JP2007248252A - Agitator and analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an agitator for restricting a temperature rise of a liquid caused by sound wave absorption, and an analyzer. <P>SOLUTION: An agitator for agitating a liquid held in a container by means of sound wave and an analyzer are provided. This agitator 20 is equipped with a surface acoustic wave element 24 generating a sound wave to be applied to the liquid, and a drive control part 21 controlling the temperature of the liquid rising owing to the sound wave thereto applied by the surface acoustic wave element to be a prescribed temperature or less. The control part 21 controls the temperature of the liquid according to the heat-related characteristics of the liquid. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a stirring device and an analysis device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an analyzer is known that includes a stirrer that stirs a liquid containing a specimen or a reagent held in a container with sound waves generated by sound wave generation means (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-300651

  By the way, in a stirrer that stirs a liquid with sound waves, the irradiated sound waves are absorbed by the liquid and the temperature of the liquid rises. At this time, as shown in FIG. 24, the increase rate of the liquid temperature per unit time has a relationship of increasing with the magnitude of the applied power. In this case, the smaller the amount of the liquid, the smaller the heat capacity of the liquid, and thus the temperature rise of the liquid increases. For this reason, this type of agitation apparatus has a problem that the specimen and the reagent are easily deteriorated by heat and the analysis accuracy becomes unstable.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a stirring device and an analysis device capable of suppressing a temperature rise of a liquid due to absorption of sound waves.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the stirring device according to claim 1 is a stirring device that stirs the liquid held in the container by sound waves, and generates sound waves that irradiate the liquid. And control means for controlling the temperature of the liquid that rises due to the sound wave emitted by the sound wave generating means to be equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature.

  The stirring device according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the above-mentioned invention, the control means controls the temperature of the liquid in accordance with characteristics of heat of the liquid.

  The stirrer according to claim 3 is characterized in that, in the above-mentioned invention, the heat-related characteristic of the liquid is at least one of the amount, viscosity, heat capacity, specific heat or thermal conductivity of the liquid.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the above invention, the stirrer further comprises temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the liquid, and the control means is based on the detected temperature of the liquid detected by the temperature detection means. And controlling the temperature of the liquid.

  The stirring device according to claim 5 is characterized in that, in the above invention, the control means controls the temperature of the liquid by controlling an amplitude or an application time of a driving signal for driving the sound wave generating means. And

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the above invention, the control means controls the amplitude of the drive signal by amplitude modulation.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the above invention, the stirring device includes a plurality of the sound wave generating units, and the control unit drives the plurality of sound wave generating units by switching in a time division manner.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the above invention, the control means controls a duty ratio of the drive signal.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the above invention, the duty ratio is controlled so that the total power consumption required for stirring the liquid is less than or equal to the power required when the sound wave generating means is continuously driven. It is performed so that it may become.

  The stirring device according to a tenth aspect of the present invention is the stirrer according to the invention, wherein the control means shortens the irradiation time of the sound wave applied to the liquid when the temperature of the liquid is lower than when the liquid is high. The duty ratio of the drive signal is controlled.

  The stirrer according to claim 11 is characterized in that, in the above invention, when the temperature of the liquid is lower than when the temperature of the liquid is lower, the irradiation intensity per unit time of the sound wave applied to the liquid is higher. The duty ratio of the drive signal is controlled so as to increase.

  The stirrer according to claim 12 is characterized in that, in the above invention, the control means sets the frequency of a drive signal for driving the sound wave generating means in accordance with the liquid.

  The stirrer according to claim 13 is characterized in that, in the above invention, the control means sets the frequency of the drive signal to a center frequency of the sound wave generation means.

  The stirring device according to claim 14 further comprises a cooling means for cooling the liquid in the above invention, and the control means controls the temperature of the liquid by controlling the operation of the cooling means. It is characterized by that.

  The stirrer according to claim 15 is characterized in that, in the above invention, the sound wave generating means is a surface acoustic wave element.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, an analyzer according to claim 16 reacts by stirring a plurality of different liquids, measures the optical characteristics of the reaction liquid, An analysis apparatus for analyzing, wherein the reaction liquid of the sample and the reagent is optically analyzed using the stirring device.

  The stirrer according to the present invention includes a sound wave generating means for generating a sound wave to be applied to the liquid, and a control means for controlling the temperature of the liquid rising by the sound wave to be applied by the sound wave generating means to a predetermined temperature or less. The apparatus optically analyzes the reaction liquid of the specimen and the reagent using the stirring device. For this reason, the stirrer and the analyzer of the present invention have an effect that it is possible to suppress an increase in the temperature of the liquid due to absorption of sound waves.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 concerning the stirring apparatus and analyzer of this invention is demonstrated in detail, referring drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an automatic analyzer equipped with a stirring device. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an enlarged portion A of the cuvette wheel constituting the automatic analyzer shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cuvette wheel containing the reaction vessel cut horizontally at the position of the wheel electrode. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the stirring device together with a perspective view of the reaction vessel.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the automatic analyzer 1 includes reagent tables 2 and 3, a cuvette wheel 4, a specimen container transfer mechanism 8, an analysis optical system 12, a cleaning mechanism 13, a control unit 15, and a stirring device 20. ing.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the reagent tables 2 and 3 hold a plurality of reagent containers 2a and 3a arranged in the circumferential direction, respectively, and are rotated by a driving unit to convey the reagent containers 2a and 3a in the circumferential direction.

