JP2011246151A - Capping apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a capping apparatus capable of simplifying operations of carrying in/out a storage plate of microtubes and an arrangement plate of a cap with a simple structure, and sealing an opening of the microtube with the cap quickly and reliably.SOLUTION: The capping apparatus for the microtube for pressing the cap carried on the arrangement plate into the opening of the microtube put on the storage plate for sealing includes a storage plate supply part 110, a storage plate discharge part 110, an arrangement plate supply part 150, an arrangement plate discharge part 140, and a sealing part 120.

Description

  The present invention relates to a cap mounting device that seals the openings of a plurality of microtubes contained in a storage plate with a cap, and more particularly to drug discovery in drug discovery, that is, medicine, biotechnology and pharmacy. The present invention relates to a cap mounting device used for enclosing a drug discovery sample in a process of designing and designing.

In the field of drug discovery research, it is necessary to conduct experiments for storing and analyzing large quantities of samples at low temperatures with high efficiency.
Therefore, the solution in which the sample is dissolved is sealed in a cylindrical or square cylindrical small container called a drug discovery microtube, and the drug discovery microtube is 16 rows × 24 columns in conformity with the SBS (Society for Biomolecular Screening) standard. The storage plates (hereinafter referred to as “384 plates”) having a total of 384 compartments are stored in tandem for storage and transport (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Such a 384 plate has an extremely short section pitch of 4.5 mm. Therefore, when a removable cap is used to seal the opening of the microtube for drug discovery contained in the 384 plate, the cap is attached by a machine. Was extremely difficult.
For this reason, it is necessary to manually attach caps one by one, and it takes considerable time and effort to attach caps to all the openings of the drug discovery microtubes that are vertically accommodated in the 384 plate. Needed.

  In addition, the present inventors (1) pre-aligned the cap of the drug discovery microtube with the alignment plate having the same pitch as the 384 plate, and (2) superimposing the alignment plate on the 384 plate. (3) The caps aligned with the alignment plate are pushed down toward the openings of the drug discovery microtubes that are vertically accommodated in the respective sections of the 384 plate, and (4) the caps are elastically moved into the alignment plate sections. (5) Caps for drug discovery microtubes in which the openings of a plurality of drug discovery microtubes vertically held in each section of the 384 plate are sealed with caps pushed down from the sections of the alignment plate. A cap alignment device has been developed to efficiently align caps to the mounting method and alignment plate.

  As an apparatus that can be used for such a cap mounting method, an apparatus is known in which plate-like workpieces such as alignment plates are stacked in a row in the height direction, and are stacked one by one in order and unloaded one by one. (For example, refer to Patent Document 2).

In addition, new drug effects have been discovered by so-called random screening of compounds, and high-throughput screening (HTS) technology has been adopted to perform this random screening extremely efficiently. ing.
This HTS is a highly systematized method that biochemically evaluates a large number of compounds (for example, tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of kinds) in a short period of time, and derivatizes it as a new lead compound. It is refined in terms of specificity, effect, pharmacokinetics, and the like, and has an advantage that a compound that can be a finished drug can be quickly found (see, for example, Patent Documents 3 and 4).

JP 2007-33061 A (page 6, paragraphs 25-26, FIG. 1) US Pat. No. 6,880,051 (FIGS. 18-24, FIG. 29) JP 2006-81432 A (2nd page, 2nd to 3rd paragraphs) JP-T-2004-503249 (9th page, 1st paragraph to 11th page, 6th paragraph)

In order to carry out the cap mounting method as described above, an operation is performed in which an alignment plate in which caps are aligned in each section is carried into the cap mounting apparatus, and empty works after the cap mounting operation are carried out one by one. Is required.
Also, it is necessary to simultaneously position the microtube storage plate and the cap alignment plate with high accuracy.

