JP4092312B2 - Interface detection device and method, volume measuring device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention detects an interface of serum from, for example, serum separated in a blood collection tube, a separating agent, and a blood clot, and further uses an interface detection device and method suitable for determining the amount of serum, and a volume measuring device. About.

  Blood collected from a patient is placed in a blood collection tube together with a separating agent, centrifuged with a centrifuge to separate it into serum, separating agent, and blood clot, and then only the serum is taken out and used for various tests. It has been broken.

  In recent years, in order to reduce the burden on patients, it has been required to reduce the amount of blood collected as much as possible. On the other hand, since there are a wide variety of tests using serum, it is necessary to use limited serum as a test material without excess or deficiency. It is required to accurately grasp the quantity.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a serum level measurement device in which an illumination unit composed of a fluorescent lamp or a light bulb and an imaging unit composed of a CCD camera are arranged on the side of a test tube. In this serum volume measuring device, light is irradiated by an illuminating means toward a sample liquid that is separated into serum, separating agent, and blood clot in a test tube, and the sample liquid is imaged by the imaging means to obtain image data. Then, the region of the serum image is specified by analyzing the image.

JP 2001-165752 A

  However, a label displaying various information is often attached to the surface of the blood collection tube. In this case, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, in the method of capturing a captured image by irradiating light from the side, the irradiation light is blocked by the label or reflected by the label, so that the serum is clear. An image may not be obtained, and the serum image region may not be accurately identified.

  In addition, since it is necessary to irradiate the entire sample liquid with light uniformly, for example, when the amount of the sample liquid is large (the test tube is long), the illumination means may have to be enlarged.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and can detect an interface of a predetermined liquid in a container with high accuracy without being affected by a label on the surface of the container, by a small and inexpensive apparatus configuration. The purpose is to.

The interface detection device of the present invention is an interface detection device that detects an interface of a predetermined liquid among at least two types of liquids contained in a container in a state of being vertically separated, and is directed upward toward the liquid in the container Based on a signal obtained by an irradiation means for irradiating light, a light receiving means arranged on the side of the container, and a signal obtained by the light receiving means facing a region of the side surface of the container where no label is attached. And an interface detecting means for detecting the interface of the predetermined liquid.
Another feature of the interface detection apparatus according to the present invention is that the irradiating means causes a light beam thinner than the inner diameter portion of the container to enter the liquid in the container in a substantially vertical direction.
Another feature of the interface detection apparatus according to the present invention is that the irradiating means is a laser, or the irradiating means includes a light source and a condensing means for narrowing light emitted from the light source. It is in the point comprised by.
Another feature of the interface detection device of the present invention is that the container contains a liquid with a low light scattering property separated above and a liquid with a high light scattering property separated below, and A meniscus is formed at the upper interface of the liquid separated above, and the upper interface of the liquid separated above is detected as the predetermined liquid.
The volume measuring device of the present invention is based on the interface detection device of the present invention, the interval between the upper and lower interfaces of the predetermined liquid detected by the interface detection device, and the inner diameter dimension of the container. And a volume calculating means for calculating the volume of the.
The interface detection method of the present invention is an interface detection method for detecting an interface of a predetermined liquid among at least two kinds of liquids contained in a container in a state of being vertically separated, and is disposed on the side of the container. and procedures to face the light receiving means in a region where the label has not been adhered of the side surfaces of the container, a step of irradiating a light from above toward the liquid in the container, based on a signal obtained by said light receiving means And an interface detection procedure for detecting an interface of the predetermined liquid.

  According to the present invention, the liquid in the container is irradiated with light from above, the scattered light due to scattering in the liquid is received, and the interface of the predetermined liquid is detected based on the result. With a small and inexpensive apparatus configuration, it is possible to accurately detect the interface of a predetermined liquid without being affected by the label on the surface of the container and accurately measure the serum amount.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 shows an external view of a volume measuring apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied. The volume measuring device 1 obtains an interval (height) between the upper and lower interfaces 103U and 103L by detecting the position of the upper interface 103U and the lower interface 103L of the serum 103 in the sample liquid 102 in the blood collection tube 101, and the known This is for calculating the volume (serum amount) of the serum 103 using the inner diameter of the blood collection tube 101 or the like.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a laser beam 3a from above is handled toward the specimen liquid 102 in the blood collection tube 101 in a state where the handling mechanism 2 that handles the blood collection tube 101 and the upper portion of the blood collection tube 101 are grasped by the manipulator 21 of the handling mechanism 2. A laser irradiation device 3 that irradiates the blood collection tube 101, an image pickup device 4 that is disposed on the side of the blood collection tube 101, a belt conveyor 6 that conveys the blood collection tube rack 5, and a rack that regulates the movement of the blood collection tube rack 5 and feeds the pitch. A stopper mechanism 7 is provided.