  In the cuvette wheel 4, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of holders 4b for arranging the reaction vessel 5 are formed in the circumferential direction by a plurality of partition plates 4a provided along the circumferential direction. The reaction vessel 5 is conveyed by being rotated. As shown in FIG. 2, the cuvette wheel 4 is formed with a photometric hole 4c in a radial direction at a position corresponding to the lower part of each holder 4b, and uses the upper and lower two insertion holes 4d provided in the upper part of the photometric hole 4c. The wheel electrode 4e is attached. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the wheel electrode 4e is bent at one end extending from the insertion hole 4d to come into contact with the outer surface of the cuvette wheel 4, and the other end extended from the insertion hole 4d is similarly bent. The reaction vessel 5 disposed in the vicinity of the inner surface of the holder 4b and held in the holder 4b is held by a spring force. In the reaction container 5, the reagent is dispensed from the reagent containers 2a and 3a of the reagent tables 2 and 3 by the reagent dispensing mechanisms 6 and 7 provided in the vicinity. Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the reagent dispensing mechanisms 6 and 7 are provided with probes 6b and 7b for dispensing reagents on arms 6a and 7a that rotate in the direction of the arrows in the horizontal plane, respectively. A cleaning means for cleaning the probes 6b and 7b is provided.

  On the other hand, the reaction vessel 5 is a transparent material that transmits 80% or more of the light contained in the analysis light (340 to 800 nm) emitted from the analysis optical system 12 to be described later, such as glass containing heat-resistant glass, cyclic olefin, and polystyrene. A synthetic resin such as is used. As shown in FIG. 2, the reaction vessel 5 is a square tube-shaped cuvette having a holding portion 5a for holding a liquid containing a specimen and a reagent. A surface acoustic wave element 24 is attached to the side wall 5b, and a surface acoustic wave is provided. An electrode pad 5e connected to each of the set of input terminals 24d of the element 24 is attached. The reaction vessel 5 is used as a photometric window 5c through which a portion surrounded by a dotted line on the lower side adjacent to the portion to which the surface acoustic wave element 24 is attached transmits the analysis light. The reaction vessel 5 is set in the holder 4b with the surface acoustic wave element 24 facing the partition plate 4a. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 3, the reaction container 5 contacts each wheel pad 4e with each electrode pad 5e. Here, the electrode pad 5e is integrally provided across the surface acoustic wave element 24 and the side wall 5b.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the sample container transfer mechanism 8 is a transfer unit that transfers a plurality of racks 10 arranged in the feeder 9 one by one along the arrow direction, and transfers the racks 10 while stepping. The rack 10 holds a plurality of sample containers 10a containing samples. Here, each time the step of the rack 10 transferred by the sample container transfer mechanism 8 stops, the sample container 10a receives the sample by the sample dispensing mechanism 11 having the arm 11a and the probe 11b that rotate in the horizontal direction. Dispense into each reaction vessel 5. For this reason, the specimen dispensing mechanism 11 has a cleaning means for cleaning the probe 11b with cleaning water.

  The analysis optical system 12 emits analysis light (340 to 800 nm) for analyzing the liquid sample in the reaction vessel 5 in which the reagent and the sample have reacted. As shown in FIG. It has a portion 12b and a light receiving portion 12c. The analysis light emitted from the light emitting unit 12a passes through the liquid sample in the reaction vessel 5 and is received by the light receiving unit 12c provided at a position facing the spectroscopic unit 12b. The light receiving unit 12 c is connected to the control unit 15.

  The cleaning mechanism 13 sucks and discharges the liquid sample in the reaction vessel 5 with the nozzle 13a, and then repeatedly injects and sucks a cleaning liquid such as a detergent and cleaning water with the nozzle 13a, thereby performing analysis by the analysis optical system 12. The reaction vessel 5 that has been completed is washed.

  The control unit 15 stores information such as an operation program input in advance to control the operation of each unit of the automatic analyzer 1 and the agitating device 20, and also adjusts the amount of light emitted from the light emitting unit 12a and the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 12c. This is a control means for analyzing the component concentration and the like of the specimen based on the absorbance of the liquid sample in the reaction container 5, and a microcomputer or the like is used, for example. As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 15 is connected to the input unit 16 and the display unit 17. The input unit 16 is a part that performs an operation of inputting an inspection item or the like to the control unit 15, and for example, a keyboard, a mouse, or the like is used. The input unit 16 is also used for operations such as switching the frequency of a drive signal input to the surface acoustic wave element 24 of the stirring device 20. The display unit 17 displays analysis contents, alarms, and the like, and a display panel or the like is used.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the stirring device 20 includes a drive control unit 21 and a surface acoustic wave element 24. The drive control unit 21 is a control unit that controls the temperature of the liquid containing the specimen and the reagent that is raised by the sound wave irradiated by the surface acoustic wave element 24 by controlling the driving of the surface acoustic wave element 24. . The drive control unit 21 is disposed on the outer periphery of the cuvette wheel 4 so as to face the cuvette wheel 4 (see FIG. 1), and in addition to the brush-like contact 21b (see FIG. 3) provided in the housing 21a, Are provided with a signal generator 22 and a drive control circuit 23. The contact 21b is provided on the housing 21a facing the two wheel electrodes 4e. When the cuvette wheel 4 stops, the contact 21b comes into contact with the corresponding wheel electrode 4e, and the drive control unit 21 and the surface acoustic wave element 24 of the reaction vessel 5 are connected. Electrically connected. Therefore, every time the rotation of the cuvette wheel 4 stops, the stirring device 20 changes the wheel electrode 4e with which the contact 21b of the drive control unit 21 contacts, and the surface acoustic wave element 24 to be driven, that is, the reaction vessel to be stirred. 5 is changed.

