JP2867475B2 - Automatic centrifuge - Google Patents

Description

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic centrifugal separator provided with a rack handling device for holding a test tube containing a sample to be centrifuged.

[Background of the Invention]

In automated biochemical analysis of blood, it is necessary to quickly build an automated pre-processing system due to demands such as prevention of infection due to contact with samples, labor saving, and quick response of test results. Then, load the rack holding the test tubes containing the samples into the bucket, rotate the rotor that suspends the bucket, rotate the rotor, and after the centrifugation step, unload the rack from the bucket. The sample set before centrifugation → centrifugation →
A series of working steps for removing a sample after centrifugation can be an automatic centrifugal separator in which non-contact processing is performed. The conventional configuration has various problems in practical use. That is, even if the apparatus can centrifuge a large number of racks at a time, only one rack can be centrifuged to cope with nighttime or urgent analysis processing.
Even in the case of a single unit, it must be a device that can perform automatic centrifugation while maintaining rotor balance using a balancing dummy rack, etc. In the case of a small lot analysis process, it must be less than the number of racks that can be centrifuged at one time. For example, it is necessary that any number of racks can be automatically centrifuged.

Furthermore, even if an identification mark such as a barcode is affixed to the blood collection test tube, the order in which the racks are aligned before and after the automatic centrifugation operation must be unchanged in order to minimize mixing of samples. Must.

[Object of the invention]

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art,
This type of automatic centrifugal separator, which is incorporated and used for this type of biochemical automatic analysis processing system, greatly improves handling operability and eliminates factors that may lead to sample mixing. To provide the device to the market.

[Summary of the Invention]

The present invention relates to a centrifugal separator for hanging a plurality of buckets accommodating a rack holding a blood collection test tube containing a specimen to be centrifuged separated at the same angle from a rotor, rotating the rotor and centrifuging the rotor. An index device that can position each bucket at a fixed position, and a rack that has arrived at the loading port is transferred to the bucket, while a rack after centrifugation in the bucket is taken out and transferred to the unloading port, and a dummy is placed. A handling device for transferring the balancing dummy rack placed on the port to the bucket, a sensor for detecting the number of aligned racks loaded on the bucket, a storage device for storing the position where the rack is stored in the bucket, An arithmetic processing control device that executes processing according to a predetermined procedure is provided.
If the number of racks is less than the number of racks that can be centrifuged at a time, a balancing dummy rack is used to automatically maintain the rotor balance as needed, so that any number of racks can be centrifuged, and after centrifugation, the loading port Send the racks to the unloading port in the order they arrived at
If the rack is a balancing dummy rack, the rack is returned to the original dummy port.

(Example of the invention)

A specific embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of an automatic centrifugal separator according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the structure of the apparatus will be described. Reference numeral 1 denotes a centrifugally separated sample (hereinafter, referred to as a rack) which holds a blood collection test tube 2 in an attitude, and reference numeral 3 denotes an aligned rack 1 before centrifugation. A sampler device for supplying the loading device 4 to the loading device 4; a sampler lever 5 for pushing the rack 1 toward the loading device 4 which is one of the transfer means; a loading belt 6 for sending the rack 1 to a loading port 7; A bucket for accommodating the racks, 9 a rotor for suspending the bucket 8, 10 an unloading device as one of transfer means for sending racks one by one to a stock yard device 11 for aligning and waiting the racks after centrifugation, 12
Is an unloading belt for sending the rack of the unloading device 10, and 13 is a stock yard lever for aligning the rack sent from the loading device 10 by the stock yard device. Numeral 14 denotes a moving means for moving the rack between the transfer means and the centrifuge, that is, a handling device, and the rack arriving at the loading boat 7 or the balancing dummy rack 16 of the dummy port 15 is transferred to the bucket 8.
And unload the rack in the bucket 8
The Y carrier 18 is transferred to the unloading port 17 or the dummy port 15 of FIG. 10 and operates in a direction (arrow B) perpendicular to the rotation plane of the rotor 9 indicated by arrow A.
An X carrier 19 operating in a direction parallel to the arrow (arrow C) and a hand 20 for gripping a rack. 100 is an operation panel. The entire automatic centrifuge is indicated at 21.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the external view of FIG. 1, particularly the periphery of the bucket 8, and the same parts as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the figure, four buckets 8 are suspended at equal intervals at an angle of 90 ° on the same circumference around the drive shaft 22 of the rotor 9,
23 is a centrifugal drive motor serving as a centrifugal drive for centrifugation,
24 is a servo motor for positioning the rotor 9, 25 is a rotary encoder attached to the drive shaft of the servo motor 24,
Reference numeral 26 denotes a clutch device for separating and connecting the drive shaft of the servomotor 24 and the drive shaft of the centrifugal drive device 23. The servomotor 24, the rotary encoder 25, and the clutch device 26 constitute an index device 27.
27 positions each of the four buckets 8 in the opening 25,
Bucket 8 and dummy port in conjunction with handling equipment
15, loading port 7, unloading port 17
Transfer racks between. 28 is a control unit of the automatic centrifugal separator 21.

