JP3670316B2 - Inverted microscope - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial application fields]
The present invention relates to an inverted microscope in which an optical element of an observation optical system is arranged under a stage on which a specimen is placed.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Inverted microscopes are widely used for research in various fields dealing with living cells such as medicine and physiology. For example, measurement of action potentials of cultured cells in microinsemination and electrophysiological experiments can be mentioned.
[0003]
The arrangement of the optical elements at the bottom of the specimen of this type of microscope, as disclosed in JP-A-3-172816, JP-B-57-37848, JP-A-60-53916, JP-B-4-30565, A dichroic mirror box for observing incident fluorescent light is provided so as to be detachable immediately below the objective lens, and then an imaging lens for forming an enlarged image of the specimen that has passed through the objective lens is provided. In Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-30565, a first optical element for partially reflecting light and dividing it into light propagating along an observation optical path and a photographing optical path is provided. The first optical element is slidably provided so as to be appropriately inserted into the optical axis. Further, a second optical element for deflecting light transmitted through the first optical element to the observation optical path is installed at the lower part. The primary image of the objective imaged by the imaging lens is imaged after being deflected by the second optical element, and a focusing mirror is installed at the imaging position. The focus mirror includes a mask indicating a shooting range corresponding to a shooting means (for example, a 35 mm camera or a large plate camera) of the specimen reflected by the first optical element and guided to the shooting optical path, and two for focusing. There are overlapping crosshairs. Next to the focusing mirror, a relay optical system for relaying the primary image of the objective to the observation barrel is arranged. An observation tube is attached to the exit of the relay optical system, and a sample image is observed through an eyepiece.
[0004]
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-172816, the optical element holding method is not particularly described in the text, but in the drawings of the embodiments, each of the imaging lens, the first optical element, the second optical element, and the relay optical system The structure which fixes the separate holding member which attached to to the microscope main body is shown.
[0005]
Also, Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-37848 discloses a configuration in which an opening is provided on the side of the microscope main body and a cover plate in which an optical element is disposed is attached to the opening in a replaceable manner for a special purpose modification such as addition of a photometric port. Has been.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In research that deals with living cells, manipulators that perform micromanipulations such as grabbing, stinging, cutting, and injecting the living cells under a microscope are often used. Since fine manipulations are performed on cells of several to several tens of micrometers, vibrations accompanying microscope operations and external vibrations can cause situations such as the cells being held off or moving out of the microscope field of view. Remarkably decreases the performance. Further, in fields such as microcirculation where a small animal is placed on a microscope stage to measure blood flow velocity, etc., it is required to improve the rigidity of the stage and the microscope body.
[0007]
In order to keep cells and animals alive, it is often performed to continuously reflux the culture medium. For this reason, regardless of the inside or outside of the main body, the spilled culture solution may cause dirt and mold in the optical system directly under the specimen, resulting in a decrease in optical performance.
[0008]
In the optical element holding method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-172816, the cost of the microscope main body itself is high because the parts required for the component machining accuracy are dispersed. In addition, since the optical adjustment of the entire microscope must be performed internally, it is necessary to ensure a wide working space in order to make the adjustment easy. However, if a large work space is secured, this causes a decrease in rigidity. In order to ensure rigidity, it is preferable to provide ribs that are separated by a minimum space for arranging optical elements and holding members, but such a measure cannot be taken when a large work space is to be ensured.
[0009]
Since the observation optical system is located under the specimen, if the culture medium of the specimen is spilled, the objective lens and the optical elements inside the main body are contaminated. Each optical element is separately attached to the main body, and it is difficult to remove only the optical element that is to be replaced or cleaned. Further, in order to clean the optical element without removing it, the work space inside the main body is narrow, so that the work is difficult to perform.
[0010]
Also, the optical element holding system disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-37848 has a low rigidity because a large opening is provided in the microscope body. The alignment of the optical element provided on the cover plate with respect to the observation optical path is adjusted by the height of the abutment surface of the main body, but since the optical element attached to the cover plate has a cantilever structure, a heavy device is used for the photometry port. The optical element may be misplaced when attached.
