JP3232286B2 - Automatic urine testing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic urine inspection apparatus for inspecting a urine-filled cup with a test piece.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional automatic urine testing apparatus, urine is put into a bottle such as a test tube, and is mounted in a fixed position to test various items. When a plurality of bottles are set side by side, the apparatus automatically processes the urine tests in the bottles in order. This device can automatically test urine in a plurality of set bottles. However, it is necessary to transfer urine collected from the patient to a specific bottle. This is because urine cannot be collected directly from a patient into a thin bottle. The patient collects urine in a paper cup. The urine in the paper cup is transferred to a bottle by a nurse and set on an automatic inspection device.

[0003]

An apparatus for automatically examining urine using a specific bottle cannot set urine collected by a patient directly to an automatic examination apparatus. In order for patients to collect urine, it is necessary to make the opening large, and the automatic testing device sets bottles thinly in a row in order to automatically and continuously test a large number of urine. is there.

[0004] An examination method that requires the operation of a nurse between the step of collecting urine by a patient and the step of setting the collected urine in the automatic examination apparatus has a superior processing capability of the automatic examination apparatus. Even one cannot be tested immediately after the patient has collected urine. This is because the operation of the nurse may be delayed.

If a device is developed that allows a patient to directly set a cup from which urine is collected, urine can be tested very quickly. This apparatus can be used extremely conveniently as a system, for example, installed in a hospital lavatory and, when a patient collects and sets urine in a cup, immediately examines the urine and transmits the test result to a doctor online.

[0006] An apparatus for realizing this requires a structure for directly mounting a cup and inspecting urine filled in the cup. For example, it can be realized by a device that inhales urine filled in a set cup with a catheter, makes contact with a reagent, and performs inspection. However, since the device of this structure inhales urine with a catheter, it is necessary to clean or replace the catheter and clean the piping for inhaling urine each time the examination of each patient is completed. This is because if the urine of the patient to be examined before and after is mixed, the examination cannot be performed accurately. For this reason, the running cost is increased and the structure of the cleaning mechanism and the like is complicated.

[0007] An apparatus for inserting a test piece directly into a cup and examining various items of urine by changing the color of the test piece does not require cleaning the catheter or the urine path. Therefore, there is a feature that the structure can be simplified. However, the cup
The opening is enlarged to facilitate the collection of urine. If a large amount of urine is not filled into the cup, the level of urine becomes shallow and the test piece cannot be completely in contact with urine. This is because the test piece has a plurality of reagents attached vertically, and the entire reagent portion is brought into contact with urine, and various items are inspected based on color changes.

The present invention has been developed to solve these disadvantages. An important object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of urine collected by a patient to the same extent as in the conventional method of transferring urine to a bottle. Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic urine test apparatus which can directly test urine collected by a patient in a cup in a small amount.

[0009]

The automatic urine test apparatus of the present invention comprises an insertion mechanism 4 for inserting a test piece 3 into a cup 1 filled with urine, and an insertion mechanism 4 for inserting the test piece 3 into the cup 1. The color sensor 5 includes a color sensor 5 for identifying the color of the test piece 3 that has been inserted into contact with urine, and a calculation unit 6 that calculates a test item from an output signal of the color sensor 5. Further, the automatic urine testing apparatus holds the cup 1 filled with urine with the tilting mechanism 2, the tilting mechanism 2 tilts the cup 1, and the insertion mechanism 4 moves the test piece under the cup 1. 3, the test piece 3 is brought into contact with urine.

[0010] The automatic urine test apparatus according to claim 2 of the present invention comprises:
The tilt mechanism 2 stores a first tilt angle at which the cup 1 filled with urine is tilted to discharge extra urine, and a second tilt angle closer to the vertical than the first tilt angle. In this automatic inspection device, the test piece 3 is brought into contact with urine by being tilted to a first tilt angle by the tilt mechanism 2 and then tilted to a second tilt angle.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic urine testing apparatus.
The angle of the cup lower surface 1A with respect to the horizontal, which is the second inclination angle, is 2 to 10 degrees. However, in this specification,
The lower surface of the cup means a side surface of the cup which is located on the lower side in a state where the cup is inclined.