FIG. 3 shows in detail a control unit 28 which is an arithmetic processing control device of the automatic centrifugal separator, and the same parts as those shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. Reference numeral 29 denotes a sampler motor for driving the sampler lever 5, 30 denotes an output port for outputting forward, backward, and stop drive commands to the sampler motor 29, and a power control element 31 (hereinafter referred to as an SSR) such as a solid stud ruler. ) To the sampler motor 29. Similarly, a loading motor 32 for driving the loading belt 6 and an SSR 3 for controlling and driving the loading motor 32 are connected to the output port 30 in the same manner.
3, and an unloading motor 34 for driving the unloading belt 12 and an SS for controlling and driving the unloading motor 34
R35, stockyard motor 36 for driving the stockyard lever, and SSR3 for controlling and driving this
7, and a hand motor 38 for opening and closing the hand 20, an SSR 39 for controlling and driving the hand 20, and a centrifugal drive motor 23
And an SSR 40 for controlling and driving this. 7
Reference numeral 2 denotes a clutch solenoid housed in the clutch device 26, to which an SSR 73 for controlling and driving the solenoid is connected. 41 is a positioning device for the X carrier 19,
Carrier servo motor 42 is controlled and driven, and servo motor 42
The position control is performed by receiving feedback of the output signal of the rotary encoder 43 attached to the drive shaft of. Similarly, reference numeral 44 denotes a positioning device for the Y carrier 18, 45 denotes a so-carrier servo motor, 46 denotes a rotary encoder, and 47 denotes a positioning device for an index device.
As shown in the figure, reference numeral 24 denotes a servomotor, and reference numeral 25 denotes a rotary encoder. Reference numeral 48 denotes an input port for inputting a signal output of an internal sensor necessary for controlling the sampler motor 29, the loading motor 32 and the index servomotor 24, and the like.
Is a sampler lever back limit sensor (hereinafter, referred to as a sampler BL) provided at the retreat end, which serves as a stop position detection sensor during a retreat operation toward the opposite side. A sampler lever full limit sensor (hereinafter, referred to as a sampler FC) provided at a forward end serving as a stop position detecting sensor at the time of forward movement, and a rack 51 which is pushed by the sampler lever 5 and moves is supplied to the loading device 4. Rack 1 when done
And 52, a loading rack detection sensor for detecting that the rack 1 transported on the loading belt 6 has arrived at the loading port 7.

Reference numeral 53 denotes a sensor for detecting the second rack from the head in a state where the rack aligned with the sampler device 3 is moved by being pushed by the sampler lever and the leading rack 1 is supplied to the loading device 4. Reference numerals 54 and 55 denote sensors for detecting the third and fifth racks in the above state.

Reference numeral 56 denotes an unload rack detection sensor that detects a rack transferred to the unloading port by the handling device 14, and 57 detects that the rack transferred on the unloading belt 12 is mounted on the stock yard device 11. Stockyard rack detection sensor
58 is an end line device 101 which is one of the next rack transfer means of the stockyard by the stockyard lever 13.
Is a yard end rack detection sensor for detecting arrival at the belt 102 of the unloading device 10 when the stock yard lever 13 retreats toward the side opposite to the end line device 101 when the stock yard lever 13 moves backward. Reference numeral 60 denotes a stock yard back limit sensor (hereinafter, referred to as a stock yard BL) serving as a stop position detection sensor. Reference numeral 60 denotes a stock yard full sensor serving as a stop position sensor when the stock yard lever 13 moves forward toward the end line device 101. It is a limit sensor (hereinafter referred to as stockyard FL). Reference numeral 61 denotes a lever pressure sensor attached to the stock yard lever, as schematically shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B,
For example, when the knob 103 of the micro switch pushes one rack 1 in the direction of the arrow in the figure of the end line device 101 and aligns it, the rack is pushed with the spring turned off by a spring force (not shown) and the rack is aligned last time. When the rack comes into contact with the rack, it is pushed in and turned on.
Reference numerals 62 and 63 denote a hand open sensor and a hand close sensor provided on the hand 20, respectively. When the hand 20 is closed by the forward rotation of the hand motor 38, the hand close sensor 63 is turned on, while the reverse rotation of the hand motor 38 is performed. Accordingly, when the hand 20 is opened, the hand open sensor 62 is turned on. 64, 65 and 66 are mechanical origin sensors for the X carrier positioning device 41, the Y carrier positioning device 44, and the index device positioning device, respectively. When the mechanical origin return operation of the positioning device is performed, the X carrier 19, the Y carrier 18, Indexing device 27
Turns on when it reaches the machine origin position.

