for 1 to 6 minutes. Signal incubation refers to the process of adding a signal reagent to a reactor after washing and separation, and reacting for a period of time in a constant temperature environment to enhance the signal. Because of the different kinds of signal reagents, some luminescent systems do not need signal incubation, and the measurement in the step S7 can be directly performed after the signal reagents are added. The signaling agent may be one or more. Some signaling agents may also include a first component agent and a second component agent.

In S7, the signal reagent reacts with the original mixture in the reactor to produce the amount of luminescence of the reactant. Wherein the signal reagent is usually one of the universal reagents, which means that one signal reagent can be used in common in different analysis items. Through the steps, the content of the analyte in the sample is quantitatively or qualitatively determined.

Taking the embodiment shown in fig. 1 as an example, step S1 is performed by the reactor feeding apparatus 300. Step S2 is completed by the reagent supplying apparatus 100, the sample supplying apparatus 200, the supplying unit 700, and the relay apparatus 500. Step S3 is completed by the mixing unit 800. Steps S4-S6 are completed by reaction apparatus 400. Cleaning and separating assembly

The reactor supply 300 is used to store and provide a reactor. The reactor supply 300 may include a tray structure or silo structure 310. Wherein the tray structure is formed by orderly arranging the reactors on trays; the bin structure 310 is a reactor that is randomly placed in the bin. The tray structure occupies a large space and is preferably a silo structure 310 in order to reduce the occupied space of the reactor feeding apparatus 300 and to make the whole structure compact because of the orderly arrangement of the reactors in the tray. In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the reactor feeding apparatus 300 includes a bin structure 310, a sorting structure, and a feed chute 320, the reactors are randomly placed in the bin structure 310, and the randomly placed reactors in the bin are sorted by the sorting structure so that the reactors are discharged to the feeding unit 700 through the feed chute 320 one by one. The supply unit 700 is used to buffer the reactor.

As shown in fig. 1, in one embodiment, the supply unit 700 includes a supply tray 710 and a supply driver that drives the supply tray 710 to rotate about a central axis of the supply tray 710. The outer circumference of the feed tray 710 is provided with a plurality of temporary storage grooves 720 for temporary storage of the reactor, which are circumferentially spaced apart. The feed drive drives the feed plate 710 to rotate so that one empty staging slot 720 is aligned with the feed chute 320 of the reactor feed apparatus 300. After a reactor is transferred from the feed chute 320 to the staging slot 720, the feed drive drives the feed plate 710 to rotate so that the next empty staging slot 720 is aligned with the feed chute 320 of the reactor feed apparatus 300. Wherein at least three temporary storage tanks 720 are provided, at a certain time, at least one temporary storage tank 720 is used for receiving the reactor provided by the reactor supply device 300, the reactor in at least one temporary storage tank 720 receives the sample provided by the sample supply device 200, and the reactor in at least one temporary storage tank 720 is transferred to the transfer device 500 by the transfer device 600.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the analyzing apparatus includes a supply unit 700, and a reactor supply apparatus 300, a sample supply apparatus 200, and a transfer apparatus 500, which are circumferentially provided to a supply tray 710 in the supply unit 700, and further includes a transfer apparatus 600 capable of transferring a reactor between the supply unit 700 and the transfer apparatus 500. Wherein, after the supply unit 700 receives the reactor provided by the reactor supply apparatus 300, the supply tray 710 is rotated by an angle and receives the sample provided by the sample supply apparatus 200 so that the sample is added to the reactor; the feeding tray 710 then continues to rotate, and after the feeding tray 710 rotates a certain angle, the transfer device 600 transfers the reactor with the sample into the transfer device 500.

The transfer device 500 is used to carry and transport a reactor in which a reagent is to be discharged. Further, the transfer device 500 is also used for carrying and transferring the reactor which needs to be evenly mixed after discharging the reagent. Fig. 3 shows at least a schematic structural diagram of a relay device 500 included in the analysis device. As shown in fig. 3, the transfer device 500 includes a transfer driving member 510 and a transfer plate 520 connected to the transfer driving member 510, wherein the transfer plate 520 is used for carrying a reactor, and the transfer driving member 510 drives the transfer plate 520 to rotate around a central axis of the transfer plate 520 so as to move the reactor on the transfer plate 520 to different positions. The outer circumference of the middle rotary table 520 is provided with a plurality of temporary storage positions 530 for temporary storage of the reactor, which are circumferentially spaced, wherein the temporary storage positions 530 can be understood as a groove structure formed on the middle rotary table 520, and can be understood as a clamp fixedly mounted on the middle rotary table 520 for clamping the reactor. In one embodiment, the temporary storage locations 530 are arranged in a ring on the transfer plate 520.

In one embodiment, at least four staging sites 530 are provided, at some point at least one staging site 530 being configured to receive a reagent from a reagent supply unit 100, at least one reactor within the staging site 530 being configured to receive a reagent from the reagent supply unit 700, at least one reactor within the staging site 530 being configured to mix the reagent with a sample, and at least one reactor within the staging site 530 being configured to be transferred by the transfer device 600 to the reaction device 400. In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the analyzing apparatus includes a relay apparatus 500, and a supply unit 700, a reagent supply apparatus 100, and a mixing unit 800 disposed circumferentially of a relay tray 520 of the relay apparatus 500; the analysis apparatus further includes a reaction apparatus 400 disposed at the outer circumference of the relay apparatus 500, and a transfer apparatus 600 capable of transferring the reactor between the relay apparatus 500 and the reaction apparatus 400. After the transfer device 500 receives the reactor containing the sample transferred from the supply unit 700 by the transfer device 600, the transfer tray 520 rotates by an angle and continues to receive the reagent supplied from the reagent supply device 100 so that the reagent is added to the reactor containing the sample; then the middle rotary table 520 continues to rotate, and the reagent and the sample in the reactor are uniformly mixed by the uniformly mixing unit 800; the middle rotary table 520 then continues to rotate and the transfer device 600 transfers the uniformly mixed reactor to the reaction device 400. In order to increase the working efficiency of the middle rotary table 520, so that a plurality of reactors can be temporarily stored on the middle rotary table 520, the number of temporary storage positions 530 on the middle rotary table 520 can be more than four, and in order to prevent the large volume of the middle rotary table 520 from causing the large volume of the whole equipment, at most eight temporary storage positions 530 on the middle rotary table 520 are arranged.

In one embodiment, the number of scratch pad bits 530 on middle carousel 520 is 3-8. If the number of buffer bits 530 on middle carousel 520 is less than 3 in one embodiment, it is difficult to process multiple tasks in parallel, such as receiving a reactor in and out of middle carousel 520, receiving a reagent provided by reagent supply device 100, and mixing the reagent and sample within the reactor. If the number of buffer locations 530 in the middle carousel 520 is too large, such as more than 8, in one embodiment, the middle carousel 520 occupies a larger space volume, which may also result in a longer residence time of the reactor in the middle carousel 520, reducing testing efficiency.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 3, the mixing unit 800 is disposed below the middle rotor 520, and the rotation of the middle rotor 520 can make the reactors in the temporary storage locations 530 on the middle rotor 520 correspond to the mixing unit 800 in sequence, and the mixing unit 800 can vibrate the reactors to mix the reagents and the samples in the reactors. For example, the mixing assembly may include a vibration member 810, a mixing driving member 830 driving the vibration member 810 to vibrate, and a lifting driving member, and the vibration member 810 may be provided with a vibration hole 820. The lifting driving member drives the vibration member 810 and drives the vibration member 810 to lift so that the reactor can be inserted into the vibration hole 820, and the mixing driving member 830 drives the vibration member 810 to eccentrically vibrate, so that the reagent and the sample in the reactor are uniformly mixed due to vibration.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the scratch pad 530 on the middle carousel 520 moves synchronously with the middle carousel 520 as the middle carousel 520 rotates, each scratch pad 530 being capable of moving to position a, position b, position c, and position d in sequence. Position a may be a transfer position in which the reactor is transferred into and out of the middle carousel 520. The position d may be a mixing position where the reactor mixes the sample and reagent in the reactor. Position b may be a reagent discharge position where the reactor receives reagent. Position c may also be a reagent row position. The position a, the position b, the position c, and the position d are sequentially arranged in the clockwise direction when the middle turn table 520 is viewed from above. Wherein the reactor is moved in and out of the middle turn table 520 at a position a, and the reagent supplying apparatus 100 discharges the reagent to the reactor on the middle turn table 520 at a position c, and the mixing unit 800 mixes the reagent and the sample in the reactor at a position d, as shown in fig. 1. The plurality of reactors on the middle rotary table 520 can be removed from the middle rotary table 520 by moving to the position a in sequence, namely, the reactors are taken and placed by the transferring device 600 only at the position a, so that the length of the transferring track of the transferring device 600 can be shortened, and the taking and placing of the reactors can be realized by only one transferring device 600, so that the number of the transferring devices 600 can be reduced.

