JPH01150842A - Automatic analyzing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute the two-wavelength photometry with high accuracy by an inexpensive constitution, and also, to process a liquid to be inspected at a high speed by constituting the title device so that the liquid to be inspected which is contained in each reaction vessel is brought to two-wavelength photometry in two photometric positions. CONSTITUTION:First of all, with respect to a reaction vessel 12 opposed to a photodetector 19, a light beam 14 is made incident on a wavelength selecting filter 17 through an optical path switching mirror 15 and a reflecting mirror 16, and a monochromatic light of wavelength corresponding to a measurement item is projected and the photometry is executed. Subsequently, the mirror 15 is retreated from an optical path, and with respect to the reaction vessel 12 opposed to a photodetector 20, the light 14 is made incident on a wavelength selecting filter 18, and a monochromatic light of wavelength corresponding to a measurement item is projected and the photometry is executed. Thereafter, the reaction vessel 12 is brought to one-step transfer by a four-piece portion. As a result, the reaction vessel 12 is transferred to a photometric position of the photodetector 19, therefore, it is brought to photometry by a monochromatic light of different wavelength under a stop state. Next, by repeating said operation, the two-wavelength photometry is executed with high accuracy, and also, a liquid to be inspected can be processed at a high speed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field] This invention analyzes a test liquid contained in each reaction container in a row of reaction containers conveyed along an endless reaction line by photometric measurement through the reaction container. The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer designed to do the following.

[Conventional technology]

As a conventional automatic analyzer, for example, JP-A-56-245
There are those disclosed in Publication No. 55 and Publication No. 56-24554. In the former case, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, a light source 3 is provided on the central axis of rotation of a reaction container row 2 that is intermittently conveyed along a circular reaction line 1.
The light flux from the reaction vessel array 2 is rotated and scanned in the radial direction through a reflection prism 4 that rotates at a speed different from that of the reaction vessel array 2, and a wavelength selection filter 5 that rotates at a speed different from that of the reaction vessel array 2 and the reflection prism 4. Reaction vessels located at a plurality of predetermined photometry positions are sequentially irradiated with light of a wavelength corresponding to the measurement item, and the transmitted light is transmitted to each of the light receiving elements 6 1. 6-2
．． ---The light is received at 6-n.

In addition, in the latter case, a light source is provided on the rotation center axis of a row of reaction vessels that are similarly conveyed intermittently along a circular reaction line, and the luminous flux from this light source is transmitted at a speed different from that of the row of reaction vessels. The first rotating reflective prism performs rotational scanning in the radial direction, thereby sequentially irradiating light onto the reaction vessels at a plurality of predetermined photometry positions, and at each photometry position, the light that has passed through the reaction vessel is radially scanned. A third reflecting prism rotates together with the first reflecting prism, and a third reflecting prism rotates together with the first reflecting prism, and a third reflecting prism rotates together with the first reflecting prism, and The light is received by one common light receiving element via a wavelength selection filter that rotates at a speed different from that of the third reflecting prism.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the automatic analyzer disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 56-24555, when one attempts to observe the reaction process more precisely by focusing on one reaction vessel,
Since many photodetectors must be arranged and photometric data from each photodetector is sequentially used,
It is necessary to match the characteristics of each light-receiving element, and there is a problem that the entire device becomes expensive.

In addition, in the automatic analyzer disclosed in JP-A-56-24F154, since the optical path after passing through the reaction vessel is long, the spread of the luminous flux and the influence of light scattering when the sample liquid is turbid, etc. However, there is a problem in that measurement accuracy decreases.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned conventional automatic analyzers, the wavelength selection filter is rotated while scanning the light beam at a plurality of photometric positions, and at each photometric position, the sample liquid in the reaction container at the photometric position is detected. Since the wavelength is selected according to the measurement item, if you try to measure each measurement item with two wavelengths to reduce the influence of coexisting substances,
The overall number of wavelength switching increases, making high-speed processing difficult, and when photometry is performed while rotating the wavelength selection filter, it is easily affected by differences in local characteristics of the interference filter. There are problems such as:

This invention has been made by focusing on these conventional problems, and it is possible to perform two-wavelength photometry with high accuracy with an inexpensive configuration, and to properly process the test liquid at high speed. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an automatic analyzer that has been configured.

[Means and effects for solving the problem] In order to achieve the above object, in this invention, the test liquid contained in each reaction container of a row of reaction containers transported along an endless reaction line is passed through the reaction container. In an automatic analyzer configured to perform photometry and analysis, two sets each include a transport means for transporting the reaction container row by one reaction container including step feeding a plurality of times within one operation cycle, and a plurality of interference filters. It has a wavelength selection filter and two light receiving elements corresponding to these wavelength selection filters, and measures the test liquid during the stop period of each step feed at two photometric positions corresponding to the stop positions of the step feed of the reaction vessel. The present invention is characterized in that it includes a photometric means for measuring light through the reaction vessels, and is configured to perform two-wavelength photometry on the test liquid contained in each reaction vessel at two photometric positions.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, a large number of reaction vessels 12 are held at equal pitches in a circular reaction line 11, and these reaction vessels 12 are moved within one operation cycle, ie, the reaction vessels 12 are moved along the reaction line by means of a conveying means 13, with 4 pitches as one step. 11 almost 1
During rotation, one reaction container is transported, including a plurality of step feeds. In addition, a light source 14 is provided in order to perform two-wavelength photometry of the test liquid contained in each reaction container 12, and a light path switching mirror 15 which can be inserted into and removed from the light path of the light source 14 is provided.
After reflecting the light, the light is projected to a predetermined stopping position (photometering position) of the reaction vessel 12 through a rotatable wavelength selection filter 17 in which a reflection mirror 16 and a plurality of interference filters are arranged on the same circumference. At the same time, with the optical path switching mirror 15 retracted, the light is passed through the wavelength selection filter 18 having the same configuration as the wavelength selection filter 17, and the light is measured by 4 pitches from the photometric position of the reaction vessel 12 via the reflection mirror 16, that is, The light is projected to the stop position (photometering position) of the reaction vessel 12 one step before the movement, and the light beams transmitted through the reaction vessel at each of these photometry positions are received by the light receiving elements 19 and 20, respectively.

