JP2005091340A - Liquid dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid dispenser which has a plurality of dispensing heads for dispensing liquids to a plurality of liquid containers from lyophilic containers at once, has a simple structure, and is constituted so that the position of a dispensing head is made variable by a compact mechanism. <P>SOLUTION: A crank link mechanism using a crank arm 6, a crank lever 7, shafts 11 and 13 and a bearing 19 is provided as a drive means in the Z-direction of a dispensing head 15 and a cam 5 is utilized as a moving mechanism being a drive means in a Y-direction through the roll 20, a roll shaft 21 and roll arm 22 provided on the same shaft as the crank arm 6 to obtain a large Y-direction thrust from a single drive motor 14 by the driving in a Z-direction and a Y-direction and the torgue action of a link. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

  The present invention relates to a dispensing apparatus including a plurality of dispensing heads for dispensing from a liquid container to a liquid container having a plurality of injection holes at a time.

  In conventional dispensing head automatic dispensing machines with multiple dispensing parts used for blood and gene testing, etc., the type of reagent tank and the microplate to be dispensed and the number of reagent holes are different. Because of the difference, it is necessary to move the position of the dispensing head in accordance with it, and therefore a complicated mechanism has been used.

As a specific example, FIG. 1 shows a conventional apparatus.

Problems to be solved by the invention

  In recent years, an injection hole of a container called a microplate, which is a well-known part as a dispensing destination, has been made small and the number of holes has been increased in order to improve analysis accuracy and productivity. For example, a 384-hole multi-hole microplate having a pitch of 4.5 mm and a hole count of 4 times is often used from one having a pitch of 9 mm and 96 holes in one microplate.

A conventional dispensing apparatus is shown in FIG. A microplate 119 having a plurality of reagent holes 119a on a table 102 of the dispensing apparatus 100, a porous microplate 120 having a plurality of reagent holes 120a, a reagent tank 121 filled with a reagent 121a, and a chip loaded with a stock chip 117a A discard hole 102a for discarding the rack 122 and the used pipette tip 117 is provided. A dispensing head 115 having a pipette tip 117 inserted into one end of a plurality of joints 116 is installed above the table 102 so as to be movable in the X, Y, and Z directions. One end of a tube 118 is connected to the joint 116, and the other end is connected to a suction / discharge pump (not shown) to perform the suction / discharge operation of the reagent 121a.

On the other hand, the dispensing head 115 is provided with a linear bearing 112 and a nut 113. The linear bearing 112 is engaged so that the guide shaft 110 is slidable in the Z direction, and the ball screw 111 is rotatably engaged with the nut 113. Are combined. The shaft end of the guide shaft 110 is fixed to a U-shaped Z machine frame 109, one end of the ball screw 111 is on the Z axis machine frame 109, and the other end is rotated with a Z drive motor 114 provided on the Z machine frame 109. The head base 115 is movably engaged, and is guided and moved in the Z1 and Z2 directions of the Z axis by the rotation of the Z drive motor 114.

The Z machine frame 109 is provided with a plurality of linear bearings 108 that are engaged with the guide shaft 104 so as to be slidable in the Y direction, and nuts 107 that are rotatably engaged with the ball screw 105. These shaft ends are fixed to both ends of a U-shaped Y machine frame 103. One end of the ball screw 105 is rotatably engaged with the Y machine frame 103, the other end is coupled to the shaft end of the Y drive motor 106 provided on the Y machine frame 103, and the Z machine frame 109 is moved in the Y1 and Y2 directions. It is configured to guide and move to.

Further, the Y machine frame 103 is mounted on the X drive device 101 and is movable in the X direction. With the above configuration, the dispensing head 115 moves in the X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction in response to a command from a controller (not shown).

