JP2559079Y2 - Pipetting equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pipette used for automatic pipetting and an improvement of a tip of the pipette.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of analysis and tissue culture, a sample solution is put into a centrifuge tube (including a test tube) and centrifuged.
It is often practiced to discard the supernatant, add a new reagent (eg, diluent, culture solution, test agent, dye solution) to the precipitate remaining on the bottom, ie, sediment, and stir the pellet with the reagent. . In this case, a high-speed flow of the sample solution is created by rapidly repeating the suction and discharge of the sample solution using a pipette (Pastool pipette) with a thin tip, and the two are mixed by applying a slight impact to the sediment with this flow. -Stir. This is called pipetting.

Conventionally, a human holds a pipette in his hand and presses a rubber "air reservoir" at the upper end of the pipette with his / her finger. Then, the finger is opened and the "air reservoir" is repelled by the resilience of the rubber elasticity. Pipetting was performed by repeating the work of inflating. However, recently, an automatic stirrer that automates this operation has been commercially available. In this automatic stirring apparatus, a pump is provided at the upper end of the pipette instead of the “air reservoir”, and the pump sucks and discharges air from the tip of the pipette, thereby performing pipetting. This pipetting is called automatic pipetting. The pipette used for automatic pipetting has no structural difference from the conventional manual pipette. FIG. 3 shows only the tip (4) of a conventional pipette for automatic pipetting. Pipettes are made of glass, metal,
Made of plastic etc. Further, since the tip of the pipette is contaminated with sediment, test solution, or the like, a pipette has been developed in which only the tip is provided as a separate part and is replaceably attached to the main body. This separate part is called a pipette tip.
This tip also has the same tip as in FIG.

[0004]

The conventional pipettes for automatic pipetting and the tips of pipette tips are often clogged at the tips, making pipetting impossible. Therefore, regular inspection is required, which has been a problem of unmanned operation. The purpose of the present invention is to solve this problem.

[0005]

The present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 showing an embodiment. (1) The invention according to claim 1 comprises: a cylindrical container 1 having a tapered bottom; and a liquid 2 injected into the cylindrical container 1.
In a pipetting apparatus having a pipette 4 for automatic pipetting for sucking and discharging together with the sediment 3 settled at the bottom of the tapered shape;
On the other hand, the above-mentioned object is achieved by making the outer diameter portion of the pipette tip have a pipette tip that comes into contact with a tapered surface at a position (point A) higher than the height of the sediment. (2) In the invention according to claim 2, the pipette 4 further has a replaceable pipette tip. (3) In the invention according to claim 3, a contact sensor for detecting a pressure applied to the pipette 4 when the tip of the pipette 4 or the tip of the pipette tip comes into contact with the tapered surface of the container 1 (point A). Have

[0006]

[0007]

1 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing the vicinity of the tip of a pipette. This pipette is made of glass and the container is 1cc
In the case of the centrifuge tube described above, the tip (4) has a cylindrical shape with an inner diameter of 3 to 5 mm and an outer diameter of 4 to 6 mm. In the example of this figure, the diameter of the sediment (3) is about 3 mm.

The shape of the end face of the pipette tip is, for example, as shown in FIG.
(A), a concave or convex surface with a slight arc drawn as shown in (b), or an inclined surface as shown in (c), or (Slit) may be used. In this embodiment, the tip of the pipette tip (4) is in contact with the lower slope of the centrifuge tube (1) at point A (see FIG. 1), and the pipette does not touch the sediment (3). For this reason, there is no danger of the pipette tip (4) damaging the sediment (3), and a contact sensor that detects the pressure received by the pipette when it comes into contact with the pipette
This position can be detected. By this detection, the lowering or insertion of the pipette into the centrifuge tube (1) is stopped. Conventional pipettes used expensive non-contact optical sensors because the tip (4) could damage the sediment (3).

[0009]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, it is possible to provide a pipetting device capable of reliably stirring without damaging the sediment and without clogging the sediment in the pipette. . In particular, according to the invention of claim 2, only the pipette tip which is contaminated with sediment, test solution, or the like can be replaced as a separate part, and the workability is excellent. According to the invention as set forth in claim 3, it is possible to detect the contact between the tip of the pipette and the centrifuge tube using an inexpensive contact sensor, and to automatically lower or insert the pipette into the centrifuge tube. You can stop it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing a distal end portion of a pipette according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing an example of a tip shape of the pipette according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing a tip of a conventional pipette.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Centrifuge tube 2 Reagent 3 Sediment 4 Tip of pipette or tip

Claims (3)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A pipetting apparatus comprising: a cylindrical container having a tapered bottom; and a pipette for automatic pipetting for sucking and discharging a liquid injected into the cylindrical container together with a sediment precipitated on the tapered bottom. In the above, while making the inner diameter of the pipette tip larger than the sediment,
A pipetting device, wherein an outer diameter portion of the pipette tip has a pipette tip that comes into contact with the tapered surface at a position higher than the height of the sediment. 2. The pipetting instrument according to claim 1, wherein said pipette further comprises a replaceable pipette tip. 3. The pipetting device according to claim 1, wherein the pipette receives when the tip of the pipette or the tip of the pipette tip comes into contact with the tapered surface of the container. A pipetting instrument further comprising a contact sensor for detecting pressure.