JP2008157970A - Automatic analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To overcome the problem that a period for reading ID information is limited in a system provided with a conventional reagent ID on a reagent vessel side surface, and an automatic analyzer is prevented from improving a performance if an implementation density is increased so as to increase the number of mounted reagents in the automatic analyzer. <P>SOLUTION: The automatic analyzer has a structure for enabling use of the reagent vessel structured so as to attach the ID such as a barcode to its upper surface, bottom surface or both surfaces. Even if the implementation density of the reagent vessels is increased in the automatic analyzer, the information on the reagent ID can be read or written for an arbitrary period, the function and performance of the automatic analyzer are improved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a reagent dispensing system for an automatic analyzer that automatically performs qualitative and quantitative analysis of biological samples such as blood and urine, and to an automatic analyzer using the dispensing system, and in particular, a reagent contained in a reagent container. Automatic using a reagent container provided with an information recording medium that records information on, and having a mechanism capable of reliably reading the information recorded on the information recording medium while improving the mounting density of the reagent container per unit area The present invention relates to an analyzer.

  Automatic analyzers that automatically perform qualitative and quantitative analysis of biological samples such as blood and urine are widely used mainly in test centers and large-scale hospitals because they can improve the quantitativeness of analysis results and increase the speed of analysis. The measurement principle of the automatic analyzer is to mix a reagent that changes color by reacting with the analyte in the sample with the sample and measure the color change of the sample. By measuring what was measured using a table with a photometer, the quantitative performance is improved and the analysis speed is increased.

  In recent years, various techniques have been proposed to improve the usability of the operator of the apparatus. One of the techniques is to record information such as the type of reagent on an information recording medium such as a barcode, and the apparatus automatically identifies the type of reagent by reading the information recording medium. If the operator needs to input the reagent type into the computer, it may report an incorrect analysis result, such as if it is entered incorrectly, but if the method uses an information recording medium as described above, the operator It is expected that the load on the system will be reduced and the possibility of error in the analysis results will be reduced.

  On the other hand, with the diversification of analysis items, there is a demand from the market for a compact automatic analyzer that can mount more reagents. However, barcodes, which are the mainstream of conventional information recording media, have a problem in that barcodes cannot be read if reagent containers are mounted at a high density because they are a method of engineering information. In order to solve this problem, in Patent Document 1, the reagent disk is arranged on the circumference of a double concentric circle, and the reagent is placed in the reagent container row on the outer peripheral side in order to read the barcode of the inner peripheral side reagent container. It has been proposed to provide a non-existing part and read the barcode of the reagent container on the inner peripheral side from that part. By this method, the packaging density of the reagent containers is improved and the reagent is identified by the barcode.

Japanese Patent No. 3274325

  In the method described in Patent Document 1, since the barcode of the inner peripheral side reagent container is read, the operation of the outer peripheral side reagent container is limited. If it is about double concentric circles, the limitation is considered not to be a problem. However, if the concentric circles or more are used in order to further improve the mounting density, it is estimated that the demerits become remarkable.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic analyzer capable of mounting a reagent container at a higher density while using a reagent container provided with an information recording medium for identifying a reagent.

  The configuration of the present invention for achieving the above object is as follows.

  A reagent container for holding a reagent, a reagent cool box for holding a plurality of the reagent containers at a low temperature, and a reagent dispensing device for sucking the reagent in the reagent container from any reagent container held in the reagent cool box; In the reagent dispensing system, the lid of the reagent cooler is divided into at least two parts: a movable part that can be opened and closed for taking out the reagent container, and a fixed part that is fixed to the cooler and cannot be opened and closed. The reagent dispensing system in which the fixing unit is provided with an information reading unit for reading information of a recording unit in which information including reagent information in the reagent container provided in the reagent container is recorded.

  In the above, the recording unit is preferably provided on the upper surface of the reagent container.

  Further, the recording unit may communicate information by radio waves.

  The fixing part of the lid may be provided with an opening for the reagent dispensing device to aspirate the reagent from the reagent container, and the information reading part may be provided in the vicinity of the opening.

  The information reading unit reads the information in the information recording unit of the reagent container immediately before the reagent dispensing device aspirates the reagent from the reagent container, and after confirming whether the reagent is a desired reagent, the reagent dispensing device May have a function of aspirating the reagent.

  An automatic analyzer capable of reducing the price of the apparatus with an inexpensive mechanism and at the same time improving the number of processes and the number of processing items of the apparatus can be provided.