The movement of the conventional apparatus will be described. In an initial state, the dispensing head l15 is at a position raised in the Z2 direction on the reagent tank 121. Thereafter, the pipetting tip 117 moves down in the Z1 direction to stop below the liquid level of the reagent 121a by the rotation of the Z driving motor 114, and stops. Thereafter, the reagent 121a is sucked into the pipette tip 117 through the tube 118 by an inhalation pump (not shown), and is lifted in the Z2 direction to complete the inhalation process. Thereafter, the dispensing head 115 moves in the X1 direction by the X driving device 101 to a position where the tip of the pipette tip 117 and the reagent hole 119a on the microplate 119 coincide with each other, and stops. Thereafter, the dispensing head 115 is lowered in the Z1 direction by the Z drive motor 114, discharges the reagent 121a in the pipette tip 117 to the reagent hole 119a on the microplate 119, and rises again in the Z1 direction to complete the injection process. Thereafter, the dispensing head 115 moves in the X2 direction to the position of the disposal hole 102a formed on the table 102, discards the pipette tip 117, and further moves in the X2 direction, and the joint 116 moves to the stock tip 117a on the tip rack 112. Stop at a position that matches the position of. Thereafter, the dispensing head 115 descends in the Z1 direction to a predetermined position, inserts the stock chip 117a into the joint 116, rises, and further moves onto the reagent tank 121 in the X1 direction to complete a series of dispensing operations.

FIG. 2 shows the relative positional relationship between the dispensing head 115 and the pipette tip 117 when dispensing the reagent 121a into the reagent hole 119a of the microplate 119. Generally, a microplate having 8 columns × 12 rows = 96 reagent holes 109a is used as a well-known part, and the hole pitch P1 at that time is 9 mm. The installation pitch P1 of the pipette tips 117 of the dispensing head 115 is also 9 mm, so that one row can be injected simultaneously.

3 and 4 show the relative positional relationship between the dispensing head 115 and the pipette tip 117 when the reagent 121a is injected into the reagent hole 120a of the porous microplate 120. FIG. In recent years, porous microplates 120 are often used to improve working efficiency for the purpose of improving analysis accuracy and saving expensive reagents. That is, with respect to the hole pitch P19 mm of the 96-hole microplate 119, the pitch P2 of the reagent holes 121a of the porous microplate 120 is 4.5 mm, and the number of holes is 384, which is four times the number. As shown in FIG. 3, since the pipette tip 117 of the dispensing head 115 has a pitch P1 that is twice the pitch P2 of the reagent holes 121a, the odd-numbered, that is, every other position on one row of the reagent holes 121a. Is consistent with In the first dispensing operation, the dispensing head 115 is lowered and the pipette tip 117 injects the reagent 121a into the odd-numbered reagent holes 120a. Thereafter, the dispensing head 115 rises, and the above-described attachment / detachment of the pipette tip 117 and inhalation of the reagent 121a are performed. Thereafter, the dispensing head 115 moves above the odd-numbered reagent holes 120a. Further, the dispensing head 115 moves by a distance of P2 in the Y1 direction via the ball screw 105, the guide shaft 104, the nut l07, the linear bearing 108, and the Z machine frame 109 by the rotation of the Y drive motor 106 shown in FIG. . That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the pipette tip 117 of the dispensing head 115 stops above the uninjected reagent holes 120a in the same row as the odd number into which the reagent 121a has already been injected, that is, above the even number position. . Thereafter, the dispensing head 115 descends and discharges the reagent 121a from the pipette tip 117 to the even-numbered reagent holes 120a. With the above operation, the dispensing process for one row of the reagent holes 120a of the porous microplate 120 is completed.

However, the conventional dispensing apparatus has to be configured independently with a motor, a ball screw, and the like as the driving means in the Y direction. Further, since the Z-axis drive mechanism requires a large thrust when inserting the stock chip, a drive motor having a large torque is required. In addition, a drive mechanism such as a ball screw or a drive motor must be provided above the dispensing head, and the size and cost of the device must be increased, and the X drive device must be increased in size and power consumption due to the increase in weight. There were problems such as being said.

Problems to be solved by the invention

  An object of the present invention is to provide a dispensing apparatus that is compact and inexpensive, capable of dealing with a microplate having a large number of holes at a small pitch, excluding the above-described drawbacks.

Means for solving the problem

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the means of the invention according to claim 1 is a pipette in which the dispensing head is driven in the vertical direction by the driving means by the crank mechanism and the top dead center or the bottom dead center in the vicinity of the bottom dead center by the toggle link action. Insert and remove the chip.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the difference between the clockwise and counterclockwise trajectory movements of the crank mechanism, which is the vertical driving means, is converted into a driving force in the Y direction, and the dispensing head is horizontally aligned with the vertical direction. Drive in the same direction.

