JP2009041966A - Liquid dispensing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To dispense an accurate amount of liquid by suppressing pulsation of the liquid discharged from a pipe outlet, regardless of pulsation caused by driving of a pump. <P>SOLUTION: This liquid dispensing device 1 includes a container 2 for storing the liquid A, a pipe 3 connected to the container 2, a pump 4 arranged on a middle position of the pipe 3, and a filter 5 arranged on the subsequent stage of the pump 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid dispensing apparatus.

Conventionally, as a liquid dispensing apparatus for dispensing a liquid such as a reagent, there is one disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example.
This dispensing device irradiates a liquid supplied into a transparent nozzle by a syringe pump with a light beam orthogonal to the nozzle axis, and measures the absorption characteristics of the liquid in the nozzle before dispensing. Yes.

JP 2000-258341 A

  However, when a pump such as a syringe pump or a peristaltic pump is disposed in the middle of the pipeline, pulsation occurs in the liquid, and the flow rate of the liquid discharged from the nozzle fluctuates to perform accurate dispensing. There is a problem that can not be.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and dispenses an accurate amount of liquid by suppressing the pulsation of the liquid discharged from the outlet of the conduit regardless of the pulsation caused by driving the pump. An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid dispensing apparatus capable of performing the above.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following means.
The present invention provides a liquid dispensing apparatus comprising a container for storing a liquid, a conduit connected to the container, a pump disposed in the middle of the conduit, and a filter disposed downstream of the pump. provide.
According to the present invention, the liquid sent through the pipe from the container by the pump is discharged from the outlet after passing through the filter. Thereby, the pulsation generated in the liquid by the pump is smoothed by passing through the filter, and the flow rate fluctuation of the liquid discharged from the outlet of the pipe line can be suppressed. As a result, the liquid can be accurately dispensed. In addition, when impurities are contained in the liquid, the impurities can be captured by the filter, and a clean liquid from which the impurities have been removed can be dispensed.

In the said invention, it is good also as providing the sensor which detects the liquid discharged from the exit of the said pipe line.
By doing in this way, since the liquid uniformly discharged from the outlet of the pipe line is detected by the sensor while the pulsation is suppressed by the filter, the flow rate can be detected with high accuracy.

Moreover, in the said invention, the pipe line arrange | positioned in the front | former stage of the said filter is good also as a flow cross-sectional area being larger than the pipe line arrange | positioned in the back | latter stage of the said filter.
By doing so, the liquid pulsation by the pump is absorbed by the liquid being squeezed when the liquid flows in from the pipe having a large flow cross-sectional area toward the pipe having a small flow cross-sectional area, and the flow is more uniform. Can be discharged from the outlet of the pipeline. Thereby, it becomes possible to dispense the liquid more accurately.

Further, in the above invention, a valve disposed in the vicinity of the outlet of the pipe line and a valve control unit that controls opening and closing of the valve are provided, and the valve control unit responds to stoppage of the operation of the pump. It is good also as closing.
In this way, when the pump is stopped, the valve control unit is controlled to close the valve. A pressure difference occurs before and after the filter, and even after the pump is stopped, the pressure difference remaining in the pipeline causes the liquid to flow out from the outlet of the pipeline. Is blocked by the valve, so that the liquid is prevented from flowing out after the pump is stopped, and can be accurately dispensed.

In the above invention, a pump control unit that controls the pump may be provided, and the pump control unit may reversely drive the pump for a predetermined time when the liquid dispensing is stopped.
In this way, when the liquid dispensing operation is stopped, the pump is not simply stopped, but is stopped after being driven in reverse for a predetermined time, so that it occurs before and after the filter during dispensing. This eliminates the pressure difference and prevents the inconvenience of the liquid flowing out from the outlet of the pipe line even after the pump is stopped. Thereby, the liquid can be accurately dispensed.

Moreover, in the said invention, the said pump is good also as providing a syringe pump and two valves which open and close a pipe line before and behind this syringe pump.
By doing so, the upstream valve is opened and the downstream valve is closed, and the liquid in the container is sucked by the syringe pump. Then, the upstream valve is closed and the downstream valve is opened to allow the liquid from the syringe pump. By discharging the liquid, the liquid can be dispensed from the outlet of the pipe line through the filter. Even in this case, the pulsation of the liquid generated at the time of feeding by the syringe pump is smoothed by the filter and can be accurately dispensed.

