JP2007303962A - Disconnection determination method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a disconnection determination method capable of detecting disconnection of a wire distributed in a movable part without providing an exclusive detection mechanism separately. <P>SOLUTION: This disconnection determination method for determining existence of disconnection of a wire connecting the movable part to a fixed part includes a stop time detection process for detecting an electrical quantity V0 flowing in the wire at an operation stop time of the movable part, an operation time detection process for detecting the electrical quantity flowing in the wire by allowing the movable part to perform dummy operation for disconnection detection, and a process for determining existence of disconnection of the wire based on a difference between the electrical quantity detected in the stop time detection process and the electrical quantity detected in the operation time detection process. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for determining disconnection of an electric wire connecting between a movable part and a fixed part.

  Conventionally, an analyzer for analyzing a biological sample such as blood analyzes a component and a concentration of a specimen by mixing and reacting a specimen and a reagent in a reaction container and optically measuring the reaction liquid. Yes. At this time, the analyzer moves up and down or pivots the arm member of the dispensing device that supports the dispensing probe, and dispenses the sample and the reagent from the probe to the reaction container conveyed to the dispensing position. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1). In the analyzer, a plurality of electric wires are wired to the arm member to achieve functions such as dispensing and measurement, and the arm member reciprocates when it moves up and down or rotates. Therefore, in the analyzer, stress is repeatedly applied to the electric wires wired along with the reciprocating motion of the arm member, and there is a possibility that the electric wires may be disconnected due to aging. For this reason, the analyzer detects an electrical abnormality caused by disconnection by incorporating an abnormality detection circuit in a movable part such as an arm member.

JP-A-9-274047

  However, it is difficult for an analyzer incorporating an abnormality detection circuit to distinguish between electrical anomalies caused by noise and disconnection in a signal system in which the electrical state changes irregularly when the movable part is activated during analysis. become. On the other hand, while the movable part is stopped, there is a problem that the analyzer cannot detect even if there is a disconnection because the electric state is constant and the electric wire does not move. In this case, in order to detect the presence or absence of disconnection regardless of the operation of the movable part, it is necessary to separately provide a dedicated detection mechanism.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a disconnection determination method capable of detecting disconnection of an electric wire wired to a movable part without separately providing a dedicated detection mechanism. To do.

  In order to solve the above-described problem and achieve the object, the disconnection determination method according to claim 1 is a disconnection determination method for determining the presence or absence of disconnection of the electric wire connecting between the movable part and the fixed part, A stop detection step of detecting the amount of electricity flowing through the electric wire when the operation of the movable portion is stopped; and a detection step of detecting an electric amount flowing through the electric wire by performing a dummy operation for detecting disconnection of the movable portion; And determining the presence or absence of disconnection of the electric wire based on the difference between the amount of electricity detected in the stop time detection step and the amount of electricity detected in the operation time detection step.

  Further, in the disconnection determination method according to claim 2, in the above invention, the step of determining the presence or absence of disconnection of the electric wire includes the amount of electricity detected in the stop detection step and the electric amount detected in the operation detection step. When the difference from the quantity is smaller than a preset value, it is determined that the wire is disconnected.

  The disconnection determination method according to the present invention is based on the difference between the amount of electricity detected in the stop detection process in which the operation of the arm member is stopped and the amount of electricity detected in the operation detection process in which the arm member performs a disconnection detection operation. Therefore, it is possible to detect the disconnection of the electric wire wired to the arm member which is a movable part without newly providing a dedicated detection mechanism.

  Hereinafter, embodiments according to the disconnection determination method of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an analyzer to which the disconnection determination method of the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a disconnection determination method in the analyzer of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the analysis device 1 includes an arm member 2, a drive unit 6, an analysis unit 7, a liquid level detection circuit 8, and a determination control unit 9.

  In the arm member 2, an arm 2b is horizontally supported on an upper portion of a support 2a, and an electrically conductive probe 3 is vertically supported on a distal end side of the arm 2b. The arm 2 b has a sensor 4 disposed therein, and is wired with an electric wire 5 that connects the probe 3 and the liquid level detection circuit 8 via the sensor 4. The sensor 4 senses an electrical change caused by the lower end of the probe 3 contacting or leaving the liquid level of the reagent 10a, and outputs a predetermined analog signal to the liquid level detection circuit 8 as a contact signal or a release signal.

  The drive unit 6 raises and lowers and rotates the column 2 a under the control of the determination control unit 9, and causes the arm member 2 to move up and down and rotate. Thereby, the probe 3 can be dispensed from the reagent container 10 or the sample container to the reaction container in which the reagent 10a or the sample is arranged at a predetermined position. At this time, the drive unit 6 outputs a signal for distinguishing whether the column 2a is raised or lowered or rotated to the determination control unit 9. As a result, the determination control unit 9 monitors the movement of the drive unit 6 related to raising and lowering and rotation.

  The analysis unit 7 analyzes the component and concentration of the sample by optically measuring the reaction liquid in the reaction vessel in which the reagent 10a and the sample are reacted under the control of the determination control unit 9, and the analysis result is obtained. It outputs to the judgment control part 9.

