JP3415936B2 - Automatic chemical analyzer - 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 chemical analyzer that handles biological fluid samples such as serum, plasma, or urine, and more particularly to temperature control of a plurality of heating devices and cooling devices included in the automatic chemical analyzer. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic chemical analyzer for handling biological fluid samples such as serum, plasma or urine is usually equipped with a plurality of heating devices and cooling devices. For example, FIG. 5 is a plan view of a conventionally known automatic chemical analyzer, in which reference numeral 100 is a cuvette, 102 is a cuvette wheel, 104 is a cuvette loader, 106A, 1A.
06B is a reagent cooler, 108A to 108D are probes,
110 is a transfer device for the probes 108A and B, 112 is a transfer device for the probe 108D, 114A and 114B are stirring rods, 116 is a sampler section, 118 is a sample holder, 1
Reference numeral 20 is an electrolyte measuring unit, 122 is a cuvette discarding unit, and 124 is a washing cup. In such an automatic chemical analyzer, the cuvette wheel 102 is positioned above a thermostatic bath (not shown), and the lower part of the cuvette 100 is moved (rotated) on the thermostatic bath while being immersed in the thermostatic liquid in the thermostatic bath. The constant temperature liquid is at a desired reaction temperature of 20 to 40 ° C., preferably 25 to 37 ° C., for example 37
Kept at ℃. Therefore, the automatic chemical analyzer is provided with a heating device (not shown). Further, cooling devices (not shown) for the reagent coolers 106A and 106B are provided, respectively.

As described above, in the automatic chemical analyzer, a heating device for keeping the reaction tank at a constant temperature near the test temperature of 37 ° C., a heating device for diluting the sample or the reagent, and a reagent for storage. It is equipped with a cooling device, etc. In many cases, the cooling device for the reagent always operates, and the heating device for the reaction tank operates only while the automatic chemical analyzer is in operation. These are controlled by a control system independent of operations such as dispensing, inspection, and cleaning of reaction tubes.

Here is a general control method (proportional)
The control method will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B). In (A) of the figure, the control circuit 200 takes in temperature information of the heating device (or cooling device) 202 by a sensor (thermistor) 204 such as a platinum resistor, and feeds back the signal to perform temperature control. ing. For example, as shown in (B) of the same figure, a triangular wave signal 208 is generated by a triangular wave generator 206 in the control circuit 200, and this and a signal 210 whose voltage rises and falls depending on temperature are input to a comparator 212. ing. This comparator 2
The output signal of 12 becomes a pulse signal 214. And
The output signal 214 is input to the input terminal of the relay 216 to control the heating device (or cooling device) 202. That is, when the comparator output signal 214 is in the high state, the heating device or the cooling device 20
2. For example, the heater 218 is turned on, and is turned off when in the low state. The circuit in this figure shows a case where 202 is a heating device, and when 202 is a cooling device, the inputs of the comparator 212 are + and-opposite. Conventionally, individual heating or cooling devices 202
In addition, such an independent control circuit 200 is attached and individually controlled.

[0005]

In recent years, with the progress of automatic chemical analyzers, the size of analyzers has been reduced in size and the cost has been reduced, but the reduction in size has not been sufficient. One of the factors that is increasing the size of the analyzer is the transformer and power supply. That is, in the control of the heating device or the like according to the conventional technique, since the on / off timing is uncontrolled, a large current flows when the on timings overlap. The total amount of current consumed for heating and cooling is the sum of the amounts of current consumed by each heating device and cooling device, assuming that all loads are turned on at the same time. for that reason,
There is a problem in that a power transformer and a power source having a capacity equal to or more than the sum of load current capacities must be prepared.

The operating state of the automatic chemical analyzer includes a starting state until the power of the analyzer is turned on to become the inspectable state, an inspection waiting state in which the inspectable state is waiting for inspection, and an inspecting operation state during inspection. , Etc. The current consumption of the analyzer and the portion that consumes the current are different in each of the above operating states. Among them, the inspection operation state is a state in which the current consumption of the entire analyzer is the largest because the motor is driven for sample transfer, reagent transfer, rotation of the reaction tank, and the like. In the heating device and cooling device control methods so far, the problem is that the power capacity of the entire analyzer is the power capacity of other loads such as a motor plus the drive power capacity of the heating device and cooling device. was there.