Reference numeral 67 denotes an operation switch input required for operating the automatic centrifugal separator 21 such as starting and stopping provided on the operation panel 100. Reference numeral 68 denotes a central processing unit (hereinafter, referred to as a CPU) for executing arithmetic processing as an arithmetic processing unit, and 69 denotes a read-only recording device (hereinafter, a ROM) in which the arithmetic processing procedure of the CPU 68 is written.
, A storage device 71 that stores the rack 1 in the bucket 8 and stores the position and the like at any time.
RAM 69), a CPU 68, a ROM 69, a RAM 70, an output port 30, an X carrier positioning device 41, a Y carrier positioning device and 44, an index device positioning device 47 and an input port 48 include an address bus, a data bus, They are connected to each other by a bus line 71 composed of signal lines necessary for controlling a chip select line and the like.

Hereinafter, the operation of the automatic centrifugal separator having the above configuration will be described with reference to operation flowcharts, explanatory diagrams, and the like.

In the overall flow of the operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, first, the clutch solenoid 72 is turned on and the servo motor is turned on.
The drive shaft of the centrifugal drive device 23 and the drive shaft of the centrifugal drive device 23 are separated, and the positioning operation of the index device 27 becomes possible.
105 Open processing is executed. As shown in FIG. 6, a destination command is output from the CPU 68 to the X carrier positioning device 41, the door 105 is moved to the X carrier 19, and then the destination process is performed from the CPU 68 to the Y carrier positioning device 44. A command is output, and the Y carrier 18 descends to the height of the door 105. As described above, the X carrier 19 moves and the door 105
Is pushed by the hand 20 and the door 105 is opened. After that, the X carrier 19 retreats a little, and then the Y carrier 18 rises and returns to the position at the start of the operation of the X carrier 19 to open the door 105. Complete. Returning to the overall flow of FIG. 5, after loading the rack 3 into the bucket 3, the door 105 is closed, the clutch solenoid 72 is turned off, and centrifugal separation is possible. Details of the loading process to the bucket 3 will be described later. The process of closing the door 105 is substantially the same as the process shown in FIG. 6, and details thereof are omitted, but the operation is performed by moving the X carrier 19 and the Y carrier 18 and closing the door 105 by the hand 20. Processing. The centrifugal drive motor 23 is turned on for about 5 to 15 minutes to separate blood serum and blood clot, for example, centrifugation of the sample is performed, the clutch solenoid 72 is turned on again, and the indexing device 27 is positioned. After making it possible, the door 105 is opened, a process of unloading the rack from the bucket 3 is performed, and the automatic centrifugal separation is performed by the above series of operations. In FIG. 5, the process from the turning on of the clutch solenoid 72 to the closing process of the door 105 through the loading process to the bucket 3 is a pre-centrifugal separation process.
The process from turning off the clutch solenoid 72 to turning on the clutch solenoid 72 after the centrifugal drive motor 23 is turned on for a limited time is a centrifugal separation process, and the opening process of the door 105 and the unloading process from the bucket 3 are post-centrifugal separation processes.

Next, the operation of the sampler device 3, the loading device 4, the unloading device 10, and the stockyard device 11 will be described with reference to the control flow of FIGS. 7 to 10.