  In general, in an automatic analyzer, a barcode label that can record information necessary for identification purposes or reagent operation is provided on the side of a reagent container that stores chemicals used to analyze the components of a sample to be analyzed. It is attached. Alternatively, it is also conceivable to install a storage medium for writing or reading information electrically or magnetically or using a combination of these methods. A bar code reader or a writing / reading mechanism using an electric or magnetic coupling or a combination of these for reading information stored in the storage medium including the bar code label is provided on the side of the reagent container. It was installed, and from the side of the reagent container, the type of reagent and information necessary for analysis were read manually or automatically when setting the reagent bottle in the apparatus. Or, when the apparatus is turned on, it is common to execute re-reading automatically in order to confirm the reagent already loaded.

  However, automatic analysis requires more types of reagents to be installed in order to carry out more analysis, and it is necessary to increase the number of reagent containers installed. From the problem of the floor area, it is desired to make it small, so it is necessary to increase the mounting density of the reagent containers.

  For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 5, it is necessary to arrange the gap between the reagent container and the reagent container as much as possible. However, when the configuration of FIG. 5 is adopted, information is provided on the side surface of the reagent container as in the conventional example. With this method, in order to reread reagent operation information at power-on, it takes a lot of time, other than taking out the reagent container once, moving it to another location, and rereading the information. It was.

  In general, in the method of giving information to the side surface of the reagent container, as shown in FIG. 6, a method is used in which the reagent containers are arranged in a circle and a read / write mechanism is provided outside the circle. In the case of a rectangular parallelepiped or a cube, a wasteful space increases in the circular reagent storage. In order to solve the above problems, fan-shaped reagent containers are adopted for some of the reagent containers. However, in order to increase the number of mounted containers, the reagent containers are accommodated in an outer periphery and an inner periphery as shown in FIG. In this case, in order to read the information on the inner peripheral reagent container, a bar code reader using light is used, and the gap between the reagent container and the reagent container arranged on the outer periphery is the bar of the inner peripheral reagent container. The code needs to be installed so that it can be read, and the structure reduces the density of the reagent container.

  The present invention aimed at solving this problem will be described in detail with reference to the following examples.

[Example 1]
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of one embodiment of a reagent container (1) for storing a reagent necessary for analyzing a sample mounted on an automatic analyzer according to the present invention. The reagent container (1) is an apparatus. Depending on the specifications, it has a rectangular parallelepiped or sector shape. On the upper surface of the reagent container (1), a reagent ID (2) capable of storing information necessary for reagent operation is attached. The reagent ID (2) includes a barcode, a semiconductor storage medium, a magnetic storage medium, an optical storage medium, and the like.

  The reagent container (1) is mounted on the reagent disk (9) of the reagent storage unit (21) in FIG. Moreover, the schematic of one Example of a reagent storage part (21) is shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, a plurality of reagent containers (1) can be mounted on a circular reagent disk (9). The reagent container (1) and the reagent disk (9) are composed of a reagent cold storage (7) and a reagent. It is insulated by the cold storage lid (8). A plurality of reading / writing mechanisms (5) are installed in the reagent cold storage lid (8), and analysis of the specimen stored in the reagent ID (2) attached to the upper surface of the reagent container (1) is performed. The information necessary for reading can be read out or written in a non-contact or contact manner using electromagnetic waves, magnetism, light, or the like. Reagent information required for analysis read by the read / write mechanism (5) is sent to the information control unit (6) via the communication line (16) and used for analysis operation by the automatic analyzer. The information control unit (6) reads and writes the reagent operation information generated by the operation of the automatic analyzer, such as reagent usage count information, reagent opening date and time, and reagent expiration date. ) To the reagent ID (2). The reagent disk (9) is rotated in the horizontal direction by a reagent disk rotating motor (11), and the reagent container (1) is a predetermined position where the reagent in the reagent container (1) can be aspirated by the reagent nozzle (14), or The information necessary for analysis inside the reagent ID (2) is read or written to a predetermined position by the read / write mechanism (5). In FIG. 3, the automatic analyzer having the above mechanism analyzes the specimen stored in the sample container (30) mounted on the sample rack (29) in the sampler section (23) by the sample probe (24). Into the reaction cell (22) of the part (20), the reagent on the reagent storage part (21) is dispensed into the reaction cell (22) by the reagent probe (25), and the stirring mechanism (28) The sample and reagent are stirred and mixed, and the chemical reaction process of the sample and reagent is analyzed by the detector (27) for the components contained in the sample. In this embodiment, the reagent ID (2) is attached to the upper surface of the reagent container (1). However, depending on the configuration of the apparatus, the reagent ID (2) is attached to the lower surface of the reagent container (1) to read / write. The mechanism (5) may be a structure attached to the lower side of the reagent container or a structure attached to both the upper surface and the lower surface.

