JP3356402B2 - Guide pipe in pipette tip set machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pipette tip which is detachably mounted on a tip of a pipette and used for disposable use in pipetting various liquids in medical examinations or the like. In a pit tip setting machine for setting the pipette tips in a state where they are aligned in a row, the pipette tips delivered in a suspended state while being aligned in a row by their transport rails are placed on a mounting table. The present invention relates to an improvement on a guide pipe provided in the set machine so as to guide the fall to a tip hole.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A pipette tip A used for pipetting of various liquids such as a medical test is a nozzle having a fitting part a fitted to the tip of a pipette on its head, and is shown in FIG. As described above, various types of different sizes and shapes are made in accordance with the respective purposes of the dispensing / dispensing work. These pipette tips A are usually 1 for each type.
000 bags are packed in a random state as one bag, and when used, a person takes out one bag at a time and inserts the fitting part a into the tip of the pipette before use.

In order to streamline the operation of taking out from the bag and mounting the pipette in this use, recently, as shown in FIG. 2, a large number of pipette tips A are arranged in an upright posture. Chip racks B to be inserted are being used.

In this tip rack B, a large number of pipette tips A are provided one by one with respect to a large number of tip holes b provided in line with each other vertically and horizontally. Part, insert it in a suspended state, combine this tip rack with an inspection device that performs dispensing and dispensing of various liquids, and move the pipette moving mechanism that the inspection device has. It is used to automatically remove the pipette tip from the tip rack and mount it on the pipette.

[0005] A pipette tip setting machine C for automatically loading pipette tips A into the tip rack B has also been developed.

As shown in FIG. 3, the pipette chip setting machine C includes a pipette chip A, which is formed by opening a bag of chips into a body 1 formed in a table-top, small-sized housing. A receiving stocker 2 is provided, and a bucket conveyor 3 for picking up pipette chips one by one from among the accumulated pipette chips and transporting the pipette chips upward to discharge the stocker is provided in the stocker. A funnel-shaped hopper 4 for receiving the pipette chip A discharged from the upper end of the conveyor is provided on the discharge side, and a slit-shaped opening 40 extending in one direction is formed at the bottom of the funnel-shaped hopper 4. The opening is formed in a width narrower than the fitting portion a provided in the head of the head, and plate-like rails 50 are disposed at both sides in the width direction below the opening 40, respectively. A pair of chips are opposed to each other at a corresponding interval, and are formed on a chip carry-out rail. The pipette chip A conveyed there is received at an extended end portion which is the end of the carry rail in the carrying direction. , A holding member 6 that holds the neck portion below the fitting portion a of the head of the pipette tip A and that is held in a suspended state is provided, and the pipette tip A is inherited below the holding member 6. A vertical guide pipe 7 for guiding a drop is provided, and a table 8 for a chip rack b is provided below the guide pipe 7.
Are controlled so as to be displaced by pitches of the chip holes b in accordance with the rows and columns of the chip holes b which are vertically and horizontally aligned with the chip rack B to be supported. The pipette tips A, which are guided by the guide pipe 7 and fall, are sequentially dropped and loaded into the tip holes b of the tip rack B placed on the rack.

[0007]

In the pipette tip setting machine C described above, pipette tips A... Successively carried out in a row by the transport rail 5 are successively inherited by the guide pipe 7, and The tip hole b is opened in alignment with the tip rack B located below by being guided by the inner cavity and falling while being held in a vertical position.
.. Should be inserted into a predetermined chip hole b.
When the pipette tip A falls through the inside, the tip end side, which has a small diameter, moves laterally in the lumen of the guide pipe 7, so that the tip end moves downward from the lower end of the guide pipe 7. Pipette tip A with its side protruding
Is tilted sideways, so that the tip is shifted from the tip hole b of the tip rack B, and the tip hole b is not inserted and inserted, which causes a problem that clogging occurs. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve this problem, and corrects a pipette tip to be guided vertically by a guide pipe in a vertical position so that its axis is correctly aligned in a vertical direction. It is another object of the present invention to provide a new means for dropping a chip rack into a chip hole placed on a table.

[0009]

