JPH04350561A - Automatic analyser - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To miniaturize an automatic analyser and to increase the speed of analytical processing. CONSTITUTION:An one-cuvette plural-cell reaction container 1 is fed along a linear feed line 4 to distribute and stirr reagent and a sample in the feed process by a feed/stirring means and the reaction container 1 having the distributed and stirred solution to be examined received therein is received in a photometric unit 5 independently provided in the feed direction. The photometric unit 5 has a rotary body and the reaction containers 1 are radially received therein and taken out at a required time to be subjected to photometry and again returned to the rotary body. The reaction container can be efficiently moved because of an one-cuvette plural-cell system and distribution/stirring and photometry can be simultaneously performed because the photometric unit 5 is independent. The reaction container 1 can be efficiently received in the photometric unit 5 and this analyser can be miniaturized.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a so-called apparatus for automatically analyzing various test liquids using photometric means, and particularly to a multiple cuvette type automatic analyzer.

0002

[Prior Art] An automatic analyzer continuously dispenses and stirs a sample into a reaction container, dispenses and stirs a reagent, and then analyzes the components of a test liquid by measuring the light using a photometer. And it is a device that does it automatically. Conventional automatic analyzers have multiple reaction vessels arranged on a turntable.
While the turntable is being moved step by step, reagents and samples are dispensed into individual reaction containers when the turntable is stopped, and then photometry is performed using a photometric means provided at one location. Further, the plurality of reaction vessels are repeatedly rotated and stopped while being held by a large reaction wheel. This is because a predetermined amount of time is required for the reaction between the sample and reagent in the reaction container, and therefore, in order to increase the analytical throughput, a large reaction wheel capable of holding a large number of reaction containers is required.

[0003]Also, reagents are dispensed into reaction containers using pipettes, and the pipettes are cleaned after each dispensing to ensure proper analysis. In addition,
One reaction vessel is used for each test. Further, when setting reagents on the reagent wheel, they are set one by one or the reagent wheel is removed entirely.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the conventional automatic analyzer described above has the following problems. First, photometry is performed while the turntable on which the reaction container is arranged is rotating, but reagents and samples cannot be dispensed during this rotation. Conversely, photometry cannot be performed when dispensing reagents or samples. Secondly, since a large reaction wheel is used, the entire analyzer becomes large in size and requires a large installation space. Furthermore, with a large reaction wheel, it is difficult to control high speed rotation, stopping, etc. Furthermore, it is difficult to maintain a constant temperature of the test solution inside the large reaction wheel. Furthermore, since it has many reaction vessels, 1
It is difficult to increase the accuracy of analysis because it is difficult to take a long time for photometry per reaction vessel.

[0005] Next, in order to wash the pipette for dispensing reagents, a large amount of washing liquid is used, and waste liquid treatment after washing is required, and such pipette washing time hinders speeding up of analysis work. In addition, incomplete cleaning can lead to contamination, and reagents can be scattered around during pipetting transfers. Next, running costs are high because one reaction container is used for each test and is disposable. Furthermore, since reaction vessels are frequently loaded one at a time, the occurrence of jams is high. Furthermore, since there is a limit to the number of reaction vessels that can be accommodated in a cuvette pack, the number of times the cuvette pack must be replenished increases and the cuvette loader becomes complicated. Secondly, the reagent wheel is large and heavy, making it difficult to handle the reagent set easily.

The present invention is proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems, and improves the processing capacity per unit time.
Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic analyzer that can miniaturize the device, perform analysis processing at a lower cost, and realize more appropriate analysis processing.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a reaction vessel having a plurality of one cuvette cells, a linear conveyance means for conveying the reaction vessel, and a linear conveyance means provided near the conveyance means. A means for dispensing and stirring the reagent/sample into the reaction container during the transportation process, and a method for guiding the reaction container containing the dispensed and stirred test liquid to a rotating body and sequentially storing it in a radial manner, and photometric measurement near the rotating body at a predetermined time. The automatic analyzer is characterized in that it has a reaction container storing means which is moved to a position and returned to a rotating body after photometry.

[0008]

[Operation] Since the reaction container has multiple cells in one cuvette as described above, multiple tests can be transported or moved in one operation. Further, since the transport means and the reaction container storage means for photometry are made independent, dispensing and stirring of reagents and samples and photometry can be performed at the same time. Also,
Since the reaction vessels can be stored radially in the photometric reaction vessel storage means, they can be efficiently stored in a small space and the apparatus can be downsized.

