JP6039441B2 - Thermal curved surface printing apparatus, specimen dispensing apparatus, and thermal curved surface printing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a thermal curved surface printing apparatus and a thermal curved surface printing method for printing information on a printing surface affixed to an object having a columnar shape or a cylindrical shape by a thermal printing method. The present invention also relates to a sample dispensing device that performs dispensing using a sample container and includes a heat-sensitive curved surface printing device.

  In in-vitro diagnostic medical analysis work, when dispensing and storing a certain amount from a sample container containing blood or urine collected for examination of a sample dispensing device into a child sample container, A barcode or the like is printed as identification information. Individual identification information such as individual patient names is described in advance in a specimen container containing specimens such as blood and urine collected for examination. As the sample container and the child sample container, a container such as a test tube having a cylindrical shape is used.

  When giving individual identification information and other related information described in the original sample container to this child sample container, the conventional sample dispensing device uses a label on which identification information such as a barcode is printed in advance. A method of attaching to the surface of a child sample container within a sample dispensing apparatus has been common (see, for example, Patent Document 1 below).

  On the other hand, a method of printing on a printed label that is affixed to a child specimen container in advance has also been proposed. Specifically, various methods such as a method using an ink jet (see, for example, Patent Documents 2 and 3 below) and a printing method using a laser marker (for example, see Patent Document 4 below) have been proposed. .

JP 2000-266755 A JP 2004-333162 A JP 2008-286754 A JP 2009-121837 A

  In the method shown in Patent Document 1, a general-purpose printing technique can be used to print information on a normal label. However, the label is peeled off and attached to the curved surface of the container in the sample dispensing apparatus. There is a disadvantage that the mechanical structure for attaching becomes large.

  Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3 disclose printing directly on a container by an ink jet method, but the ink jet method requires a device such as an ink supply system and an ink jet head cleaning system, and maintenance is required. Has the disadvantage of becoming complicated. Furthermore, the laser marker method described in Patent Document 4 has a drawback in that it is necessary to increase the optical path length of the laser light source to accurately describe information of a certain size, and the specimen dispensing apparatus becomes large. doing.

  When individual identification information is printed on a print label affixed to a child specimen container in advance using thermal printing technology, printing is performed by contacting a thermal head in which heating elements are linearly arranged against thermal paper. Therefore, there is an advantage that it is inexpensive and excellent in maintainability. However, printing on a printing surface attached to a curved surface such as the child sample container described above has the following problems.

  In general, the child sample container is often a plastic container such as a polypropylene resin, and is not an ideal axisymmetric shape because warpage occurs during molding. Some eccentricity also occurs when the child sample container is rotated for printing. For this reason, it is difficult to make the thermal head uniformly adhere to the thermal paper, which causes uneven printing. Also, the polypropylene resin is soft, and there is a problem that it deforms when the thermal head is strongly pressed. Therefore, it is difficult to bring the thermal head into contact with the thermal paper evenly, which causes blurring of printing and uneven printing.

  In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is capable of obtaining a good printing state even on a thermal paper affixed on a curved surface such as a child specimen container by a thermal printing method that is inexpensive and has a simple structure and excellent maintainability. With the goal.

  The present invention makes it possible to satisfactorily abut the thermal head on thermal paper affixed on the outer peripheral curved surface of the cylindrical object by devising the support structure of the thermal head and the holding structure of the cylindrical object such as the child sample container. It provides a means that can

  Claim 1 uses a thermal head in which a plurality of heating elements are linearly arranged, and prints on a printing surface on the outer periphery of a columnar or cylindrical object placed opposite the thermal head. In the apparatus, the thermal head is disposed on a support member, and the thermal head is placed on the printing surface by a movable shaft disposed at a central portion of a long side of the thermal head and an elastic body disposed on the support member. And a rotating mechanism for rotating the printing surface in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the heat generating elements. Thereby, the support structure of the thermal head can be characterized, and the heating element can be brought into close contact with the printing surface by the contact effect of the combination of the movable shaft and the elastic body.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the thermal head has a central portion of the plurality of heating elements curved in a convex shape with respect to the printing surface. As a result, the thermal head can follow the shape of the pressing portion, and can be uniformly adhered to the printing surface.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the columnar or cylindrical object is sandwiched between one of the thermal heads and the other two pressing rollers. As a result, the support of the child sample container can be stabilized.