  Here, the drive control unit 21 includes information such as liquid inspection items input from the input unit 16 via the control unit 15, information on characteristics of the liquid heat input from the input unit 16 and stored in the control unit 15. Based on this, by controlling the driving conditions of the surface acoustic wave element 24, the temperature of the liquid containing the specimen and reagent held in the reaction vessel 5 is controlled. In this case, the driving conditions of the surface acoustic wave element 24 include the amplitude, frequency, application time (duty ratio) of the drive signal input to the surface acoustic wave element 24 by the drive control unit 21 and the like. Liquid heat characteristics include liquid volume, viscosity, heat capacity, specific heat, or thermal conductivity. The drive control unit 21 controls the temperature of the liquid held in the reaction vessel 5 according to at least one of these characteristics.

  Here, the characteristics relating to the heat of the liquid include characteristics that are measured in advance by the manufacturer of the automatic analyzer 1 or estimated and stored in the control unit 15 at the time of shipment from the factory, and stirring that is repeatedly performed by the user after shipment from the factory. The characteristic may be measured at the time of the preliminary stirring measurement prior to the measurement and stored in the control unit 15 by the user side. In the case of repeated stirring, the result of the amount, viscosity, heat capacity, specific heat or thermal conductivity of the liquid obtained during the previous stirring may be used as the characteristics related to the heat of the liquid. Good.

  The signal generator 22 has an oscillation circuit capable of changing the oscillation frequency based on a control signal input from the drive control circuit 23, and generates a high-frequency drive signal of about several MHz to several hundred MHz as a surface acoustic wave element. 24. The drive control circuit 23 uses an electronic control means (ECU) incorporating a memory and a timer, and controls the operation of the signal generator 22 based on a control signal input from the input unit 16 via the control unit 15.

  The drive control circuit 23 controls the operation of the signal generator 22 to control the driving conditions of the surface acoustic wave element 24, for example, the characteristics (frequency, intensity (amplitude), phase, and wave characteristics of the sound wave emitted by the surface acoustic wave element 24. Characteristic), waveform (sine wave, triangular wave, rectangular wave, burst wave, etc.) or modulation (amplitude modulation, frequency modulation), etc. Further, the drive control circuit 23 can change the frequency of the high frequency signal oscillated by the signal generator 22 in accordance with a built-in timer.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the surface acoustic wave element 24 has a vibrator 24b made of a bidirectional comb-like electrode (IDT) formed on the surface of a piezoelectric substrate 24a. The vibrator 24b is a sound generation unit that converts a drive signal input from the drive control unit 21 into a sound wave (bulk wave), and a plurality of fingers constituting the vibrator 24b are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the piezoelectric substrate 24a. ing. The vibrator 24b is connected to the input terminal 24d by a bus bar 24e. In the surface acoustic wave element 24, a pair of input terminals 24d and a single drive control unit 21 are connected by a contact 21b that contacts the wheel electrode 4e. The surface acoustic wave element 24 is attached to the side wall 5b of the reaction vessel 5 through an acoustic matching layer such as an epoxy resin.

  Here, the drawings showing the surface acoustic wave elements described below including the surface acoustic wave element 24 shown in FIG. 4 are mainly intended to show the outline of the configuration. The line width or pitch is not necessarily drawn accurately. The electrode pad 5e may be provided integrally on the input terminal 24d, or the input terminal 24d itself may be the electrode pad 5e.

  In the automatic analyzer 1 configured as described above, the reagent dispensing mechanisms 6 and 7 supply the reagents from the reagent containers 2a and 3a to the plurality of reaction containers 5 conveyed along the circumferential direction by the rotating cuvette wheel 4. Dispense sequentially. In the reaction container 5 into which the reagent has been dispensed, the specimen is dispensed sequentially from the plurality of specimen containers 10 a held in the rack 10 by the specimen dispensing mechanism 11. Whenever the cuvette wheel 4 stops, the contact 21b comes into contact with the wheel electrode 4e, and the drive control unit 21 and the surface acoustic wave element 24 of the reaction vessel 5 are electrically connected. For this reason, in the reaction vessel 5, the dispensed reagent and the specimen are sequentially stirred by the stirring device 20 to react.

  In the automatic analyzer 1, the amount of the sample is usually smaller than the amount of the reagent, and a small amount of sample dispensed into the reaction vessel 5 is drawn into the large amount of reagent by a series of flows generated in the liquid by stirring. The reaction between the specimen and the reagent is promoted. The reaction solution in which the sample and the reagent have reacted in this way passes through the analysis optical system 12 when the cuvette wheel 4 rotates again, and the light beam LB emitted from the light emitting unit 12a is transmitted as shown in FIG. . As a result, the reaction solution of the reagent and the sample in the reaction container 5 is sidelighted by the light receiving unit 12c, and the concentration of the component is analyzed by the control unit 15. Then, after the analysis is completed, the reaction vessel 5 is washed by the washing mechanism 13 and then used again for analyzing the specimen.

  At this time, based on the control signal input from the input unit 16 via the control unit 15 in advance, the automatic analyzer 1 sends a drive signal from the contact 21b to the input terminal 24d when the cuvette wheel 4 is stopped. input. Thereby, in the surface acoustic wave element 24, the vibrator 24b is driven according to the input drive signal, and a sound wave (bulk wave) is induced. The induced acoustic wave (bulk wave) propagates from the acoustic matching layer into the side wall 5b of the reaction vessel 5, and as shown in FIG. 5, the bulk wave Wb leaks into the liquid L having a close acoustic impedance. As a result, two flows are generated in the reaction container 5 from the position corresponding to the vibrator 24b in the liquid L toward the diagonally upward and diagonally downward directions, and the dispensed reagent and specimen are generated by these two flows. Stir.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 6, the center frequency of the drive signal for driving the surface acoustic wave element 24 is f0, the modulation period of the drive signal is T, the amplitude ratio of the drive signal is RA, and the duty ratio is the application time of the drive signal. Is RD. Then, the stirring device 20 can control variously the amplitude and application time (duty ratio) of the drive signal for driving the surface acoustic wave element 24 by the drive control unit 21. At this time, the modulation frequency fAM of the drive signal is fAM = 1 / T (Hz).

