JP2003004751A - Sample stirrer and sample analysis apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify a configuration by decreasing the number of drive sources. SOLUTION: The sample stirring comprises first and second drive sources, a first support member for supporting two hands so that they can be opened and closed, a second support member for supporting the first support section rotatably, a movement member for reciprocating the second support member from the first to second position by the drive force of the first drive source, and an opening/closing member, that is driven by a second drive source for opening or closing the two hands. The opening/closing member opens or closes the two hands at the first position, and the movement member rotates the first support member forward and backward, corresponding to the reciprocation of the second support member.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sample stirring device, and more particularly to a device for stirring a liquid sample contained in a container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a device of this type, a first air cylinder for moving a hand to a position sandwiching a sample container, a second air cylinder for holding the sample container by the hand while raising the hand, and a hand The one provided with the third air cylinder for overturning the grasped sample container, that is,
It is known that the stirring operation of gripping and inverting the sample container is performed by three driving sources (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 2535162).

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a sample stirring device capable of performing a stirring operation of gripping a sample container and inverting it with two driving sources, thereby simplifying the configuration. Is an issue. It is another object of the present invention to provide a sample stirring device equipped with an openable / closable hand corresponding to sample containers of various sizes.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there are provided a first and a second drive sources and a first support for supporting two hands in an openable and closable manner.
A supporting member; a second supporting member that rotatably supports the first supporting portion; a moving member that reciprocates the second supporting member from the first position to the second position by the driving force of the first driving source; And an opening / closing member for opening and closing the two hands driven by a drive source, the opening / closing member being at the first position.
A sample stirring device is provided in which one hand is opened and closed, and the moving member rotates the first supporting member forward and backward in response to the reciprocating motion of the second supporting member.

[0005]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The sample in the sample container of the present invention is blood urine or the like. The maximum diameter of the sample container is 12-18m.
The main target is m, and the length is 75 to 83 mm, but the present invention is not limited to this. In the present invention, the first and second drive sources may be electric, pneumatic or hydraulic drive sources such as motors, electromagnetic solenoids, air cylinders, hydraulic cylinders, etc. It is preferable to use an electric type. A cam can be used for the first support member and the opening / closing member.

The moving member can be composed of a screw shaft and a nut member that engages with the screw shaft, but is not limited to this and may be composed of a timing belt and a slide shaft.

The opening / closing member is preferably constructed so that the two hands can be opened and closed when the two hands approach the first position by a predetermined distance. In this case, when the sample container is installed near the first position, the two hands approach both sides of the sample container in an open state, and after reaching the first position, the two hands are closed to grasp the sample container. Therefore, unnecessary force is not applied to the sample container.

When the first supporting member is a cam, if the cam operating member is further provided, the first supporting member can be rotated by bringing the cam into contact with the cam operating member. In this case, it is preferable to provide an urging member such as a spring for urging the cam in the reverse rotation direction.

When the opening / closing member is a cam,
The cam can be engaged with the two hands, and the two hands can be opened and closed by the rotation of the cam. In this case, 2
The two hands are preferably spring-biased toward each other. Further, the sample stirring device of the present invention can be used in a sample analyzer, for example, a blood analyzer.

Embodiments The present invention will be described in detail below based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. This does not limit the invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sample stirring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention as seen from the front, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view as seen from the back.

As shown in these drawings, a support plate 2 is fixed to a base 1, a first bracket 3 is fixed to the upper end of the support plate 2, and a second bracket 4 and a third bracket 5 are provided in an intermediate part. The DC electromagnetic solenoid 20 is fixed. A cam 7 is supported on the third bracket 5 so as to be rotatable around a support shaft 6.

As shown in FIG. 3, one end of the plunger 29 of the electromagnetic solenoid 20 is connected to the arm 3 via the connector 33.
Connected to 0. The arm 30 penetrates through the opening 5 a of the third bracket 5 and engages with the back surface of the cam 7 so that the plunger 2
When 9 moves in the direction of arrow A, the cam 7 rotates clockwise about the shaft 6, and when it moves in the direction of arrow B, the cam 7 moves the shaft 6
It is designed to rotate counterclockwise around.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, a stepping motor 8 is installed on the first bracket 3, an output shaft 9 of the stepping motor 8 penetrates the first bracket 3, and a spur gear 10 is fixed to the tip of the output shaft 9 that penetrates. Has been done.

A screw shaft 11 is vertically provided between the first bracket 3 and the second bracket 4. The upper end of the screw shaft 11 is the first bracket 3
Is rotatably supported by the first bracket 3 through a bearing (not shown). The lower end of the screw shaft 11 is rotatably supported by the second bracket 4 via a bearing (not shown). A spur gear 12 is fixed to the upper end of the screw shaft 11 and meshes with the spur gear 10.

