JPH06103316B2 - Cleaning device for automatic dispensing nozzle - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a cleaning device for an automatic dispensing nozzle, and more particularly, to a sampling nozzle for automatically inhaling and quantitatively dispensing a sample and a reagent. A device for cleaning.

[Conventional technology]

For example, a conventional automatic blood analyzer is based on the actual method of Sho 62-84758.
As described in Japanese Patent Publication, in order to wash off the sample (serum) and reaction reagent adhering to the sampling nozzle (automatic dispensing nozzle), the cleaning liquid is discharged from the nozzle and the tip of the nozzle is immersed in the discharging liquid for cleaning. Was being done.

FIG. 3 shows a conventional glass cleaning container. In this example, the flow of the cleaning liquid discharged from the sampling nozzle 3 is restricted by the squeezing hole 13 provided at the lower end of the glass cleaning container 17, and the tip of the nozzle 3 is cleaned by the cleaning liquid accumulated in the cleaning container 17. I was doing.

After cleaning, the cleaning liquid gradually flows from the squeezing hole 13 and is discharged until the next nozzle cleaning.

This method has the feature that the inside and outside of the contaminated part at the nozzle tip can be cleaned with a small amount of cleaning liquid. That is, since tap water pipes and pumps do not need to discharge the cleaning liquid, simple and low cost,
There are advantages such as no water leakage problems.

Further, the advantage of not treating waste liquid, that is, not requiring a large-capacity container, drainage piping equipment, etc. cannot be overlooked. Calculating the total amount of waste liquid by this method, assuming that the required amount of cleaning liquid is 1 ml per test and the reaction sample liquid is about 1 ml per test (the assumed liquid amount is the maximum in the current operation). It is about 2 in 1000 tests, and the effect of resource saving is extremely large.

In addition, since the cleaning container 17 is made of glass, there are advantages such as chemical resistance and stains and clogging from the outside can be easily determined. However, the glass is not widely spread because it is easily broken, difficult to process, and expensive.

Further, when the restriction hole 13 is clogged, the cleaning liquid is allowed to escape through the drain pipe 8 to prevent overflow, but the cleaning container 13 has the drain pipe 8 for preventing overflow and the cleaning liquid. There is also a problem that the drain pipe 8 that drains water when flowing normally must be separately facilitated, which complicates the drain piping system. Moreover, the aperture 18
When the clogging occurs, each pipe 8 is pulled out from the cleaning container 17 for maintenance, so that the maintenance work is troublesome.

Instead of this, a method widely adopted in the conventional automatic analyzer is a method of cleaning by an independent cleaning liquid discharge method. In this method, a large amount of water is consumed and contaminants are washed out in a thick channel, the cleaning effect is guaranteed, and there is no trouble due to clogging of the channel. Further, the nozzle is immersed in a cleaning container that overflows or a fountain in a state of flushing to clean the nozzle. In addition, in order to avoid the consumption of a large amount of cleaning liquid, which is a drawback of this method, it is possible to use a valve to intermittently discharge the cleaning liquid for a short time, or to discharge the cleaning liquid of the minimum required source with an independent pump, etc. Has also been done. However, since such an auxiliary means is provided, it is inevitable that the device becomes large, complicated, and expensive, which is a fatal drawback.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device for this kind of automatic dispensing nozzle,
An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic dispensing device which is compact, simple, and low-cost, which enhances the cleaning effect while saving the cleaning liquid, and which enables highly accurate analysis.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

For convenience of description, the gist of the present invention will be described with reference to the reference numerals of the examples used in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the sample set in the sample table 10 is inhaled and a fixed amount is dispensed into the reaction container 6. The automatic dispensing nozzle 3 for alternately performing the operation for injecting the reagent and the operation for injecting the reagent into the reaction container 6 in a fixed amount is performed by inhaling and dispensing the sample and inhaling the reagent.
A method in which the cleaning liquid is moved to the cleaning container 1 during the dispensing operation, and the cleaning liquid is discharged from the automatic dispensing nozzle 3 through the pipe 4 connected to the automatic dispensing nozzle 3 in the cleaning container 1 to perform nozzle cleaning. In the automatic dispensing nozzle cleaning device, the amount of cleaning liquid discharged from the automatic dispensing nozzle 3 to the cleaning container 1 is limited to a small amount, and the cleaning container 1 is A cylindrical body with a bottom portion to be accommodated is provided with a throttle hole 13 having a function of restricting the outflow amount of the cleaning liquid having a diameter extremely smaller than the inner diameter of the cleaning container 1 at the bottom bottom thereof, and the automatic dispensing nozzle is provided by the throttle hole 13. The amount of cleaning liquid required for cleaning the tip portion of No. 3 is temporarily stored in the cleaning container 1 and is gradually set to flow out except for the cleaning liquid remaining on the inner wall of the cleaning container until the next cleaning operation. Cleaning container 1 A drain container 2 with a cleaning liquid discharge port for receiving the cleaning liquid flowing out from the throttle hole 13 is constituted by a cylindrical body having a large volume, and an engaging portion 2B is formed on the inner wall of the drain container 2, while A flange 1B is provided on the outer wall of the cleaning container 1, and the cleaning container 1 is detachably inserted and set in the drain container 2 by locking the flange 1B with the locking portion 2B. The axial length l ₁ and the length l ₂ between the locking portion 2B and the drain upper opening 2A are set to l ₁ <l ₂ , and the depth of the dimension difference of l ₂ −l _{1 is set on} the upper surface of the flange 1B. An annular space 21 having a space is secured between the inner wall of the drain container 2 and the outer wall of the cleaning container 1, and the flange 1B has the throttle hole 13
When the cleaning liquid overflows from the nozzle inlet 1A of the cleaning container 1 due to clogging, the overflow is received in the annular space 21 on the flange 1B and then directed to the internal space 22 of the drain container 2 on the cleaning liquid outlet side. Overflow escape channel 14 for escape
Is provided.