[0009]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of an automatic analyzer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a reaction container. The reaction container 1 is housed in a cuvette pack 2, and is delivered from a cuvette loader 3 to a linear conveyance line 4. For example, each cuvette pack 2 stores reaction containers for 160 tests.

As shown in FIG. 3, the reaction container 1 is divided into four cells and is designed to be disposable so that a plurality of test items can be tested with one reaction container. Therefore, if only one item is to be analyzed for one sample, this reaction container 1 can analyze four samples. In addition, in recent years, as the amount of test liquid has become smaller, reaction vessels have tended to become smaller.
Although the mechanism for loading, transporting, and discharging the reaction vessel has become complicated, the size of the reaction vessel 1 according to this example does not become extremely small, and the mechanism does not become complicated. .

Furthermore, since the reaction container 1 is disposable, there is no carryover due to the reaction container 1, and even in tests that require high analytical accuracy such as tests for immunological items,
Reliability can be ensured. In addition, if the reaction vessel is of a multiple type as in this example, it can be integrally molded, and it can also be used when using expensive materials such as TPX to reduce the wall thickness or size of the cell. In addition to reducing the amount of
Since four samples or four items can be analyzed in one reaction vessel 1, it is advantageous in terms of cost and can overcome the disadvantage of being disposable.

Each cuvette pack 2 stores reaction vessels 1 for 160 tests, that is, 40 quadruple reaction vessels 1. This cuvette pack 2 is set perpendicularly to the transport line 4, and 20 reaction vessels 1 are stored in two rows in the cuvette pack 2, and each row is sequentially loaded onto the transport line.
It is designed to be read. Therefore, the number of tests per pack increases compared to the conventional method, and the number of tests that can be performed with one reaction vessel 1 set in the apparatus also increases. In addition, since the cuvette pack 2 can be replenished in pack units at any time even during analysis processing, the number of continuous analysis tests can be increased compared to the conventional method.

The cuvette loader 3 loads the reaction vessels 1 from the cuvette pack 2 onto the conveyance line 4. In the case of four reaction vessels 1 as in this embodiment, the basic operating cycle of the apparatus is T seconds. If this is the case, it is sufficient to set the reaction container 1 on the conveyance line 4 once every 4T seconds. therefore,
Even when the apparatus is operated at high speed in order to improve analytical throughput, it is efficient because reaction containers for four tests can be loaded simultaneously in one operation. Furthermore, regarding the occurrence of jams during loading, since only one loading is required for every four tests, the probability of jam occurrence is reduced to 1/4 compared to the conventional method, and the reliability of the apparatus is improved.

The transport line 4 is formed in a straight line from the cuvette loading position to the photometry unit 5 provided at the end in the loading direction, and the reaction vessels 1 are lined up and loaded. It is designed to be added. The reaction container 1 is sequentially transported to the photometry unit section 5 while passing through a dispensing position and a stirring position in an intermittent pitch feeding operation with a basic operation period of T seconds for each test. The length of the straight line distance of the conveyance line 4 is formed so that a sufficient reaction time can be obtained from dispensing the first reagent to the dispensing position of the second reagent. For example, it may be formed in consideration of the basic operation period T seconds of one-pitch feeding and the number of cells between the first reagent dispensing position and the second reagent dispensing position. A diluent dispenser 6 is provided near the cuvette loading position, and after aspirating the total amount of diluent required for each of the four cells in one syringe suction operation, it is dispensed into each cell. It is configured to be able to sequentially dispense diluted solutions. Incidentally, each dispensing amount is determined based on test items inputted in advance into the data processing device. In addition, without using highly concentrated reagents,
When using general reagents, there is no need to dispense a diluent.

The first reagent, which is constantly kept cold in the reagent cooler 7, is dispensed into the reaction container 1 into which the diluent has been dispensed. Here, to explain the reagent cold storage 7, a radially partitioned reagent wheel 8 is mounted on the reagent cold storage unit 7, and 20 reagent racks 9 are arranged radially here. Four reagent bottles 10 with dispensers are set in each reagent rack 9. Therefore, if 40 bottles each of the first reagent and the second reagent are set, reagents for 40 items can be set in total. The reagent cold storage 7 is cooled by a Peltier element, that is, an electronic heat exchange device, and the temperature is constantly controlled at 12° C.±4° C.

The reagent bottle with dispenser 10 is packaged as shown in FIG. 4 (A is a perspective view, B is a cross-sectional view), and includes a reagent bottle exchange section 10a with a bar code for identification, and a reagent bottle replacement section 10a. It has a dispenser section 10b. Reagent bottle exchange part 1
By inserting the film into the reagent dispenser section 10b with the film surface 10c formed on the reagent bottle 0a facing downward, the reagent in the reagent bottle exchange section 10a is guided to the reagent dispenser section 10b. Note that an air hole 10d is formed on the top surface of the reagent bottle exchange section 10a. Dispensing is performed by pushing balls 10e, 10f and piston 10g, which are directed into reagent dispenser section 10b, with solenoid 10h. Specifically, the reagent suction valve side ball 10e
, a reagent discharge valve side ball 10f, and springs 10i and 10j that bias these upwardly, respectively, forming a conduit 10k extending in the vertical direction. The piston 10g is provided to operate from a direction perpendicular to the pipe line 10k. Then, when the solenoid 10h operates in the direction of the arrow and pushes the piston 10g, the piston 10g moves by a stroke S, pushes the discharge valve side ball 10f, and creates a gap between it and the conduit 10k, and the reagent for the stroke S is Discharge.

On the other hand, when the solenoid 10h returns in the opposite direction of the arrow, a gap is created between the conduit 10e and the conduit 10k, and the reagent corresponding to the stroke S is sucked. The reagent is dispensed in this manner, but if the dispensed amount differs depending on the analysis item, etc., the stroke amount is adjusted or the number of times of dispensing is adjusted. The reagent dispenser may be a dispenser using a piezoelectric element, and the dispensed amount may be controlled by an external electrical signal. For example, 1 μl is dispensed with one pulse. In this way, when all the reagents in these reagent bottles have been discharged and used, only the reagent bottle replacement part can be pulled upward and replaced with a new reagent bottle. However, relatively expensive reagent dispensers are used repeatedly.

A stirring/sample probe unit is provided between the transport line 4 and a sampler to be described later. This stirring/sample probe unit has a first reagent stirring rod 11, a sample probe transfer tool 12, and a sample stirring rod 13, which are driven through the same rotating shaft. . The first reagent stirring rod 11, the sample probe 14 held in the sample probe transfer device 12, and the sample stirring rod 15 are driven to rotate simultaneously to stir the first reagent in the reaction container 1, respectively. , or dispense a sample and perform a sample stirring operation. Note that stirring is performed by rotating a stirring rod. In addition, the locus on the device base along which the tip operation section of each operating section of the stirring/sample probe unit moves draws an arc, and here is the first reagent stirring rod cleaning section 16, the sample probe cleaning section 17, and the sample probe cleaning section 17. A stirring rod cleaning section 18 is provided. Each operating section is cleaned at the same time at the beginning or end of the operating cycle.

A sampler 19 is provided at a position facing the reagent wheel 8 with the transport line 4 in between. Six circular sample turrets 21 in which ten sample tubes 20 can be set are arranged along the circumference of the sampler 19. The center of each sample turret 21 is configured to be located on the same circumference, and a simple rotation drive system allows sample tubes 20 for 60 samples to be placed on the same circumference.
It is possible to transport In addition, each sample turret 21
The size of the rack is approximately 10 cm in diameter, which makes it easier for the user to handle and prevents the sample tube 20 from tipping over compared to a straight rack. Furthermore, since it is possible to add specimens and set specimens for urgent processing at any time in units of sample turret 21, these operations can be easily performed.

Next, the reaction container 1 moving on the conveyance line 4
The case of dispensing reagents, dispensing samples, etc. will be explained. A first reagent required for a test item is held in a reagent rack 9 disposed on one of the reagent wheels 8 placed in the reagent cooler 7. Then, the reagent wheel 8 is rotated to select the reagent rack 9 holding the necessary first reagent and transfer it to the first reagent transfer line outlet 39 formed on the side of the reagent cooler 7. do. After moving linearly along the first reagent transfer line 40 in this way, among the four reagent bottles 10 with dispensers held in the reagent rack 9, the reagent dispenser section necessary for the test item is located at the center of the reaction container 1. It stops at the top position, and the reagent is dispensed by an external electrical signal. Dispensing of the second reagent is similarly performed by transferring the reagent bottle 10 with a dispenser to the second reagent transfer line outlet 41 and moving the second reagent transfer line 42 linearly.

