JP2007057317A - Automatic analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic analyzer capable of calculating a highly reliable absorbance easily with a simple constitution. <P>SOLUTION: This analyzer for measuring an optical characteristic of a liquid 11 held in a cuvette 10 has a light source 2; a through hole 14a positioned between the light source 2 and the cuvette 10, for guiding a part of light emitted from the light source 2 to a position where the cuvette 10 is arranged; a light receiving element 7a for receiving light transmitted through the cuvette 10 in light guided into the through hole 14a, and outputting a signal corresponding to received light; a through hole 14b for guiding light emitted from the light source 2 together with light received by the light receiving element 7a to a position different from the position where the cuvette 10 is arranged; and a light receiving element 7b for receiving light passing the through hole 14b, and outputting a signal corresponding to received light. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer that irradiates a container containing a liquid with light and calculates the absorbance of the liquid based on incident light incident on the container and transmitted light transmitted through the container.

  Conventionally, a container (cuvette) contains a liquid that is a mixture of blood and urine specimens and reagents, the liquid is irradiated with light of a predetermined wavelength, and the liquid's substance concentration is calculated by calculating the absorbance of the liquid. Automatic analyzers for analysis are known. A technique for calculating the absorbance based on the ratio between the amount of incident light incident on the cuvette as light collected from the light source or collected as parallel light by a lens system and the amount of transmitted light transmitted through the cuvette is disclosed (Patent Document 1). ).

Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-58587

  The automatic analyzer equipped with the optical system using the lens system described above has a problem that it is large in size, complicated, and increases in cost.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic analyzer that can easily and highly accurately calculate absorbance with a simple configuration.

  In order to achieve the above object, an automatic analyzer according to claim 1 is an analyzer for measuring optical characteristics of a liquid held in a container, and is located between a light source, the light source and the container, A first through hole for guiding a part of the light emitted from the light source to a position where the container is disposed, and light transmitted through the container among the light guided to the first through hole; A first light receiving means for outputting a signal according to the received light, and a light emitted from the light source at the same time as the light received by the first light receiving means at a position different from the position where the container is disposed And a second light receiving means for receiving light passing through the second through hole and outputting a signal in accordance with the received light.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the above invention, the light source is a flash light source.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the above invention, the automatic analyzer further comprises parallel light converting means for converting the light emitted from the light source into parallel light.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the above invention, the parallel light converting means is a concave mirror.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the automatic analyzer according to the above invention, wherein the light source performs lighting control in association with the position detection means for detecting the position of the container and the position detected by the position detection means. And a control means.

  The automatic analyzer according to the present invention is provided with two through holes, receives light passing through each, and can calculate the absorbance without using an optical system using a lens. It is possible to provide an automatic analyzer.

  Exemplary embodiments of an automatic analyzer according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an automatic analyzer 200 according to the present invention. Such an automatic analyzer 200 is used, for example, in clinical tests or the like for automatically and continuously analyzing liquids (samples) such as serum and urine in hospitals. Is configured to get.

  The automatic analyzer 200 of the present embodiment is provided with a cuvette wheel 4 as shown in FIG. 1, and the cuvette 10 is arranged over the entire circumference of the cuvette wheel 4. A rack supply device 209 is provided on the right side of the cuvette wheel 4 in the figure, and a rack 210 on which a sample cup 211 containing a liquid is mounted is arranged in the rack supply device 209.

  A sample probe 208 is provided between the cuvette wheel 4 and the rack 210. During the analysis operation, the sample probe 208 performs a dispensing operation for sucking a liquid from the sample cup 211 on the rack 210 and injecting it into the cuvette 10.

  The automatic analyzer 200 is further provided with a first reagent cool box 201, a second reagent cool box 202, a first reagent probe 203, and a second reagent probe 204 in order to inject a reagent to be reacted with a liquid into the cuvette 10. It has been. During the analysis operation, the first and second reagent probes suck the reagent from the reagent bottles arranged in the first and second reagent coolers and inject them into the cuvette 10.

