JP3068240B2 - Automatic analyzer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a so-called automatic analyzer for automatically analyzing various test liquids using photometric means, and more particularly to an automatic analyzer of a multiple cuvette system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic analyzer performs an operation of dispensing and agitating a sample and / or a reagent in a reaction vessel to obtain a test liquid, and then analyzing the components of the test liquid by photometry with photometric means. It is a device that performs continuously and automatically. In a conventional automatic analyzer, a plurality of reaction vessels are arranged in a turntable, and while the turntable is being stepped, a reagent is dispensed to each reaction vessel when stopped and a sample is dispensed. The light is measured by a light measuring means provided at one place. The plurality of reaction vessels are repeatedly rotated and stopped while being held by a large reaction wheel. This is because a predetermined time is required for the reaction between the sample and the reagent in the reaction vessel, and a large reaction wheel capable of holding a large number of reaction vessels is required in order to increase the analytical processing capacity.

[0003] In addition, a reagent is dispensed into a reaction container by a pipette, and a proper analysis is performed by washing the pipette every time the reagent is dispensed. In addition,
Use one reaction vessel for each test. When the reagents are set in the reagent wheel, the reagents are set one by one or the whole reagent wheel is removed.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned conventional automatic analyzer has the following disadvantages. First, photometry is performed during rotation of the turntable provided with the reaction container. During this rotation, reagent dispensing and sample dispensing cannot be performed. Conversely, photometry cannot be performed when dispensing reagents or samples. Next, the use of a large reaction wheel results in an increase in the size of the entire analyzer and an increase in installation space. In addition, a large reaction wheel
It is difficult to control at high speed to perform high-speed rotation, stop, etc. Furthermore, it is difficult to keep the temperature of the test solution in the large reaction wheel constant. Furthermore, since there are many reaction vessels, the photometric time per reaction vessel cannot be long, and it is difficult to improve the analysis accuracy.

[0005] Next, in order to wash a pipette for dispensing reagents, a large amount of a washing liquid is used, and a waste liquid treatment after the washing is required, so that such a pipette washing time hinders an increase in the speed of an analysis operation. In addition, contamination may occur due to incomplete washing, and reagents may be scattered around during pipetting transfer. Next, since one reaction vessel is used for each test and is disposable, the running cost is high. Further, since the reaction vessels are frequently loaded one by one, the occurrence rate of jam is high. Further, since there is a limit to the number of reaction containers that can be accommodated in the cuvette pack, the number of times the cuvette pack is refilled increases, and the cuvette loader becomes complicated. Next, the reagent set cannot be easily handled because the reagent wheel is large and heavy.

[0006] The present invention is proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems, and improves the processing capacity per unit time.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an automatic analyzer that can further reduce the size of the apparatus, perform analysis processing at lower cost, and realize more appropriate analysis processing.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an automatic analyzer according to the present invention comprises a reaction vessel having a plurality of cells in one cuvette, a linear transportation means for transporting the reaction vessel, Means for dispensing and stirring the first reagent, the sample and the second reagent in the reaction container in the vicinity of the transporting process, and the reaction container containing the dispensed and stirred test liquid guided to the rotating body and sequentially radially A reaction container storage means for storing and moving to a photometric position near the rotating body at a predetermined time and returning to the rotating body after photometry, and a blank measurement and a second reagent for the first reagent in the reaction vessel on the transport means In order to perform the self-blank measurement before the dispensing is performed and to measure the test liquid at the photometric position near the rotating body, a fiber for branching the light beam from the photometric light source to the plurality of photometric positions is provided. Photometric means arranged It is characterized in that it has a.

[0008]

As described above, the first means relating to the reaction vessel is provided by making the transport means and the reaction vessel storage means for photometry independent.
The dispensing / stirring of the reagent, the sample and the second reagent and the photometry can be performed simultaneously. Further, by storing the reaction vessels radially in the reaction vessel storage means for photometry, it is possible to efficiently store the reaction vessels in a small space. Further, in the photometric unit, the light flux from the photometric light source is branched by a fiber and guided to each photometric position, so that the blank measurement and the self-blank measurement of the first reagent on the transporting unit and the photometric position near the rotating body are performed. The measurement of the test liquid can be performed simultaneously, whereby the dispensing timing of the first reagent, the sample, and the second reagent can be easily matched with the photometric timing by the photometric means.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the automatic analyzer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a reaction vessel as a multiple vessel. The reaction vessel 1 is housed in a cuvette pack 2 and includes a cuvette loader 3.
Is sent out to a linear transfer line 4. Cuvette pack 2, for example, 16 per pack
A test container for 0 tests is stored.

