JP4314989B2 - Dispensing device and dispensing tip removal method of dispensing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a dispensing apparatus used for dispensing a liquid sample in the biochemical field or the like.

In a test or analysis performed in the biochemical field or the like, dispensing such as subdivision of a liquid such as a specimen or a reagent into a microplate (or well plate) as a sample container is performed. This dispensing is performed by sucking and discharging a liquid through a nozzle, and the nozzle is usually used with a disposable dispensing tip attached thereto. This dispensing tip is replaced whenever the sample to be dispensed changes, and the dispensing tip is detached and attached frequently in the test operation.
For dispensing and dismounting of dispensing tips, dispensing devices provided with a mechanism for manual pulling or detachment have been used in the past, but recently, comb-like locking members such as bottle openers have been used. There has been proposed a method of pulling out by hooking the upper part of the dispensing tip and moving the nozzle upward (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

The prior art proposed in Patent Document 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 4, 114 is a dispensing head, 114a is a nozzle, 115 is a dispensing tip, 119 is a dispensing tip removing portion, 143 is a locking member, 144a is a rod, 145 is a holding member, and 146 is a container.
A conventional method for detaching the dispensing tip 115 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4A, the dispensing head 114, which has been dispensed and the used dispensing tip 115 is mounted, is positioned above the dispensing tip removal portion 119, and then the dispensing head 114 is lowered. Next, as shown in FIG. 4B, the rod 144a of the cylinder 144 is immersed. At this time, the distal end portion of the locking member 143 is held by the holding member 145. In this state, the dispensing head 114 is raised as shown in FIG. Accordingly, the dispensing tip 115 is detached from the nozzle 114a on the lower surface of the dispensing head 114.

JP 2000-97950 A (page 7, FIG. 6)

However, the conventional dispensing device has a problem that it is necessary to separately provide a moving mechanism for the locking member at the separation portion, and the moving mechanism must be provided separately. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the detachment portion may be a bucket-like container, but the dispensing tips are usually supplied to the dispensing device in a state of being arranged on a tip plate as shown in FIG.
In FIG. 5, 201 is a tip plate and 202 is a dispensing tip. The dispensing tip 202 is moved onto the tip plate 201, and the nozzle is mounted by pushing the nozzle into the dispensing tip 202. However, after dispensing is completed, the tip may be returned to the original location of the tip plate 201 again. In many cases, simply pulling out with a locking member has a problem that it cannot be inserted into the chip insertion hole of the chip plate 201 well.

FIG. 6 shows the state of the dispensing tip when detached (from Patent Document 1 and FIG. 7). The reference numerals are the same as those in FIG.
As described above, since the dispensing tip 115 may be in an inclined state at the time of detachment, when inserted into the tip plate 201 instead of the bucket-shaped container, it may be caught around the hole and the insertion may fail.
The present invention has been made in view of such various problems, and provides a dispensing device that can detach a dispensing tip without failure even when it is aligned and detached from a chip plate, and ensures detachment. It aims to provide a method.

To solve the above problems, a first invention, a nozzle for sucking the liquid, and a periphery to detachably attached the dispensing tip of the lower end of the nozzle, the lower end of this pipette tip a dispensing device for discharging the containers by inhalation liquid, a dispensing head having a bore for holding an outer periphery of the nozzle, attached to the lower end of the nozzle which is exposed is inserted into the hole of the dispensing head is provided with the dispensing of the cylindrical covering the periphery of the chip chip guide integrally and has a ceiling surface for receiving the upper edge of the pipette tip, and means for moving the dispensing head in position In the disengagement position of the dispensing tip, there is provided a locking means for fixing the dispensing head so that it does not rise when the nozzle is raised .
As a result, it is possible to suppress left-right shaking of the dispensing tip when the dispensing tip is detached, and the dispensing tip can be detached with high accuracy.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the dispensing device of the first aspect of the present invention, the dispensing device has a sensor for monitoring the disengagement state of the dispensing tip.
Thereby, even if the dispensing tip is caught in the vicinity of the tip plate hole, the dispensing tip can be detected, and measures can be taken in the next operation.

