JP2013108797A - Seal peeling device and sample handling system including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a seal peeling device capable of peeling off seal members at high reliability, and to provide a sample handling system including the seal peeling device.SOLUTION: A seal peeling device 400 includes a support unit 10 for arraying and supporting a plurality of containers 10a each having an aperture and configured so that the aperture is covered with an individual seal member in each container 10a in a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction; and a peeling unit 450 to be moved in the first direction of the support unit 10. In accordance with movement in the first direction, the peeling unit 450 is brought into contact with the seal members 13 of one line arrayed in the second direction at least in each one line to peel off the seal members 13.

Description

  The present invention relates to a seal peeling device for peeling a seal member covering an opening of a container and a sample handling system provided with the seal peeling device.

  As this type of seal peeling device, there is known a device applied to a sample handling system used for handling a sample in medicine research, chemical substance analysis, or the like (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this system, in order to store samples in a plurality of containers arranged on a plate, all the openings of the plurality of containers are covered with a gap between the containers by a single sealing member. And when processing the sample in a container, the seal member is peeled with the seal peeling apparatus. In this seal peeling device, the seal member is gradually peeled off from the plate by moving the plate in one direction, and the seal member is peeled diagonally upward to expose all of the openings of the plurality of containers. I try to let them.

Special table 2010-520840

  However, when a large seal member is used in the seal peeling device described in Patent Document 1, the seal member is easily damaged during the peeling operation. For this reason, it may be difficult to completely peel off one seal member, and further improvement has been desired.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a seal peeling device capable of peeling a seal member with high reliability and a sample handling system including the same.

  In order to achieve the above object, the seal peeling device of the present invention provides a plurality of containers each having an opening, the openings being covered with individual sealing members for each container in a first direction. And a support unit arranged and supported in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, and a peel unit that moves in the first direction relative to the support unit. Then, as the peel unit moves relative to the first direction, the peel unit comes into contact with and peels at least one line of the seal members arranged in the second direction.

  According to the present invention, rather than peeling the relatively large seal member that covers the openings of the plurality of containers together, the seal member that individually covers the openings of the plurality of containers is peeled off. The resistance at the time of peeling can be reduced as compared with the case of doing so. Thereby, damage to the seal member in the peeling process can be suppressed, and the seal member can be peeled with high reliability. Moreover, since peeling is performed in a unit (at least one line) that is gathered to some extent, the time required for peeling can be shortened as compared with the case of peeling individually.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the peel unit includes a tape having an adhesive surface having an adhesive force for peeling off the seal member, and a peel roller configured to be movable in the first direction. Good. Then, the peel roller may rotate while causing the unused portion of the adhesive surface to sequentially contact at least one line at a time with the seal member of one line as it moves in the first direction. According to this configuration, the peel roller rotates while moving, so that the unused portion of the adhesive surface of the tape is sent between the peel roller and at least one line of the seal member. The seal member is adhered and peeled by the unused portion of the surface. Thus, with a simple configuration of a peel roller and a tape, at least one line of sealing members can be sequentially peeled with good reliability.

