JP2004125402A - Small device for detecting trace amount of substance - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a small device for detecting a trace amount of a substance, which enables easy observation at a position distant from the site of measuring. <P>SOLUTION: The device 10 for detecting the trace amount of the substance is provided with a sensor 12, having a crystal resonator 18, where the substance being detected, such as marker protein, toxic gas, minute particles or the like can be selectively deposited or attached thereto; an oscillation circuit 22, which is connected with the sensor 12 to make up an oscillation circuit system; a calculation section 26 which detects changes in the signal frequency generated by the oscillation circuit 22; and an output section 14, which transmits detection data indicative of the detected frequency change to a use device 16. The output section 14 is linked to the use device 16 by wired or wireless connections. The calculation section 26 has a memory 28, which temporarily stores the detection data. Therefore, the detection device 10 can easily detect the traces of the substance to be measured anywhere in a living body or in the environment, and the data of the result can be obtained, at anytime at a remote position, for example. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a detection device for detecting a marker / protein in a living body and a harmful gas or suspended particulates in an environment.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, substances to be measured in samples such as blood, bodily fluids, excreta, and heat, such as markers / proteins and stress markers derived from stress load, and dioxins used for environmental monitoring, which are used in environmental monitoring. There are detection devices that measure substances such as chemicals, environmental hormones, pesticides, landmines buried underground, and trace amounts of gaseous substances leaking from poisonous gas weapons abandoned on the battlefield.
[0003]
As a detection device capable of easily detecting a disease marker in a living body, there is, for example, a simple disease marker substance detection device described in JP-A-2001-83154 (Patent Document 1). This is to detect a disease marker by attaching a disease marker substance to a quartz oscillator by a latex agglutination reaction and detecting a change in oscillation frequency caused by a change in weight. This is based on the principle described in Non-Patent Document 1.
[0004]
As a detection device based on the same principle, there is a detection device that can easily detect a trace substance such as gas or fine particles in the environment. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-242057 (Patent Document 2) describes such a simple small gas or airborne particulate detection device.
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2001-83154 A [Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-242057 [Non-Patent Document 1]
ACS Symposium Series 657, 1997, Chapter 15, pp. 185-196.
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, although these conventional detection devices are small, the output of the detection result is only displayed on the device, so that the measurer can only confirm the measurement result at the detected location. Therefore, continuous observation, such as recording and analyzing the data at a fixed time and a fixed point over time, required a troublesome operation.
[0007]
An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and to provide a small-sized detection device for trace substances that can be easily observed at a position distant from the measurement site.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a small-sized detection device for a trace substance with a transmission function to easily detect a substance to be measured anywhere and transmit the measurement data to a remote location. It has a configuration to do.
[0009]
A detection device for a trace substance according to the present invention includes a detection unit including a quartz oscillator capable of adhering or adsorbing an object to be detected such as a marker protein, a gas, or a fine particle, and an oscillation circuit connected to the detection unit together with the quartz oscillator. An oscillation circuit constituting the system, an arithmetic circuit for detecting an electrical characteristic of the oscillation circuit, and an output circuit for transmitting data representing the detected electrical characteristic are included.
[0010]
Preferably, the output circuit is connectable to an external utilization device by at least one of wired and wireless.
[0011]
Further, the detected electrical characteristics advantageously include the oscillation frequency of the crystal oscillator, or the output voltage or current or impedance of the oscillation circuit.
[0012]
Further, the arithmetic circuit may include a memory circuit for temporarily storing the data.
[0013]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
A preferred embodiment of a small-sized detection device for a trace substance according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The detection device 10 according to the embodiment is configured to transmit a measurement result detected by the sensor 12 to the utilization device 16 via the output unit 14. More specifically, in this embodiment, the sensor 12 includes a quartz oscillator 18 and constitutes a detection unit that detects a marker in a living body and gas or suspended particulates in an environment such as the atmosphere, the atmosphere, and the water. ing. The sensor 12 preferably has a structure accommodated in a latex agglutination reactor so as to adsorb a trace substance such as a disease marker or a stress marker in a living body such as a human body or an animal disclosed in Patent Document 2 to itself. Applied. Further, in an application example of detecting a specific gas or particulates in an environment such as the atmosphere, the sensor 12 has a coating formed on a gas or suspended particulates as disclosed in Patent Document 1 Is advantageously applied. The weight of the whole crystal oscillator 18 changes due to a substance to be detected such as gas or fine particles adsorbed or absorbed, and the natural oscillation frequency in the oscillation circuit 22 changes accordingly.
[0014]
The sensor 12 of the embodiment may be a sensor capable of detecting a substance to be measured in a blood sample, such as a protein or a stress-derived stress marker, as disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above. Alternatively, as taught in Patent Document 2, dioxins and environmental hormones for environmental monitoring, pesticides, landmines buried in the ground, and trace amounts of gaseous substances leaking from poisonous gas weapons abandoned on the battlefield, etc. The detection substance can be detected.
