JPS62217140A - Photometric part for chemical analysis - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a function as an incubator as well to a titled part by fitting a light source into a block which is made of a material having high heat conductivity into a shape to permit imposing a chemical analysis slide and providing a control means to flicker the light source according to the output of a temp. sensor which detects the temp. of the block. CONSTITUTION:The light source 3 emits the irradiation light suitable for measurement of a slide 5. The irradiation light passes an irradiation light passage 2C in the block 2 and is made incident perpendicularly on the measuring surface 5a of the slide 5. The reflected light thereof passes a reflected light passage 2D and advances toward respective optical sensors 4. The light source 3 is lighted up in the case of using this photometric part as the incubator. The heat emitted from the light source 3 is transmitted to the slide 5 by the block 2 consisting of aluminum and having the high heat conductivity when the light source 3 is lighted. The temp. sensor 10 is provided in the block 2 and the temp. of the block 2 is controlled to the prescribed temp. suitable for maintaining the slide 5 at the prescribed temp.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of the Invention) The present invention irradiates a measurement surface of a chemical analysis slide containing a sample with irradiation light, and receives reflected light from the measurement surface with an optical sensor. The present invention relates to a photometric section for chemical analysis that measures the reflection density of the measurement surface, and particularly relates to a photometric section for chemical analysis that can perform incubation as well as photometry.

(Technical Background and Prior Art of the Invention) In recent years, it has become possible to quantitatively analyze specific chemical components or formed components contained in a sample liquid such as blood or urine by simply applying small droplets of the sample liquid. Dry type chemical analysis slides have been developed (Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-21677, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 55-164356, etc.) and have been put into practical use.

To analyze the chemical components in a sample solution using such a chemical analysis slide, the sample solution is dotted onto the chemical analysis slide and then kept at a constant temperature (incubation) for a predetermined period of time in an incubator. A coloring reaction (dye-forming reaction) is carried out, and the coloring optical temperature is optically measured. This chemical analysis slide is irradiated with measurement irradiation light containing a wavelength, and its reflected optical 1 m degree is measured, whereby the content of the substance to be measured is quantitatively analyzed mainly based on the principle of colorimetry.

Conventional chemical analysis equipment that analyzes chemical components as described above includes at least an incubator that maintains the slide at a constant temperature, a measurement surface of the slide after incubation that is irradiated with irradiation light, and a irradiation light that is reflected by the measurement surface. It was necessary to include both a photometric section for chemical analysis that receives reflected light with an optical sensor and measures the concentration on the measurement surface based on the output of this optical sensor. In a chemical analysis apparatus having the above configuration, the incubator equipped with a heater etc. tends to be large, and it is necessary to insulate the incubator and the photometry section, so the entire apparatus becomes large. However, there was a problem in that it was not possible to sufficiently meet the demand for making the entire device compact.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a photometric section for chemical analysis that also has the function of an incubator and can downsize the entire chemical analysis device. The purpose is to

(Structure of the Invention) The photometry section for chemical analysis of the present invention includes a light source that irradiates a measurement surface with irradiation light, and an optical sensor that receives reflected light from the measurement surface, in which the light source comprises: a temperature sensor that is fitted into a block made of a highly thermally conductive material and has a shape that allows the chemical analysis slide to be placed thereon, and that detects the temperature of the block; and a temperature sensor that turns off the light source in accordance with the output of the temperature sensor. The present invention is characterized in that it includes a control means for controlling.

That is, in the photometry section of the present invention, the light source is fitted into a block made of a material with high thermal conductivity, so that the heat of the light source can be transmitted to the slide placed on the block. Further, the photometry section includes the temperature sensor and control means, and can control the temperature of 70 degrees so that the slide is maintained at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time. Therefore, by using the above-mentioned photometry section, the light source can be used as a heater to maintain the slide at a constant temperature on the block, and after the constant temperature maintenance is completed, the light source can be used to emit the irradiation light, and at the same time the light sensor can be used as a heater. Since it is possible to perform photometry of reflected light by operating the device, the photometry section can perform both incubation and photometry. Note that the material with high thermal conductivity here may be any material as long as it can transmit heat from the light source to the slide, and metal is preferable, for example.