The operation of this embodiment will be explained below with reference to the timing chart shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the reaction vessels 12 are fed step by step in the direction of the arrow by the conveying means 13 with 4 pitches as one step, and when each step is stopped, the reaction vessels are placed at each photometric position facing the light receiving element 19, 20. Measure 12. In this photometry, first, the reaction vessel 12 is placed at a photometry position facing the light receiving element 19.
Next, the light from the light source 14 is made incident on the wavelength selection filter 17 via the optical path switching mirror 15 and the reflection mirror 16, and monochromatic light having a wavelength corresponding to the measurement item is projected for photometry.

Next, the optical path switching mirror 15 is retreated from the optical path, and the light from the light source 14 is made to enter the wavelength selection filter 18 into the reaction vessel 12 located at the photometry position facing the light receiving element 20, and the wavelength corresponding to the measurement item is selected. Measures light by projecting monochromatic light. Thereafter, four reaction vessels 12 are transferred one step.

During the transfer period of this l step, the wavelength selection filters 17 and 18 are rotated, and the wavelengths corresponding to the measurement items of the test liquid in the reaction container 12 come to each photometry position facing the light receiving element 19 and 20. At the same time, the optical path switching mirror 15 is inserted into the optical path. In this way, when the reaction vessel 12 is moved one step, the reaction vessel 12 that was at the photometry position of the light receiving element 20 is transferred to the photometry position of the light receiving element 19. Photometry is performed using monochromatic light of a different wavelength.

By repeating the above operation, the required number of test liquids in the reaction containers are photometered at two wavelengths in one operation cycle, and the test liquids in other reaction container groups are similarly measured in subsequent operation cycles. Performs two-wavelength photometry.

According to this embodiment, two wavelength selective filters 17.1
8, the number of wavelengths required for measurement can be divided into these two wavelength selection filters 17 and 18, and each wavelength selection filter 17 and 18 can therefore be made smaller. In addition, since the selection of the wavelength selection filters 17 and 18 and the return operation of the optical path switching mirror 15 are performed during the step movement of the reaction vessel 12, the time required for these to stabilize is the operation period of the step feed. Therefore, the time for actually measuring when stopped can be used effectively, processing speed can be increased, and highly accurate measurements can be performed. Furthermore, since only two light-receiving elements are required, the cost can be reduced, and even when monitoring the reaction process, two light-receiving elements are required for each test liquid.
Since light of one wavelength can always be received by one light-receiving element 19 and light of the other wavelength can be always received by the other light-receiving element 20, it is also necessary to make the characteristics of the two light-receiving elements 19 and 20 the same. do not have.

Note that this invention is not limited only to the embodiments described above, and numerous modifications and changes are possible. For example, in the above-described embodiment, four reaction vessels 12 were transferred in one step, but the number of reaction vessels 12 to be transferred in one step may be any number, and the reaction line 11 may be transferred accordingly. The number of reaction vessels above can be set.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the optical path switching mirror 15
Although the light beam is selectively guided to two photometry positions, it is also possible to use a half mirror instead of the optical path switching mirror 15 to simultaneously guide the photometry light beam to two photometry positions. Further, the wavelength selection filters 17 and 18 are not limited to rotary types, but sliding types can also be used, and these can also be arranged between the reaction line 11 and the light receiving elements 19 and 20. Further, the photometric positions where the light receiving elements 19 and 20 are arranged are not limited to the stop positions of sequential step feed, but can be provided at any stop position of step feed.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a row of reaction containers is transported by one reaction container along an endless reaction line including multiple step feedings within one operation cycle, and each During the stop period of step feed, the test liquid was photometered at two wavelengths by photometry at two photometry positions each having a wavelength selection filter and a light receiving element, which were provided corresponding to the stop position of step feed of the reaction container. With an inexpensive configuration, two-wavelength photometry can be performed with high accuracy, and the test liquid can be processed at high speed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a time chart for explaining its operation, and FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing a conventional technique. 11... Reaction line 12... Reaction container 13.
...Transportation means Part 4...Light source 15...Optical path switching mirror 16...Reflection mirror 17.18...Wavelength selection filter 19.20...Photodetector element Fig. 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an automatic analyzer that analyzes the test liquid contained in each reaction container of a row of reaction containers conveyed along an endless reaction line by photometry through the reaction container,
a conveying means for transporting the reaction container row by one reaction container including step feeding a plurality of times within one operation cycle; two sets of wavelength selection filters each having a plurality of interference filters; and two sets of wavelength selection filters corresponding to these wavelength selection filters. It has two light receiving elements corresponding to the stop position of step feeding of the reaction vessel.
and a photometric means for measuring the light of the test liquid through the reaction container during the stop period of each step feeding at the two photometry positions, and configured to perform two-wavelength photometry of the test liquid contained in each reaction container at the two photometry positions. An automatic analyzer characterized by: