JP2779894B2 - Dispensing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sample using a chip,
The present invention relates to a dispensing device that supplies a predetermined liquid such as a reagent or a buffer solution to a plurality of desired locations such as test tubes and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, when a test is performed by adding a desired reagent or the like to a sample, a dispensing tip for contacting the sample is of a disposable type in order to prevent mutual mixing. The apparatus generally presses a horizontally movable and vertically movable nozzle connected to a suction / discharge mechanism into chips arranged vertically and horizontally in a chip stocker, lifts this together with the nozzle, and removes liquid from the suction liquid container. Aspirate and further lower the nozzle into the hole of the microplate, discharge the sucked liquid into the microcylinder by operating the microcylinder, and then insert the comb-shaped release tool on the waste box into the flange of the chip fitted to the nozzle. The tip is detached by scraping the nozzle by utilizing the difference in outer diameter between the nozzle and the tip.

[0003] However, there are various methods for specimen testing. For example, in the case of testing for agglutination of blood, a microplate (usually 8 holes per column, 12 holes per row) is often used. ), Manually put the negative / positive control serum used for the comparison of the agglutination reaction between the sample and the sample in a predetermined row, and set it in the device. Each row A in the vertical direction is described as a column and the row B in the horizontal direction is described as a row as shown in FIG. 2). Fill the solution and perform serial dilutions up to n rows, and then dispense sensitized blood cells from a certain diluted sample hole in a prescribed amount. Dispensed create blood cell minute, and the other columns in the negative, in the hall of the positive control serum is often to inspect without dispensing the sensitized blood cells.

In this case, since the nozzles move up and down integrally in units of one line, all the chips in one line are mounted on the nozzles, and the chips are dispensed into all the holes by suction of the liquid by the chips. It is impossible to dispense only a specific hole. Therefore, conventionally, the row of chips in the tip stocker was replaced with the row of chips for the normal sample hole,
Negative / positive control serum hole chips are prepared in two rows and dispensed. For example, if the hole is 8 rows and a normal sample is placed in the 1st to 6th rows of a column and negative / positive control serum is placed in the remaining 7th to 8th rows, it is necessary to make the chip correspond to these. Must only deploy chips in one column, rows 1-6 of the tip stocker, and only in rows 7-8 of another column. However, in order to do so, unnecessary chips in separate rows must be removed in advance, and the preparation is extremely complicated. In addition, since the buffer solution dispensing tip row to be dispensed to all rows must be provided at the same time, it is extremely complicated to set the tip of the tip stocker corresponding to the dispensing position in advance, which is extremely complicated. Also easily occur. Furthermore, even though there is only one row of holes on the microplate, the row on the tip stocker must be divided into two rows, one for normal samples only and one for negative and positive control sera. The number of rows becomes large, a large chip stocker is required, the compactness is low, and there is a disadvantage that the stroke of moving the nozzle is large. In addition to the special tests described above, there are many cases where aspirating liquid is not dispensed into a specific hole of a microplate in general, and it is extremely complicated to sort and arrange unnecessary chips each time. .

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to select only the chips necessary for a specimen test and supply them to a dispensing operation with a simple structure, and to produce such operations without the need for removing extra chips in advance. It is intended to improve the performance and provide a compact device.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The gist of the present invention is that a plurality of nozzles connected to a suction / discharge mechanism are press-fitted into a chip and a desired liquid is dispensed to a plurality of locations via the chip. In the dispensing device, an ironing member having a step is provided, and the step contacts at least the chip.
Stroke required to complete chip removal by squeezing and ironing members
The interval is larger than the width, and the point to be dispensed is the nozzle
When the number is less than the number of chips
A part of the ironing member abuts on the nozzle with the ironing member
Move the nozzle by a certain stroke within the interval of the step
Dispensing device characterized by having a control means for moving the tip stocker tips in a row
Lifted by nozzle and unnecessary due to ironing member with steps
Remove the tip from the nozzle and return to the tip stocker
And a dispenser that dispenses the remaining chips .

In this dispensing apparatus, a vertically movable nozzle and a horizontally movable nozzle connected to a suction / discharge mechanism are arranged. The nozzle is normally connected to a head that can move in the XYZ axis directions on the stage and moves, and can move at least in the vertical and horizontal directions. In the present specification, the nozzle is described as a movable body, but it is naturally possible to fix the nozzle and make other parts movable, and the relationship between them is only relative, and the Range. These operations are controlled by a computer or a program based on sequence control or the like input in advance. The suction / discharge mechanism connected to the nozzle is usually a micro cylinder, but may be a pump mechanism. In principle, the nozzles are arranged in a row in the row direction of the chips.