As an apparatus for performing these operations, in the apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2 described above, as particularly shown in FIGS. 18 to 24 and FIG. 29 of the same document, a complicated mechanism composed of an electromagnet, a ratchet, etc. Although it is possible to perform positioning using an actuator having a high degree of accuracy, there is a problem that the apparatus configuration becomes complicated and the apparatus becomes expensive.
In addition, there has been a problem that simplification of the loading and unloading operations of the microtube storage plate and the cap alignment plate is still insufficient.

  Therefore, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention, that is, the object of the present invention is to simplify the loading and unloading operations of the microtube storage plate and the cap alignment plate with a simple configuration and to open the microtube. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cap mounting device capable of sealing a part with a cap at high speed and reliably.

  The invention according to claim 1 has a storage plate having a plurality of grid-like compartments and vertically accommodating microtubes, and has the same grid-like compartments as the storage plates and sealing the openings of the microtubes. In a cap mounting device for a microtube that seals the cap by pressing the cap against an opening of the microtube in a state where an alignment plate that accommodates the cap is overlaid, a storage plate supply unit that supplies the storage plate, and the storage plate A storage plate discharge unit for discharging the alignment plate, an alignment plate supply unit for supplying the alignment plate, an alignment plate discharge unit for discharging the alignment plate, and a sealing unit for pressing and sealing the cap against the opening of the microtube By solving this problem, the above-mentioned problems are solved.

  In the invention according to claim 2, in addition to the configuration of the cap mounting device according to claim 1, the alignment plate supply unit cuts out the alignment plates one by one from a work stocker that holds a plurality of alignment plates in a stacked manner. And the alignment plate discharging unit is configured to accommodate the alignment plates one by one in a work stocker that holds a plurality of alignment plates in a stacked manner.

  The invention according to claim 3 includes, in addition to the configuration of the cap mounting device according to claim 1 or 2, a relay portion arranged on a straight line connecting the alignment plate supply portion and the alignment plate discharge portion. In addition, the above-described problem is further solved by having a first handling mechanism for moving the storage plate or the alignment plate between the alignment plate supply unit, the alignment plate discharge unit, and the relay unit.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the cap mounting device according to the first to third aspects, the storage plate supply unit is configured to also serve as a storage plate discharge unit, and the storage plate supply unit The above-mentioned problem is further solved by having a second handling mechanism in which the sealing part and the relay part are arranged in a straight line, and the storage plate or the alignment plate is moved between the storage plate supply part, the sealing part and the relay part. It is a thing.

  In the invention according to claim 5, in addition to the configuration of the cap mounting device according to claim 3 or 4, the relay unit is configured to be able to individually supply the storage plate, thereby Is a further solution.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the cap mounting device according to any of the third to fifth aspects, the first handling mechanism has a grip portion for gripping the storage plate or the alignment plate. Thus, the above-described problem is further solved.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the cap mounting device according to any one of the fourth to sixth aspects, the second handling mechanism mounts the storage plate or the alignment plate. The above-described problems are further solved by having

  In the invention according to claim 8, in addition to the configuration of the cap mounting device according to any one of claims 4 to 7, the moving directions of the first handling mechanism and the second handling mechanism are orthogonal to each other. And the alignment plate supply unit, the alignment plate discharge unit, and the relay unit are arranged so as to be opened to the side.

  The cap mounting device according to the first aspect of the present invention has a storage plate having a plurality of grid-like compartments and vertically accommodating microtubes, and has the same grid-like compartment as the storage plate and sealing the opening of the microtube. In a microtube cap mounting device that seals by pressing the cap against the opening of the microtube in a state where the alignment plate containing the cap is overlaid, the storage plate supply unit that supplies the storage plate, and the storage that discharges the storage plate By having a plate discharge part, an alignment plate supply part for supplying the alignment plate, an alignment plate discharge part for discharging the alignment plate, and a sealing part for pressing and sealing the cap against the opening of the microtube , Storage plate and alignment plate can be sequentially loaded and unloaded independently from different locations Since the, loading of the alignment plate storage plate and the cap of the microtube, unloading work is simplified, it is possible to seal the opening of the microtube in a fast and reliable cap.

