JP2014057541A - Temperature control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a temperature control device improving power consumption.SOLUTION: The temperature control device comprises: a reaction part 2 on which a reaction tank 10 performing PCR reaction is installed; a heat spreader 3 on which the reaction part 2 is attached; a plurality of heat transfer elements 4 provided to the heat spreader 3 and capable of heating and absorbing heat of the heat spreader 3 by being supplied with electric power; and a power feed part supplying the electric power to the plurality of heat transfer elements 4. The plurality of heat transfer elements 4 include a first group G1 having at least one heat transfer element 4 supplied with the electric power from the power feed part, and a second group G2 having at least one heat transfer element 4 different from the heat transfer element 4 included in the first group G1. The power feed part includes a control microcomputer controlling feeding timing so that peak power of electric power supply to the first group G1 and peak power of electric power supply to the second group G2 are not overlapped.

Description

  The present invention relates to a temperature control device. In particular, the present invention relates to a temperature control device that repeats heating and heat absorption using a Peltier element for gene amplification.

  Patent Document 1 is disclosed as a technique for amplifying DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). The PCR (polymerase chain reaction) disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a technique that can amplify DNA in a short time by periodically raising and lowering the temperature of a mixed solution of a reagent and a sample (aqueous solution containing DNA). It is.

  Patent Document 2 is disclosed as an example of a temperature control device for PCR that repeats heating and heat absorption. In the apparatus described in Patent Document 2, a Peltier element is employed as a means for heating and heat absorption. Peltier elements are often mounted on temperature control devices for PCR because they have the advantage that they can be used for both heating and heat absorption by changing the direction of current applied to the elements.

  Further, Patent Document 3 is disclosed as a technique for reducing the peak power of an integrated circuit. The technique disclosed in Patent Document 3 reduces peak power by distributing timings at which integrated circuits operate.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-67957 US Pat. No. 5,475,610 Japanese Patent No. 4428489

  However, general temperature control devices for PCR, including the invention described in Patent Document 2, do not consider power consumption. A Peltier element requires a relatively large current. In particular, since a larger current is required in the initial stage of heating and heat absorption than in a steady state, a very large current is required when heating and heat absorption are repeated at high speed.

  When the apparatus is used in a laboratory, the power supply capacity is generally large, so power consumption is not a problem, and there is an option to increase when the capacity is insufficient. However, in recent years, genetic diagnosis is spreading from laboratories to clinical sites, and these devices are required to be able to cope with the power capacity of a general room.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a temperature control device with improved power consumption.

  One aspect of the present invention is a reaction unit including a reaction tank for performing a PCR reaction, a heat spreader to which the reaction unit is attached, and a plurality of heat spreaders that are provided in the heat spreader and can receive heat from the heat spreader and receive heat. A heat transport element, and a power supply unit that supplies electric power to the plurality of heat transport elements, wherein the plurality of heat transport elements receive at least one power supply from the power supply unit. And a second group having at least one heat transport element different from the heat transport element included in the first group, and the power feeding unit feeds power to the first group. A timing adjustment unit that adjusts the feeding timing so that the peak power of the second group does not overlap with the peak power of the feeding for the second group. A temperature control device to.

  In the first group, two or more heat transport elements may be connected in series, and in the second group, two or more heat transport elements may be connected in series.

  According to the temperature adjustment device of the present invention, the peak power can be kept low, so that a temperature control device with improved power consumption can be provided.

It is a perspective view which shows a part of temperature control apparatus of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the heat transport element in the same temperature control apparatus, and is the figure which planarly viewed the same temperature control apparatus. It is a block diagram of the same temperature control apparatus. It is the graph which accumulated and showed the relationship between time and power consumption about each of the 1st group and the 2nd group at the time of use of the temperature control device. In FIG. 4, the horizontal axis indicates time, and the vertical axis indicates the power consumption. It is the graph which overlapped and showed the relationship between time and power consumption, when using the same temperature control apparatus and driving a 1st group and a 2nd group simultaneously. In FIG. 5, the horizontal axis indicates time, and the vertical axis indicates the power consumption.

  A temperature control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a part of the temperature adjusting device of the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the heat transport element in the temperature adjusting device, and is a diagram in plan view of the temperature adjusting device. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the temperature adjusting device.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the temperature adjustment device 1 includes a reaction unit 2, a heat spreader 3, a heat transport element 4, a heat sink 5, and a power feeding unit 6.

  The reaction unit 2 is a part where a reaction tank 10 for performing a PCR reaction is installed, and is set as a part of the heat spreader 3 in this embodiment. That is, in this embodiment, the reaction tank 10 is installed in the reaction unit 2 so that the reaction tank 10 is in contact with the heat spreader 3, and the reaction tank 10 is a target of temperature control by the temperature adjustment device 1.

  Although the structure of the reaction tank 10 applied to the temperature control apparatus 1 is not specifically limited, For example, the well-known biochip etc. which have the site | part which performs PCR reaction are employable suitably.