The nozzles are guided by a head according to a preset program, are pressed into the chips arranged vertically and horizontally in the chip stocker for each row, lifted up together with the nozzles, moved to the suction liquid container, and moved there. The liquid is sucked and then moved onto a hole such as a microplate, and the sucked buffer and the like are discharged by a micro cylinder or other discharging device. Pressing is a state in which the nozzle is forcibly fitted to the chip and the chip does not drop naturally. The chip is a cylindrical body that penetrates up and down, is tapered toward the lower end, and has a flange with a larger diameter than the body at the upper end opening. The taper is gently tapered to fit.

Thus, in the present invention, an ironing member which can be loosely fitted or can be engaged with the chip fitted to each nozzle in a state in which it can be engaged is attached with a step, and the tip of the chip once press-fitted into the nozzle by this ironing member. Unnecessary chips are detached, returned to the original position of the chip stocker, and dispensed with the remaining chips.The step is set to an interval larger than the stroke width required for completion of chip detachment by the ironing member in contact with the chip. ing. Note that the attachment includes the case where the ironing member is relatively movable with respect to the nozzle, including the case where the nozzle or the ironing member is moved from the attachment position, in addition to the case where the nozzle or the ironing member is moved from the attachment position. In a state in which it can be engaged with the chip and scraped off.

The ironing member includes a pipe which is always loosely fitted in the nozzle and a comb-shaped comb-tooth portion which is attached to the nozzle as required. In addition to a member located on the periphery or both sides of the nozzle, a member which can be attached to one side or one point as much as possible can be used. Further, the ironing member may be a bar-shaped member having a step or a tuning fork-shaped member arranged on one side or both sides in parallel with the row of nozzles. In addition, the ironing member includes both a member that is always in contact with the nozzle and a member that is temporarily in contact with the control means, and any method such as rotation or horizontal movement may be used as the method of temporarily attaching. It is needless to say that the ironing member can be replaced.

The ironing member usually has only two steps, but may have more steps if necessary. In this case, by changing the stroke of the nozzle, the tip of the nozzle that comes into contact with a different step with one ironing member can be ironed off. In this step, the portion that first comes into contact with the chip is a portion that does not need to be added to the chip, and the number of corresponding chips covered by this portion is one.
One or more, and also includes both the case where two or more are consecutively arranged and the case where a plurality is discontinuously arranged. As described above, the number and the position of the ironing member that comes into contact with the chip first vary depending on a portion that does not require dispensing.

[0012] In the case of an ironing member comprising a comb tooth portion, a plurality of U-shaped concave holes having a width equal to the number of nozzles and smaller than the flange of the chip are formed between a pair of comb teeth. Is larger than the diameter of the tip body or the diameter of the nozzle. Further, the comb tooth part is provided with a step at a position where the first comb tooth part which comes in contact with the fitted chip first and the flange of the chip during the chip detaching operation by the first comb tooth part are provided with a step. Consists of That is, the comb-tooth portion is fitted to the nozzle and stopped, the lower surface of the first comb-tooth portion is in contact with the upper surface of the flange of the chip, the nozzle is pulled up with a certain stroke, the chip is detached, and the nozzle further stops rising. Until the second comb tooth portion is provided, the second comb tooth portion is provided at a position that does not contact the nozzle.

That is, the step between the two is set to a distance equal to or longer than the stroke, and the two are positioned so as not to be in contact with the flange of the chip. Or below. The first comb teeth may be formed by connecting similar comb teeth with a screw or the like below a part of the comb teeth. When the number of nozzles to be dispensed is smaller than the number of nozzles, a part of the ironing member comes into contact with the nozzle above the chip pressed into the nozzle, and the computer moves the nozzle by a certain stroke within the interval of the step of the ironing member. Alternatively, program control means such as sequence control is provided. Further, the ironing member, by performing the reverse movement of the nozzle, to detach the tip fitted therein, when the nozzle moves up and down, is rotatably supported by a horizontally moving nozzle box and the like, Only at the time of chip detachment, it rotates at a predetermined position by a program input in advance, and comes into contact with the nozzle.

[0014]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the ironing member does not operate at first when all the tips in one row of the tip stocker are used, for example, when diluting liquid is dispensed into all holes. In that case, the entire nozzle is pressed into the chip and moves together with the nozzle, performs necessary operations such as suction and dispensing on the reagent solution container and the microplate, and then moves to the disposal box, and the ironing member with a step is removed. By raising the nozzle all the way above the tip and raising the nozzle from that position, the ironing member hits the flanges of all the tips and all the tips are scraped off.

