JP2004198268A - Drive mechanism controller and object processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically determine required drive force due to deterioration progress of a drive mechanism. <P>SOLUTION: A drive mechanism controller 10 controls a drive source 4 of a mechanism 2 to be driven, and is provided with a drive control part 12 for controlling drive of the drive source 4 and changing its drive force, a detecting part 14 for detecting an operation condition of the drive source 4, a drive error detecting part 16 for detecting a drive error of the drive source 4 based on the detection signal from the detecting part 14 and a threshold detecting part 18 for detecting a threshold of the drive force when the drive error detecting part 16 detects the drive error of the drive source 4 as the drive force of the drive source 4 is reduced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention includes an analyzer, a controller for controlling a drive source of a drive mechanism for transporting and processing necessary things such as samples, reagents, containers, parts, and the like, and includes such a controller. The present invention relates to an object processing apparatus.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Taking the pretreatment device of the analyzer as an example of the object processing device, the pretreatment device of the analyzer has a mechanism that automatically sets the sample rack in the case and an arm that handles the vial. is there. In such a pre-processing device, the driving force for driving the mechanism is calculated in advance or obtained by a test using a prototype device, and the result is a value (fixed value) obtained by placing a margin in consideration of variations and the like. I'm using
[0003]
There are many other devices equipped with such a mechanism, but in most cases the driving force is calculated in advance in the same way as described above or by a test using a prototype device, and a margin is set in consideration of variations in the results. Used with the values listed.
[0004]
Further, in the automatic analyzer, in order to transport the sample rack with stable positioning accuracy, the reset rack is caused to flow temporarily to a rack transport line, and the ideal arrival time at one or a plurality of locations during the transport of the reset rack is determined. It has been proposed to compensate for a positioning error of a sample rack using information on a time difference from an actual arrival time (see Patent Document 1).
[0005]
However, the proposed apparatus does not provide a technique for detecting the performance of the drive mechanism itself of the transport line or setting an optimum drive force.
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-10-38893 [Problems to be Solved by the Invention]
In a device with a conventional drive mechanism, even if the mechanism deteriorates due to wear due to repeated operation of the mechanism and the required driving force gradually increases, the deterioration is recognized until an error actually occurs. I couldn't.
[0007]
In addition, since the motor torque of the drive source is set to a value having a large margin to allow for variations in products, there is a problem that the motor noise increases and the power consumption increases.
[0008]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to be able to automatically determine a necessary driving force accompanying the progress of a deterioration of a driving mechanism.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
Referring to FIG. 1, the present invention relates to a drive mechanism control device 10 for controlling a drive source 4 of a mechanism 2 to be driven, which can control the drive of the drive source 4 and change its drive force. A control unit 12; a detection unit 14 for detecting an operation state of the drive source 4; a drive error detection unit 16 for detecting a drive error of the drive source 4 based on a detection signal of the detection unit 14; And a threshold detecting unit for detecting a threshold of the driving force when the driving error detecting unit detects a driving error of the driving source. .
[0010]
When, for example, a motor is used as the drive source 4, the change of the drive torque, which is the drive force, can be realized by the change of the motor current. The detection unit 14 that detects the operation state of the drive source 4 has a function of detecting a drive error such as a slip during driving, for example, and includes a motor shaft encoder.
[0011]
The object processing apparatus of the present invention includes a case for storing the object, and a transport mechanism for transporting the object between a position inside the case and a position outside the case. A drive mechanism control device of the present invention is provided as a control device of a drive source for driving a mechanism for taking a cassette into and out of a case.
[0012]
By performing the inspection by the drive mechanism control device 10 of the present invention at regular intervals or at the time of starting the device, it is possible to detect the threshold value of the drive force when the target drive mechanism has an error. The threshold value of the driving force serves as an index of deterioration of the mechanism, and the higher the threshold value of the driving force, the larger the driving force required for normal driving due to deterioration or the like.
[0013]
Further, if this inspection is performed at the time of shipment, it can be used also as a shipment inspection by excluding a driving force threshold that is equal to or more than a certain value.