According to the present invention, as a means for achieving the above-mentioned object, a hopper 4 is provided.
A pipette tip A having a fitting portion a whose diameter is enlarged at the head inserted into the inside thereof is taken out by being aligned in a row by a vibrating transport rail 5 and arranged at the end side of the transport rail 5. Each of the chip holes b of the chip rack B mounted on the placing table 8 under the guide pipe 7 with the head provided with the fitting portion a at the top and the small-diameter tip side down. In the pipette chip set machine that supplies the pipes one by one, the guide pipe 7 provided at the end side of the transfer rail 5 has the guide pipe 7
A trap 9 which engages with the lower surface of the fitting portion a of the pipette tip A which falls in a posture in which the head provided with the fitting portion a is upward and locks the pipette tip A in a suspended state.
Is switched between a state in which the plurality of locking pieces y are closed close to each other and a state in which they are opened apart from each other, and are fitted together with a larger diameter than the small-diameter distal end side of the pipette tip A at the central portion. A pipette tip which forms a hole w having a smaller diameter than the joint a and forms the chuck w in which the hole w is expanded to have a larger diameter than the fitting part a is provided, and which drops the guide pipe 7 A is locked in a suspended state at the neck of the lower surface of the fitting portion a by the trap 9 and corrected to a vertical position, and then dropped into the chip hole b of the chip rack B by opening the trap 9. The present invention provides a guide pipe in a pipette tip setting machine characterized by the following.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention is directed to a discharge section at the end of a transfer rail for transferring pipette tips mounted on a pipette chip set machine in a line, or a rotating wheel mounted thereon. In the discharge part, a vertical guide pipe for receiving and guiding the pipette tip to fall is provided.At the lower end of the guide pipe, a trap for locking the pipette tip for receiving and guiding the drop as a vertical posture is provided. deep.

[0011] The pipette tip, which has been horizontally expanded and locked by a sensor for detecting that the pipette tip is locked therein, is disposed below the guide pipe in a vertical position. Make sure to drop it toward the tip hole of the tip rack on the table.

The trap mounted on the lower end side of the guide pipe includes a locking member having a hole formed at the central portion thereof in a plan view and having a diameter slightly smaller than a fitting portion formed on the head of the pipette tip. Is divided into a plurality of locking pieces by a dividing surface which faces in a radial direction from the hole part, and these divided pieces are moved in the lateral direction to form a chuck shape which expands and contracts the center hole part. In the closed state, and in that state, lock the neck of the pipette tip falling in the guide pipe and lock it in a suspended state. The center hole is expanded to release the lock of the pipette tip, and the pipette tip is switched to an open state in which the locked pipette tip drops downward.

[0013]

Next, an embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a pipette tip setting machine embodying the present invention,
FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a main part of the same set machine. In the same figure, 1 is a machine body, 2 is a hopper-shaped stocker provided in the machine body 1, and 3 is a bucket standing upright in the stocker 2. Conveyor 4, 4 is a funnel-shaped hopper for receiving pipette chips A discharged from the upper end of the bucket conveyor 3, 41 is an opening formed at the bottom of the hopper 4, and 5 is provided continuously below the opening 41. A transfer rail 6 composed of a pair of opposed rails, 6 is a toothed holding member provided at the end of the transfer rail 5 in the transfer direction, 7
Denotes a guide pipe provided below the holding member 6, reference numeral 8 denotes a table for a chip rack B provided below the guide pipe 7, and reference numeral 9 denotes a trap provided at a lower end side of the guide pipe 7.

The body 1 is formed in a table-top and small body shape, and an opening 11 for a pipette tip A closed by an opening / closing lid 10 is opened at a portion extending from the upper surface to the front surface. On one side, an elbow-shaped hood 12 surrounding the terminal end of the transport rail 5 protrudes, and below the hood 12 is formed a base 13 for storing an operating mechanism for displacing the table 8 of the chip rack B. I have.

A hopper-like stocker 2 provided in the body 1 is provided with a bottom plate 2 located at a position below the above-mentioned inlet 11.
0 is formed on an inclined plate which is inclined downward toward the lower part on the rising stroke side of the bucket conveyor 3 erected in the stocker 2, and the pipette tips A which are inserted from the inlet 11.
Flows down toward the lower part of the bucket conveyor 3.

The bucket conveyor 3 erected in the stocker 2 has a belt 32 endlessly wound around a lower roller 30 supported on the bottom of the stocker 2 and an upper roller 31 supported on the upper part of the body 1. , On the outer surface of it,
A number of shelf-shaped buckets 33 having a width substantially corresponding to the outer diameter of the pipette tip A are mounted in a horizontal posture at appropriate intervals in the circumferential direction, and the upper roller 31 is driven by the motor M1 to drive the belt 32. Of the pipette chips A accumulated in the stocker 2, one or more buckets 33 of a shelf-like shape are picked up and transported one by one, and the upper rollers 31 are circulated. In the downward stroke side at the portion where the pressure falls.

Reference numeral 34 denotes the pipette tip A to be released.
This is a chute that receives and guides the air, and is fixedly supported on the body 1, and its descending end faces the funnel-shaped hopper 4, and guides the pipette tip A to be received into the hopper 4.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the hopper 4 is formed on a pair of inclined plates 40 and 40 whose bottom plates are respectively lowered toward the middle between the front and rear sides. , A slit-shaped opening 41 having a width corresponding to the neck of the pipette tip A is opened along the left-right direction, and a transport rail 5 composed of a pair of rails 50 is provided below the opening 41. The upper end of 50 is integrally or integrally connected to the respective inclined lower ends of the inclined plates 40, 40, and the right side in FIG. 3, which is one side in the longitudinal direction, is longer in the direction away from the hopper 4. Has been extended.