[0015]
The sensor 12 is connected to the oscillation circuit 22 by a connection line 20 as shown, preferably detachably. The oscillating circuit 22 forms an oscillating circuit system together with the quartz oscillator 18, and is configured so that the oscillating frequency of the circuit system changes in accordance with gas or fine particles adsorbed or adhered to the oscillator 18. The output 24 is connected to a calculation unit 26. The higher the fundamental frequency of the crystal unit 18, the larger the oscillation frequency response, and thus the higher the detection sensitivity, but the lower the signal-to-noise ratio (S / N). For example, in the case of detecting gas or fine particles in the atmosphere, the fundamental frequency is 50 MHz or more, preferably 100 MHz, and may be an odd harmonic frequency. In the case of detecting an in-vivo marker, for example, the fundamental frequency is 9 MHz.
[0016]
The arithmetic unit 26 is constituted by a processing system such as a microprocessor, for example. The arithmetic unit 26 controls the entire device 10, and particularly, in the present invention, detects the oscillation frequency of the oscillation circuit 22, and deposits the substance to be detected on the vibrator 18. It has a function of calculating a change from an oscillation frequency in a state in which it is not performed, that is, a reference frequency. Instead of directly measuring the oscillating frequency, or in place of the oscillating frequency, an electrical characteristic such as a voltage or current output from the oscillating circuit 22 or impedance may be detected.
[0017]
The calculation unit 26 has an internal memory 28 in which the calculated frequency change amount is temporarily stored. The memory 28 is a semiconductor temporary storage device such as a RAM (random access memory) in this embodiment. Note that the oscillation circuit 22 and the operation unit 26 may be integrally configured as a single integrated circuit.
[0018]
The calculation unit 26 is also a control device that controls the overall control of the device 10. In the present embodiment, for example, the arithmetic unit 26 may include a timer (not shown), and may be configured to periodically start the apparatus 10 at a specified time or at time intervals to perform measurement. The calculation unit 26 is connected to the display unit 34 and the output unit 14 by connection lines 30 and 32, respectively, as illustrated.
[0019]
The display unit 34 is a display device that visually displays the frequency calculated by the arithmetic unit 26 or the change thereof, and includes a liquid crystal display panel in the present embodiment. Liquid crystal panels are advantageous in that they consume less power. The data displayed on the display unit 34 preferably includes a display of a frequency value or a numerical value of a change detected by the calculation unit 26 and / or a corresponding symbol or character.
[0020]
The output unit 14 is basically a circuit that assembles data representing the frequency calculated by the arithmetic unit 26 or a change thereof into a predetermined data format, and outputs the data to the utilization device 16 from the output line 36. The utilization device 16 may be a communication line itself such as a public line, a dedicated line, or an air interface, or may be a memory card or a memory chip including a writable semiconductor memory element, depending on an application example of the device 10. Alternatively, an external storage device such as an optical disk or a magnetic disk that can be attached to and detached from the device 10 may be used. Further, a hard copy device such as a printer or a plotter, a single display device, or a processing system such as a personal computer (personal computer) may be used. Therefore, the output unit 14 may be a wired or wireless transmission circuit, or a serial or parallel output circuit, depending on the form of the utilization device 16. Generally, these devices are referred to herein as remote devices.
[0021]
Therefore, although the connection line 36 is symbolically drawn as one solid line in the drawing, it may be a wireless system including an antenna as well as a wire including a plurality of connection lines. . In the case of wireless communication, not only electromagnetic waves of radio frequency such as Bluetooth and wireless LAN, but also optical connection by infrared rays may be used. Further, the format of the transfer data may be serial transfer such as RS232C, which is advantageously applied when the utilization device 16 is a personal computer with a small number of connection lines. Examples of applications requiring a high transfer rate include, for example, parallel transfer based on the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 1284, IEEE 1394, etc., multipurpose interface bus (GP-IB), and general-purpose serial bus (USB). You may. As can be seen from the above, it goes without saying that the output unit 14, the connection line 36 and the utilization device 16 may be in any one of the forms described above, or may be in the form of a combination of a plurality of them.
[0022]
The detection apparatus 10 of the embodiment has a power supply section 40 and supplies a low voltage such as, for example, DC 5 volts necessary for circuit operation to each section in the apparatus 10 as conceptually indicated by a connection line 38. Power supply 40 advantageously includes a secondary battery (not shown) that can be charged from a commercial power supply 42, such as 100 volts AC. Although the commercial power supply 42 is conceptually shown by a symbol, in the present embodiment, it includes an AC / DC conversion circuit (not shown), and is detachably connected to the power supply unit 40 via the connector 44. The power supply unit 40 is also connected to the calculation unit 26 via a connection line 46, whereby the calculation unit 26 performs control such as setting the power supply unit 40 to a power saving mode. The arithmetic unit 26, for example, activates the power supply unit 40 when the apparatus 10 is in an idle state for a predetermined period or at a specified time or at a specified time interval, and shifts the entire apparatus to the measurement mode. Let it.