  In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, the amplitude ratio RA is 0% after setting the amplitude of the drive signal to 100%, that is, when no drive signal is output to the surface acoustic wave element 24, RA = When 100: 0 and the amplitude of the drive signal is 100% and then the amplitude is 50%, RA = 100: 50. However, the amplitude ratio RA may not be RA = 100: 0 when the vibrator 24b is driven by a drive signal having an extremely low amplitude without setting the amplitude to 0%. The duty ratio RD is the ratio of the drive signal application time t to the modulation period T (= t / T). Therefore, when the amplitude ratio RA = 100: 0 in the figure, if t = T / 2, the duty ratio is RD = 50%, and when the amplitude ratio RA = 100: 50, the duty ratio is calculated from t = T. Becomes RD = 100%. Here, when the surface acoustic wave element 24 is continuously driven at the amplitude ratio RA = 100: 100, the duty ratio is RD = 100%, but the modulation period T is infinite, so the amplitude modulation frequency fAM (= 1 / T) is 0 Hz.

  At this time, the stirrer 20 uses the drive control unit 21 to change the amplitude modulation frequency fAM with respect to the drive signal for driving the surface acoustic wave element 24, for example, under the amplitude ratio RA = 100: 0 and the duty ratio 50%. When the stirring time of the liquid held in the reaction vessel 5 was measured, the result shown in FIG. 7 was obtained.

  The inner diameter of the reaction vessel 5 used at this time was 2 × 3 × 5 (length × width × height) mm, and the thickness of the side wall 5b was 0.5 mm. In the surface acoustic wave element 24, the center frequency f0 of the vibrator 24b = 97 MHz, the crossing width of the comb-like electrodes forming the vibrator 24b is 2.15 mm, the number of pairs is 19 pairs, and the distance between adjacent electrode fingers (= λ / 2) was 9.9 μm, and the vibrator 24b was driven by a drive signal having an applied power of 0.25W. In the measurement, 1 μL of blue pigment (Evans blue) liquid (specific gravity> 1) was dropped into 10 μL of distilled water held in the reaction vessel 5 and stirred, and the distilled water with the pigment solution in the reaction vessel 5 was videotaped. Photographing and image processing were performed, and the time (seconds) required from the start of stirring until the color distribution of the dye solution and distilled water became uniform was defined as the stirring time.

  From the measurement result of the agitation time shown in FIG. 7, when the drive signal for driving the surface acoustic wave element 24 is amplified and modulated, if the modulation frequency fAM is greater than 5 Hz, compared to the case where the surface acoustic wave element 24 is continuously driven. The stirring time became more than twice as long. On the other hand, when the modulation frequency fAM is 2 to 3 Hz, the stirring time is substantially the same as when the surface acoustic wave element 24 is continuously driven. Therefore, when the agitation device 20 drives the surface acoustic wave element 24 under optimal amplification modulation control, the driving time of the surface acoustic wave element 24 can be shortened and the energy required for agitation can be reduced. An increase in the temperature of the liquid due to the above can also be suppressed.

  As described above, when the surface acoustic wave element 24 is driven by controlling the amplification of the drive signal, the drive control unit 21 uses the switch SW to drive the drive signal oscillated by the signal generator 22 as shown in FIG. By switching, the surface acoustic wave elements 24 of the plurality of reaction vessels 5A to 5D are configured to be driven. Here, the automatic analyzer 1 equipped with the stirring device 20 has four or more reaction vessels 5 arranged on the cuvette wheel 4, but here, in order to simplify the drawing display, This will be explained based on.

  At this time, when the cuvette wheel 4 is stopped, the drive control unit 21 drives the surface acoustic wave elements 24 of the reaction vessels 5A to 5D in a time division manner as shown in FIG. 9, and the amplitude ratio RA = 100: 0, Drive at a stirring cycle Tc with a duty ratio of 50%. Thereby, each reaction vessel 5A to 5D is stirred twice at time tm1 and time tm2 (= tm1 / 2). For example, the reaction vessel 5A is switched while the signal is stopped at time tm1 when the reaction vessel 5B is stirred. SW is switched and the surface acoustic wave element 24 is driven.

  Here, the conventional stirring apparatus holds the surface acoustic wave element 24 in each of the reaction vessels 5A to 5D by continuously driving the surface acoustic wave element 24 for a time tm1 as shown in FIG. 10 when the cuvette wheel 4 is stopped. Stirring the liquid. Therefore, in the case of stirring by the conventional stirring device shown in FIG. 10, the stirring time is tm1, whereas in the case of stirring by the drive control unit 21 shown in FIG. 9, the apparent stirring of each reaction vessel 5A to 5D. The time is tm1 + tm2. Therefore, when the agitation device 20 amplifies and modulates the drive signal for driving the surface acoustic wave elements 24 of the reaction vessels 5A to 5D as shown in FIG. This is 1.5 times that of the prior art.

