JP2007147658A - Transport device of reagent container - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize sure reading of the reagent code pasted to the side surface of a reagent container, and to make the concentration of a reagent containing fine particles constant, by efficiently stirring the reagent. <P>SOLUTION: In this feed transport of the reagent container equipped with the turntable 4 arranged rotatably on a base member 2 via a cylindrical body 3 and a drive source 6 for rotationally driving the turntable 4 and constituted so that a plurality of reagent containers 1 arranged on the turntable 4 are respectively moved to a dispenser by rotationally driving the turntable 4, the reagent containers 1 are placed and arranged on the turntable 4 so as to leave an interval and an adaptor 8 for placing the reagent containers installed so as to be rotated in synchronism with the rotation of the turntable 4. An aligning means 8a for making the direction of the reagent containers 1 fixed at all times and turning the reagent codes R preliminarily bonded to the side surfaces of the reagent containers to a reagent container reading means is provided to an adapter 8 for placing the reagent containers 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a reagent container transport apparatus containing a liquid reagent containing fine particles, which realizes reliable reading of a reagent code affixed to the side of the reagent container and is liquid in the process of transporting the reagent container. The reagent is mixed and dispersed uniformly.

  In immunoassay performed by an antigen-antibody reaction, a reagent containing fine particles carrying an antigen or antibody is used. As an analysis method using such a reagent, an agglutination method using blood cells, an LPIA using latex particles, and the like. Methods or immunoassay methods using magnetic particles are known.

  Specific examples of the reagent used in the above analysis method include a blood cell reagent, a latex reagent, a magnetic particle solid phase carrier, and the like. It is necessary to disperse the fine particles contained therein so that the concentration can be made uniform.

Conventionally, as a method for achieving uniform dispersion of fine particles, a stirrer is placed in a reagent container and the stirrer is moved by moving the stirrer in the container, or stirring means such as a stir bar is used as a reagent container. An agitation method in which the agitation is performed by directly acting on the inside is employed (see Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).
JP-A-4-296654 JP 2000-46836 A

  By the way, the conventional stirring method using a stirring bar and stirring means has the following problems.

  In the case of stirring with a stirrer, a control mechanism and members for driving the stirrer are required, so that the structure of the apparatus is complicated and the cost of the apparatus is inevitably increased. In addition, there is a concern that the stirrer does not operate as intended, resulting in poor stirring.

  On the other hand, in the case of stirring by a stirring means, as with a stirrer, the structure of the apparatus is complicated and the cost is inevitably increased, and the stirring means must be infiltrated into the reagent solution. In access analysis, so-called contamination in which different types of solutions are mixed between reagents is unavoidable.

  In any of the above conventional methods, since the stirrer and the stirring means are in direct contact with the reagent, there is a concern about the deterioration of the reagent quality (decreased activity of the binding substance, separation from the particles, hemolysis, etc.). .

To solve the problems when using a stirrer or stirring means and achieve a sufficient stirring effect, the upper part of the reagent container is locked, and the lower part of the container is eccentric using the locking part as a fulcrum. Eccentric agitation is known that is rotated in a state of being allowed to enter (see Patent Document 3, Patent Document 4, and Patent Document 5).
Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-63945 No. 7-25217 JP 11-38009 A

In addition to this, a method of inserting a pipe into a reagent container and repeatedly shaking the liquid by pressurization and depressurization (see Patent Document 6) has been proposed. In this method, such means is followed. In addition, it is also mentioned that the reagent container is transferred to a unit for guiding strong stirring and dispersion, and separately stirred and dispersed in the unit.
JP-A-8-201396

  However, these methods also require many members that must be newly prepared for carrying out the stirring operation, such as means for inducing eccentric stirring, pipes or pumps, container transfer means, etc. There remains a problem where the complexity of the device and the increase in cost cannot be suppressed.

  In addition, the reagent container has a reagent code such as a barcode label attached in advance on its side surface, transported to a desired position, and read the reagent code by a reading means such as a barcode reader. Where it is desired to perform appropriate dispensing efficiently, no proposal has been made regarding such a conveying apparatus so far.