In addition, when a plurality of heating devices and cooling devices are independently controlled, when a load is turned on at the same time, a large current abruptly flows at a time, which causes noise. There was also. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide a small-sized and inexpensive automatic chemical analyzer that can suppress noise.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the automatic chemical analyzer according to the present invention comprises a plurality of heating devices or reagents for keeping a reaction tank for reacting a sample and a reagent at a constant temperature. In an automatic chemical analyzer in which a plurality of cooling devices for cooling and each heating device or cooling device are supplied with pulsed electric power at regular intervals and temperature control is performed by increasing or decreasing the width of the pulse, A control unit for collectively controlling the device or the cooling device is provided, and the control unit
A first control that prevents the timings at which the plurality of heating devices or cooling devices are switched on from overlapping, and a second control that prevents the times during which the plurality of heating devices or cooling devices are on from overlapping The feature is that either control is performed.

Here, the control unit receives the command from the main control unit of the automatic chemical analyzer, and performs the first control and the second control according to the operating state of the automatic chemical analyzer. It is characterized by switching.

Alternatively, the control unit monitors the current consumption value of the entire automatic chemical analyzer, and when the monitored current consumption value exceeds a certain threshold value, the second control to the first control are performed. It is characterized by switching to.

[0011]

That is, according to the automatic chemical analyzer of the present invention, a control unit for collectively controlling a plurality of heating devices or cooling devices is provided so that timings at which the plurality of heating devices or cooling devices are switched on do not overlap. (First control method), or a plurality of heating devices or cooling devices are not turned on for the same time (second control method),
Control either. In the first control method, that is, when the heating devices or the cooling devices are set so that the timings of turning them on do not overlap, the current does not start flowing into a plurality of loads at the same time, and therefore the total current change to the heating or cooling device is changed. Is suppressed and noise is suppressed. Also,
In the second control method, that is, when the heating or cooling devices are set so that their on-timing timings do not overlap, the current capacity can be set according to the heating or cooling device having the largest current capacity. . As a result, the transformer and the power source can be set according to the device having the largest current capacity among the heating device and the cooling device.

However, if the timings are set so that they do not overlap, the time during which each heating or cooling device can be turned on becomes short, and there is a possibility that the control may not be completed. Therefore, the control unit receives a command from the main CPU of the automatic chemical analyzer and switches the first or second control depending on the operating state of the automatic analyzer. Alternatively, the control unit monitors the current consumption value of the entire automatic chemical analyzer, and switches from the second control to the first control when the current consumption exceeds a certain threshold value. That is, the first control method and the second control method can be switched depending on the operating state of the automatic chemical analyzer or the current consumption of the entire automatic chemical analyzer. In this way, by making it possible to switch the control method depending on the operating state or the total current amount, when the current consumption in other units is large, the current consumption in the heating or cooling device is suppressed, and the entire automatic chemical analyzer can be suppressed. It is possible to suppress the current consumption at a certain threshold so as not to exceed a certain threshold.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Before explaining the embodiments of the present invention, in order to help understanding of the present invention, an automatic chemical analyzer to which the present invention is applied will be explained. 5 is a plan view thereof, in which reference numeral 100 is a cuvette, 102 is a cuvette wheel, 104 is a cuvette loader, 106A, 1
06B is a reagent cooler, 108A to 108D are probes,
110 is a transfer device for the probes 108A and B, 112 is a transfer device for the probe 108D, 114A and 114B are stirring rods, 116 is a sampler section, 118 is a sample holder, 1
Reference numeral 20 is an electrolyte measuring unit, 122 is a cuvette discarding unit, and 124 is a washing cup.

The cuvette wheel 102 constitutes a photometric section together with a thermostat (not shown). The cuvette wheel 102 is located on a constant temperature bath (not shown), and the cuvette 1
The lower part of 00 is moved (rotated) on the constant temperature bath while being immersed in the constant temperature liquid in the constant temperature bath. Here, the constant temperature liquid is 20
To 40 ° C., preferably 25 to 37 ° C., at a desired reaction temperature, for example 37 ° C., so that
A heating device (not shown) is provided.