As shown in fig. 1, the transfer trajectory of the transfer device 600 passes through the position a. And the center of the circle of the transfer drum 520 and the position c are on the same side of the transfer trajectory of the transfer device 600. This arrangement can reduce the volume of space occupied by the middle turn plate 520 and avoid the spatial interference of the transfer device 600 and the reagent feeding device 100.

As shown in fig. 1, when the analyzing apparatus includes two reagent supplying apparatuses 100, the transfer tray 520 may receive the reagents provided by the two reagent supplying apparatuses 100 at positions b and c, respectively; in some embodiments, the rotor 520 may also each receive reagents provided by two reagent feeding apparatuses 100 in sequence at position c. Preferably, the transfer disc 520 may also sequentially receive the reagents provided by the two reagent supplying apparatuses 100 at the position c, so that the size of the transfer disc 520 and the space occupied by the reagent supplying apparatuses 100 may be further reduced, the flexibility and efficiency of the reagent supplying apparatuses 100 may be improved, and the processing task capacity of the transfer apparatus 500 and the reagent supplying apparatuses 100 per unit area may be increased.

As shown in fig. 1, the reaction apparatus 400 and the middle rotary table 520 of the relay apparatus 500 are independently provided, specifically, the relay apparatus 500 is provided outside the reaction apparatus 400, and the rotation center of the relay apparatus 500 is provided outside the reaction apparatus 400. That is, the relay device 500 and the reaction device 400 do not overlap spatially in the plan view. Further, the diameter of the rotor 520 is smaller than the diameter of the reagent disk. Not only avoids the problems of complex structure, high cost, large occupied area and the like caused by the nested arrangement of the rotary table 520 and the reaction device 400, but also solves the problems of limitation of the structure, the size, the space position and the temporary storage position distribution of the rotary table 520 of the reaction disc 410 of the reaction device 400, and the position of the rotary table 520 and the temporary storage position on the rotary table can be more flexibly, efficiently and reasonably distributed. Wherein, the nesting of the rotor 520 and the reaction device 400 means that the rotor 520 and the reaction device 400 are coaxially arranged, and the reaction device 400 is nested in the rotor 520. In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the reagent supplying apparatus 100 includes a reagent storage unit 110 and a reagent discharge unit 120; the reagent storage unit 110 is used to store a reagent, and the reagent discharge unit 120 is used to suck and discharge the reagent stored in the reagent storage unit 110 to a reactor on the transfer device 500.

In some embodiments, the reagent storage unit 110 may be a cartridge type structure, i.e., a stationary reagent cartridge, or a disk type structure, i.e., a rotatable reagent disk, as shown in fig. 1, for storing reagents. Because the middle rotary table 520 is used for temporarily transferring the reactors, and the residence time of each reactor in the middle rotary table is short, but the reagent table stores some reagent for a long time, in order to meet the requirement of reagent storage, the whole machine is ensured to be small in size, and the diameter of the middle rotary table 520 is set to be smaller than the diameter of the reagent table.

The reagent storage unit 110 shown in fig. 1 is described below in a disk structure. The reagent storage unit 110 is provided with a plurality of reagent sites for placing reagent containers, and the disk-type reagent storage unit 110 can be driven by the driving unit to rotate around the central axis of the reagent storage unit 110 under the control of the control center, so that the reagent sites on the reagent storage unit 110 can be sequentially rotated to a position where the reagent sites can be acquired by the reagent discharge unit 120.

In one embodiment, if the reagent includes a magnetic particle reagent component, the reagent storage unit 110 may include a mixing structure capable of rotating or vibrating the magnetic particle reagent component container of the reagent site, thereby mixing the magnetic particle reagent component in the reagent container, since the magnetic particle reagent component naturally settles.

In one embodiment, the reagent storage unit 110 may include a refrigerator that can provide a stable low temperature environment for the reagent in the reagent container when long-term storage of the reagent is required, thereby extending the storage time of the reagent.

In one embodiment, the reagent storage unit 110 may include a barcode scanner for identifying barcode information on the reagent containers to identify and distinguish reagents of different analysis items. In order to make the whole machine compact and reduce the cost, the bar code scanner can be of a fixed design, for example, fixed relative to the whole machine.

In a conventional analysis apparatus, a reagent storage unit 110 is generally provided, and in order to increase the number of reagent containers, i.e., the number of reagent sites, accommodated in the reagent storage unit 110, it is necessary to increase the size of the reagent storage unit 110. However, the large-sized reagent storage unit 110 occupies a large space area, is inconvenient for the layout of the whole machine, is also unfavorable for production and manufacture, and has high requirements for motion control, i.e., any reagent position is required to be positioned to a position which can be acquired by the reagent discharge unit 120 in a short time, so that the high-speed operation of the whole machine cannot be realized.

For this purpose, in one embodiment of the application, as shown in FIG. 1, the analysis device comprises at least two independently driven reagent feeding means 100. The reagent storage units 110 in the two reagent supplying apparatuses 100 are a first reagent disk 111 and a second reagent disk 112, respectively, and the first reagent disk 111 and the second reagent disk 112 are each driven to rotate by separate driving units. By independently arranging and driving the two reagent supply devices 100, not only is the size of each reagent disk small, the whole machine layout and the movement control of the reagent disks are facilitated, but also the reagent storage quantity of the whole machine is effectively expanded. In addition, the reliability of the operation of the whole machine is also improved, and when one of the reagent supplying apparatuses 100 fails, the other reagent supplying apparatus 100 can be continuously used.

In one application scenario, where 3 TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone, thyrotropin) reagent containers each containing 100 tests need to be loaded, all 3 TSH reagent containers may be loaded on the first reagent tray 111; it is also possible to load all 3 TSH reagent containers on the second reagent disk 112; it is also possible to load 1 TSH reagent vessel on the first reagent disk 111 and another 2 TSH reagent vessels on the second reagent disk 112; it is also possible to load 1 TSH reagent vessel on the second reagent disk 112 and another 2 TSH reagent vessels on the first reagent disk 111. That is, the first reagent disk 111 and the second reagent disk 112 may store reagent components required for one test item, respectively. Thus, the two reagent trays can alternately output the reagents, the time occupied by taking the reagents is shortened, and the working efficiency is improved.

