JP2001021568A - Attachment for preventing concentration - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the concentration of solution in a vessel for a long time by providing a member having an opening narrower than an opening of the vessel and a member for continuously making the surface area of liquid smaller from the vessel top to the bottom. SOLUTION: This attachment is provided with an opening for sucking liquid having an area narrower than the opening part of a vessel in a part of a member 1 for covering the opening of the vessel and a member 2 for continuously miniaturizing the surface area of the liquid from the vessel top toward the bottom. This member 2 may be integrated with the member having the opening or used by assembling another member therewith. The surface area of the liquid formed by the member 2 is a so-called tapered structure becoming wider toward the vessel top and narrower toward the bottom. For preventing this attachment from sticking to the vessel to make the inside of the vessel a negative pressure, for example, an air hole is preferably provided in a part of the attachment. This constitution can prevent the concentration of the solution irrelevant to the dimension of the vessel.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an attachment used for closing an opening of a reagent container to prevent concentration of a solution in a reagent container set in an automatic analyzer used mainly in the field of clinical examination. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a container is left in an open state for a long period of time, the solution in the container is concentrated due to the evaporation of water and the like. As a result, the original function of the solution may be impaired or changed. In this case, the liquid is usually prevented from being concentrated by closing the lid of the container.However, when it is necessary to continuously aspirate the liquid from the container for a certain period of time, especially for a reagent for clinical test, the lid of the reagent container may It is set in the automatic analyzer in the opened state,
Since the probe aspirates the reagent at intervals of 30 seconds, the lid cannot be closed each time the aspirator is suctioned, resulting in a problem that the concentration of the reagent in the container proceeds. In order to avoid such reagent concentration, measures have been taken on both the container side and the automatic analyzer side.

As a countermeasure on the container side, first, a container having a narrow opening is used. This can prevent the liquid from being concentrated to some extent, but does not always provide a sufficient effect. This is because, even if only the opening is narrowed, the surface area of the liquid in the container is large, and the evaporation of water cannot be sufficiently suppressed.
Therefore, as a second measure, it is conceivable to reduce the surface area of the liquid in the container to prevent evaporation of water by making the entire container thinner.However, when the amount of reagent is large, the entire container becomes elongated and handling becomes inconvenient. Has the disadvantage that In addition, these measures on the container side have the disadvantage of economical aspects that it is not possible to use the container used conventionally, and it is necessary to prepare a new mold and remanufacture the container. Have in common.

As a countermeasure on the automatic analyzer side, a mechanism for opening and closing the lid of the container in synchronization with the timing of reagent suction is provided. Although this reduces the burden on the operator, it is still necessary to change the shape of the container lid to a shape suitable for the opening and closing mechanism, and the conventional container cannot be used as it is, and the cost of the automatic analyzer increases. It has disadvantages in terms of economy.

[0005] In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-111657, a pipe having a tightly plugged opening at the upper portion thereof and closely attached to the inside of the opening of the liquid container is passed through the tube toward the solution in the container. Describes a container capable of suppressing concentration of a solvent. However, in this method, since the tube is integrated with the container, there is a problem that containers of various sizes must be prepared according to the required amount of the solution.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide an attachment capable of effectively preventing concentration of a solution in a container for a long period of time. .

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventors have conducted intensive studies on a method for preventing the concentration of liquid for a long period of time without changing the shape of the container and with the lid open, and as a result, from the top to the bottom of the container. The present inventors have found that by using an attachment having a member for continuously reducing the surface area of the liquid, the concentration of the liquid can be effectively prevented without changing the shape of the container, and the present invention has been accomplished.

That is, the present invention has the following configuration. (1) A member for closing the opening of the container, the member having an opening having an area smaller than the opening of the container, and a member for continuously reducing the surface area of the liquid from the top to the bottom of the container. An attachment for preventing concentration, comprising: (2) A member for reducing the surface area of the liquid continuously from the top to the bottom of the container has a tapered structure. (1) Attachment for preventing concentration. (3) The liquid is continuously applied from the top to the bottom of the container. The concentration preventing attachment according to (1) or (2), wherein the member for reducing the surface area has an air hole.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The attachment of the present invention is configured so as to continuously reduce the surface area of a liquid opened to the outside from the top to the bottom of a container. More specifically, a part of the member closing the opening of the container in use has an opening for sucking a liquid having an area smaller than the opening of the container, and from there, continuously from the top to the bottom of the container. A member for reducing the surface area of the liquid. This member may be used integrally with the member having the opening or in combination with another member. The object of the present invention can be achieved by reducing the surface area of the liquid substantially opened to the outside air.