The screw shaft 11 is a nut member 13.
Through the screw shaft 11 and engage each other with screws,
The rotation of the nut member 13 causes the nut member 13 to move up and down. The fourth bracket 14 is horizontally attached to the upper surface of the nut member 13, and the arm 15 is horizontally fixed to the end of the fourth bracket 14.

A cam 34 is provided on the arm 15 so as to be rotatable around the support shaft 16, and the hands 34 are provided on the cam 34.
Are rotatably provided around the support shafts 19a and 19b, respectively.

The hands 17 and 18 are connected by a first spring 21, and the first spring 21 urges the hands 17 and 18 toward each other, and the urged hands 17 and 1
8 is in contact with the protrusions 25 and 26 and is stopped.

The pin 22 erected on the arm 15 and the pin 23 erected on the second cam 34 are connected by a second spring 24, and the second spring 24 connects the second cam 34 to the support shaft 1.
6, the second cam 34 comes into contact with the protrusion 35 and is stopped.

The first bracket 3 is provided with the cam operating rod 2
An extension bracket 28 for fixing 7 downward is supported.
As shown in FIG. 2, the fourth bracket 14 includes a sensor operating piece 31 that horizontally protrudes, and the operating piece 31 supports the support plate 2
A lower limit sensor 32 including a photo interrupter provided in
An upper limit sensor (not shown) composed of a photo interrupter is operated. Hands 17 and 18 as shown in FIG.
Are provided with cam contact portions 17a and 18a on the upper part thereof, and elastic members 17b and 18 for holding the sample container 100 are provided at the tips thereof.
b is provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a U groove (not shown) extending in the vertical direction is formed on one end 15a of the arm 15 at its end face, and the U groove is fitted to the edge of the support plate 2, When the arm 15 moves up and down, the end portion 15a of the arm 15 slides along the edge of the support plate 2.

Next, the operation of the sample stirring device configured as described above will be described. In this sample stirring device, the hands 17 and 18 are held at the positions shown in FIG.
And is held in the posture shown in FIG. At this time, the plunger 29 is in the most protruding state in the direction of arrow B in FIG.
The hands 17, 18 are in a state in which the tips are located slightly above the cam 7.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
Is connected to the hands 17 and 1 by a rack (transport device) not shown.
When it is conveyed to the position just below 8, the stepping motor 8 is driven to lower the hands 17 and 18 to the lowest limit as shown in FIG.

The cam 7 contacts the cam contact portion 17a from the middle of the descent.
And 18a to open the hands 17 and 18, and at the lowest position, the hands 17 and 18 face the upper portion of the sample container 100 without contacting each other. Therefore, the electromagnetic solenoid 20
4 and the plunger 29 moves in the direction of arrow A as shown in FIG. 4, the hands 17 and 18 approach each other as shown in FIG. grab.

Next, when the stepping motor 8 is driven and the arm 15 moves up, the cam 34 comes into contact with the tip of the cam operating rod 27 as shown in FIG. Further, when the arm 15 rises, the cam 34 moves the cam operating rod 27 as shown in FIG.
The shaft 1 against the biasing force of the second spring 24.
The sample container 100 starts to tilt by rotating clockwise about 6.

When the arm 15 further rises, the sample container 100 rotates as shown in FIG. 9, and when the arm 15 rises to the maximum limit, the sample container 100 rotates from the vertical posture of FIG. 7 to an angle of 120 degrees. . Here, the sensor actuation piece 31 (FIG. 2) actuates an upper limit sensor (not shown),
The stepping motor 8 stops, and the raising of the arm 15 also stops.

Next, the stepping motor 8 is rotated in the reverse direction, and the arm 15 is lowered to the position shown in FIG. 7, that is, the position where the sample container 100 returns to the vertical state, and stopped. Then, the stepping motor 8 moves the arm 15 from the position of FIG.
The sample container 100 is reciprocated a predetermined number of times (for example, 10 times) to the position of (3) and the rocking of the sample container 100 is repeated. As a result, the sample container 1
The sample in 00 is well agitated.

When the stirring operation is completed in this way, the stepping motor 8 lowers the arm 15 to the position shown in FIG. 6 and reloads the sample container into the rack. At this time, since the sensor operating piece 31 operates the lower limit sensor 32, the stepping motor 8 stops and the lowering operation of the arm 15 also stops.

Next, when the electromagnetic solenoid 20 is actuated and the plunger 29 is pushed out in the direction of arrow B, the cam 7 rotates counterclockwise to the position shown in FIG. As a result, the test container 100 is separated from the hands 17 and 18 as shown in FIG.