  However, in the case of the amplification modulation control shown in FIG. 9, the drive control unit 21 drives the surface acoustic wave elements 24 of the reaction vessels 5A to 5D with an amplitude ratio RA = 100: 0 and a duty ratio RD = 50%. For this reason, in the stirring device 20, the driving time of the surface acoustic wave element 24 is 3/4 · tm1, and the driving time for stirring the reaction vessels 5A to 5D is reduced by ¼ compared to the conventional case. As a result, the stirring device 20 can reduce the energy of the sound wave required for stirring the reaction vessels 5A to 5D to 3/4, and therefore can suppress the rise in the temperature of the liquid due to absorption of the irradiated sound wave.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a second embodiment according to the stirring device and the analysis device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the first embodiment, the case where the drive control unit controls the amplitude or the application time of the drive signal, in particular, the amplitude of the drive signal, to control the rise in the temperature of the liquid due to the absorption of the sound wave has been described. In contrast, in the second embodiment, the duty ratio is controlled by the drive control unit in accordance with the temperature of the liquid, thereby suppressing an increase in the temperature of the liquid due to absorption of sound waves.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the automatic analyzer 30 according to the second embodiment has the same configuration as the automatic analyzer 1 according to the first embodiment except that the temperature analyzer 14 is provided. Therefore, the automatic analyzer and the stirrer described below including the automatic analyzer and the stirrer of the second embodiment will be described using the same reference numerals for the same components as those of the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the temperature detection device 14 is disposed between the sample dispensing mechanism 11 on the outer periphery of the cuvette wheel 4 and the drive control unit 21. The temperature detection device 14 is an infrared temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the liquid containing the reagent and the sample held in the reaction container 5 in a non-contact manner from above the reaction container 5, and the detected temperature of the liquid is a temperature information signal. The data is output to the drive control unit 21 via the control unit 15 and the control unit 15.

  The stirrer 20 has a predetermined duty ratio set in advance by the drive controller 21 from the contact 21b to the input terminal 24d based on the liquid temperature information signal input from the temperature detector 14 when the cuvette wheel 4 is stopped. Input drive signal. Thereby, the surface acoustic wave element 24 is driven, and the liquid containing the reagent and the sample held in the reaction container 5 being conveyed is stirred. At this time, when the applied power of the driving signal is 0.3 W, the surface acoustic wave element 24 uniformly stirs the liquid held in the reaction vessel 5 as shown in FIG. If 100%, time t (100) is required.

  At this time, the drive control unit 21 drives the surface acoustic wave element 24 in a time-sharing manner with a duty ratio of 50%, for example, in order to control the temperature of the liquid rising by the sound wave irradiated by the surface acoustic wave element 24 to a predetermined temperature or less. In this case, as shown in FIG. 12, the surface acoustic wave element 24 is stirred three times (amplitude modulation frequency fAM = 3 Hz) for a time t (50), and the applied power to the surface acoustic wave element 24 is set to 0. By setting the power to 6 W, the drive signal is controlled so that the total power consumption becomes the same as that in the case of continuous driving at a duty ratio of 100%. For example, when the surface acoustic wave element 24 is similarly driven at a duty ratio of 33%, the drive control unit 21 stirs the surface acoustic wave element 24 for a time t (33) as shown in FIG. The drive signal is controlled so that the total power consumption is the same as when continuously driven at a duty ratio of 100% by setting the power applied to the surface acoustic wave element 24 to 0.91 W while performing the operation three times. .

  Similarly, when the duty ratio is 25%, the drive control unit 21 causes the stirring at time t (25) to be performed three times and the applied power is 1.2 W, for example, as shown in FIG. When the ratio is 20%, for example, the stirring at time t (20) is performed three times, and the applied power is set to 1.5 W, so that the total power consumption is the same as when continuously driven at a duty ratio of 100%. The drive signal is controlled so that In this case, when the total power consumption becomes extremely smaller than that in the case of continuous driving at a duty ratio of 100%, the stirring efficiency is lowered. On the other hand, there is an advantage that heat generation can be suppressed as the total power consumption decreases. For this reason, when driving the surface acoustic wave element 24 with a duty ratio other than 100%, the drive control unit 21 is the same as the case where the total power consumption is continuously driven with a duty ratio of 100%, or less than the total power consumption. It is preferable to do.

  When the duty ratio of the drive signal is controlled in this way, the relationship between the duty ratio shown in Table 1 and the applied power corresponding to the duty ratio is obtained in advance and stored in the drive control circuit 23. In the drive control unit 21, the drive control circuit 23 determines the duty ratio and applied power based on the temperature information of the liquid input from the temperature detection device 14, and the corresponding applied power drive signal is transmitted to the surface acoustic wave element. To 24. At this time, when the temperature of the liquid is lower than when the temperature of the liquid is low, the drive control circuit 23 shortens the irradiation time of the sound wave applied to the liquid, or the drive signal so that the irradiation intensity per unit time of the sound wave is increased. Control the duty ratio. As a result, the drive control unit 21 emits high-power sound waves in a short time when there is no problem even if the temperature of the liquid rises slightly, such as when the temperature of the liquid is low, and the temperature of the liquid When is high, control is performed so that the temperature of the liquid does not rise too much.

  As described above, the stirrer 20 according to the second embodiment is based on the liquid temperature information signal input from the temperature detector 14, and the duty ratio and application of the drive signal when the drive controller 21 stirs the liquid. Determine the power and stir the liquid. For this reason, the stirring device 20 of the second embodiment can control the temperature of the liquid with higher accuracy than the stirring device 20 of the first embodiment.

  Here, the change in the temperature of the liquid when the surface acoustic wave element 24 was stirred three times in a time division manner with a duty ratio of 20% and an applied power of 1.5 W was measured. The result shown by the solid line is obtained. In this case, since the applied power of the drive signal is as large as 5 times that when the duty ratio is 100% because the duty ratio is 20%, the temperature of the liquid rises sharply immediately after the signal is turned on. The temperature of tended to decrease immediately.