[0014]
Driving with an unnecessarily large force is not preferable in terms of noise and power consumption. Therefore, as a preferred embodiment, the apparatus further includes an optimum driving force setting unit 20 that sets the optimum driving force based on the threshold value of the driving force detected by the threshold detection unit 18, and the driving control unit 12 performs the optimum driving force during normal operation. It is preferable to drive the drive source 4 based on the setting value of the setting unit 20.
[0015]
In addition, if the deterioration progresses to some extent, even if there is no hindrance to the operation for the time being, if it is left as it is, the operation must be stopped. In order to avoid such a situation, it is necessary to perform maintenance and replace parts before the operation is stopped. Therefore, in order to be able to display, as a warning, that such a condition has become necessary, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the threshold value of the driving force detected by the threshold value detection unit 18 is used. Further, a deterioration determination unit 22 that determines the deterioration of the driven mechanism 2 including the drive source 4 and outputs the fact to the outside when it is determined that the treatment requires the deterioration.
[0016]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 2 shows a pre-processing device of an analyzer as an example of an object processing device. This pre-processing device includes a case 30 capable of storing a plurality of microplate racks 32 on which microplates (MTP) 31 are mounted, and automatically transfers a specified microplate rack 32 to an analysis position using an XYZ-axis arm mechanism. This is a pre-processing device having a mechanism for performing
[0017]
More specifically, the rack storage case 30 is provided with shelves 33, and microplate racks 32 are arranged on each shelf 33 so as to slide in and out of a resin guide 34. The microplate 31 taken out of the case 30 and used for analysis is transported to an analysis position (not shown), and is returned to a predetermined position of the case 30 again after the analysis is completed.
[0018]
As a drive mechanism for taking in and out the racks 32 arranged in the case 30, a drive mechanism provided with an XYZ-axis arm mechanism is provided. In this arm mechanism, a base (not shown) is provided with a drive unit and moves in a Y direction along a rail (not shown) so that it can be positioned at a predetermined position. A shaft 38 extending in a vertical direction (Z direction) is rotatably provided on the base, and the shaft 38 is configured to be rotated by a driving source provided in the base. The shaft 38 is a screw rod, and the arm support 40 is screwed to the shaft 38, and the arm support 40 moves in the vertical direction (Z direction) by rotation and stop of the shaft 38, and is positioned at a predetermined position. It has become. Reference numeral 39 denotes a guide rod for guiding the arm support 40.
[0019]
An arm plate 44 is attached to the arm support portion 40, and a plate hand 47 is attached slidably in the X direction along a guide 45 provided on the arm plate 44. A hook 49 is provided on the distal end surface of the plate hand 47.
A hole 50 is formed in the side surface of the rack 32, and the hook 49 on the tip end surface of the plate hand 47 enters the hole 50 and engages with the hole 50, whereby the rack 32 is held by the plate hand 47, and It is put in and out of the case 30.
[0020]
A motor 46 is attached to the support 40 as a drive source for moving the plate hand 47 in the X direction. The motor 46 is a stepping motor with an encoder for detecting a rotation amount. The rack 32 is put in and out of the case 30 by connecting the motor 46 and the plate hand 47 by a pulley and a belt 48 and driving the motor 46 to move the plate hand 47 through the belt 48 in the X direction. it can.
[0021]
The rack 32 can be taken out of the case 30 and transferred to the analysis position, or returned from the analysis position to the case 30 by driving by the respective drive sources in the X, Y, and Z directions.
[0022]
In the X-direction driving of the plate hand 47 for moving the rack 32 into and out of the storage location by this pre-processing device, it is necessary to push the rack 32 along the guide 34. Comes scattered.
Therefore, the drive mechanism control device of the present invention is used as a drive mechanism control device that controls the drive of the motor 46.
[0023]
Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
When the power of the device is turned on, optimization and deterioration judgment are performed in the following procedure.
1) Move to the first rack storage position (step S1).
2) The motor 46 is driven with the set current drive torque (= motor current value), the X-axis drive of the plate hand 47 is performed, and the loading / unloading operation of the rack 32 is executed (step S2).
