Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B21/00—Microscopes
  • G02B21/24—Base structure
  • G02B21/26—Stages; Adjusting means therefor
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B21/00—Microscopes
  • G02B21/24—Base structure
  • G02B21/241—Devices for focusing
  • G02B21/245—Devices for focusing using auxiliary sources, detectors
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B21/00—Microscopes
  • G02B21/34—Microscope slides, e.g. mounting specimens on microscope slides

Definitions

• the invention relates to a holder for a microscope slide, a microscope and a method for controlling a microscope.
• a slide so usually a simple, rectangular glass plate, pressed with two metallic clamps in a milled recess.
• the metal clips are designed so that they exert a suitable pressure on the slide so that the slide is pressed so far that he can move only slightly.
• the metal brackets are rotatably mounted so that they can be pivoted to change the slide, so that they no longer exert pressure on the slide. The exposed slide can then be levered out of the well and removed. The insertion of a new slide is done in reverse order.
• the slide can move horizontally, since the during a horizontal movement to be overcome frictional force between the retaining clips and the glass of the slide is very low. In timelapse experiments, this reduces the relocalizability of an object's position.
• the present invention solves the mentioned problems by a holder for a slide having a receiving area, which has a first support surface and a second support surface arranged opposite the first support surface, a first counter surface that at least partially spans the first support surface, and a second counter surface that covers the first support surface second support surface at least partially spans, wherein the receiving area is bounded on three sides by side elements and having an opening for insertion of a slide on one side, and wherein within the receiving area at least one pressure element is arranged, which is directed towards the interior of the receiving area restoring force can exercise.
• a restoring force can, for example, upwards, downwards or in the direction of the opposite side element.
• the holder has two slots arranged opposite one another, into which the slide can be inserted laterally.
• a pressure element By means of a pressure element, the inserted slide is fixed in the holder.
• the pressure element may be for example a spring, an elastomer or a similar elastic object.
• the pressure element exerts a clamping action on the slide.
• the force exerted by the pressure element should be large enough to hold the slide in position and secure against inadvertent movement, while allowing easy, manual or automatic removal of the slide.
• the force must not be so great that it can cause damage or even breakage of the slide.
• the surface of the pressure element may be made relatively soft in order to avoid damage or scratching of the slide.
• a flat contact between the pressure element and the slide is made.
• the pressure element should generate a sufficient frictional force that the slide remains firmly in position in case of accidental force.
• a slide is understood in particular to mean a device which can record an ensemble of metallic or biological or other three-dimensional samples, cells or tissue sections for the purpose of further processing or observation, in particular for microscopy.
• glass slides In particular, glass slides,
• the restoring force can act at least substantially or completely parallel to the surface of the slide. This ensures that the restoring force actually only contributes to the fixation of the slide and does not cause undesirable stresses. But it is also possible that the restoring force acts substantially perpendicular or exactly perpendicular to the surface of the slide. In this case, the slide is clamped between the bearing surfaces and the mating surfaces, whereas it is clamped at a restoring force parallel to the surface of the slide between the side members.
• the support surface may have a shape similar to those known from the prior art holders for slides and, for example, a milled recess represent.
• the entire holder in this case has a large-area opening, so that light can penetrate the opening, so that held objects can be examined with a microscope.
• the two mutually opposite bearing surfaces define the area that is available for the slide. It is advantageous if the two bearing surfaces have a distance from each other, which is slightly smaller than the
• Page elements should be slightly larger than the width of the slide to be inserted.
• the support surfaces may have an extent that is significantly larger than one side of a slide. For example, the
• Pads at least 1, 5 times, at least 2.0 times or at least 2.5 times as long as one side of a slide are used as a measure.
• the slide can then be placed first on the support surfaces and then pushed onto the support surfaces under the mating surfaces. In this case, the slide enters the area of action of the pressure element or the pressure elements and is clamped.