  For comparison, when the surface acoustic wave element 24 was continuously stirred for a time t (100) with a duty ratio of 100% and an applied power of 0.3 W, the change in the temperature of the liquid was measured in the same manner. The result shown by the dotted line is obtained. When the duty ratio is 100%, the applied power of the drive signal is as small as 1/5 compared to the case where the duty ratio is 20%. Therefore, the liquid temperature rises immediately after the signal is turned on, but when the duty ratio is 20%. Compared to the temperature rise is small. However, since it was continuously stirred, the temperature showed a tendency to rise gradually with time.

  Therefore, when the surface acoustic wave element 24 is driven at a duty ratio of 20%, the temperature of the liquid after stirring is higher than when the surface acoustic wave element 24 is continuously driven at a duty ratio of 100% by repeatedly turning on and off the drive signal. The increase was suppressed by ΔT.

  Therefore, in order to investigate the temperature rise of the liquid due to the difference in duty ratio, the same amount of distilled water is dispensed into the reaction vessel 5, and when the cuvette wheel 4 is stopped, the surface with a duty ratio of 25, 33, 50, 75, 100% is obtained. Each elastic wave element 24 was driven, and the rate of increase in the temperature of distilled water (° C./second) was measured. The result is shown in FIG. As is clear from the results shown in FIG. 14, it was found that there is a proportional relationship between the duty ratio and the rate of increase in the liquid temperature, and the smaller the duty ratio, the more the temperature increase of the liquid can be suppressed. At this time, the reaction vessel 5 and the surface acoustic wave element 24 are the same as those used for measuring the stirring time of the liquid shown in FIG. 7, the applied power is set to be the same as in Table 1, and the amplitude modulation frequency is set. Stirring was performed 3 times in a time-sharing manner during one stirring cycle at 3 Hz.

  Furthermore, using the same method as the measurement of the liquid stirring time shown in FIG. 7, the liquid stirring time due to the difference in duty ratio was measured, and the result is shown in FIG. In this case, a square wave is used as the amplitude modulation waveform, the duty ratio is set to 20, 25, 33, 50, and 100%, and the applied power shown in Table 1 is set. The amplitude modulation frequency is 3 Hz, that is, 3 times per second in a time division manner. Stir twice. As is apparent from the results shown in FIG. 15, the stirring time can be shortened by reducing the duty ratio and increasing the applied power for driving the surface acoustic wave device 24, rather than stirring at a duty ratio of 100%. it can. In particular, when the duty ratio is set to 25%, the stirring time can be minimized, and the stirring time can be shortened by 40% compared to the case where the duty ratio is 100%.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, a third embodiment of the stirring device and the analysis device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The second embodiment has been described with respect to the case where the drive controller controls the duty ratio according to the temperature of the liquid detected by the temperature detection device, thereby suppressing the increase in the temperature of the liquid due to the absorption of sound waves. On the other hand, the third embodiment describes the case where the liquid temperature is reduced by the absorption of the sound wave by cooling the liquid by the cooling means.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining the third embodiment of the present invention, and is a schematic configuration diagram of an automatic analyzer equipped with a stirring device. FIG. 17 is a perspective view corresponding to FIG. 2 in which a part of the cuvette wheel constituting the automatic analyzer is enlarged in section. FIG. 18 is a plan view of the cuvette wheel containing the reaction vessel cut horizontally at the position of the wheel electrode. FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the stirring device together with a cross-sectional view of the cuvette wheel and the reaction vessel.

  As shown in FIG. 16, the automatic analyzer 40 according to the third embodiment has the same main part configuration as the automatic analyzer 1 according to the first embodiment. However, as shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, the automatic analyzer 40 is formed with a recess 4f in which the Peltier element 41 is arranged at a position adjacent to the lower part of each holder 4b of the cuvette wheel 4 in the circumferential direction. A pressure contact member 42 is disposed on the surface. Further, the recess 4f is formed with a ventilation hole 4g that opens on the upper surface of the cuvette wheel 4 in the upper part.

  The operation of the Peltier element 41 is controlled by the drive control circuit 23 of the stirring device 20, and is a cooling unit that cools the liquid held in the reaction vessel 5 via the surface acoustic wave element 24. The Peltier element 41 is attached to the tip end of a pressure contact pin 42 a included in the pressure contact member 42. The Peltier element 41 is supplied with drive power from the stirring device 20 by a contact 21c that contacts the electrode 4h provided on the cuvette wheel 4 in the same manner as the wheel electrode 4e. Here, the electrode 4h and the Peltier element 41 are connected by electrical wiring.

  The pressing member 42 is a pressing means whose operation is controlled by the drive control circuit 23 of the stirring device 20 and presses the Peltier element 41 against the reaction vessel 5 through the surface acoustic wave element 24. For example, an actuator such as a solenoid is used as the pressure contact member 42, and driving power is supplied from the stirring device 20 by a contact 21 d that contacts an electrode 4 i provided on the cuvette wheel 4 in the same manner as the wheel electrode 4 e. Here, the electrode 4i and the pressure contact member 42 are connected by electrical wiring. When the reaction container 5 holding the liquid to be stirred is not disposed in each holder 4b, the pressure contact member 42 draws the Peltier element 41 into the recess 4f by the pressure contact pin 42a. On the other hand, when the reaction container 5 holding the liquid to be agitated is disposed in each holder 4b, the pressure contact member 42 extends the pressure contact pin 42a as shown in FIGS. Thus, the Peltier element 41 is brought into pressure contact with the reaction vessel 5.

