JP2002048801A - Autoanalyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the liquid level of a reagent from waving largely and to obtain analyzed data of high reliability in an autoanalyzer. SOLUTION: In the autoanalyzer, a plurality of reagent containers (4) are housed inside a reagent stocker (1), the reagent containers are moved to prescribed positions inside the reagent stocker, and a reagent as a target is sampled by a probe (6). A plurality of reagent suction positions (7a, 7b) are installed in positions in which the transfer locus of the probe is crossed with the movement locus of the suction port of every turning reagent container. The plurality of reagent suction positions are installed in the reagent stocker, the reagent containers are moved by selecting the suction position in which their movement positions become short, the waving of the liquid level of the reagent is suppressed, a reagent dispensing defect or the like is prevented, and the data of high reliability is provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer for analyzing blood, urine and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic analyzer of this kind is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-297007 (Document 1) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-19.
It is known from JP 6925 (Document 2).

A conventional automatic analyzer dispenses a sample such as a collected serum or urine and a reagent according to a test item into a reaction container, and measures a reaction of a test solution. An identification label is attached to the reagent container to identify these test reagents.

[0004] A plurality of reagent containers can be stored in a reagent storage, and reagents necessary for analysis are arranged on a turntable in a state of being stored in such a reagent container. The reagent container containing the reagent necessary for the measurement is moved to a predetermined position by rotating the table. Thus, the reagent (a target reagent necessary for measurement of an item for which an inspection request has been made) can be aspirated and collected (collected) by the probe from the target reagent container transferred by rotation.

[0005]

However, based on the following considerations, the following points can be pointed out. In recent years, high-speed processing of automatic analyzers has been progressing, and the time required for reagent dispensing operation has also been required to be shortened, so that the reagent rotating table has been required to operate at higher speed. However, when the rotary table rotates at high speed, the centrifugal force on the reagent also increases. With the increase in centrifugal force and the capacity of reagent containers,
Although the fluctuation of the reagent liquid level becomes large, problems such as poor dispensing due to deterioration of the reagent liquid level detection accuracy due to the fluctuation of the reagent, contamination of the reagent dispensing probe, increase in the dead volume of the reagent, poor suction, and the like become problems. Improper countermeasures may adversely affect the analysis results, and if there is a shortage of reagent dispensation that adversely affects the analysis results, highly reliable analysis data analysis can be expected. Disappears.

As a supplementary note, in recent years, it has been necessary to rotate the rotary table at a higher speed than ever before due to the speeding up of the analyzer. In addition, with the speeding up of the analyzer, the consumption of reagents per unit time has increased due to the improvement in processing capacity, and in order to avoid the trouble of replenishing reagents, the reagent bottles have to be large enough to accommodate many reagents. (For example, when performing several types of analysis items in large quantities, it is conceivable to increase the capacity of the reagent container in order to eliminate the trouble of adding reagents,
Here, the upsizing is advantageous because a necessary amount of reagent can be prepared in advance, so that it is not necessary to frequently refill the reagent, replace the container, and the like.

However, in such a situation, if there is only one position in the reagent storage where the reagent can be aspirated as in the prior art (it is difficult to adequately respond to such a request in consideration of the following points. In order to move the reagent container to a predetermined position, it is necessary to rotate the container by 180 degrees at the maximum. When the reagent container is rotated 180 degrees at a high speed, the fluctuation of the reagent liquid level increases by that amount, resulting in poor dispensing due to deterioration of the reagent liquid level detection accuracy, contamination of the reagent dispensing probe,
Problems such as an increase in the dead volume of the reagent, poor suction, and the like become a problem. The same applies to the case where the capacity is increased as described above. Is a factor that increases the fluctuation of the reagent liquid level, which causes the above problem.