  According to the cap mounting apparatus of the second aspect, in addition to the effect achieved by the cap mounting apparatus of the first aspect, the alignment plate supply unit has one alignment plate from the work stocker that holds a plurality of alignment plates in a stacked manner. The alignment plate discharging unit is configured to store the alignment plates one by one in the work stocker that holds the alignment plates in a stacked manner, so that the cap is accommodated in the alignment plates. It is possible to hold the alignment plate on the work stocker and automatically supply it quickly and sequentially, and to automatically store the empty alignment plate in the work stocker after the cap is pressed and sealed. Therefore, the loading and unloading work of the alignment plate is further simplified.

  According to the cap mounting device according to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect exhibited by the cap mounting device according to the first or second aspect, the cap mounting device is arranged on a straight line connecting the alignment plate supply unit and the alignment plate discharge unit. A storage plate containing a microtube in front of the cap is provided by having a first handling mechanism that moves the storage plate or the alignment plate between the alignment plate supply unit, the alignment plate discharge unit, and the relay unit. The operation of stacking the alignment plates by moving to the alignment plate supply unit, and the operation of discharging the alignment plates by moving the storage plate and alignment plate after the cap to the alignment plate discharge unit are performed via the relay unit. Since it can be performed only by linear movement, it is possible to simplify the device configuration and reduce the cost of the device.

  According to the cap mounting device of the present invention, in addition to the effects achieved by the cap mounting device of the first to third embodiments, the storage plate supply unit is configured to also serve as the storage plate discharge unit. The plate supply unit, the sealing unit, and the relay unit are arranged in a straight line, and the second plate has a second handling mechanism that moves the storage plate or the alignment plate between the storage plate supply unit, the seal unit, and the relay unit. It is possible to supply, discharge, seal caps, and supply / discharge of the alignment plate containing the microtubes only by linear movement of the second handling mechanism via the relay portion. Can be simplified and the cost of the apparatus can be reduced.

  According to the cap mounting device according to the fifth aspect, in addition to the effect produced by the cap mounting device according to the third or fourth aspect, the relay portion is configured to be able to individually supply the storage plate. Since the relay part is in a position where the mechanism for automating supply, discharge and sealing does not become an obstacle, it is possible to easily supply a storage plate containing microtubes manually from the relay part. It becomes easy to carry in.

  According to the cap mounting device of the sixth aspect, in addition to the effect exhibited by the cap mounting device according to any of the third to fifth aspects, the first handling mechanism grips the storage plate or the alignment plate. By having a section, a table or the like can be provided below the alignment plate supply section, the alignment plate discharge section, and the relay section, and it is possible to selectively select either the storage plate or the alignment plate. Therefore, the apparatus configuration can be simplified and the degree of freedom of the apparatus configuration is increased.

  According to the cap mounting apparatus of the seventh aspect, in addition to the effect exhibited by the cap mounting apparatus according to any one of the fourth to sixth aspects, the second handling mechanism mounts the storage plate or the alignment plate. By having the mounting table, it can be arranged below the storage plate or the alignment plate, so that it is possible to perform a smooth operation while avoiding interference with the first handling mechanism in the relay section, and the device configuration is simplified. And the degree of freedom of device configuration increases.

  According to the cap mounting apparatus of the eighth aspect, in addition to the effects exhibited by the cap mounting apparatus of any one of the fourth to seventh aspects, the moving directions of the first handling mechanism and the second handling mechanism are orthogonal to each other. It is arranged so that the alignment plate supply unit, the alignment plate discharge unit and the relay unit are opened to the side so that the work stocker supply, discharge and storage plate individual supply can be performed only on the side. Work efficiency is improved.

The whole perspective view of the cap mounting apparatus of the present invention. The top view of the cap mounting apparatus of FIG. The front view of the cap mounting apparatus of FIG. The right view of the cap mounting apparatus of FIG. The left view of the cap mounting apparatus of FIG. The whole perspective view which shows the inside of the cap mounting apparatus of FIG. The perspective view of the 1st handling mechanism of the cap mounting apparatus of this invention. The top view of the 1st handling mechanism of FIG. The front view of the 1st handling mechanism of FIG. The perspective view of the work stocker of the cap mounting apparatus of this invention. Explanatory drawing of the automatic supply / discharge operation | movement of the cap mounting apparatus of this invention. Explanatory drawing of the separate supply / discharge operation | movement of the cap mounting apparatus of this invention.