[0011]
Inverted microscopes generally have a built-in power supply for turning on the illumination light source. In the observation of cell morphology, intermittent shooting is performed with a camera or video every few minutes to several hours under a inverted microscope. Illumination is performed for a long time in such a situation or in photographing such as a fluorescent photograph that requires long exposure. Long-time illumination causes expansion of the main body and change in the refractive index of the lens due to the heat generated by the power supply in the main body. As a result, defocusing occurs in the optical system, causing a situation where the photograph is out of focus. Therefore, conventionally, there have been limitations such as limiting the objective lens to a magnification of about 10 to 20 times with a deep focal depth, or not taking pictures until the influence of the expansion of the main body due to the heat generated by the power source reaches equilibrium. . On the other hand, there is a strong demand for observation and photographing using a higher magnification objective lens, and in order to achieve this, it is desired to eliminate defocus due to heat generation of the power source.
[0012]
In addition to the defocus due to the thermal expansion of the main body, the heat generated by the power supply causes convection of air inside the main body, which causes dust and dust that soar to adhere to the optical system, degrading the appearance of the optical system. There is an inconvenience.
[0013]
Furthermore, in an inverted microscope with a built-in power supply, there is a risk that the spilled culture solution may short-circuit the power supply when the culture solution is refluxed in order to keep the specimen cells alive.
[0014]
To cope with this situation, a configuration has been proposed in which the illumination light source is turned on using an external power supply without incorporating a power supply inside the main body. However, an inverted microscope is used in a clean bench with limited space. Since it is often used, it cannot be said to be a preferable configuration in terms of sacrificing desk space.
[0015]
An object of this invention is to provide an inverted microscope with high rigidity.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an inverted microscope having a configuration in which an optical element can be easily assembled.
[0016]
Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to provide an inverted microscope having a configuration in which an optical element can be easily removed for replacement or cleaning.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an inverted microscope having a configuration in which the formation of the abutting surface can be easily performed.
In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide an inverted microscope having a configuration in which expansion of the main body and convection of air due to heat generated by a power source that turns on an illumination light source hardly occur.
[0017]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention is directed to an inverted microscope that includes an objective lens disposed on an optical axis that extends downward from an observation sample and includes a reflecting member that reflects an optical path emitted from the objective lens toward an eyepiece lens. The inverted microscope of the present invention includes a revolver that holds a plurality of the objective lenses and selectively inserts one of them on the optical axis, a focusing mechanism that moves the revolver to focus, the revolver, and the revolver A central unit provided with a focusing mechanism, side walls respectively forming front and rear surfaces and left and right surfaces, a bottom surface in contact with a lower portion of each side wall and having an opening at least in part, and surrounded by each side wall A main body having a rib formed between the left and right surfaces that divides the internal space into the front and the rear, and the central unit is surrounded by the rear surface of the main body, the left and right surfaces, and the rib. It is characterized by being detachably accommodated and fixed in the side space.
[0018]
[Action]
The central unit is provided with various optical elements in addition to the objective lens. Adjustment of the optical elements including the objective lens is performed with the central unit removed from the main body. The central unit is assembled to the main body after the adjustment of the optical element. Since the main body is provided with a rib for defining a space for accommodating the central unit, its rigidity is high.
[0019]
【Example】
Next, an inverted microscope according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the microscope main body 1 has an illumination die 1 a that holds a transmission illumination column and an observation barrel die 1 b that holds and fixes an observation barrel 39. A transmission illumination system 2 and a condenser lens 3 are provided on the transmission illumination column. As shown in detail in FIG. 2, the stage 4 is fixed to the illumination die 1a and the observation barrel die 1b of the main body 1 by screws. As can be seen from FIGS. 3 and 5, the microscope body 1 is surrounded by a bottom surface 44, outer walls formed on the front, rear, left and right surfaces, that is, front and rear side walls 42 and 43, and left and right side walls 37 and 38. And a rib 36 formed to divide the space into front and rear.