The transfer rails composed of the pair of opposed rails 50 are connected to the hopper 4 connected thereto.
However, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, it is supported on a gantry 51 provided in the body 1 also serving as a vibration damping weight via oblique leaf springs 52 inclined in the left-right direction. A double-line arrow in FIG. 3 shows an electromagnetic vibrating device Mg that is supported on the lower part of the hopper 4 via a mounting frame 53 so as to be swingable in an oblique direction with respect to the longitudinal direction. Vibrates in the direction, pipette tip A ...
Is transported to the right in FIG.

The holding member 6 disposed at the end of the transport rail 5 is formed on a Geneva gear-shaped tooth wheel 60 which is rotated by a motor M2 supported in a hood 12 which is continuous with the machine body 1. Notches 61 provided on the periphery of
Each time the neck below the fitting part a of the head of the pipette tip A sent out by the transport rail 5 is fitted and the pipette tip A is held in a suspended state by its neck, the sensor is activated. The motor M2, which is in communication with the rotating shaft of the tooth wheel 60, is driven to rotate by one frame of the notch 61, and acts to take out the held pipette tip A from the end of the transport rail 5. The tooth wheel 60 may be controlled so as to continuously rotate at a constant speed.

As shown in FIG. 4, the guide pipe 7 for taking down the pipette tip A sent out by the transport rail 5 and dropping the pipette tip A is formed in a shape whose upper end is cut into a semi-cylindrical shape. The semi-cylindrical portion 70 is arranged so as to receive the pipette tip A suspended from the notch portion 61 of the tooth wheel 60 and carried out, and fixedly supported in the hood 12. It acts to guide the chip A down.

Numeral 8 denotes a mounting table for mounting a chip rack B for receiving the pipette chips A falling from the guide pipe 7 described above. A support arm 80 is mounted on the upper surface so as to move in the left-right direction and the front-rear direction, and provided on the lower surface side thereof.
80 penetrates through the top plate of the pedestal 13 and protrudes into the lumen of the pedestal 13. The lower end side of the support arm 80.0 is connected to the pieces 83,83 fitted to the left and right slide shafts 82,82 mounted on the upper machine frame 81 provided thereat. It is connected to an endless belt 84 in the left and right direction which is supported in the upper machine frame 81, and the pieces 83 move by the rotation of the belt 84.
Are sequentially displaced in the left-right direction. Then, the upper machine casing 81 is disposed below the upper machine casing 81 to
The slide shaft 87 is mounted on the upper surface of a lower machine frame 86 installed in the inside thereof, and slides 87 in the front-rear direction and a piece 88 fitted thereto.
The lower frame 86 is supported so as to slide in the front-rear direction with respect to the lower frame 86, and the piece 88 moves back and forth by the rotation of the endless belt 89 linked to the piece 88, whereby the lower machine frame 86 Displaced back and forth, the table 8 supported by the upper machine casing 81 moves back and forth together with the upper machine casing 81.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a trap provided at the lower end of the guide pipe 7 so that the pipette tip A falling in the guide pipe 7 is temporarily held at the lower end of the guide pipe 7. FIGS. As shown in FIG. 9, the free ends at the upper ends of a pair of arms 91, 91 intersecting in a scissor-like manner are supported by brackets 90 attached to the guide pipe 7 by fulcrum shafts 92, 92, respectively. , Those arms 91.9
1 is connected via a connecting pin 95 to the tip of a rod 94 for the solenoid 93 mounted on the bracket 90 to move in and out of the portion where the solenoid 93 crosses and overlaps.・ The opening and closing operation is performed by the 91.

As shown in FIG. 7, a hole w having a smaller diameter than the fitting portion a of the head of the pipette tip A is provided at the lower end side of the arms 91 in the plan view, as shown in FIG. The locking pieces y and y formed by dividing the provided locking member 96 into two right and left sides by a dividing surface facing the radial direction from the hole w are integrally or integrally provided, respectively.
A pair of locking pieces y, y are opened and closed so as to be opened and closed by turning on and off the power supply to the solenoid 93.