Next, the nozzle is returned to the position above the chip stocker, and the operation of selectively removing predetermined chips is performed. In the following, a description will be given of an ironing member composed of comb teeth. First, the nozzle descends, is pressed into the chip, and rises as it is. The nozzle stops at a certain height, and then the step portion of the ironing member near the chip is located first on the flange of the chip. When the nozzle is raised, the chip is prevented from rising due to the engagement between the lower part of the immovable step and the flange of the chip, and the chip is detached from the nozzle and dropped to the original position of the chip stocker as it is. It is sufficient that the stroke width of the nozzle for chip detachment is about 3 mm, and the step of the ironing member is set to a larger value, for example, 5 mm. For example, in the case of a comb tooth portion, the nozzle located in the second comb tooth portion also rises simultaneously in the concave hole, but the rising distance is within the range of the step, and the flange of the chip does not contact the second comb tooth portion. Do not leave. After the chip below the first comb-teeth part is separated, the comb-teeth part is inverted and reset to open the movement path of the nozzle connected to the chip.

When the second comb teeth are lower than the lower surface of the first comb teeth, the first comb teeth are fitted to the nozzle when the first comb teeth are fitted to the nozzle.
The comb teeth are located above the tip flange and the second comb teeth are fitted below the flange of the tip. In this case, when the nozzle is slightly lifted up, the chip below the first comb-tooth portion is detached by engagement with the comb-tooth portion, but the other is lifted up without contact and is sent to a suction operation. When the ironing member is a pipe, it always fits loosely into the nozzle and moves with the movement of the nozzle, but operates separately from the nozzle only when the chip is detached, and the tip that comes into contact with the ironing member quickly comes off due to the rise of the nozzle. When finished, it rises with the nozzle. In any case, on the disposal box, the comb-tooth portion is finally fitted over the chip, pulled off the nozzle and dropped into the box.

The nozzle fitted with only the chip in the row corresponding to the hole of the normal specimen moves, for example, onto the predetermined hole row of the microplate after aspirating the sensitized blood cells, dispenses into the normal specimen hole, After moving to a row with a different dilution factor and repeating the dispensing again, it is moved to a waste box, and the ironing member hits the flanges of all the chips, and all the chips are scraped off. Further, the nozzle returns to the tip stocker, descends into the row of scraped chips, presses into the remaining chips, aspirates sensitized blood cells from the liquid tank through the chips, moves to the microplate,
Dispense into the holes of the negative and positive control serum lines. In this case, since the chip does not need to be removed, the ironing member does not operate. Thereafter, the chips are moved onto the waste box, and the ironing members hit the flanges of all the chips, and the chips are ironed off.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a dispensing apparatus main body, 2 denotes a stage, and a chip is provided on this stage 2 in 7 rows and 7 columns in the vertical and horizontal directions. Chip stocker 4 containing diluents 3 and diluent 5
And the sensitizing blood cells 6 are separately stored, and the same as the chips 3 of the chip stocker 4, the holes 8 are formed in seven rows and seven rows in the horizontal and vertical directions.
A row of microplates 9 and a disposal box 10 are arranged. 11 is a microplate 9 holder, 1
Reference numeral 2 denotes a flange formed at the upper end of the chip 3 and having a diameter larger than that of the body 13.

Numeral 14 is a row of seven nozzles connected to a head 15 containing a microcylinder (not shown).
The stage 2 can be moved vertically and horizontally. Reference numeral 16 denotes a head cover that moves in the horizontal direction together with the head 15, and reference numeral 17 denotes a comb tooth portion which is an example of an ironing member provided at right angles to a lower end of an arm 18 supported by the head cover 16. The comb tooth 17 has a U-shaped recess 1 having a width equal to the number of the nozzles 14 and larger than the diameter of the body 13 of the nozzle 14 and smaller than the flange 12 of the chip 3.
9 are formed between the comb teeth 20, and the comb tooth part 17 is further divided into a first comb tooth part 21 and a second comb tooth part 22.
1 has a lower surface 23 lower than the second comb tooth portion 22 to form a step.