• the counter surfaces limit the space available to the slide upwards, ie in the vertical direction, whereas the three side elements limit the movement of the slide in the horizontal direction, so that its position can be precisely determined.
• the space defined by the bearing surfaces, the mating surfaces and the three side surfaces corresponds exactly to the dimensions of the slide to be inserted plus a small amount of leeway necessary to move the object
• an advantageous embodiment of the object carrier according to the invention provides that a vertical distance between a support surface and an associated mating surface is between 0.5 mm and 5 mm, preferably between 1, 0 and 3.0 mm and particularly preferably between 1, 0 and 2.0 mm. In this way, the
• the mating surfaces extend at least substantially parallel to the bearing surfaces. It is also possible that the bearing surfaces and the
• Run substantially parallel to each other is understood in particular that the bearing surfaces and the mating surfaces form an angle of less than 10 °, preferably less than 5 °, most preferably less than 2 ° with each other.
• a development of the invention provides that an expansion of the bearing surfaces in a first direction, which preferably corresponds to the insertion direction, is at least twice as large as an extension of the opposing surfaces. Such a configuration facilitates the insertion and fixing of the slide in the holder.
• the pressure element or the pressure elements are attached to the side elements. It can thus be realized in a simple manner, a restoring force acting exclusively in the horizontal direction or at least substantially in the horizontal direction on the slide and thereby unfolds an advantageous clamping action.
• pressure elements are arranged in both bearing surfaces and / or in both mating surfaces. In this way, the area available for an interaction between the pressure element and the slide can be increased. It is also possible to arrange pressure elements both in the side surfaces and in the bearing surfaces and / or in the mating surfaces.
• the mating surfaces and the bearing surfaces with surfaces of the side elements facing the receiving space each form a right angle.
• the shape of the receiving space is thus adapted to the usually cuboid slides.
• a device for detecting a mechanical contact or a pressure sensor is arranged on at least one of the side elements. It can then be determined by means of the sensor or contact, whether a slide is inserted into the holder, as well as whether the slide has made contact with the respective side element and thus has reached its final position.
• Such a sensor or contact can be designed, for example, as a microswitch, as a light barrier, as a capacitive, inductive or piezoresistive pressure sensor, as a piezoelectric or frequency-analogue pressure sensor, as strain gauges or by utilizing the Hall effect.
• the device for detecting a mechanical contact or the pressure sensor is arranged on the side element which lies opposite the opening for insertion of a slide. This is usually the back wall of the bracket. As long as there is no contact with the slide, the slide must be pushed further into the slot.
• a rear side element in the form of a rear wall which has an engagement recess.
• the engagement recess can be dimensioned such that a user can engage with one or more fingers in the engagement recess to remove the slide from the holder by pushing it in the direction of the opening. If the holder has a closed frame, can also on the opposite side of the rear side of the frame
• Engagement trough be arranged.
• the holder can advantageously have a holding frame with which the holder can be attached to a microscope stage. It is thus a modular design and easy retrofitting of existing microscopes possible.
• a development of the invention provides that the distance between the side elements
• the side elements are designed as side walls. This feature also ensures that the receiving space corresponds as exactly as possible to the shape of the slide. Furthermore, simplifies the production of the holder. Under a wall is understood in particular a vertically extending, flat boundary surface.
• a method for controlling a microscope with the step a. Inserting a slide along an insertion direction into a slit-shaped receiving space of a holder for a slide, wherein the slide is moved along the direction of insertion until a sensor arranged in a rear area of the receiving space detects contact with the slide, proposed. In this way, it can be reliably determined whether a
• Slide is inserted.
• the user has less to focus on the exact insertion of the slide and is relieved, especially in dark environments.
• it becomes possible to automate the changeover of microscope slides because the signal from the sensor can be used to control the automatic insertion of the slide. Accordingly, the introduction of the slide can be done manually or automatically.