[0012] The automatic urine test apparatus according to claim 4 of the present invention comprises:
The test piece 3 is vertically elongated and has an elongated shape having a plurality of test areas 23.

[0013] According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic urine testing apparatus.
The calculating means 6 includes a suction holder 18 for sucking the test piece 3 to which urine is attached and holding the same at a fixed position.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiments described below exemplify an automatic urine test apparatus for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the present invention does not specify the automatic test apparatus as follows.

Further, in this specification, in order to make it easy to understand the claims, the numbers corresponding to the members shown in the embodiments will be referred to as “claims” and “ In the column of “means”. However, the members described in the claims are not limited to the members of the embodiments.

The automatic urine testing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is a tilting mechanism 2 for holding and tilting a cup 1 filled with urine, and a test for inserting a test piece 3 into the cup 1 tilted by the tilting mechanism 2. An insertion mechanism 4 for inserting the piece 3, a color sensor 5 for identifying the color of the test piece 3 that has been inserted into the cup 1 by the insertion mechanism 4 and has come into contact with urine, and a calculating means 6 for calculating a test item from an output signal of the color sensor 5 And

As shown in the plan view of FIG. 2, the tilting mechanism 2 includes a pair of holding arms 7 for holding the cup 1 from both sides and holding the same, and a rotating mechanism 8 for rotating the holding arm 7. Prepare. The holding arm 7 is attached to the cup holding portion at the tip,
It has a clamping portion 9 which is curved in a shape along the cup 1.

The rotating mechanism 8 moves the holding arms 7 in a direction approaching each other to pinch the cup 1, and moves the holding arms 7 in the opposite direction to release the pinched state of the cup 1. Rotating mechanism 8
As shown in a schematic plan view of FIG. 3, a holding cylinder 10 for reciprocating a pair of holding arms 7 in a holding direction of the cup 1 and a direction opposite thereto, and a frame 11 on which the cylinder is mounted are rotated. The tilt motor 12 includes a tilt motor 12 for tilting the cup 1 by moving the tilt motor 12, a control circuit 13 for controlling the rotation of the tilt motor 12, and a lifting cylinder (not shown) for moving the tilt motor 12 up and down. The tilt motor 12 is a stepping motor whose rotation angle is controlled by a control circuit 13.

A rotating mechanism 8 shown in FIG. 3 uses a clamping cylinder 10 to reciprocate a pair of holding arms 7 in a direction in which the cup 1 is clamped and in a direction opposite thereto. However, the rotation mechanism
With the structure shown in FIG. 4, a pair of holding arms can be reciprocated. The rotating mechanism 8 shown in FIG.
The holding arm 7 is connected to a guide rail 27 provided at
It is urged in the direction to pinch the cup 1. The spring 28
With the pair of holding arms 7 approaching and holding the cup 1, the elastic force is adjusted so as not to crush the cup 1.
Further, a triangular guide protrusion 29 is fixed to the base 30 to open and close the pair of holding arms 7. The guide projections 29 are provided on both sides with inclined surfaces 29 approaching upward.
A, and the distance between the pair of holding arms 7 is changed by moving the holding arm 7 along the inclined surface 29A.
When the frame 11 is lowered, the rotating mechanism 8 is guided by the inclined surface 29A of the guide projection 29, and moves in a direction in which the pair of holding arms 7 are separated. In this state, the cup 1 is mounted between the holding portions 9 of the pair of holding arms 7. Further, when the rotating mechanism 8 raises the frame 11, the pair of holding arms 7 are urged by the spring 28 in the approaching direction while being guided by the inclined surface 29 </ b> A of the guide projection 29, and pinch the cup 1. I do. Further, the rotating mechanism can be any mechanism that can reciprocate the pair of holding arms in the direction of pinching the cup and in the opposite direction.