Further, the third invention uses a drive mechanism after the dispensing tip is detached from the nozzle in the upper part of the dispensing tip holding hole formed in the tip plate which is the dispensing tip removal position , The nozzle is moved in an intersecting manner relative to the center of the dispensing tip holding hole .
Thereby, even if the dispensing tip is caught near the hole of the tip plate in the first invention, the dispensing tip can be reliably inserted into the hole of the tip plate.
The fourth invention is, in the upper part of the dispensing tip hole of the disengaged position in which a formed dispensing tip retention in chip plate after leaving the dispensing tip from the nozzle, monitors the dispensing tip disengaged The dispensing tip detachment status is judged based on the sensor information, and only when the dispensing tip detachment fails, the drive mechanism is used to cross the nozzle relative to the center of the dispensing tip holding hole. It is made to move to a shape.
Thereby, only when the dispensing tip fails to be removed, the feeding operation to the hole may be performed, and the yield can be improved.

According to the dispensing device of the first invention, it is possible to prevent the dispensing tip from failing to be removed by providing the cylindrical guide around the nozzle.
Further, according to the dispensing device of the second invention, by providing a sensor for detecting dispensing tip detachment failure, it is possible to cope only with detachment failure.
Further, according to the dispensing tip detachment method of the third invention, the dispensing tip can be reliably fed to the tip plate by the feeding operation to the hole on the tip plate.
Furthermore, according to the dispensing tip detachment method of the fourth invention, it is possible to suppress wasteful movement and improve the yield by performing the feeding operation to the hole on the tip plate only when the dispensing tip detachment fails. it can.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a configuration of a dispensing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a nozzle for inhaling and discharging liquids such as specimens and reagents, 2 is a dispensing head that holds one or many nozzles 1 and moves them to a predetermined position, and 3 covers the periphery of the dispensing tip 4. The cylindrical tip guide 4 provided in the dispensing head 2 is a disposable dispensing tip 4 that is replaced with the nozzle 1 every time the sample to be dispensed changes, and 5 is a hole 5a for holding the dispensing tip 4. A tip plate 6 provided with a sensor 6 is provided at the lower part of the tip guide 3 and detects a dispensing tip detachment failure.

FIG. 1 shows a state in which a dispensing tip 4 is attached to a nozzle 1 for inhaling or discharging a liquid, and a dispensing head 2 is positioned above a hole 5a of a tip plate 5 where a dispensing tip 4 is detached. The moved state is shown. After stopping at this position, when the nozzle 1 is moved upward to pull out the dispensing tip 4, the upper part of the inner surface of the cylindrical tip guide 3 comes into contact with the upper surface of the dispensing tip 4. Pulled out from. At this time, the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical tip guide 3 serves as a guide, and the dispensing tip 4 is dropped into the hole 5 a of the tip plate 5. That is, by providing the cylindrical tip guide 3, the behavior of the dispensing tip 4 being inclined as shown in FIG. 6 is suppressed, and the dispensing tip 4 is detached from the hole 5 a on the tip plate 5. Can be prevented.
Further, by providing the sensor 6 for detecting the dispensing tip detachment failure, it is possible to take measures when the dispensing tip detachment fails, and to reliably continue the dispensing operation. The sensor 6 may be a photo sensor or the like, for example, and is provided below the chip guide 3 so as to face the inside of the chip guide 3. By doing so, when the sensor 6 detects the presence of the dispensing tip 4 after the detachment operation, the dispensing tip 4 is not fitted into the hole 5a of the tip plate 5 and is caught around the hole 5a. As a result, it is possible to detect a failure to leave.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, a flowchart showing a detachment procedure when detaching a dispensing tip in a dispensing device, and FIG. 3 shows an example of a detaching method of the second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a view of a hole on the chip plate viewed from above. A detachment procedure according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described below in order with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 and FIG.
First, in step S1, the dispensing head 2 is moved to a dispensing tip removal position such as the tip plate 5.
When the nozzle 1 moves upward in step S <b> 2, the upper surface of the dispensing tip 4 is caught by the upper part of the inner surface of the cylindrical tip guide 3, so that the dispensing tip 4 is pulled out from the nozzle 1.
In step S3, after a lapse of time when the dispensing tip 4 would be inserted into the hole 5a of the tip plate 5, the dispensing head 2 is relatively crossed with respect to the position of the hole 5a of the tip plate 5. Move.

