JP2007248084A - Automatic analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the thermal effects of a heater on the inside of a reagent cold insulation warehouse when a sufficient interval does not exist between the reagent cold insulation warehouse and a data reading window and sufficient thermal insulation action by thermal insulation material is not obtained, in an automatic analyzer for clinical inspection, having the reagent cold insulation warehouse and the heater for preventing dew condensation, disposed in the data reading window of a reagent bottle included in the reagent cold insulation warehouse. <P>SOLUTION: A Peltier element is attached to a contact surface of the reagent cold insulation warehouse with the data reading window, and by utilizing the heat transport effect of the Peltier element, heat is transported from the reagent cold insulation warehouse side to the data reading window side, and thermal effects on the reagent is reduced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer that performs qualitative / quantitative analysis of a biological sample, and more particularly, to an automatic analyzer having a reagent cooler and a heater for preventing condensation in a data reading window of a reagent bottle provided in the reagent cooler.

  An automatic analyzer for clinical examination has a unit for storing a reagent inside the apparatus. The reagent to be stored needs to be stored at a low temperature in order to prevent the deterioration of the reagent, and the unit is generally referred to as a reagent cold storage. The reagent cooler covers the outer periphery of these units with a heat insulating material such as sponge to reduce the influence of heat from the outside.

  The reagent cooler has a rotatable reagent storage disk for storing reagent bottles, and a part of the outer periphery of the reagent cooler for reading reagent information written on the reagent bottle, such as a barcode. A data reading window is provided. Each reagent bottle moves to the data reading window by rotating the reagent bottle storage disk, and the reagent information is read through the data reading window using a data reading device such as a barcode reader installed outside the reagent cooler. .

  The data reading window becomes cold due to the cold air in the reagent cooler, and condensation occurs due to a temperature difference from the outside air. When condensation occurs in the data reading window, the reading operation of the reagent information by the data reading apparatus is disturbed. For example, as shown in Patent Document 1, the outer periphery of the data reading window is heated with a heating wire heater or the like to prevent condensation.

  In the conventional automatic analyzer, a heat insulating material such as a sponge is sandwiched between the data reading window and the contact surface of the reagent cooler to reduce the mutual thermal influence. However, since the data reading window provided in a part of the outer periphery of the reagent cooler affects the cooling performance of the reagent cooler, it is necessary to make it as small as possible. In order to secure a sufficient field of view for reading reagent information from the data reading window, it is necessary to install the data reading window and the reagent bottle close to each other, and the data reading window and the reagent cooler may have a large interval. Can not. For this reason, it is not possible to install a heat insulating material having a sufficient thickness on the contact surface between the data reading window and the reagent cooler, and an effective heat insulating action cannot be obtained.

Here, in order to avoid the influence of heat on the reagent near the data reading window, an example of measures implemented by a conventional automatic analyzer will be given.
(1) The reagent bottle storage disk is rotated by a certain angle at regular time intervals to prevent the temperature rise of a specific reagent.

  However, in this countermeasure method, in consideration of the safety of the operator, when the operator accesses the reagent cooler, a mechanism for forcibly stopping the rotation operation, for example, a mechanism for detecting that the cover of the reagent cooler is open is provided. Since this is necessary, the device configuration becomes complicated.

In addition, a necessary control mechanism for rotating the reagent bottle storage disk must be always in an operating state, which is uneconomical because current is consumed.
(2) If there is some empty space in the reagent bottle storage disk and the reagent bottle storage disk does not rotate for a long time, such as in the standby state of the device, the empty space in the reagent bottle storage disk is positioned at the data reading window. , And keep the reagent bottle away from the heated data reading window.

  However, in the case of this countermeasure method, since an empty space is provided in the reagent bottle storage disk, the number of reagent bottles stored is reduced, resulting in a decrease in specifications regarding the simultaneous measurement items of the automatic analyzer.

  In addition, when the position of the reagent bottle storage disk changes from a predetermined position due to some disturbance, if this state is detected by the apparatus and cannot be automatically corrected, the specific reagent located in the data reading window will be heated.

JP 08-211066 A

  Therefore, the present invention relates to an automatic analyzer having a reagent cooler and a heater for preventing condensation in a reagent bottle data reading window provided in the reagent cooler, and a contact between the data reading window and the reagent cooler. The object is to reduce the influence of the heat effect of the heater heating on the reagent in the case where an interval for installing a heat insulating material having a sufficient thickness cannot be secured and an effective heat insulating action cannot be obtained.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, a heat transport section is provided between the data reading window and the reagent cooler. Since an object that dissipates heat to the surroundings while the heat is transported by the heat transporting part is not very suitable for the purpose of the present invention, it is preferable to use an electronic cooling device such as a Peltier element. By utilizing the heat transporting action of the Peltier element, it is possible to effectively reduce the heat influence caused by the heater heating of the data reading window reaching the inside of the reagent cooler. Alternatively, a high heat conductive material such as copper or aluminum may be bridged between the members for heat transport, and a heat insulating material may be provided around the bridge so that heat is not dissipated. As the heat insulating material, a member that covers the outside of the heat conductive material may be provided for vacuum heat insulation, and a vacuum may be provided between the heat conductive material and the cover.