(Embodiments) Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Figures 1A, 1B and 1C are examples of the present invention.
I! It is a schematic side view for demonstrating the effect|action of the photometry part for chemical analysis by i aspect.

The photometering section 1 has a light source 3 and a plurality of optical sensors 4 fitted into a block 2 made of aluminum, and is supported by a support member 6 with its upper surface exposed. As shown in FIG. 2, the slide 5 for chemical analysis on which the concentration is measured by the photometric section 1 is a dry multilayer film 5B, which is formed by laminating a support, a reagent layer, and an interlayer layer in a frame section 5A.
is housed, and a measurement surface 5a is formed on the back surface (upper surface in the figure). This slide 5 releases urine onto the film 5B through a circular hole (not shown) provided on the surface.

A predetermined amount of a sample (substance to be measured) such as blood is dropped.

Further, a barcode 5b is written on the back side of the slide 5. The slide 5 is placed on the support member 6 so that its back surface is in contact with the support member 6.

As shown in FIG. 1A, on the photometering section 1, there are a reference white board 7W and a reference blackboard 7B for correcting errors in the anti-rA concentration measurement value of the slide 5 prior to photometry of the slide 5.
is moved by the lever 8, and the photometry unit 1 measures the anti-GJ 1lE1 of these reference white board 7W and reference blackboard 7B.
measure degree. Next, a slide 5 is moved onto the photometering section 1 by being pushed by a lever 8, but before it reaches the top of the photometering section 1, the slide 5 is read by a barcode reading means 9 provided in the support member 6. Barcode 5 on the back
b is read. When the reading of the barcode 5b is completed, the slide 5 is moved onto the photometer 1 as shown in FIG. 1B. In the state shown in FIG. 1B, the slide 5 is first incubated by the photometer 1.

The block 2 has a size and shape on which the slide 5 can be placed as shown, and the detailed structure of the block 2 is as shown in the cross-sectional view in FIG. 3 and the bottom view in FIG. 4. It has become. That is, the block 2 has a light source fitting hole 2A formed in the center of its lower part, and four photosensor fitting holes 2B formed around it, for example, and a light source 3 such as a tungsten lamp and four photosensors. 4 are attached to the block 2 by being fitted into the light source fitting hole 2A and the optical sensor fitting hole 2B, respectively.

The light source 3 emits illumination light suitable for measuring the slide 5, and this illumination light passes through the illumination light path 2C in the block 2 and enters the measurement surface 5a of the slide 5 perpendicularly to the measurement surface.

The reflected light of the irradiation light reflected by the measurement surface 5a passes through a reflected light path 2D formed in the block 2 and heads toward each optical sensor 4.

When the photometry section 1 is used as an incubator, the light source 3 is set to a point. When the light source 3 is turned on, the heat emitted from the light source 3 is transmitted to the slide 5 by the block 2, which is made of aluminum and has high thermal conductivity, as described above. In this embodiment, the light source 3 is provided at the center of the block, facing the measurement surface 5a of the slide 5, and is effective in heating the entire block 2 and efficiently transmitting heat to the slide 5. However, there is a risk that the heat from the light source 3 will be transmitted to the center of the measurement surface 5a of the slide 5, so to prevent such a problem from occurring, heat insulation is provided between the light m3 and the measurement surface 5a. A filter 15 is provided. Also, in block 2)l[t-sensor 10
is provided to control the temperature of the block 2 to a predetermined temperature suitable for maintaining the slide 5 at a desired temperature (for example, 31° C.). That is, the output from the temperature sensor 10 is output from the CPU as shown in FIG. 1B.
(Central processing unit) 12, and the CPU 12 sends a control signal to turn off the light source 3 when the temperature of the block 2 reaches a predetermined temperature or higher. Further, when the light source 3 is turned off for a while and the temperature of the block 2 detected by the temperature sensor 10 falls below a predetermined temperature, the CPU 12 issues a control signal to ignite the light source 3. When the slide is kept at a constant temperature for a predetermined period of time (for example, about 6 minutes), the photometer 1 stops functioning as an incubator and measures the concentration of the slide 5. J3, in order to prevent the heat emitted from the photometering section 1 during the above incubation from affecting other slides in front and behind the photometering section 1, and to prevent wasteful heat radiation, the support section 446 mentioned above is insulated. It is made of material.