When the operation panel switch 67 is turned on in the control flow of the sampler device 3 shown in FIG.
Then, the sampler lever 5 moves forward to start an operation of feeding the aligned racks to the loading device 4, and when the head of the rack is transferred to the loading belt 6 of the loading device 4, the load-in-rack detection sensor 51 is turned on. From this time, the sampler motor 29 reverses from the previous forward rotation ON and turns to the reverse rotation ON, which is indicated by the timed timer 1. The sampler lever 5 retreats and stops for a short period of time of about 0.5 to 1 second. When the sampler lever 5 is stopped at a position where the load-in-rack detection sensor 51 is turned on, the aligned rack is moved to the loading device 4.
This prevents the rack placed on the leading loading belt 6 of the aligned racks from becoming difficult to fall out of the aligned racks even if the loading belt 6 rotates, even if the loading belt 6 rotates. There are actions that are added to After this, the loading possible flag 10
When 6 is set, the operation of sending the next rack to the loading device 4 is repeated.

The loading possible flag 106 is a flag issued in a flow of a loading process to the bucket 3 described later, and the meaning of waiting for the setting of the flag 106 is that the post-centrifugation process after the centrifugation process is performed before the centrifugation process. When the rack is placed on the loading port, the handling device 14
When the rack is transferred from the bucket 8 to the unloading port, the rack after the centrifugal separation process passes over the loading port. To
This is to prevent the next rack from standing by on the loading port 7 at the end of the loading process on the bucket 3 in order to prevent the sample after centrifugation from being mixed, in order to prevent this. On the other hand, when the sampler FL sensor 50 is turned on while the sampler lever 5 is moving forward due to the forward rotation of the sampler motor 29, that is, the process of transferring the sampler lever 5 to the loading device 4 progresses, and there is no rack to be transferred. In this case, the sampler motor 29 immediately reverse-rotates and the sampler lever 5 retreats and stops until the sampler BL sensor 49 turns on. When the rack arranged on the tray seat (not shown) is set in the sampler device 3 and the switch 67 is turned on, the operation of sending the rack arranged by the sampler lever 5 to the loading device 4 is started again.

When the load-in rack detection sensor 51 is turned on in the control flow of the loading device 4 in FIG. 8 and the transfer to the loading device 4 is completed by the sampler lever 5, the loading motor 32 of the loading device 4 is turned on and the loading belt 6 is driven. Then, one rack moves to the loading port 7 on the loading belt 6. When the rack arrives at the loading port 7, the loading rack detection sensor 52 is turned on, and thereafter the loading belt 6 continues to rotate until the time-out timer 2 times out for about 1 to 2 seconds, and then the loading motor 32 is turned off and the belt The rotation stops. The reason that the belt is rotated even after the loading rack detection sensor 52 is turned on by the timed timer 2 means that the rack collides with the end of the loading port 7 and rebounds temporarily in the direction of the sampler device 3, and the loading rack detection sensor 52 is turned off. Therefore, the belt is continuously rotated until the repetition of the collision and the rebound is attenuated, so that the rack is completely stopped against the loading port 7 and stopped.

In the control flow of the unloading device 10 shown in FIG. 9, the handling device 14 transfers the rack from the bucket 8 to the unloading port 17, the unload rack detection sensor 56 is turned on, and the If the unloading enable flag 107 issued in the unloading processing flow is in the set state and the stockyard motor 36 at the subsequent stage is OFF, the unloading motor 3
The unloading belt 12 is driven until the stockyard rack detection sensor 57 is turned on and the rack 4 is transferred to the stockyard device 11. Here, the meaning of the provision of the timed timer 3 means that the drive of the unloading belt 12 is stopped after the rack comes to rest against the corner of the stock yard device 11, as described in the operation of the loading device 4. It is for. Also, the state check of the unloading possible flag 107, which is one condition of ON of the unloading motor 34, is performed when the unloading belt 12 starts rotating immediately when the hand 20 of the handling device 14 is opened and the rack is released. The condition check of the stock yard motor 36, which is another condition to prevent the rack from being caught by the rack 20 and making transfer impossible, is to be performed while the stock yard lever 13 of the stock yard device 11 is in alignment with the rack. When the rack is sent to the stockyard device 11, the stockyard lever
13 prevents the stockyard BL sensor 59 from returning to the ON position.