  Further, the barcode reader 8 that reads the barcode of the label 106 attached to the surface of the blood collection tube 101, the glossiness sensor 9 that detects the position of the label 106 attached to the surface of the blood collection tube 101, and the like are required. It is arranged accordingly.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the blood collection tube 101 has a cylindrical shape with a closed lower end such as a test tube, and is made of a material that can transmit a laser beam, such as a colorless and transparent resin material or a glass material.

  The sample liquid 102 accommodated in the blood collection tube 101 is composed of blood collected from a subject and a separating agent. As a result of centrifugation, a gel-like clot 105 is separated from the bottom of the blood collection tube 101 in descending order of specific gravity. The drug 104 and serum 103 are separated.

  In many cases, a label 106 made of paper, resin, or the like is attached to the surface of the blood collection tube 101. On the label 106, information about the subject is displayed by characters, symbols, barcodes, etc. by printing or handwriting.

  The blood collection tube rack 5 that holds the blood collection tubes 101 holds a plurality of blood collection tubes 101 in a line in a standing state.

  The handling mechanism 2 includes a manipulator 21 that grips the upper portion of the blood collection tube 101 with a plurality of claws 21a, a manipulator rotation mechanism 22 that rotates the manipulator 21 with a stepping motor, and the like, and a manipulator lift that moves the manipulator 21 up and down (not shown). The blood collection tube 101 is sequentially lifted from the blood collection tube rack 5, and the volume measurement processing of the serum 103 can be performed.

  The laser irradiation device 3 is positioned above the blood collection tube 101 in a state where the upper portion of the blood collection tube 101 is held by the manipulator 21 of the handling mechanism 2, and as shown in FIG. Irradiate.

  The imaging device 4 has a large number of light receiving elements (for example, CCDs) arranged linearly or planarly in the vertical direction, and will be described in detail later. When irradiated with 3a, a laser beam whose traveling direction is changed to the side among scattered laser beams due to scattering in the specimen liquid 102 is received. In this case, a filter 4a that transmits only light in the wavelength region of the laser beam 3a to be used may be installed in the imaging device 4 so as to receive only the scattered laser beam while reducing the influence of external light. Good.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the imaging device 4 includes an image processing unit 41 that performs image processing using an electrical signal photoelectrically converted by a light receiving element, and a profile of received light intensity obtained by the image processing unit 41. The upper surface 103U and 103L from the upper surface 103U position and the lower interface 103L position of the serum 103 detected by the interface detector 42. An interval (height) is obtained, and a volume calculation unit 43 that calculates the volume (serum volume) of the serum 103 using the inner diameter of the blood collection tube 101 stored in the storage unit 44 is connected.

  The barcode reader 8 reads the barcode on the label 106 of the blood collection tube 101 lifted by the handling mechanism 2.

  The glossiness sensor 9 is configured by a light source that irradiates the surface of the blood collection tube 101 lifted by the handling mechanism 2 and a light receiving unit such as a line sensor that receives reflected light, although not specifically illustrated. Then, the gloss level is measured, and the position of the label 106 is detected from the difference in gloss level between the blood collection tube 101 itself and the label 106.

  The blood collection rack 5 is conveyed by the belt conveyor 6 in the arrangement direction of the blood collection tubes 101. The belt conveyor 6 is installed so that its conveyance path passes below the manipulator 21, and conveys the blood collection tube rack 5 from, for example, an original sample supply unit (not shown) on the upstream side to the volume measuring device, After the processing in the volume measuring device is completed, the sample is conveyed to, for example, a dispensing device (not shown) on the downstream side.

  The rack stopper mechanism 7 has a stopper 7a. The stopper 7a protrudes on the belt conveyor 6 and engages with the front end of the blood collection tube rack 5 in the conveying direction, and is retracted from the belt conveyor 6 at a position where the movement of the blood collection tube rack 5 is regulated (as shown in FIG. 1). Thus, the blood collection rack 5 can be moved back and forth to a position where the movement is allowed. The rack stopper mechanism 7 can pitch-feed the stopper 7a in the transport direction of the blood collection rack 5.