The control circuit 13 controls the rotation of the tilting motor 12 so that the cup 1 held by the holding arm 7 is
As shown in FIG. 5, it is inclined at a predetermined angle. Control circuit 13
Tilts the cup 1 filled with urine to discharge excess urine, and a second tilt angle closer to the vertical than the first tilt angle.
The inclination angle is stored. The control circuit 13 first tilts the cup 1 to the first tilt angle in a state where the cup 1 filled with urine is clamped by the holding arm 7, discharges excess urine, and then discharges the second tilt. Tilt to the corner. The tilt mechanism 2 that tilts the cup 1 in this state can prevent urine from leaking from the cup 1 at the second tilt angle by tilting the cup 1 from the first tilt angle to the second tilt angle. The second inclination angle is preferably such that the angle of the cup lower surface 1A with respect to the horizontal is 2 to 10 degrees. When the second inclination angle is closer to horizontal than 2 degrees, most of the urine discharged from the cup 1 is in a state of too little urine. On the contrary, when the second inclination angle is larger than 10 degrees, the test piece 3 A considerable amount of urine is required to deposit urine on all test areas 23.

The insertion mechanism 4 inserts the test piece 3 taken out of the cartridge 14 into the cup 1 to bring the test piece 3 into contact with urine. The cartridge 14 holds a plurality of test pieces 3 in an upright posture so that they can be taken out side by side. The cartridge 14 is shown in FIGS. The cartridge 14 shown in these figures is provided with a slit 15 which extends in the vertical direction and into which the test piece 3 can be inserted.
The test piece 3 is inserted into the slit 15. Test piece 3
Has an upper end protruding from the cartridge 14, and is taken out by holding this protruding portion with the chuck 16 of the insertion mechanism 4. The cartridge 14 shown in FIG.
Hold. The cartridge 14 may be configured to hold a larger number or a smaller number of test pieces 3.

The insertion mechanism 4 includes a chuck 16 for holding and holding the test piece 3 and a drive mechanism 17 for moving the chuck 16. The chuck 16 holds the cartridge 1
4 and taken out of the cartridge 14 while holding the upper end of the test piece 3. The chuck 16 makes the test piece 3 come into contact with urine, inspects it with the color sensor 5, and then moves to the disposal position to release the pinched state.

In FIG. 1, the drive mechanism 17 moves the chuck 16 up, down, left and right to take out the test piece 3 sandwiched between the chuck 16 from the cartridge 14 and insert it into the cup 1 filled with urine. Then, it is moved to the suction holder 18 in front of the color sensor 5, and after the inspection, it is moved from the suction holder 18 to the disposal position. The drive mechanism 17 includes a cylinder and an electric actuator (not shown) for moving the chuck 16 up and down and left and right, and control means (not shown) for controlling these. The control means controls the cylinder, the electric actuator, and the like to move the chuck 16 to a predetermined position.

The insertion mechanism 4 shown in FIG. 1 takes out the test piece 3 from the cartridge 14 in a vertical position and inserts it into the cup 1. When the cup 1 is tilted, the control means moves the chuck 1 along the rotation trajectory of the opening of the tilting cup 1.
Move 6. At this time, the test piece 3 whose upper end is clamped by the chuck 16 is pressed against the cup lower surface 1A as shown in FIG. In the apparatus shown in this figure, the test piece 3 is bent and brought into contact with the cup lower surface 1A. For this reason, the upper end of the test piece 3 is vertically sandwiched by the chuck 16 and the test piece 3 is
You can follow along.

The test piece 3 to which the urine is attached by being inserted into the cup 1 is transferred by the insertion mechanism 4 to the suction holder 18 disposed in front of the color sensor 5. The adsorption holder 18 adsorbs the test piece 3 to which urine is adhered and holds it at a fixed position. The suction holder 18 sucks and holds the test piece 3 in a vertical posture and sucks and removes excess urine attached to the test piece 3.

The suction holder 18 is shown in FIGS.
The suction holder 18 shown in these figures has a vertical groove 19 for mounting the test piece 3 as shown in the horizontal sectional view of FIG.
Having. The longitudinal grooves 19 have tapered surfaces that are gradually widened on both sides so that the test piece 3 can be smoothly mounted at a fixed position. The vertical groove 19 is provided with a supporting projection 22 for supporting the test piece 3 protruding from the bottom surface. The support projection 22 prevents the test piece 3 from adhering to the bottom surface of the vertical groove 19, and provides an air suction duct 20 between the test piece 3 and the bottom surface of the vertical groove 19. The support protrusion 22 is provided in the vertical groove 19.
The test piece 3 is supported in a vertical position parallel to the vertical groove 19 at a predetermined interval in the center of the test piece.

