JPH01307608A - Fluid quantity measuring instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To derive the quantity of a liquid in a passage with high accuracy by measuring a position of both ends of a fluid column existing on a fluid and deriving the capacity of the fluid column from data of a passage sectional area by a position of the passage. CONSTITUTION:A passage 4 having a rectangular cross section of WX(d) is provided in the vicinity of the center of a member 3 which has been placed between a plate-like transparent member 1 and a transparent member 2 of the same shape. In this state, a fluid 5 which has been separated by bubbles, etc., is allowed to flow to the passage 4. Also, a lens system 6 and a line sensor 7 are provided so as to be opposed to the passage 4. Moreover, a light source 8 is provided on the opposite side of the passage 4, and the passage 4 is illuminated by a light beam which has been emitted from the light source 8. On the line sensor 7, a minute optical sensor train 71 is arranged and provided on a straight line at an equal interval. Subsequently, the direction of the line sensor 7 is determined so that the optical sensor train 71 becomes parallel to the passage 4 and a passage image is projected onto the optical sensor train 71 by the lens system 6. By deriving a position and width of a fluid column by this projected image, the quantity of the fluid column existing in the passage can be derived with high accuracy.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a device for measuring the volume of a fluid.

In particular, the present invention relates to a device suitable for measuring the volume of a small amount of fluid in a flow path.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional biochemical analyzers, such as blood cell counters that measure the number of blood cells in blood, such as those described in Clinical Laboratory Instruments and Reagents, Volume 2, No. 4, pages 410-420, measure the number of blood cells per volume of blood. Since the number of blood cells was very large, approximately 5×10”/a, a minute amount (approximately 100 μQ) of blood was collected and the number of blood cells contained in a portion of the sample solution diluted several hundred times with physiological saline was counted. .For blood collection, as shown in FIG.

I was using a cut valve. The cut valve has a flow path 102 . It is composed of a flow path 103, and a certain amount of blood existing in the flow path 102 is transferred to the flow path 103 by rotation of the rotating part 101.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, with cut valves, blood leaks through the gaps between the valves, so cleaning of the gaps is necessary. In addition, a mechanism for rotating the rotating part is required, making the device complicated and large, which is a bottleneck in improving reliability and downsizing.1 Originally, the purpose of a blood cell counter was to determine the density of blood cells in blood.

This is given by the blood volume and diluent volume, so the blood and diluent volumes do not need to be strictly constant.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a device with a simple configuration and highly accurate determination of the amount of fluid such as blood or diluent in a flow path.

[Means to solve the problem]

The above purpose is to change the shape, length, or position of both ends of a fluid column to be measured, which is sandwiched between air bubbles and other fluids that do not easily mix with the fluid to be measured, such as blood, in a flow path of known shape. , and is achieved by measuring with an optical system consisting of a light source, an image sensor, and a condensing system provided in parallel.

[Effect]

The light source illuminates the fluid to be measured via the flow path to the image sensor, or illuminates the fluid to be measured from the same direction as the image sensor. Although the condensing system has the role of projecting an image of the fluid to be measured on the flow path onto the image sensor, it is not necessarily necessary when the illumination light projects the image of the fluid to be measured on the image sensor one-to-one.

Next, the projected area or length and the positions of both ends are determined from the image of the measured fluid obtained by the image sensor, and the volume of the measured fluid column is determined from data on the cross-sectional shape of the channel.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. A flat transparent member 1, a member 3 sandwiched between transparent members 2 of the same shape
A flow path 4 having a rectangular cross section WXd is provided near the center of. A fluid 5 separated by bubbles or the like is passed through the flow path 4 .

Further, a lens system 6 (condensing system) and a line sensor 7 (image sensor) are provided opposite the flow path 4 . Furthermore, the flow path 4
A light source 8 is provided on the opposite side of the flow path 4 with light emitted from the light source 8.
to illuminate. On the line sensor 7, a fine optical sensor array 71 is arranged in a straight line at equal intervals. This optical sensor row 7
The direction of the line sensor 7 is determined so that the line sensor 1 is parallel to the flow path 4, and a flow path image is projected onto the optical sensor array 71 by the lens system 6. The output of the line sensor 7 is shown in FIG. The line sensor 7 sequentially outputs a voltage (E) corresponding to the amount of light that reaches each optical sensor on the optical sensor array 71 in a certain period of time according to a certain clock. If the fluid image is present in the channel image, the voltage is reduced by the amount absorbed by the fluid 5. By binarizing this at a certain level, the position and width of the fluid column can be determined. The time when the output of the optical sensor at one end of the optical sensor array 71 falls beyond the binarization threshold is set as tz, the time when the output rises beyond the threshold is set as tz, the clock cycle is set as tc, and the output of the adjacent optical sensor is set as tz. The width between
Assuming that the imaging magnification of the lens system 6 is M and the length of the fluid column is L, the volume of the fluid V is v=Wφd・L=W−d−M−Ws・(tz−)/lc. Can be approximated. Note that a term for correcting the influence of unevenness due to surface tension at both ends of the fluid 5 may be determined experimentally or theoretically based on the pattern of the licensor output and added to the above equation.