In one embodiment, to fully take into account the use requirements, costs and layout, 15-50 reagent sites are provided on each reagent disk, e.g. 25 reagent sites are provided for each of the first reagent disk 111 and the second reagent disk 112.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the reagent discharge unit 120 is used for sucking and discharging a reagent, for example, the reagent discharge unit 120 sucks a reagent from a reagent container in the reagent storage unit 110 and then discharges the reagent to a reactor in the relay device 500. As shown in fig. 1, when the test flux is high, in order to improve the sucking and discharging efficiency of the reagent, the reagent discharging units 120 are in one-to-one correspondence with the reagent storage units 110, and the two reagent discharging units 120 are also independently controlled to alternately discharge the reagent into the reactor in the transfer device 500; when the test flux is not high, one row of reagent units 120 may also be provided. Typically, the reagent discharge unit 120 comprises a metallic needle, a pipetting drive mechanism, a syringe or a priming pump, a valve, a fluid line, etc. To accomplish the reagent sucking and discharging actions thereof, the reagent discharging unit 120 may perform horizontal movement and vertical movement. The horizontal movement generally has several movement forms or a combination of several movement forms such as rotation, X direction, Y direction and the like. As a preferred embodiment, the reagent discharging unit 120 may perform a horizontal linear movement and a vertical movement, and a horizontal linear movement trace is on a line connecting the center of the reagent storage unit 110 and the position c of the transfer tray 520. In particular, two rows of reagent units 120 and two reagent storage units 110 are provided, the rows of reagent units 120 being in one-to-one correspondence with the reagent storage units 110. The horizontal rectilinear motion trajectories of the two rows of reagent units 120 intersect at a position c of the transfer plate 520 along the radial direction of the respective corresponding reagent storage units 110. The two rows of reagent units 120 independently alternate discharging reagent into the reactor in position c of the transfer device 500. Thus, the movement stroke of the reagent discharging unit 120 is reduced to the greatest extent, the efficiency of processing tasks is improved, the overall layout is more reasonable and compact, and the spatial interference of various movement components is reduced.

As shown in fig. 1, the reaction device 400 is used for incubating, washing, separating, and measuring reactants in a reactor. The reaction apparatus 400 includes a reaction disk 410 and a reaction driving member that drives the reaction disk 410 to rotate around its center axis. The reaction tray 410 is provided with a plurality of reaction sites 420, and the reaction sites 420 may be holes, grooves, brackets, bases or other structures for fixing the reactor. As shown in fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of reaction sites 420 on a reaction device 400 in an embodiment, and the reaction sites 420 include at least a washing separation site 421, an incubation site 422, and a measurement site 423. The reaction sites 420 are annularly arranged on the reaction disk 410, and the inner ring is a cleaning separation site 421; the outer ring is a measuring position 423; an incubation position 422 is arranged between the inner ring and the outer ring, and the incubation position 422 is provided with a plurality of circles. The reactor arranged at the incubation position 422 performs an incubation process, the reactor arranged at the washing separation position 421 performs a washing separation process, and the reactor arranged at the measurement position 423 performs a measurement process or prepares for measurement.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 4, the reaction sites 420 on the reaction disk 410 are grouped along the radial direction of the reaction disk 410, each group includes a washing separation site 421, an incubation site 422, and a measurement site 423, and several groups are arranged along the circumferential direction of the reaction disk 410.

In one embodiment, and with reference to FIG. 1, the transfer trajectory of the transfer device 600 extends along a radius of the reaction disk 410, covering at least all reaction sites on the reaction disk 410 along the radius. When the reaction plate 410 rotates circumferentially, all the reaction sites 420 on the reaction plate 410 can be covered by the transfer track of the transfer device 600, so that the problem of taking and placing the reactors on the reaction sites 420 of different circles is solved, the whole machine layout is compact, and the occupied space is small.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the transfer device 500 includes a rotatable transfer plate 520, and the center of the transfer plate 520 and the center of the supply plate 710 are located on two sides of the transfer track of the transfer device 600. With this arrangement, the transfer tray 520 and the supply tray 710 occupy the space on both sides of the transfer device 600, respectively, not only shortening the movement stroke of the transfer device 600, but also making the overall layout compact and occupying a small space.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the reaction apparatus 400 includes a temperature control assembly including an insulating pot, an insulating device, a heater, a temperature sensor, a temperature control circuit, etc., to provide a constant temperature incubation environment for the reaction apparatus 400 and reduce heat dissipation.

In one embodiment, the reaction apparatus 400 further comprises a purge separation assembly. As shown in fig. 4, when the reactor at the cleaning and separation position 421 is transferred to the position of the cleaning and separation assembly, the cleaning and separation assembly starts cleaning and separating the reactor to remove unbound components of the reactant. The cleaning and separating assembly comprises a magnetic assembly and a flushing assembly. Wherein, the magnetic force component provides magnetic force to collect the magnetic particles in the reactor to the inner wall of the reactor. Due to factors such as response time, moving distance and resistance in magnetic force, the magnetic particles need to be collected on the inner wall of the reactor for a certain time, usually several seconds to tens of seconds, so that the reactor needs to pass through the magnetic force for a certain period of time before each time the waste liquid (including unbound components) is sucked. In this embodiment, the magnetic component can be directly installed or fixed near the cleaning separation position 421, so that the magnetic component is closer to the reaction position 420, the collection time of the magnetic particles is reduced, and the cleaning separation efficiency is improved. The flushing assembly is arranged above the cleaning separation position 421, and comprises a liquid sucking needle and a liquid sucking pipe connected with the liquid sucking needle, and the liquid sucking needle is driven to enter and exit the reactor positioned in the cleaning separation position 421 through a liquid sucking driving piece to suck unbound components in the reactor. In one embodiment, the flushing assembly further comprises a filling needle for filling the reactor with a cleaning buffer, and a filling tube connected to the filling needle.

Typically, each wash separation step includes a single pipetting and a single injection of wash buffer; typically three to four wash separation steps are completed. In one embodiment, to improve the effect of cleaning and separating the reactor and reduce the reaction residues in the reactor, a mixer may be disposed at the cleaning and separating position 421, and the mixer may be used to re-uniformly separate the magnetic particles in the reactor after injecting the cleaning buffer. The flushing assembly is arranged above the cleaning and separating position 421, so that the reactor of the cleaning and separating position 421 can be directly cleaned and separated, and an independent cleaning and separating rotating device is not required to be arranged, so that the reactor is prevented from being transferred between the independent cleaning and separating assembly and the reaction device 400. Has the advantages of simple integral structure and high operation efficiency.