  The automatic analyzer 200 is further provided with a first stirring mechanism 207 and a second stirring mechanism 206 for stirring the liquid and the reagent injected into the cuvette 10. All the probes and the stirring rods are washed with running water by washing water supplied from a washing water tank (not shown) after the analysis is completed. The cuvette that has reached the washing / drying unit 205 is washed and dried by the washing / drying unit 205 and used again for analysis.

  During the analysis operation, each constituent element repeats the same operation at a constant cycle, for example, at intervals of 4.5 seconds. The cuvette wheel 4 rotates counterclockwise (one turn-1 cuvette) / 4 cuvettes in one cycle and rotates one cuvette clockwise in four cycles. When the cuvette 10 crosses the optical axis of the light source 2, the absorbance of the test solution entering the cuvette 10 is measured. Absorbance is measured at 18 second intervals until the cuvette is washed and dried.

  FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a part for measuring absorbance. As shown in FIG. 2, the absorbance measurement unit 1 uses the first through hole (14 a) that guides a part of the light emitted from the light source to the position where the container is disposed and a part of the light emitted from the light source. A light shielding member 5 having a second through hole (14b) that leads to a position different from the position where the container is disposed, a filter 6 that transmits only a predetermined wavelength, and a filter that passes through the first through hole (14a). A light receiving element 7a that receives the light transmitted through 6 and outputs an electric signal S1 corresponding to the received light quantity, and receives the light that has passed through the second through hole (14b) and passed through the filter 6 and received the light quantity. A light receiving element 7b that outputs an electric signal S0 corresponding to the above, a cuvette wheel drive unit 8 that drives the cuvette wheel 4, a light source drive unit 9 that drives the light source 2, and a position detector 13 that detects the position of the cuvette wheel 4. When And a control unit 12 which calculates the absorbance of the liquid 11 and controls the light source drive unit 9 and the cuvette wheel drive 8.

  The control unit 12 includes a calculation unit 120 that calculates the absorbance of the liquid 11 based on the electrical signals S0 and S1, and a position detection unit that detects the position of the cuvette 10 based on the detection signal S2 input from the position detector 13. 121, and a light source control unit 122 that performs light emission control of the light source 2 by the control signal S5 based on the detection signal S2.

  Next, the measurement operation of this automatic analyzer will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the automatic analyzer. As shown in FIG. 3, first, when the control unit 12 outputs a control signal S3 to the cuvette wheel drive unit 8, the cuvette wheel drive unit 8 rotates the cuvette wheel 4 by the drive signal S4 (step S101).

  The position detector 13 matches the positions of the holes of the cuvette wheel 4 and the through holes (14a, 14b) of the light shielding member 5, and moves to a position where the light emitted from the light source 2 is received by the light receiving elements 7a, 7b. Before (sec), the detection signal S2 is output to the control unit 12. The position detection unit 121 of the control unit 12 determines whether or not the cuvette 10 is in a position that can be analyzed based on the detection signal S2 (step S102). When the cuvette 10 is in a position where analysis is possible (step S102, YES), the light source control unit 122 of the control unit 12 outputs a control signal S5 to the light source driving unit 9 to drive and light the light source 2 (step S103). T is determined in consideration of the time from the detection signal S2 until the light source reaches a measurable amount of light.

  The light emitted from the light source 2 is reflected by the concave mirror 3 and becomes parallel light. A part of the parallel light passes through the liquid 11 through the first through hole (14a) of the light shielding member 5, and is received by the light receiving element 7a. A part of the other parallel light passes through the second through hole (14b) of the light shielding member 5 and is received by the light receiving element 7b. The light received by the light receiving element 7b is light emitted from the light source 2 simultaneously with the light received by the light receiving element 7a. The amount of light is proportional to the amount of incident light of the liquid 11. Therefore, the incident light quantity of the liquid 11 can be calculated from the received light quantity of the light receiving element 7b and the proportionality coefficient obtained in advance. If the optical system is such that the incident light quantity of the liquid 11 and the received light quantity of the light receiving element 7b are equal, there is no need for calculation.

  The light receiving elements 7a and 7b output electric signals S1 and S0 corresponding to the received light amounts to the control unit 12, and the calculation unit 120 of the control unit 12 calculates the absorbance of the liquid 11 based on the electric signals S1 and S0. (Step S104).