The distance between the lower surface of the first comb tooth portion 21 and the lower surface of the second comb tooth portion 22 is the moving stroke of the nozzle 14 until the tip 3 comes off and stops after engaging with the first comb tooth portion 21. Has been taken larger than. FIG. 4 shows that the comb tooth 17 is the nozzle 1
4 shows a state in which the two chips 3 on the left side fall when the nozzle 14 is pulled up in this state. Note that the first comb teeth 21 are formed of a series of comb teeth 17.
Can be attached to necessary parts with screws 24 or the like. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 , the first comb teeth 21 are made higher than the second comb teeth 22 to provide a step. The distance between the lower surface of the first comb tooth portion 21 and the upper surface of the second comb tooth portion 22 is
The stroke is larger than the nozzle movement stroke until the tip 3 is engaged with the first comb tooth portion 21 and the tip 3 is completely dropped. Since the chip 3 is inserted into the concave hole 19 of the second comb tooth portion 22, it is necessary to make the diameter larger than the diameter of the body 13 of the chip 3. FIG. 7 shows an embodiment in which the ironing member is a plurality of fixed pipes 25 constantly attached to the nozzle 14,
The lower opening edge 26 is a step having a different height.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, an unnecessary chip is separated from the chips once pressed into the nozzle by the ironing member having a step, and the remaining chips are dispensed with the remaining chips. It is extremely simple, and it is not necessary to remove unnecessary chips from the chip stocker in advance by hand or the like, so that the efficiency of the sample test operation can be significantly improved. In particular, when a different type of sample is placed in the hole of a certain row of the microplate and the location where the reagent is to be placed is different depending on the dilution ratio, the chip in the same row of the chip stocker should not be divided into two rows. Since it can be used as it is for dispensing reagents for different kinds of specimens, the number of rows of chips can be minimized and the apparatus can be made compact.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional side view of the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the stage in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of a comb tooth part.

FIG. 4 is a partial front view showing a state where a nozzle connected to a chip is fitted to the comb tooth part of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view of a comb tooth part.

FIG. 6 is a partial front view of a state where a nozzle connected to a chip is fitted to the comb tooth part of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a partial front view of a nozzle attached state showing an embodiment in which the ironing member is a pipe.

[Description of sign]

1-dispensing apparatus main body, 2-stage, 3-tip, 4-tip stocker, 5-diluent, 6-sensitized blood cell, 7-liquid tank, 8-hole, 9-microplate, 10-disposal box, 11-holder, 12-flange, 13-body, 14-nozzle, 15-head, 16-head cover, 17-comb, 18-arm, 19-recess, 20-
Comb teeth, 21-first comb tooth part, 22-second comb tooth part, 23-lower surface, 24-screw, 25-pipe, 26-opening edge

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-5-87820 (JP, A) JP-A-6-18534 (JP, A) JP-A-6-265449 (JP, A) 175865 (JP, U) JP-A 3-35469 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G01N 35/00-35/08 G01N 1/00-1/34 B01J 4/00 104 B01L 3/02

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A dispensing apparatus for press-fitting a plurality of nozzles connected to a suction / discharge mechanism into a chip and dispensing a desired liquid to a plurality of locations via the chip, comprising an ironing member having a step. And the step is at least chip
Required to complete chip removal by the ironing member in contact with
The spacing is larger than the row width,
When the number of nozzles is less than the number of chips,
A part of the ironing member touches the nozzle above the
Stroke of the nozzle within the interval of the step
Dispensing device having control means for moving only 2. The dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein the ironing member comprises a comb-shaped comb-tooth portion having a concave hole therebetween. 3. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said comb teeth are connected to an arm rotatably mounted on a nozzle box which moves together with the nozzle. 4. The step is configured such that when a part of the comb teeth contacts the chip, the lower surface of the comb tooth is positioned lower than the lower surface of the comb tooth that does not contact the chip. 3. The dispensing device according to claim 2 , 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step is configured such that, when a part of the comb teeth contacts the chip, the lower surface of the comb tooth is located above the upper surface of the comb tooth that does not contact the chip. 3. The dispensing device according to claim 2 , 6. The dispensing device according to claim 2 , wherein a step is provided in the comb teeth by connecting similar comb teeth under a part of the comb teeth. 7. The dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein the ironing member is a pipe loosely fitted to a nozzle. 8. A dispensing apparatus in which a plurality of nozzles connected to a suction / discharge mechanism is press-fitted into a chip and a desired liquid is dispensed to a plurality of locations via the chip. A dispensing apparatus characterized in that an unnecessary chip is lifted by a nozzle, an unnecessary chip is separated from the nozzle by an ironing member having a step, returned to a chip stocker, and dispensed with the remaining chips.