  The present invention includes a storage plate having a plurality of grid-like compartments and vertically accommodating microtubes, and an alignment plate containing a cap having the same grid-like compartments as the storage plates and sealing the openings of the microtubes. In a microtube cap mounting device that seals by pressing a cap against an opening of a microtube in a stacked state, a storage plate supply unit that supplies a storage plate, a storage plate discharge unit that discharges the storage plate, and an alignment plate A microtube storage plate having a simple configuration, including an alignment plate supply unit for supplying the plate, an alignment plate discharge unit for discharging the alignment plate, and a sealing unit for pressing and sealing the cap to the opening of the microtube. In addition to simplifying the loading and unloading operations of the plate and the cap alignment plate, opening the microtube If the intended sealing at high speed and reliable cap, manner of its specific implementation, may any be any one.

An embodiment of the cap mounting device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
A cap mounting apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a storage plate supply / discharge unit 110, a sealing unit 120, a relay unit 130, an alignment plate discharge unit 140, and an alignment plate supply unit 150, as shown in FIGS. It has.

The storage plate supply / discharge unit 110 is provided on the back side of the cap mounting device 100 and automatically supplies / discharges the storage plate for vertically storing the microtubes at this position by a supply / discharge mechanism (not shown in detail). Is configured to do.
The sealing unit 120 is provided inside the cap mounting apparatus 100. At this position, the sealing plate (details are not shown) opens the microtube accommodated in the storage plate in a state where the storage plate and the alignment plate overlap each other. It is comprised so that the cap accommodated in the alignment plate may be pressed and sealed in the part.
The relay unit 130 is provided on the front side of the cap mounting apparatus 100, and is configured to temporarily hold the storage plate or the alignment plate at this position.

  The storage plate supply / discharge unit 110, the sealing unit 120, and the relay unit 130 are linearly arranged in the front-rear direction of the cap mounting device 100, and the mounting table 161 of the second handling mechanism 160 moves in the front-rear direction. The storage plate is configured to move between the supply / discharge unit 110, the sealing unit 120, and the relay unit 130.

The alignment plate discharge unit 140 is provided on the front side of the cap mounting apparatus 100, and a work stocker 141 that accommodates the alignment plate discharged to the top is disposed.
The alignment plate supply unit 150 is provided on the front side of the cap mounting apparatus 100, and a work stocker 151 that accommodates the alignment plate supplied to the upper part is disposed.

  The relay unit 130, the alignment plate discharge unit 140, and the alignment plate supply unit 150 are linearly arranged in the left-right direction on the front surface of the cap mounting device 100, and the gripping unit 171 of the first handling mechanism 170 is arranged in the left-right direction. By moving, the storage plate or the alignment plate is gripped and moved between the relay unit 130, the alignment plate discharge unit 140, and the alignment plate supply unit 150.

  Further, an opening / closing door 131 is provided above the relay unit 130, and the storage plate can be individually supplied from the relay unit 130 by opening the opening / closing door 131. .

  As shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, the first handling mechanism 170 is disposed along the front side inside the cap mounting apparatus 100, and moves along the rail 172 extending in the left-right direction. And a gripping portion 171 provided below the slide portion 173.

  The gripping part 171 has two gripping claws 174 protruding to the front side of the cap mounting device 100, and the gripping claws 174 are storage plates at the positions of the relay part 130, the alignment plate discharge part 140, and the alignment plate supply part 150. Alternatively, the alignment plate can be grasped and released.

  The work stockers 141 and 151 disposed above the alignment plate discharge unit 140 and the alignment plate supply unit 150 have the same structure, and are aligned from the four sides on the inner periphery of the lower bases 143 and 153 as shown in FIG. Holding springs 142 and 152 for pressing the plate are provided.