  According to the present invention, regardless of the pulsation caused by driving the pump, it is possible to suppress the pulsation of the liquid discharged from the outlet of the conduit and to dispense an accurate amount of liquid.

The liquid dispensing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the liquid dispensing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is disposed at a position in the middle of the container 2 for storing the liquid A, the pipe line 3 connected to the container 2, and the pipe line 3. The pump 4 and the filter 5 are provided.

In the container 2, for example, an enzyme solution (liquid) A in which a powdery enzyme for digesting a living tissue is dissolved in pure water is stored.
One end of the pipe line 3 is connected to the container 2, and a nozzle 7 for dispensing into the dispensing container 6 is attached to the other end.

  The liquid dispensing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a sensor 8 that detects the enzyme solution A discharged from the nozzle 7. The sensor 8 is composed of, for example, a photo interrupter, and can detect that the enzyme solution A is being discharged while the light is blocked by the enzyme solution A discharged from the nozzle 7. .

Further, the conduit 3 is provided with a valve 9 such as a pinch valve for opening and closing the conduit 3 in the vicinity of the nozzle 7.
Furthermore, the liquid dispensing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a control device 10 that controls the pump 4 and the valve 9. The control device 10 controls the pump 4 and the valve 9 based on the signal from the sensor 8. Specifically, the control device 10 calculates the dispensing amount of the enzyme solution A based on the signal from the sensor 8, stops the pump 4 when the dispensing amount reaches a predetermined value, and sets the valve 9. Is to be closed.
In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes an input unit for inputting a dispensing amount or a dispensing time.

The pump 4 is, for example, a peristaltic pump disposed in the middle of the pipe 3, and sequentially feeds the enzyme solution A in the pipe 3 by squeezing the pipe 3 with a roller (not shown). It is like that.
The filter 5 is a filter such as a membrane filter made of polyethersulfone (PES) having a pore diameter of 0.22 μm, for example, and contains impurities (including bacteria) in the enzyme solution A stored in the container 2. It can be captured and removed.

  In the present embodiment, the filter 5 is disposed downstream of the pump 4, that is, between the pump 4 and the nozzle 7. Thereby, after the enzyme solution A sent out from the pump 4 is passed through the filter 5, it is dispensed into the dispensing container 6 from the nozzle 7.

  According to the liquid dispensing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment configured as described above, the enzyme solution A in the container 2 is sucked into the pipe line 3 by the operation of the pump 4 and fed through the pipe line 3. In the middle of being carried out, the filter 5 is passed through, and is discharged from the tip of the nozzle 7 to the dispensing container 6 in a clean state from which impurities have been removed.

  In this case, according to the present embodiment, since the filter 5 is arranged on the downstream side of the pump 4, even if pulsation occurs in the enzyme solution A fed by the operation of the pump 4, the filter 5 passes through the filter 5. When the liquid is discharged from the nozzle 7, the flow rate is uniform and the flow rate does not fluctuate. Therefore, it is possible to measure an accurate discharge amount only by counting the discharge time, and to accurately dispense the enzyme solution A into the dispensing container 6.

  Furthermore, according to this embodiment, since the sensor 8 is disposed in the vicinity of the outlet of the nozzle 7, it is possible to accurately measure the time during which the enzyme solution A is discharged from the nozzle 7. At this time, since the enzyme solution A having a uniform flow is detected by the filter 5, it is possible to accurately measure the amount dispensed.

  The sensor 8 detects that the dispensing amount of the enzyme solution A has reached a predetermined value, for example, the dispensing amount input by the input unit 11 or the dispensing amount corresponding to the input dispensing time. When it is determined based on the result, the control device 10 stops the pump 4 and closes the valve 9. Thereby, the further discharge of the enzyme solution A from the exit of the nozzle 7 is prohibited. That is, by disposing the filter 5 in the middle of the pipe 3, a pressure difference is generated before and after the filter 5, so that even if the pump 4 is stopped, the pressure difference remaining in the pipe 3 causes the pressure difference in the pipe 3. The enzyme solution A is about to be discharged from the outlet of the nozzle 7.