In one embodiment, the reaction apparatus 400 further comprises a measurement assembly 430, the measurement assembly 430 being disposed on the incubator to measure the signal within the reactor at the measurement location 423. The signal is an electric signal, a fluorescent signal or a weak chemiluminescent signal generated after the signal reagent is added into the reactor. In one embodiment, the measurement assembly 430 includes a weak photodetector photomultiplier tube (PMT) or other sensitive photo-sensing device that converts the measured optical signals into electrical signals for transmission to a control center. In addition, to improve measurement efficiency and ensure measurement uniformity, the measurement assembly 430 may further include optical structures such as optical signal collection and calibration. The measurement assembly 430 is connected or mounted to the reaction device 400 in a general manner, for example, the measurement assembly is directly mounted and fixed on the reaction device 400 or mounted to the reaction device 400 through optical fiber connection, so that signals in the reactor at the outermost reaction position 420 can be directly measured, an independent measurement unit is avoided, the transfer of the reactor between the reaction device 400 and the measurement assembly 430 is omitted, the whole machine mechanism is more compact, the cost is lower, the control flow is simpler and more efficient, and the processing efficiency and reliability are higher.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, an analysis apparatus includes a transfer apparatus 600, where the transfer apparatus 600 moves a reactor from a first position to a second position in a first direction, where the first position is at least one of a supply unit 700, a relay apparatus 500, and a reaction apparatus 400, and the second position is at least one of the supply unit 700, the relay apparatus 500, and the reaction apparatus 400, and in other embodiments, the first position may be a structure other than the supply unit 700, the relay apparatus 500, and the reaction apparatus 400, and the second position may be a structure other than the supply unit 700, the relay apparatus 500, and the reaction apparatus 400.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a transfer device 600 in an embodiment, where the transfer device 600 includes a rail 630 and a gripping unit moving along the rail 630, and a spatial path along which the gripping unit moves along the rail 630 is a transfer track of the transfer device 600. The number of gripping units may be selected according to the actual situation, and in order to improve the comprehensive working capacity of the transfer device 600, it is preferable that at least two gripping units are provided, namely, the first gripping unit 611 and the second gripping unit 612. As shown in fig. 5, the guide rail 630 of the transfer device 600 is provided with one, the guide rail 630 of the transfer device 600 is provided with a first grasping unit 611 and a first grasping driving piece 621 driving the first grasping unit 611 to slide along the guide rail 630, and a second grasping unit 612 and a second grasping driving piece 622 driving the second grasping unit 612 to slide along the guide rail 630. The first driving member and the second driving member are independently provided, and thus, the first grasping unit 611 and the second grasping unit 612 move independently of each other. Wherein the rail 630 may extend in a first direction, the first direction extending in a substantially horizontal direction. The first grasping unit 611 and the second grasping unit 612 are disposed in order along the extending direction of the guide rail 630. Therefore, only one guide rail 630 needs to be arranged to enable the two grabbing units to move, the transfer track of the transfer device 600 is on a straight line, the number of the guide rails is reduced, the space layout of the whole machine is facilitated, the space interference of a plurality of transfer devices is prevented, the problem that occupied space is large in order to avoid interference is solved, and therefore the size of equipment is reduced under the condition that the flux of the equipment is improved, and the equipment is miniaturized. Further, as the moving track of the transferring device is on the same straight line, the transferring operation of the grabbing unit is completed on the straight line track, the total stroke of the transferring operation is shortened, and the transferring operation efficiency of the transferring device is improved. In the conventional embodiment, a corresponding transfer device is generally provided for each transfer operation, or one transfer device is shared by 1-2 transfer operations, and because the transfer operations are generally more and not on the same track, the number and the spatial dispersion distribution of the transfer devices are increased, for example, in order to realize high-throughput testing, more than 3 transfer devices with dispersion layout are required, which not only makes the whole structure complicated, the size larger, and the control is inconvenient. In the embodiment of the application, all transfer operations can be completed by only arranging one transfer device, so that the cost of the device is greatly saved, the device has compact structure and convenient control, and the interference condition of different transfer devices in time and space can not occur.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 5, the first grabbing unit 611 and the second grabbing unit 612 of the grabbing units have the same structure, and each grabbing unit includes a frame body, a lifting block and a clamping jaw, where the frame body is slidably connected to the guide rail 630, for example, the frame body may slide along a horizontal direction relative to the guide rail 630, the lifting block is vertically slidably connected to the frame body, and the clamping jaw is disposed on the lifting block, and the clamping jaw can lift along with the lifting block to clamp the reactor.

Fig. 6 is a transfer trajectory diagram of a transfer device 600 in one embodiment. An analysis device includes a transfer device 600, the transfer device 600 including a first grasping unit 611 and a second grasping unit 612. The straight lines of the movement tracks of the first grabbing unit (611) and the second grabbing unit (612) coincide. The gripper units of transfer device 600 move along rails 630 to pick and place the reactors at wash separation stations 631, incubation stations 632, measurement stations 633, discard stations 634, relay stations 635, and transfer stations 636. In connection with the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the reaction sites 420 on the reaction device 400 comprise at least a wash separation site 421, an incubation site 422 and a measurement site 423. When the cleaning separation position 421 corresponds to the cleaning separation position 631 of the transfer device 600, the gripping unit can take and place the reactor of the cleaning separation position 421. When the incubation position 422 corresponds to the incubation alignment 632 of the transfer device 600, the gripping unit can take and place the reactor of the incubation position 422. When the measurement position 423 corresponds to the measurement position 633 of the transfer device 600, the gripping unit can take and place the reactor of the measurement position 423. In connection with the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the temporary storage location 530 on the transfer device 500 can move to at least a location a, where the location a can be a transfer location, and the gripping unit can take and place the reactor with the transfer location 636 corresponding to the transfer location. As shown in fig. 1, a relay station may be disposed between the transfer device 500 and the reaction device 400, the relay station may correspond to the relay station 635, the first grasping unit 611 may grasp the reactor at the cleaning separation station 631, place the reactor at the relay station 635, then grasp the reactor at the relay station 635 by the second grasping unit 612, and then move the reactor to the transfer station 636. In connection with the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the temporary storage location 530 on the transfer device 500 can move to a location b, a location c and a location d, where the location d can be a mixing location, the location b can be a reagent discharge location, and the location c can be a reagent discharge location. In connection with the embodiment shown in fig. 1, a discard position may be provided between the reaction apparatus 400 and the transfer apparatus 500, and when the discard position corresponds to the discard position 634, the gripping unit may be capable of taking the reactor in which the discard position is placed, or the gripping unit may be capable of discarding the reactor to the discard position.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 6, the straight lines of the movement tracks of the first grabbing unit (611) and the second grabbing unit (612) overlap, and at least one section of the transfer track of the first grabbing unit 611 and the transfer track of the second grabbing unit 612 overlap. For example, in fig. 6, the movement tracks of the first grabbing unit 611 and the second grabbing unit 612 overlap in the incubation alignment 632, the measurement alignment 633, the discard alignment 634 and the relay alignment 635, for example, the first grabbing unit 611 may grab the reactor from the cleaning separation alignment 631 and then place the reactor in the relay alignment 635, and the second grabbing unit 612 may move the reactor placed in the relay alignment 635 to the transit alignment 636. With reference to fig. 6, the ordering of the wash separation alignment 631, incubation alignment 632, measurement alignment 633, discard alignment 634, relay alignment 635, and relay alignment 636 is not necessarily in the order shown in fig. 6, and may be rearranged as desired.

As shown in fig. 1, when the analysis device is operated, each sub-device is operated sequentially according to the operation cycle. A work cycle, or simply cycle, is the shortest time interval for which an object of execution is cyclically reproducible during the work, and generally has a fixed length of time, for example, the suction and discharge steps, the mixing step, the washing and separation step, the measurement step, all take up time when executing, being executed in series or in parallel in a controlled order. Parallel means in particular that a plurality of task operations can be performed simultaneously; the following task operations may be started when the preceding task operations have already been started and have not been completed. Since the same component can typically only perform one task at a time, the same component typically acts or tasks serially in one cycle; different components may typically perform tasks simultaneously, so that the different components may typically perform actions or tasks in parallel during the same cycle.

In order to improve the working efficiency, for the device having a speed bottleneck, this can be achieved by increasing the number of devices, for example, in fig. 1, two reagent trays, a first reagent tray 111 and a second reagent tray 112, are provided. As another example, this may be achieved by extending the duty cycle of the device, where only one reagent disk is required, the length of the duty cycle may be twice that of the two reagent disks co-operating.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the analysis device includes two sets of reagent feeding devices 100, one transfer device 500 and one transfer device 600. One set of reagent feeding apparatus 100 comprises a first reagent disk 111 and a first row of reagent elements 121, and the other set of reagent feeding apparatus 100 comprises a second reagent disk 112 and a second row of reagent elements 122, wherein the first row of reagent elements 121 and the second row of reagent elements 122 are each a row of reagent units 120.