• Mount attached pressure sensor detected a change in pressure, c. Set a value of an actual distance between lens and slide to zero, and
• a fine focusing can be done. This can be done manually or automatically. In this case, further control parameters, which can be obtained for example via a camera, can be used.
• Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a
• Figure 2 is a view of the first embodiment in a second
• Figure 4 is a view of a second embodiment
• FIG. 5 shows a first step when inserting a slide
• FIG. 6 shows a second step when inserting a slide
• FIG. 7 shows a third step when inserting a slide
• FIG. 8 shows a fourth step when inserting a slide
• Figure 9 is a view of a third embodiment of an inventive
• Figure 10 is a detail view of a holder according to the invention and parts of a
• Slides do not belong to the holder according to the invention. They are, however, shown to illustrate the function. Mounts according to the invention can be produced with a small number of adaptations for a multiplicity of differently configured slides.
• Figure 1 shows a schematic view of a first embodiment of a
• the holder 2 has a peripheral frame 4, which has an upper side 6 and a lower side 8.
• the frame 4 is rectangular and basically disc-like. In other words, its extension in the vertical direction is significantly smaller than in the two horizontal directions.
• a recess 10 is arranged, which has approximately the width of a slide 12, also shown for illustrative purposes.
• the term “width” should be understood to mean the extent of the slide 12 along its longest side, and the “width of the recess 10" is the extent of the recess 10 along the side parallel to the longest side of the slide 12 in the figure.
• the "length of the recess 10" is intended to extend at a right angle, the "height” is to be understood in each case the extent along the shortest side.
• bearing surfaces 14 are arranged at the edge of the recess.
• the support surfaces 14 have a width of a few millimeters, so that a slide can be safely placed there.
• the bearing surfaces 14 may be integral with the frame 4. Both the frame 4 and the bearing surfaces 14 are made of metal. It is possible to coat the bearing surfaces 14, for example with a sliding layer or an anti-slip layer, to obtain a desired behavior when inserting the slide 12.
• the support surfaces 14 and the mating surfaces 18 are spaced from the support surfaces 14 and parallel to these mating surfaces 18 arranged. Their length corresponds approximately to the length of the slide 12 or about half the length of the recess 10.
• the vertical distance between the support surfaces 14 and the mating surfaces 18 is dimensioned so that the slide 12 can be inserted, but only a small game in vertical Has direction. In other words, the distance is slightly greater than the height of the slide to be inserted 12.
• the superimposed support surfaces 14 and counter surface 18 define a cavity that can be occupied by the slide to be inserted 12 and in which this is held.
• the mating surfaces 18 may also be integral with the
• Frame 4 to be executed.
• pressing elements 20 are arranged on the underside of the mating surfaces 18 . These are made of an elastic material and can be compressed in the vertical direction. They then exercise a directed against the compression direction restoring force. This presses an inserted slide 12 against the support surface, so that unintentional movement of the slide 12 in the horizontal direction is avoided.
• the pressure elements 20 are made flat in the example shown and extend over a majority of the width of the mating surfaces 18 and over a little more than half the length of the mating surfaces 18th
• the back 16 can be seen in the rear region of the frame 4, the back 16 can be seen. It is designed in the form of a simple vertical rear wall and has an engagement recess 22, which represents a rounded recess and has approximately the diameter of a human finger.
• the engagement recess 22 allows the easy removal of a slide 12 by the slide 12 is pushed forward. The slide 12 thus reaches a region in which the support surfaces 14 are not covered by mating surfaces 18. The slide 12 can thus be removed upwards.
• FIG. 1 shows a snapshot during the insertion of the slide 12.
• the slide 12 has already been placed with its rear edge on the support surfaces 14 and is pivoted in the sequence so that it is parallel to the surface of the holder 2 and in the area in which slide 12 and support surface 14 overlap, rests over its entire surface.
• the slide 12 can then move in the direction of
• the slide 12 can be inserted so far into the slots between the support surfaces 14 and the mating surfaces 18 until it abuts against the rear wall 16.