  Preferably, the peel unit may further include an elastic member that biases the peel roller toward the seal member. According to this configuration, even when the height of the containers arranged in the support unit is slightly different, the adhesive surface can be appropriately brought into contact with each sealing member.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the seal peeling device further includes a first roller that is set so that the tape can be fed, and a second roller that winds the tape fed from the first roller. Good. The peel roller is located in the middle of the tape path connecting the first roller and the second roller, and a part of the feeding portion of the tape between the first roller and the second roller is a sealing member. It is good to contact. According to this structure, it can collect | recover with the peeled seal member by winding the delivery part of the used tape with which the seal member was peeled around the 2nd roller.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the peel unit further includes a pressing member that presses the container against the support unit at least on the downstream side of the peel roller when the movement destination of the peel roller in the first direction is the upstream side. Good. According to this configuration, even if the support position of the container in the support unit changes when the seal member is peeled off, it can be suppressed by the pressing member and returned to the original support position. In addition, since the pressing member is on the downstream side of the peel roller, even if the support position of the container is changed due to peeling accompanying the movement of the peel roller, it can be immediately suppressed.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the seal peeling device may include a sensor that detects peeling leakage of the seal member. If the sensor detects a peeling leak after the first movement of the peel roller in the first direction, the peel unit moves the peel roller in a direction opposite to the movement, and the first movement The part of the pressure-sensitive adhesive surface that has been subjected to peeling may be subjected to peeling of the sealing member that has leaked again. By doing so, it is possible to more reliably peel the seal member from all the openings of the containers arranged in the support unit by effectively using the peel roller and the tape used for the first movement.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a sample handling system according to an embodiment. It is a front view of the peel apparatus which concerns on the same embodiment. It is II sectional drawing of the peeling apparatus of FIG. It is typical sectional drawing which shows the peel unit of the peel apparatus of FIG. 2 with a plate. It is a top view which shows the peel unit of the peel apparatus of FIG. 2 with a plate. It is a top view which shows the plate which concerns on embodiment, (a) shows the state before covered with a sealing member, (b) shows the state after covered with the sealing member. It is a top view which shows the principal part of the internal structure of the cutter apparatus which concerns on embodiment with a plate. It is a top view which shows the plate which concerns on embodiment, (a) shows the state before cut | disconnecting a sealing member for every gap of a tube, (b) shows the state after cut | disconnecting a sealing member for every gap of a tube. Show.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  A sample handling system 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a system that performs handling processing such as storage and measurement of a sample. The sample handling system 1 uses, for example, a mother plate in which a plurality of tubes 10a into which liquid samples are injected, and extracts a predetermined amount of samples from the tubes 10a on the mother plate. Further, the sample handling system 1 manages a sample reaction by creating a daughter plate based on the extracted sample and storing the daughter plate for a predetermined period.

  In this embodiment, the plate 10 used for storing a sample, such as a mother plate and a daughter plate, constitutes a support unit that supports a plurality of tubes 10a. Here, the number is 16 × 24 = 386. This is a 384 plate capable of arranging and supporting the tubes 10a in a grid pattern.

  However, as the plate, for example, there are various plates such as 96 plates capable of arranging 96 tubes 10a in a grid, and 1536 plates capable of arranging 1536 tubes 10a in a grid. It is also possible to apply these plates to the sample handling system 1. The plate (support unit) is not limited to the plate 10a arranged in a lattice pattern as long as the tube 10a is arranged in the first direction and the second direction orthogonal thereto. Furthermore, not only a square plate but also a circular plate may be used.

  Here, the tube 10a is a small container called a so-called microtube or well, and is formed of, for example, a resin such as polypropylene. The tube 10a is made of, for example, a bottomed cylindrical member having a lower end closed and an upper end opened, and has a square cross section. The tube 10a configured as described above is detachably accommodated and supported by the plate 10 at the closed lower end.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the plate 10 has a frame-like shape as a whole, and an area inside the plate 10 is configured to be able to hold 386 tubes 10a individually. And in this hold | maintained state, as shown in FIG. 3, the opening of the upper end side of the tube 10a is located above the upper surface periphery 10b of the plate 10. As shown in FIG. In addition, the gap (interval) between two adjacent tubes 10a when arranged in a lattice shape is, for example, 0.2 to 0.3 mm.

Returning to FIG. 1, the sample handling system 1 will be described.
The sample handling system 1 includes a management device 100, an automatic refrigeration warehouse 200, a stacker 300, a peel device 400 that is a seal peeling device, a dispensing device 500, a seal device 600, a cutter device 700, and a stacker 800.

  The management apparatus 100 manages each process executed by each component (200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, and 800) of the sample handling system 1. In addition, the management apparatus 100 returns the plate 10 delivered from the automatic refrigeration warehouse 200 to the automatic refrigeration warehouse 200 again via the stacker 300, peel device 400, dispensing device 500, seal device 600, cutter device 700, and stacker 800. Manage the transportation process until it is received. The transport of the plate 10 between these components can be performed using a transport means such as a transport robot, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The automatic freezer warehouse 200 stores the plate 10 into which the sample is injected into the tube 10 a at a low temperature (for example, −20 ° C.), and delivers the stored predetermined plate 10 to the stacker 300 based on an instruction from the management device 100. To do. An example of such an automatic freezer warehouse 200 includes an ultra-low temperature freezer, a transfer robot, and a picking system. The cryogenic freezer stores the plate 10 at a low temperature, and the transfer robot moves the plate 10 between the cryogenic freezer and the picking system. The picking system is used when taking out from the plate 10 to the outside of the automatic freezing warehouse 200 in units of tubes 10a, and picks a predetermined tube 10a from the plate. In the following, a process when the sample is handled in units of the plate 10 will be described.