  FIG. 5 shows an outline of the configuration of the present invention, and FIGS. 6 to 9 show an outline of the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the main head unit 2. The dispensing head 15 is provided with a plurality of joints 16 penetrating at the tip, a pipette tip 17 at the lower end, and a tube 18 at the upper end. Further, the dispensing head 115 is provided with a linear bearing 12 in which a plurality of guide shafts 10 are slidably engaged in the Z-axis direction and a shaft 13 that is rotatably engaged with a bearing 19. On the other hand, a drive motor 14 is installed on the rear surface of the Z machine frame 9, and a cam 5 and a crank arm 6 are attached to the shaft end 14a. Further, a crank lever 7 is engaged with one end of the crank arm 6 via a shaft 11 so as to be rotatable. The other end of the crank lever 7 is rotatably engaged with a bearing 19 via a shaft 13. Further, a plurality of linear bearings 8 slidably engaged with the guide shaft 4 in the Y direction are attached to the Z machine frame 9. On the other hand, the end portion of the guide shaft 4 is fixed to the U-shaped Y-frame 3 and the roller 21 is rotatably attached to the outer peripheral surface of the cam 5 via the roller shaft 21 and the roller arm 22. It has been. The Z machine frame 9 is provided with a spring hook 25, and the Y machine frame 3 is provided with a spring hook 24. By being connected by the spring 23, the roller 20 is always engaged so as to be in pressure contact with the cam 5. .

FIG. 6 shows an initial state of the embodiment. The motor shaft 14a rotates and the crank arm 6 is in the 12 o'clock direction, that is, the top dead center position. At this time, the dispensing head 15 is guided to the uppermost point in the Z2 direction via the guide shaft 10, the linear bearing 13, the crank lever 7, the shaft 11, and the shaft 13. At this time, the position of the Y machine frame 3 in the Y direction is guided by the guide shaft 4, the linear bearing 8, and the spring 23, and is limited by the hook 5, the roller 20, the roller shaft 21, and the roller arm 22. Are guided so as to be positioned approximately in the middle of the odd-numbered and even-numbered pitches P2 of the reagent holes 120a on the porous microplate 120.

  FIG. 7 shows a state where the motor shaft 14a and the cam 5 are rotated in the A direction from the state of FIG. At this time, since the outer peripheral surface of the cam 5 presses the roller 20, the Z machine frame 9 is driven in the Y2 direction via the guide shaft 4, the linear bearing 8, the spring 23, the roller 20, the roller shaft 21, and the roller arm 22. . At the same time, the dispensing head 15 descends in the Z1 direction via the guide shaft 10, the linear bearing 12 crank arm 6, the crank lever 7, the shaft 11, and the shaft 12, and the pipette tip 17 stops on the perforated microplate 120. At this time, the position of the pipette tip 17 is sequentially coincident with the odd number on one row formed by the reagent holes 120a at the pitch P2 at the pitch P1. Thereafter, the reagent 121a is injected from the pipette tip 17 into the odd-numbered reagent holes 120a.

FIG. 8 shows a state where the motor shaft 14a and the cam 5 are rotated in the B direction from the state of FIG. At this time, since the outer peripheral surface of the cam 5 presses the roller 20, the Z machine frame 9 is driven in the Y1 direction via the guide shaft 4, the linear bearing 8, the spring 23, the roller 20, the roller shaft 21, and the roller arm 22. At the same time, the dispensing head 15 is lowered in the Z1 direction via the guide shaft 10, the linear bearing 12, the crank arm 6, the crank lever 7, the shaft 11, and the shaft 13, and the pipette tip 17 stops on the perforated microplate 120. At this time, the position of the pipette tip 17 is sequentially matched with the even-numbered one row formed by the reagent holes 120a at P1. Thereafter, the reagent 121a is injected from the pipette tip 17 into the even-numbered reagent holes 120a, and the injection operation to the reagent holes 120a in the first row is completed.