In the case of a loop-shaped rotary table, the rotary table is independently driven in relation to the inside and the outside, and even if reagent suction ports are provided on the inside and the outside, the turn table is limited to a maximum. It is necessary to rotate by 180 degrees (refer to the above-mentioned document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
No. 25)). In some cases, the reagent tray is divided so that reagent bottles having different capacities can be set.
(Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 5-297007)), it is necessary to rotate the rotary table at a maximum of 180 degrees. The applicant of the present invention has previously proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 11-83073. However, even when the shape of the reagent bottle is improved so as to prevent the liquid surface from swaying (see Japanese Patent Application No. 11-8307
No. 3), it is necessary to rotate the rotary table at a maximum of 180 degrees.

Therefore, it is desirable to be able to deviate from the conventional configuration, for example, that the rotary table needs to be rotated at a maximum of 180 degrees.
It is possible to change the way of thinking and take new measures that can flexibly cope with the above-mentioned situation. Desirably, even if a large-volume sample container is used, the fluctuation of the reagent liquid level is suppressed. In addition, it is possible to realize a reagent container and an automatic analyzer capable of measuring the analysis data with high reliability without fluctuation of the reagent liquid level. Therefore, in other words, while realizing the above, a necessary amount of reagent can be prepared in advance, and the need for the user to frequently replace the reagent container can be appropriately achieved.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has been made in view of the following considerations, and has been made to improve upon these points. By reducing the maximum rotation angle of the turntable, it is possible to achieve high-speed rotation. This is intended to be realized based on the idea that the reagent container can be transferred to the suction position, and highly reliable analysis data can be measured.

[0011]

According to the present invention, a plurality of reagent containers are housed in a reagent container, and the reagent container is moved to a predetermined position in the reagent container, whereby a desired reagent is sampled by a probe. In the automatic analyzer, there is provided an automatic analyzer in which a plurality of reagent suction positions are provided at positions where a transfer trajectory of a probe and a movement trajectory of a suction port of a rotating reagent container intersect. .

In the above, the reagent container and the probe are moved to the reagent suction position where the rotation angle of the reagent container is minimized by the position information of the reagent container obtained by the detector for detecting the position of the reagent container in the reagent container. The present invention provides an automatic analyzer characterized by performing aspiration of a reagent.

Further, in the above, the automatic analyzer changes the moving speed according to the moving distance when moving the reagent container to a predetermined position in the reagent storage.

In the above, when there are a plurality of test request items, the automatic analyzer changes the order of tests so that the movement angle of the reagent containers is minimized based on the position information of the reagent containers. Item 4).

According to the present invention, by reducing the maximum rotation angle of the turntable, the maximum rotation angle can be reduced. As a result, the reagent container can be transferred to the suction position without rotating at high speed. High-performance analytical data, and can also be used flexibly to increase the speed of automatic analyzers and increase the capacity of reagent containers. And highly reliable analytical data can be measured.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic analyzer according to the first aspect, wherein a plurality of reagent suction positions are provided at a position where a transfer locus of a probe and a movement locus of a suction port of a rotating reagent container intersect. Make it possible.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, if the automatic analyzer according to claim 1 can be suitably implemented as a configuration as described in claim 2, it is possible to realize the above in a similar manner. Close. Furthermore, in this case,
To provide an automatic analyzer in which a plurality of reagent suction positions are provided as described in claim 1, and a target reagent container and a probe for collecting the reagent can be moved to a reagent suction port having a minimum rotation angle. Can be.

Also, in the case of the third and fourth aspects, as in the case of the second aspect, when the present invention is combined with the configuration of the automatic analyzer of the first aspect, the present invention is preferably used as a more effective configuration. While enabling the same to be achieved in a similar manner.
An automatic analyzer that can change a moving speed according to a moving distance optimally when moving a reagent container to a predetermined position in a reagent storage with a configuration in which a plurality of reagent suction positions are provided as described in claim 1. According to the fourth aspect, a plurality of reagent suction positions are provided as described in the first aspect, and when there are a plurality of inspection request items, the movement distance of the reagent container is optimally short. Thus, an automatic analyzer capable of changing the order of inspection can be provided.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Each of the drawings shows an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 1 and 2 also show a model of a reagent cooling box and a movement locus of a probe, and FIG. 3 shows a functional block of an example of a control system. Is shown.