[Action]

According to the above configuration, the automatic dispensing nozzle to be cleaned (hereinafter,
When the tip of a nozzle 3) is introduced into the cleaning container 1 and a fixed amount of cleaning liquid is discharged from the nozzle 3, the cleaning liquid enters the cleaning container 1 due to the liquid outflow control effect of the squeezing holes 13 provided in the cleaning container 1. Is temporarily accumulated, and the nozzle 3
By immersing the tip, the outer wall of the nozzle tip is also washed (the inner wall of the nozzle is washed by the washing liquid discharging operation). Further, the cleaning liquid gradually passes through the squeezing hole 13 after the discharging operation,
Until the next cleaning operation (from the current cleaning to the time when the sample or reagent is sucked and dispensed and introduced again into the cleaning container 3 of the nozzle), all the liquid except the cleaning liquid remaining on the inner wall of the cleaning container flows out. . The outflowing cleaning liquid flows down into the drain container 2 and is discharged through the cleaning liquid discharge port 2C.

The effect of completely draining this cleaning liquid is extremely important.
This is because the residual amount of the cleaning liquid used last time is directly related to the contamination between different samples at the time of analysis due to the sample and reagent components contained therein.

In the present invention, the residual amount of the cleaning liquid after cleaning the nozzle 3 is the wet residue on the inner wall of the cleaning container 1, which is several μ or less.
When using 1000μ (1ml) of cleaning solution, the coefficient that is expected to be involved in contamination is about 0.005 (≒ 5
μ ÷ 1000μ), which is extremely small. Therefore,
With 13, we have realized a highly effective cleaning device that can prevent contamination with a small cleaning solution of about 1000μ.

When the choking hole 13 is clogged, the cleaning liquid overflows from the nozzle introduction port 1A in the upper part of the cleaning container 1. This overflow water is an annular space on the upper surface of the flange 1B in the drain container 2.
It is received by 20, and then introduced into the internal space 22 of the drain container 2 via the escape passage 14 secured in the flange 1B and discharged through the discharge port 2C. This allows
A common (one) drain container 2 is used for the drain of the wash liquid flowing out from the throttle hole 13 and the overflow water by controlling the flow of the wash liquid in the washing container 1, so that the drain system can be simplified. Moreover, maintenance (hole cleaning, etc.) in the throttle hole 13 in which the clogging has occurred can be performed by simply removing the cleaning container 1 from the drain container 2 with one touch, and an extremely convenient cleaning device can be realized. .

Further, if the cleaning container 1 is formed of a material other than glass that has chemical resistance and is easy to process, it is possible to provide the cleaning container 1 without fear of cracking or the like.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 1, the sample container 5 set in the sample cup 5 is inhaled from the sampling nozzle (automatic dispensing nozzle, hereinafter simply referred to as nozzle) 3 at the tip of the sample arm 4 and set in the reaction table 11. Dispense a fixed amount into 6.

Next, the nozzle 3 is moved to the position of the first cleaning container 1, is inserted into the cleaning container 1, and the cleaning liquid is discharged from the nozzle 3 through a pipe (also serving as a sampling arm) 4 connected to the nozzle 3 to discharge the nozzle 3 Wash off the sample adhered to.

Next, the reaction reagent in the reaction reagent container 7 of the sample table 10 is sucked, discharged into the reaction container 6, and then measured by the measuring unit 12. Next, the reaction reagent attached to the nozzle 3 is washed in the same manner as the sample washing.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of a cleaning device used for cleaning the nozzle.