According to this embodiment, the amount of fluid present in the flow path can be optically measured without contact, which simplifies the flow path and increases the reliability of the device.

A perspective view of another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, a lens system 6 and a line sensor 7 are installed at two locations on the flow path 4, and the positions of both ends of the fluid column are simultaneously measured, the volume of the flow path between each sensor is known, and the volume of the fluid column is calculated. It is a device of the type that requires.

Although the light source 8 was provided for each optical system,
The light may be distributed from one light source using a lens or mirror, or the number of optical systems may be two or more to measure the positions of the ends of a plurality of different fluid columns.

According to this embodiment, a small area at the end of the fluid column can be measured in an enlarged manner, thereby improving measurement accuracy.

A perspective view of another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the line sensor 7 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is replaced with an area sensor 72. Area sensor 72
When using a flat transparent member 1.
A flow path 4 is formed by the member 3 sandwiched between the transparent member 2. In the area sensor 72, optical sensor rows 71 are arranged two-dimensionally, and the flow between the inlet 41 and the outlet 42 of the flow path 4 is The shape of the road does not have to be straight. The operation is almost the same as before. That is, the image of the flow path 4 illuminated by the light source 8 is projected onto the area sensor 72 by the lens system 6, and the projected area occupied by the blood column is determined from the two-dimensional fluid image data obtained from the area sensor 72. Multiply the thickness of member 3 to find the volume. In this embodiment, the two-dimensional shape of the flow path 4 is rectangular, but it goes without saying that any shape may be used as long as the inlet 41 and outlet 42 of the flow path 4 can be connected. Alternatively, a method may be adopted in which the positions of both ends of the fluid column are measured using a plurality of optical systems.

According to this embodiment, the flow path shape can be made two-dimensional, so that the flow path can be made compact. Furthermore, since the area of the fluid column can be directly determined, the accuracy of volume measurement can be improved compared to the case of using a line sensor.

In each of the above embodiments, the light source was arranged on the opposite side of the lens system and sensor across the flow path to detect the transmitted light from the flow path. A method may be adopted in which the light reflected from the flow channel is detected by placing the light source on the side where the fluid column exists.6Alternatively, a condensing system may be provided between the light source and the flow channel, and illumination light may be focused on the fluid column. In addition, the transparent member may be made of a translucent material that diffuses light, such as frosted glass.Furthermore, a light-shielding portion may be provided on the surface of the transparent member, or only the portion in contact with the flow path may be transparent or translucent. .

A cross section of another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG.

The optical sensor array 71 is arranged on the substrate 9 in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper, and faces the flow path 4 which is perpendicular to the plane of the paper with the transparent protective layer 10 interposed therebetween. The flow path 4 is sandwiched between members 31. A light emitting element array 11 such as an LED is present above the channel 4, and a transparent protective layer 13 is present on a substrate 12. It faces the optical sensor array 71 via the flow path 4 . The flow path 4 is illuminated by the light emitting element array 11, and the light sensor array 71 determines and measures the portion where the amount of light changes due to the fluid. In the present invention, the flow path, the line sensor, and the light source are integrated.

A line sensor or light source may be installed externally. Furthermore, the light source and the line sensor may be provided on the same substrate.
Furthermore, a transparent protective layer is not necessarily required unless one light emitting element row or one optical sensor row is deteriorated by the fluid in the flow path. Alternatively, a light source may be provided externally to illuminate the flow path through a transparent substrate.Furthermore, the intervals between each element in the optical sensor array and the light emitting element array may not necessarily be constant. Also,
Similar to the example shown in FIG. 4, the flow path may be two-dimensional and an area sensor may be used. Alternatively, a contact sensor optical system used for reading documents in facsimile machines, scanners, etc. may be used.

According to this embodiment, a lens system is not required and the flow path, light source, and sensor can be integrated, so that the apparatus can be made smaller.

FIG. 6 shows a perspective view (a) and a top view (b) of another embodiment of the present invention.
5, and a light emitting element row 11 and a light sensor row 71 are installed on the side surface of the recess 15. Transparent tubular channel 4 in recess 15
is inserted and the fluid 5 separated by air bubbles etc. flows, and at the same time,
The flow path 4 is illuminated by a light emitting element array 11, and a light sensor array 71
The fluid 5 is measured by.