[0021] Note that a reagent bar is attached to the reagent bottle 10 with a dispenser.
By attaching a code and providing a barcode scanner at the first reagent transfer line outlet 39 or the second reagent transfer line outlet 41, 40 reagents and their set positions can be automatically read. can. In this regard, with conventional random access machines, laboratory technicians had to confirm the correspondence between the position of the reagent set and the test items before starting the analysis, which was a cumbersome task. has become easier to do. Furthermore, conventionally, for example, 80 reagent bottles were arranged along the circumference of the turntable, but in this embodiment, the reagent bottles 10 with dispensers can be efficiently arranged on the small reagent wheel 8. Since the reagent cooler 7 can also be small-sized, the entire apparatus can be miniaturized. In addition, since four reagents can be set in the reagent rack 9, reagents for set item tests and related items can be set side by side, and the reagents required for the analysis items of the next cell can be stored in the same reagent rack. If the reagent rack is located within the turntable, there is no need to return the reagent rack to the turntable according to instructions from the data processing section, and reagent selection can be performed only by pitch feeding the reagent rack. Furthermore, since a dedicated reagent dispenser is used, cleaning to prevent reagent carryover is not necessary, and the speed of analysis processing can be increased.

Next, the operation of dispensing a sample from the sample tube 20 in the sample turret 21 disposed in the sampler 19 will be explained. To dispense the sample, use the sample probe 1 with a liquid level detection mechanism.
4 to aliquot the required amount. In this case, instead of using a dispenser with a syringe and valve as in the past, a piezoelectric element is installed and an electrical signal is applied, allowing a fixed amount to be dispensed multiple times using a pulse signal. There is. In this way, electronic control reduces the size of the sample probe and improves the accuracy of the dispensed amount. It goes without saying that the sampler 19 is not limited to the turret type, but may also be of the snake chain type.

After the sample is dispensed into the reaction vessel 1 in this manner, the reaction vessel 1 is fed one pitch and stirred by the sample stirring rod 13 described above. Thereafter, the reaction vessel 1 is pitch-fed along the conveying line 4 for about 4.2 minutes until the second reagent is dispensed. Incidentally, the reaction vessel 1 has a second
Absorbance is measured at a second photometric position immediately before the reagent is dispensed, and is used as data for concentration calculation.

Next, a second reagent is dispensed into the reaction vessel 1 in the same manner as the first reagent. Note that the first reagent and the second reagent can be set at any position on the 40 reagent racks 9, so the reagent rack 9 where the first reagent is set and the reagent rack where the second reagent is set. However, the operation of alternately moving to the dispensing position and returning to the reagent cold storage 7 is repeated. After dispensing the second reagent, the reaction container 1 is fed one pitch and is stirred by a second reagent stirring unit 43 provided near the photometry unit 5, which will be described later. That is, the second reagent stirring rod 44 is stirred by rotating inside the reaction container 1, and then the second reagent stirring rod 44 is moved to the second stirring rod cleaning section 45.
Washed with Thereafter, the reaction container 1 is sent to the photometry unit 5.

The photometry unit 5 includes a photometry turntable 2
3 and two photometric optical systems 24 and 25. The photometric turntable 23 is capable of storing 12 quadruple reaction vessels 1, and the reaction vessels 1, which have been dispensed and stirred via the conveyance line 4, are continuously fed once every 4 pitches. and are loaded one after another into vacant positions on the photometric turntable 23. Unlike conventional reaction turntables, the photometric turntable 23 has a small radius and can therefore be easily kept at a constant temperature. Furthermore, since the photometry turntable 23 is small, it is possible to take sufficient photometry time while rotating it at low speed.
Highly accurate photometric data can be obtained. To perform photometry (absorbance measurement), the reaction vessel 1 is moved from the photometry turntable 23 to the photometry position 22 by two photometry optical systems 24 and 25.
When moving to a, 22b, and photometry turntable 2
This is done when returning to step 3. While data on the reaction process is thus measured at required time intervals, the reaction vessel 1 rotates within the photometry unit 5, and after the data on the reaction process after dispensing the second reagent is measured, the reaction tube is discarded. It is discarded in unit 26. It goes without saying that the analytical processing capacity can be improved by increasing the number of photometric optical systems to three or more locations.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the reaction vessel 1 stored in the photometric turntable 23 is being photometered while being rotated. A certain reaction vessel 1a is transported and stored in the photometric turntable 23 as shown in Figure A.
It moves five steps per second and when it reaches the photometry position as shown in Figure B, it moves to the photometry position 22a and instantaneously measures the light. After photometry, it returns to the photometry turntable 23 and moves again. When the robot moves 5 steps in 5 seconds in this way, it moves to the position shown in Figure C. Such an operation is repeated until it reaches the figure D to figure G, and when it moves to the position of figure H, the reaction container 1a is moved to the photometry position 22b and photometered,
After photometry, the camera returns to the photometry turntable 23.