[Example 2]
FIG. 7 shows an example of the case where the reagent containers (1) are arranged concentrically on the outer periphery and inner periphery of the reagent disk (9) as shown in FIG. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, which is a schematic diagram, the automatic analyzer has a read / write mechanism moving mechanism (33) to move the position of the read / write mechanism (5), and the read / write mechanism The movement mechanism (33) moves the reading / writing mechanism (1) in the X-axis direction, the Y-axis direction, the Z-axis direction, the rotation direction, and the like, and the reagent ID (2) on the reagent container (1) at an arbitrary position. ) It moves to a position where the information of the reagent necessary for analysis stored inside can be read.

  In the reagent disk (9) in this embodiment, when the operation range of the reading / writing mechanism moving mechanism (33) is limited, or the moving distance or moving time of the reading / writing mechanism moving mechanism (33) is reduced. When necessary, the reagent disk is rotated in the horizontal direction by the reagent disk rotating motor (11), and the reagent container (1) is a position where the reagent in the reagent container (1) is aspirated by the reagent nozzle (14) or read / write. The mechanism (5) moves to a position where information necessary for analysis inside the reagent ID (2) can be read or written.

[Example 3]
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of an automatic analyzer intended to reduce the number of read / write mechanisms (5) in the first embodiment. In the case of the present embodiment, the detection reagent of the read / write mechanism (5) located above the rotation type reagent disk (9) and the reagent container (1) is a reagent in a plurality of reagent containers (1). One reagent ID (2) is read or a plurality of reagents in a state having a size extending over ID (2) and not accompanied by rotation of the reagent disk (9) and movement of the read / write mechanism (5) ID (2) is read.

[Example 4]
FIG. 9 is an outline of an embodiment of an automatic analyzer in which the reagent containers (1) are arranged in a non-concentric manner as shown in FIG. 5 in order to increase the number of reagent containers (1) mounted on the automatic analyzer. FIG. In the case of this embodiment, there is no rotating reagent disk (9) as shown in FIGS. 2 and 7, and the reagent containers (1) are arranged in a grid on the reagent cooler (7). The read / write mechanism (5) is placed inside the reagent ID (2) on the reagent container (1) at an arbitrary position arranged at a fixed position on the automatic analyzer by the read / write mechanism moving mechanism (33). The stored information of the reagent necessary for the analysis is moved to a position where it can be read out.

[Example 5]
10 and 11 show that when the reagent container (1) is arranged concentrically on the outer periphery and the inner periphery of the reagent disk (9) as shown in FIG. It is the schematic of one Example of the automatic analyzer aiming at reducing the quantity of a read / write mechanism (5). The read / write mechanism (5) mounted in the present embodiment includes a mechanism for reading the reagent ID (2) using light, represented by a barcode reader. The reagent cooler lid (8) has one reading / writing mechanism (5), two fixed mirrors (37), and one movable mirror (36). The movable mirror (36) combines two mirrors into a pent roof type, and the reflecting surface faces outward. The movable mirror (36) is fixed to the mirror operating mechanism (38), and moves toward and away from the fixed mirror (37) when the mirror operating mechanism (38) operates. The two fixed mirrors (37) are attached to the inner peripheral reagent container (1) of the reagent disk (9) and the upper surface of the outer peripheral reagent container (1), respectively. The read / write mechanism (5) is located near the top of the apex where the mirror of the movable mirror (36) is combined into a two-pent roof type. The read / write mechanism (5) fixed mirror (37) and movable mirror (36) provide information necessary for analyzing the sample of the reagent ID (2) arranged on the upper surface of the reagent container (1). An arrangement is taken that can be sent through the optical path (39) to the read / write mechanism (5). Further, the movable mirror (36) is moved by the mirror operating mechanism (38), as shown in FIG. 10, of the specimen of the reagent ID (2) arranged on the upper surface of the reagent container (1) on the inner periphery of the reagent disk (9). A position necessary for analyzing the sample of the reagent ID (2) arranged on the upper surface of the reagent container (1) on the outer periphery of the reagent disk (9) as shown in FIG. It has a structure that moves to a position to read information.