A plurality of suction passages 21 are opened in the bottom surface of the vertical groove 19 for sucking air from the suction duct 20. The suction passage 21 is connected to an air suction pump (not shown), sucks air from a suction duct 20 in the vertical groove 19, adsorbs the test piece 3 in the vertical groove 19, and holds the test piece 3 vertically. Excess urine adhering to the test piece 3 is sucked out and removed. The suction holder 18 of this structure is used to hold the test piece 3
Can be vertically absorbed and retained, and excess urine can be removed for accurate testing. If excess urine adheres to the test piece 3, it flows down along the test piece 3, and the test accuracy is reduced. The test piece 3 is vertically divided into a plurality of test areas 23,
This is because a plurality of inspection items can be processed by one sheet.

The color sensor 5 moves up and down to convert the color of the test area 23 of the test piece 3 held vertically by the suction holder 18 into an electric signal. Color sensor 5 is C
A color television camera with a built-in CD focuses the lens on the test area 23 of the test piece 3 so that a single test area 23 is displayed as one screen. However, the color sensor can simultaneously project a plurality of test areas as one screen. The color sensor 5 sequentially converts the color of each test area 23 into an electric signal and outputs the electric signal.

The color sensor 5 outputs a color signal of one test area 23 provided on the test piece 3 and then moves upward or downward to move the test area 23 provided above or below.
Output color signals. That is, the color sensor 5
Moving from the bottom to the top or from the top to the bottom, the color signal of each test area 23 provided on the test piece 3 is sequentially changed from the bottom to the top or from the top to the color signal over time. Output as

However, the automatic urine inspection apparatus of the present invention does not necessarily need to move the color sensor 5 up and down in front of the suction holder 18. In the automatic inspection device, the color sensor can be fixed at a fixed position in front of the suction holder, and the test piece can be moved up and down in front of the color sensor by an insertion mechanism. This device has a feature that the device can be simplified because an insertion mechanism can be used in combination with a mechanism for moving the test piece up and down. Further, the apparatus of the present invention can use any other mechanism that relatively changes the position of the color sensor and the test piece, and can sequentially read the test area of the test piece and output a color signal over time. it can.

The computing means 6 computes the inspection result from the color signal input from the color sensor 5 using the color of each test area 23. The color of the plurality of test areas 23 provided on the test piece 3 varies depending on the inspection item. Therefore, the calculating means 6 specifies which test item the color signal of the color sensor 5 is, and calculates the inspection result from the color signal. That is, the calculating means 6 is provided with the color sensor 5
The inspection result of each test item is calculated from both the signal specifying the position and the color signal.

The inspection result of each inspection item calculated by the calculating means 6 is printed and displayed on a printer, stored in a storage circuit, or transmitted to a host computer or the like.

The automatic urine test apparatus described above is used as follows to test urine. (1) The patient collects urine in the glass 1. A bar code for identifying a patient is attached to the cup 1. (2) Set the cup 1 containing urine in the automatic inspection device. The automatic inspection apparatus includes a barcode reading mechanism, and reads the barcode to identify a patient. Further, preferably, the automatic testing device is provided with a level sensor for testing the minimum level of urine in the glass 1. The level sensor is located inside the glass 1
Light is applied from top to bottom to detect urine levels. If the amount of urine in the cup 1 is smaller than the minimum level, for example, a voice message “urine is insufficient” is generated. If the urine volume is insufficient, the patient refills and sets the urine in place.

(3) The insertion mechanism 4 clamps the test piece 3 mounted on the cartridge 14 and takes it out.
Insert

(4) The tilting mechanism 2 clamps the cup 1 from both sides with the holding arm 7, slightly raises the cup 1, and then tilts the cup 1 to the first tilting angle, so that the extra The urine is drained and then tilted to a second tilt angle. First
Urine discharged from the cup 1 tilted to the tilt angle is discharged from a discharge path 24 provided below the cup 1. When the cup 1 is tilted, the insertion mechanism 4 moves the chuck 16 holding the test piece 3 along the rotation trajectory of the opening of the cup 1.