  The heat spreader 3 includes a material having a high thermal conductivity or a member having a high heat transport efficiency. For example, the heat spreader 3 may have a block formed of copper, an aluminum block with a built-in heat pipe, or the like. In the present embodiment, the heat spreader 3 is made of a metal plate member. The heat spreader 3 is provided with a temperature sensor (not shown) for measuring the temperature of the reaction unit 2. The temperature sensor is connected to the first controller 7A and the second controller 7B in the power feeding unit 6 through a feedback loop.

  The heat transport element 4 is an element that performs heat transport between the heat spreader 3 and the heat sink 5. As the heat transport element 4, for example, a Peltier element can be used. When a Peltier element is employed as the heat transport element 4, power is supplied to the Peltier element to cause heat transport and generate heat due to the electrical resistance of the element. That is, when heating the heat spreader 3 using a Peltier element, the heat spreader 3 is heated by transporting heat from the heat sink 5 side to the heat spreader 3 side, and the Peltier element itself generates heat by supplying power to the Peltier element. To heat the heat spreader 3. When the heat spreader 3 is cooled, power is supplied to the Peltier element in the opposite direction to the case of heating, and heat is transferred from the heat spreader 3 toward the heat sink 5 via the Peltier element.

  In the present embodiment, a plurality of heat transport elements 4 are provided. For example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, eight heat transport elements 4 are arranged between the heat sink 5 and the heat spreader 3. As shown in FIG. 2, the eight heat transport elements 4 are arranged so as to surround the reaction unit 2 when the heat spreader 3 is viewed from the plate thickness direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, four of the eight heat transport elements 4 are connected to each other in series to form a first group G1 (belonging to the first group G1 in the figure). The heat transport element 4 is labeled 4A). In addition, four of the eight heat transport elements 4 that do not belong to the first group G1 are connected in series to form the second group G2 (the heat belonging to the second group G2 in the figure). The transport element 4 is labeled 4B.) The heat transport element 4 (4B) belonging to the second group G2 is arranged between the two heat transport elements 4 (4A) belonging to the first group G1.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the heat transport elements 4 (4A) belonging to the first group G1 are connected to the first controller 7A in the power feeding unit 6, and the power feeding state is controlled by the first controller 7A. The heat transport element 4 (4B) belonging to the second group G2 is connected to the second controller 7B in the power feeding unit 6, and the power feeding state is controlled by the second controller 7B.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the heat sink 5 is in contact with the surface of the heat transport element 4 opposite to the surface in contact with the heat spreader 3. The heat sink 5 has a material having high thermal conductivity. The shape of the heat sink 5 is preferably a shape having a large surface area in order to increase the heat exchange efficiency. For example, the heat sink 5 may have a structure in which a plurality of fins are attached or a plurality of fins are integrally formed.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the power feeding unit 6 includes a first controller 7A for controlling the heat transport elements 4 of the first group G1, and a second controller 7B for controlling the heat transport elements 4 of the second group G2. And a control microcomputer 8 (timing adjustment unit) connected to the first controller 7A and the second controller 7B.

  The first controller 7A and the second controller 7B acquire the temperature of the reaction unit 2 on the heat spreader 3 with reference to the temperature sensor, and control the power supply state so that the temperature of the reaction unit 2 matches the control target temperature.

The control microcomputer 8 starts the power supply to the second group G2 using the second controller 7B after a predetermined time from the start of power supply to the first group G1 using the first controller 7A. And the second controller 7B is controlled.
When a Peltier element is employed as the heat transport element 4, the power consumption reaches a peak in the initial stage of supplying power to the Peltier element. The control microcomputer 8 drives the second controller 7B after the power consumption of the Peltier elements belonging to the first group G1 has passed the peak. Thereby, the peak of the power consumption of the Peltier elements belonging to the first group G1 and the power consumption of the Peltier elements belonging to the second group are temporally dispersed.
That is, the control microcomputer 8 adjusts the power feeding timing so that the peak power for feeding to the first group G1 and the peak power for feeding to the second group G2 do not overlap.

  Further, the control microcomputer 8 can store a protocol for a thermal cycle reaction such as PCR, and operates based on a protocol generated based on an external input or setting. Examples of the protocol for the thermal cycle reaction such as PCR include a heating time, a heating rate, a cooling time, and a cooling rate.

  Next, the operation of the temperature adjustment device 1 of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between time and power consumption for each of the first group G1 and the second group G2 when the temperature control apparatus 1 is used. In FIG. 4, the horizontal axis represents time. In FIG. 4, the vertical axis schematically shows the magnitude of power consumption, and is a relative value where the peak of power consumption is 1. FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between time and power consumption when the temperature control device 1 is used and the first group G1 and the second group G2 are driven simultaneously. In FIG. 5, the horizontal axis represents time. Further, in FIG. 5, the vertical axis schematically shows the magnitude of power consumption, and is a relative value where the peak of power consumption is 1.

  The temperature adjusting device 1 is used when performing a heat cycle reaction that rapidly raises or lowers the temperature, such as a PCR reaction. For example, a reagent necessary for PCR and an analyte (hereinafter referred to as “reagents”) are accommodated in the reaction vessel 10 and installed in the reaction unit 2, with respect to the reagents installed in the reaction unit 2. Heating and cooling.

  For example, the user inputs a protocol to the power supply unit 6 in order to perform a PCR reaction. For example, the protocol is such that the protocol input by the user to the personal computer is transferred to the power supply unit 6 or a specified profile is called and set in the power supply unit 6 to define the operation of the power supply unit 6. 6 is recognized.

  For example, in PCR, for example, the protocol may be set so that a combination of 95 ° C. for 30 seconds and 68 ° C. for 30 seconds is repeated 25 times.

  Thereby, control targets in the first controller 7A and the second controller 7B are determined. In order to control the heat transport element 4, for example, a general PID may be used.

  The highest power consumption in the temperature adjusting device 1 is the PCR thermal cycle step (step in which the temperature is increased and decreased) among all the steps. For example, in the PCR process, power consumption may reach several hundred watts for heating and heat absorption using the heat transport element 4, and the maximum value of power consumption in the temperature control device 1 is set to about 1500 W. There is a case.

  When a Peltier element is used as the heat transport element 4, electric power consumed by the heat generated by the supplied Peltier element is necessary. Therefore, in the process of cooling the heat spreader 3, the process of heating the heat spreader 3 is performed. May require a lot of power.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in this embodiment, the eight heat transport elements 4 are divided into the first group G1 and the second group G2, and the power supplied to the heat transport elements 4 included in the first group G1. And a peak of power supplied to the heat transport element 4 included in the second group G2 occur at different timings. For this reason, compared with the case where electric power is simultaneously supplied to the eight heat transport elements 4 (see FIG. 5), the peak of the supplied electric power is low. Note that the power consumption of both the first group G1 and the second group G2 decreases after the power consumption reaches its peak, but both the first group G1 and the second group G2 are also transporting heat in this region. .

  For example, in the present embodiment, when all the eight heat transport elements 4 are operated simultaneously and the above protocol is executed, the peak power becomes the sum of the peak powers of the eight heat transport elements 4 and becomes 2 as a relative value. When the operation is divided into one group G1 and the second group G2, the peak power of the temperature adjusting device 1 as a whole does not exceed 1.3. This is because the timing at which the power consumption of each of the first group G1 and the second group G2 peaks is distributed.

In PCR, a reaction with higher sensitivity can be performed when the temperature increasing rate or the temperature decreasing rate is higher. In the present embodiment, a time lag from when power supply to the first group G1 is started until power is supplied to the second group G2 is set, and the temperature increase rate and temperature decrease rate are increased.
For example, when a Peltier element is employed for the heat transport element 4, if a power close to the upper limit of the power that can be supplied to the Peltier element is applied for a long time, the temperature increase rate and temperature decrease rate due to the Peltier element become dull. .
Corresponding to this point, as an example of a method of setting a time lag until power is supplied to the second group G2 after power supply to the first group G1 is started, for example, a heat transport element included in the first group G1 In step 4, the power supplied to the first group G1 is reduced before the temperature rising speed and the temperature falling speed are slowed down, and immediately thereafter, the power is supplied to the second group G2. Thereby, substantially the same temperature change as when the first group G1 and the second group G2 are driven simultaneously is obtained, and the peak power of the entire temperature adjusting device 1 is the same as the peak power in the first group G1. It is lower than the simple sum with the peak power in the two groups G2.

  As described above, according to the temperature control device 1 of the present embodiment, the temperature control device 1 according to the present embodiment can perform the same rapid temperature control as when the heat transport elements 4 divided into two groups are used at the same time. The peak power can be kept low, and the power consumption is improved.

As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was explained in full detail with reference to drawings, the concrete structure is not restricted to this embodiment, The design change etc. of the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention are included.
For example, in addition to the heat transport element described in the above-described embodiment, another heat transport element is further provided on the opposite side of the heat transport element with the reaction tank interposed therebetween, and the reaction tank is sandwiched by these heat transport elements. But you can.
Further, the heat transport element is not limited to eight Peltier elements, and may be two or more Peltier elements.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Temperature adjustment apparatus 2 Reaction part 3 Heat spreader 4 Heat transport element 5 Heat sink 6 Power supply part 7A 1st controller 7B 2nd controller 8 Control microcomputer (timing adjustment part)
10 Reaction tank

Claims (2)

A reaction section in which a reaction vessel for performing a PCR reaction is installed;
A heat spreader to which the reaction part is attached;
A plurality of heat transport elements that are provided in the heat spreader and receive heat supply to heat and absorb the heat spreader;
A power feeding section for supplying power to the plurality of heat transport elements;
Have
The plurality of heat transport elements are:
A first group having at least one heat transport element that receives power from the power supply;
A second group having at least one heat transport element different from the heat transport elements included in the first group;
Have
The temperature control device, wherein the power supply unit includes a timing adjustment unit that adjusts a power supply timing so that a peak power supplied to the first group does not overlap a peak power supplied to the second group. The temperature control device according to claim 1,
In the first group, two or more heat transport elements are connected in series,
In the second group, two or more heat transport elements are connected in series.

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