  The liquid level detection circuit 8 detects the liquid level of the reagent 10a or the sample by an analog contact signal or separation signal output from the sensor 4, and converts the contact signal and the separation signal into a digital signal to determine the driving unit 6 and the determination. Output to the control unit 9.

  The determination control unit 9 includes a determination unit 9a, a control unit 9b, and a storage unit 9c, and outputs a control signal to control the dispensing operation of the drive unit 6 and the analysis operation of the analysis unit 7. The determination unit 9a determines whether or not the liquid level is a true liquid level based on the timing of the signal related to the contact signal and the separation signal input from the liquid level detection circuit 8. Further, the determination unit 9a includes a voltage value of a signal output from the liquid level detection circuit 8 when the operation of the arm member 2 is stopped, and a voltage value of a signal output from the liquid level detection circuit 8 when the arm member 2 is disconnected. Based on the difference, the presence or absence of disconnection of the electric wire 5 wired in the arm 2b is determined. The control unit 9 b controls the operation of the drive unit 6 and the analysis unit 7. The storage unit 9c stores the analysis result of the sample output from the analysis unit 7.

  Here, the disconnection detection operation of the arm member 2 means that an empty reagent container 10 or sample container that does not contain the reagent 10a or the sample is disposed at the dispensing position, and the reagent or sample aspirating operation and discharging operation are not performed. This means that the arm member 2 is moved up and down and rotated by the drive unit 6, and in the following description, this operation is called a dummy operation. Thus, the dummy operation is to mechanically perform the disconnection detection operation performed manually by driving the arm member 2 and moving the electric wire 5. Therefore, the dispensing position may be set to a blank state without arranging the reagent container 10 and the sample container, and the arm member 2 may be moved up and down and rotated in this blank state.

  Next, with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, a method for determining the disconnection of the electric wire 5 that is incorporated during the analysis operation of the analyzer 1 and executed under the control of the determination control unit 9 will be described.

  First, when the switch of the analyzer 1 is turned on, the determination control unit 9 executes an initialization process of the analyzer 1 (step S20). Next, the determination control unit 9 determines the voltage value (V0) when the operation of flowing through the electric wire 5 is stopped when the switch of the analyzer 1 is turned on but the arm member 2 is not moving up and down and rotating. Is acquired (step S21). The voltage value (V0) when the operation is stopped is detected from a signal output from the liquid level detection circuit 8 when the operation of the arm member 2 that is not moving up and down and rotating is stopped. May be measured and recorded in the storage unit 9c, or when the disconnected wire 5 is replaced with a new one, the user may measure and store the value in the storage unit 9c, and read this value from the storage unit 9c. .

  Next, the determination control unit 9 outputs a control signal to the drive unit 6 to cause the arm member 2 to perform a dummy operation, and obtains a voltage value (Vd) during the dummy operation that flows through the electric wire 5 (step S22). Next, the determination control unit 9 determines whether or not the electric wire 5 is disconnected based on the difference between the acquired voltage value (V0) at the time of stopping and the voltage value (Vd) at the time of dummy operation (step S23). This determination is made based on whether or not the difference between the voltage value (V0) and the voltage value (Vd) is smaller than a preset disconnection determination threshold value Vt, that is, | Vd−V0 | <Vt.

  When the difference between the voltage value at the time of stop (V0) and the voltage value at the time of dummy operation (Vd) is smaller than the disconnection determination threshold value Vt (Yes in step S23), the determination control unit 9 disconnects the electric wire 5. It is determined that there is a disconnection, and disconnection notification processing is performed (step S24). The disconnection notification process is performed, for example, by displaying a disconnection notice on the display or generating an alarm under the control of the control unit 9b. Thus, the operator can avoid wasting reagents and the like by stopping the subsequent analysis process of the analyzer 1. In addition to the stop of the analysis process, the operator notifies the service person of the disconnection and requests maintenance. In this case, when the analyzer 1 is connected to the manufacturer's management station via the network, the disconnection may be automatically notified to the management station. On the other hand, when the difference between the voltage value (V0) at the time of stop and the voltage value (Vd) at the dummy operation is equal to or greater than the disconnection determination threshold value Vt (No in step S23), the determination control unit 9 does not disconnect the electric wire 5. It is determined as normal.

  Here, the relationship between the voltage value (V0) at the time of stop and the voltage value (Vd) at the time of dummy operation in this disconnection determination will be described with reference to FIG. First, when the arm member 2 does not move up and down and does not rotate, the voltage 5 (V0) at the time of stopping flows through the electric wire 5 in a normal state without disconnection as shown in FIG. Suppose that On the other hand, when the arm member 2 performs a dummy operation, the peak value of the operating voltage value (Vdn) shown in FIG. 3 flows through the electric wire 5 in a normal state without disconnection. On the other hand, when the electric wire 5 is disconnected, when the arm member 2 performs a dummy operation, an operating voltage value (Vdb) having a peak value lower than that in a normal case flows as shown in FIG. Therefore, the difference | Vdn−V0 | between the normal voltage value (V0) and the operating voltage value (Vdn) of the normal electric wire 5 and the voltage value (V0) and the operating voltage value of the disconnected electric wire 5 are stopped. There is a large difference between | Vdb-V0 | and the difference from (Vdb). For this reason, if the disconnection determination threshold value Vt in consideration of this difference is determined in advance, the presence or absence of disconnection of the electric wire 5 can be determined, and the method of the present invention is based on this principle.

