JPH0559311U - Automatic chemical analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] Sample dispensing means for dispensing a sample into a reaction container,
Automatic chemical analyzer equipped with a reagent injecting means for injecting a reagent into a reaction vessel, a sample stirring means for agitating a sample and a reagent poured in the reaction vessel, and an absorptiometer for measuring the absorbance of the sample in the reaction vessel In addition, by providing a liquid volume storage unit that stores the liquid volume in the reaction container and a stirring unit control unit that controls the stirring position of the sample stirring unit according to the liquid amount, Regardless, perform efficient stirring. [Structure] A stirring shaft 4 is connected to a rotation shaft of a stirring motor 5, and a blade for stirring a liquid is fixed to a tip of the stirring shaft 4, so that the whole sample stirring means moves vertically with respect to a reaction container. By doing so, the stirring position is controlled.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an automatic chemical analyzer for measuring the concentration or activity value of a target component in a sample containing multiple components such as blood, plasma and urine, and in particular, stirring a sample and a reagent in a reaction container. It is related to the mechanism.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 Conventionally, in an automatic chemical analyzer as shown in FIG. 3, a sample container 21 containing a sample of blood, plasma, urine or the like is placed on a rack 20 and moved to a predetermined position to dispense a sample such as a sampler. A predetermined amount of the sample is sucked by the means 6 and dispensed into the reaction container 1 placed on the reaction disk 7, and the reagent container 23 containing the reagent corresponding to each measurement item is dispensed with a reagent such as a dispenser. A predetermined amount is sucked by the injection means 8 and injected into the reaction container 1.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, after the blade 3 of the sample stirring means 10 is inserted into the reaction vessel 1 and lowered to a predetermined position and stopped, the stirring motor 5 is driven to stir. By rotating the shaft 4, the blade 3 is rotated and the liquid 2 consisting of the sample and the reagent is stirred and reacted (see FIG. 4b), and then the blade 3 is taken out of the reaction container 1 (see FIG. 4c). The qualitative and quantitative analyzes of the components contained in the sample are carried out by detecting the absorbance of the liquid 2 and the change with time of the absorbance. In the above reaction process, a constant temperature bath for holding a temperature-controlled liquid is provided around the reaction vessel 1 in order to keep the reaction conditions such as the reaction temperature constant and to shorten or extend the reaction time. The liquid 2 in the reaction container 1 is kept at about 37 ° C.

[0004]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, in the conventional automatic chemical analyzer, the position at which the blade 3 for stirring descends and stops is constant regardless of the amount of the liquid 2 consisting of the sample and the reagent contained in the reaction container 1. Therefore, there is a problem that the stirring may not be sufficiently performed when the amount of the liquid 2 is larger or smaller than usual. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, when the upper and lower positions at which the blades 3 are stopped are set to positions where the stirring efficiency is best when the amount of the liquid 2 is large (see FIG. 5a), when the amount of the liquid 2 is small. When the stirring position of the blade 3 is set to a position where the stirring efficiency is best when the amount of the liquid 2 is small (see FIG. 5c), the amount of the liquid 2 is reduced. However, there is a problem that the stirring efficiency is reduced when the amount is large (see FIG. 5d).

Further, as shown in FIG. 5D, when the stop position of the blade 3 is set to a position where the stirring efficiency is maximized when the amount of the liquid 2 is small, the stirring shaft 4 is required when the amount of the liquid 2 is large. As described above, the liquid is soaked in the liquid 2, and even in the cleaning process of the blade 3 and the stirring shaft 4, a part of the sample and the reagent of the previous measurement remain on the stirring shaft 4, and other reagents are mixed. There was a problem that cross contamination occurred. Further, when the blade 3 is rotated at a position close to the bottom of the reaction vessel 1, when the rotation speed of the blade 3 is increased to shorten the stirring time, the droplets of the liquid 2 scatter from the reaction vessel 1 and other reaction volumes There was a problem of mixing in the vessel.

In order to solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic chemical analyzer capable of performing efficient stirring regardless of the amount of a liquid containing a sample and a reagent.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above object, the automatic chemical analyzer of the present invention comprises a sample dispensing means for dispensing a sample into a reaction vessel, a reagent injecting means for injecting a reagent into the reaction vessel, and a sample poured into the reaction vessel. In addition, in an automatic chemical analyzer equipped with a sample stirring means for stirring the reagent and an absorptiometer for measuring the absorbance of the sample in the reaction container, a liquid amount storage section for storing the liquid amount in the reaction container and a liquid amount It is characterized by including a stirring step control unit for controlling the stirring position of the sample stirring means according to the above.

[0008]

[Action]

 According to the above configuration, the amount of the sample and the reagent dispensed for each reaction container is stored in the liquid volume storage unit, and the shape of the reaction container, for example, the cross-sectional area of the inner surface is taken into consideration, so that the liquid level is increased. Then, the stirring position of the sample stirring means is controlled according to the height of the liquid surface to a position where the stirring efficiency is maximized, for example, about 3/5 of the height of the liquid surface for dispensing. Efficient stirring can be performed regardless of the amount of the sample and reagent used.

[0009]

【Example】

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a sample stirring state of an embodiment of the automatic chemical analyzer according to the present invention.