In FIG. 1, which is a conceptual diagram showing a part of an example of an automatic analyzer (automatic analyzer) according to the present invention,
1 is a reagent storage (reagent cooler), 2 is a reagent tray, 3 is a rotary table, 4 is a reagent container, 5 is a detector, and 6 is a reagent suction probe (reagent probe). Here, the reagent storage 1 and the reagent suction probe 6 are shown as a first reagent storage and a first reagent suction probe, respectively (the second reagent storage and the reagent probe are respectively shown in the example of FIG. 6 described later). FIG. 1 shows one of the plurality of reagent containers as a representative example.

As shown in FIG. 1, the first reagent storage 1 comprises a reagent tray 2 and a rotary table 3, and the reagent tray 2 has reagent containers for storing predetermined reagents necessary for a desired analysis item. 4 is attached detachably,
A detector 5 for identifying the reagent container 4 is provided in the vicinity of the reagent tray 2, and the reagent bottle unique information such as the reagent item name and the position information in the tray are stored in a storage device (for example, a CPU constituting a computer shown in FIG. 3). May be connected to the memory circuit). Note that the reagent tray 2 is detachably mounted on the turntable 3. A first reagent suction probe 6 is provided near the reagent tray 2.

The automatic analyzer according to the present embodiment basically stores a plurality of reagent containers 4 in the above-described reagent storage 1 and moves the reagent containers 4 to a predetermined position in the reagent storage 1. In this manner, the target reagent can be collected by the probe 6. In addition to this, according to the present invention, the transfer trajectory of the probe 6 and the movement trajectory of the suction port of the rotating reagent container 4 can be determined. A plurality of reagent suction positions are provided at the positions where. Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the first reagent storage 1 has two reagent suction positions on the rotation trajectory of the first reagent probe 6, namely, a reagent suction position 7a and a reagent suction position 7.
b exists. Since the automatic analyzer performs the analysis operation according to a certain sequence, the operation start time of each unit is determined, and the turntable 3 and the probe 6 also operate according to a certain sequence. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 14 denotes a probe cleaning tank, which can also be set at a position along the transfer trajectory (rotation trajectory) of the probe 6 here.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the present embodiment, including the reaction tank 13 and the sample table 16. Here, in the figure, the first reagent probe 6
The suction port (suction position) 7a, 7b of the reagent storage 1 is installed so as to be able to suck, and the sucked reagent is discharged at the reagent discharge position 8 of the reaction tank 13. Further, the sample probe 12 aspirates the sample in the sample container 15 set on the sample table 16 and discharges the sample into the reaction tank 13. At this time, the reagent bottles (reagent containers) in the first reagent storage 1 are rotated by selecting the suction ports 7a and 7b so as to reduce the rotation angle. The first reagent probe 6 also rotates to the selected reagent port (suction position) to suction a predetermined reagent. That is, a plurality of reagent suction positions are provided, and the target reagent container and the probe 6 for collecting the reagent are moved to the reagent suction port where the rotation angle is minimized. This is executed by the control system of FIG.

Specifically, the control by the control system can be performed as follows in the case of FIG. Now
In the state shown in FIG. 2, the reagent container a indicated by reference numeral 10 has just finished suctioning from the reagent suction position 7 a and contains the reagent to be sucked by the first reagent probe 6 in the next sequence. However, assuming that the state is the reagent container b indicated by reference numeral 11 here, the position information of the reagent container b (11) (by the detector 5 that detects the position of the reagent container in the reagent storage 1). From the obtained position information), the movement to the reagent suction position 7a or the reagent suction position 7b
Control is performed so that the reagent suction position at which the rotation angle becomes smaller is selected and rotated. Therefore, because of this Figure 2
In the case shown in (1), the reagent container b (11) rotates counterclockwise in the figure (counterclockwise arrow), and rotates to the reagent suction position 7b.