The cleaning device is roughly divided into a cleaning container 1 and a drain container 2. The amount of cleaning liquid discharged from the nozzle 3 to the cleaning container 1 is limited to a small amount (maximum about 1 ml), and the cleaning container 1 is composed of a bottomed cylinder that stores the amount of cleaning liquid per time. A throttling hole 13 having a function of controlling the outflow amount of the cleaning liquid having a diameter remarkably smaller than the inner diameter of the cleaning container 1 at the bottom bottom thereof.
Is provided. The throttling hole 13 is set so that the amount of cleaning liquid required for cleaning the tip of the nozzle 3 is temporarily stored in the cleaning container 1 and gradually flows out except for the cleaning liquid remaining on the inner wall of the cleaning container until the next cleaning operation. There is. 15 is a cleaning liquid.

The drain container 2 is composed of a cylindrical body having a larger volume than the cleaning container 1, and the drain container 2 with the cleaning liquid discharge port 2C that receives the cleaning liquid flowing out from the throttle hole 13 is configured.

On the inner wall of the drain container 2, a locking portion (here, a step portion) 2B is formed, while on the other hand, a flange 1B is provided on the outer wall of the cleaning container 1, and the flange 1B is attached to the locking portion 2B. The cleaning container 1 is removably inserted and set in the drain container 2 with one touch by locking the cleaning container 1 at a position close to the drain container upper opening 2A.

Assuming that the axial length l ₁ of the flange 1B and the length l ₂ between the locking portion 2 and the drain container upper opening 2A are l ₁ <l ₂ , only the dimensional difference of l ₂ −l _{1 on} the upper surface of the flange 1B is set. An annular space 20 having a depth of is secured between the inner wall of the drain container 2 and the outer wall of the cleaning container 1, and the flange 1B is clogged in the throttle hole 13 and the cleaning liquid overflows from the nozzle inlet 1A of the cleaning container 1. Occasionally, an overflow water discharge passage 14 is provided to allow the overflow water to be received in the annular space 21 of the flange 1B and then to be discharged toward the internal space 22 on the cleaning liquid discharge side of the drain container 2. The overflow escape passage 14 in this embodiment is ensured by providing a vertical hole in the flange 1B.

When the tip portion of the nozzle 3 to be cleaned is introduced into the cleaning container 1 and a fixed amount of cleaning liquid is discharged from the nozzle 3, the cleaning liquid enters the cleaning container 1 due to the liquid outflow control effect of the throttle hole 13 provided in the cleaning container 1. Is temporarily accumulated, and the nozzle 3
By immersing the tip, the outer wall of the nozzle tip is also washed (the inner wall of the nozzle is washed by the washing liquid discharging operation). Further, the cleaning liquid gradually passes through the squeezing hole 13 after the discharging operation,
All but the cleaning liquid that remains on the inner wall of the cleaning container flows out by the next cleaning operation. The drained cleaning fluid is drain container 2
It flows down to and is discharged through the cleaning liquid discharge port 2C.

The effect of completely draining this cleaning liquid is extremely important.
This is because the residual amount of the cleaning liquid used last time is directly related to the contamination between different samples at the time of analysis due to the sample and reagent components contained therein. The coefficient relating to this contamination can be set to an extremely small numerical value as described in the section of the action of the invention.

Here, details of the design of the cleaning container 1 will be described.

At the time of inhalation and dispensing, the sample and the reaction reagent adhere up to about 15 mm from the tip of the nozzle 3. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the measurement accuracy by washing this part.

In this embodiment, the discharge amount of the cleaning liquid is 60 due to the limitation of the dispensing mechanism.
It is 0μ. In order to complete the nozzle cleaning with this liquid material, the nozzle 3 is inserted into the cleaning container 1 by 30 mm and 60
When 0μ is discharged, under the condition of the cleaning container 1 having an inner diameter of 6mm, the liquid level is calculated to rise to a height of 21mm from the bottom, but in reality, the discharge rate of the cleaning liquid is changed by the throttle hole 13 (about 0.5 to 0.8mm in diameter). Since it is limited, the discharge rate will be 25 μ / sec.
Since it takes 4 seconds to discharge 600μ, 100μ flows by the end of discharge, and 500μ of cleaning liquid will be accumulated in the cleaning container 1. Therefore, the cleaning liquid surface height is 17mm, and it is possible to clean 17mm from the nozzle 3 tip. From the tip of nozzle 3
15mm can be washed.