  The control unit 12 determines whether or not the calculation of the absorbance for all the cuvettes held in the cuvette wheel 4 has been completed based on the detection signal S2 (step S105). When the rotation of the cuvette wheel 4 is completed (step S105, YES), the driving of the cuvette wheel 4 is stopped (step S106), and when the rotation of the cuvette wheel 4 is not completed (step S105, NO), the analysis is performed. To continue.

Next, a method by which the calculation unit 120 calculates the absorbance of the liquid 11 will be described. In general, the absorbance A of the liquid 11 is obtained by the following equation (1), where the incident light amount V ₀ incident on the liquid 11 is the transmitted light amount V _X transmitted through the liquid 11.
A = log (V ₀ / V _X ) (1)

The transmitted light amount V _X transmitted through the liquid 11 is proportional to the electric signal S1 output from the light receiving element 7a. The incident light quantity V ₀ incident on the liquid 11 is proportional to the electrical signal S 0 output from the light receiving element 7 b.

Therefore, the equation (1) can be replaced with the following equation (2).
A = log (a * S0 / S1) (2)
The coefficient a can be obtained from equation (2) by measuring S0 and S1 when a liquid having a known absorbance A, for example, water having an absorbance of 0, is placed in the cuvette 10. If the optical system is such that the incident light quantity of the liquid 11 and the received light quantity of the light receiving element 7b are equal, a = 1.

  The calculation unit 120 calculates the absorbance A of the liquid 11 by substituting the electric signals S0 and S1 into the equation (2).

  Conventional light sources used in automatic analyzers are halogen lamps and xenon lamps. The case where a flash light source such as a flash / xenon lamp or a pulse-driven LED light source is used as the light source 2 in the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the change over time of the voltages of the electric signals S0 and S1. As shown in FIG. 4, although the flashlight emitted from the light source 2 has a short duration, is irregular and does not have reproducibility, it has a higher light amount than the light amount of the conventional light source (voltage Vp corresponding to the light amount). Can be issued. Even if the flash is irregular and has no reproducibility, the present invention can measure the amount of incident light and the amount of transmitted light at the same time, so there is no influence on the calculation of absorbance.

  In this embodiment, incident light and transmitted light are simultaneously received using the light source 2 and the concave mirror 3, and high-precision absorbance can be easily calculated with a simple configuration.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of an automatic analyzer according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram of the light absorbency measurement part of the automatic analyzer concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of the automatic analyzer concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the characteristic of the flash concerning embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 200 Automatic analyzer 1 Absorbance measuring part 2 Light source 3 Concave mirror 4 Cuvette wheel 5 Light shielding member 6 Filter 7a, 7b Light receiving element 8 Cuvette wheel drive part 9 Light source drive part 10 Cuvette 11 Liquid 12 Control part 13 Position detector 14a, 14b Through-hole DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 120 Calculation part 121 Position detection part 122 Light source control part 201 1st cool box 202 2nd cool box 203 1st reagent probe 204 2nd reagent probe 205 Washing-drying unit 206 2nd stirrer 207 1st stirrer 208 Sample probe 209 Rack Feeder 210 Rack 211 Sample cup

Claims (5)

In an analyzer for measuring the optical properties of a liquid held in a container,
A light source;
A first through hole that is located between the light source and the container and guides part of the light emitted from the light source to a position where the container is disposed;
First light receiving means for receiving light transmitted through the container among light guided to the first through-hole, and outputting a signal according to the received light;
A second light through hole that guides the light emitted from the light source simultaneously with the light received by the first light receiving means to a position different from the position where the container is disposed;
Second light receiving means for receiving light passing through the second through hole and outputting a signal in accordance with the received light;
The automatic analyzer characterized by having.   The automatic analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the light source is a flash light source.   The automatic analyzer according to claim 2, further comprising parallel light conversion means for converting light emitted from the light source into parallel light.   The automatic analyzer according to claim 3, wherein the parallel light converting means is a concave mirror. Position detecting means for detecting the position of the container;
Light source control means for controlling lighting of the light source in association with the position detected by the position detection means;
The automatic analyzer according to claim 2, further comprising:

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