(5) When the cup 1 is tilted to the second tilt angle, urine adheres to all the test areas 23 of the test piece 3. (6) The insertion mechanism 4 clamps the test piece 3 with the chuck 16 and transfers the test piece 3 from the cup 1 to the suction holder 18. The test piece 3 transferred to the suction holder 18 is adsorbed to the suction holder 18 by air, and excess urine is removed. The cup 1 from which the test piece 3 is taken out is further tilted to discharge all the filled urine. Then, the holding arm 7
Releases the pinch of the cup 1 and places the cup 1 on the opening / closing table 25. The opening / closing table 25 is opened and the cup 1 is in the storage section 2
6 and stored.

(7) The color sensor 5 identifies the color of each test area 23 of the test piece 3 sandwiched by the suction holder 18 in order, and calculates the color signal of each test area 23 by the arithmetic means 6. Output to The calculating means 6 calculates the test result of the test item of each test area 23 from the signal specifying the test area 23 and the color signal. The calculated test result of each test item is output by a printer or transmitted to a host computer.

[0038]

The automatic urine testing apparatus of the present invention has the feature that a patient can efficiently put a small amount of urine into a cup and perform the test. That is, the automatic inspection device of the present invention, in addition to being able to directly set and inspect a cup filled with urine, as a posture to incline the cup filled with urine by the inclination mechanism,
This is because a test piece is inserted into a cup and the test piece is brought into contact with urine.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an automatic urine test apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a tilting mechanism of the automatic urine test apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the tilting mechanism shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view showing another example of the tilting mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view showing a state where the tilting mechanism shown in FIG. 2 tilts the cup;

FIG. 6 is a front view of a cartridge of the automatic urine test apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the cartridge shown in FIG. 6;

8 is a vertical sectional view of the cartridge shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a partial cross-sectional side view of the suction holder of the automatic urine test apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a partially enlarged front view of the suction holder shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of the suction holder shown in FIG. 9;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cup 1A ... Cup lower surface 2 ... Inclination mechanism 3 ... Test piece 4 ... Insertion mechanism 5 ... Color sensor 6 ... Calculation means 7 ... Holding arm 8 ... Rotation mechanism 9 ... Cup holding part 10 ... Holding cylinder 11 ... Frame DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 ... Tilt motor 13 ... Control circuit 14 ... Cartridge 15 ... Slit 16 ... Chuck 17 ... Driving mechanism 18 ... Suction holder 19 ... Vertical groove 20 ... Suction duct 21 ... Suction path 22 ... Support convex part 23 ... Test area 24 ... Discharge path Reference numeral 25: opening / closing table 26: storage section 27: guide rail 28: spring 29: guide projection 29A: inclined surface 30: base

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP 5-6368 (JP, U) (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01N 35/04 G01N 33/493

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A test piece (3) in a cup (1) filled with urine.
And a color sensor (5) for identifying the color of the test piece (3) that has been inserted into the cup (1) by the insertion mechanism (4) and has come into contact with urine. In an automatic urine testing device comprising a calculation means (6) for calculating a test item from an output signal of a color sensor (5), a cup (1) filled with urine is held by an inclining mechanism (2). With the tilting mechanism (2) tilting the cup (1), the insertion mechanism (4) inserts the test piece (3) into the lower part of the cup (1) and brings the test piece (3) into contact with urine. An automatic urine testing device, characterized in that: 2. A tilting mechanism (2) for tilting a cup (1) filled with urine to discharge extra urine, and a second tilting angle which is closer to the vertical than the first tilting angle. The urine automatic inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the angle is stored, and the angle is tilted to the second tilt angle after tilting to the first tilt angle. 3. The automatic urine test apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second inclination angle is such that the angle of the lower surface of the cup (1A) with respect to the horizontal is 2 to 10 degrees. 4. The automatic urine test apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the test piece (3) has an elongated shape having a plurality of test areas (23) sectioned vertically. 5. The automatic urine test according to claim 1, wherein the arithmetic means comprises a suction holder for sucking the test piece to which urine is attached and holding the suction piece at a fixed position. apparatus.