  If the electric wire 5 is normal and not disconnected, the determination control unit 9 determines whether there is an analysis instruction (step S25). The determination of the presence / absence of the analysis instruction is executed from a record input from an input device such as a keyboard of the analysis apparatus 1 and stored in the storage unit 9c. If there is an analysis instruction as a result of the determination (step S25, Yes), the determination control unit 9 executes the analysis process (step S26) and then returns to step S21 to acquire the voltage value (V0) at the time of operation stop. The subsequent steps are repeated. At this time, the number of samples to be analyzed in step S26 is stored in advance in the storage unit 9c. Therefore, every time a predetermined number of samples are analyzed, the determination control unit 9 repeats the steps after step S21 to execute a dummy operation. On the other hand, when there is no analysis instruction (step S25, No), the determination control unit 9 determines whether there is an analysis end instruction (step S27). The determination as to whether or not there is an analysis end instruction is executed from the record stored in the storage unit 9c as in the case of the determination as to whether or not the analysis instruction is present.

  If there is no analysis end instruction as a result of the determination (step S27, No), the determination control unit 9 returns to step S25 and repeats the determination of whether there is an analysis instruction. On the other hand, when there is an analysis end instruction (step S27, Yes), the determination control unit 9 obtains the voltage value (V0) when the operation is stopped (step S28), and the voltage value (Vd) when the dummy operation is performed. (Step S29) and whether or not the difference between the acquired voltage value (V0) and the voltage value (Vd) is smaller than a preset disconnection determination threshold value Vt (| Vd−V0 | <Vt?). Execute (Step S30).

  If the difference between the voltage value at the time of operation stop (V0) and the voltage value at the time of dummy operation (Vd) is smaller than the disconnection determination threshold value Vt (| Vd−V0 | <Vt), the determination control unit 9 Then, it is determined that the electric wire 5 is disconnected, and disconnection notification processing is performed (step S24). On the other hand, when the difference between the voltage value (V0) and the voltage value (Vd) is equal to or greater than the disconnection determination threshold Vt (| Vd−V0 | ≧ Vt), the determination control unit 9 indicates that the wire 5 is not disconnected. It determines with it being normal and stops the analyzer 1 according to the analysis completion instruction | indication in step S27.

  Therefore, the analyzer 1 determines that the electric wire 5 is not disconnected and ends the sample analysis operation, so that the next analysis operation can be started in a normal state where the electric wire 5 is not disconnected. Reliability is improved.

  If the sensor 4 used in the analyzer 1 can detect the liquid level, for example, a pressure sensor that detects a pressure change in the probe 3, a sensor that detects an air flow generated in the probe 3, or the probe 3 and the specimen In addition, a sensor or the like that detects capacitance between a liquid sample such as a reagent and the like can be used. The electric wire 5 may be a cable. Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which it is determined whether or not there is a break in the electric wire wired to the arm member that is a movable part in the analyzer. However, the disconnection determination method of the present invention is not limited to the method of determining the disconnection of the electric wire in the analyzer, and the disconnection of the electric wire in any device as long as it is an electric wire connecting between the movable part and the fixed part. It can be applied to judgment.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the analyzer which applied the disconnection determination method of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining the disconnection determination method in the analyzer of FIG. It is a figure explaining the relationship between the voltage value at the time of a stop and the voltage value at the time of an operation | movement in the disconnection determination of the disconnection determination method of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Analyzer 2 Arm member 3 Probe 4 Sensor 5 Electric wire 6 Drive part 7 Analysis part 8 Liquid level detection circuit 9 Judgment control part 9a Judgment part 9b Control part 9c Storage part 10 Reagent container 10a Reagent

Claims (2)

A disconnection determination method for determining the presence or absence of a disconnection of an electric wire connecting between a movable part and a fixed part,
A stop detection step of detecting the amount of electricity flowing through the wire when the operation of the movable part is stopped;
An operation detection step for causing the movable part to perform a disconnection detection dummy operation and detecting the amount of electricity flowing through the electric wire,
Determining the presence or absence of disconnection of the electric wire based on the difference between the amount of electricity detected in the stop detection step and the amount of electricity detected in the operation detection step;
The disconnection determination method characterized by including.   The step of determining the presence or absence of disconnection of the electric wire is performed when the difference between the amount of electricity detected in the stop detection step and the amount of electricity detected in the operation detection step is smaller than a preset value. The disconnection determination method according to claim 1, wherein it is determined that the connection is disconnected.

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