  Next, the processing operation for detecting the position of the upper interface 103U and the position of the lower interface 103L of the serum 103 and calculating the volume (serum volume) of the serum 103 will be described. When the blood collection tube rack 5 is conveyed from the upstream side by the belt conveyor 6, the stopper 7a of the rack stopper mechanism 7 protrudes to stop the blood collection rack 5 and simultaneously stop the belt conveyor 6. In this state, the first of the plurality of blood collection tubes 101 held in the blood collection tube rack 5 is positioned directly below the manipulator 21, and the handling mechanism 2 grasps and lifts the first blood collection tube 101.

  First, the position of the label 106 on the side surface of the blood collection tube 101 is detected. Specifically, with the manipulator 21 holding and lifting the upper end of the blood collection tube 101, the manipulator rotating mechanism 22 is operated to rotate the blood collection tube 101 in a predetermined direction. While the blood collection tube 101 is rotated, the gloss sensor 9 measures the glossiness of the surface of the blood collection tube 101. Since the label 106 has a lower gloss than the blood collection tube 101 itself, and the gloss changes abruptly at the edge position of the label 106, the position of the label 106 can be specified. When the position of the label 106 is specified in this way, the region where the label 106 is not attached is directed to the imaging device 4 on the side surface of the blood collection tube 101 (facing it), and the next interface detection process is performed. Do.

  In the interface detection process, as shown in FIG. 2, the laser beam 3 a is irradiated from above toward the sample liquid 102 in the blood collection tube 101 from the laser irradiation device 3. The laser beam 3a travels downward in the vertical direction and enters the upper interface 103U of the serum 103. In this case, it is desirable that the laser beam 3a is incident at the center position of the upper interface 103U of the serum 103.

  Here, the serum 103 has a low light scattering property (the degree of light scattering), and the laser beam 3a incident on the serum 103 travels straight (downward in the vertical direction) with almost no scattering. Therefore, the light receiving element of the imaging device 4 hardly receives the laser beam 3a, and the received light intensity at the serum 103 portion is small as shown in the region a of FIG.

  On the other hand, the separating agent 104 located under the serum 103 is cloudy and has a high light scattering property (the degree of light scattering), and the laser light 3a incident on the separating agent 104 through the serum 103 is scattered. To do. Therefore, a part of the scattered laser beam scattered by the separating agent 104 travels sideways and is received by the light receiving element of the imaging device 4, and as shown in the region b of FIG. The received light intensity is large.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, a part 3 b of the scattered laser beam scattered by the separating agent 104 proceeds toward the upper interface 103 U of the serum 103. At the upper interface 103U of the serum 103, a meniscus 103A is formed by the wettability between the serum 103 and the inner wall surface of the blood collection tube 101. A part of the scattered laser beam 3b traveling toward the upper interface 103U of the serum 103 is reflected by the meniscus 103A, the traveling direction is changed, and proceeds toward the side (scattered laser beam 3c). The scattered laser beam 3c is received by the light receiving element of the image pickup device 4, and as shown in FIG. 2, the received light intensity increases specifically at the position of the upper interface 103U of the serum 103, and the peak c appears.

  The electrical signal photoelectrically converted by the light receiving element of the imaging device 4 is output to the image processing unit 41. The image processing unit 41 extracts a received light intensity profile (see FIG. 3) along the vertical direction (longitudinal direction) of the blood collection tube 101 based on the electrical signal input from the light receiving element.

  The interface detection unit 42 detects the position of the upper interface 103U and the position of the lower interface 103L of the serum 103 based on the received light intensity profile obtained by the image processing unit 41.

  That is, as described above, since the peak c appears in the received light intensity at the position of the interface between the serum 103 and the air layer 107 (the upper interface 103U of the serum), the position where the first peak appears on the upper side of the blood collection tube 101 Detect as interface 103U.

  Further, as described above, the received light intensity changes at the position of the interface between the serum 103 and the separating agent 104 (the lower interface 103L of the serum), but actually changes with a certain degree of gentleness. Therefore, a threshold value corresponding to the lower interface 103L of the serum 103 is defined in advance, and a position at which the profile of the received light intensity matches the threshold value on the lower side of the peak c is determined by the comparator function of the interface detection unit 42. Is detected as the position of the lower interface 103L of the serum 103.

  Next, the volume calculation unit 43 obtains an interval (height) between the upper and lower interfaces 103U and 103L from the position of the upper interface 103U and the lower interface 103L detected by the interface detection unit 42, and the obtained upper and lower interfaces. The volume (serum volume) of the serum 103 is calculated using the interval between 103U and 103L and the inner diameter of the blood collection tube 101 stored in the storage unit 44.