  With this structure, since the lowermost alignment plate is held by the holding springs 142 and 152, each time the alignment plate is inserted from below, the previously held alignment plate is pushed upward. A plurality of alignment plates are accommodated in a stacked manner.

  The alignment plate discharge unit 140 is configured so that the alignment plates after using the caps are sequentially inserted and accommodated in the work stocker 141 from below by a push-up device (not shown). Are arranged in advance so as to be stacked on the work stocker 151 and sequentially fed one by one from below by a cutting device (not shown).

  Further, a case 101 (only a frame is shown in the drawing) for accommodating the work stockers 141 and 151 is provided above the alignment plate discharge unit 140 and the alignment plate supply unit 150, and is stacked on the work stocker 151. It is configured so that dust or the like does not adhere to the cap held by the alignment plate.

The operation of the cap mounting apparatus 100 of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
In addition, the white circle in a figure represents a storage plate and the black circle represents an alignment plate.
First, as shown in FIG. 11A, when the storage plate is automatically set to the storage plate supply / discharge unit 110 by a supply / discharge mechanism (not shown in detail), the second handling mechanism 160 is placed. The table 161 moves to the relay unit 130.

On the other hand, the alignment plate containing the cap is cut out by the alignment plate supply unit 150 from the upper work stocker 151 by a cutting device (not shown), and is held by the holding unit 171 of the first handling mechanism 170. It moves to the relay unit 130 and is stacked on the storage plate.
Next, as shown in FIG. 11B, the alignment plate and the storage plate are overlapped and moved to the sealing unit 120 by the mounting table 161 of the second handling mechanism 160.

  Then, the sealing unit 120 presses the cap accommodated in the alignment plate to the opening of the microtube accommodated in the storage plate in a state where the storage plate and the alignment plate are overlapped by a sealing mechanism (not shown in detail). Then, as shown in FIG. 11C, the alignment plate and the storage plate are moved to the relay unit 130 by the mounting table 161 of the second handling mechanism 160 in a state where the alignment plate and the storage plate are overlapped.

  In the relay unit 130, as shown in FIG. 11 (d), the alignment plate is held by the holding unit 171 of the first handling mechanism 170 and moved to the alignment plate discharge unit 140, and is moved upward by a push-up device (not shown). The storage plate is inserted and accommodated in the work stocker 141, and the storage plate is moved to the storage plate supply / discharge unit 110 by the mounting table 161 of the second handling mechanism 160, and is automatically discharged by the supply / discharge mechanism (not shown in detail). .

In addition, the operation when individually supplying the storage plates will be described with reference to FIG.
First, as shown in FIG. 12A, the storage plate is set from the open / close door 131 of the relay unit 130.

On the other hand, the alignment plate containing the cap is cut out by the alignment plate supply unit 150 from the upper work stocker 151 by a cutting device (not shown), and is held by the holding unit 171 of the first handling mechanism 170. It moves to the relay unit 130 and is stacked on the storage plate.
Next, as shown in FIG. 12B, the alignment plate and the storage plate are overlapped and moved to the sealing unit 120 by the mounting table 161 of the second handling mechanism 160.

  Then, the sealing unit 120 presses the cap accommodated in the alignment plate to the opening of the microtube accommodated in the storage plate in a state where the storage plate and the alignment plate are overlapped by a sealing mechanism (not shown in detail). After the sealing, as shown in FIG. 12C, the alignment plate and the storage plate are moved to the relay unit 130 by the mounting table 161 of the second handling mechanism 160 in a state where the alignment plate and the storage plate are overlapped.

  In the relay unit 130, as shown in FIG. 12D, the alignment plate is held by the holding unit 171 of the first handling mechanism 170 and moved to the alignment plate discharge unit 140, and is moved upward by a push-up device (not shown). Inserted and accommodated in the work stocker 141.