  The problem of the present invention is that the fine particles contained in the reagent can be stirred and uniformly dispersed without causing deterioration and contamination of the reagent, and the reagent code attached to the side surface of the reagent container is always The present invention proposes a transport device that can be directed to a reading means and reliably read the reagent code to realize an efficient dispensing operation.

The present invention comprises a turntable rotatably arranged on a base member via a cylindrical body, and a drive source for rotationally driving the turntable,
A reagent container transport device that moves a plurality of reagent containers arranged on a turntable to a dispensing position by rotating the turntable,
On the turntable, a reagent container is placed and arranged, and an adapter for placing the container is installed to rotate with the reagent container in synchronization with the rotation of the turntable,
The container mounting adapter has a positioning means for always directing the direction of the reagent container and directing a reagent code affixed in advance to the side of the reagent code to the means for reading the reagent code. Device.

  In the reagent container transport device configured as described above, a gear is provided at an upper end portion of the base member, a gear connected to the cylindrical body via a gear disposed at a distal end portion of a drive source is provided, and the turn The table can be provided with a reagent container autorotation gear which meshes with a gear provided at the upper end of the base member and whose rotation shaft is connected to an adapter for container placement.

  In the present invention, in order to align the reagent code with the reading means, it is preferable to uniquely determine the alignment means so as to approach the position where the reading means is prepared.

  The gear ratio of the gear provided at the upper end of the base part and the gear for rotation is preferably an integer multiple, and the adapters may be arranged in duplicate around the turntable at equal intervals. it can.

  The reagent in the container can be efficiently stirred by the revolution and rotation of the reagent container, so that the fine particles contained in the container can be reliably detected without causing deterioration or contamination of the reagent, which was inevitable when using a stir bar or stirring bar. Can be distributed uniformly, and reliable data can be provided.

  In addition, since the direction of the reagent container can be uniquely determined, the reagent code attached to the reagent container can be reliably directed to the reading means, and the reagent code is provided on the entire circumference of the container. There is no need to read the code of the adjacent reagent container by mistake.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a reagent container transport device according to the present invention.

  In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a cylindrical reagent container for storing a liquid reagent containing fine particles. Reference numeral 2 denotes a base member that maintains an upright posture, and a gear 2 a is provided at the upper end of the base member 2.

  Further, 3 is a cylindrical body that is rotatably supported by the base member 2 by a bearing ring, 4 is a turntable that is connected at the top and bottom of the cylindrical body 3 so as to sandwich the gear 2a of the base member 2 at the upper end of the cylindrical body 3. A gear connected at the lower end of the cylindrical body 3.

  Reference numeral 6 denotes a drive source such as a motor. The drive source 6 is connected to the gear 5 through a gear 6a disposed at the tip thereof.

  Reference numeral 7 denotes a rotation gear that is rotatably held on the turntable 4 and meshes with the gear 2a of the base member 2. Reference numeral 8 denotes an adapter for placing a container connected to the rotation shaft of the rotation gear 7 on the turntable 4. 9 is a sensor plate and 10 is a sensor for position detection.

  The reagent container 1 is first placed on the adapter 8. Here, when the drive source 6 is operated, the rotational force is transmitted to the cylindrical body 3 through the gear 6 a and the gear 5, and the cylindrical body 3 rotates around the base member 2.

  Then, the turntable 4 connected to the cylindrical body 3 rotates about the axis L of the base member 2, and the reagent container 1 revolves as if around the axis L.

  The gear 7 held on the turntable 4 meshes with the gear 2 a of the base member 2, and the gear 7 rotates when the turntable 4 rotates, and the adapter 8 itself attached to the shaft end of the gear 7 is The container 1 rotates in synchronism with this rotation, so that the container 1 rotates as if rotating. Under the action of centrifugal force (or centripetal force) due to the rotation, the reagent in the reagent container 1 is separated from the container wall surface. Agitation is performed by the frictional force, and the fine particles contained therein are uniformly dispersed. At this time, the direction in which the turntable 4 rotates and the direction in which the adapter 8 rotates are reversed.