The rotating shaft of the stirring motor 5 is connected to the stirring shaft 4, and a blade for stirring the liquid is fixed to the tip of the stirring shaft 4, so that the whole sample stirring means moves up and down with respect to the reaction container. By moving, the stirring position is controlled. As the drive mechanism for moving up and down, a well-known linear movement mechanism such as a ball screw, a rack and a pinion, and a positionable motor such as a pulse motor can be used, and therefore the description thereof will be omitted.

First, when a sample is dispensed into the reaction vessel 1, the amount of the sample to be dispensed is adjusted by controlling the sample pump connected to the sample dispensing means. The amount of sample dispensed into container 1 corresponds approximately to the stroke of the pump. Therefore, the amount of the sample dispensed into the reaction container 1 can be stored by converting the sample dispensing stroke for each reaction container.

Similarly, when the reagent is injected, the amount of the sample to be injected is adjusted by controlling the reagent pump connected to the reagent injection means. Therefore, the reagent injection stroke is converted for each reaction container. By doing so, the amount of the reagent injected into the reaction container 1 can be stored.

Next, in the step of stirring the sample and the reagent, the amount of the liquid in the reaction container 1 is obtained by integrating the sample amount and the reagent amount corresponding to the reaction container 1, and the reaction such as the inner cross-sectional area The height of the liquid surface can be obtained by considering the shape of the container.

Therefore, when the sample stirring means is inserted into the reaction vessel, the position of the blades 3 is adjusted to a position where the stirring efficiency becomes the best according to the height of the liquid surface, for example, a height about 3/5 of the liquid surface height. When the stirring motor 5 is driven, the blade 3 is rotated to stir the liquid 2. 1a is a sample stirring means when the amount of liquid in the reaction container 1 is large, FIG. 1b is a case where the amount of liquid in the reaction container 1 is normal, and FIG. 1c is a sample stirring means when the amount of liquid in the reaction container 1 is small. The respective control positions of are shown.

FIG. 2 is an example of a control block diagram of the sample stirring means applicable to the automatic chemical analyzer of the present invention. Block A controls the entire automatic chemical analyzer, and block B controls the sample stirring means. In block A, keyboard for data input, CRT and printer for data display, ROM and RAM for storing control programs and various data, main CPU for executing control programs, data communication with other control blocks A communication I / F, etc. for performing the above are connected to the bus. In block B, together with ROM and RAM that store the control program of the sample stirring means and various data, a sub CPU that executes the control program of the sample stirring means, and a communication I / F that performs data communication with the main control block. A stirring unit control unit that controls the vertical movement of the sample stirring unit, swinging motion, stirring motor, etc. is connected to the bus, and the numerical data of the liquid volume in the reaction container is part of the RAM area. Memorized in. Since a known means for controlling each movement of the stirring means control unit can be used, the description thereof will be omitted.

The above-mentioned sample amount and reagent amount or the total data thereof are stored in the liquid amount storage area of the RAM of the block B, and the stirring unit control unit refers to the stored liquid amount data to make the sample stirring unit. Control the stirring position of.

After the stirring for a predetermined time is completed, the sample stirring means moves upward and retracts, and the absorbance of the liquid 2 and the time change of the absorbance are detected by an absorptiometer and included in the sample. Qualitative and quantitative analyzes of the components that are included. On the other hand, the blade 3 and the stirring shaft 4 of the sample stirring means are cleaned by the cleaning mechanism to prepare for stirring the next reaction container.

In the above examples, the means for confirming the liquid amount in the reaction container was described as the means for converting each stroke of the sample pump and the reagent pump, but the sample dispensing means, the reagent injection means, and the sample You may check the amount of liquid in the reaction vessel by connecting a flow meter between the pump and the reagent pump, and detect the liquid level by the capacitance sensor provided on the stirring shaft or blade. It is also possible to lower the sample stirring means by a predetermined distance from the liquid surface by using this means.

[0019]

[Effect of the device]

 As described in detail above, the automatic chemical analyzer of the present invention includes a liquid volume storage unit that stores the liquid volume in the reaction container and a stirring unit control unit that controls the stirring position of the sample stirring unit according to the liquid volume. By including the above, it is possible to perform efficient stirring regardless of the liquid amounts of the sample and the reagent in the reaction container, and thus it is possible to shorten the stirring time. Therefore, the measurement time per reaction container is shortened, and the overall measurement work efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a sample stirring state of an embodiment of an automatic chemical analyzer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of a control block diagram of sample stirring means applicable to the automatic chemical analyzer of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of an example of an automatic chemical analyzer to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining a stirring process of the automatic chemical analyzer.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a sample stirring state of a conventional automatic chemical analyzer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Reaction Container 2 Liquid 3 Blade 4 Stirring Shaft 5 Stirring Motor 6 Sample Dispensing Means 7 Reaction Disk 8 Reagent Injecting Means 9 Reagent Table 10 Sample Stirring Means 12 Rack Supply Section 13 Rack Collection Section 14 Rack Transfer Section 15 Rack Standby Section 20 Racks 21 sample container 23 reagent container 30 main control unit

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A sample dispensing means for dispensing a sample into a reaction container, a reagent injecting means for injecting a reagent into the reaction container, a sample stirring means for stirring the sample and the reagent poured into the reaction container, In an automatic chemical analyzer equipped with an absorptiometer for measuring the absorbance of a sample in the reaction vessel, a liquid volume storage unit for storing the liquid volume in the reaction vessel, and the sample stirring according to the liquid volume. An automatic chemical analyzer comprising a stirring means controller for controlling the stirring position of the means.