The cuvette loader 104 is for supplying the cuvette for the next analysis to the cuvette wheel 102, and the cuvette discarding section 122 is for discarding the cuvette after the analysis.

The reagent cooler 106A accommodates various first reagents R1-1 and R1-2 according to the purpose in a state of being concentrically held rotatably by a turntable (not shown), and by a cooling device (not shown). It is cooled to a predetermined temperature.

The reagent cooler 106B contains the second reagent R2 and is cooled to a predetermined temperature by a cooling device (not shown). Here, the reagent R2 is dispensed next to the first reagent and exhibits different reaction steps. In some cases, the third reagent is also dispensed, and the result of completion of each reaction by these reagents is determined by colorimetric measuring means (not shown) (for example, light is projected on the reaction container,
From the amount of transmitted light, the amount of absorption or emission of light of a specific wavelength is measured). The reagents in the reagent coolers 106A and 106B are kept at a desired storage temperature of -5 to 10 ° C, preferably 0 to 6 ° C, for example, 4 ° C by a known cooling means. It

The probes 108A and 108B are moved to the first reagent cool box 106A by the transfer device 110, and a desired reagent container is positioned from a reagent container positioned at a predetermined suction position by rotation of a turntable (not shown) in the cool box. 1 Aspirate reagent. After that, the first reagent that has been moved onto the cuvette wheel 102 by the transfer device 110 and sucked into the cuvette 100 is dispensed. And the stirring rod 11
4A stirs the sample in the cuvette 100 after the dispensing of the first reagent.

The probe 108D is moved to the second reagent cool box 106B by the transfer device 112, and further moved there in the X and Y directions to suck a desired second reagent from the reagent container. Then, the second reagent, which is moved to the cuvette wheel 102 by the transfer device 112 and sucked into the cuvette 100, is dispensed. The stirring rod 114B is used for the cuvette 10 after the dispensing of the second reagent.
Stir the sample in 0.

The probe 108C includes the cuvette wheel 102, the sampler section 116, and the electrolyte measuring unit 1.
20. The sample is sucked from the sampler unit 116 first, and then moved to the cuvette wheel 102, and then the cuvette 100 containing the first reagent set by the rotation of the cuvette wheel 102. Dispense the aspirated sample. Then, the dispensed sample reacts with the reagent, and the reaction result is colorimetrically measured at an appropriate timing. Alternatively, the sample sucked from the sampler unit 116 is supplied to the electrolyte measuring unit 120 by the probe 108C, and the electrolyte concentration is measured by the ion selective electrode. In this electrolyte unit 120, plural types of ion-selective electrodes are arranged in the middle of the flow cell. In addition, the sample holder 118 of the sampler unit 116 sequentially transfers a plurality of samples by a snake chain.

The cleaning cup 124 is for cleaning the probes 108A to 108D and the stirring rods 114A and 114B. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a circuit configuration of a controller 10 of a plurality of heating and / or cooling devices in an automatic chemical analyzer according to a first embodiment of the present invention. However, this figure shows three heating devices 12A, 12B, 12C.
Shows the case of having.

The output terminal of the pulse generator 14 is connected to the counter 16. The three output terminals of the counter 16 are respectively connected to the photo coupler element 18 of the photo coupler 18.
It is connected to the corresponding one of A, 18B, and 18C.
The three output terminals of the photocoupler 18 correspond to the corresponding C
It is connected to the + input terminals of the corresponding comparators 22A, 22B, 22C via the R circuits 20A, 20B, 20C. These comparators 22A, 22B, 22C
-The input terminals are the corresponding heating devices 12A, 12B, 1
It is connected to the thermistors 24A, 24B and 24C provided in 2C. Then, these comparators 22A,
The output terminals of 22B and 22C are connected to the heating device 12 via the corresponding transistor switches 26A, 26B and 26C.
It is connected to a heater (not shown) in A, 12B and 12C.

