JP2007024714A - Cooling device of liquid container and dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a liquid from having a temperature distribution in its up and down direction by uniformly cooling the whole of the side surface of a liquid container. <P>SOLUTION: The cooling device for cooling the liquid container (30) from the outside is equipped with the side surface cooling plate 42 arranged in close vicinity to the side surface of the liquid container, a Peltier element 44 for cooling the side surface cooling plate 42, the waste heat processing part (46) arranged under the liquid container and a high heat conductive member (48) for transmitting the heat generated in the Peltier element 44 to the waste heat processing part (46). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling apparatus and a dispensing apparatus for cooling a liquid container from the outside, and in particular, analyzes by reacting a specimen such as blood with a reagent in a drug discovery field, a biotechnology field, a medical field, etc. Suitable for cooling reagent bottles with a dispensing device used for dispensing liquids when performing reagent cooling of reagent bottles storing reagents without causing a temperature difference in the vertical direction with a small cooling device The present invention relates to a cooling device for a liquid container, and a dispensing device using the same.

  In an automatic analyzer that performs analysis by reacting a specimen such as blood with a reagent, it is important to control the temperature of the reagent to be constant.

  Therefore, in Patent Document 1, as shown in FIG. 1, a plate-like Peltier element 18 is disposed on the entire lower side of a plastic bottle holder 16 provided with a large number of storage ports 16a for storing reagent bottles 12. The use of the tray 10 in which the bottom surface of the reagent bottle 12 is in contact with the top surface of the Peltier element 18 is described.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, as shown in FIG. 2, a heat insulating synthetic resin resin plate 12 is placed on the upper surface of a bottom wall 22 c of a cold insulator 22 made of a metal such as aluminum. The mounting member 24 is provided, and a metal inner side wall 26 is joined, and the inner side wall 26 is formed so as to contact or be close to the side surface of the reagent bottle 12 mounted on the mounting member 24 described above. It is described to do. Here, the internal side wall 26 is formed of a metal having high thermal conductivity so as to efficiently transfer the heat amount of the cooling device 28 disposed below the cold insulation container 22.

  The reagent cooler 20 having a cooling mechanism composed of the cooling device 28, the placement member 24, and the inner side wall 26 prevents the cooling from the bottom surface side of the reagent bottle 12 by the placement member 24, Cooling from the side surface side of the reagent bottle 12 is promoted by the side wall 26 and the cold insulation space 23.

  In the figure, 14 is a reagent stored in the reagent bottle 12, 22a is a side wall of the cold insulation container 22, and 22b is opened so as to hold the entire upper part of the reagent bottle 12. Similarly, the cold insulation container 22 is opened. It is the upper surface wall.

JP-A-62-289769 JP 2002-189031 A JP 2000-356480 A

  However, as in Patent Document 1, when the cooling device (Peltier element 18) is arranged below the reagent bottle 12 and cooled only from the lower side of the reagent bottle 12, the reagent bottle 12 is vertically long and has a vertical temperature distribution. Therefore, when the dispensing of the reagent is repeated, the temperature of the reagent dispensed differs for each dispensing.

  As in Patent Document 2, for example, a placement member 24 having heat insulation is disposed between the lower surface of the reagent bottle 12 and the cooling device 28, and an inner side wall 26 having high thermal conductivity is disposed on the side surface for cooling. Even if the amount of heat of the device 28 is transmitted to the side wall, the reagent bottle 12 is cooled not from the bottom surface but from the side surface, and the reagent 14 therein is convected inside, the reagent bottle 12 is vertically long. Since the wall 26 also has a vertically long structure, and the side wall 26 itself has a vertical temperature distribution, the temperature of the dispensed reagent also varies from one dispense to another.

  For this reason, the analysis conditions relating to the temperature for each specimen to be measured are different, and the reproducibility is ultimately lowered.

  In order to solve such problems, it is conceivable to arrange a Peltier element on the side surface of the reagent bottle 12, but if a heat radiation means such as a fin or a fan is provided in the heat radiation part of the Peltier element, the width of the reagent placement field A problem arises that the size of the direction becomes large and the entire apparatus becomes large.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described conventional problems, and an object thereof is to enable uniform cooling of the entire side surface of a liquid container so that the liquid does not have a vertical temperature distribution.

  The present invention relates to a liquid container cooling apparatus for cooling a liquid container from the outside, a side surface cooling plate disposed close to the side surface of the liquid container, a Peltier element for cooling the side surface cooling plate, and a liquid container The problem is solved by providing a waste heat treatment section disposed below and a high heat conduction member for transmitting heat generated in the Peltier element to the waste heat treatment section.