As described above, this sample stirring device is
The operation of taking out the sample container 100 from the rack, the stirring operation, and the reloading operation to the rack are continuously performed.

FIG. 10 is a plan layout view of a blood analyzer to which the sample stirring device of the present invention is applied. The rack 126 has a test tube stand shape so that ten sample containers 100 can be mounted therein. The sample container 100 contains blood as a sample.

First, when the racks 126 containing the sample containers 100 are lined up in a line in the sending section 112, all the racks 126 are aligned and moved forward in the direction indicated by the arrow C in FIG. The rack 126 is sent to the transfer section 110 on the left side.

A blood analyzer 118 is provided above the transfer section 110.
Are arranged. The rack 126 transferred by the transfer unit 100 stops immediately below the stirring device 111 of the blood analysis unit 118 device.

When the sample in the leading sample container 100 is agitated by the sample agitating device 111, the rack 126 moves by a predetermined distance (arrangement pitch of the sample containers 100), and the sample is agitated from the sample container after agitation. It is sucked by the suction device 112.

The aspirated sample is quantified by the quantification unit 113 and analyzed by the analysis unit 114. During the suction operation of the suction device 112, the stirring device 111 stirs the sample in the next sample container 100. The racks 126 are intermittently transported by the arrangement pitch of the sample containers 100, and 10 racks (one rack 1
When the stirring and suction of the samples in all the sample containers mounted on 26 are completed, the rack 126 is further transported in the D direction,
The stirring of the sample container 100 at the top of the next rack 126 is started. The rack 126 after stirring and suctioning the samples for 10 containers is finally collected in a row in the direction of arrow E by the rack collecting unit 116. The sample stirring device shown in FIG. 1 is applied to the sample stirring device 111 in the blood analyzer 118.

[0035]

According to the present invention, since the sample container can be grasped by the two driving sources, taken out from the rack, swung, and then returned to the rack, the stirring device having a simple structure can be used. Will be provided. In addition, since it has an open / close type hand and adopts a method of grasping the head of the sample container,
It is possible to support sample containers of various sizes.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sample stirring device according to the present invention as viewed from the front.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the sample stirring device according to the present invention as viewed from the back side.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing the configuration and operation of a main part of the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view showing the configuration and operation of the main part of the apparatus shown in FIG.

5 is a perspective view showing the overall operation of the device shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the overall operation of the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the overall operation of the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the overall operation of the apparatus shown in FIG.

9 is a perspective view showing the overall operation of the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a plan layout view of a blood analyzer using the sample stirring device shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 base 2 Support plate 3 first bracket 4 second bracket 5 Third bracket 5a opening 6 spindles 7 first cam 8 stepping motor 9 Output shaft 10 spur gear 11 screw shaft 12 spur gear 13 Nut member 14 Fourth bracket 15 arms 15a end 16 spindles 17 hands 18 hands 19a spindle 19b spindle 20 DC electromagnetic solenoid 21 first spring 22 pin 23 pin 24 Second spring 25 Projection 26 Projection 27 Cam operating rod 28 Extension bracket 29 Plunger 30 arms 31 Sensor operation piece 32 lower limit sensor 33 connector 34 cam 35 Projection 100 sample containers

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A first and second drive source, a first support member that supports the two hands in an openable and closable manner, a second support member that supports the first support portion in a rotatable manner, and a first drive source. A moving member that reciprocates the second support member from the first position to the second position by the driving force, and a second driving source that drives the moving member.
An opening / closing member for opening / closing one hand, the opening / closing member opens / closes the two hands in the first position, and the moving member rotates the first supporting member in the forward and reverse directions in response to the reciprocating motion of the second supporting member. Sample agitator. 2. The sample stirring device according to claim 1, wherein the first and second drive sources are electric drive sources. 3. The sample stirring device according to claim 1, wherein the first drive source is a motor and the second drive source is an electromagnetic solenoid. 4. The sample stirring device according to claim 1, wherein each of the first support member and the opening / closing member is a cam. 5. The moving member includes a screw shaft and a second shaft.
The sample stirring device according to claim 1, comprising a nut member provided on the support member and engaged with the screw shaft by a screw. 6. The sample stirring device according to claim 1, further comprising a cam operating member, wherein the first supporting member is a cam, and the moving member is rotated by bringing the first supporting member into contact with the cam operating member. 7. The sample stirring device according to claim 1, further comprising a sensor for detecting that the second support member has reached the first position and the second position, and stopping the first drive source by the output of the sensor. 8. A sample analyzer using the sample agitator according to claim 1.