  As described above, since the laser beam is irradiated from above to the specimen liquid 102 in the blood collection tube 101, the irradiation light itself is not blocked or reflected by the label 106. Further, it is not necessary to uniformly irradiate the entire specimen liquid 102 with light, and it is only necessary to irradiate a laser beam thinner than the inner diameter portion of the blood collection tube 101. Therefore, the laser irradiation apparatus 3 may be small. Therefore, the positions of the interfaces 103U and 103L of the serum 103 can be accurately detected without being affected by the label 106 on the surface of the blood collection tube 101, etc., with a small and inexpensive apparatus configuration.

(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment, the laser irradiation apparatus 3 is used as the irradiation means in the present invention. However, as shown in FIG. 5, the light source 31 that emits visible light, infrared light, or the like, and the light source 31 emits light. You may comprise with the lens 32 which squeezes the light to squeeze. If a general-purpose LED or the like is used as the object that emits visible light, an inexpensive and small light source 31 can be configured. In the illustrated example, two lenses 32 are used, but the number and shape thereof are not limited.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated with embodiment, this invention is not limited only to embodiment, A change etc. are possible within the scope of the present invention. For example, the specific configuration of the volume measuring apparatus 1 of the above embodiment is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to that form. In the above embodiment, the laser irradiation apparatus 3 is incorporated as an irradiation means in the handling mechanism 2 and the interface detection process is performed in a state where the blood collection tube 101 is lifted. However, as shown in FIG. An opening 501 is formed on the side of the imaging device 400, and the sample liquid 102 in the blood collection tube 101 is irradiated with light (arrow in the figure) from above with the blood collection tube 101 standing on the blood collection tube rack 500. May be.

It is an external view of the volume measuring device of a 1st embodiment. It is a figure showing the schematic structure of the volume measuring device of a 1st embodiment. It is a figure which shows the relationship between a sample liquid and the profile of received light intensity. It is the schematic which shows the mode in the meniscus of the upper interface of serum. It is a figure which shows the illumination means of 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the internal diameter part of a blood collection tube, and the thinness (diameter) of a light beam. It is an external view which shows the example of 1 structure of a volume measuring device.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Volume measuring apparatus 2 Handling mechanism 3 Laser irradiation apparatus 3a Laser beam 4 Imaging apparatus 5 Blood-collecting rack 6 Belt conveyor 7 Rack stopper mechanism 8 Bar code reader 9 Glossiness sensor 31 Light source 32 Lens 41 Image processing part 42 Interface detection part 43 Volume Calculation unit 44 Storage unit 101 Blood collection tube 101r Inner diameter portion 102 Sample liquid 103 Serum 103U Upper interface 103L Lower interface 104 Separating agent 105 Clot 106 Label 107 Air layer

Claims (7)

An interface detection device that detects an interface of a predetermined liquid among at least two types of liquids contained in a container in a state of being vertically separated,
Irradiation means for irradiating light from above toward the liquid in the container;
A light receiving means disposed on a side of the container;
An interface detecting means for detecting an interface of the predetermined liquid based on a signal obtained by the light receiving means facing a region of the side surface of the container where no label is attached. Detection device.   The interface detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the irradiation unit causes a light beam thinner than an inner diameter portion of the container to enter the liquid in the container in a substantially vertical direction.   The interface detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the irradiation unit is a laser.   The interface detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the irradiating unit includes a light source and a condensing unit that restricts light emitted from the light source. The container contains a liquid having a low light scattering property separated above and a liquid having a high light scattering property separated below, and a meniscus is formed at the upper interface of the liquid separated above, The interface detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an upper interface of the liquid separated above as a predetermined liquid is detected. The interface detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5 ,
Volume calculating means for calculating the volume of the predetermined liquid based on an interval between the upper and lower interfaces of the predetermined liquid detected by the interface detection device and an inner diameter dimension of the container is provided. Volume measuring device. An interface detection method for detecting an interface of a predetermined liquid out of at least two kinds of liquids contained in a container in a state of being vertically separated,
A procedure for causing the light receiving means arranged on the side of the container to face a region of the side surface of the container where no label is attached,
Irradiating light from above toward the liquid in the container;
On the basis of the signals obtained by the light receiving unit, the interface detection method characterized by having a surface detection step of detecting the interface of the given liquid.

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