  2 and 3 show other examples of the conveying device according to the present invention in cross section and plane. In the above FIG. 1, an example in which the reagent containers 1 are arranged in a single line around the turntable 4 at equal intervals is shown, but the adapter 8 can be double-arranged as necessary as shown in FIGS. It can also be.

  The direction of rotation when the reagent container 1 rotates is opposite to each other when the gear 2a of the base member 2 and the rotation gear 7 are directly meshed with each other. For example, as shown in FIG. The rotation direction can be adjusted by interposing the gears.

  5 to 7 are of the type in which the rotating shaft of the turntable 4 is directly rotated by a driving source 6 such as a motor, wherein g in FIGS. 5 to 7 is a fixed gear, h in FIG. 7 is an adapter 8a, 8b is a gear for adjusting the direction of rotation by interposing between 8b.

  In the present invention, the rotational speed of the adapter 8 can be adjusted by interposing a plurality of gears or changing the gear ratio of the base member 2 to the gear 2a.

  A rubber material can be disposed on the bottom surface of the adapter 8 on which the reagent container 1 is placed so as not to idle when the reagent container 1 rotates. Further, the bottom surface of the adapter 8 is provided with a convex portion 8a as shown in FIG. 8 at a position deviated from the center of rotation, and the concave portion 1a provided on the bottom surface of the reagent container 1 is adapted to the convex portion 8a. It is also possible to prevent the idle rotation.

  A reagent code (barcode label, etc.) R is affixed to the side of the reagent container 1, and the orientation of the reagent container 1 is always set so that the reagent code R can be automatically read by a reading means (barcode reader, etc.). In order to make it constant, the gear ratio between the gear 2a of the base member 2 and the rotation gear 7 of the reagent container 1 must be an integral multiple.

  The alignment between the reagent code R and the reading means is performed, for example, by using the convex portion 8a provided on the adapter 8 as a means for alignment, and affixing the reagent code R to the position where this exists, and the convex portion 8a reads. This can be realized by uniquely determining the position closest to the prepared position.

  As positioning means, in addition to the convex portion 8a, the reagent container 1 and the adapter 8 may be marked, and the concave portion or convex portion on the side surface of the reagent container 1 is matched to this side surface. It is also possible to replace the adapter 8 by providing a convex portion that fits the concave portion on the side surface of the container 1 or a concave portion that matches the convex portion on the side wall of the adapter 8.

  The reagent code R is affixed in the direction in which the means for alignment such as the convex portion 8a is provided, and when the reagent container is positioned on the reading means for the reagent code R, the reagent code R is always placed on the reading means. By making it face, the reagent code of the reagent container can be read reliably.

  When the reagent container 1 placed on the adapter 8 is rotated four times as the reagent container 1 at an arbitrary position of the turntable 4 makes one rotation (one turn) around its rotation center, an effective stirring effect is obtained. The gear ratio at this time is 1: 3. However, in the present invention, the gear ratio is not always 1: 3, and is appropriately set according to the size of the container used, the type of reagent, and the like. The optimum gear ratio is selected.

  As the reagent container 1, as a general-purpose product on the market, as shown in FIG. 9, for example, a cylindrical glass bottle having an outer diameter d of about 33 mm and a capacity V of about 20 ml is applied. The size and capacity can be changed as appropriate.

  When the outer diameter D of the reagent container 1 is made thin, for example, about 22 mm, the gear ratio is desirably about 1: 6 to 8 (however, an integer multiple).

  When transporting reagent containers is designed so that a series of operations from reagent agitation to dispensing is performed in a cycle of 20 seconds (gear ratio 1: 3), reagent dispensing is performed as follows. Do.