  The storage plate may be individually discharged from the open / close door 131 of the relay unit 130. Similarly to the above-described operation, the storage plate is moved to the storage plate supply / discharge unit 110 by the mounting table 161 of the second handling mechanism 160 and supplied. It may be automatically discharged by a discharge mechanism (details are not shown).

  In addition, you may supply separately in the state which accumulated the storage plate and the alignment plate from the relay part 130, In that case, operation | movement starts from the state located in the relay part 130 shown in above-mentioned FIG.12 (b).

  A large number of alignment plates are accommodated in the work stocker 151, and a large number of alignment plates can be accommodated in the work stocker 141. Therefore, a set of alignment plates accommodating caps and discharging of the alignment plates after use Can be performed collectively by the work stockers 141 and 151, so that the loading and unloading operations of the alignment plate can be simplified.

  In addition, since the alignment plate supply unit 150, the alignment plate discharge unit 140, and the relay unit 130 for individually supplying the storage plate are provided on the front surface of the cap mounting device 100 in a straight line, the operator can access them. By becoming easy, the work can be further simplified.

  As described above, according to the cap mounting apparatus 100 of the present invention, the loading and unloading operations of the microtube storage plate and the cap alignment plate can be simplified and the opening of the microtube can be fast and reliable with a simple configuration. Can be sealed with a cap.

  The structure of individual components such as the work stockers 141 and 151, the first handling mechanism 170, the second handling mechanism 160, the arrangement of the entire components, etc. are within the scope of the technical matters described in each claim. As long as it is inside, it is not limited to the thing of the said Example, What kind of thing may be sufficient.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Cap mounting apparatus 110 ... Storage plate supply / discharge part 120 ... Sealing part 130 ... Relay part 131 ... Opening / closing door 140 ... Alignment plate discharge part 141 ... Work stocker 142 ... Holding spring 143 ... Base 150 ... Alignment plate supply unit 151 ... Work stocker 152 ... Holding spring 153 ... Base 160 ... Second handling mechanism 161 ... Mounting table 170 ... 1st handling mechanism 171 ... Grip part 172 ... Rail 173 ... Slide part 174 ... Grip claw

Claims (8)

A storage plate having a plurality of grid-like compartments for vertically storing microtubes and an alignment plate having the same grid-like compartments as the storage plates and containing caps for sealing the openings of the microtubes are stacked. In the microtube cap mounting device that seals the cap by pressing the cap against the opening of the microtube in a state
A storage plate supply unit for supplying the storage plate; a storage plate discharge unit for discharging the storage plate; an alignment plate supply unit for supplying the alignment plate; an alignment plate discharge unit for discharging the alignment plate; A cap mounting device comprising: a sealing portion that presses and seals the cap at an opening of a tube. The alignment plate supply unit is configured to cut out the alignment plates one by one from a work stocker that holds a plurality of alignment plates in a stack,
2. The cap mounting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the alignment plate discharging unit is configured to house the alignment plates one by one in a work stocker that holds a plurality of alignment plates in a stacked manner. Having a relay portion arranged on a straight line connecting the alignment plate supply portion and the alignment plate discharge portion;
The cap mounting device according to claim 1, further comprising a first handling mechanism that moves the storage plate or the alignment plate between the alignment plate supply unit, the alignment plate discharge unit, and the relay unit. . The storage plate supply unit is configured to double as a storage plate discharge unit,
The storage plate supply unit, the sealing unit and the relay unit are arranged on a straight line,
The cap mounting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second handling mechanism that moves the storage plate or the alignment plate between the storage plate supply unit, the sealing unit, and the relay unit.   The cap mounting device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the relay unit is configured to be able to individually supply the storage plate.   The cap mounting apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the first handling mechanism includes a grip portion that grips the storage plate or the alignment plate.   The cap mounting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the second handling mechanism includes a mounting table on which the storage plate or the alignment plate is mounted. The moving directions of the first handling mechanism and the second handling mechanism are arranged to be orthogonal to each other,
The cap mounting device according to any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein the alignment plate supply unit, the alignment plate discharge unit, and the relay unit are disposed so as to be opened sideways.

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