[0024]
3) Check the encoder (attached to the motor 46) on the motor shaft for driving the rack in and out to check whether an error occurs (step S3). During normal operation, the motor 46 rotates a fixed amount of rotation with respect to a fixed number of drive pulses, so that the encoder count value also becomes a fixed value. However, when the driving force becomes insufficient, the motor 46 slips and the encoder count value becomes a predetermined value. Since it is smaller than the value, an error in the operation of the motor 46 can be detected based on the encoder count value.
[0025]
4) If an error does not occur, the drive torque is reduced by a certain value, and the drive is executed again to check whether an error occurs (steps S4 → S2 → S3).
5) Steps S4 → S2 → S3 are repeated until an error occurs.
[0026]
6) When an error occurs, the motor current value at that time is stored (step S5). This is defined as an “error threshold” (driving force threshold) for the rack storage position.
7) The above operation for obtaining the error threshold is sequentially performed for all the rack storage positions (steps S6 → S7), and the error threshold is checked and stored for each rack storage position.
[0027]
8) If even one of the error thresholds examined above is equal to or greater than the danger value, an alert for serviceman request is issued (steps S8 → S9). Danger knowledge is set in advance.
However, the danger value is set to a value that does not hinder the operation of the apparatus, and the pre-processing apparatus can be used as it is even if this alarm is issued.
[0028]
9) If none of the error thresholds investigated above is a dangerous value, a motor current value obtained by adding a certain margin to the largest error threshold value is set as a motor current value corresponding to the optimum driving torque. It is set (step S10).
[0029]
The set motor current value does not have an excessive margin as in the related art, but is set based on the detected error threshold value.
[0030]
Here, the case where the operation of detecting the error threshold is performed when the power of the apparatus is turned on has been described. However, this operation may be performed at any time, may be performed at the time of factory shipment, or may be performed at any time.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
In the conventional device, it is not known until an error occurs in the mechanism that stops the operation during use by the user. When the error occurs, the device cannot be used until the device is repaired. However, according to the present invention, an error threshold value that does not cause an operation stop can be automatically detected at any time or on a regular basis. Therefore, a warning can be issued before an error that results in an operation stop occurs, and a serviceman can be issued in advance. It is possible to contact and to prepare parts, so that the operation rate of the device does not need to be reduced.
Also, in actual products, the required driving force may vary considerably due to variations in assembly and poor adjustment, etc.By performing this method before shipping, it is necessary to re-adjust the error threshold that is above a certain value. By doing so, defective products and claims can be eliminated.
Further, since the optimum driving force can be set based on the detected error threshold value, in this case, it is not necessary to provide a driving force margin more than necessary, thereby reducing power consumption and using a stepping motor or the like. Can be reduced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part showing the vicinity of a rack storage part of the analyzer pretreatment device of one embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
2 Drive target mechanism 4 Drive source 10 Drive mechanism controller 12 Drive controller 14 Detector 16 Drive error detector 18 Threshold detector

Claims (4)

A control device (10) for controlling a drive source (4) of a mechanism (2) to be driven,
A drive control unit (12) that controls the drive of the drive source (4) and can change the drive force thereof;
A detection unit (14) for detecting an operation state of the drive source (4);
A drive error detector (16) for detecting a drive error of the drive source (4) based on a detection signal of the detector (14);
At the time of inspection, the drive force of the drive source (4) is reduced by the drive control unit (12), and the drive force when the drive error detection unit (16) detects a drive error of the drive source (4). And a threshold value detecting unit (18) for detecting the threshold value. An optimum driving force setting unit (20) for setting an optimum driving force based on a threshold value of the driving force detected by the threshold value detection unit (18);
The drive mechanism control device according to claim 1, wherein the drive control unit (12) drives the drive source (4) based on a set value of the optimum drive force setting unit (20) during a normal operation. Deterioration of the driven mechanism (2) including the driving source (4) is determined based on the threshold value of the driving force detected by the threshold detection unit (18). The drive mechanism control device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a deterioration determination unit (22) that outputs a notification to that effect. In a target object processing apparatus including a case for storing the target object and a transfer mechanism for transferring the target object between a position inside the case and a position outside the case,
4. An object processing apparatus, comprising: the drive mechanism control device according to claim 1 as a drive source control device that drives a mechanism that moves the object into and out of the case by the transport mechanism.

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