Next, the operation in such a structure will be described. The pulse generator 14 generates a pulse wave as shown in the figure. The counter 16 that receives this pulse wave has three
It is set so as to count in a decimal number, and outputs three pulse waves with a phase shift as shown in the figure. These pulse waves are generated by the photo coupler element 18 of the photo coupler 18.
Input to A, 18B and 18C. + 5V is applied to the collectors of these photocoupler elements 18A, 18B, 18C, and the pulse waveforms output from the emitters are converted into triangular waves as shown in the figure by the corresponding CR circuits 20A, 20B, 20C. To be done. The outputs of such CR circuits 20A, 20B, 20C and the thermistor 24
The outputs of the resistance circuits 28 of A, 24B and 24C are input to the comparators 22A, 22B and 22C, and the compared signals are output as indicated by reference numerals 30A, 30B and 30C in the figure. The signals 30A, 30B and 30C are input to the bases of the transistors 26A, 26B and 26C. The emitters of these transistors 26A, 26B, 26C are connected to GND, and the collectors of the heating devices 12A, 12B, 1 are connected to the power source (+ 24V).
Connect to 2C. As a result, each heating device 12A, 1
2B and 12C are turned on at the signal waveform 30
As indicated by A, 30B, and 30C, the control is such that the timing at which each heating device is switched on is shifted.

Further, the comparators 22A, 22B, 22
By adding a circuit between C and the transistors 26A, 26B, and 26C, each heating device 12A, 12B,
It is possible to perform control so that the times when the 12C is on do not overlap. That is, for example, regarding the heating device 12A, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
The circuit is such that the output signal of 2A and the pulse wave from the output terminal 1 of the counter 16 are ANDed and input to the base of the transistor 26A. For the other heating devices 12B and 12C, similarly, by taking the logical product of the corresponding comparator output and counter output, as a result, refer to the same drawing for the timing when each heating device 12A, 12B, 12C is turned on. As indicated by the numbers 34A, 34B, and 34C, the control is such that the times when the heating devices are on do not overlap.

In the circuit configuration of FIG. 1 or FIG.
When it is desired to control the load of C100V, the transistors 26A, 26B and 26C may be replaced by solid state relays (SSR).

Further, in the case of the control in which the above-mentioned ON times are not overlapped, the peak value of the current flowing through the heating device is the current peak value of the one having the largest current capacity among the three heating devices. . Therefore, the current capacity of the heating device having the largest current capacity may be used as the current capacity of the power supply (not shown) that supplies current to these three heating devices.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the control in which the timing of turning on each heating device is shifted and the control in which the time in which each heating device is on do not overlap each other can be selectively switched.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, for the heating device 12A, for example, an OR circuit 36A is provided on one input side of the AND circuit 32A in the circuit shown in FIG. 2, and the output terminal of the corresponding counter 16 is provided. The result of the logical sum of the pulse wave from 1 and the switching signal from the main control system (not shown) is input to the AND circuit 32A. Other heating device 1
2B and 12C have the same configuration.

With such a configuration, if a high signal is input as a switching signal from the main control system, the timing of turning on each heating device is shifted, and if a low signal is input, each heating device is turned on. The control does not overlap the time. In this case, the main control system sets the switching signal to high or low according to the operating state of the automatic chemical analyzer. For example, when the power consumption of the analyzer as a whole is relatively low, the control is to shift the heating device ON time when the analyzer is in the startup state or the inspection waiting state, and when the analyzer is in the inspection operation state where the power consumption is large, the heating The control is to shift the timing at which the device is turned on. By doing so, the power consumption during the analysis operation can be suppressed and the power capacity of the entire automatic chemical analyzer can be reduced.

(Third Embodiment) Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, the consumption current value of the entire automatic chemical analyzer is monitored, and the control in which the timing of turning on each heating device is deviated and the control in which the heating device is on for a time that does not overlap are selectively selected. It can be switched to.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the ammeter 42 is placed before the power source 40 of the main body device 38 for performing actual operations such as dispensing, inspection and cleaning of the reaction tube of the automatic chemical analyzer.
Is provided. Information on this current is obtained as a voltage. On the other hand, a threshold of current capacity is set by the voltage divider 44, and the comparator 4 comparing this threshold with the actual current.
6 is provided. The comparator 46 outputs high when the actual current value exceeds the threshold value, and outputs low when the actual current value is smaller than the threshold value. And this comparator 4
The output of 6 is used as the OR circuit 36A (36
B, 36C) input terminal.