Here, the rotary table 3 (FIG. 1) can perform intermittent operation at the same cycle, so that the time given to the rotation of the reagent table (rotary table 3) is constant even when the operating distance is different. It is. Therefore, when the rotation speed is small, the rotation speed can be reduced by, for example, decreasing the top speed value in the acceleration stage in inverse proportion to the rotation angle, and by providing a plurality of reagent suction positions, the reagent suction position can be reduced. , The maximum rotation angle can be made smaller. That is, the rotation speed can be reduced, and the fluctuation of the reagent liquid surface can be reduced. Here, a speed sensor for measuring the rotation speed may be provided, and the speed information may be stored or displayed on a monitor.
Further, by widening the angle between the reagent suction positions 7a and 7b (for example, setting an angle of 45 degrees as shown in FIG. 5 described later), the maximum rotation angle of the turntable 3 can be further reduced. Thus, by reducing the maximum rotation angle of the turntable 3, the reagent container b (11) is transferred to the reagent suction position (in the case of FIG. 2, not the position 7a but the position 7b) without rotating at a high speed. Therefore, the analysis data with high reliability can be measured, and the control as described above can be performed by moving the reagent container to a predetermined position in the reagent storage 1 (in the case of FIG. 2, This means that the moving speed can be changed depending on the position of the reagent container b (11) to the reagent suction position 7b) in the drawing.

FIG. 3 shows a control block diagram of the present embodiment.
The control system is a main CP that uses position information from the detector 5 for detecting the position of the reagent container in the reagent storage 1 as one input information.
A U (microcomputer) 19, a circuit 20 for controlling the rotation of the reagent storage for the reagent storage 1 and a circuit 21 for controlling the rotation of the probe for the reagent probe 6;
And a configuration including:

As described above with reference to the example, the configuration of the control system is based on the position information of the reagent container obtained by the detector 5 for detecting the position of the reagent container in the reagent storage 1.
The reagent container (the reagent container b (11) in the above example) and the probe 6 are moved to the reagent suction position (the reagent suction position 7b in the above example) where the rotation angle of the reagent storage 1 is minimized, and the reagent is sucked. Control (including changing the moving speed according to the moving distance when moving the reagent container), and when there are a plurality of inspection request items, the moving distance of the reagent container is shortened. The present invention can be applied to the control in the case of making.

That is, for example, when there are a plurality of test request items, the CPU 19 which controls the entire analyzer apparatus from the position information from the detector 5 of the reagent container allows the plurality of suction ports ( (Reagent suction position), and issues a command to the reagent storage rotation control circuit 20 to move the reagent storage 1 to the suction port where the moving angle of the reagent container is minimized. At the same time, a command to move to the selected suction port is also issued to the probe rotation control circuit 21. As described above, while selecting a specific one from the plurality of suction ports and shortening the operating distance of the reagent table (rotary table 3), the rotation speed can be reduced and the liquid level fluctuation in the reagent container can be suppressed.

The example shown below is more effective in combination with the above-described selection control of the reagent suction position. When there are a plurality of test request items, the position information of the reagent container This is an example in which the order of inspection is changed so that the moving angle is minimized, and FIG. 4 shows an example of such a case according to the present embodiment.

In FIG. 4, reagent containers 4, 4, 4,...
The position of the place is detected by the detector 5. Now, when the analysis request items are received in the order of A, B, and C, the reagents a and
It is assumed that b and c are arranged in such a manner that a, b and c are added to the three containers 4 in the figure. Normally, aspiration of reagents is performed in the order of a, b, and c (accordingly,
Speaking of these three containers, the middle container in the drawing containing the reagent a, the lower right container in the drawing containing the reagent b, and the upper left container in the drawing containing the reagent c, in this order. At) done. However, according to the present invention, when the reagent suction position is selected as described above and the order of reagent suction is changed so that the operation angle of the reagent table (rotary table 3) becomes small, in this case, the reagent suction position 7b The rotation angle of the reagent container 4 (the rotation angle required for the reagent container to rotate) can be reduced by setting the suction order to c, a, and b and the analysis order to C, A, and B. As in the embodiment, it is not possible to select two of the reagent suction positions 7a and 7b as the reagent suction positions, but if there is only one reagent suction position (for example, the position 7a), the one Even if the rotation angle would be required if the reagent suction position was used, the rotation angle can be made even smaller), and the liquid level fluctuation in the reagent container 4 can be suppressed, and highly reliable data can be obtained. .