  In the plate 10 in the automatic freezer warehouse 200, the plurality of tubes 10a are sealed with their upper end openings covered with a rectangular seal member 13 (see FIG. 8B). As will be described in detail later, each seal member 13 is formed by attaching one seal member 12 (see FIG. 8A), which is heat-sealed to the upper end surfaces of all the tubes 10a of the plate 10, to the tube 10a. It is constructed by cutting every gap. Therefore, in the automatic freezer warehouse 200, the opening in the upper end side of each tube 10a is covered with each seal member 13, and the sample in each tube 10a is stored in a liquid-tight manner.

  The stacker 300 stores the plates 10 delivered from the automatic freezer warehouse 200. The peel apparatus 400 peels all 384 sealing members 13 from the tube 10a of the plate 10 conveyed from the stacker 300. For example, the dispensing device 500 collects a sample from the tube 10a of the peeled plate 10, dispenses the collected sample, and then injects a predetermined sample to create a daughter plate. As will be described in detail later, the sealing device 600 seals one sealing member 12 against all the tubes 10a of the plate 10 after the dispensing process. The cutter device 700 faces the plate 10 after the sealing process, cuts the sealing member 12, and forms the sealing member 13 that seals the opening for each tube 10a. The stacker 800 stores the plate 10 after the cutting process. The plate 10 stored in the stacker 800 is stored in the automatic freezing warehouse 200 and stored again. That is, the plate 10 and the tube 10a supported by the plate 10 can be reused in the sample handling system 1.

  In the sample handling system 1, the management apparatus 100, the automatic refrigeration warehouse 200, the stacker 300, the dispensing apparatus 500, and the stacker 800 can be applied to the existing ones, and detailed description thereof is omitted here. . Below, the peeling apparatus 400, the sealing apparatus 600, and the cutter apparatus 700 are demonstrated in detail in order.

  The peel device 400 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 peels the seal members 13 of the tubes 10a arranged in a lattice pattern on the plate 10 (see FIG. 8B) one by one in order, and finally the plate The seal member 13 is all peeled off from 10. One line refers to one vertical or horizontal row constituting a lattice-like arrangement, and in the case of a 384 plate, it refers to a row in which 16 or 24 seal members 13 are arranged.

  The peel device 400 has a conveyance path 410 on a gantry 400a at the lower part of the casing, and a plate support 11 that supports the plate 10 is movably provided on the conveyance path 410. The conveyance path 410 extends between an initial position outside the housing (the position of the plate support 11 shown by a solid line in FIG. 3) and a seal peeling position (a position of the plate support 11 shown by a broken line in FIG. 3). Exist. The plate support 11 on the conveyance path 410 is moved between the initial position and the seal peeling position by a drive source such as a motor (not shown).

  As shown in FIG. 3, the peeler 400 includes a rotatable supply roller 420 (first roller) and a rotatable take-up drum 430 (second roller) above a conveyance path 410 in the housing. And a supply side guide 440, a peel unit 450, and a take-up side guide 460. A peel tape 421 coated with an adhesive on one side is set on the supply roller 420 so as to be able to be fed out, and a leading end portion of the peel tape 421 is fixed to the take-up drum 430. The adhesive surface of the peel tape 421 has an adhesive force sufficient to peel off the seal member 13. The take-up drum 430 is configured to be rotationally driven by a motor (not shown), and when the take-up drum 430 is rotationally driven, the peel tape 421 is fed out from the supply roller 420 to the take-up drum 430. It is wound up. The width of the peel tape 421 (the length in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction) is set to a length exceeding one line of the tubes 10a arranged in a lattice pattern, and preferably the tubes 10a at both ends of the one line are connected. It is good to reach the upper surface periphery 10b of the plate 10 beyond each. The supply side guide 440 and the take-up side guide 460 may be fixed cylindrical members, but rollers may also be used.