  FIG. 9 shows a state in which the joint 16 provided in the dispensing head 15 is mounted with the stock chip 117a. After the dispensing head 15 has been moved onto the tip rack 122 by the X drive device, it is stopped, and then the dispensing head 15 is lowered in the Z1 direction via the motor shaft 14a, the crank arm 6, the crank lever 7, the shaft 11, and the shaft 13. Furthermore, the positions of the joint 16 and the stock chip 117a coincide with each other at P1 immediately before the joint 16 comes into contact with the stock chip 117 and is press-fitted. Thereafter, when the dispensing head 15 is further lowered, the stock chip 117a is inserted into the joint 16 and attached. At this time, the crank arm 6 and the crank lever 7 form a toggle mechanism known as a link mechanism, and have a feature that the torque T of the motor shaft 14a is small and the thrust in the Z1 direction is large. Thereafter, the dispensing head 15 rises and moves in the X direction to return to the initial state.

  As described above, the cam is used as the conversion mechanism of the moving means in the Y direction as an embodiment, but the same result can be obtained even when other conversion drive mechanisms such as a link and a crank are used.

  The dispensing apparatus according to the present embodiment has an advantage that the vertical driving means and the lateral driving means can be obtained simultaneously with a single actuator.

Further, such a dispensing device can efficiently obtain the thrust required for attaching and detaching the pipette by utilizing the toggle action of the crank mechanism as the vertical driving means, and it is lightweight, inexpensive, compact, and further There is an advantage that less energy is consumed.

The invention's effect

  The present invention has the following effects by the configuration as described above. The invention described in claim 1 is configured such that the vertical motion driving means related to dispensing is constituted by a simple crank mechanism, and the motor or actuator of the driving source can be reduced by the toggle effect of the link mechanism, The cost can be reduced and the configuration of the dispensing head can be stored in a compact and compact manner. Furthermore, the robot arm can be reduced in size and weight, and the drive power source can be saved significantly. Can do.

The invention described in claim 2 makes it possible to move the dispensing head in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction by a single drive source, and does not require software for complicated control, thereby reducing the cost. In addition, the configuration of the dispensing head can be accommodated simply and compactly, which can bring about a great effect in miniaturization and weight reduction, and further in energy saving of the power consumption of the apparatus constituting the robot arm.

  It is a principal part perspective view which shows the whole structure of the conventional dispensing apparatus.   It is a front view which shows the dispensing operation | movement to the microplate of the conventional dispensing apparatus.   It is a front view which shows the dispensing operation | movement to the porous microplate of the conventional dispensing apparatus.   It is a front view which shows the dispensing operation | movement to the porous microplate of the conventional dispensing apparatus.   It is a principal part perspective view which shows the mechanism structure of this invention.   It is a front view which shows operation | movement of the dispensing head of this invention.   It is a front view which shows the dispensing operation | movement to the porous microplate of this invention.   It is a front view which shows the dispensing operation | movement to the porous microplate of this invention.   It is a front view showing pipette tip exchange operation of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 X drive device 2 Head unit 3 Y machine frame 4 Guide shaft 5 Cam 6 Crank arm 7 Crank lever 8 Linear bearing 9 Z machine frame 10 Guide shaft 11 Axis 12 Linear bearing 13 Axis 14 Drive motor 14a Motor axis 15 Dispensing head 16 Joint 17 Pipette tip 18 Tube 19 Bearing 20 Roller 21 Roller shaft 22 Roller arm 23 Spring 24 Spring hook 25 Spring hook 100 Dispensing device 101 X drive device 102 Table 102a Waste hole 103 Y machine frame 104 Guide shaft 105 Ball screw 106 Y drive motor 107 Nut 108 Linear Bearing 109 Z Machine Frame 110 Guide Shaft 111 Ball Screw 112 Linear Bearing 113 Nut 114 Z Drive Motor 115 Dispensing Head 116 Joint 117 Pipette Tip 117a Stock Tip 118 Tube 119 Microplate 119a Reagent hole 120 Perforated microplate 120a Reagent hole 121 Reagent tank 121a Reagent 122 Chip rack

Claims (2)

  In a dispensing head having at least one dispensing portion at a tip, a dispensing device that performs a dispensing operation or a pipette tip attaching / detaching operation using a crank mechanism as a vertical operation means.   In a dispensing head having at least one dispensing portion at the tip, a dispensing device in which a driving means for performing a vertical operation related to a dispensing operation simultaneously performs a horizontal operation by a mechanism that changes an operation direction together with the vertical operation.

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