In the example of FIG. 4, a plurality of reagent suction positions are provided in the reagent storage 1, and the reagent container 4 is moved by selecting a suction position where the moving distance is short, thereby suppressing the fluctuation of the reagent liquid surface and suppressing the reagent flow. It is also based on an automatic analyzer that provides highly reliable data by preventing defects and the like, and further incorporates the above-described control for changing the order of reagent aspiration,
The present invention can also be implemented in this way.

Next, an example according to FIG. 5 will be described. As mentioned earlier, if you run a lot of different types of analysis,
It is conceivable to increase the capacity of the reagent container in order to eliminate the trouble of adding the reagents. FIG. 5 shows an example of such an embodiment.

In FIG. 3, the reagent storage 1 is provided with an angle between suction ports (suction positions) 7a and 7b of 45 degrees. And, four reagent bottles (reagent containers) 4 are installed in the reagent storage 1, and the reagent suction ports 22 of the reagent bottles are spaced at 45 degrees in such an installed state as shown in the figure. Here, since the capacity of the reagent has increased, the fluctuation of the reagent liquid level during the rotational transfer of the reagent bottle increases. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to rotate the turntable 3 very slowly. Therefore, in such a case, it is more advantageous according to the present invention, and since the two reagent suction ports (reagent suction positions) 7a and 7b can be selected, the maximum rotation angle is only 45 degrees. In addition, if the reagent is moved within one sequence, the reagent liquid level in the reagent container fluctuates greatly, and if dispensing failure occurs, the probe suction is paused for one sequence and the time required for rotating the turntable 3 is increased by two sequences. By doing so, these avoidances can be realized. In addition, the rotation of the probe and / or the reagent table is stopped for the reagent container having the amount less than the allowable amount by the known remaining amount detecting means, and the reaction table is appropriately continued to advance the reaction container that cannot be dispensed. By doing so, it is preferable to continue the analysis accurately without waste.

The example shown in FIG. 5 is an example of an automatic analyzer having a function of selecting a reagent suction position according to the present invention when a large-capacity reagent container is used as a reagent container used in the automatic analyzer. Combined with the configuration, it also means that an effective one can be realized, and therefore, even when the reagent container capacity is increased to eliminate the trouble of adding reagents when performing a large number of types of analysis items, A useful reagent container in which the fluctuation of the reagent liquid level does not become large and the highly reliable analysis data can be measured can be obtained. The present invention can also be implemented in this way.

The present invention can also be implemented as a configuration having a similar function of selecting a reagent suction position even when a plurality of reagent probes and a reagent storage are used, and FIG. 6 shows an example of this embodiment. . The main part will be described below. As shown in the figure, the first cool box (reagent cool box) 1 is a first reagent probe 6
By this, the reagents are installed so as to be able to be sucked from the suction ports (reagent suction positions) 7a and 7b, and the second cold storage (reagent cold storage) 17 is moved by the second reagent probe 18 to the suction port (reagent suction position).
Reagents are installed so as to be able to be sucked from 7c and 7d.
Discharge is performed at 9b. The sample probe 12 aspirates the sample in the sample container 15 installed on the sample table 16 and discharges the sample into the reaction tank 13. According to the present invention, even when a plurality of reagent probes and a reagent storage are used, the rotation angle of the reagent container can be reduced, the liquid level fluctuation in the reagent container can be suppressed, and highly reliable data can be obtained. . The present invention can also be implemented in this way.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, a reagent container to be used is one in which the shape of a reagent bottle is improved to prevent the liquid surface from swaying according to a proposal made by the applicant of the prior application (Japanese Patent Application No. 11-83073). It does not preclude the use of the same, and so may be done if desired, but of course, the use of those without such improvements would still result in the new means introduced by the present invention. It can be useful. Further, in the embodiment, a limited number of reagent tables (in the above example, 2
), The probe is rotated below a plurality of reagent containers which are fixed and arranged as disclosed in JP-A-1-104045 and JP-A-55-140155. Alternatively, the configuration may be such that the rotation angle of the probe is controlled to be minimum. Also, the probe is not limited to one probe per reagent table, and a probe having a trajectory that moves with respect to a common reagent discharge position and one or more newly provided reagent suction ports is added and designated. The processing speed may be increased by selectively moving the suction port closest to the target reagent container and the corresponding probe according to the reagent used, and the rotation speed of the reagent table may be reduced accordingly.