As a result, when the power supply to the solenoid 93 is turned off, the arms 91, 91 and the locking pieces y, y provided at the lower ends thereof cause the weight of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8, the neck of the pipette tip A falling in the vertical position inside the guide pipe 7 occupies the closed position of the locking pieces y and y as shown in FIG. As shown by the dashed line at, the sensor is held at this state for a moment and the sensor 93 (not shown) for detecting this state turns on the power to the solenoid 93 to turn on the operating rod 94. The pipette chip A, which has been locked by opening the locking pieces y, y by expanding the pair of arms 91, 91 by being pulled up, is replaced with the tip of the tip rack B located immediately below it. It is made to fall toward the hole b.
1

Next, FIGS. 10 to 12 show another embodiment of the trap 9 described above. In this example, as shown in FIG. 10, the locking members 96 for locking the pipette tip A are divided into three locking pieces y, y, y by a split surface extending radially from the center hole w in plan view. The engaging pieces y are respectively engaged with and supported by flanges 97 provided annularly at the lower end of the guide pipe 7, and each of the engaging pieces y is urged in the direction of expansion by a spring 98. hand,
When the slide ring 99 descends due to its weight, the slide ring 99 is closed as shown in FIG. 11, and the slide ring 99 for opening operation is raised by retracting the operation rod 94 by the ON operation of the solenoid 93. This is an example in which the solenoid 9
The third support means and its on / off operation are the same as those of the above-described embodiment.

[0027]

As described above, the guide pipe in the pipette tip setting machine according to the present invention is provided with a trap at the lower end thereof for locking the pipette tip in a suspended state by its neck, and the guide pipe is provided. The pipette tip falling inside is locked by a trap, and the pipette tip is correctly oriented in the vertical direction.Then, by opening the trap, the pipette tip is inserted into the tip hole of the tip rack located immediately below. Because it is dropped, even if it is inclined when falling inside the guide pipe, it will be corrected to a vertical position and will be loaded into the chip hole of the chip rack, which will not cause clogging .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a pipette tip.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a chip rack.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a pipette tip setting machine embodying the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partially broken perspective view of a main part of the above.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional side view taken along line II of FIG. 3 of a main part of the above.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional side view taken along line II-II in FIG. 3 of a main part of the above.

FIG. 7 is a partially broken plan view of a trap section of the pipette tip setting machine.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the same trap unit.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the trap unit when the solenoid of the trap unit is turned on.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of another embodiment of the trap unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a longitudinal sectional front view when the solenoid of the embodiment is in an off state.

FIG. 12 is a vertical sectional front view when the solenoid of the embodiment is in an ON state.

[Explanation of symbols]

A: pipette tip, B: tip rack, a: fitting part,
b: chip hole, M1, M2: motor, Mg: electromagnetic vibration device, y: locking piece, 1: body, 10: open / close lid,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Inlet, 12 ... Hood, 13 ... Base, 2 ... Stocker, 20 ... Bottom plate, 3 ... Bucket conveyor, 30 ... Lower roller, 31 ... Top roller, 32 ... Belt, 33 ... Bucket, 34 ... Chute, 4 ... hopper, 40 ... inclined plate,
Reference numeral 41 denotes an opening, 5 denotes a transport rail, 50 denotes a rail, 51 denotes a frame, 52 denotes a leaf spring, 53 denotes a mounting frame, 6 denotes a holding member, 60 denotes a tooth ring, 61 denotes a cutout, and 7 denotes a guide pipe.
0: semi-cylindrical part, 8: table, 80: support arm, 81
... upper machine frame, 82 ... slide shaft, 83 ... piece, 84
... endless belt, 86 ... lower machine frame, 87 ... slide shaft, 88 ... piece, 89 ... endless belt, 9 ... trap, 90 ... bracket, 91 ... arm, 92 ... fulcrum shaft, 93 ... solenoid, 94 ... rod, 95 ... connecting pin, 96 ... locking member, 97 ... flange, 98 ... spring, 9
9 ... Slide ring.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01N 35/00-35/10 JICST file (JOIS)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A pipette tip A having a fitting part a having a diameter enlarged at a head put into a hopper 4 is taken out by being aligned in a row by a vibrating transport rail 5, and The vertical guide pipe 7 disposed on the end side guides the head provided with the fitting part a in a posture in which the head having the fitting portion a is upward and the distal end side of the small diameter is downward, and is mounted on the table 8 below the tip. In a pipette chip set machine that supplies one chip hole to each chip hole b of the rack B, the transfer rail 5
Of the pipette tip A, which falls at the lower end of the guide pipe 7 disposed in the end side of the guide pipe 7 with the head provided with the fitting portion a facing upward. Part a
The trap 9 that engages with the lower surface and locks the pipette tip A in a suspended state is switched between a state in which the plurality of locking pieces y... A hole w having a diameter larger than the tip end of the small diameter of the pipette tip A and smaller than the fitting portion a is formed at the central portion by being joined, and the hole w is expanded to have a larger diameter than the fitting portion a by opening. The pipette tip A, which is formed and mounted in the form of a chuck that holds the guide pipe 7, is suspended by the trap 9 at the neck of the lower surface of the fitting part a by the trap 9, and the pipette tip A is in a vertical posture. A guide pipe in a pipette tip setting machine, wherein the pipe is dropped into a tip hole b of a tip rack B by opening a trap 9 after correction.