  Moreover, the peel apparatus 400 has the control part 401 shown with a dashed-dotted line in FIG. The control unit 401 controls a seal peeling process for peeling the seal member 13 from the tube 10a. The seal peeling process includes a process of moving the plate support 11 from the initial position to the seal peeling position, a process of moving the seal from the seal peeling position to the initial position, a rotation driving process of the take-up drum 430, and a process of moving the peel unit 450. included. Hereinafter, the control unit 401 will be described as an example in which the seal peeling process is performed based on an instruction from the management apparatus 100, but the seal peeling process is performed based on an instruction from the user using the control panel 402 illustrated in FIG. It is also possible to do this.

  Next, the peel unit 450 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In FIG. 5, the peel tape 421 is not shown in order to facilitate the description of the configuration.

  The peel unit 450 is configured to be movable in the direction along the transport path 410 (first direction) with the adhesive surface of the peel tape 421 facing the plate 10. During this movement, the peel unit 450 applies the adhesive surface of the peel tape 421 to one line of the seal members 13 arranged in the direction (second direction) orthogonal to the direction along the transport path 410. The contact member is configured to peel off the contacted seal member 13 from the tube 10a using the adhesive force.

  More specifically, the peel unit 450 includes the above-described peel tape 421, and also includes guides 451 a and 451 b, a peel roller 452 (third roller), and a pressing mechanism 453, and thereby the adhesive of the peel tape 421. The surface is pressed against the seal member 13 and peeled off. The guides 451a and 451b guide the peel tape 421 passing through the peel roller 452 to the supply roller 420 and the take-up drum 430, respectively, at a position vertically above the peel roller 452. The peel roller 452 brings a part of the feeding portion of the peel tape 421 between the supply roller 420 and the take-up drum 430 into contact with one line of the seal member 13.

  The pressing mechanism 453 presses the peel roller 452 toward the seal member 13. The peel roller 452 is configured to press the adhesive surface of the peel tape 421 against the seal member 13 on the tube 10a by a pressing mechanism 453. Thus, when the peel unit 450 passes over the plate 10, the adhesive surface of the peel tape 421 comes into contact with the seal member 13 of one line in the plate 10.

  Such a pressing mechanism 453 can be composed of an elastic member that can expand and contract in the vertical direction, for example, a spring. For example, the pressing mechanism 453 can be configured by two springs provided so as to urge both end portions of the rotation shaft of the peel roller 452 vertically downward. By doing so, the pressing mechanism 453 can operate slightly upward (for the elastic force of the spring) while pressing the peel roller 453 against the upper surface of the plate 10 (that is, the seal member 13 here). For this reason, for example, even when the heights of the tubes 10 a arranged in the plate 10 are slightly different, the peel roller 453 can be appropriately pressed against each seal member 13.

  Further, the peel unit 450 has two tube pressing rollers (pressing members) 454a and 454b. The tube pressing rollers 454 a and 454 b are provided on the upstream side and the downstream side in the moving direction of the peel roller 452 (that is, the front and back in the direction along the conveyance path 410) and at the position in contact with the upper surface of the plate 10. The tube pressing roller 454a (or 454b) presses the tube 10a floating from the plate 10 by the adhesive force of the peel tape 421 to the plate 10 when the seal member 13 is peeled line by line by the peel roller 452, and the tube Align 10a.

  When the peel unit 450 moves to the left in FIG. 4, the tube pressing roller 454b exerts a function of pressing the tube 10a. When the peel unit 450 moves to the right in FIG. 4, the tube pressing roller 454a presses the tube 10a. Demonstrate the function. The upstream pressing member in the moving direction of the peel roller 452 can be omitted. For example, in FIG. 4, when the peel roller 452 is moved only to the left side when the seal member 13 is peeled off, the tube pressing roller 454a may be omitted.

  Furthermore, the peel unit 450 has two plate pressing rollers 455a and 455b. The plate pressing rollers 455a and 455b are provided at the same height position vertically below the rollers 451a and 451b and at the same height position in the horizontal direction as the peel roller 452. In other words, the plate pressing rollers 455a and 455b are configured to press the plate 10 against the transport path 410 via the plate support 11 before and after the peel roller 452.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the peel unit 450 has two support members 456 a and 456 b so as to be located on both sides of the transport path 410. The two support members 456 a and 456 b include guides 451 a and 451 b and a peel roller. 452, tube pressing rollers 454a and 454b, and plate pressing rollers 455a and 455b are pivotally supported. In this case, various rollers (such as 452) except for the guides 451a and 451b are rotatably supported by the two support members 456a and 456b.