As shown in fig. 7, fig. 7 is a cycle length diagram of an analysis device in one embodiment, in which the transfer device 500 and the transfer device 600 operate in a first cycle T1, and the first row of reagent elements 121 and the second row of reagent elements 122 operate in a second cycle T2, and the time length of the second cycle T2 is 2 times the time length of the first cycle T1. The first row of reagent elements 121 and the second row of reagent elements 122 operating in the second cycle T2 alternate in time length by one first cycle T1 to discharge reagent to the reactor of the same staging station 530 of the transfer device 500. As shown in fig. 7, when the continuous operation is started, the transfer device 600 moves into one reactor every first period T1 toward the transfer device 500. The transfer device 500 rotates and advances the reactor one position every first period T1. The first row of reagent elements 121 aspirates reagent from the first reagent tray 111 and discharges reagent to the reactor on the transfer device 500 every second period T2, e.g., for ease of understanding, aspiration reagent corresponds to section a of the second period T2 and discharge reagent corresponds to section B of the second period T2. The second row of reagent elements 122 draw reagent from the second reagent tray 112 and discharge reagent to the reactor on the transfer device 500 every second cycle T2. Likewise, the reagent is aspirated corresponding to the section a of the second period T2, and the reagent is discharged corresponding to the section B of the second period T2. The same sequence of actions of the first row of reagent elements 121 and the second row of reagent elements 122 are staggered by a first period T1, i.e. when the first row of reagent elements 121 aspirates reagent, the second row of reagent elements 122 aspirates reagent; the first row of reagent elements 121 aspirates reagent while the second row of reagent elements 122 aspirates reagent. Specifically, the first row of reagent elements 121 and the second row of reagent elements 122 may discharge reagent to the same location of the reactor of the transfer device 500. That is, the relay device 500 transfers one of the reactors to a specific location to receive the reagent discharged from the first row of reagent elements 121 in the nth first cycle, and the relay device 500 transfers the other reactor to the specific location and receives the reagent discharged from the second row of reagent elements 122 in the (n+1) th first cycle. As shown in fig. 1, the specific location may be location c. In fig. 1, the moving tracks of the first row of reagent elements 121 and the second row of reagent elements 122 can cover the position c, that is, they overlap or intersect at the position c, so that the area covered by the first row of reagent elements 121 and the second row of reagent elements 122 is small, and the whole structure is more compact. In the above embodiment, the working period of the reagent storage units 110 is the same as that of the first row of reagent elements 121 and the second row of reagent elements 122, and is 2 times that of the transfer device 500 and the transfer device 600, and the action sequences of the two groups of reagent storage units 110 are staggered and parallel, and are separated by a first period T1. In this way, the analyzing device only includes two sets of reagent storage units 110, one set of transfer device 500 and one set of transfer device 600, which not only reduces the occupied space of the device, but also effectively improves the working efficiency of the analyzing device.

An embodiment of the present application also provides a diluting device, as shown in fig. 8, and fig. 8 is a schematic structural view of the diluting device in an embodiment, the diluting device includes a reagent supplying apparatus 100, a sample supplying apparatus 200, a reactor supplying apparatus 300, a transferring apparatus 500, a transferring apparatus 600, a supplying unit 700, and a diluting and transporting apparatus 900. Among them, the reagent supplying apparatus 100, the sample supplying apparatus 200, the reactor supplying apparatus 300, the relay apparatus 500, the transferring apparatus 600, and the supplying unit 700 are the same in structure as in the above-described embodiments. The dilution transport apparatus 900 is disposed between the reaction apparatus 400 and the transfer apparatus 500. The transport distance of the reactor containing the diluted sample can be reduced. At least one loading position for loading the reactor containing the diluted sample is provided on the dilution transport means 900, and can be linearly reciprocated between the movement trajectories of the transfer means 600 and the sample supply means 200. Preferably, at least two carrying positions are disposed on the dilution transport device 900, and are used for carrying the reactor containing the diluted sample, so that the diluted sample can be used alternatively, and the automatic dilution efficiency of the sample is improved.

As shown in fig. 8, the supply unit 700 of the diluting device is provided with a first station 11 and a second station 12, the first station 11 is used for receiving a sample from a first reactor and receiving a diluted sample from a second reactor, and the second station 12 is used for transferring the first reactor and the second reactor out of the supply unit 700 by the transferring device 600. The transfer device 500 is provided with a fourth station 14, a fifth station 15 and a sixth station 16. The fourth station 14 is used for the transfer device 600 to move the first reactor and the second reactor in and out of the transfer device 500, the fifth station 15 is used for the first reactor to receive the diluent and the second reactor to receive the reagent, and the sixth station 16 is used for uniformly mixing reactants in the first reactor and the second reactor respectively.

As shown in fig. 8, the supply unit 700 includes a supply tray 710, a temporary storage groove 720 for accommodating a reactor is provided on the supply tray 710, and the supply tray 710 can rotate to drive the temporary storage groove 720 to circulate between the first station 11 and the second station 12; the transfer device 500 comprises a transfer disc 520, a temporary storage position 530 for accommodating the reactor is arranged on the transfer disc 520, and the transfer disc 520 can rotate to drive the temporary storage position 530 to circularly move in the fourth station 14, the fifth station 15 and the sixth station 16. Specifically, the transfer device 600 is used to transfer the reactor between the supply unit 700 and the transfer device 500, and the transfer device 600 is also capable of transferring the reactor between the transfer device 500 and the dilution conveyance device 900. The reagent supply device 100 is used to add a diluent to the reactor. The sample supply device 200 is used not only for discharging samples but also for transferring diluted samples between different reactors, for example, the sample supply device 200 includes a movable suction needle through which both the samples can be sucked and discharged, and the diluted samples can be sucked and discharged. The diluent of a certain item can be a component of the reagent of the item, or can be a general diluent. The diluent is stored in the reagent supplying apparatus 100.

The dilution method may be performed by a dilution apparatus, and also by an analysis apparatus in the above-described embodiment. The dilution method comprises the following steps:

s101, adding a sample to the first reactor of the first station 11 of the supply unit 700.

The first reactor may be provided to the supply unit 700 by the reactor supply device 300 and then moved to the first station 11 of the supply unit 700. A sample may be added to the first reactor of the first station 11 by the sample supply 200.

S102, transferring the first reactor to the fifth station 15 of the transfer device 500, and receiving the second reactor at the first station 11 of the supply unit 700.

The supply unit 700 rotates to rotate the first reactor out of the first station 11, and the supply unit 700 rotates to drive the second reactor into the first station 11. The reactor on the supply unit 700 may be transferred to the transfer device 500 by the transfer device 600, and the transfer device 500 is rotated to transfer the first reactor to the fifth station 15.

S103, adding diluent to the first reactor of the fifth station 15 to obtain a diluted sample.

The diluted sample may be obtained by adding a diluent to the first reactor of the fifth station 15 by the reagent feeding apparatus 100.

S104, uniformly mixing the diluted sample in the first reactor.

A mixing unit 800 may be provided to mix the diluted sample in the first reactor at the fifth station 15. The transfer device 500 may be rotated to move the first reactor to another station for uniform mixing.

S105, transferring the first reactor from the transfer device 500 to a dilution transport device 900.

The first reactor may be transferred from the transfer device 500 to the dilution transporter 900 by the transfer device 600.

S106, transferring a part of the diluted sample in the first reactor to the second reactor.

A part of the diluted sample in the first reactor on the dilution transport device 900 is sucked up by the sample supply device 200 and discharged to the second reactor on the transfer device 500.

And S107, transferring the second reactor to a fifth station 15 of the transfer device 500, and continuously adding the reagent to the second reactor.

The second reactor may be transferred to the fifth station 15 of the transfer device 500 by the transfer device 600, with further reagent addition to the second reactor.

S108, uniformly mixing the mixture in the second reactor.

The mixture in the second reactor at the fifth station 15 may be homogenized. The transfer device 500 may be rotated to move the second reactor to another station for uniform mixing.

In the above embodiment, the mixture in the reactor located on the dilution transporter 900 is transferred into the reactor on the supply unit 700 by temporarily storing the diluted reactor in the dilution transporter 900 and then by the sample supply device 200. Therefore, the diluted reactor does not need to be temporarily stored back to the supply unit 700, so that the workload of the supply unit 700 can be effectively reduced, and the operation efficiency and the operation stability of the whole device can be improved. Further, the dilution transport device 900 is independently disposed between the reaction device 400 and the transfer device 500, only carries the transport of the reactor containing the diluted sample, and moves linearly between the tracks of the transfer device 600 and the sample supply device 200, without being limited by other dilution processes and operations such as sample addition, reagent addition, mixing, etc., so that the efficiency of the dilution device for achieving automatic dilution of the sample can be improved to the maximum extent.

