JP2012018102A - Analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce locality of a light source without reducing an amount of light in an analyzer using light.SOLUTION: An analyzer comprises a luminous element, an optical path for guiding light from the luminous element to a reactor vessel for holding a reaction liquid and a light receiving element for receiving light transmitted through the reaction vessel and is equipped with a luminous element operating mechanism for moving the luminous element during measuring the reaction in the reaction vessel using at least the luminous element. The transmitted light or the scattered light intensity is preferably measured by rotating the luminous element around the optical axis in this constitution.

Description

  The present invention relates to an analyzer for analyzing the amount of components contained in a sample using light.

  As an analytical device for analyzing the amount of components contained in a sample, light from a light source is irradiated onto a sample or a reaction mixture in which a sample and a reagent are mixed, and transmitted light having a single or a plurality of measurement wavelengths obtained as a result or 2. Description of the Related Art An analyzer that measures scattered light with a light receiving element to calculate absorbance or scattered light intensity, and calculates the component amount from the relationship between absorbance or scattered light intensity and concentration is widely used (for example, Patent Document 1).

U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,433

  In these devices, a halogen lamp or a light emitting diode (hereinafter referred to as LED) is used as a light source, and the light emitters have a finite size and shape.

  The ideal light source in an analyzer using light is a point light source, and ideally the light beam to irradiate the object is ideal, but the actual light source has a finite size and is a point light source. Must not. Therefore, it is desirable that the light source of the analyzer is perfectly circular considering the shape of a lens or the like, and that the amount of light is uniform within the surface, that is, has no locality.

  However, the actual light source has a more complicated shape. As an example, an element portion of a general LED is shown in FIG. In the LED, a light emitting unit 1 formed in a rectangular shape on a semiconductor material mainly emits light, but a reflecting plate 2 is formed on the same semiconductor material, and the light irradiated to the side is reflected forward to reduce the amount of light. I earn. Further, the wiring 3 for supplying current to the light emitting unit 1 is also formed on the same semiconductor material, and may occupy a part of the reflector 2 and the light emitting unit 1 to make a shadow, resulting in the light emission of the LED. The shape of the part is very complicated. Further, the light emitting part of the halogen lamp is a light emitter formed in a coil shape, which is far from a circular light source or a point light source, and the locality of the light source is very large.

  As a proposal for solving this problem, a method of using integrating spheres on the irradiation side and the light receiving side as shown in FIG. 2 can be considered. FIG. 2 assumes an analyzer that quantifies a desired component by examining the attenuation of transmitted light with an LED light source, 4 is a reaction vessel, and content 5 is a mixture of a sample and a reagent to be measured. It is. Reference numeral 6 denotes an LED as a light source. Light emitted from the LED is repeatedly reflected in the integrating sphere 7, passes through the reaction vessel 4 and the reaction solution 5, enters the integrating sphere 8, and is repeatedly reflected therein. Is detected by the light receiving element 9.

  In this way, the method of eliminating the locality of the light source by using an integrating sphere causes light attenuation, and on the irradiation side, the amount of light irradiated to the sample is greatly reduced relative to the amount of light emitted from the actual light source. Even on the light receiving side, the amount of light received by the light receiving element with respect to the light actually reaching the integrating sphere entrance is greatly reduced. As a result, since the detection sensitivity, which is the basic performance of the analyzer, decreases, the commercial value is greatly lost. Further, the manufacture of the integrating sphere is not only required for its shape and accuracy at a high level, but also because the reflective coating on the inner surface is expensive, the disadvantages are very great in terms of cost and ease of manufacture.

  As another solution to the above problem, a method using Koehler illumination used in a microscope or the like is also conceivable, but this proposal also reduces the locality of the light source, but the reduction in the amount of light is inevitable, and the detection sensitivity, etc. The performance will be greatly affected. The problem to be solved by the present invention is to reduce the locality of a light source without reducing the amount of light in an analyzer using light.

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

  An analyzer comprising: a light emitting element; an optical path for guiding light from the light emitting element to a reaction container that holds a reaction solution; and a light receiving element that receives light transmitted through the reaction container. An analyzer equipped with a light emitting element operating mechanism for moving the light emitting element while measuring the reaction in the reaction vessel using the element. In this configuration, it is preferable to measure the intensity of transmitted light or scattered light by rotating the light emitting element around the optical axis.

  When the light source according to the present invention is used, the locality of the light source can be reduced without reducing the amount of light.