In the control flow of the stockyard device 11 shown in FIG. 10, two kinds of rack alignment processing by the stockyard lever 13 are performed. That is, the rack is sent to the individual stockyard device 11 by the operation of the unloading device 10, and the stockyard rack detection sensor 57
Is turned on and the driving of the unloading motor 34 is completed, and the unloading belt 12 is stopped, the rack-less flag 104 indicating that there is no rack aligned on the stockyard device 11 is reset, and then the stockyard motor 36 is reset. Is turned on, and the stockyard lever 13 advances the rack toward the end line device to transfer and align the rack. Then, the pressure sensor 61 is turned on when the rack being transferred abuts on the rearmost lark aligned by the previous transfer alignment operation, or when the rack is not on the stockyard device 11 and abuts on the end line device 101. Then, the stockyard motor 36 is immediately reverse-rotated ON, retreats to the position where the stockyard BL sensor 59 is turned ON, and stops. Another one of the processing for arranging the racks is that the motor 34 is turned off and the unloading device 10 moves the next rack to the stockyard device 11.
Yard end rack detection sensor 58
Is OFF, that is, when the head of the rack aligned by the end line belt 102 is lost by the operation of the end line device 101 and the rack absence flag 104 is in a reset state, the stockyard motor 36 is normally rotated ON,
The stockyard lever 13 pushes the rearmost rack of the already aligned racks, and the yard end rack detection sensor
When 58 is turned on and the head of the aligned rack is placed on the end line belt 102 of the end line device 101, the stock yard motor 36 immediately rotates in the reverse direction, and thereafter, the stock yard BL of the same stock yard lever 13 as described above. Retreat processing to the position of the sensor 59 is performed. The stockyard motor 36
When the stock yard FL sensor 60 is turned on instead of the yard end rack detection sensor 58 during the forward rotation of, the stock yard lever 13 is retracted in the same manner as described above. To indicate that there is no rack in the stock yard device 11, a no rack flag 104 is set. As is apparent from the above description, even when the yard end rack detection sensor 58 is off, when the rack absence flag 104 is in the reset state, there is no rack in the stock yard device 11, so that the stock yard lever 13 The useless rack feeding operation is prevented.

Note that, before and after the handling device as described above, the rack transport device is provided with a ROM 68 in which a CPU 68 is determined in advance for the entire flow shown in FIG. 5 according to the above-described control flows of FIGS. 7 to 10. Operate in parallel according to the flow.

Next, a process of loading a rack into the bucket 3 will be described in detail.

As shown in the bucket arrangement diagram of FIG. 11, in this embodiment, four buckets are formed at equal intervals on the circumference around the center O of the rotor 9.
Buckets A, B, C, and D, and each bucket has 3
Each of the racks is to be stored, and ~ indicates the position of the rack.

As shown in the rack loading position / sequence table in FIG. 12, the loading position in the bucket is determined in accordance with the number of racks to be loaded, and in any case of the number of racks, the balance is maintained and centrifugation can be performed. For example, if the number of racks is three, The rack is placed at the position of bucket A, the position of bucket A, and the position of bucket C as shown in As shown in the figure, the balancing dummy rack 16 is placed at the position of the bucket C. The numbers in squares and squares indicate the order in which the racks are placed on the bucket.

FIG. 13 shows a flow of a rack loading process to the bucket 3 in accordance with the rack loading position order table of FIG. 12. When the number of racks is three, the loading port 7 will be described. When the rack arrives at the first stage, the rack receiving process is executed, and the first half processing register is set by the initial setting of the counter 1 and the flag registers in the preceding processing, and the first half processing is set to 0 to clear the first half processing. Then, proceed to the processing of the countern 0,
Since the second rack detection sensor is also ON, counter 1
The process proceeds to the count value setting process. The count value set here is set in accordance with the signal input state of the second rack detection sensor 53 to the fifth rack detection sensor 55. For example, when only the second rack detection sensor 53 is ON, 1 is set. When the fifth rack detection sensor 55 is ON, a value obtained by subtracting 1 from the number of remaining racks to be placed on the bucket, such as 4, is set. In this case, the third rack detection sensor 54 is set. Is turned on, so 2 is set. Subsequently, the value of the counter 1 becomes 1 as a result of the subtraction of the counter 1, and since A is not yet loaded, the process proceeds to the A loading process.
The stacking register is set, and the rack is transferred to A. Since the dummy rack register is 0 (reset) and the processing end register is also 0 (reset), the processing returns to the point E, during which the sampler device 3 and the loading device 4 By the operation, the next rack is set to the loading port, and the second rack receiving operation is executed. Proceeding again to the first half of the process, the counter value is 1 in checking the value of the counter 1, so the process proceeds to the route of F and the counter 1 is subtracted. After that, the A stack register is set,
The process proceeds to the stacking process of A, and returns to E in the same manner, and the receiving operation of the third rack is executed. In the next check of the value of the counter 1, since the counter value is 0, the sensor 53 is turned on.
The state is checked. At this time, since all the racks of the rampler device 3 have been processed, the second rack detection sensor 53
Is OFF, enters the route of G, sets the processing end register, and because A has already been loaded, goes to the next check of C, goes here, sets the C loading register, and transfers the rack to C. Execute.