In some embodiments, rotation of the feed tray 710 causes the temporary storage slot 720 to circulate between the first station 11 and the second station 12. The intermediate turntable 520 drives the temporary storage 530 to rotate in the fourth station 14 and the fifth station 15. The supply tray 710 and the transfer tray 520 are rotated in cooperation to sequentially transfer the reactors, thereby improving the working efficiency.

In one embodiment, the reactor may receive the diluent or reagent at the fifth station 15 and perform a blending operation at the fifth station 15. In one embodiment, the reactor receives a diluent or reagent at the fifth station 15 and performs a blending operation at the sixth station 16.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises the step of discarding the first reactor after transferring a portion of the diluted sample within the first reactor to the second reactor.

In one embodiment, a method of sample analysis is provided, comprising the steps of:

s210, adding a sample and a first reagent into the reactor and uniformly mixing.

S220, incubating the reactor containing the sample and the first reagent for the first time at the incubation site 422 of the reaction tray 410.

S230, transferring the reactor after the first incubation to a cleaning and separating position 421 of the reaction disc 410 for first cleaning and separating.

S240, transferring the reactor to a transfer plate 520, adding the second reagent and uniformly mixing.

S250, transferring the reactor added with the second reagent to an incubation position 422 of the reaction disc 410 for second incubation.

And S260, transferring the reactor after the second incubation to a cleaning and separating position 421 of the reaction disc 410 for second cleaning and separating.

S270, adding a signal reagent to the reactor.

S280, transferring the reactor added with the signal reagent to a measuring position 423 of the reaction disk 410 for measurement.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises the step of transferring the measured reactor to a discard location to discard the reactor.

Specifically, in step S210, the following steps are further included:

s211, providing a reactor, and adding a sample to the reactor.

S212, transferring the reactor with the sample to a transfer plate 520 and adding a first reagent;

s213, vibrating the reactor to mix the sample in the reactor with the first reagent uniformly.

Specifically, in step S220, the following steps are further included:

s221, transferring the uniformly mixed reactor containing the sample and the first reagent from the middle rotary table 520 to an incubation position 422 of the reaction table 410;

s222, the reactor containing the sample and the first reagent rotates with the reaction disk 410 and performs the first incubation, and the incubation time may be set according to the specific test item, and is generally 3 minutes to 60 minutes.

In step S230, the reactor is rotated with the reaction disk 410, and the reactor is subjected to a first cleaning and separation by the cleaning and separation assembly.

In one embodiment, a sample analysis device is provided, which is capable of performing the above-described sample analysis method, and as shown in fig. 1, the sample analysis device includes at least a supply device, a mixing unit 800, a reaction device 400, a transfer device 600, a washing separation assembly, and a signal reagent addition assembly. The supply means comprises a sample supply means 200 and a reagent supply means 100, wherein the sample supply means 200 in the supply means is used for adding a sample to the reactor and the reagent supply means 100 is used for adding a reagent to the reactor. The following examples describe the steps performed by the sample analysis device to perform the sample analysis method.

In step S210, the reactor is supplied to the supply tray 710 by the reactor supply apparatus 300, the supply tray 710 is rotatable around the center of the supply tray 710, the sample supply apparatus 200 supplies the sample into the reactor when the reactor is rotated to the station corresponding to the sample supply apparatus 200, and the transfer apparatus 600 transfers the reactor from the supply tray 710 to the transfer tray 520 when the supply tray 710 rotates the reactor to the operation range of the transfer apparatus 600. The intermediate turntable 520 is provided with a temporary storage location 530 for carrying the reactor, and the intermediate turntable 520 is also rotatable about the central axis of the intermediate turntable 520. The middle rotary plate 520 rotates the reactor to a position corresponding to the reagent supplying apparatus 100, the first reagent is supplied into the reactor through the reagent supplying apparatus 100, the middle rotary plate 520 rotates the reactor to a position of the mixing unit 800, and the mixing unit 800 mixes the sample and the first reagent in the reactor. The middle rotary table 520 then rotates the reactor to the operating range of the transfer device 600, and the reactor is transferred to the reaction device 400 through the transfer device 600.

In step S220, the reaction apparatus 400 includes a reaction plate 410, a reaction site 420 for carrying a reactor is disposed on the reaction plate 410, the reaction site 420 is annularly disposed on the reaction plate 410, and the reaction site 420 can be divided into an incubation site 422 for incubation, a cleaning separation site 421 for cleaning separation, and a measurement site 423 for measurement according to different functions of the reaction site 420. The transfer device 600 is capable of transferring the reactor between the incubation site 422, the wash separation site 421 and the measurement site 423. At the first incubation, the reactor is incubated for the first time at incubation location 422.

In step S230, the reaction apparatus 400 includes a wash separation assembly, and after the first incubation is completed, the reactor is transferred from the incubation portion 422 to the wash separation portion 421 by the transfer apparatus 600, and the first wash separation is performed on the reactor at the wash separation portion 421 by the wash separation assembly.

In step S240, the transfer device 600 transfers the reactor to the transfer tray 520, and the transfer tray 520 rotates the reactor to a station corresponding to the reagent supply device 100, and adds a second reagent to the reactor through the reagent supply device 100. The middle rotary table 520 continues to rotate the reactor to a position corresponding to the mixing unit 800, and the mixture in the reactor is uniformly mixed by the mixing unit 800. The middle turntable 520 continues to rotate the reactor into the operating range of the transfer apparatus 600.

In step S250, the transfer device 600 transfers the reactor to which the second reagent is added to the incubation site 422 of the reactor for the second incubation.

In step S260, the transfer device 600 transfers the reactor after the second incubation to the washing separation position 421 of the reaction tray 410 to perform the second washing separation by the washing separation assembly.

In step S270, the reaction apparatus 400 includes a signal reagent adding unit, and a signal reagent is added to the reactor by the signal reagent adding unit.

In step S280, the reactor is transferred to the measurement site 423 by the transfer device 600 for measurement.

In some embodiments, the measured reactor is transferred to a disposal site by the transfer device 600 to dispose of the reactor.

In the sample analysis method in the above embodiment, the reactor needs to be transferred multiple times, and the sample analysis method can be implemented in a sample analysis device, and when the sample analysis device performs sample analysis, a plurality of sets of tests are usually performed, and each set of tests needs to perform the transfer of the reactor. In order to improve the working efficiency, make full use of the working time of the sample analysis device, a reactor transfer method is provided:

the transfer device is used for completing at least 5 transfer operations, each transfer operation transfers one reactor between two different operation stations, at least two mutually exclusive transfer operations exist in each transfer operation, the mutually exclusive transfer operations do not exist simultaneously in the same working period, and beats in different working periods overlap.

Beats are the time period occupied by each transfer operation in a work cycle. The length of each beat may be the same or different, and the plurality of beats in one period may be continuous or intermittent, and the order between the plurality of beats is fixed. If the transfer operation corresponding to a beat does not exist in a certain working period, the beat is idle. Beat overlap refers to at least partial coincidence of time periods in the period occupied by the transfer operation in different working periods, and can be coincidence of partial execution time periods or complete coincidence

The operation station at least comprises a supply position, a transfer position, an incubation position, a cleaning position and a cleaning position, wherein the supply position is used for moving out an empty reactor or a reactor with added sample, the transfer position is used for moving in a reactor with added reagent or a reactor with added reagent, the incubation position is used for moving in a reactor with incubation or a reactor with incubation for a period of time or incubation completion, and the cleaning position is used for moving in a reactor with cleaning separation or a reactor with cleaning separation completion.