[0023]
The operation unit 26 is also connected to the operation unit 50 by a connection line 48. The operation unit 50 is an input device that is manually operated by an operator and inputs various instructions and settings for controlling the device 10. This operation includes starting and stopping of the device 10, setting of measurement conditions and a timer, and the like. Although not shown, when the utilization device 16 is a processing system such as a personal computer, the device 10 receives a remote operation command from the utilization device 16 via the connection line 36, and the arithmetic unit 26 responds thereto. Alternatively, the detection operation may be performed.
[0024]
In this embodiment, the oscillation circuit 22, the arithmetic unit 26, the display unit 34, the output unit 14, the power supply unit 40, and the operation unit 50 are housed in a single housing. In FIG. This is indicated by a chain line 10. The housing 10 has a size of, for example, 100 mm × 150 mm × 30 mm or less.
[0025]
In the operation state, in response to the operation of the operation unit 50 or a remote control command from the utilization device 16, the calculation unit 26 causes the power supply unit 40 to shift from the idle state to the operation state on the one hand, and drives the oscillation circuit 22 on the other hand. Then, the oscillation frequency of the vibrator 18 in the sensor 12 is detected. In the following description, signals are designated by the reference numbers of the connecting lines in which they appear. The arithmetic unit 26 detects, via the oscillation circuit 22, a change in the oscillating frequency according to the gas or fine particles or markers adsorbed or attached to the sensor 12, temporarily stores the change in the internal memory 28, and displays the change in the display unit. 34 is displayed.
[0026]
The measurement data temporarily stored in the internal memory 28 is transmitted from the memory 28 by the arithmetic unit 26 in response to an operation of the operation unit 50 or a remote control command from the utilization device 16 or by a timer drive set in the arithmetic unit 26. It is read and sent to the output unit 14. When the amount of data stored in the memory 28 reaches a predetermined threshold value, the stored data may be sent to the output unit 14. The output unit 14 assembles the data 32 into a format corresponding to the use device and transfers the data 32 to the use device 16. For example, the utilization device 16 such as a personal computer can receive and transfer the data thus transferred and perform processing such as analysis. The present embodiment is configured to accumulate the detection data in the memory 28 and then periodically transfer the detection data to the utilization device 16 later. It goes without saying that the setting can be made so as to transfer the data to the use device 16.
[0027]
Such remote control features include the detection of landmines buried underground and abandoned explosives or chemical weapons that measure harmful or toxic substances, such as traces of gaseous substances leaking from venomous gas weapons abandoned on the battlefield. The detection device 10 can also be applied to the detection / processing device. In an application example of such a detection device, the detection device 10 itself is provided with a function of detecting a generation source to be detected and a self-propelled function that approaches the generation source. In addition, it has a function of approaching the detection target by itself and specifying its spatial coordinates (position) and amount, and a function of installing a positioning marking tag at the detection target position. The marking tag has, for example, a wireless function and an explosive detonation function, whereby dangerous weapons such as land mines and poisonous gases can be removed by remote control.
[0028]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the detected data is sent from the calculation unit to the output unit, and is transferred to an external device via a wired, wireless, or storage medium. Therefore, a trace substance in a living body or an environment can be easily detected anywhere, and the resulting data can be obtained at any time, for example, at a remote location.
[0029]
Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to examples, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to these examples.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram schematically showing an embodiment of a small-sized detection device for a trace substance according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 10 detecting device 12 sensor 14 output unit 22 oscillation circuit 26 arithmetic unit 28 memory

Claims (7)

A detection unit including a crystal oscillator capable of selectively adhering or selectively adsorbing a substance to be detected such as a marker protein, a harmful gas, or fine particles,
An oscillation circuit connected to the detection unit and forming an oscillation circuit system together with the quartz oscillator,
An arithmetic circuit for detecting an electrical characteristic of the oscillation circuit;
An output circuit for transmitting data representing the detected electrical characteristics. 2. The detection device according to claim 1, wherein the output circuit is connectable to an external use device by at least one of a wire and a wireless. 2. The detection device according to claim 1, further comprising a display circuit for visually displaying the data. 2. The detection device according to claim 1, wherein the electrical characteristics include an oscillation frequency of the crystal oscillator, or an output voltage, current, or impedance of the oscillation circuit. 2. The detection device according to claim 1, wherein the arithmetic circuit includes a memory circuit for temporarily storing the data. 3. The detection device according to claim 2, wherein the utilization device includes at least one of a communication line, a temporary storage device, an external storage device, a printer, a plotter, and a processing system. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises a function of detecting a source of the substance to be detected, a self-propelling function approaching the source, a function of specifying a position of the source, and A function of measuring the substance to be detected when approaching the source and installing a marking tag for positioning the source.

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