  A fourth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that a central portion in the longitudinal direction of the two pressing rollers is formed in a convex shape. Thereby, even if a child sample container is clamped only in the center portion and there is warpage, eccentricity, or a narrow diameter in a portion other than the center portion, the influence thereof can be reduced.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a thermal head in which a plurality of heating elements are arranged in a straight line is used, and is attached to the outer periphery of a child specimen container for a columnar or cylindrical extracorporeal diagnostic medical device placed opposite to the thermal head. In the sample dispensing apparatus for in-vitro diagnostic medical equipment having a thermal curved surface printing device that prints on a thermal paper, the thermal head is disposed on a support member, and is arranged at the center of the long side of the thermal head. A movable shaft disposed; a contact mechanism that causes the thermal head to contact the print surface by an elastic body disposed on the support member; and a rotation mechanism that rotates the print surface in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the heating elements. It is characterized by having. Thereby, the installation space of the thermosensitive curved surface printing apparatus provided in the sample dispensing apparatus for in vitro diagnostic medical equipment can be provided in a compact manner.

  Claim 6 uses a thermal head in which a plurality of heating elements are arranged in a straight line, and prints on a printing surface on the outer periphery of a cylindrical or cylindrical object placed opposite the thermal head. In the method, the thermal head is brought into contact with the shape of the printing surface by the movable shaft arranged at the center of the long side of the thermal head and the elastic force of the elastic body arranged on the support member, and the cylindrical shape Or it prints on the printing surface of the outer periphery of the said columnar or cylindrical object, rotating a cylindrical object in the direction orthogonal to the sequence direction of the said heat generating element. Thereby, the support structure of the thermal head can be characterized, and the heating element can be brought into close contact with the printing surface by the contact effect of the combination of the movable shaft and the elastic body.

  A seventh aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the columnar or cylindrical object is a child sample container used in an in vitro diagnostic medical device, and individual identification information is printed on a thermal paper pasted on the surface of the child sample container. To do. Thereby, a heat generating element can be stuck with respect to the heat sensitive paper affixed on the surface of the child sample container used for an in-vitro diagnostic medical device.

  According to the present invention, stable printing can be performed on a curved surface, print quality can be improved, and the apparatus can be downsized.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an overall configuration of a thermal curved surface printing apparatus of the present invention. It is a front view of a thermal head. It is sectional drawing which looked at the thermal head from the front of the thermal type curved surface printing apparatus. It is a perspective view which shows the two pressing rollers which support a child sample container. It is a front view which shows the various shapes of a pressing roller.

  In the following, an embodiment of the heat-sensitive curved surface printing apparatus of the present invention will be described. The child specimen container 4 used in the present invention is a polypropylene cylindrical container having a diameter of about 12 mm and a wall thickness of about 1 mm. Thermal paper is affixed. In addition, the child sample container 4 is tapered so that its diameter decreases toward the lower part, but its outer shape is not completely axisymmetric but has warpage generated in the processing process.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of the thermal curved surface printing apparatus of the present invention. The rotation mechanism of the thermal curved surface printing apparatus 100 is sandwiched between the lower holder 10 and the upper rotation shaft 8 so that the child sample container 4 can be rotated about its axis. The child specimen container 4 has a rubber cap 9 attached to the upper seal, and a vertically movable holder 10 located below the child specimen container 4 is lifted in the axial direction of the child specimen container 4 so as to be sandwiched between the rotating specimen 8 and the child specimen container 4. Is done. The rotating shaft 8 is connected to the motor 7 via the rotating belt 11, and the rotating force is transmitted to the child sample container 4 by the frictional force between the rotating shaft 8 and the rubber cap 9.

  On the outer periphery (side surface) of the child sample container 4, the heating element surface of the thermal head 1 is provided so as to face. The thermal head 1 is provided on a support plate 5 via a frame body 12, and this support plate 5 has two support plates 5-1 and 5-2. The support plates 5-1 and 5-2 can move the thermal head 1 in all directions by the movable shaft 3 and the contact shaft 6 arranged orthogonal to each other and the spring 2 between the support plates 5-1 and 5-2. And a contact mechanism that contacts the thermal paper of the child sample container 4 is configured. The contact shaft 6 is disposed in the same direction (Y direction) as the child sample container 4, and the movable shaft 3 is disposed in a direction orthogonal to the contact shaft 6 (X direction). In the thermal head 1, a plurality of heating elements are arranged in the long side direction (Y direction) along the axial length of the child sample container 4.