In some embodiments, multiple sets of test and run lines may require the following transfer operations:

first transfer operation: the empty or sample-depleted reactor is moved from the supply tray 710 to the transfer tray 520;

second transfer operation: the reactor to be incubated is moved from the middle carousel 520 to the incubation position 422 of the reaction tray 410;

third transfer operation: moving the reactor to be cleaned and separated from the incubation place 422 of the reaction plate 410 to the cleaning and separating place 421 of the reaction plate 410;

fourth transfer operation: moving the reactor to which the second reagent is to be added from the incubation site 422 of the reaction tray 410 to the transfer tray 520;

fifth transfer operation: the reactor to which the second reagent is to be added is moved from the washing separation position 421 of the reaction tray 410 to the transfer tray 520;

Sixth transfer operation: the reactor to be measured is moved from the cleaning separation position 421 of the reaction plate 410 to the measurement position 423 of the reaction plate 410;

seventh transfer operation: moving the reactor containing the diluted sample from the middle carousel 520 to the dilution transporter 900;

eighth transfer operation: the measured reactor is moved from the measurement position 423 of the reaction plate 410 to the discard position.

In the above-described embodiment, a transfer device 600 including the first grasping unit 611 and the second grasping unit 612 is provided. The fifth transfer operation transfers the reactor, to which the second reagent needs to be added, from the washing separation position 421 of the reaction tray 410 to the transfer tray 520, if the transfer operation is completed by the first grasping unit 611 only, not only the movement stroke is large, but also the second grasping unit 612 needs to avoid when the first grasping unit 611 performs the operation, and the two units cannot work in parallel, so that the working efficiency of the transfer device 600 is affected, and therefore the fifth transfer operation is decomposed into two sub-operations that can be relayed: the fifth a transfer operation requires transferring the reactor to the relay site 635 and placing the reactor at the relay site by the first gripping unit 611, and the fifth B transfer operation gripping the reactor from the relay site to the relay site 636 by the second gripping unit 612. As shown in fig. 6, the second grasping unit 612 is responsible for a first transfer operation, a second transfer operation, a fourth transfer operation, a fifth B transfer operation, a seventh transfer operation, and an eighth transfer operation, and the first grasping unit 611 is responsible for a third transfer operation, a fifth a transfer operation, and a sixth transfer operation.

In one embodiment, in a two-step test, the following transfer operations are performed sequentially:

a first transfer operation, a second transfer operation, a third transfer operation, a fifth transfer operation, a second transfer operation, a third transfer operation, a sixth transfer operation, and an eighth transfer operation. The first transfer operation, the second transfer operation, the third transfer operation, the fifth transfer operation, the second transfer operation, the third transfer operation, the sixth transfer operation, and the eighth transfer operation are sequentially completed by the following gripping units in order: the second grabbing unit 612, the first grabbing unit 611 and the second grabbing unit 612, the first grabbing unit 611 and the second grabbing unit 612.

For the reactor transfer operation of the same functional station, the gripping unit moves the reactor in the station out and then moves the reactor into another reactor. Thus, the service efficiency of the functional station can be improved. Fig. 9 shows a diagram of the execution actions of the gripping unit in one embodiment during a certain period, and in other embodiments, the execution actions may be different from the state shown in fig. 9. As shown in fig. 9, the first transfer operation: the empty or sample-depleted reactor is moved from the supply tray 710 to the transfer tray 520; fourth transfer operation: moving the reactor to which the second reagent is to be added from the incubation site 422 of the reaction tray 410 to the transfer tray 520; fifth B transfer operation: the second gripping unit 612 grips the reactor from the relay station to the transfer rotor 520. Since all three are moved from other locations to the transfer tray 520, and the transfer tray 520 can only receive reactors moved in one location at a time, the first transfer operation, the fourth transfer operation, and the fifth B transfer operation are mutually exclusive.

As another example, as shown in fig. 9, a second transfer operation: the reactor to be incubated is moved from the middle carousel 520 to the incubation position 422 of the reaction tray 410; seventh transfer operation: the reactor containing the diluted sample is moved from the middle carousel 520 to the dilution transporter 900. The second transfer operation and the seventh transfer operation are mutually exclusive in that both are to remove the reactor from the middle carousel 520 to other locations, whereas the middle carousel 520 can only remove the reactor to one other location at a time.

As another example, as shown in fig. 9, a sixth transfer operation: transferring the reactor to be measured from the cleaning separation position 421 of the reaction plate 410 to the measuring position 423 of the reaction plate 410; fifth a transfer operation: the reactor to which the second reagent is to be added is transferred from the purge separation location 421 of the reaction tray 410 to the relay location. The sixth transfer operation and the fifth transfer operation are also mutually exclusive since both transfer the reactor from the purge separation location 421 of the reaction tray 410 to other locations (including different locations of the reaction tray 410 itself), while the purge separation location 421 of the reaction tray 410 can only be moved out of the reactor to one other location at a time.

The mutually exclusive transfer operations have one and the same station.

However, the specific work content of the transfer operation in fig. 9 is merely an example, and in other embodiments, the specific work corresponding to the transfer operation may not be the content listed in the foregoing embodiments.

As another example, fig. 10 illustrates a plot of the execution of a gripping element in one embodiment during a period when the transfer device 600 has only one gripping element. FIG. 11 is a plot of the execution behavior of the embodiment of FIG. 10 as multiple tests are performed. The first transfer operation, the fourth transfer operation, and the fifth transfer operation in fig. 10 are mutually exclusive, although the same transfer operation is also mutually exclusive, e.g., the first transfer operation and the first transfer operation are mutually exclusive. Mutually exclusive transfer operations cannot be performed simultaneously within the same cycle. The first transfer operation, the second transfer operation, the third transfer operation, the fourth transfer operation, and the fifth transfer operation in fig. 10 are merely definitions on one name, and the specific operation content is not limited to the above-described embodiments.

The specific steps of the reactor transfer process will now be described with reference to the examples shown in figures 10 and 11:

as shown in fig. 10, each period T includes three consecutively performed beats, beat 1, beat 2, and beat 3, respectively. The first transfer operation, the fourth transfer operation, and the fifth transfer operation can be completed only in beat 1 in a certain period, respectively. The third transfer operation can be completed only in beat 2 in each cycle. The second transfer operation can be completed only in beat 3 in each cycle.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, the first through eighth test items of the M through N cycles are taken as an example to illustrate a multiple test parallel reactor transfer method. It should be noted that, the first to eighth test items are merely identifiers of the test items, and do not necessarily represent a starting sequence of an actual test, and these items may be the same test item, different test items, or partially the same test item. The reactor transfer method includes a first test item, a second test item, a third test item, a fourth test item, a fifth test item, a sixth test item, a seventh test item, and an eighth test item in parallel. Each test item includes three beats in each cycle that are performed in succession. Each test item includes several transfer operations that are performed in succession, wherein:

the first test item includes at least a first transfer operation, a second transfer operation, and a third transfer operation, which are sequentially performed, the first transfer operation being completed only in beat 1 in a certain period, the second transfer operation being completed only in beat 3 in each period, the third transfer operation being completed only in beat 2 in each period;

The second test item includes at least a fifth transfer operation and a second transfer operation which are successively performed, the fifth transfer operation being completed only in beat 1 in a certain period, the second transfer operation being completed only in beat 3 in each period;

the third test item includes at least a fourth transfer operation and a second transfer operation which are successively performed, the fourth transfer operation being completed only in beat 1 in each cycle;

the fourth test item includes at least a third transfer operation which can be completed only in beat 2 in each cycle;

the fifth test item includes at least a second transfer operation, which can be completed only in beat 3 in each cycle;

the sixth test item includes at least a third transfer operation, which can be completed only in beat 2 in each cycle;

the seventh test item includes at least a third transfer operation, which can be completed only in beat 2 in each cycle;

the eighth test item includes at least a first transfer operation, which can be completed only in beat 1 in a certain period.