[0020]
A base unit (central unit) 34 is incorporated in the microscope main body 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the base unit 34 is configured to be detachable from the microscope main body 1 in the optical axis direction. As shown in detail in FIG. 2 in particular, the base unit 34 is provided with a revolver 5, a fluorescent cube cassette 10, an imaging lens 11, and an optical path dividing prism 15.
[0021]
The revolver 5 holds a plurality of objective lenses 6 so as to be switchable by rotation.
The fluorescent cube cassette 10 has a plurality of fluorescent cubes 8 on the circumference around the axis 9, and a desired one is arranged on the optical path 7 of the epi-illumination system by rotating around the axis 9. It can be done. Each of the fluorescent cubes 8 includes a dichroic mirror 8a, an excitation filter 8b, and an absorption filter 8c.
[0022]
For example, the imaging lens 11 is provided with two types for projecting the magnified image of the objective lens 6 at 1 × and 1.5 ×, respectively. The holding member 13 holding the imaging lens 11 is movably supported by a slide mechanism 12 such as an ant, and is fixed to the switching member 14a and protrudes to the outside of the microscope body 1 (FIG. 4). The desired image forming lens 11 can be arranged on the optical path by moving (1). The switching knob 14a is assembled from the outside of the microscope body 1 by, for example, screwing after the base unit 34 is mounted on the microscope body 1.
[0023]
The optical path splitting prism 15 is provided with a plurality of types, for example, three types having different light quantity ratios and splitting directions, each of which takes a part of the light from the imaging lens 11 as a photographing optical path 16 or a photographing optical path 17. Reflects towards (shown in FIG. 5) and transmits the rest. The plurality of optical path splitting prisms 15 are slidably held by a switching mechanism 18 having the same structure as the sliding mechanism 12 of the imaging lens 11, and are switched to be fixed to the switching mechanism 18 and project outside the microscope body 1. By operating the knob 14b (shown in FIG. 4), a desired one can be arranged in the optical path. The switching knob 14b is assembled from the outside of the microscope body 1 by, for example, screwing after the base unit 34 is mounted on the microscope body 1.
[0024]
As shown in FIG. 3, the switching mechanism 18 of the optical path splitting prism 15 is fixed to the guide holding member 20 by fastening means 19 such as screws. As shown in FIG. 4, one of guides 21 represented by a cross roller guide for moving the revolver 5 along the optical axis (focusing movement) for focusing is fixed to the guide holding member 20. ing. The other of the guides 21 is fixed to a vertical guide member 28. The vertical guide member 28 has an arm 27. An end of the arm 27 moves the revolver 5 up and down by an operation from the outside of the main body, so that a known coarse / fine movement coaxial handle 24 is connected to a reduction gear box 25. A rack 26 to be connected is attached. A revolving table 23 that holds the revolver 5 is attached to the vertical guide member 28. The revolving base 23 is assembled to the vertical guide member 28 by the dovetail 22 and fixed by pulling a top 29 having the same angle as the dovetail taper with a screw 30. The revolver 23 can be removed by loosening the screw 30 and the revolver 5 can be easily recombined with an electric revolver or the like.
[0025]
As shown in FIG. 2, a balance spring 31 is provided between the guide holding member 20 and the vertical guide member 28 to reduce the load applied to the rack 26. Inside the balance spring 31, spring guide members 32 and 33 provided on the vertical guide member 28 and the guide holding member 20, respectively, pass, and the balance spring 31 can be expanded and contracted without buckling.
[0026]
The base unit 34 is attached to the abutting surface 35 formed on the microscope body 1. At this time, the arm 27 of the vertical guide member 28 is disposed through the opening 41 provided in the rib 36 connecting the both side walls 37 and 38 of the main body 1 shown in FIG. The coarse / fine movement coaxial handle 24 provided on the main body 1 and the arms 27 of the upper and lower guide members 28 through the reduction gear box 25 assembled from the opening provided on the bottom surface 44 of the main body 1 shown in FIG. The rack 26 assembled at the front end with a screw is connected so that the movement stroke range of the objective lens 6 is matched. Since the tip of the arm 27 does not extend beyond the rib 36 of the main body 1, various optical elements attached to the base unit 34 can be removed in the optical axis direction. After the rack 26 is assembled, a lid is attached to the opening of the bottom surface 44 of the main body 1 in order to prevent dust and dust from entering.