  Then, the child sample container 4 with the thermal paper attached around is moved from the supply position to the printing position by a moving arm (not shown). When the child sample container 4 is positioned at the printing position shown in FIG. 1, the holder 10 is pushed up. Thus, the child sample container 4 is sandwiched between the holder 10 and the cap 9 connected to the rotating shaft 8. Thereafter, when the motor 7 is rotationally driven, the child specimen container 4 and the thermal paper attached to the surface rotate in the X direction. Thereby, the thermal head 1 can print desired information on the thermal paper affixed to the outer periphery of the rotating child sample container 4.

  As described above, since the printing on the thermal paper pasted in the arc shape on the outer periphery of the child sample container 4 is printed while rotating the child sample container 4, the space required for printing can be reduced, and the thermal type The entire curved surface printing apparatus 100 can be downsized.

  FIG. 2 is a front view of the thermal head. The thermal head 1 has a plurality of heating elements 22 arranged between a single electrode 24 extended from a driving IC 25 and a single common electrode 23 on a ceramic substrate 21. Accordingly, the plurality of heating elements 22 are arranged linearly in the long side direction (Y direction) of the ceramic substrate 21.

  The ceramic substrate 21 of the thermal head 1 is held by an aluminum frame 12 shown in FIG. 1, and the frame 12 is supported by the support plate 5.

  The support plate 5 includes a front support plate 5-1 and a rear support plate 5-2 shown in FIG. The thermal head 1 is disposed on the front support plate 5-1, and a mounting portion 12 a extending from the frame body 12 is provided at the center of the front support plate 5-1. Thereby, the thermal head 1 attached to the frame 12 can rotate with respect to the front support plate 5-1 around the movable shaft 3 of the attachment portion 12 a. A plurality of springs 2 as elastic bodies are arranged between the front support plate 5-1 and the rear support plate 5-2 in the longitudinal direction (Y direction) of the thermal head 1.

  The thermal head 1 arranged on the front support plate 5-1 rotates around a contact shaft 6 extending in the height direction (Y direction) provided at a predetermined distance from the front support plate 5-1. It is free to move. Further, the rear support plate 5-2 is also pivotally supported by the contact shaft 6. The front support plate 5-1 is given a predetermined urging force to the surface of the child sample container 4 about the contact shaft 6 by the spring 2 between the front support plate 5-2. The rear support plate 5-2 rotates by a specified amount in the direction opposite to the urging force according to the surface state of the child sample container 4, so that the thermal head 1 always contacts the surface of the child sample container 4 with a constant urging force. be able to. Therefore, even if the outer periphery of the child sample container 4 is eccentric, the thermal head 1 can always be brought into stable contact with the thermal paper.

  Further, since the thermal head 1 is rotatable about the movable shaft 3, even if the distal end portion of the child sample container 4 is thin or there is a change in shape due to variations in the taper angle at that time, the thermal head 1 can be flexibly applied. You can touch. Furthermore, since the thermal head 1 is supported on the support plate 5 by the movable shaft 3, the thermal head 1 is prevented from being dragged in the rotation direction (main scanning direction).

  With the above structure, the thermal head 1 is allowed to move only in the direction of absorbing the eccentricity or thinness of the child sample container 4, and the movement of the child sample container 4 in the rotation direction is suppressed. ) Enables good printing with no misalignment.

  Here, when the child sample container 4 is simply rotated around the central axis while the thermal head 1 is fixed, the thermal head 1 with respect to the child sample container 4 cannot be maintained in a stable close contact state, so that good printing is performed. I can't. In this regard, according to the printing apparatus of the present invention, the adhesiveness of the thermal head 1 to the surface of the child sample container 4 is remarkably improved, so that even if the child sample container 4 has an eccentricity of about 0.5 mm, printing is performed. There was no unevenness or blurring. As a result, it has become possible to employ a thermal printing method that has been considered impossible.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the thermal head as viewed from the front of the thermal curved surface printing apparatus 100. The heating element surface 31 of the thermal head 1 is curved in a convex shape with respect to the printing surface. In the second embodiment, when the support of the printing paper is a soft material made of polypropylene, when the thermal head 1 is pressed, the central portion of the printing surface on the side of the child specimen container 4 is deformed into a concave shape, and adhesion is improved. This is to prevent the problem that the printing becomes worse and the printing is faint.

