JPH0142042Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Field of industrial application] The present invention is an automatic sample supply device for sequentially supplying a sample to be measured to an automatic analyzer such as a blood analyzer. The loader, which is held in a circular row, is moved horizontally to sequentially stir and aspirate the sample from the outer row or the inner row, and the presence or absence of a sample container containing a sample is detected to ensure sample supply operation. This invention relates to an automatic sample supply device equipped with a loader horizontal movement device.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, when supplying a sample such as blood, which has a relatively high viscosity and tends to precipitate, to an analyzer, it is necessary to prevent contamination between samples and to supply a sufficiently stirred and shaken sample. The sample is manually supplied to the sample suction device of the analyzer after stirring and shaking using a shaking device provided separately from the main body of the device or directly by hand. For this reason, human labor is required for so-called preprocessing, and even if it is possible to eliminate labor for analysis, it is not possible to completely save labor.

Conventionally, as a sample supply device for an automatic chemical analyzer, in most cases, a disk-shaped loader has many holes around its periphery, sample containers are placed and held in these holes, and the loader is used to feed a single sample container. A method is used in which the sample is aspirated and supplied by rotating the sample suction pipe up and down in minute increments. The above-mentioned method using a disc-shaped loader has only one row of holes drilled near the circumference of the loader, and in order to load and hold multiple specimens at the same time,
The circumference of the loader must be increased, and for this purpose it is conceivable to increase the diameter of the disk-shaped loader or to decrease the diameter of the sample container.

Furthermore, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 51-141691, a colorimetric continuous automatic measuring device equipped with a table feeding mechanism, a table sliding mechanism, and a test tube lifting/lowering mechanism has been proposed.

[The problem that the idea attempts to solve]

However, if the diameter of the disc-shaped loader is increased in the sample supply device of the automatic chemical analyzer described above, a large space is required and handling of the loader becomes inconvenient. There is also a limit to reducing the diameter of the sample container. That is, if the diameter of the sample container is made small, the sample suction pipe may accidentally jump out of the sample container, which is not preferable. Furthermore, the method of raising and lowering the sample suction pipe is disadvantageous in terms of sample contamination, as the path through which the sample passes becomes long. has disadvantages such as requiring a large amount of sample.

In addition, as a method to use space effectively, there is a method of moving a rectangular parallelepiped box-type loader that holds and holds multiple sample containers in a row back and forth, Methods such as randomly arranging sample containers and feeding them one after another are possible, but both require force to push or pull on a flat surface, and compared to a disk-shaped loader that rotates around an axis. However, there are disadvantages in that the driving device is somewhat complicated and large-scale, and a considerable amount of driving force is required.

In any case, a disc-shaped loader is the simplest, but it has the disadvantage of having a small capacity to accommodate samples per area, and it also has problems with sample suction and stirring methods, as well as problems with highly viscous samples. It was not possible to easily use an automatic sample supply device for the blood analyzer used.

Furthermore, in the device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 51-141691, a motor and a cam are used for driving. Since the heart-shaped eccentric cam 22 driven by a chain is used to move the loader against the spring 28, horizontal movement of the loader is not reliable, although the structure is complex.

Further, since there is no positioning mechanism, it is difficult to accurately move the test tube 38 to the position of the thin test tube push-up rod 37. Furthermore, since this device is not provided with a means for detecting the presence or absence of a sample container, there are problems such as lack of reliability in sample supply.

The present invention was developed in view of the above points, and is an automatic sample supply device that has more than twice the sample capacity in the same space as conventional devices, and is effective as a supply device for relatively high viscosity blood, etc. The purpose is to provide a device.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, an automatic sample supply device equipped with a loader horizontal movement device according to the present invention includes a loader 2 that holds sample containers 1 in a plurality of rows in a circular manner, and an intermittently a loader rotation device 3 that rotates the loader and the loader rotation device horizontally by one row of sample containers, and a sample agitation suction device 5 that stirs and sucks the sample in the sample container. , a sample container detection device 3 that detects the position of a sample container containing a sample;
0, the loader rotation device 3 fixes the upper part of the rotating shaft 11 to a loader platform 6 on which the loader 2 is placed and fixed, and attaches the loader and the loader platform with pins 7, and this rotation A feed gear 12 is fixed to the lower part of the shaft, a feed pawl 13 that meshes with the feed gear is fixed to the tip of the piston rod 15 of the cylinder device 14, and a number of counterbore holes 17 are formed in the feed gear 12 at positions corresponding to the sample containers. A light emitting part 18 and a light receiving part 20 are provided above and below the counterbore hole, and a piston 22 for pressing a ball 23 into the counterbore hole is provided above the other counterbore hole. The tip of the piston rod 25 of the shift cylinder device 24 is fixed to a shift base 16 that rotatably supports the rotating shaft 11 that rotates the loader 2, and a shift rail fixed to the device main body base 26 is fixed to the shift base. 27 is slidably inserted, and the sample container detection device 30 includes a light emitting section 31 fixed to the device main body base 26 and a light receiving section 32 fixed to the device main body base 26. The light receiving section 32 is characterized in that it is arranged on both sides of the plurality of rows of sample containers so that the optical path is diagonal to the horizontal plane and the vertical plane.