  The support members 456a and 456b are provided so as to be movable along the transport members 457a and 457b that define the transport path 410 by a motor (not shown). Accordingly, the support members 456a and 456b are configured to be movable along the conveying members 457a and 457b with the peel roller 452 facing the upper surface of the plate 10.

  Next, the seal peeling process by the peel unit 450 will be described. In the present embodiment, a process when the peel unit 450 peels the sealing member 13 from the plate 10 line by line will be described.

  First, when the peel unit 450 performs the seal peeling process, the peel tape 421 is wound in advance by a predetermined distance by the winding drum 430, and an unused portion of the peel tape 421 is subjected to the seal peeling process. Yes. In order to prevent the peel tape 421 from being pulled during the seal peeling process, the supply roller 420 and the take-up drum 430 are braked, and a predetermined tension is applied to the peel tape 421. In this state, when the peel unit 450 moves in one direction, the peel roller 452 makes contact so that the adhesive surface of the peel tape 421 is pressed against the seal member 13 in one line. Further, as the movement of the peel unit 450 progresses, the peel roller 452 rotates along with the movement of the peel unit 450. With this rotation, the one-line seal member 13 is peeled off from the opening of each tube 10a and adhered to the peel tape 421. It remains in the state.

  Then, when the next movement proceeds, similarly, the next adhesive surface of the unused portion of the peel tape 421 comes into contact with the next one line of the seal member 13 and is peeled off. Thus, after the peel unit 450 has passed over the plate 10, all the seal members 13 are peeled off by separating the seal members 13 of the plate 10 line by line.

  In the process of the seal peeling process, as described above, even if the tube 10a is pulled upward by the adhesive force of the peel tape 421 and floats from the plate 10, it is immediately removed from the tube pressing roller near the peel roller 452. It can be pressed against the plate 10 at 424b and aligned at a specified position. Similarly, when the plate 10 is lifted from the plate support 11, the plate 10 can be pressed onto the plate support 11 by the plate pressing rollers 455 a and 455 b.

  Here, in the first movement of the peel unit 450 in one direction, peeling leakage of the seal member 13 may occur. For this reason, it is preferable to provide a sensor (for example, a line sensor) for detecting such a peeling leakage of the seal member 13. And when a sensor detects the peeling leakage of the sealing member 13, the peel unit 450 should just be moved to the opposite direction. The peel tape 421 at the location where the peeling leakage has occurred is not adhered to the seal member 13 and still has an adhesive surface. By moving in the opposite direction, the adhesive surface is removed from the peeling leakage seal member 13. It becomes possible to use again for peeling. Therefore, the peel device 400 can reliably peel off the seal member 13 from all the tubes 10a arranged in a lattice pattern on the plate 10.

  In the present embodiment, in the peel unit 450, the guides 451a and 451b, the tube pressing rollers 454a and 454b, and the plate pressing rollers 455a and 455b are configured symmetrically with respect to the peel roller 452. When the peeling leakage occurs, the peel unit 450 can be appropriately moved in the opposite direction.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the peel unit 450 (mainly, the peel roller 452) is used as the configuration for peeling off the seal is described, but the present invention is not limited to this. Moreover, although the case where the sealing member 13 is peeled from the plate 10 line by line has been described, the peel device 400 can be configured to peel two lines or more, and in short, it is sufficient that at least one line can be peeled.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, after conveying the plate support stand 11 to a seal peeling position, the case where the peel unit 450 was moved and the seal member 13 was peeled was demonstrated, However, it is not restricted to this. For example, the peel unit 450 may be fixed, and the plate support 11 that supports the plate 10 may be moved relative to the peel unit 450 to peel off the seal member 13. Furthermore, the structure which peels the sealing member 13 should just be the structure to which the peel unit 450 and the plate 10 move relatively. In the present embodiment, the plate 10 constitutes one component of the peel device 400.