When J3 is in the photometry section 1 and performs concentration measurement on the slide 5 after incubation, the optical sensor 4 is activated and the light emitted from the light source 3 is detected as shown in FIG. The reflected light reflected by the measurement surface 5a is detected by the optical sensor 4. Note that since the time required for this measurement is approximately several meters to several hundred 7 FL sec, the state of the measurement surface 5a does not change during the measurement.

By the way, the light source 3 emits light over a relatively wide wavelength range, but the effective wavelength for measurement differs depending on the component to be measured in the sample in the slide 5. In other words, the wavelength of light at which the amount of reflected light from the measurement surface changes most significantly when the concentration of a certain measurement component changes varies depending on the measurement component. For example, light around 510 rv is most effective for measuring glucose. Therefore, the optical sensor 4 can most effectively measure the concentration of the component to be measured by selectively receiving only the light of the specific wavelength according to the measurement item.

In order to make only the reflected light of a specific wavelength enter the optical sensor 4, it is sufficient to form an interference filter on the light-receiving surface of the optical sensor 4 that selectively allows only the light of a specific wavelength to enter. Since there are multiple types of items and the measurement items change, it is extremely troublesome to replace interference filters with different characteristics depending on the measurement item. Therefore, the truth
The photometry unit 1 of ss)J is equipped with four optical sensors 4 as described above, and interference filters 11 with different wavelengths of light that are selectively transmitted to each other are provided on each light receiving surface of these optical sensors 4, and the measurement is performed by Detection is performed using only the optical sensor 4 having the interference filter 11 with desired characteristics depending on the item. If such a photometry section is used, it is possible to easily perform highly accurate measurements according to the item simply by electrically switching the output of each optical sensor 4. In this way, the output from the selected optical sensor among the four optical sensors is
After being sent to the amplifier 13 and A/D converter 14 as shown in Figure C, it is sent to the yJ2CPtJ (central processing unit) 12 for processing, and the concentration of the component measured in this way is:
It may be displayed on an external display device (not shown) if necessary.

The photometry unit of the present invention has been described above using as an example a photometry unit in which the light source 3 is arranged in the center and a plurality of optical hinges are provided around the light source 3, but the positions and numbers of the light source and the light sensor are It can be arbitrarily set as long as it can effectively heat the water and also allow good concentration measurement. Further, the temperature sensor does not necessarily need to be provided within the block, but may be placed at any position that can detect a temperature corresponding to the temperature at which the slide is held. In the embodiment briefly described above, the control means for turning on and off the light source according to the output of the temperature sensor is the CPU, but the above-mentioned means 11111 may be provided separately, independent of the CPIJ. Further, as for the control method, 0N10FF control, proportional control, PID control, etc. are used depending on the required humidity accuracy.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the photometric section for chemical analysis of the present invention, incubation is performed in the photometric section using heat emitted from the light source, so that in addition to the photometric section, there is an incubator. There is no need to provide the chemical analyzer, and the entire chemical analyzer can be downsized. Further, since a heater for incubation is not required, the manufacturing cost of the entire device can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, and FIG. 1C are one embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a perspective view showing a chemical analysis slide; FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a block of the photometric section for chemical analysis according to the above embodiment; FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the block. 1... Photometry section for chemical analysis 2... Block 3...
Light 1 4... Optical sensor 5... Chemical analysis slide 5a... Measurement surface 10... Humidity sensor 12... CPU (Central processing unit) Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] A light source that irradiates the measurement surface of a chemical analysis slide containing a sample with irradiation light, and a light sensor that receives the reflected light of the irradiation light reflected by the measurement surface, the measurement surface being controlled by the output of the light sensor. In the photometry section for chemical analysis that measures the concentration of A photometric unit for chemical analysis, comprising: a sensor; and a control means for reducing or decreasing the light source in accordance with the output of the temperature sensor.