An example of an LED light source. Another solution of the problem to be solved by the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram showing a configuration of an analyzer according to the present invention. The example of the light source with a drive part by this invention. The locality comparison figure of the light source by this invention. The locality comparison figure of the light source by this invention. An example when the light emitting area is maximized.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is an example showing the configuration of the analyzer according to the present invention, and assumes an analyzer that measures transmitted light or scattered light, assuming that the light source is an LED.

  One of the reaction vessels 4 is provided with an LED, which is an LED 10 with a rotation drive mechanism having a mechanism for rotating the LED element around the optical axis. The other side of the reaction vessel 4 is provided with a light receiving element 11 for measuring transmitted light for measuring transmitted light, and measures the absorbance to quantify the concentration of the object. In some cases, the scattered light measuring light receiving element 12 may be provided at a position having an angle with respect to the optical axis. In this case, the concentration of the target is quantified by measuring the scattered light intensity. In some cases, the light receiving element 11 for measuring transmitted light and the light receiving element 12 for measuring scattered light may be provided at the same time, and a plurality of light receiving elements 12 for measuring scattered light may be installed at different angles, or the optical axis. The direction may be any of up, down, left and right directions.

  FIG. 4 illustrates the LED 10 with a rotation drive mechanism according to the present invention in detail. Reference numeral 13 denotes an LED as a light source, which is held by an LED holder 14, and a driven gear 15 is provided on a part of the LED holder 14. Reference numeral 16 denotes a motor, and a drive gear 17 is provided at the end of the shaft. The drive gear 17 meshes with the driven gear 15 and transmits the rotation of the motor to the LED holder 14 to rotate the LED 13 as the light source around the optical axis. The terminal of the LED 13 is provided with a metallic slip ring 18 on each of both poles, and a slip plate 19 which is a spring-like metal plate is provided so as to press against the slip ring 18, and the LED 13 rotates together with the LED holder 14. Even so, a current is supplied to the LED 13 through the slip plate 19 and the slip ring 18.

  The effect by this invention is demonstrated. As shown in FIG. 5 (a), the LED light source has a complicated shape when viewed from the front, and the light emitting region is only the light emitting portion 1 and the reflecting plate 2, and light is emitted between the two. Since there is no part, the locality as a light source is very large. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5B, the light emitting area 20 when this light source is rotated is determined by the outermost diameter of the reflector, and the integration at the time of photometry is determined from the time required for one rotation of the light source. It is self-evident that by increasing the time, the locality inside the light emitting region 20 becomes much smaller than when the LED is stopped. In the case of this example, since the innermost diameter 21 of the reflecting plate is smaller than the outermost diameter 22 of the light emitting portion, the portion that does not emit light between the light emitting portion 1 and the reflecting plate 2 is eliminated, and the locality is further reduced. .

  Further, in FIG. 5, a proposal is described in which the rotation center of the LED is aligned with the centroid of the light emitting region, but the rotation center may be anywhere within the light emitting region. As an example, FIG. 6 shows an example in which the outermost point of the light emitting region is taken as the center and the outer diameter. In this case, the amount of light per unit area is reduced, but the light emitting area is maximized. Since the LED holder is unbalanced, a counterweight is required for actual design. In addition, depending on the size of the light emitting element, locality can be reduced by reciprocating the light emitting element linearly, and it can be moved along a circular path (the light emitting element itself does not rotate). May be.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Light emission part 2 Reflector 3 Wiring 4 Reaction container 5 Reaction liquid 6 Light emitting element (LED)
7 Irradiation side integrating sphere 8 Light receiving side integrating sphere 9 Light receiving element 10 LED with rotation drive mechanism
11 Light-receiving element for transmitted light measurement 12 Light-receiving element for scattered light measurement 13 LED
14 LED holder 15 Driven gear 16 Drive motor 17 Drive gear 18 Slip ring 19 Slip plate 20 Light-emitting area 21 during LED rotation The innermost diameter 22 of the reflector during LED rotation The outermost diameter 23 of the light-emitting part during LED rotation Light-emitting area Centered on one of the outermost points of the light 24 The diagonal point of the outermost point of the light emitting area is the outermost point

Claims (3)

A light emitting element;
An optical path for guiding light from the light-emitting element to a reaction vessel holding a reaction solution;
A light receiving element that receives light transmitted through the reaction vessel;
An analysis device comprising:
An analyzer comprising a light emitting element operating mechanism for moving the light emitting element while measuring the reaction in the reaction vessel using at least the light receiving element. The analyzer according to claim 1,
The analysis device characterized in that the light emitting element operating mechanism is rotated so that a rotation center axis is in a light emitting surface of the light emitting element. The analyzer according to claim 2, wherein
The light emitting element operation mechanism is characterized in that the light emitting element makes one rotation or more within a measurement time.

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