  Further, the cooling performance is enhanced by further including a bottom surface cooling plate disposed close to the bottom surface of the liquid container and a Peltier element for cooling the bottom surface cooling plate.

  The present invention also provides a dispensing device comprising the liquid container cooling device.

  Further, the cooling device is provided for each unit unit including a plurality of liquid containers.

  According to the present invention, since uniform temperature control can be performed on the entire side surface of the liquid container, the liquid does not have a vertical temperature distribution, and the temperature of the dispensed liquid does not vary from one dispense to another. Further, the waste heat treatment part of the Peltier element provided on the side surface of the liquid container is disposed below the liquid container and connected by a high heat conduction member, so that the liquid container placement site does not increase in the lateral width direction.

  Furthermore, when a liquid container is divided into units of 1 to several by a heat insulating plate and a cooling device is provided for each unit, the temperature can be controlled individually, and liquids that need to be managed at different temperatures can be dispensed simultaneously. It can be managed within the device.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention applied to cooling of a reagent bottle of a dispensing apparatus will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a narrow rectangular parallelepiped-shaped reagent bottle 30 filled with a reagent by an operator at a work desk (not shown) adjacent to the automatic analyzer is arranged at a predetermined position on the reagent bottle tray 34. Is done. The reagent bottle tray 34 on which the plurality of reagent bottles 30 are arranged is inserted into the reagent placement place 38 in the automatic analyzer by the operator, and is supported and fixed when it is slid to the back of the reagent placement place 38. At this time, the cooling device 40 provided in the reagent placement place 38 has a slight gap with both sides of the reagent bottle 30, so that insertion of the reagent bottle tray 34 is not hindered.

  When the reagent bottle 30 storing the reagent 32 is placed at a predetermined position in the reagent placement place 38, the cooling device 40 is supported so as to be close to both side surfaces of the reagent bottle 30 as shown in FIG. .

  The first embodiment of the cooling device 40 by the two-side cooling of the side surface includes a side surface cooling plate 42 disposed close to both side surfaces of the reagent bottle 30, a Peltier element 44 for cooling the side surface cooling plate 42, and a reagent bottle. A heat sink 46 disposed as a waste heat treatment portion disposed below the heat transfer plate 48, a heat transfer plate 48 for transferring heat generated by the Peltier element 44 to the heat sink 46, and a cooling side of the heat transfer plate 48, for example, a screw A cooling side sandwiching plate 50 for sandwiching between the side surface cooling plate 42 and the Peltier element 44 using (not shown) and a heat sink side for sandwiching the heat transfer plate 48 side of the heat transfer plate 48 with the heat sink 46 using, for example, screws. A sandwiching plate 52 and a temperature sensor and a drive circuit (not shown) are provided. Although not particularly illustrated, the gap portion is filled with a heat insulating material such as urethane.

  The Peltier elements 44 arranged on both side surfaces of the reagent bottle 30 are in contact with the side surface cooling plate 42 on the primary side (cooling surface), and the Peltier elements 44 driven by the drive circuit cool the side surface cooling plate 42. As a result, the reagent 32 stored in the reagent bottle 30 is cooled. The secondary side (heat radiating surface) of the Peltier element 44 is in contact with the heat transfer plate 48, and the amount of heat on the secondary side (heat radiating surface) of the driven Peltier element 44 passes through this heat transfer plate 48. Then, heat is discharged to the heat sink 46 supported so as to abut on the end opposite to the heat transfer plate 48. Here, since the secondary side (heat radiating surface) of the Peltier element 44 and the heat sink 46 which is a waste heat treatment part are separated from each other, the heat transfer plate 48 connecting them needs to have high thermal conductivity. It is desirable to be a plate-type heat pipe as described in (1). In addition, you may affix the graphite sheet which has high heat conductivity on the surface of structural members, such as aluminum. Note that ordinary heat pipes do not work because heat flows from bottom to top.

  Since the heat sink 46 needs to perform waste heat treatment of a plurality of Peltier elements 44 at the same time, a water-cooled type including a pump, a radiator, a water-cooled heat sink, a cooling water tank, and the like is desirable. The cooling water may be circulated by a chiller or the like.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the reagent bottle tray 34 is provided with a partition plate 36 having a heat insulating effect for every several units of the plurality of reagent bottles 30 arranged therein, and the reagent bottle tray 34 is provided in the reagent loading place. The cooling device 40 is arranged so that the cooling device 40 is positioned for each unit when fixed at a predetermined position 38. Each cooling device 40 is provided with a temperature sensor and a driving circuit so that the temperature can be individually controlled. Although not shown here, the waste heat treatment part (heat sink 46) of each cooling device 40 can be made common.