  First, as shown in FIG. 10, the turntable 4 is rotated and moved to its origin position, and after placing the reagent container 1 containing the reagent of the item required for dispensing on the turntable 4, the turntable 4 4 is rotated, moved, and conveyed to the dispensing position, and as shown in FIG. 11, the dispensing nozzle n enters the reagent container 1 to dispense a predetermined amount of reagent.

  In the dispensing operation as described above, for example, when dispensing after turning the turntable 4 three times, the reagent is agitated for at least three turns of the turntable 4 regardless of the set position. Stirring for 12 revolutions by rotation is carried out, whereby particles in the reagent are dispersed and kept at a constant concentration.

  If the time required for one turn of the turntable 4 is 1 second, the time required for stirring is about 3 seconds. However, the time required for reagent dispensing (including the movement of the turntable 4) is 10 times. It takes about a second, and the time required for stirring does not greatly affect the dispensing operation.

  The rotating direction of the turntable 4 and the rotating direction of the reagent container 1 can be the same and stirred. When there is a concern that the friction effect between the wall surface of the reagent container 1 and the reagent solution is weakened and the stirring efficiency is lowered, the turntable 4 is stopped once at the second of the three rotations of the turntable 4 May be rotated (reversed) in the opposite direction, thereby generating a turbulent flow in the reagent and obtaining a larger stirring effect.

  In a state where the microparticles in the reagent are completely settled, the microparticles can be uniformly dispersed by continuously rotating the turntable 4 about 100 times.

  The time required for this is less than 2 minutes, and considering the time required for the initialization operation of the analyzer, the time required for stirring is sufficiently short and does not significantly affect the operation of the analyzer.

  When the analyzer is initialized, the turntable 4 is continuously rotated about 100 times, and the fine particles in the reagent are always uniformly dispersed by stirring according to the above procedure when dispensing the reagent, so that the reagent has a uniform particle concentration. Can be used in automated analysis.

  FIG. 12 shows still another embodiment of the conveying apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a storage wall that surrounds the turntable 4 in its entire area. The storage wall 11 is concentric with the base member 2, and a circular member 12 having a gear meshing with the rotation gear 7 is provided on the inner wall surface.

  In the transport apparatus having such a configuration, the storage wall 11 and the circular member 12 are fixed, and when the turntable 4 is rotated by the operation of the drive source 6, the rotation gear 7 is synchronized with the gear of the circular member 12. The adapter 8 connected to this rotates, and as a result, the reagent in the reagent container 1 is agitated.

  In the circular member 12, the number of rotations of the adapter 8 can be controlled by changing the number of gear teeth, and several different types of circular members 12 can be combined.

  FIG. 13 shows an example of the configuration of a transport device that can arrange the containers 1 on the turntable 4 in a double manner.

  In this example, the rotation gear 7a connected to the adapter 8a provided on the inner side is engaged with the gear 2a of the base member 2, and the rotation gear 7b connected to the adapter 8b provided on the outer side is related to the gear of the circular member 12. As the turntable 4 rotates, both the inner and outer double adapters 8a and 8b rotate (spin).

  In order to equalize the rotation speed (rotation speed) of the inner and outer adapters 8a and 8b in the stirring means configured as described above, the rotation gear, the gear 2a of the base member 2, and the gear of the circular member 12 are appropriately used. Change to

  In the present invention, besides, the circular member 12 is not used, and for example, a non-slip material such as rubber is prepared outside the adapter 8 and a structure in which the adapter 8 and the inner wall of the storage wall 11 are in direct contact can be applied. However, the present invention is not limited to those shown in the drawings, and can be variously changed depending on the situation.

  The reagent container 1 containing the reagent is placed on the adapter 8 of the turntable 4 and moved to the origin position. The turntable 4 is continuously rotated counterclockwise for 3 seconds and then transported to the dispensing position. FIG. 15 shows the dispersion state of the particles in the case where the stirring is performed in the three patterns as shown in FIG. 14 (only the movement of the turntable) as shown in FIG. Show.

  In FIG. 15, the particle concentration variation ratio is the ratio of the particle concentration of the reagent dispensed from the liquid surface to the particle concentration of the uniformly dispersed reagent. In particular, for patterns 1 and 3, the number of analyzes is 120 times. Even in the case, it is almost uniformly dispersed.

  FIG. 16 illustrates the relationship between the number of rotations of the adapter 8 (the number of rotations of the turntable) and the particle concentration fluctuation ratio of the reagent. Becomes 1.0.

  Examples of reagents that can be used in the present invention include blood cell reagents used for agglutination measurement, gelatin particle reagents, latex reagents, enzyme immunization, chemiluminescence immunization, fluorescence immunization, and magnetic particles used for nucleic acid testing. There are carrier reagents and the like.

  In the above-described example, the case where a cylindrical reagent container having a substantially flat bottom surface is adopted as a reaction container has been described. However, as long as the reaction container has a cylindrical side wall that exhibits the above-described effects by revolution, Any shape container may be used. Further, in the present invention, the term “cylindrical shape” includes a polygonal shape that approximates a circular shape, in addition to a circular cross section (perfect circle). Further, in the present invention, the direction of revolution of the reagent container can be changed as appropriate, and the stirring action may be enhanced by generating a turbulent flow with respect to the liquid by changing the revolution speed.

  It is possible to provide a transport apparatus that can mix and uniformly disperse liquid reagents and that can reliably read the reagent code attached to the side surface of the reagent container.

It is the figure which showed embodiment of the conveying apparatus according to this invention in the cross section. It is the figure which showed other embodiment of the conveying apparatus according to this invention in the cross section. It is the figure which showed the plane of FIG. It is the figure which showed the plane of the turntable. It is the figure which showed the principal part of the rotation mechanism. It is the figure which showed the principal part of the rotation mechanism. It is the figure which showed the principal part of the rotation mechanism. It is the figure which showed the external appearance of a suitable adapter and reagent container in this invention. It is the figure which showed the external appearance of the reagent container. It is explanatory drawing of the dispensing procedure. It is explanatory drawing of the dispensing procedure. It is the figure which showed other embodiment according to this invention. It is the figure which showed other embodiment according to this invention. It is the figure which showed the time chart using the conveying apparatus according to this invention. It is the graph which showed the relationship between the frequency | count of analysis and particle concentration fluctuation | variation ratio. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between the number of rotations (turntable rotation speed) and the particle concentration fluctuation ratio.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Reagent container 2 Base member 2a Gear 3 Cylindrical member 4 Turntable 5 Gear 6 Driving means 6a Gear 7 Rotating gear 8 Adapter 8a Protruding part 9 Sensor plate 10 Position detection sensor 11 Storage wall 12 Circular member g Gear h Gear R Sample code

Claims (5)

A turntable rotatably disposed on the base member via a cylindrical body, and a drive source for rotationally driving the turntable,
A reagent container transport device that moves a plurality of reagent containers arranged on a turntable to a dispensing position by rotating the turntable,
On the turntable, a reagent container is placed and arranged, and an adapter for placing the reagent container that rotates with the reagent container in synchronization with the rotation of the turntable is installed,
The container mounting adapter has a positioning means for always directing the direction of the reagent container and directing a reagent code affixed in advance to the side of the reagent code to the means for reading the reagent code. apparatus. A gear is provided at the upper end of the base member,
A gear connected to the cylindrical body via a gear disposed at the tip of the drive source is provided,
The reagent container autorotation gear is provided on the turntable, which meshes with a gear provided at an upper end portion of the base member and whose rotation shaft is connected to an adapter for container placement. Apparatus for transporting reagent containers.   2. The positioning of the reagent code and the reagent code reading means is performed by uniquely determining the positioning means so as to be closest to a position where the reading means is prepared. 3. The reagent container transport device according to 2.   4. The reagent container transport device according to claim 1, wherein a gear ratio between a gear provided at an upper end portion of the base portion and the rotation gear is an integral multiple.   The reagent adapter transport device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the adapters are doubled around the turntable at equal intervals.

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