Next, the photometric optical system will be explained. Figure 6
P1, P2, P3, and P4 shown in the figure indicate photometry positions. A quartz fiber 27 is provided as a light source optical system at each photometry position, and after the light energy from the lamp 28 is focused by a condensing lens 29, it is attached to a light source switching unit 30. passing through the aperture 31,
Light energy is guided there. In order to guide the optical energy of the lamp light to the four quartz fibers 27,
As shown in FIG. 6A, there is a method in which the condensing lens 38 is slightly moved to scan the filament image on the end face of the quartz fiber 27, and the filament image is scanned on the end face of the quartz fiber 27.
This is carried out by appropriately selecting a method such as a method of forming an image so as to cover the entire end face of the quartz fiber 27 and scanning an aperture image of one quartz fiber end face 27, or a method of physically moving the end face of the quartz fiber 27 itself. That's fine.

Furthermore, quartz fibers 32 corresponding to the quartz fibers 27 are guided from each photometric position to a spectrophotometer 33, respectively. The fiber end face of the fiber inlet of the spectrophotometer 33 has a similar shape to the entrance slit 34 of the spectrophotometer 33, as shown in FIG. 6B.
The light incident from here passes through the condensing lens 35 and the entrance slit 3
4 and is received by a photodiode array 37 via a flat field type grating 36. In this way, four quartz fibers
32 fibers are randomly combined to form a rectangular shape similar to the entrance slit 34, so that the photometric positions P1 and P
Light from any of the positions 2, P3, and P4 becomes a rectangular light emitting end surface. The separated light is then received by a photodiode array 37 and photoelectrically converted.

At the photometric position P1, photometry is performed to measure the reagent blank after stirring the reagent, and at the photometric position P2, the self-blank immediately before the second reagent is dispensed is photometered. At photometry positions P3 and P4, photometry of the test liquid is performed, respectively. All of these photometric measurements are based on absorbance measurements as described above. The reaction tube disposal unit 26 is provided in connection with the photometry unit 22, and stores the reaction vessels 1 scraped out from the photometry turntable 23 in a plastic bag or the like while taking biohazard considerations into consideration. The entire bag is then disposed of.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the reaction vessel is a disposable one-cuvette plurality of cells, the photometry can be performed at high speed, the photometry turntable can be made small, it is easy to keep the temperature constant, and the rotation and Position control is easier, the probability of cuvette jamming is lower, retesting and emergency testing are easier, running costs are lower, contamination from reagent dispensers is eliminated, and reagent cleaning is no longer necessary. In addition, since the reaction vessel conveyance line and the photometry unit are provided independently, dispensing and stirring of reagents and samples and photometry can be performed simultaneously, making it possible to speed up the analysis process. In addition, since the reaction vessels are stored radially on the photometry turntable for photometry, the reaction vessels can be efficiently stored in a small space, making the apparatus more compact, and the reaction vessels can be easily moved to the photometry position. , it can operate at higher speeds and easily maintain constant temperature.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an outline of an automatic analyzer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an automatic analyzer.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a reaction vessel.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view and a sectional view of a reagent bottle with a dispenser.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the operation of the photometry unit.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a photometric optical system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Reaction container 2 Cuvette pack 3 Cuvette loader 4 Conveyance line 5 Photometry unit 6 Diluent dispenser 7 Reagent cooler 8 Reagent wheel 9 Reagent rack 10 Reagent bottle with dispenser 16 First reagent stirring rod cleaning section 17 Sample probe cleaning section 18 Sample stirring rod cleaning section 19 Sampler 20 Sample tube 21 Sample turret 22a Photometering position 22b Photometry position 23 Photometering turntable 24 Photometric optical system 25 Photometric optical system 26 Reaction vessel disposal unit 39 First reagent transfer line outlet 40 First reagent transfer line 41 Second reagent transfer line outlet 42 Second reagent transfer line 43 Second reagent stirring unit 45 Second stirring rod cleaning section

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A reaction vessel with one cuvette and multiple cells;
A linear transport means for transporting the reaction container, a means provided near the transport means for dispensing and stirring reagents and samples into the reaction container during the transport process, and storing the dispensed and stirred test liquid. 1. An automatic analyzer comprising: a reaction container storage means for guiding the reaction vessels to a rotating body and sequentially radially storing them, moving them to a photometry position near the rotating body at a predetermined time, and returning them to the rotating body after photometry. .