FIG. 6 also shows the embodiment shown in FIGS.
It is needless to say that the embodiments can be implemented in combination.

The contents described above can also be considered as the following inventions.

[Supplementary Item 1] In an automatic analyzer in which a plurality of reagent containers are housed in a reagent cool box, and the reagent containers are moved to a predetermined position in the reagent box, so that a target reagent is sampled by a probe. By providing a plurality of reagent suction positions at positions where the transfer trajectory of the probe and the rotation trajectory of the rotating reagent container intersect, the target reagent container and its reagent can be placed in the reagent suction port with the minimum rotation angle. An automatic analyzer characterized by moving a probe to be collected.

[Appendix 2] The automatic analyzer according to Appendix 1, wherein when the reagent container is moved to a predetermined position in the reagent cool box, the moving speed is changed according to the moving distance.

[Additional Item 3] The automatic analyzer according to Additional Item 1, wherein when there are a plurality of test request items, the order of the tests is changed so that the moving distance of the reagent container is shortened.

[0042]

According to the present invention, as apparent from the above description, an improved automatic analyzer can be provided. Even if a reagent container having a large capacity is used, if the fluctuation of the reagent liquid level is large, And highly reliable analytical data can be measured. That is, a necessary amount of reagent can be prepared in advance, and the user does not need to frequently replace the reagent container.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1, showing an embodiment of the present invention, is a conceptual diagram of a part of an automatic analyzer according to the present invention, which also shows a model of a trajectory of a reagent cool box and a probe.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a model of a reagent cooling box and a movement trajectory of a probe, which is used for describing the apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram illustrating an example of a control block.

FIG. 4 is a diagram provided for describing an example of changing the order of reagent suction.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an example of a configuration example applicable to a case where the capacity of a reagent container is increased.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another example of a model of a movement locus of a reagent cool box and a probe, and is provided for explaining an example of a configuration example applicable to a case where a plurality of reagent probes and a reagent box are used.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 first reagent storage (reagent cool storage: cool storage) 2 reagent tray 3 turntable 4 reagent container 5 detector 6 first reagent probe (first reagent suction probe) 7a reagent suction position 7b reagent suction position 7c reagent suction position 7d Reagent suction position 10 Reagent container a 11 Reagent container b 12 Sample probe 13 Reaction tank 14 Probe washing tank 15 Sample container 16 Sample table 17 Second reagent storage (reagent cool storage: cool storage) 18 Second reagent probe (second reagent) Suction probe) 19 Main CPU (CPU for controlling the entire analyzer) 20 Reagent rotation control circuit 21 Probe rotation control circuit 22 Reagent suction port (reagent bottle)

Claims (4)

[Claims] An automatic analyzer for dispensing a target reagent by a probe by storing a plurality of reagent containers in a reagent storage in a positional relationship with each other and moving the reagent container to a predetermined position in the reagent storage. In the method, a plurality of reagent suction positions are provided at positions where the transfer trajectory of the probe and the movement trajectory of the suction port of the rotating reagent container intersect, and any one of the plurality of suction positions is selectively provided according to a designated reagent. An automatic analyzer characterized in that the probe can be transferred. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reagent container and the probe are located at a reagent suction position where the rotation angle of the reagent container is minimized based on the information on the position of the reagent container obtained by the detector that detects the position of the reagent container in the reagent container. An automatic analyzer characterized by moving a sample and sucking a reagent. 3. The automatic analyzer according to claim 1, wherein when the reagent container is moved to a predetermined position in the reagent storage, the moving speed is changed according to the moving distance. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein when there are a plurality of test request items, the order of the tests is changed so that the movement angle of the reagent container is minimized based on the position information of the reagent container. Automatic analyzer.