[Example 6]
FIG. 12 shows the case where the reagent container (1) is mounted on the automatic analyzer, and when the reagent disk (9) is arranged concentrically on the outer circumference and the inner circumference as shown in FIG. It is the schematic of one Example of the automatic analyzer aiming at reducing the quantity of a mechanism (5). The read / write mechanism (5) mounted in the present embodiment includes a mechanism for reading the reagent ID (2) using light, represented by a barcode reader. One reading / writing mechanism (5) is installed above the reagent cold storage lid (8) or the reagent cold storage lid (8), and one movable mirror (36) is further installed. Although the movable mirror (36) is basically one, it is fixed to the mirror operating mechanism (38), and the mirror operating mechanism (38) operates to change the direction of the reflecting surface of the mirror. Has a structure that can. The read / write mechanism (5) and the movable mirror (36) provide information necessary for the analysis of the specimen of the reagent ID (2) arranged on the upper surface of the reagent container (1) and the optical path (39). Through an arrangement that can be sent to the read / write mechanism (5). Further, the movable mirror (36) is moved by the mirror operating mechanism (38), as shown in FIG. 12, of the specimen of the reagent ID (2) arranged on the upper surface of the reagent container (1) on the inner periphery of the reagent disk (9). Move to the position to read the information required for analysis, or the position to read the information required for analysis of the sample of the reagent ID (2) arranged on the upper surface of the reagent container (1) on the outer periphery of the reagent disk (9) It has a structure to do.

The schematic block diagram of one Example of the reagent container mounted in the automatic analyzer of this invention. Sectional drawing of the reagent cooler of the automatic analyzer of FIG. The schematic block diagram of the automatic analyzer of FIG. FIG. 3 is an overview of a conventional reagent container. An example of an efficient arrangement of reagent containers. The top view of the example of arrangement | positioning on the reagent disk of a reagent container. Sectional drawing of the Example of the reagent cooler of the automatic analyzer which has the reagent container arrangement | positioning of FIG. Sectional drawing of the Example of the reagent cooler of the automatic analyzer which has the reagent container arrangement | positioning of FIG. Sectional drawing of the reagent cooler of the automatic analyzer which has the reagent container arrangement | positioning of FIG. Sectional drawing of the Example of the reagent cold storage of an automatic analyzer which mounts the mechanism which has a mirror. Sectional drawing of the Example of the reagent cold storage of an automatic analyzer which mounts the mechanism which has a mirror. Sectional drawing of the Example of the reagent cold storage of an automatic analyzer which mounts the mechanism which has a mirror.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Reagent container, 2 ... Reagent ID, 3 ... Reagent container opening part, 4 ... Fan-shaped reagent container, 5 ... Read / write mechanism, 6 ... Information control part, 7 ... Reagent cooler, 8 ... Reagent cooler cover, 9 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS ... Reagent disc, 10 ... Reagent disc rotation shaft, 11 ... Reagent disc rotation motor, 12 ... Motor control line, 13 ... Motor control circuit, 14 ... Reagent nozzle, 15 ... Reagent nozzle operation mechanism, 16 ... Communication line, 20 ... Analysis unit, 21 ... reagent storage unit, 22 ... reaction cell, 23 ... sampler unit, 24 ... sample probe, 25 ... reagent probe, 26 ... movable reaction disk, 27 ... detector, 28 ... stirring mechanism, 29 ... sample rack , 30 ... Sample container, 31 ... Reagent disk outer periphery, 32 ... Reagent disk inner periphery, 35 ... Read / write mechanism moving mechanism, 36 ... Movable mirror, 37 ... Fixed mirror, 38 ... Mirror operating machine , 39 ... optical path.

Claims (3)

Reagent cooler that holds a plurality of reagent containers concentrically in multiple rows;
A reagent dispensing device for aspirating a reagent from a reagent container held in the reagent cold storage;
In an automatic analyzer equipped with
A recording unit that records information including reagent information in the reagent container is provided on the upper surface of the reagent container;
A barcode reader that reads information recorded in the recording part of the reagent container on a lid provided on the upper part of the reagent cold storage,
An automatic analyzer characterized in that the information recorded in the recording part of the reagent container is read by bending the light from the barcode reader with a reflector. The automatic analyzer according to claim 1,
The reflector is provided in the lid portion for each reagent container row,
The automatic analyzer further comprises a movable reflector that distributes light from the barcode to any one of the reflectors. The automatic analyzer according to claim 1,
2. The automatic analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the reflector includes an angle varying unit that distributes light from the barcode to any one of the plurality of reagent container rows.

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