  The thermal head 1 has a circuit board (corresponding to the ceramic substrate 21) including the above-described heating element 22 and the like in the frame body 12. Then, a thickness adjusting member 33 such as a shim is disposed between the flexible circuit board 21 including the heat generating element 22 and the like and the front support plate 5-1, and the thermal head 1 is placed on the child sample container 4 side. Project into a convex shape. As a result, when the thermal head 1 is pressed against the child sample container 4, it is possible to prevent the child sample container 4 from being deformed inward and resulting in poor adhesion.

  Moreover, according to said structure, the support strength of the center part of the thermal head 1 is insufficient, and it has the effect which prevents that adhesiveness becomes stronger in the both ends rather than the center part of the thermal head 1. As a result, stable printing can be performed.

(Embodiment 3)
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing two pressing rollers that support the child sample container. In the first embodiment described above, as shown in FIG. 1, the upper and lower sides of the child sample container 4 are held by the cap 9 and the holder 10 and are attached to the outer periphery of the child sample container 4 while rotating around the rotation shaft 8. Print on the thermal paper. In this case, the pressing force of the thermal head 1 is applied to the child sample container 4. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, two pressing rollers 43 are arranged at a position opposite to the thermal head 1 with the child sample container 4 as the center. These two pressing rollers 43 have a predetermined length along the length (Y direction) of the child sample container 4. Thereby, even if the pressing force of the thermal head 1 is applied to the child sample container 4, the rotating child sample container 4 can be stably supported by the two pressing rollers 43 on the opposite side.

  In the present embodiment, aluminum is used as the pressing roller 43, but it may be made of hard rubber. If it is made of hard rubber, the frictional force with the child sample container 4 can be improved and can be reliably supported, so that the amount of eccentricity can be reduced and consequently printing unevenness can be reduced.

(Embodiment 4)
FIG. 5 is a front view showing various shapes of the pressing roller. The shape of the two pressing rollers 43 described in the third embodiment is preferably thick at the center. The pressing roller 43 shown in FIG. 5A is an example in which a large-diameter step is provided in the central portion 51 in the axial direction. Moreover, the pressing roller 43 shown in FIG. 5B is an example in which a curved surface gradually increases in diameter from both ends so that the diameter of the central portion 52 in the axial direction becomes the largest. These pressing rollers 43 are formed such that the diameters of the central portions 51 and 52 are about 1 mm thicker than the both end portions.

  These central portions 51 and 52 are provided corresponding to the positions where the thermal head 1 described in the second embodiment is convex. Such a pressing roller 43 is suitable for sandwiching the child specimen container 4 made of resin such as polypropylene which is likely to be eccentric or warped. In this way, since the pressing roller 43 having a large diameter in the central portions 51 and 52 holds the child sample container 4 only in the central portion, the portions other than the central portions 51 and 52 are warped, decentered, or thin in diameter. Even if it exists, those effects can be reduced.

  In each of the embodiments described above, the thermal curved surface printing apparatus has been described. However, an embodiment applied to a sample dispensing apparatus for an in vitro diagnostic medical device will be described below.

  The sample dispensing apparatus includes a sample container holder, a child sample container storage rack, a transport robot including a dispensing nozzle, a child sample container holder that sets the dispensed child sample container 4 at a specified position, and the like. In addition, individual identification information such as a patient name is printed on the side surface of the child sample container 4 by a bar code or the like. This information is a bar that is pre-installed in the sample dispensing apparatus. It is read by a code reader and stored in the sample dispensing device.

  One empty child sample container 4 with the thermal paper attached to the side surface is taken out from the child sample container rack by the transport robot, and set in the thermal curved surface printing apparatus 100 (see FIG. 1) of the present invention. The individual identification information is written on the thermal paper on the outer periphery of the child sample container 4 by the thermal type curved surface printing apparatus 100.

  Thereafter, the child sample container 4 is set in a child sample container holder for dispensing. The dispensing operation is completed by aspirating a desired amount of sample from the sample container using the dispensing nozzle and transferring the sample to the child sample container 4 by the transport robot. As described above, in the sample dispensing apparatus, it is preferable to use the compact heat-sensitive curved surface printing apparatus 100 as in the present invention for downsizing the sample dispensing apparatus in order to incorporate many mechanical elements in a narrow space. Can understand.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, various deformation | transformation can be added with respect to the said embodiment in the range which does not deviate from the meaning of this invention. For example, modifications of the above embodiment are as follows.

(First modification)
In the first embodiment, the case where the spring 2 is employed as the elastic body has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the same effect can be obtained with elastic rubber or the like.