As shown in FIG. 3, the reaction vessel 1 can be used to inspect a plurality of test items by one, is divided into four cells, and is formed for disposable use. Therefore, when only one item is analyzed for one sample, analysis of four samples is possible in the reaction container 1. In recent years, with the miniaturization of test solutions, there has been a tendency for reaction vessels to become smaller,
Although the mechanism for loading, transporting, and discharging the reaction vessel is complicated, the size of the reaction vessel 1 according to the present embodiment does not become extremely small and does not complicate the mechanism. .

Further, since the reaction container 1 is a disposable reaction container, there is no carryover due to the reaction container 1, and even if a high analysis accuracy is required as in the test of an immune item,
Reliability can be ensured. If the reaction vessel is a multiple reaction vessel as in this embodiment, it can be integrally molded, and can be used even when an expensive material such as TPX is used by reducing the thickness or size of the cell. While reducing the amount,
The analysis of four samples or four items can be performed with one reaction vessel 1, which is advantageous in terms of cost and can cover the disposable defect.

The cuvette pack 2 contains reaction vessels 1 for 160 tests per pack, that is, 40 quadruple reaction vessels 1. This cuvette pack 2
Are set at right angles to the transport line 4, and
Twenty reaction vessels 1 are accommodated in the cuvette pack 2 in two rows, and are sequentially loaded on the transport line one by one. Therefore, the number of tests per pack increases as compared with the conventional case, and the number of tests that can be performed by one reaction container 1 set in the apparatus also increases. Further, since the cuvette pack 2 can be replenished in pack units at any time even during the analysis processing, the number of continuous analysis tests increases as compared with the conventional case.

The cuvette loader 3 loads the reaction vessel 1 from the cuvette pack 2 to the transport line 4. In the case of a quadruple type reaction vessel 1 as in this embodiment, the basic operation cycle of the apparatus is T seconds. In this case, the reaction container 1 may be set on the transport line 4 once every 4 T seconds. Therefore,
Even when the apparatus is operated at a high speed in order to improve the analytical processing capacity, the reaction vessels for four tests can be simultaneously loaded by one operation, so that the efficiency is high. Further, the occurrence of a jam at the time of loading can be reduced to one-fourth of the conventional one because the loading only needs to be performed once every four tests, thereby improving the reliability of the apparatus.

The transport line 4 is formed linearly from the cuvette loading position to the photometric unit 5 provided at the end in the loading direction. Is to be read. The reaction container 1 is conveyed to the photometric unit 5 sequentially while passing through the dispensing position and the stirring position by an intermittent operation of pitch feeding in which the basic operation cycle for each test is T seconds. The length of the linear distance of the transport line 4 is set such that a sufficient reaction time is obtained after dispensing the first reagent to the dispensing position of the second reagent. For example, it may be formed in consideration of the basic operation cycle T seconds of one pitch feed and the number of cells between the first reagent dispensing position and the second reagent dispensing position. In the vicinity of the cuvette load position, a diluent dispenser 6 is provided, and the total amount of diluent required for each of the four cells is suctioned by a single syringe suction operation, and then each cell is drawn into each cell. It is configured so that the diluent can be sequentially dispensed. The dispensed amount is determined in advance by test items that have been input to the data processing device in advance. When a general reagent is used without using a high-concentration reagent, it is not necessary to dispense a diluent.

In the reaction container 1 into which the diluent has been dispensed, the first reagent which is always kept cool in the reagent cool box 7 is dispensed. Here, the reagent cool box 7 will be described. A reagent wheel 8 partitioned radially is placed on the reagent cool box 7, and 20 reagent racks 9 are radially arranged here. Each reagent rack 9 is set with four reagent bottles 10 with a dispenser. Therefore, if 40 first reagents and 40 second reagents are set, reagents for a total of 40 items can be set. The reagent cool box 7 is cooled by a Peltier element, that is, an electronic heat exchange device, and is constantly controlled at a temperature of 12 ° C. ± 4 ° C.