  According to the present embodiment, the valve 9 is closed simultaneously with the stop of the pump 4, thereby preventing discharge from the outlet of the nozzle 7 even if a pressure difference remains in the pipe 3. Therefore, the dispensing container 6 can be dispensed with the accurately measured amount of enzyme solution A.

  In the present embodiment, it is preferable that the flow sectional area in the pipe line 3 is made different between the upstream side and the downstream side of the filter 5 and the downstream side is set smaller than the upstream side. Since the filter 5 becomes a resistance and a pressure difference is generated before and after the resistance, the pulsation of the discharged enzyme solution A can be reduced by setting an appropriate flow cross-sectional area corresponding to the flow rate in each pipe 3 part. Further suppression can be achieved.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, although the case where the peristaltic pump was used as the pump 4 was illustrated, it may replace with this and may use the syringe pump 12 as FIG. 2 shows. In this case, the valves 13 and 14 are arranged before and after the syringe pump 12, and the control device 10 controls the syringe pump 12 and the three valves 9, 13 and 14.

  That is, first, the upstream valve 13 is opened and the downstream valve 14 is closed, and the piston 12 a of the syringe pump 12 is pulled to suck the enzyme solution A in the container 2. Next, the upstream valve 13 is closed and the downstream valve 14 is opened, and the piston 12a of the syringe pump 12 is pushed to discharge the enzyme solution A. Thereby, the enzyme solution A can be dispensed through the filter 5 and the nozzle 7.

  In this case, the flow rate of the enzyme solution A discharged from the syringe pump 12 fluctuates during acceleration / deceleration of the piston 12a of the syringe pump 12 or due to fluctuations in the moving speed of the piston 12a. Since it is provided, the flow rate fluctuation is smoothed, and the enzyme solution A having a uniform flow can be discharged from the nozzle 7.

  In the present embodiment, the enzyme solution A is detected by the sensor 8 such as a photo interrupter in the space between the outlet of the nozzle 7 and the dispensing container 6. 3, the dispensing container 6 is configured to be transparent, the tip of the nozzle 7 is inserted into the dispensing container 6, and the sensor includes the light emitting unit 8 a and the light receiving unit 8 b with the dispensing container 6 interposed therebetween. 8, the enzyme solution A discharged from the nozzle 7 may be detected. By doing in this way, the enzyme solution A can be dispensed more aseptically.

Further, in this embodiment, when the dispensing operation is stopped, the pump 4 is stopped and the valve 9 is closed at the same time, so that the discharge of the enzyme solution A after the pump 4 is stopped is prohibited. Thus, the valve 9 may be eliminated, and the control device 10 may reversely operate the pump 4 for a predetermined time when the pump 4 is stopped.
That is, the pressure difference generated before and after the filter 5 due to the forward rotation operation of the pump 4 can be eliminated by the reverse rotation operation of the pump 4, and the enzyme from the nozzle 7 after the pump 4 is stopped without providing the valve 9. The discharge of the solution A can be prevented.

1 is an overall configuration diagram schematically showing a liquid dispensing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a whole block diagram which shows the modification of the liquid dispensing apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the modification of the detection method of the liquid in the liquid dispensing apparatus of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

A Enzyme solution (liquid)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Liquid dispensing apparatus 2 Container 3 Pipe line 4 Pump 5 Filter 8 Sensor 9, 13, 14 Valve 10 Control apparatus (valve control part, pump control part)
12 Syringe pump (pump)

Claims (6)

A container for storing liquid;
A conduit connected to the vessel;
A liquid dispensing apparatus comprising a pump disposed in the middle of the pipe and a filter disposed downstream of the pump.   The liquid dispensing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sensor that detects liquid ejected from an outlet of the conduit.   The liquid dispensing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a conduit disposed in a front stage of the filter has a larger flow cross-sectional area than a conduit disposed in a rear stage of the filter. A valve disposed near the outlet of the conduit;
A valve control unit for controlling the opening and closing of the valve,
The liquid dispensing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the valve control unit closes the valve in response to the operation stop of the pump. A pump control unit for controlling the pump;
The liquid dispensing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the pump controller drives the pump in reverse rotation for a predetermined time when the liquid dispensing is stopped.   The liquid dispensing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pump includes a syringe pump and two valves that open and close the conduit before and after the syringe pump.

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