When the throttle hole 13 is clogged, the cleaning liquid overflows from the nozzle introduction port 1A in the upper part of the cleaning container 1, but this overflow water is received in the annular space 20 on the upper surface of the flange 1B in the drain container 2 and then the flange. It is further introduced into the internal space 22 of the drain container 2 via the escape passage 14 secured in 1B,
It is discharged to the waste liquid tank 9 through the discharge port 2C and the drain pipe 8 connected thereto. As a result, even if the cleaning liquid overflows, it is possible to prevent the cleaning liquid from entering the automatic analyzer.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the drain of the washing liquid flowing out from the throttle hole 13 and the overflow water is controlled by the washing liquid outflow control in the washing container 1 by the common (one) drain container 2, so that the drain system can be simplified. Moreover, the throttling hole 13 in which the clogging has occurred
Internal maintenance (hole cleaning, replacement, etc.) can also be performed by simply removing the cleaning container 1 from the drain container 2 with one touch, and an extremely convenient cleaning device can be realized.

Furthermore, if the cleaning container 1 is made of a material other than glass that has chemical resistance and is easy to process, it is possible to provide the cleaning container 1 without fear of cracking. The material of this cleaning container 1 is mold,
If it is made of an antibacterial material that prevents the generation of microorganisms, that is, the frequency of occurrence can be reduced.

Further, by providing a monitor for detecting clogging in the cleaning discharge passage, the cleaning container 1 can automatically know the necessity of maintenance.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to enhance the cleaning effect while conserving the cleaning liquid by using a limited small amount of cleaning liquid, which enables highly accurate analysis, and the cleaning device can be installed in the cleaning container 1 and the drain. It can be configured with a double structure of the container 2, and further, the cleaning liquid that has flowed out from the cleaning liquid amount outflow control throttling hole 13 from the cleaning container 1 and the reception of the cleaning liquid when overflow occurs One common drain system Therefore, it is possible to reduce the size of the entire apparatus, simplify the structure, and reduce the cost. Further, if the cleaning container 1 is clogged, the cleaning container 1 can be taken out by a simple one-touch operation. Can be simplified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the main part thereof, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a conventional automatic dispensing nozzle cleaning device. 1 ... Washing container, 1A ... Nozzle inlet, 1B ... Flange, 2 ... Drain container, 2B ... Locking part, 2C ... Washing liquid discharge port, 3 ... Automatic dispensing nozzle, 4 ... Sampling Arm, 5 ... Sample cup, 6 ... Reaction cup, 7 ...
… Reaction reagent cup, 8 …… Drain pipe, 10 …… Sample table, 11 …… Reaction table, 13 …… Throttle hole.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Kahei Shiraishi 1040 Ige, Katsuta City, Katsuta City, Ibaraki Prefecture Hitachi Naka Seiki Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-55-117965 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An operation of inhaling a sample set on a sample table (10) and dispensing it into a reaction container (6) and an operation of inhaling a reagent into the reaction container (6) in a quantitative manner. The alternating automatic dispensing nozzle (3) is moved to the washing container (1) between the sample inhaling / dispensing operation and the reagent inhaling / dispensing operation, and in the washing container (1). A cleaning device for an automatic dispensing nozzle, in which a cleaning liquid is discharged from the automatic dispensing nozzle (3) through a pipe (4) connected to the automatic dispensing nozzle (3), The amount of cleaning liquid discharged from the nozzle (3) into the cleaning container (1) is limited to a small amount, and the cleaning container (1) is a cylindrical body with a bottom portion that stores the amount of cleaning liquid per time. At the bottom of the bottom, the diameter of the cleaning container (1) is significantly smaller than the inner diameter. A squeezing hole (13) having a function of restricting the outflow amount of the cleansing liquid is provided, and the squeezing hole (13) allows the amount of cleaning liquid required for cleaning the tip of the automatic dispensing nozzle (3) to the cleaning container (1). It is set so as to gradually flow out of the cleaning container (1) except for the cleaning liquid which remains wet on the inner wall of the cleaning container until the next cleaning operation while being temporarily stored in the cleaning container (1). 13) A drain container (2) with a cleaning liquid outlet for receiving the cleaning liquid discharged from the drain container (2) is constructed, and an engagement portion (2B) is formed on the inner wall of the drain container (2), while the cleaning container is A flange (1B) is provided on the outer wall of (1), and the cleaning container (1) is attached to and detached from the drain container (2) by locking the flange (1B) with the locking portion (2B). Inserted and set freely, this flange (1B) axial direction The locking portion and the length l ₁ (2), the length l ₂ between the drain container top opening 2A as l ₁ <l _2, the depth of the only dimension difference l ₂ -l ₁ to the flange (1B) top An annular space (21) having a height is secured between the inner wall of the drain container (2) and the outer wall of the cleaning container (1), and the flange (1B) is clogged in the throttle hole (13), When the cleaning liquid overflows from the nozzle introduction port (1A) of the cleaning container (1), the overflow is caused by the flange (1B).
A drainage flow passage (14) is provided for allowing the drain container (2) to receive it in the upper annular space (21) and then to escape toward the internal space (22) on the cleaning liquid discharge port side. Automatic dispensing device.