  In relation to automatic analyzers for clinical testing, especially in reagent analyzers and automatic analyzers that have a heater for preventing condensation in the reagent bottle data reading window of the reagent refrigerator, the thermal effects of heater heating using Peltier elements As a result, the deterioration of the reagent can be prevented.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  The Example of this invention is shown. The automatic analyzer includes a rotatable specimen disk 1 for placing a specimen, a reagent cold box 2 for housing reagent bottles, a dispensing mechanism 3 for dispensing specimens and reagents, and a reaction container 4 for dispensing specimens and reagents. It has the reactor 5 which mixes and reacts by. The reaction solution in the reaction vessel is sent to the measuring device 7 by the reaction solution suction mechanism 6 and analyzed. The reaction vessel 4 is accommodated in the reaction vessel accommodating portion 8 and is moved to the reactor 5 by the reaction vessel conveyance mechanism 9.

  In addition, the reaction container 4 after the analysis is dumped into a predetermined disposal container 10 by the reaction container transport mechanism 9. The reagent cold storage 2 has a rotatable reagent bottle storage disk 11 inside the cold storage, and the reagent bottle 12 is arranged on the reagent bottle storage disk 11 along the circumferential direction of the reagent cold storage 2.

  The reagent cooler 2 is cooled by a cooling unit 13 attached to the bottom surface, and the outer periphery is covered with a heat insulating material 14. A data reading window 15 is provided on a part of the outer periphery of the reagent cooler 2 in order to read the reagent information 17 of the reagent bottle 12. As the reagent bottle storage disk 11 rotates, each reagent bottle 12 moves in front of the data reading window 15, and the reagent information 17 is passed through the data reading window 15 using the data reading device 16 installed outside the reagent cooler 2. Can be read.

  The data reading window 15 provided in a part of the outer periphery of the reagent cooler 2 becomes low temperature due to the cool air in the reagent cooler, and condensation occurs in the data read window 15 due to a temperature difference with the outside air. When the condensation occurs, the data reading function is disturbed. Therefore, a heating wire heater 18 is attached to the outer periphery of the data reading window 15 to heat the data reading window 15 to suppress the occurrence of condensation and improve the reliability in reading the reagent information. .

  A Peltier element 19 is attached to the contact surface between the data reading window 15 and the reagent cooler 2 as an intermediate layer in order to reduce the influence of heat from the heater heating on the reagent. The heat absorption surface of the Peltier element 19 is on the reagent cold storage side and the heat radiation surface is on the data reading window side, and heat is transferred from the reagent cold storage side to the data reading window side. A heat conductive grease is applied to the contact surfaces on both sides of the Peltier element in order to improve the heat conduction performance.

  The data reading window 15 and the Peltier element 19 are fixed by a heat insulating fixed cover 20. A fixing screw 21 is used for fixing, but a spring 22 is provided between the fixing screw 21 and the fixing cover 20 and fixed at an appropriate pressure in order to avoid applying excessive pressure to the Peltier element 19 during tightening. Adjust as possible.

  In order to drive the Peltier element 19 under optimum conditions, temperature sensors 23 are attached to both sides of the Peltier element 19 and in the vicinity of the data reading window in the reagent cooler. Based on the temperature information from each sensor, the optimum heat transport amount is calculated, and the applied current of the Peltier element 19 is controlled.

  Thereby, it is possible to prevent the heat of the heating wire heater from flowing into the reagent cold storage side, thereby reducing the thermal influence on the reagent and maintaining the reagent information reading performance.

It is the figure which showed arrangement | positioning of each mechanism about the automatic analyzer for clinical tests. (Example) It is the figure which showed the positional relationship of a reagent cold storage, a data reading window, and a data reading device. (Example) It is the figure which showed the detail of the peripheral part of a data reading window. (Example)

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Sample disk, 2 ... Reagent cooler, 3 ... Dispensing mechanism, 4 ... Reaction container, 5 ... Reactor, 6 ... Reaction liquid suction mechanism, 7 ... Measuring apparatus, 8 ... Reaction container storage part, 9 ... Reaction container Transport mechanism, 10 ... waste container, 11 ... reagent bottle storage disk, 12 ... reagent bottle, 13 ... cooling unit, 14 ... heat insulating material, 15 ... data reading window, 16 ... data reading device, 17 ... reagent information, 18 ... electricity Heat ray heater, 19 ... Peltier element, 20 ... fixing cover, 21 ... fixing screw, 22 ... spring, 23 ... temperature sensor, 24 ... reagent cooler cover.

Claims (2)

Reagent cold storage capable of mounting a plurality of reagent containers containing reagents;
A window having optical transparency for reading the identification information affixed to the reagent container in the reagent cooler from outside the reagent cooler; and
A heater for heating the window;
In an automatic analyzer equipped with
An automatic analyzer comprising a heat transport section for transporting heat from the side on which the reagent container is placed to the window section to the outside of the reagent cooler. The automatic analyzer according to claim 1,
2. The automatic analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the heat transport section uses a heat transport action of a Peltier element.

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