Since the dummy rack register is 0 and the processing end register is 1, the flow proceeds to the balance check processing flow. After the dummy rack register is set, the stacking registers of C and A are checked. A is already loaded, and C is not loaded. Because of the stacking, the process of the route of H is entered, the C dummy rack register is set, the balancing dummy rack 16 is grasped by the dummy port 15, the C stack register is set, the rack is transferred to C, and the dummy rack register is transferred. = 1, the process proceeds to the route, and the loading process ends.

FIG. 14 shows the details of the rack receiving process flow in FIG. 13. When the load-in rack detection sensor 51 is turned on, X
The carrier 19 is moved to guide the hand 20 above the loading port 7, then the Y carrier 18 is lowered, the hand 20 is lowered to a height at which the rack can be gripped, and the hand motor 38 is turned forward.
When the hand close sensor 63 turns on, the hand motor 38 turns off.
Then, the rack is grasped, and then the Y carrier 18 is raised to prepare for transfer to the bucket 8. FIG. 15 shows details of the flow of processing for transferring a rack to, for example, A in FIG. 13. The X carrier 19 is moved to guide the hand 20 to the position shown in FIG. 27, and guide the bucket A to the opening, and move the X carrier
The positioning of 19 and the index device 27 is completed. After lowering the Y carrier 18, the hand motor 38 is turned on in the reverse direction, and when the hand open sensor 62 is turned on, the hand motor 38 is turned off and the rack is transferred to the bucket 8. At this time, the signal input state of the rack sensor 74 is checked, and if the rack sensor is OFF, the rack is separated from the hand 20 and the transfer has been completed, the Y carrier 18 is raised, and then the X carrier 19 is moved. In preparation for the next transfer, if the rack sensor 74 is ON, the rack is not separated from the hand due to some cause such as poor positioning or the like.
First, the Y carrier 18 is pulled up by the origin return processing of the Y carrier 18, and then the X carrier is caused to stand by at the position passing the unloading port 17 by the origin return processing of the X carrier 19. Wait for input 67 to turn ON. When the operation switch 67 is turned on, the operation of transferring the rack to the bucket 8 is performed again. When the transfer trouble occurs, the X carrier 19 and the Y carrier 18 return to the origin and stand by, so that the hand 20 is moved away from the bucket 8 so that the cause of the trouble can be easily confirmed.
Encoder 4 in case of poor positioning
3, 46 If necessary, return to the origin of the index positioning device 47 is performed so that the count start position of the encoder 25 is reset once to correctly position the encoder 25.

FIG. 13C is a processing flow for performing the processing of bucket B and bucket D corresponding to the first half processing I of bucket A and bucket C surrounded by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 13a. This shows the details of the portion J, and the number of buckets transferred to the bucket 8 is 7
Pass this route when there are more than this. In FIG. 13A, the flag 106 for resetting the preceding stage of the rack receiving operation is reset to prevent the next rack from being sent to the sampler device 3 to the loading device 4, and the rack is transferred to the bucket 8. Before starting the operation, the loading possible flag 106 is set, and the sampler device 3 is allowed to send the next rack to the loading device 4.
Regarding this flag, the loading possible flag 106 is reset before the operation of transferring the rack to the bucket 8 in FIG. 13C, but here, the transfer of the rack to the position D of the bucket 8 is performed. , The loading of the racks to all buckets is completed, so that if the rack at the position D is already loaded to prevent the next rack from being sent to the loading device 4, the loading enabled flag 106 is not reset. I have.