That is, when the actual current value is larger than the threshold value, the control in which the heating devices are turned on does not overlap, and when the actual current value is smaller than the threshold value, the control is performed such that the timing of turning on is shifted.

In the actual operation of the automatic chemical analyzer, the amount of current increases especially during the motor operation such as the dispensing, stirring, and transfer of the reaction tube during the inspection operation as described above. When the current consumption is high, the control of the heating device is switched in synchronization with the operation cycle of the automatic chemical analyzer. With such control, the above two control methods of temperature control can be finely switched without performing fine control by software.

Further, the current of the entire automatic chemical analyzer may be monitored, and when a certain threshold value is exceeded, control may be performed so as to stop the current supply to the heating device or the cooling device.

Although the first to third embodiments have been described by taking the case of having three heating devices as an example, the present invention is not limited to this, and any number of heating devices can be used. Is also good. Further, instead of the heating device or in addition to the heating device, the same temperature control unit can be applied to a plurality of cooling devices. However, in this case, it is necessary to switch the inputs + and − of the comparator.

As described above, according to the present invention, since the timings at which the heating devices or the cooling devices are turned on do not overlap with each other, the current does not start flowing into a plurality of loads at the same time. The total change in current to the cooling device is suppressed and noise is suppressed.

Further, when the heating or cooling devices are set so that their on-timing timings do not overlap, the current capacity is set according to the one having the largest current capacity among the plurality of heating or cooling devices to be controlled. Therefore, it is possible to use a power supply having a capacity smaller than that of the conventional power supply, the power supply and the transformer can be downsized and the cost can be reduced, and further, the entire automatic chemical analyzer can be downsized and the cost can be reduced.

[0039]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a small-sized and inexpensive automatic chemical analyzer that can suppress noise.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit configuration diagram of a control unit for temperature control of a heating device or a cooling device in an automatic chemical analyzer according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram for explaining a modification of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a characteristic part of a control unit for temperature control of a heating device or a cooling device in an automatic chemical analyzer according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a characteristic part of a control unit for temperature control of a heating device or a cooling device in an automatic chemical analyzer according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a current automatic chemical analyzer to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram and a waveform diagram for explaining a temperature control technique of a heating device or a cooling device in a conventional automatic chemical analyzer.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Control part, 12A-12C ... Heating device, 14 ... Pulse generator, 16 ... Counter, 18 ... Photocoupler, 20A
~ 20C ... CR circuit, 22A ~ 22C ... comparator,
24A to 24C ... Thermistor, 26A to 26C ... Transistor, 28 ... Resistor circuit, 32A ... AND circuit, 36A
... OR circuit, 40 ... Power supply, 42 ... Ammeter, 46 ... Comparator.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification code FI G05D 23/24 G05D 23/24 N G05B 19/05 J (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01N 35 / 00 G05B 11/28 G05B 19/05 G05D 23/00 G05D 23/19 G05D 23/24

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of heating devices for keeping a reaction tank for reacting a sample and a reagent at a constant temperature or a plurality of cooling devices for cooling a reagent, and a pulsed power for each heating device or a cooling device at regular intervals. In an automatic chemical analyzer in which temperature is controlled by increasing or decreasing the pulse width, a control unit for collectively controlling the plurality of heating devices or cooling devices is provided, and the control unit is Either the first control that prevents the timings of turning on the heating devices or the cooling devices from overlapping, or the second control that prevents the times when the plurality of heating devices or cooling devices are on from overlapping An automatic chemical analyzer characterized by being controlled. 2. The control unit receives a command from a main control unit of the automatic chemical analyzer and switches between the first control and the second control according to an operating state of the automatic chemical analyzer. The automatic chemical analyzer according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The control unit monitors a current consumption value of the entire automatic chemical analyzer, and when the monitored current consumption value exceeds a certain threshold value, the second control to the first control are performed. The automatic chemical analyzer according to claim 1, which is switched to.