  Next, the sealing device 600 will be described. The sealing device 600 is a device that covers and seals the entire upper surface of the plate 10 (the entire opening group of the arranged tubes 10 a) with one sealing member 12 based on an instruction from the management device 100. That is, all the openings of the tubes 10a arranged in a grid pattern on the plate 10 together with the gaps between the tubes 10a from the state shown in FIG. 6A to the state shown in FIG. Sealing is performed so as to be covered by one sealing member 12. As the sealing member 12, an aluminum tape coated with a pressure-sensitive adhesive (for example, glue) on one surface can be used, but is not limited thereto.

  The seal device 600 includes, for example, the seal member 12 wound around a roller so as to be able to be fed, a cutting mechanism that cuts the seal member 12 into a required length corresponding to the size of the plate 10, and the above-described support for the plate 10. It has a transport mechanism that transports the plate support 11 from the initial position to the work position, and a heating mechanism that heats the seal member 12 at the work position (these are not shown). In the sealing device 600, the sealing member 12 drawn out from the roller and cut is put on the working position so as to cover the opening side of all the tubes 10a of the plate 10, and is heated at a low temperature by the heating mechanism. As a result, the adhesive of the sealing member 12 is melted, and the sealing member 12 is heat-sealed to the opening edges of all the tubes 10a on the plate 10 to seal the entire opening group. However, since the seal member 12 is not welded to the opening edge of the tube 10a, it can be completely peeled off by the peel device 400 described above. The sealing device 600 conveys the plate support 11 from the working position to the initial position after sealing the tube 10a. The plate support 11 on which the plate 10 is placed is transported to the cutter device 700 by the transport robot.

  Next, the cutter device 700 will be described with reference to FIG. The cutter device 700 is a device that cuts the sealing member 12 that seals the entire upper surface of the plate 10, more specifically, the openings of all the tubes 10 a, at every gap between the tubes 10 a. That is, the cutter device 700 shifts from the state shown in FIG. 8A sealed with the sealing member 12 to the state shown in FIG. 8B where the opening is sealed with the sealing member 13 for each tube 10a. become.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the cutter device 700 includes a plate support 710, a cutter unit 720 and a cutter unit 730, a moving mechanism 740, and a control unit 750. The cutter unit 720, the cutter unit 730, and the moving mechanism 740 constitute a cutter unit described in the claims. The plate 10 with the sealing member 12 sealed is supported on the plate support 710. The plate support 710 can use the plate support 11 described above.

  The cutter unit 720 includes a rotating member 722 having a columnar shape, and a cutter blade 721 provided on the peripheral surface of the rotating member 722 at predetermined intervals. Similarly, the cutter unit 730 includes a rotary member 732 having a columnar shape, and cutter blades 731 provided on the peripheral surface of the rotary member 732 at predetermined intervals. The predetermined intervals at which the cutter blades 721 and 731 are provided are the same as the intervals between the tubes 10 a arranged in a grid on the plate 10. The cutter blades 721 and 731 are disposed at positions where the cutter blades 721 and 731 can be cut directly into the seal member 12 when the plate 10 passes below the rotating members 722 and 732. The axial directions of the rotating members 722 and 732 are the vertical and horizontal directions of the grid-like arrangement of the tubes 10a, and are orthogonal to each other.

  The moving mechanism 740 moves the plate support 711 from the reference position shown in FIG. 7 to the rotating member 722 using the moving paths 741 and 742, and uses the moving paths 743 and 744 from the reference position shown in FIG. This is a mechanism for moving the rotating member 732.

  The control unit 750 controls the rotation operation of the cutter blade 721 of the cutter unit 720 and the cutter blade 731 of the cutter unit 730 in addition to the movement operation of the plate support 711 by the moving mechanism 740. Specifically, first, when the plate support base 11 is not located at the reference position, the control unit 750 controls the moving mechanism 740 to move the plate support base 11 to the reference position.

  Next, the control unit 750 controls the moving mechanism 740 to move the plate support 711 from the reference position to the rotating member 722 while rotating the rotating member 722 by a motor (not shown), and finally the plate 10 is moved. It moves until it passes through the rotating member 722. A force for cutting the sealing member 12 is applied to the cutter blade 721 by the rotation of the rotating member 722. The cutter blade 721 causes the sealing member 12 to move to the tube 10a in the short direction (second direction) of the plate 10. It is cut at the gap between them. Thereafter, the plate support 711 is moved to return to the reference position.