  In the automatic analyzer 40, the stirring device 20 includes a Peltier element 41, and the relationship between the power applied to the surface acoustic wave element 24 and the temperature rise of the liquid held in the reaction vessel 5 is the control unit 15 or the drive control unit. 21 is stored in the drive control circuit 23. For this reason, the automatic analyzer 40 controls the operation of the Peltier element 41 by the drive control circuit 23 of the stirring device 20 based on the relationship between the applied power and the temperature rise of the liquid, so that the acoustic wave irradiated by the surface acoustic wave element 24 is emitted. The temperature of the rising liquid can be controlled below a predetermined temperature.

  At this time, as described in FIG. 8, the stirring device 20 drives the surface acoustic wave elements 24 of the plurality of reaction vessels 5 </ b> A to 5 </ b> D by switching the drive signal oscillated by the signal generator 22 with the switch SW. Configure as follows. Then, as described with reference to FIG. 12, from the relationship between the duty ratio memorized in advance and the applied power corresponding to the duty ratio, the agitating device 20 performs the agitation where the cuvette wheel 4 is stopped as shown in FIG. The surface acoustic wave elements 24 of the reaction vessels 5A to 5D may be sequentially driven by switching the switch during the time. In this case, as described with reference to FIGS. 9, 10, and 13 to 15, the temperature rise and power consumption of the liquid further increase compared to the case where the surface acoustic wave element 24 is continuously driven at a duty ratio of 100%. And the stirring time can be further shortened.

(Embodiment 4)
Next, a fourth embodiment of the stirring device and the analysis device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the third embodiment, the case where the temperature of the liquid due to the absorption of the sound wave is suppressed by cooling the liquid by the cooling unit has been described. On the other hand, in the fourth embodiment, the drive control unit controls the frequency of the drive signal for driving the surface acoustic wave element to the center frequency, thereby suppressing the temperature rise of the liquid due to the absorption of the sound wave. FIG. 21 is a diagram for explaining the fourth embodiment of the present invention, and is a schematic configuration diagram of an automatic analyzer equipped with a stirring device. FIG. 22 is a diagram showing the relationship between the frequency of the drive signal for driving the surface acoustic wave device and the rate of increase in the liquid temperature held in the reaction vessel. FIG. 23 is a diagram showing the relationship between the frequency of the drive signal for driving the surface acoustic wave device and the stirring time of the liquid held in the reaction vessel.

  As shown in FIG. 21, the automatic analyzer 50 according to the fourth embodiment has the same configuration as the automatic analyzer 30 and the stirrer 20 according to the second embodiment. However, the temperature of the liquid rises due to absorption of sound waves. The suppression method is different. That is, the automatic analyzer 50 controls the frequency of the drive signal that drives the surface acoustic wave element 24 to the center frequency by the drive control unit 21, thereby suppressing the temperature rise of the liquid due to absorption of the sound wave.

  Here, the relationship between the frequency of the drive signal that drives the surface acoustic wave element 24 of the stirring device 20 and the rate of increase of the liquid temperature held in the reaction vessel 5 was measured. In the measurement, the surface acoustic wave element 24 having a center frequency of the vibrator 24b of 98 MHz was used, and the drive signal frequencies were set to 90, 92, 94, 96, 97, 98, 100, 102, and 104 MHz. Further, the surface acoustic wave element 24 was driven at 0.3 W by controlling the duty ratio to 100% by the drive control unit 21, and the temperature of the liquid was measured in a non-contact manner using the temperature detection device 14. The measurement results are shown in FIG. From the results shown in FIG. 22, the increase rate (° C./second) of the liquid temperature becomes maximum at 96 MHz, which is smaller than the center frequency f0, and shows a convex parabolic shape. The liquid temperature between 96 MHz and the center frequency f0 The difference ΔT in the rate of increase was about 0.15 ° C.

  On the other hand, the relationship between the frequency of the drive signal and the stirring time of the liquid held in the reaction vessel 5 was measured. At this time, the reaction vessel 5 and the surface acoustic wave element 24 are the same as those used for measuring the liquid stirring time shown in FIG. The wave element 24 was driven at 0.3 W. The measurement results are shown in FIG. As is clear from the results shown in FIG. 23, the stirring time has a downwardly convex parabolic characteristic that is the shortest at the center frequency f0 at which the stirring efficiency is maximum.

  Therefore, comparing the results shown in FIGS. 22 and 23, the liquid held in the reaction vessel 5 does not generate heat at the center frequency f0 at which the stirring efficiency of the surface acoustic wave element 24 is maximized, and the heat generation is maximized. It can be seen that the frequency becomes slightly lower. For this reason, the stirrer 20 suppresses the temperature rise of the liquid caused by absorption of the sound wave irradiated by the surface acoustic wave element 24 when the driving frequency of the surface acoustic wave element 24 is set to the center frequency f0 at which the stirring time is the shortest. can do.