• FIG. 2 shows the same exemplary embodiment as FIG. 1, but in a situation when removing the slide 12.
• the slide 12 is here already out of the measuring position, in which he was pushed to the rear stop in the form of the rear wall 16, has been moved to the removal position.
• the slide 12 has been pushed to the front stop in the form of the front wall 24 and is now pivoted along the arrow shown so that it can be easily removed.
• the slide In the measuring position, the slide is completely in the receiving area.
• Figure 3 shows the same embodiment as Figure 1 and 2.
• a slide 26 is shown, different from the slide previously shown, which has a vertically extending structure providing four sample chambers 28.
• the illustrated slide 26 is already resting on the support surfaces 14 and can now be pushed along the indicated arrow into the measuring position.
• FIG. 4 shows a second exemplary embodiment of a holder 2 according to the invention.
• the exemplary embodiment shown essentially corresponds to the example shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.
• Like reference numerals designate the same elements.
• two lateral pressure sensors 30 and two rear pressure sensors 32 are present.
• the lateral pressure sensors 30 are located in the side walls 34 in the rear region between the support surfaces 14 and the counter surfaces 18.
• the rear pressure sensors 32 are arranged in the rear wall 16.
• the two back pressure sensors 32 determine whether the sample has been correctly inserted to the rear stop point and there is a contact between the slide 26 and the rear wall 16.
• the two lateral pressure sensors 30 check whether on the
• Slide 32 is applied from below pressure or a pressure change. This pressure could e.g. be exerted by a lens which accidentally touches the slide 32.
• Andrucksensoren 30, 32 can now solve several problems that so far to breaks of slides, to defective lenses and wrong
• Figures 5 to 8 show the process of inserting a slide 12 in the
• Figure 5 corresponds to Figure 1:
• the slide 12 has been placed with its rear edge 36 on the support surfaces 14.
• the front edges of the mating surfaces 18 can serve as a stop for the slide 12.
• the slide 12 is now pivoted so that the front edge 38 moves down and the slide 12 finally rests flat on the support surfaces 16.
• the state shown in Figure 6 is reached.
• the slide 12 can now be moved in the direction of the rear wall 16 parallel to the support surfaces 14.
• FIG. 7 corresponding view is shown in Figure 7.
• the slide 12 has already partially penetrated into the slot formed by the support surfaces 14 and the mating surfaces 18. A part of its surface is covered by the mating surfaces 18. In the state shown, the slide 12 just comes in contact with the pressure elements 20. The user notices this by means of a slightly increased resistance in the sliding direction.
• Slide 12 has now reached the measuring position. With its rear edge 36, the slide 12 has now made contact with the rear wall 16 of the holder 2.
• the slide 12 has assumed a stable position, from which it can be moved out only with an adjustable by the design of the pressure elements 20 force. An unwanted movement during the measuring process is thus safely avoided.
• the removal of the slide 12 takes place in reverse order. So that the user in a simple manner can exert a horizontal force on the slide 12 in the measurement position to move it to the removal position, the engagement recess 22 is disposed on the rear wall 16, in which the user with a
• Fingertip or a fingernail can intervene.
• FIG. 9 shows a third exemplary embodiment of a holder 2 according to the invention.
• the holder 2 shown here has an outer holding frame 40. This one can not be firm with one
• the outer support frame 40 receives the inner frame 42, which is constructed very similar to the embodiments described above. In the outer holding frame 40 different, adapted to the respective sample types inner frame 42 can be inserted. This allows the microscope to be configured for different slides without costly modifications.
• the holding frame 40 may have a connection 44, to which, for example, via a plug connection, a power connection and / or a connection for a data line can be realized.
• the pressure elements 20 may also be connected to a line system 46. At the contacts 48, the data and / or the current between the inner frame 42 and the outer support frame 40 are transferred. In this way, a variety of sensors can be connected and operated.
• the sensors may be, for example, pressure contacts or pressure sensors, which are accommodated in the pressure elements 20 such that they can measure whether a
• the sensors can not only respond to simple contact, but also quantitatively evaluate the pressure to thereby measure the pressure applied by contact between lens 50 and slide 12. By measuring the pressure, the system can then detect whether the lens 50 is applying pressure to the slide 12 and appropriate
• the system may be suitable react, eg by preventing the user from moving the lens 50 further towards the slide 12 so that the slide 12 can not be destroyed.
• the detection of a pressure increase can also be utilized to find a capture range for the focus and to automatically adjust the position of the objective 50.
• the free working distance for each lens 50 is known. For example, if the working distance of the objective 50 is 250 ⁇ , then the optimum position, i. the distance of the lens 50 from the slide 12, are automatically adjusted once a contact between the lens 50 and the slide 12 has been detected with certainty. At the moment of contact, the pressure on the pressure sensors increases, which then emit a corresponding signal. With this signal as a trigger, the system can now automatically adjust the distance of the objective 50 from the slide 12 to the working distance.
• the inner frame 42 may be fixed by small magnets 52 disposed in the corners of the outer support frame 40, which may be configured as neodymium magnets, for example.
• the inner frame 42 can be small, manual turnable grips 54 are screwed firmly in the current position.
• the handles 54 also serve to be able to easily remove the inner frame 42.
• the grip 54 may be configured, for example, like a screw equipped with a handle.
• the inner frame 42 may include a small clamping space 56, which is prepared for connection and / or for receiving electronic components, for example a camera or a temperature sensor.
• FIG. 10 shows an enlarged detail of the embodiment shown in FIG. It can be seen that the slide 26 has been brought into the measuring position. From below, the lens 50 is approximated. This procedure is common, the user looks through the eyepiece of the microscope and approaches the lens 50 to the slide 26 until he sees a sharp image. In the illustrated situation, the approach movement has already led to an undesired contact between lens 50 and slide 26, which is symbolized by the small star. There is a risk of damage to the slide 26 and / or the lens 50.
• the illustrated enlarged in Figure 10 The illustrated enlarged in Figure 10
• Pressure sensor 58 may detect a collision of the objective 50 with the underside of the slide 26. A suitable controller may then stop the further movement of the lens 50 and optionally remove the lens 50 again slightly from the slide 26 so that a safety margin is maintained. Furthermore, the rear pressure sensor 32 can be seen.
• the pressure sensor 58 measures the pressure applied to it. He is attached to the underside of the counter surface 18 so that he an upward movement of the
• Slides 26 and an increase of the upward pressure can detect.
• a pressure change now occurs and exceeds a predetermined threshold the further upward movement of the objective 50 can be automatically interrupted and / or a warning message or a signal tone can be output. In this way, damage to lens 50 and / or to the slide 12 can be avoided.
• the predetermined threshold is shown graphically in FIG.
• Pointer instrument 60 illustrated.
• an analogous construction can be made. In this case, the
• Pressure sensors then arranged on top of the support surface in order to detect a pressure increase in the event of a collision can.
• the holder can be equipped with several pressure sensors that combine the two principles described above. There are then arranged both on the underside of the mating surfaces and on the top of the bearing surfaces sensors.

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• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Analytical Chemistry (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Optics & Photonics (AREA)
• Microscoopes, Condenser (AREA)

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• 2016
  • 2016-12-23 DE DE102016125691.9A patent/DE102016125691B4/de active Active
• 2017
  • 2017-12-22 US US16/472,229 patent/US11686932B2/en active Active
  • 2017-12-22 JP JP2019534174A patent/JP7203734B2/ja active Active
  • 2017-12-22 CN CN201780078624.7A patent/CN110088661B/zh active Active
  • 2017-12-22 EP EP17829979.8A patent/EP3559722A2/de active Pending
  • 2017-12-22 WO PCT/EP2017/084304 patent/WO2018115398A2/de unknown

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