JPH0316056Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Technical field] The present invention relates to a sample cell supply mechanism that automatically introduces sample cells of various spectroscopic analyzers such as infrared, ultraviolet, and visible light spectrometers to appropriate positions in the optical path. .

[Background Art] In various spectroscopic analyzers, various electromagnetic waves are transmitted through a sample cell and their absorption spectra are observed. At this time, the absorption spectrum (chart) is automatically recorded using an automatic recorder or the like, but all placement and replacement of the sample cell in the optical path had to be done manually. This made the measurement work complicated and inefficient.

[Object of the invention] An object of the invention is to provide a sample cell supply mechanism for a spectroscopic analyzer that automatically arranges and exchanges a plurality of sample cells in the optical path of various spectroscopic analyzers.

[Structure of the invention] A sample cell supply mechanism for a spectroscopic analyzer according to the invention includes a sample cell case that allows each of a plurality of sample cells to be taken in and out and that holds the sample cells along an arrangement direction parallel to the optical path; A driving means for driving the sample cell case via a rack attached to the lower surface of the case and a pinion meshed with the rack is provided, and the sample cell case is moved while moving the sample cell case along the arrangement direction. A sample cell case moving means for arranging an arbitrary sample cell held in a sample cell at a predetermined position, a cell moving member having a magnet at its tip, and a magnetic material attached to the side surface of the sample cell that the magnet comes into contact with. and a sample cell case in/out means for taking out the sample cell placed at a predetermined position from the sample cell case and placing it in the optical path of the spectroscopic analyzer, and returning it to the sample cell case again after measurement. This aims to achieve the above objective.

[Description of Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the sample cell supply mechanism according to the present invention. In the figure, the right side of the spectroscopic analyzer 1 is the light source section 2, and the left side is the light receiving section 3.
A reflection light-emitting window 4 and a sample light-emitting window 5 are formed in the light receiving section 3, and a reference light-receiving window 6 and a sample light-receiving window 7 are respectively formed in the light source section 2.
A reference optical path 8 and a sample optical path 9 are directed toward the light receiving section 3 from a light source (not shown) provided therein.
is now being established.

A sample cell introducing section 11 is provided between the light source section 2 and the light receiving section 3, and this sample cell introducing section 11
The sample cell case 1 is located on the side of the sample optical path 9.
2 and a sample cell case moving means 13, and a sample cell entrance/exit means 1 on the side of the reference optical path 8.
4 are provided.

The sample cell case 12, as shown in FIG. (See FIG. 1), and is held so as to be accessible from both the vertical and horizontal directions. Further, the sample cells 18 are relatively flat hollow transparent box-shaped, and the sample cells 18 accommodated in each storage section 17
are oriented in a direction perpendicular to the optical paths 8 and 9.

Further, the sample cell case moving means 13 includes a motor 19 which is a driving means, and a pinion 20 is fixed to the output shaft of this motor 19.
0 is engaged with a rack 21, and the rack 21 is attached to the lower surface of the sample cell case 12. Here, the sample cell case 12 is movably mounted on the guide rail 23 via the pulley 22, and the optical path 8,
The sample cell case 12 is guided along a direction parallel to the sample cells 18, and the rack 21 is also installed along the same direction. Any sample cell 18 that is moved along the sample cell case 12 and held in the sample cell case 12 is selectively placed at a predetermined position. Note that the predetermined position is a position along the vertical wall part 24 of the sample cell introduction part 11.

As shown in FIG. 3, the sample cell loading/unloading means 14 is equipped with a motor 26, and a pinion 27 fixed to its output shaft is connected to a rod 2 which is a member for moving the cell.
It is engaged with a rack part 28A carved on the side surface of 8. The cell moving rod 28 is supported by a slide bearing 30 so as to be movable forward and backward toward the sample cell 18 placed at the predetermined position, and the amount of movement of the rod 28 corresponds to the amount of rotation of the motor 26. A magnet 31 is provided at the tip of the cell moving rod 28, and a magnetic material 32 is attached to the side surface of the sample cell 18 facing the magnet 31. When the magnet 31 at the tip of the cell moving rod 28 comes into contact with the magnetic material 32 of 18, the magnet 31 attracts the magnetic material 32, and when the cell moving rod 28 retreats in this attracted state, the sample cell 18 moves. The sample cell 18 taken out from the sample cell case 12 is slidably held by a guide rail 33 fixed to the vertical wall portion 24 and placed in the sample optical path 9. Here, magnet 3
1 is preferably an electromagnet whose magnetic effect is turned on and off by electric current, but it may be a permanent magnet. A stopper 33A is provided at one end of the guide rail 33, and the stopper 33A is formed by appropriately bending a part of the plate material constituting the guide rail 33, and the sample cell 18 comes into contact with this stopper 33A. The sample cell 18 is prevented from moving in the same direction.

Next, the operating method of this embodiment will be explained.

First, each of the plurality of prepared sample cells 18 is filled with a predetermined measurement sample, and the sample cell case 12 is stored with the magnetic material 32 of each sample cell 18 facing toward the tip side of the cell moving rod 28. part 17 to hold it.