  However, the driving frequency of the surface acoustic wave element 24 with the shortest stirring time varies depending on the liquid to be stirred. Therefore, an optimal drive frequency is obtained in advance for each liquid to be measured and stored in the control unit 15 or the drive control circuit 23, and the drive control unit 21 is input from the input unit 16 via the control unit 15. The driving frequency of the surface acoustic wave element 24 is set for each analysis item.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a figure explaining Embodiment 1 of this invention, and is a schematic block diagram of the automatic analyzer provided with the stirring apparatus. It is a perspective view which expands and shows the A section of the cuvette wheel which comprises the automatic analyzer shown in FIG. It is the top view which cut | disconnected the cuvette wheel which accommodated the reaction container horizontally in the position of a wheel electrode. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the stirring apparatus of Embodiment 1 with the perspective view of reaction container. It is sectional drawing of the stirring container and surface acoustic wave element which show a mode that a liquid is stirred by the bulk wave which a surface acoustic wave element irradiates to a liquid. It is a figure explaining the modulation period, amplitude ratio, and duty ratio of the drive signal which drives a surface acoustic wave element. It is a figure which shows the measurement result of the difference in the stirring time of the liquid by the difference in an amplitude modulation frequency. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration in which the surface acoustic wave elements of a plurality of reaction vessels are individually driven by switching amplification-modulated drive signals with switches in the stirrer according to the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a signal waveform diagram showing drive signals for a plurality of reaction vessels when the surface acoustic wave device is driven in a time-sharing manner and driven under an amplitude ratio RA = 100: 0 and a duty ratio of 50%. It is a signal waveform diagram at the time of driving the surface acoustic wave elements of a plurality of reaction vessels in a conventional stirring apparatus at a duty ratio of 100%. It is a figure explaining Embodiment 2 of this invention, and is a schematic block diagram of the automatic analyzer provided with the stirring apparatus and the temperature detection apparatus. FIG. 6 is a waveform diagram showing a relationship between applied power and application time depending on a duty ratio of a drive signal for driving a surface acoustic wave element in the stirring device of the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a temperature change diagram showing a relationship between time and liquid temperature due to a difference in duty ratio of a drive signal for driving a surface acoustic wave element in the stirring device according to the second embodiment. It is a figure which shows the raise rate of the liquid temperature by the difference in duty ratio. It is a figure which shows the measurement result of the stirring time of the liquid by the difference in duty ratio. It is a figure explaining Embodiment 3 of this invention, and is a schematic block diagram of the automatic analyzer provided with the stirring apparatus. It is the perspective view corresponding to FIG. 2 which expanded and showed a part of cuvette wheel which comprises an automatic analyzer in the cross section. It is the top view which cut | disconnected the cuvette wheel which accommodated the reaction container horizontally in the position of a wheel electrode. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of a stirring apparatus with sectional drawing of a cuvette wheel and reaction container. FIG. 10 is a waveform diagram showing a relationship between applied power and applied time of a drive signal for driving a surface acoustic wave device in the stirring device of the third embodiment. It is a figure explaining Embodiment 4 of this invention, and is a schematic block diagram of the automatic analyzer provided with the stirring apparatus. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the frequency of the drive signal which drives a surface acoustic wave element, and the raise rate of the liquid temperature which the reaction container hold | maintained. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the frequency of the drive signal which drives a surface acoustic wave element, and the stirring time of the liquid which the reaction container hold | maintained. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the electric power of the drive signal which drives the surface acoustic wave element in the conventional stirring apparatus which stirs a liquid with a sound wave, and the raise rate of the liquid temperature which the reaction container hold | maintained.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic analyzer 2,3 Reagent table 4 Cuvette wheel 5 Reaction container 6,7 Reagent dispensing mechanism 8 Specimen container transfer mechanism 9 Feeder 10 Rack 11 Specimen dispensing mechanism 12 Analytical optical system 13 Washing mechanism 14 Temperature detection device 15 Control part DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 16 Input part 17 Display part 20 Stirrer 21 Drive control part 22 Signal generator 23 Drive control circuit 24 Surface acoustic wave element 30,40 Automatic analyzer 41 Peltier element 42 Pressure contact member

Claims (16)

In a stirrer that stirs the liquid held in the container by sound waves,
Sound wave generating means for generating a sound wave to irradiate the liquid;
Control means for controlling the temperature of the liquid that rises due to the sound wave emitted by the sound wave generating means to a predetermined temperature or lower;
A stirrer comprising:   The stirring device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the temperature of the liquid according to a characteristic related to heat of the liquid.   The stirrer according to claim 2, wherein the heat-related characteristic of the liquid is at least one of the amount, viscosity, heat capacity, specific heat, or thermal conductivity of the liquid. A temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the liquid;
The stirring device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the temperature of the liquid based on the detected temperature of the liquid detected by the temperature detection unit.   The stirring device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the temperature of the liquid by controlling an amplitude or an application time of a drive signal for driving the sound wave generation unit.   The stirring device according to claim 5, wherein the control means controls the amplitude of the drive signal by amplitude modulation. A plurality of the sound wave generating means;
The stirring device according to claim 6, wherein the control unit drives the plurality of sound wave generation units by switching to time division.   The stirring device according to claim 6, wherein the control means controls a duty ratio of the drive signal.   The agitation according to claim 8, wherein the duty ratio is controlled so that the total power consumption required for the agitation of the liquid is less than or equal to the electric power required when the sound wave generating means is continuously driven. apparatus.   The said control means controls the duty ratio of the said drive signal so that when the temperature of the said liquid is lower than when the temperature is high, the irradiation time of the said sound wave with which the said liquid is irradiated becomes short. The stirrer according to 9.   The control means controls the duty ratio of the drive signal so that the irradiation intensity per unit time of the sound wave applied to the liquid becomes stronger when the temperature of the liquid is lower than when the liquid is high. The stirring device according to claim 9.   The stirring device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit sets a frequency of a driving signal for driving the sound wave generating unit according to the liquid.   The stirring device according to claim 12, wherein the control means sets the frequency of the drive signal to a center frequency of the sound wave generating means. A cooling means for cooling the liquid;
The stirring device according to claim 1, wherein the control means controls the temperature of the liquid by controlling the operation of the cooling means.   The stirring device according to claim 1, wherein the sound wave generating means is a surface acoustic wave element.   An analyzer for analyzing a reaction liquid by stirring a plurality of different liquids and measuring optical characteristics of the reaction liquid, wherein the stirring apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 15 is used. An analysis apparatus characterized by optically analyzing a reaction solution of a specimen and a reagent.

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