  Next, the control unit 750 controls the moving mechanism 740 to move the plate support 711 from the reference position to the rotating member 732 while rotating the rotating member 732 by a motor (not shown), and finally the plate 10 rotates. Move until it passes through member 732. Similarly to the above, a force for cutting the seal member 12 is applied to the cutter blade 731 by the rotation of the rotary member 732, and the cutter member 731 causes the seal member 12 to move in the longitudinal direction (first direction) of the plate 10. Are also cut at the gaps between the tubes 10a. Thereafter, the plate support 711 is moved to return to the reference position.

  By the cutting process described above, as shown in FIG. 8B, the sealing member 12 covering the entire upper surface of the plate 10 is cut at the gaps between the tubes 10a arranged in a lattice pattern, and opened for each tube 10a. A seal member 13 for sealing is prepared. In the present embodiment, the cutter device 700 is not limited to the above-described mechanical configuration (rotating members 722 and 732) as a configuration for applying a cutting force to the cutter blades 721 and 731. For example, a so-called ultrasonic cutter can be used. In this case, as an application unit that replaces the rotation member 722 and the rotation member 732, one that applies ultrasonic vibration to the cutter blades 721 and 731 is used.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, although the example which moves the cutter parts 720 and 730 with respect to the plate 10 with the moving mechanism 740 was demonstrated, it does not restrict to this. For example, the cutting process of the seal member 12 may be performed by fixing the position of the cutter unit (cutter portions 720 and 730) and moving the plate 10 in the two directions described above. In short, the structure for cutting the seal member 12 may be any structure as long as the cutter unit and the plate 10 move relative to each other.

  As described above, according to the sample handling system 1 of the present embodiment, the opening can be sealed with the sealing member 13 for each tube 10 a arranged in a lattice pattern by the sealing device 600 and the cutter device 700. Further, the peel device 400 can peel the individual seal members 13 line by line from the plate 10 line by line. Therefore, even when the number of the tubes 10a is large and the sealing member 12 is large, it is possible to smoothly and appropriately separate the individual sealing members 13 by the peel device 400.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Sample handling system, 10 ... Plate, 10a ... Tube, 11 ... Plate support stand, 12 ... Seal member, 13 ... Cut seal member, 400 ... Peel Equipment: 420 ... Supply roller, 430 ... Winding drum, 450 ... Peel unit, 452 ... Peel roller, 454a, 454b ... Tube press roller, 455a, 455b ... Plate press roller , 600 ... Sealing device, 700 ... Cutter device

Claims (7)

A plurality of containers each having an opening, the openings being covered with individual sealing members for each container, in a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction A support unit arranged and supported;
A peel unit that moves relative to the support unit in the first direction,
The peel unit is a seal peeling device that peels by contacting at least one line with the seal members of one line arranged in the second direction as the peel unit moves relative to the first direction. The peel unit is
A tape having an adhesive surface having an adhesive force for peeling off the sealing member;
A peel roller configured to be movable in the first direction,
2. The seal peeling according to claim 1, wherein the peel roller rotates while sequentially contacting at least one line of the unused portion of the adhesive surface with the seal member of the one line as the peel roller moves in the first direction. apparatus.   The seal peeling apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the peel unit further includes an elastic member that biases the peel roller toward the seal member. A first roller set so that the tape can be fed out;
A second roller for winding the tape fed from the first roller, and
The peel roller is located in the middle of a tape path connecting the first roller and the second roller, and is a part of the feeding portion of the tape between the first roller and the second roller. The seal peeling apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein a portion is brought into contact with the seal member.   The peel unit further includes a pressing member that presses the container against the support unit at least on the downstream side of the peel roller when the movement destination of the peel roller in the first direction is the upstream side. The seal peeling apparatus as described in any one of thru | or 4. A sensor for detecting peeling leakage of the seal member;
When the sensor detects the separation leakage after the first movement of the peel roller in the first direction, the peel unit moves the peel roller in a direction opposite to the movement, The seal peeling apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the portion of the adhesive surface that has been subjected to peeling during the movement of the seal is again used to peel off a leaking seal member.   A sample handling system comprising the seal peeling device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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