JP2001046917A - Centrifuge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the accelerating time of a motor by distinguishing a rotor at the time of accelerating the motor or the rotor and if the rotor is not distinguished, controlling to distinguish the rotor shaft stabilizing at an optional revolution speed to shorten the rotor distinguishing time. SOLUTION: After the motor is accelerated, a rotor distinguishing frequency counter is cleared to be zero. When the revolution speed of the motor is recognized to be <=50 min-1, the rotor is distinguished by a distinguishing means while accelerating the motor. When the rotor is judged to be already distinguished, the motor is accelerated up to a set revolution speed and stabilized. If the rotor is not distinguished, whether the rotor distinguishing frequency counter shows >=4 or not is judged and when showing <=4, the rotor distinguishing frequency counter is increased by one count and returned to the original. When the revolution speed reaches 50 min-1, the motor is stabilized at 50 min-1 and the rotor is distinguished. If the rotor is not distinguished even when the rotor distinguishing frequency counter shows 5, a centrifuge is stopped with the error indication.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a centrifuge in which a plurality of rotors are exchanged and used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional centrifuge has a rotor for inserting and rotating and separating a sample, a rotor chamber for setting the rotor, and a motor for rotating the rotor. The rotor is replaced and used. The maximum number of rotations of each rotor is determined for each rotor in order to prevent breakage due to centrifugal stress. Further, there are a plurality of rotors having the same maximum rotation speed but different shapes and dimensions. Therefore, since it is necessary for the centrifuge to grasp the maximum number of rotations, the moment of inertia, the rotor temperature control coefficient for controlling the temperature of the sample in the rotor, and the like for each rotor, a device for identifying the type of rotor is provided in the centrifuge. attached. In a conventional centrifuge, a unique identifier provided for each rotor is detected by a sensor provided in the centrifuge body, and its rotor ID is determined. This rotor ID
Is usually detected by rotating the rotor at a low speed. In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for significantly shortening both the acceleration time and the deceleration time in order to shorten the sample separation time. , There is no merit. Further, as described in JP-A-6-198219, magnets are arranged at regular intervals around the axis of the rotor, and a plurality of sensors for detecting the presence / absence of magnets are arranged at regular intervals or less. Although the rotor identification device has a function of being able to determine the rotor while the rotor is stopped, a large number of sensors are required, which increases the cost and increases the cost.
Since a large number of sensors are used, the failure rate as an identification device increases, and the reliability decreases.

[0003]

As described above, in a centrifuge in which it is desired to shorten the acceleration time of the motor and shorten the separation time of the sample, the rotor is identified by setting at a low speed. However, there is a problem that the time required for the acceleration of the motor cannot be reduced. The object of the present invention is
An object of the present invention is to provide a centrifuge in which the above problem is solved, the rotor identification time is shortened, and the motor acceleration time is shortened.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to identify a rotor during acceleration of a motor and, if the rotor cannot be identified by an arbitrary number of revolutions, settle at an arbitrary number of revolutions and identify the rotor. This eliminates the need to settle at an arbitrary number of revolutions each time. It is desirable that the arbitrary rotation speed is equal to or less than the minimum set rotation speed of the centrifuge as described above.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A centrifuge according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of the centrifuge. When the rotor is set on the centrifuge and the start switch is pressed, the motor as the drive source starts rotating (step 1). The rotor identification number counter is cleared to 0 (step 2). It is determined whether or not the rotation speed of the motor has reached 50 min ^-1 (step 3). When the speed is 50 min ^-1 or less, the rotor identification processing is performed by the identification means while accelerating the motor (step 4). In this embodiment, the discrimination rotational speed of the rotor, that is, the discrimination number counter is set to five stages, and control is performed so that counting is performed even when the acceleration is set to 50 min ^-1 . It is determined whether the rotor has been identified (step 5). When the rotor can be identified, the rotor is accelerated to the set number of revolutions and settled (step 6).
In a normal case, the determination can be made when the rotor identification number counter is 2. If the rotor cannot be identified in (Step 5), it is compared whether the number of rotor identification counters is 4 or more (Step 7). If the rotor identification number counter is 4 or less, the rotor identification number counter is incremented by 1 and the process jumps to step 3 (step 8).
It is compared whether the rotation speed of the motor has reached 50 min ^-1 (step 3). If the rotation speed is 50 min ^-1 or less, the rotor identification process is performed again while accelerating the motor as described above.
If it has reached min ^-1 , it is settled at 50 min ^-1 (step 9), and rotor identification processing is performed. (Step 4) Hereinafter, the same processing is repeated, and when the rotor is identified, the acceleration is settled to the set number of revolutions. However, if the rotor cannot be identified even if the rotor identification counter reaches 5, control is performed to display an error and stop the centrifuge (step 1).
0).

In the present embodiment, the rotor is set at 50 min ^-1 when the rotor cannot be identified. However, the rotor may be set at a speed equal to or lower than the minimum set number of revolutions, and need not be set at 50 min ^-1 .
Similarly, the rotor identification number counter is also affected by disturbance (noise).
The number may be any number that can prevent erroneous identification of the rotor due to vibration of the rotor or the like. In addition, when an error is displayed in step 10, the type of the rotor or the number assigned to the rotor can be input from the operation panel, and the centrifuge can be operated, thereby improving usability.

[0007]

According to the present invention, since the rotor is identified during the acceleration of the motor, the acceleration time can be reduced. In addition, the centrifuge rotates at or below the minimum set rotation speed until the rotor can be identified, so that the reliability and safety of the centrifuge can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of a centrifuge according to the present invention.

[Description of Signs] 1 is Step 1, 2 is Step 2, 3 is Step 3, 4
Is step 4, 5 is step 5, 6 is step 6, 7 is step 7, 8 is step 8, 9 is step 9, and 10 is step 10.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A centrifuge comprising identification means for identifying a plurality of types of rotors rotated by a motor serving as a driving source, wherein said rotor is identified when said motor or said rotor is accelerated, and said rotor is identified. A centrifuge characterized in that if it cannot be performed, the rotor is settled at an arbitrary rotation speed and then the rotor is identified.