[0027]
As shown in FIG. 1, an opening 46 is provided on the bottom surface 44 of the microscope body 1. As shown in FIG. 2, a reflection mirror unit 53 including a reflection mirror 47 that reflects light transmitted through the optical path splitting prism 15 toward a relay lens unit 58 described later is assembled in the opening 46. A member 48 that holds the reflection mirror 47 is attached to a fixing member 49 via a ball 50 and a screw 51, and the direction of the reflection mirror 47 can be changed by adjusting the screw 51. As can be seen from FIG. 5, the fixing member 49 is fixed to the main body 1 by three screws 52.
[0028]
As shown in FIG. 3, another reflection mirror unit 54 with a photographing port may be attached to the opening 46 instead of the reflection mirror unit 53. In this reflection mirror unit 54, an opening is provided in the fixing member 49, and a photographing port 56 for attaching a photographing device is attached thereto. The reflection mirror 47 is a switching mechanism so as to be switched between a position where the light transmitted through the optical path splitting prism 15 is reflected toward the relay lens unit 58 and a position where the opening of the fixing member 49 and the photographing port 56 is not blocked. 55.
[0029]
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a relay lens unit 58 is assembled to the microscope body 1. The relay lens unit 58 includes a guide 61 that holds the holding frame 59 of the focusing mirror 57, and relay lens groups 62a and 62b that relay the primary image of the objective lens 6 to the image position of the eyepiece 63 of the observation barrel 39. Built in. The relay lens unit 58 is inserted into the main body 1 from the direction of the arrow in FIG. 3, and the flange portion 58a is fixed to the abutting surface 69 of the main body 1 by fastening means such as screws. At the time of fixing, in order to finely adjust the center of the reflected light of the reflecting mirror 47 and to accurately align the primary image position of the objective lens 6 and the position of the focusing mirror 57, it is between the flange portion 58a and the abutting surface 69. Is adjusted by placing a gap correction ring (not shown) and swirling the relay lens unit on the contact surface 69. Thereafter, the mount 64 for holding the observation barrel 39 is fixed to the abutting surface 69, and the observation barrel 39 is attached to the mount 64.
[0030]
The focusing mirror 57 is fixed to the holding frame 59 by adhesion or the like, and this holding frame 59 is held by the guide 61 of the relay lens unit 58 assembled to the main body 1. Accordingly, the focusing mirror 57 is disposed at a position where an image is formed by the imaging lens 11. The role of the focusing mirror 57 is as disclosed in JP-B-4-30565. A knob extending to the outside of the main body 1 is attached to the holding frame 59 of the focusing mirror 57, and the focusing mirror 57 can be moved using this knob, and is positioned on the observation optical path 60 by a click mechanism or the like. It is configured to be. The focusing mirror 57 can be taken out of the main body 1 by pulling out the knob. As a result, dust and dirt adhering to the focusing mirror 57 can be cleaned outside the main body 1.
[0031]
A photographing port 67 including a photographing lens 66 for attaching a 35 mm camera 65 is attached to the main body 1 on the photographing optical path 16 reflected by the optical path splitting prism 15. The photographing port 67 is also unitized in the same manner as the relay lens unit 58. As shown in FIG. 3, after the center of the photographing lens 66 and the interval ring adjustment are performed on the abutting surface 68 from the outside of the main body 1, It is fixed by fastening means such as screws.
[0032]
As shown in FIG. 7, the power supply unit 45 has an electrical board 101 on which elements for turning on the illumination light source are arranged. The electrical board 101 is provided with a transistor, a transformer, and a capacitor that serve as a heating element. The electrical board 101 is fixed to a heat radiating plate 103 made of aluminum or the like having a high thermal conductivity by a fastening means 104 such as a screw through a spacer 102 in order to secure a necessary edge distance for each element. A heat insulating plate 108 that shields radiant heat from the electrical board 101 is attached to the heat radiating plate 103. The heat radiating plate 103 is attached to the outer frame 106 having the same shape as the attachment portion to the main body 1 by a fastening means 107 such as a screw through a heat insulating spacer 105 having a very low thermal conductivity such as resin. As shown in FIG. 3, the power supply unit 45 is assembled to the microscope main body 1 from the direction of the arrow, and the outer frame 106 is fixed to the main body 1 using fastening means such as screws. Since high positional accuracy is not necessary for mounting the power supply unit 45, it is preferable to sandwich a heat insulating material having a very low thermal conductivity between the microscope main body 1 and the outer frame 106. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the assembly position of the power supply unit 45 is behind the illumination die 1 a of the microscope body 1, away from the optical axis of the objective lens 6. A rib 1c formed integrally with the main body 1 is provided under the illumination die 1a. The rib 1c has a shape that covers the space 109 between the outer frame 106 and the heat insulating plate 108 of the power supply unit 45 and the gap 110 between the heat radiating plate 103 and the outer frame 106 shown in FIG. 7B.
[0033]
As described above, in the inverted microscope of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the base unit 34 is configured to be detachable from the microscope body 1 in the optical axis direction of the objective lens 6 and its positioning. Is performed by applying the base unit 34 to an application surface 35 formed on the microscope body 1. That is, in this embodiment, the processing of the abutting surface with respect to the microscope main body 1 is only required at one place. Accordingly, the number of cutting tools required for processing is small, and the processing direction is only one direction.
[0034]
The adjustment of the optical elements (objective lens 6, fluorescent cube 8, imaging lens 11, optical path splitting prism 15) to be assembled to the base unit 34 is performed before the base unit 34 is assembled to the microscope body 1, so that the base unit 34 is inserted. Ribs 36 can be provided in the microscope main body 1 so as to be separated by a minimum necessary space. The ribs 36 are connected to both side walls 37 and 38 of the main body 1 so that the main body 1 has high rigidity.
[0035]
Since the space in which the base unit 34 enters and the space in which the power supply unit 45 enters are separated by the side wall 43, dust does not enter the optical system at the time of repairing the electrical system, and is excellent in maintainability.
[0036]
In the power supply unit 45, the heat insulating spacer 105 is provided between the heat radiating plate 103 and the outer frame 106, so that the conduction heat from the electrical board 101 is not easily transmitted to the outer frame 106, and therefore the heat conduction to the microscope body 1 is low. It can be suppressed. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, since the heat insulating plate 108 exists between the electric board 101 and the side wall 43 of the main body 1, the radiant heat from the heating element of the electric board 101 to the main body 1 can be suppressed extremely low. Therefore, the temperature rise of the main body 1 can be kept low, defocusing due to the thermal expansion of the main body 1 can be reduced, and dust and dust scattering in the optical system unit can be reduced.
[0037]
Since the power supply unit 45 is not located below the stage 4, there is no danger that a spilled culture solution will be applied to the power supply unit 45 and short-circuited. Even when a large amount of culture solution is spilled, there is very little risk of the culture solution being applied to the electrical substrate 101 by the rib 1c of the main body 1 and the waterproof wall 106a of the outer frame 106.
[0038]
Subsequently, a modification of the above-described embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, the members described in the above-described embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals.
In the above-described embodiment, the reflection mirror 47 reflects the light toward the observation barrel 39, but in this modification, the reflection mirror 47 reflects the light in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the objective lens 6.
[0039]
A first relay lens unit 72 including a focusing mirror 57, a relay lens 62 a, and a mirror 71 is disposed on the optical path 70 after being reflected by the reflecting mirror 47. The focusing mirror 57 is disposed at the primary image position of the objective lens 6, and the mirror 71 deflects light traveling along the optical path 70 upward. On the optical path deflected by the mirror 71, a second relay lens unit 73 having a relay lens 62b is disposed. An observation barrel 39 is disposed on the second relay lens unit 73.
[0040]
The flange portion 72a of the first relay lens unit 72 and the flange portion 73a of the second relay lens unit 73 are fixed to the abutting surface formed on the main body 1 with a screw or the like after optical adjustment.
Other configurations are the same as those of the above-described embodiment.
The inverted microscope of this modification can obtain the same effects as those of the above-described embodiment.
[0041]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, an inverted microscope with high rigidity can be obtained. In addition, an inverted microscope having a configuration in which the optical element can be easily assembled is obtained. Furthermore, an inverted microscope having a configuration in which the optical element can be easily removed for replacement or cleaning is obtained. Furthermore, an inverted microscope having a configuration in which the abutting surface can be easily formed is obtained. In addition, it is possible to obtain an inverted microscope having a configuration in which expansion of the main body and air convection hardly occur due to heat generated by the power source that turns on the illumination light source.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the overall configuration of an inverted microscope according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the periphery of the microscope main body shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an assembling direction of a unit to be assembled with a microscope main body.
4 is a view of the base unit as seen from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3. FIG.
5 is a view of the microscope main body viewed from the direction of arrow B in FIG.
FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of the microscope main body excluding the illumination die.
7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating a configuration of a power supply unit, in which FIG. 7A is a side cross-sectional view and FIG. 7B is a partial cross-sectional bottom view.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of an inverted microscope according to a modification of the embodiment shown in FIGS.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Microscope main body, 6 ... Objective lens, 34 ... Base unit, 36 ... Rib, 37, 38 ... Side wall.

Claims (9)

In an inverted microscope provided with a reflecting member that arranges an objective lens on an optical axis extending downward from an observation sample and reflects an optical path emitted from the objective lens toward an eyepiece lens,
A revolver that holds a plurality of the objective lenses and selectively inserts one of them on the optical axis;
A focusing mechanism for moving the revolver;
A central unit provided with the revolver and the focusing mechanism;
The left and right side walls that respectively form front and rear surfaces and left and right surfaces, a bottom surface that is in contact with a lower portion of each side wall and having an opening at least in part, and an internal space surrounded by the side walls are divided into front and rear A body having a rib formed between the faces,
The inverted microscope is characterized in that the central unit is detachably accommodated and fixed in a rear space surrounded by the rear surface, the left and right surfaces and the ribs of the main body.   In Claim 1, The said main body has an abutment surface for positioning the said central unit, and the said central unit is inserted in the said main body from the top along the direction of the said optical axis, and is on the said abutment surface. An inverted microscope that is fixed in contact.   The inverted microscope according to claim 1, wherein the central unit further includes an imaging lens disposed below the revolver.   2. The inverted microscope according to claim 1, wherein the central unit further includes a fluorescent cube turret that is disposed below the revolver and allows the fluorescent cube to be inserted into and removed from the optical axis of the microscope.   2. The inverted microscope according to claim 1, wherein an opening is formed on the bottom surface of the main body on an extension of an optical path emitted from the objective lens, and a reflection unit holding the reflecting member is attached to the opening.   The relay lens unit according to claim 1, further comprising a relay lens unit that holds a relay lens that relays an observation image acquired by the objective lens to the eyepiece lens, and the relay lens unit includes a rib and a front side wall of the main body. An inverted microscope, which is inserted into the space between the relay lens units along the direction of the optical axis and fixed to the main body.   7. The inverted microscope according to claim 6, wherein the main body has an abutting surface for positioning the relay lens unit, and the relay lens unit has a flange portion for contacting and fixing the abutting surface of the main body.   2. The inverted microscope according to claim 1, wherein a power supply unit is disposed on the rear side of the side wall of the rear surface of the main body.   The inverted microscope according to claim 1, wherein the opening formed in at least a part of the bottom surface of the main body is an opening for replacement of the reflecting member.

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