  In the above configuration, the reagent bottle 30 arranged in the reagent bottle tray 34 insulated for each unit by the partition plate 36 is carried to the reagent placement place 38 in the automatic analyzer by the operator, and the reagent bottle tray 34 It is installed at a predetermined position all at once. In the reagent placement place 38, the cooling device 40 is arranged for each unit unit, and the cooling surface (side cooling plate 42) comes to a position close to both sides of the reagent bottle 30. The cooling device 40 is supported and fixed.

  The cooling device 40 is provided with a temperature sensor and a drive circuit, respectively, and the temperature can be individually set.

  The Peltier element 44 driven by the drive circuit is driven so that the temperature detected by the temperature sensor becomes the set temperature, and the side surface cooling plate 42 cooled by the Peltier element 44 causes the reagent 32 in the reagent bottle 30 to be moved. To be cooled. At this time, the heat dissipation surface of the Peltier element 44 of each unit generates heat, but the heat sink 46, which is a waste heat treatment part installed below the reagent bottle 30, and the heat dissipation surface of each Peltier element 44 are formed by the high heat conduction plate 48. Since they are connected to each other, waste heat treatment can be performed collectively.

  In the present embodiment, since the cooling device 40 can individually control the temperature for each unit, for example, the temperature can be changed for each unit, or unused units can be cut to save power.

  Next, a second embodiment of a cooling device using three-surface cooling will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  In the present embodiment, in the same cooling device as in the first embodiment, a bottom surface cooling plate 60 that is disposed close to the bottom surface of the reagent bottle 30, and a Peltier element 62 for cooling the bottom surface cooling plate 60, Are provided so that not only both side surfaces of the reagent bottle 30 but also three surfaces including the bottom surface are cooled.

  The Peltier element 62 on the bottom surface is fixed by being sandwiched between the bottom surface cooling plate 60 and the heat sink 46. On the opposite side (lower side of the figure) 12 of the heat sink 46, a heat transfer plate 48 similar to that of the first embodiment is sandwiched and fixed by a heat radiation side sandwiching plate 52.

  Here, the secondary side (heat radiating surface) of the Peltier element 62 is in contact with the heat sink 46, and is directly wasted by the heat sink 46.

  Since other points are the same as those of the first embodiment, description thereof will be omitted.

  According to this embodiment, since not only the both side surfaces of the reagent bottle 30 but also the bottom surface is cooled, the cooling performance is high.

  In any of the above-described embodiments, the present invention is used for cooling the reagent bottle of the dispensing apparatus. However, the application target of the present invention is not limited to this, and cooling of a general liquid container of the analyzer is not limited. It is clear that the same applies to the above.

The perspective view which shows the reagent bottle tray described in FIG. 2 of patent document 1 Sectional drawing which shows the reagent refrigerator described in FIG. 1 of patent document 2 The perspective view which shows the reagent mounting place by which embodiment of the cooling device which concerns on this invention was arrange | positioned Sectional drawing which shows the structure of 1st Embodiment of the cooling device which concerns on this invention. Same top view Sectional drawing which shows the structure of 2nd Embodiment of the cooling device which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 30 ... Reagent bottle 32 ... Reagent 34 ... Reagent bottle tray 36 ... Partition plate 38 ... Reagent mounting place 40 ... Cooling device 42 ... Side surface cooling plate 44, 62 ... Peltier element 46 ... Heat sink 48 ... Heat transfer plate 50 ... Cooling side pinching plate 52 ... Heat radiation side sandwiching plate 60 ... Bottom cooling plate

Claims (4)

In the liquid container cooling device for cooling the liquid container from the outside,
A side cooling plate disposed close to the side of the liquid container;
A Peltier element for cooling the side cooling plate;
A waste heat treatment section disposed below the liquid container;
A high thermal conductivity member for transferring heat generated in the Peltier element to the waste heat treatment section;
An apparatus for cooling a liquid container, comprising:   The liquid container cooling device according to claim 1, further comprising a bottom surface cooling plate disposed in proximity to the bottom surface of the liquid container, and a Peltier element for cooling the bottom surface cooling plate.   A dispensing apparatus comprising the liquid container cooling device according to claim 1.   The dispensing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the cooling device is provided for each unit unit in which a plurality of liquid containers are collected.

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