[Effect]

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, by driving the cylinder device 14 of the loader rotation device 3, the feed gear 12 and the loader 2 are rotated intermittently. Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, when the light passes through the counterbore hole 17 and the light receiver 20 detects the counterbore hole 17, the piston 22 located above the other counterbore hole 17 is actuated, The feed gear 12 is temporarily stopped by pressing the ball 23 into the counterbore, and when the cylinder device 14 is activated, the piston 22 is pushed up.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, by operating the shift cylinder device 24 of the loader horizontal movement device 4, the loader 2 and the loader rotation device 3 fixed to the shift base 16 are integrated into a horizontal position. horizontally move one row of sample containers in the direction.

Furthermore, the sample container detection device 30 detects the presence or absence of a sample container containing a sample, regardless of whether the sample in the outer row of the loader 2 or the inner row of the loader is being measured. be able to.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the automatic sample supply device of this example includes a loader 2 that holds sample containers 1 in a circular shape in a plurality of rows (two rows are provided as an example in the drawings) around the periphery; A loader rotation device 3 that rotates the loader 2 intermittently, a loader horizontal movement device 4 that horizontally moves the loader 2 and the loader rotation device 3 by one row of sample containers, and a sample container 1
Sample stirring and suction device 5 that stirs and sucks the sample inside
and a sample container detection device 30 that detects the position of the sample container 1 containing the sample. Loader 2
As an example, the sample container 1 is a circular plate made of synthetic resin with a diameter of about 30 cm, and as described above, two rows of circular holes for mounting and holding the sample container 1 are provided near the outer periphery.
In addition, in order to reduce the area occupied per sample, 3
There may be more than one column. As shown in FIG. 4, the loader 2 is configured so that it can be attached to and removed from the loader platform 6, and so that the loader 2 rotates integrally with the loader platform 6. A pin 7 protruding from the lower surface of the loader 2 is provided, and the pin 7 is fitted into a hole 8 of the loader platform 6. Legs 10 provided on the loader 2
is for allowing the loader 2 to stand on its own when removed from the loader platform 6. The loader platform 6 is fixed to the upper part of the rotating shaft 11, and the feed gear 12 is fixed to the lower part of the rotating shaft 11. fixed to
By driving the cylinder device 14, the feed gear 12 is fed one pitch at a time, and the loader 2 is rotated intermittently. Rotating shaft 11
is rotatably supported on the shift base 16. The feed gear 12 has a large number of counterbore holes 17 bored at positions corresponding to the sample containers 1, and is linked to an optical means for detecting the counterbore holes 17, specifically, a light emitting section 18 and a light receiving section 20. The temporary stop mechanism 21 is actuated in this manner. In this temporary stop mechanism 21, when the light beam from the light emitting part 18 passes through the counterbore hole 17 and the light receiver 20 detects the counterbore hole 17, the piston 22 located above the other counterbore hole 17 is activated by compressed air pressure or the like. Operated by fluid pressure, the ball 23 is pressed against the counterbore hole 17,
The feed gear 12 is configured to be temporarily stopped. When the rotating cylinder device 14 operates,
Close the fluid passage for compressed air or the like that communicates with the piston 22 and push the piston 22 up using the return spring of the piston 22, or apply negative pressure instead of the compressed air or other fluid to attract the piston 22 and raise it. At the very least, the temporary stop mechanism 21 is temporarily released. At this time, since no pressing force is applied to the ball 23, the feed gear 12 can rotate freely. Therefore, the loader 2 always stops at a predetermined position, and at the same time, the brake is released when the loader rotates, so the rotating cylinder device 14
can be made extremely small.

A tip of a piston rod 25 of a shift cylinder device 24 is fixed to a shift base 16 that rotatably supports a rotating shaft 11 that rotates the loader 2, and a shift rod 25 fixed to a device main body base 26 is further fixed to the shift base 16. A rail 27 is slidably inserted into the shift cylinder device 24.
By operating the loader 2, the loader 2 and the loader rotation device 3 fixed to the shift base 16 are integrally moved in the horizontal direction by one row of sample containers.

In this embodiment, the loader 2 has 50 mm on the outside.
A total of 100 sample container insertion holes are provided, 50 on the inside and 50 on the inside.As shown in Fig. is operated to move the loader 2 together with the shift base 16 on the shift rail 27 and shift it to the position shown in FIG. As described above, the piston rod 25 of the shift cylinder device 24 is fixed to the shift base 16, and the main body side of the shift cylinder device 24 is fixed onto the device main body base 26. The remaining 50 inner samples are measured at the positions shown in Figure 2. 28
1 is a sample container lifting device located below the sample container 1. Although not shown in the figure, it has a telescopic function in which, for example, a small diameter rod is inserted into a large diameter hollow rod in a retractable and extendable manner. A head for raising and lowering the sample container is fixed to the upper end of the small-diameter rod, and the upper end of a spring member having an arc-shaped cross section is fixed to the lower end of the small-diameter rod fixed to the head. , is connected to a winding spool, and this winding spool is connected to a cylinder device via a gear mechanism, and by operating this cylinder device, the winding spool is rotated and the spring material is The sample container is moved forward and backward to raise or lower the sample container to a predetermined position. This sample container elevating device 28 has the advantage that the sample container can be easily stopped at a predetermined position because the vertical limit is regulated by the amount of horizontal movement of the cylinder device. 5 is the sample container 1 as described above.
This is a sample agitation suction device located above. Although not shown in the figure, for example, a sample suction pipe connected to the quantitative section of the automatic analyzer main body is eccentrically inserted and held in the outer cylinder. A pulley is fixed to the top of the motor, and when this pulley and a pulley connected to the motor rotation shaft are connected by a belt and the motor is operated, both pulleys rotate, rotating the outer cylinder and opening the sample suction pipe. It is configured to rotate eccentrically to increase the stirring effect. Therefore, this sample agitation suction device 5 has the advantage that sample contamination, so-called contamination, can be prevented because the sample suction pipe itself is used for stirring and the path through which the sample passes is short.
In addition, instead of eccentrically rotating the sample suction pipe,
The sample suction pipe may also be configured to vibrate. 30 is a sample container detection device for detecting the position and presence of the sample container 1 containing the sample;
A light emitting section 31 fixed to the device main body base 26 and a light emitting section 32 fixed to the device main body base 26
The light emitting section 31 and the light receiving section 32 are arranged on both sides of the plurality of rows of sample containers 1 so that the optical path is diagonal to the horizontal plane and the vertical plane,
The apparatus is configured to detect the presence or absence of a sample container containing a sample, whether the samples in the outer row of the loader 2 or the inner row of the loader 2 are being measured. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an erroneous blank measurement, and it can be configured to stop the operation of the device or issue an alarm.

[Effect of idea]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has advantages such as being able to effectively utilize a narrow space to reduce the area occupied by each specimen, and having a relatively simple construction. In addition, the cylinder device is the drive source, and the rail is slidably inserted into the shift base, and the shift base is fixed to the tip of the piston rod and moved horizontally, so the stroke of the cylinder device allows accurate positioning. Furthermore, it has the advantage of being able to reliably supply a sample by detecting the presence or absence of a sample container containing a sample.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a partial cross-sectional front view showing one embodiment of the automatic sample supply device of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is the automatic sample supply device showing a state in which the loader has been moved horizontally by one row of sample containers. 3 is a bottom view showing the main parts of the automatic sample supply device, FIG. 4 is a partially sectional explanatory view of the loader rotation device, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the loader rotation device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Sample container, 2...Loader, 3...Loader rotation device, 4...Loader horizontal movement device, 5...Sample stirring suction device, 6...Loader platform, 7...Pin, 11...Rotation Shaft, 12... Feed gear, 13...
... Feed claw, 14... Cylinder device, 15... Piston rod, 16... Shift base, 17... Counterbore hole, 18... Light emitting section, 20... Light receiving section, 21...
...temporary stop mechanism, 22...piston, 23...ball, 24...shift cylinder device, 25...
Piston rod, 26...Device main body base, 27
... Shift rail, 28 ... Sample container lifting device, 30 ... Sample container detection device, 31 ... Light emitting section, 32 ... Light receiving section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] Loader 2 that holds sample containers 1 in multiple rows in a circular manner
A loader rotation device 3 that rotates the loader intermittently; a loader horizontal movement device 4 that horizontally moves the loader and the loader rotation device by one row of sample containers; and a loader horizontal movement device 4 that stirs and suctions the sample in the sample container. The loader rotation device 3 includes a sample agitation suction device 5 for detecting a sample, and a sample container detection device 30 for detecting the position of a sample container containing a sample. The upper part of the rotary shaft 11 is fixed, the loader and the loader platform are attached by pins 7, the feed gear 12 is fixed to the lower part of this rotary shaft, and the feed pawl 13 that meshes with this feed gear is connected to the piston rod 15 of the cylinder device 14. The feed gear 12 is fixed to the tip, and a large number of counterbore holes 17 are provided in the feed gear 12 at positions corresponding to the sample containers, a light emitting section 18 and a light receiving section 20 are provided above and below the counterbore holes, and the counterbore holes are provided above and below the counterbore holes. The loader horizontal movement device 4 has a shift cylinder device 24 mounted on a shift base 16 that rotatably supports a rotation shaft 11 for rotating the loader 2. Fix the tip of the piston rod 25, and attach the device body base 2 to this shift base.
The sample container detection device 30 is constructed by slidably inserting a shift rail 27 fixed to the sample container detection device 30.
However, the light emitting unit 31 fixed to the device main body base 26
and the light receiving section 3 fixed to the device main body base 26
2, the light emitting section 31 and the light receiving section 32 are arranged on both sides of the plurality of rows of sample containers so that the optical path is diagonal to the horizontal plane and the vertical plane. Automatic sample feeding device with loader horizontal movement device.