The surface area of the liquid formed by the member for continuously reducing the surface area of the liquid from the opening to the top to the bottom of the container may be the same from the top to the bottom of the container. It is more preferable to have a so-called tapered structure that is wider at the top of the container and narrower toward the bottom within a range that does not affect suction. The lower the container, the smaller the total liquid volume, and the greater the effect of evaporation of water.
Therefore, by making the surface area of the liquid narrower toward the bottom, the concentration of the liquid at the bottom, which is easily affected by concentration, can be more effectively suppressed.

In addition, the attachment comes into close contact with the container,
A negative pressure is generated inside the container due to the airtight state, which may hinder the suction of the liquid. In order to prevent this, a structure to prevent the inside of the container from being airtight in a part of the attachment,
For example, it is preferable to have an air hole having an appropriate shape and size.

As a material of the attachment of the present invention,
Although not particularly limited, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate and the like are preferable.

[0013]

The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to examples. Note that the present embodiment does not limit the scope of the present invention.

Example 1 The diameter of the opening is 13 mm, the diameter of the main body is 23 mm, and the height is 4 mm.
As shown in FIG. 1, the opening of a container having a capacity of 5 mm and a capacity of 20 ml is completely closed, and a member having an opening having a diameter of 8 mm in a part of the opening has a surface area of the liquid in the container. An attachment manufactured by bonding a cylindrical member having an inner diameter of 8 mm, an outer diameter of 10 mm, and a length of 30 mm for narrowing was inserted. 1 ml of the liquid was placed in this container, and the container was left for 48 hours in an environment of 10 ° C. and a wind speed of 5 m / sec.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1 No concentration measures were taken in the container of Example 1,
ml of the liquid was added, and the degree of concentration of the liquid was examined by the method of Example 1.

Comparative Example 2 A plastic disk having a circular opening for liquid suction for reducing the area of the opening was bonded to the opening of the container of Example 1. Thereafter, the degree of concentration of the liquid was examined by the method of Example 1.

Comparative Example 3 A medium pig made of a material having a lower specific gravity than a liquid having an inner diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the container was floated on the liquid in the container. Thereafter, the degree of concentration of the liquid was examined by the method described in Example 1. As shown in Document 1, it can be confirmed that the concentration of the liquid hardly occurs in the method of Example 1 as compared with the methods of Comparative Examples 1 to 3, and the surface area of the liquid in the container is continuously increased from the top to the bottom of the container. It has been confirmed that the provision of a member for narrowing the width can effectively suppress the concentration of the liquid without changing the shape of the container.

[0018]

[Table 1]

Example 2 The diameter of the opening is 13 mm, the diameter of the main body is 23 mm, and the height is 4 mm.
As shown in FIG. 2, the opening of the container having a capacity of 5 mm and a capacity of 20 ml is completely covered with the opening of the container. In order to reduce the width, an attachment manufactured by bonding a conical member having an inner diameter of 8 mm at the top, an outer diameter of 10 mm, an inner diameter of 4 mm at the bottom, an outer diameter of 5 mm, and a length of 30 mm was inserted. 1, 2, 3, 4,
Put 5,10 ml of liquid, leave for 1 week in an environment of 10 ° C. and wind speed of 5 m / sec, measure the decrease in container weight during this time,
This was compared with the attachment of Example 1.

As shown in Table 2, when the liquid level was above the container, there was no significant difference in the degree of concentration between the attachment of Example 1 and the attachment of Example 2, but the liquid level was Example 1 as it gets closer to the bottom of
The attachment increased the degree of concentration of the liquid. In contrast, the attachment of Example 2 did not show a large difference in the degree of concentration between the top and bottom of the container. Therefore, it was confirmed that an attachment having a tapered structure such that the surface area of the liquid becomes smaller toward the bottom of the container is useful.

[0021]

[Table 2]

[0022]

As described above, by using the attachment having the structure as in the present invention, the concentration of the solution in the container can be effectively prevented. In addition, when the attachment of the present invention is used, regardless of the size of the container, concentration of the solution can be prevented only by attaching the attachment, so that the versatility is also excellent.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a structure of an attachment according to Example 1 which is one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a structure of an attachment according to a second embodiment which is one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 A member for closing the opening of the container 2 A member for continuously reducing the surface area of the liquid from the top to the bottom of the container

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2G045 HA02 HA13 HA14 JA07 2G058 AA01 AA09 CA02 CA05 CE02 3E080 AA06 BB02 3E084 AA02 AA12 AB01 CA01 CB02 FA09 GA08 GB12 KA01 KB01 LB02 LC06 4G057 AB08 AB38

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A member for closing an opening of a container, the member having an opening having an area smaller than the opening of the container, and a member for continuously reducing the surface area of the liquid from the top to the bottom of the container. And an attachment for preventing concentration. 2. The attachment for preventing concentration according to claim 1, wherein the member for continuously reducing the surface area of the liquid from the top to the bottom of the container has a tapered structure. 3. The attachment for preventing concentration according to claim 1, wherein the member for continuously reducing the surface area of the liquid from the top to the bottom of the container has an air hole.