According to this embodiment, since the flow path and the device can be separated, measurement can be performed at an appropriate position in a tubular flow path such as a glass tube or a vinyl pipe.

FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention.

In this embodiment, a transparent tubular flow channel 4 is passed through a hole 16 penetrating the device 14, and a light emitting element array 11 and a light sensor array 71 are provided on the inner side surface of the hole 16 to measure the fluid 5 flowing through the flow channel 4. conduct.

According to this embodiment, the holding and positioning of the flow path becomes easy.

FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention.

In this embodiment, a top cover 17 is provided on the device 14 shown in FIG. The upper lid 17 is connected to the device 14 through a hinge portion 18, and can be opened and closed.

According to this embodiment, it is easy to set the channel in the device.

In the examples shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, the gap between the flow path and the recess or hole of the device may be filled with a transparent resin or adhesive and fixed. Furthermore, although the recesses and holes have rectangular cross sections in the drawings, they may be arbitrarily changed depending on the shape of the tube. Further, the light emitting element rows and the optical sensor rows do not necessarily have to face each other. Alternatively, a light source may be provided externally to illuminate the channel through a transparent substrate. Furthermore, the distance between each element in the optical sensor array and the light emitting element array does not necessarily have to be constant. In addition, multiple devices are installed in the flow path to detect the position of the end of the fluid column.
Assuming the volume of the flow path between devices is known.

It is also possible to use a system that calculates the volume of a long fluid column that spans between devices, or a configuration that uses a two-dimensional flow path and an area sensor as in the example shown in Figure 4, or a system that uses a facsimile or scanner. The contact sensor optical system used for reading originals may also be used.

In addition, for the examples shown in FIGS. 5 to 8, similarly to the example shown in FIG. 3, a method is used in which the positions of both ends of the fluid column are determined by a set of multiple optical sensor rows and light emitting element rows that are located at separate positions. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 9, the electrical input/output terminals of the device may be pins 19, and the device may be formed into a normal IC shape, thereby making it easier to incorporate the device onto a circuit board.

In addition, although the cross-sectional area of the flow path was constant in each example, the cross-sectional area of the flow path does not necessarily have to be constant as long as there is data on the cross-sectional area in the direction along the flow path within the measurement range. It goes without saying that if a plurality of fluid columns exist within the measurement range of the sensor, the volume of each fluid column can be determined.

It goes without saying that the techniques used in OA equipment such as facsimiles and scanners, such as lighting methods, light collection systems, line sensors, shading correction, and binarization methods, can also be used.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the structure of the flow path is simplified, so that the reliability of the device can be improved and the device can be made smaller.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 shows fluid volume measurement in an embodiment of the present invention! FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the device, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the output of the line sensor, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing other embodiments of the fluid amount measuring device of the present invention in which they are brought into close contact with each other. , FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a conventional fluid amount measuring device. 4... Channel, 6... Lens system, 7... Line sensor, 8-... Light source, 15... Groove, 16... Hole, 1
8... Hinge part, 19... Pin, 72... Area sensor. No. / Kuni No. 22 □t 4 Kaj each 6 Lens ゛ system 71・-Maruse〉Nata 11 Early 3rd 4th mouth 5th mouth 41・Entrance 42-・Upper mouth '7/...Y7) row 72, T-rear sensor $ 6th (b) 6...Beak 71...7th column 7th country II Emitter element j column lb...insert lδ--formulai number 71...72 Center 9th concave 19...pin

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a flow path in which a plurality of fluid columns with clear boundaries exist, a means for measuring the positions of both ends of the fluid columns existing on the flow path is provided, and the flow path is cut off depending on the position of the flow path. A fluid volume measuring device characterized by having area data and determining the volume of a fluid column based on this data. 2. In a flow path in which a plurality of fluid columns with clear boundaries exist, a means for measuring the length of the fluid column existing on the flow path is provided, and the cross-sectional area of the flow path that occupies the measurement range of the measuring means is constant; A fluid volume measuring device characterized by determining the volume of a fluid and a column. 3. In the device according to claim 1 or 2, at least one side of the flow path is made of a transparent or translucent member,
A fluid amount measuring device characterized in that an optical sensor is provided opposite to the side surface. 4. The fluid amount measuring device according to claim 3, further comprising a lens system disposed between the optical sensor and the flow path. 5. The fluid amount measuring device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a fluid column measuring means consisting of an optical sensor or an optical sensor and a light source is integrated in the flow path. 6. The fluid amount measuring device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a flow path is inserted into a fluid column measuring section consisting of an optical sensor or an optical sensor and a light source.