As shown in FIG. 4 (A is a perspective view and B is a cross-sectional view), the reagent bottle 10 with a dispenser is packed into a reagent bottle exchange section 10a having a barcode for identification, and a reagent bottle replacement section 10a. A dispenser section 10b. Reagent dispenser unit with film surface 10c formed on reagent bottle replacement unit 10a facing downward
By inserting the reagent into the reagent bottle replacement part 10a, the reagent in the reagent bottle replacement part 10a is guided to the reagent dispenser part 10b. In addition, an air hole 10d is formed on the upper surface of the reagent bottle replacement unit 10a. Dispensing is performed by pushing the balls 10e, 10f and the piston 10g, which are directed into the reagent dispenser section 10b, with the solenoid 10h. More specifically, a tube 10k extending in the vertical direction is formed by a reagent suction valve side ball 10e, a reagent discharge valve side ball 10f, and springs 10i and 10j respectively biasing them upward. I have. piston
10g is provided so as to operate from a direction orthogonal to the pipeline 10k. Then, when the solenoid 10h operates in the direction of the arrow and pushes the piston 10g, the piston 10g moves by the stroke S and pushes the discharge valve side ball 10f to push the pipe 10k.
A gap is generated between the two and discharges the reagent for the stroke S.

On the other hand, when the solenoid 10h returns in the direction opposite to the arrow, a gap is formed between the pipes 10e and 10k, and the reagent for the stroke S is sucked. In this manner, the reagent is dispensed. If the dispensed amount differs depending on the analysis item or the like, the stroke amount is adjusted or the adjustment is performed based on the number of dispensations. The reagent dispenser may be a dispenser using a piezoelectric element so that the dispensed amount can be controlled by an external electric signal. For example, 1 μl is dispensed per pulse. In this way, when all of the reagents in these reagent bottles are discharged and used, only the reagent bottle replacement part is pulled out upward and can be replaced with a new reagent bottle. However, relatively expensive reagent dispensers are used repeatedly.

A stirring / sample probe unit is provided between the transport line 4 and a sampler described later. The stirring / sample probe unit includes a first reagent stirring rod 11, a sample probe transfer device 12, and a sample stirring rod.
13 which are driven via the same axis of rotation. A first reagent stirring rod 11 and a sample probe 14 held by a sample probe transfer device 12
Then, the sample stirring rod 15 is simultaneously rotated and driven to stir the first reagent in the reaction vessel 1 or to dispense the sample to perform the sample stirring operation. In addition, stirring is performed by rotating a stirring rod. In addition, stirring and sample pro
The trajectory on the device base on which the tip operating unit of each operating unit of the unit moves moves in an arc, and the first reagent stirring rod washing unit 1
6, Sample probe washing unit 17, Sample stir bar washing unit 1
8 are provided. Then, at the beginning or end of the operation cycle of each operation section, cleaning is performed at the same time.

A sampler 19 is provided at a position facing the reagent wheel 8 with the transport line 4 interposed therebetween. The sampler 19 is provided with six circular sample turrets 21 along which the ten sample tubes 20 can be set. The center of each sample turret 21 is configured to be located on the same circumference, and the sample tube 20 for 60 specimens can be transferred by a simple rotary drive system. Also, the size of each sample turret 21 is about 10 cm in diameter, which makes it easy to handle the user and prevents the sample tube 20 from falling over as compared with a linear rack. Can be prevented. Further, since addition of a sample and setting of an urgently processed sample can be performed at any time in units of the sample turret 21, these operations can be easily performed.

Next, the reaction vessel 1 moving on the transport line 4
A case will be described in which a reagent is dispensed, a sample is dispensed, and the like. The first reagent necessary for the test item is held in a reagent rack 9 provided in any one of the reagent wheels 8 placed in the reagent cool box 7. Therefore, the reagent wheel 8 is rotated to select the reagent rack 9 holding the required first reagent, and the reagent rack 9 is transferred to the first reagent transfer line outlet 39 formed on the side of the reagent cool box 7. I do. After linearly moving the first reagent transfer line 40 in this manner, the reagent rack 9
Of the four reagent bottles with dispenser 10 held in
The reagent dispenser unit required for the test item stops at a position just above the reaction vessel 1, and the reagent is dispensed. Similarly, when dispensing the second reagent, the second reagent transfer line outlet 41
Transfer the reagent bottle with dispenser 10 to the second reagent transfer line
Perform by moving 42 linearly.

A reagent bar code is attached to the reagent bottle 10 with a dispenser, and a bar code scanner is provided at the first reagent transfer line outlet 39 or the second reagent transfer line outlet 41. , 40 reagents and their set positions can be read automatically. In this regard, in the conventional random access machine, the inspection technician had to check the correspondence between the reagent set position and the test item before starting the analysis. Has become easier to do. Further, conventionally, for example, 80 reagent bottles are arranged along the circumference of the turntable. In the present embodiment, the reagent bottle 10 with a dispenser is efficiently placed on a small reagent wheel 8. Since it can be provided, the reagent cool box 7 can be small, and the whole apparatus can be downsized. Further, since four reagents can be set in the reagent rack 9, the reagents for the set item inspection and related items can be set side by side, and the reagents necessary for the analysis item of the next cell can be set in the same reagent rack. In the case where it is within the range, it is not necessary to return the reagent rack to the turntable again according to an instruction from the data processing section, and the reagent can be selected only by pitch feeding of the reagent rack. Further, since a dedicated reagent dispenser is used, washing for preventing reagent carryover is not required, and the analysis processing can be sped up.

Next, the operation of dispensing a sample from the sample tube 20 in the sample turret 21 provided in the sampler 19 will be described. To dispense a sample, a required amount is sampled using a sample probe 14 having a liquid level detecting mechanism. In this case, instead of using a dispenser with a syringe and a valve as in the related art, by providing an electric signal by providing a piezoelectric element, a constant dispensing amount is dispensed a plurality of times by a pulse signal. I have. As described above, the size of the sample probe can be reduced by the electronic control, and the accuracy of the dispensed amount can be improved. In addition,
Needless to say, the sampler 19 is not limited to the turret type, but may be a snake chain type.

After the sample is dispensed into the reaction vessel 1 in this manner, the reaction vessel 1 is fed by one pitch and stirred by the sample stirring rod 13. Thereafter, the reaction vessel 1 is pitch-fed on the transport line 4 for about 4.2 minutes until the second reagent is dispensed. In addition, the absorbance of the reaction container 1 is measured at the second photometry position immediately before the second reagent is dispensed as described later,
Used as data for density calculation.

Next, the second reagent is dispensed into the reaction vessel 1 in the same manner as the first reagent. In addition, the first reagent and the second reagent
Since it can be set at any position on the forty reagent racks 9, the reagent rack 9 on which the first reagent is set and the reagent rack on which the second reagent is set are alternately moved to the dispensing position. Repeats the operation of returning to the inside of the reagent cool box 7. After the dispensing of the second reagent, the reaction vessel 1 is fed by one pitch and is stirred by a second reagent stirring unit 43 provided near the photometric unit 5 described later. That is, the second reagent stirring rod
The stirring is performed by rotating the 44 in the reaction vessel 1, and then the second reagent stirring bar 44 is washed by the second stirring bar washing unit 45. After that, the reaction container 1 is sent to the photometric unit 5.

The photometric unit 5 has a photometric table 23
And two photometric optical systems 24 and 25. The photometric turntable 23 is capable of storing twelve quadruple reaction vessels 1, and the reaction vessels 1 dispensed and stirred via the transport line 4 are continuously fed once every four pitches. And are loaded one after another into vacant portions of the photometric table 23. The photometric turntable 23 is a conventional reaction turntable.
Unlike bulls, it has a small radius and can be easily thermostated. Further, since the photometric table 23 is small, sufficient photometric time can be taken while rotating at a low speed, and highly accurate photometric data can be obtained. For photometry (absorbance measurement), when the reaction vessel 1 moves from the photometry table 23 to the photometry positions 22a and 22b by the two photometry optical systems 24 and 25, and returns to the photometry table 23. It is done when. The reaction vessel 1 is rotated in the photometric unit 5 while the data of the reaction process is measured at required time intervals, and the reaction tube is discarded after the data of the reaction process after the dispensing of the second reagent is measured. It is discarded in the unit 26. It goes without saying that the analysis processing capacity can be improved by increasing the number of photometric optical systems to three or more.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the reaction container 1 stored in the photometric turntable 23 is being photometrically measured while being rotated. When a certain reaction vessel 1a is conveyed and stored in the photometric table 23 as shown in FIG. A, it moves by 5 steps in 5 seconds, and when it reaches the photometric position as shown in FIG. B, it moves to the photometric position 22a. It is measured instantaneously. After the photometry, it returns to the photometry table 23 and moves again. After moving five steps in five seconds in this way, it moves to a position as shown in FIG. Such an operation is repeated from FIG. D to FIG. G, and when it is moved to the position shown in FIG.
Moves to the light metering position 22b and is metered.
The process returns to the table 23.

Next, the photometric optical system will be described. FIG.
, P1, P2, P3, and P4 indicate photometric positions. At each photometric position, a quartz fiber 27 is provided as a light source optical system, and after light energy from a lamp 28 is condensed by a condensing lens 29 on either of them, a light source switching unit 30
The light energy is guided through a stop 31 attached to the lens. In order to guide the light energy of the lamp light to the four quartz fibers 27 in order, a method of scanning the filament image on the end face of the quartz fan bar 27 by slightly moving the condenser lens 38 as shown in FIG. 6A, A method in which a filament image is formed so as to cover the entire end face of the four quartz fibers-27, and a diaphragm image corresponding to one quartz fiber-end face 27 is scanned, or the quartz fiber-27 end face itself is physically moved. What is necessary is just to select a method etc. suitably.

Further, a quartz fiber 32 corresponding to the quartz fiber 27 from each photometry position is led to a spectrophotometer 33. The fiber-end face of the fiber-inlet of the spectrophotometer 33 is connected to the spectrophotometer 33 as shown in FIG. 6B.
The incident light from this has a shape similar to that of the incident slit 34, and the light incident therefrom passes through the condenser lens 35 and the incident slit 34, and is received by the photodiode array 37 via the flat field type grating 36. It has become. In this way, the fibers of the four quartz fibers -32 are randomly combined to form a rectangle similar to the entrance slit 34, so that light from any of the photometric positions P1, P2, P3, and P4 can be used. It becomes a rectangular light emitting end face. The split light is received by the photodiode array 37 and photoelectrically converted.

At the photometric position P1, photometry is performed for measuring the reagent blank after stirring the reagent, and at the photometric position P2, the self blank immediately before dispensing the second reagent is measured. Metering position
At P3 and P4, photometry of the test solution is performed. All of the photometry is based on the absorbance measurement as described above. The reaction tube disposal unit 26 is provided in connection with the photometric unit 22, and stores the reaction container 1 scraped from the photometric table 23 in a plastic bag or the like in consideration of the biohazard. Each bag is disposed of. According to the above-described embodiment, since the reaction vessel is a disposable single cuvette and a plurality of cells, the photometry can be speeded up, the photometry table can be reduced in size, the temperature can be easily maintained, and the rotation and position control can be easily performed. The probability of cuvette jam occurrence is low, re-testing and emergency testing are easy, running costs are low, contamination by the reagent dispenser has been eliminated, and reagent washing has become unnecessary. In addition, as a multiple container, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-11946
As disclosed in Publication No. 0, reagents and / or samples may be partially contained.

[0030]

According to the present invention, the transporting means and the photometric reaction vessel storage means are provided independently, so that the dispensing / stirring, photometry and the first reagent, sample and second reagent relating to the reaction vessel are performed. Can be performed simultaneously, and the analysis processing operation can be speeded up. Further, in the reaction container storage means for photometry, the reaction containers are radially stored, so that the reaction containers can be efficiently stored in a small space, and the size and the temperature of the apparatus can be easily reduced. At the same time, the reaction container can be easily moved to the photometry position, and a high-speed operation can be achieved. Further, in the photometric means, the light beam from the photometric light source is branched to each photometric position by a fiber, and a blank measurement and a self-blank measurement of the first reagent on the transport means, and a test solution at the photometric position near the rotating body. Measurement, the dispensing timing of the first reagent, the sample and the second reagent, and the photometry timing at each photometry position can be easily matched, thereby further speeding up the analysis processing operation. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an outline of an automatic analyzer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an automatic analyzer.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a reaction container.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view and a sectional view of a reagent bottle with a dispenser.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the operation of the photometric unit.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a photometric optical system.

[Description of Signs] 1 reaction container 2 cuvette pack 3 cuvette loader 4 transport line 5 photometric unit 6 diluent dispenser 7 reagent cool box 8 reagent wheel 9 reagent rack 10 reagent bottle with dispenser 16 first reagent Stir bar cleaning section 17 Sample probe cleaning section 18 Sample stirring rod cleaning section 19 Sampler 20 Sample tube 21 Sample turret 22a Metering position 22b Metering position 23 Metering turntable 24 Metering optical system 25 Metering optics System 26 Reaction vessel disposal unit 39 First reagent transfer line outlet 40 First reagent transfer line 41 Second reagent transfer line outlet 42 Second reagent transfer line 43 Second reagent stirring unit 45 Second stirring rod washing unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Mikio Watanabe 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Within O-limpus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Machida 2-34-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-59-84159 (JP, A) JP-A-51-151682 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01N 35/00-35/10

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A reaction container having a plurality of cells in one cuvette; a linear transfer means for transferring the reaction container;
Means for dispensing and agitating a reagent, a sample and a second reagent, and a reaction vessel containing a dispensed and agitated test liquid guided to a rotating body and sequentially stored radially, and at a predetermined time at a photometry position near the rotating body. A reaction container storage unit that is moved and returned to the rotating body after photometry; and performs a blank measurement of the first reagent in the reaction container and a self-blank measurement before dispensing the second reagent in the reaction container on the transport unit. In addition, in order to measure the test liquid at a photometric position near the rotating body, the photometric device further includes a photometric unit in which a fiber for branching a light beam from the photometric light source to the plurality of photometric positions is provided. Automatic analyzer.