After that, move the sample cell case 12 onto the guide rail 23.
At the same time, install the pinion 2 on the rack 21.
0, adjust the amount of rotation of the motor 19, and move the sample cell 18 to be measured first to the predetermined position.
That is, it is stopped at a position continuous with the guide rail 33 (a position along the vertical wall portion 24).

When the sample cell 18 is stopped in this manner, the motor 26 is operated to advance the cell moving rod 28 toward the sample cell 18, and after the magnetic material 32 is attracted to the magnet 31, the cell moving rod 28 is moved forward. By retracting 28, the sample cell 18 is taken out from the sample cell case 12 and moved into the sample optical path 9 along the guide rail 33, and the cell moving rod 28 is further retracted, so that the sample cell 18 is moved by the stopper 33A. When the magnet 31 is an electromagnet at the position where it is stopped in the optical path, its magnetic action is stopped and the sample cell 18 is separated from the cell moving rod 28, and the cell moving rod 28 moves the sample cell 18 from its tip. The camera continues to move backward even after it is released, and stops after moving back to an appropriate position that does not obstruct the reference optical path 8.

In this state, the measurement of the sample cell 18 is completed,
Move the cell moving rod 28 toward the sample cell 18 again, move it forward, and return the sample cell 18 to the original storage part 1.
Push it back to 7. Next, to take out another sample cell 18, the sample cell case 12 is moved along the guide rail 23, and the second sample cell 1 to be measured is removed.
The sample cell case 12 is moved by the motor 19 so as to place the sample cell 8 at the predetermined position, and then the measurement is performed by the same operation as when measuring the first sample cell 18, and the same operation is repeated thereafter. This completes the measurement of all necessary sample cells 18.

According to this embodiment, a plurality of sample cells 18 are filled with predetermined measurement samples, and the storage section 17 is filled with a predetermined measurement sample.
After holding the sample cells 18, the sample cells 18 can be sequentially supplied into the sample optical path 9 and measurements can be performed on a plurality of samples without any particular manual effort. Therefore, it is possible to perform measurement work efficiently without the complicated operations required in the past.

In this implementation, as shown in FIG. 4, if a cell holder 37 is also prepared for the rectangular bar-shaped sample cell 36 and the magnetic material 32 is attached to the side surface of this cell holder 37, such The above embodiment can also be applied to the sample cell 36.

In addition, instead of fixing the rack 21 to the case 12, the case 12 can be placed at an appropriate position on the rack 21 in an adjustable manner by providing meshing teeth on the upper surface of the rack 21 and the lower surface of the case 12, respectively. Good too.

Further, although the sample cells 18 may be held in any arrangement in the storage section 17 of the sample cell case 12, if they are held every other cell (therefore,
Every other empty storage section 17 will be created. ), even if the magnet 31 is a permanent magnet and its magnetic action cannot be turned on and off, the magnetic material 32 can be removed by moving the sample cell case 12.
This has the effect that it is easy to reliably separate the magnet 31 from the magnet 31. That is, after the rod 28 pushes the measured sample cell 18 back into the original storage section 17, the sample cell case 12 is moved along the guide rail 23 and the rod 28
By arranging the tip of the bar 18 toward the adjacent empty storage section 17, even if the magnet 31 is a permanent magnet, the sample cell 18 that has already been measured can be reliably separated from the tip of the bar 18 (magnet 31). There is no fear that other cells 18 will be inadvertently attracted to the tip of the rod 18.

In addition, although the cell moving rod 28 is used to take out the sample cell 18 from the sample cell case 12 by magnetic force, the present invention is not limited to this. Mechanical gripping action, vacuum adsorption action, etc. may also be used, but the above-mentioned If such a magnetic force is used, the structure is extremely simple, the operation is reliable, there is no noise, and the device can be provided at a low cost.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a sample cell supply mechanism for a spectroscopic analyzer that automatically arranges and exchanges a plurality of sample cells in the optical path of various spectroscopic analyzers.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of a sample cell supply device for a spectroscopic analyzer according to the present invention;
3 and 3 are enlarged perspective views showing different main parts of the embodiment, respectively, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing a cell holder used in the embodiment. 1... Spectroscopic analyzer, 8... Optical path for Refares,
9... Sample optical path, 11... Sample cell introduction part, 1
2...Sample cell case, 13...Sample cell case moving means, 14...Sample cell entrance/exit means, 18...
sample cell, 23... guide rail, 31... magnet,
32... Magnetic material, 33A... Stopper, 36...
Sample cell, 37... cell holder.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A sample cell case that allows each of a plurality of sample cells to be moved in and out and held along an arrangement direction parallel to the optical path, a rack attached to the lower surface of this sample cell case, and a pinion that is engaged with this rack. A sample cell case moving means having a driving means for driving the sample cell case and arranging any sample cell held in the sample cell case at a predetermined position while moving the sample cell case along the arrangement direction. A cell moving member with a magnet at its tip and a magnetic material attached to the side of the sample cell that this magnet comes into contact with are used to remove the sample cell placed at a predetermined position from the sample cell case and perform spectroscopy. 1. A sample cell supply mechanism for a spectroscopic analyzer, characterized in that the sample cell supply mechanism is provided with a sample cell case insertion/exit means that is disposed in the optical path of the analyzer and is returned to the sample cell case after measurement.