(Second modification)
In the first embodiment, the case where the rotation mechanism of the child sample container 4 employs the rubber cap 9 to hold the child sample container 4 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It is also possible to rotate the child sample container 4 by providing a notch at the upper end of the child sample container 4 and hooking a protrusion linked to the rotation shaft 8 there. Further, the rotation mechanism of the child sample container 4 may be arranged on either the upper side or the lower side of the child sample container 4.

(Third Modification)
In the first embodiment, the example in which the child sample container 4 is rotated by driving the rotational force of the motor 7 via the rotating belt 11 as the rotating mechanism to rotate the child sample container 4 is shown. However, the child sample container shown in the third embodiment is used. Alternatively, a driving unit (motor) may be provided in one of the two pressing rollers 43 that sandwich 4, and a rotating mechanism that rotates the child sample container 4 directly by the pressing roller 43 may be used.

  Furthermore, the sample dispensing device of the present invention also includes a device characterized by having a sample dispensing function, and is an analytical device for an in vitro diagnostic medical device having not only a dispensing function but also an analyzing function. Also good.

  As described above, according to the present invention, stable printing can be performed on a curved surface, and the printing quality can be improved. In addition, since the child sample container is rotated and printed, the installation space can be saved and the apparatus can be downsized. As a result, the present invention replaces the non-contact printing method such as the labeling method with a large and complicated mechanism, the inkjet method that is difficult to maintain when the nozzle is clogged, and the expensive laser marker method. Provides a printing device with excellent maintainability.

  The thermal curved surface printing apparatus according to the present invention can reduce the size of the printing apparatus, and thus contributes to the downsizing of the sample dispensing apparatus in the area of in vitro diagnostic medical equipment. Not only that, but also good maintainability, it can be applied to general curved surface printing applications.

1 Thermal head 2 Elastic body (spring)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 Movable shaft 4 Child sample container 5-1 Front support plate 5-2 Back support plate 6 Contact shaft 7 Motor 8 Rotating shaft 9 Cap 10 Holder 21 Ceramic substrate 22 Heating element 23 Common electrode 24 Individual electrode 25 Driving IC
33 Thickness adjustment member 43 Presser rollers 51, 52 Center part

Claims (7)

In a thermal type curved surface printing apparatus that uses a thermal head in which a plurality of heating elements are linearly arranged and prints on a printing surface on the outer periphery of a cylindrical or cylindrical object placed opposite to the thermal head,
The thermal head is disposed on a support member;
A movable shaft arranged at the center of the long side of the thermal head, and a contact mechanism for bringing the thermal head into contact with the printing surface by an elastic body arranged on the support member;
A rotation mechanism for rotating the printing surface in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the heating elements;
A heat-sensitive curved surface printing apparatus comprising:   The heat-sensitive curved surface printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heat-sensitive head has a central portion of the plurality of heating elements curved in a convex shape with respect to the printing surface.   3. The thermal curved surface printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the columnar or cylindrical object is sandwiched between one of the thermal heads and the other two pressing rollers.   The thermal curved surface printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a central portion in a longitudinal direction of the two pressing rollers is formed in a convex shape. Using a thermal head in which a plurality of heating elements are arranged in a straight line, a thermal paper attached to the outer periphery of a child specimen container for a columnar or cylindrical in vitro diagnostic medical device placed opposite to the thermal head In a sample dispensing apparatus for an in vitro diagnostic medical device having a thermal curved surface printing device for printing,
The thermal head is disposed on a support member;
A movable shaft arranged at the center of the long side of the thermal head, and a contact mechanism for bringing the thermal head into contact with the print surface by an elastic body arranged on the support member;
A rotation mechanism for rotating the printing surface in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the heating elements;
A sample dispensing apparatus for in-vitro diagnostic medical equipment, comprising: In the thermal curved surface printing method, using a thermal head in which a plurality of heating elements are linearly arranged, printing on a printing surface on the outer periphery of a columnar or cylindrical object placed facing the thermal head,
The thermal head is brought into contact with the shape of the printing surface by the movable shaft arranged at the center of the long side of the thermal head and the elastic force of the elastic body arranged on the support member,
A thermal curved surface printing method, wherein printing is performed on a printing surface on an outer periphery of the columnar or cylindrical object while rotating the columnar or cylindrical object in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the heating elements. The columnar or cylindrical object according to claim 6 is a child sample container used for an in vitro diagnostic medical device,
A thermosensitive curved surface printing method for an in vitro diagnostic medical device, wherein individual identification information is printed on a thermosensitive paper affixed to the surface of the child sample container.

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