Next, details of the processing of transferring the racks from the bucket 8 to the unloading device 10 after the centrifugal separation operation of the three racks will be described with reference to the unloading processing flow of the racks from the bucket 3 shown in FIG. Then
Since the A-load register is in the set state, the rack is received from A after resetting the A-load register, the unloading enable flag 107 for preventing the unloading device 10 from starting operation is reset, and the unloading motor 34 is reset. Is OFF, that is, the arloading device is stopped and the unload rack detection sensor
Confirm that 56 is OFF, that is, there is no rack in the unloading port, perform delivery of the rack to the unloading port, set the unloading possible flag 107, output the unloading device 10 ~ operation permission, and output the first rack. Finish the transfer. Here, the operation of receiving the rack from A and the delivery of the rack to the unloading port 17 are similar to the operation of receiving the rack, and therefore detailed description is omitted. Then, A,
The transfer of the racks from the position C is sequentially executed. In the transfer of the C racks, since the C dummy rack register is set, the grasped racks are not located at the previous unloading port 17, Transfer the rack to the dummy port 15. Continue checking the registers from C to D, but since these registers are not set, there is no rack, no unloading operation is performed,
The D loading register is checked, and the unloading processing flow ends.

As is clear from the above description, the loading port 7
Centrifuge in the order of arrival after unloading port 17
The rack is sent out. The registers and flags are stored in a predetermined address of the RAM 70, such as FOOO.
The addresses are allocated and stored as shown in FIG.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, a plurality of buckets accommodating racks are suspended from a rotor at the same angle, and a centrifugal separator for centrifuging the rotor by rotating the rotor is provided with an index capable of positioning each bucket at a fixed position. The device and the rack arriving at the loading port or the balancing dummy rack placed in the dummy port are transferred to the bucket, while the rack after centrifugation in the bucket is taken out, and if it is a normal rack containing the blood collection test tube, A handling device that transfers to the unloading port and transfers to the dummy port if it is a balancing dummy rack, a sensor that detects the number of aligned racks loaded to the bucket, and a position where the rack is stored in the bucket is stored. A storage device to execute processing in accordance with a predetermined procedure, and And a processing control device for controlling the processing and handling devices. If the number of racks is less than the number of racks that can be centrifuged at one time, a balancing dummy rack is used as necessary to automatically maintain the rotor balance and to control the number of racks. Racks can be centrifuged, and before and after centrifugation, the racks can be sent out to the unloading port in the order they arrive at the loading port, automatically centrifuging without disturbing the order in which the racks are aligned. There is an effect that separation work can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is an external perspective view showing an embodiment of the automatic centrifugal separator according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a part of FIG. 1 in perspective, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control unit. FIG. 4 is a simulated diagram showing the operation of the lever pressure sensor, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the entire processing flow of the arithmetic processing control device, FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the door opening processing flow, FIG. Is a flowchart showing a control flow of the sampler device, FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a control flow of the loading device, FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a control flow of the unloading device, and FIG. 10 is a control flow of the stockyard device. FIG. 11 is a layout diagram of a rack to be transferred to a bucket, FIG. 12 is a loading position / sequence table of racks on a bucket, and FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a loading process. Was flowchart, the flowchart Fig. 14 illustrating a flow of receiving processing of the rack, the
FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the flow of the rack transfer process, FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the flow of the unloading process, and FIG. 17 is a table showing the assignment of register flags in the RAM. In the figure, 8 is a bucket, 9 is a rotor, 14 is a handling device, 27 is an index device, 28 is an arithmetic processing control device, 53, 54 and 55 are sensors, and 70 is a storage device.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A centrifuge, a plurality of centrifuged samples to be centrifuged by the centrifuge, a transfer means for transferring the centrifuged sample, and a transfer means for transferring the sample to be centrifuged between the transfer means and the centrifuge. In the automatic centrifugal apparatus having a moving means for moving the centrifuged sample, the centrifuged sample is moved while all the centrifuged samples to be centrifuged are moved to the centrifuge. An automatic centrifugal separator, wherein the dummy rack is moved to the centrifuge by the moving means when the racks are unbalanced with respect to the rotation centers. 2. The centrifugal separator according to claim 1, wherein the centrifuge has an even number of buckets for receiving the centrifuged sample, and the centrifugal sample received in the bucket is an odd number. An automatic centrifuge, wherein the dummy rack is moved to the centrifuge by the moving means only when the number of the racks is small. 3. The automatic centrifugal separator according to claim 1, wherein the centrifuge is provided with a dummy port on which the dummy rack is placed, and after the centrifugal operation of the centrifuge is completed.
An automatic centrifugal separator, wherein the centrifuged sample is moved to the transfer means and the dummy rack is moved to the dummy port by the moving means.