An example of movement is shown in FIG. In the figure, 10a is the first movement, 10b is the second movement, 10c is the third movement, 10d is the fourth movement, 1 is the nozzle in the disengaged position, 1a is the nozzle having the first movement, 1b Is a nozzle that has moved second, 1c is a nozzle that has moved third, and 1d is a nozzle that has moved fourth.
The dispensing tip 4 that has moved to the disengagement position is pulled out of the nozzle 1 by the rise of the nozzle 1 and falls toward the hole 5a on the tip plate 5, but as described with reference to FIG. Without being caught around the hole 5a. At this time, the nozzle 1 is operated in order so as to cross the first movement 10a → second movement 10b → third movement 10c → fourth movement 10d with respect to the hole 5a on the chip plate 5. The hooked dispensing tip 4 can be fed into the hole 5a by the cylindrical tip guide 3.

Further, if the dispensing device includes a sensor 6 that detects whether or not the dispensing tip 4 is caught, the feeding operation to the hole 5a on the tip plate 5 may be performed only when the dispensing tip 4 is caught, By doing so, useless movement can be suppressed.
After the dispensing head has been moved, as shown in step S4 in FIG.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used in the biochemical field or the like as a dispensing device and a dispensing tip removing method that can remove a dispensing tip without failure even when the tip plate is aligned and detached.

It is a sectional side view which shows the structure of the dispensing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the dispensing chip | tip removal method which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the removal method of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the process sequence of the dispensing apparatus to which the conventional method is applied. It is a top view which shows a chip plate. It is explanatory drawing which shows the problem of the conventional method.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Nozzle 2 Dispensing head 3 Cylindrical tip guide 4 Dispensing tip 5 Tip plate 5a Hole 6 Sensor 10a First movement 10b Second movement 10c Third movement 10d Fourth movement

Claims (4)

A nozzle for sucking the liquid, and a periphery to detachably attached the dispensing tip of the lower end of the nozzle, in the dispensing apparatus for discharging the container sucks liquid from the lower end of this pipette tip There,
A dispensing head having a hole for holding the outer periphery of the nozzle; and a ceiling surface for receiving an upper end edge of the dispensing tip attached to a lower end portion of the nozzle that is inserted into the hole of the dispensing head and exposed. It provided the said dispensing cylindrical covering the periphery of the chip chip guide together, and means for moving the dispensing head in position, during the rise of the nozzle at the disengaged position of the pipette tip A dispensing device characterized in that a locking means for fixing the dispensing head so as not to rise is provided .   The dispensing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tip guide is provided with a sensor for monitoring a detached state of the dispensing tip. A dispensing tip detachment method for a dispensing device using the dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein the dispensing tip retaining hole is formed at a top portion of a tip for holding a dispensing tip formed in a tip plate. After the dispensing tip is detached from the nozzle, the nozzle is moved in an intersecting manner relative to the center of the dispensing tip holding hole by using a drive mechanism. Dispensing tip removal method. A dispensing tip detachment method for a dispensing device using the dispensing device according to claim 2 , wherein the dispensing tip is disposed above a dispensing tip holding hole formed in a tip plate which is a detaching position of the dispensing tip. the dispensing tip after leaving the nozzle, based on the sensor information for monitoring the dispensing tip disengaged determines the dispensing tip withdrawal conditions, when the pipette tip weaning failure only, using the driving mechanism, the said nozzle 4. The dispensing tip detachment method for a dispensing device according to claim 3, wherein the dispensing tip is moved in an intersecting manner relative to the center of the hole for holding the dispensing tip.

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