As shown in fig. 10, the first, fourth, and fifth transfer operations are mutually exclusive.

In the following description, a first test item and a second test item are taken as examples, when the first test item and the second test item are executed simultaneously, whether the second test item has a transfer operation mutually exclusive with the first test item in each period of the first test item is judged, if the second test item does not have a transfer operation mutually exclusive in the corresponding period, the first test item and the second test item are executed simultaneously, if the first test item has a transfer operation mutually exclusive in the corresponding period, when the first test item is executed, the second test item is judged to start to be executed every next period in sequence, until the second test item does not have a transfer operation mutually exclusive with the first test item in each period of the first test item, and then the second test item is started to be executed. Specifically, when the first test item and the second test item are executed simultaneously, in the mth cycle of the first test item, the second test item has the fifth transfer operation, and the first test item has the first transfer operation, and since the fifth transfer operation and the first transfer operation are mutually exclusive, the situation that the execution of the second test item is started after the delay of one cycle is judged, as shown in fig. 11, when the execution of the second test item is started after the delay of one cycle, in the mth cycle, the (m+1) th cycle, and the (m+2) th cycle … … N cycle of the first test item, the transfer operation in the corresponding cycle with the first test item does not exist in the second test item, and therefore, the second test item can be executed after the delay of one cycle relative to the first test item.

The same is true for subsequent test items. That is, the reactor transfer method ultimately achieves that mutually exclusive transfer operations in these test items do not exist simultaneously in the same work cycle, with beats overlapping in different work cycles. While mutually exclusive transfer operations in these test items do not exist simultaneously in the same work cycle, there are two situations:

the first case is: judging whether the X test item and the Y test item are executed simultaneously, if yes, executing the X test item and the Y test item in parallel;

the second case is: if the mutual exclusion transfer operation exists in the corresponding period, when the X-th test item is executed, the Y-th test item is judged to start to be executed every last period in sequence until the Y-th test item does not have the mutual exclusion transfer operation with the X-th test item in each period of the X-th test item, and the Y-th test item is started to be executed. According to the embodiment, the mutually exclusive transfer operation can share the same beat in different periods and does not exist in the same period, so that on one hand, the beat is not required to be set for the mutually exclusive transfer operation in the same period, the period time is shortened, the test flux is improved, and on the other hand, the mutually exclusive transfer operation can be realized in different periods through being set, and therefore, once each test item starts to be executed, the middle is not interrupted due to the mutually exclusive transfer operation, and the execution can be coherent.

According to the above embodiment, in other embodiments, a first test item, a second test item, a third test item, and the like that are sequentially performed may be provided, where the reactor transfer method includes at least a first test item and a second test item that are sequentially performed, where the first test item includes at least three transfer operations, the second test item includes at least three transfer operations, and at least one of the first test item and the second test item includes mutually exclusive transfer operations, and the reactor transfer method includes the following steps:

in each execution period of the first test item, sorting beats of transfer operations of the first test item according to an execution sequence, wherein the beats are time periods required by each transfer operation;

and in each execution period of the first test item, when the second test item is started to be executed after one execution period is delayed in sequence, whether the first test item and the second test item have mutually exclusive transfer operations or not is judged in each beat of the first test item, and if the mutually exclusive transfer operations do not exist in the first test item and the second test item in the same beat, the second test item is started to be executed.

In one embodiment, the beats of the mutually exclusive transfer operations overlap, the beat being a period of time required for each transfer operation. For example, in one embodiment, as shown in fig. 10, the beat of the first transfer operation starts to execute in the first second and finishes in the fifth second; the beat of the fourth transfer operation starts to be executed in the second and finishes being executed in the seventh second. Then the set of mutually exclusive transfer operations overlap between the second and fifth seconds.

In one embodiment, the beats of the mutually exclusive transfer operations overlap completely, the beats being the time period required for each transfer operation. For example, in one embodiment, as shown in fig. 10, the beat of the first transfer operation starts to be executed in the first second, and the fifth second is executed; the beat of the fourth transfer operation starts to be executed in the first second, and the fifth second is completed. The beats of the set of mutually exclusive transfer operations are completely overlapping.

In one embodiment, mutually exclusive transfer operations exist at least at the same operating stations. For example, for a reactor transfer operation of the same functional station, one transfer operation is to move one reactor into the station by the gripper unit, and a transfer operation mutually exclusive to it is to move the other reactor into the station by the gripper unit. Since the station can only receive the movement of one reactor at a time, the two transfer operations are mutually exclusive.

In some embodiments, the above transfer operation may be accomplished by a transfer device, and the transfer device 600 may include a first grasping unit 611 and a second grasping unit 612; in some embodiments, the transfer device 600 may also include a grasping unit. When the transfer device 600 includes the first grasping unit 611 and the second grasping unit 612, at least a portion of transfer trajectories of the first grasping unit 611 and the second grasping unit 612 overlap. Wherein the overlapping transfer trajectories cover at least two stations. For example, as shown in fig. 6, incubation alignment 632, measurement alignment 633, discard alignment 634, and relay alignment 635 are overlapping, and the transfer track of the corresponding overlapping portion covers incubation position 422, measurement position 423, discard position, and relay position.

In one embodiment, the covered station at least comprises a relay station, the reactor is grabbed to the relay station by the first grabbing unit 611, and then the reactor is transferred from the relay station to other positions by the second grabbing unit 612, so that the reactor is transferred to two sides of the relay station.

In one embodiment, the covered stations further include an incubation site 422 and a measurement site 423. In one embodiment, the covered stations further include incubation locations 422 or measurement locations 423.

The technical features of the above-described embodiments may be arbitrarily combined, and all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-described embodiments are not described for brevity of description, however, as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features, they should be considered as the scope of the description.

The above examples illustrate only a few embodiments of the invention, which are described in detail and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, which are all within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of protection of the present invention is to be determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A reactor transfer method comprising at least two test items, each of said test items comprising a plurality of transfer operations, each of said transfer operations transferring a reactor between two different operating stations, at least two of said transfer operations being mutually exclusive; mutually exclusive transfer operations do not exist simultaneously in the same working period, and beats in different working periods overlap;

The test items at least comprise an X test item and a Y test item, and the method comprises the following steps of judging whether the Y test item has a transfer operation mutually exclusive with the X test item in each period of the X test item when the X test item and the Y test item are executed in parallel or not:

if the mutual exclusion transfer operation exists in the corresponding period, when the X-th test item is executed, judging that the Y-th test item starts to be executed every period after the X-th test item is delayed in sequence until the Y-th test item does not have the mutual exclusion transfer operation with the X-th test item in each period of the X-th test item, and starting to execute the Y-th test item;

the beats of the mutually exclusive transfer operations overlap entirely.

2. The reactor transfer method of claim 1, wherein each cycle comprises a plurality of beats, one beat for each transfer operation.

3. The reactor transfer method of claim 1, wherein each cycle comprises at least three beats.

4. The reactor transfer method of claim 1 wherein the mutually exclusive transfer operations are at least in part at the same operating stations.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the transfer of the reactor to the same operation station is performed by removing the reactor from the station and transferring the reactor to another reactor.

6. The reactor transfer method according to claim 1, characterized in that the transfer operation is accomplished by a transfer device (600), the transfer device (600) comprising a first gripping unit (611) and a second gripping unit (612).

7. The reactor transfer method according to claim 6, wherein at least a portion of the transfer trajectories of the first gripping unit (611) and the second gripping unit (612) overlap.

8. The reactor transfer method of claim 7, wherein the overlapping transfer trajectories cover at least two stations.

9. The reactor transfer method of claim 8, wherein the covered stations comprise at least relay stations.

10. The reactor transfer method according to claim 9, wherein the covered stations further comprise incubation (422) and/or measurement (423) stations.