JPH06213904A - Test piece supplying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Structure] A test strip supply device comprises a cylindrical container 11 having an elongated test strip fitting through groove 15 in a side wall thereof, and a semicylindrical concave top and a central part of the concave surface. By receiving the container support 18 having the test piece take-out hole 20 descending from the through groove of the container 11 and the test piece descending from the through groove 15,
The test piece conveyance stage 31 for transferring is provided. The transport stage has a presence / absence detector, and has a control function for sequentially moving the test pieces to a target position without returning the shutter while it is determined that the test pieces are present. It also has a test piece reversal function that determines the front and back of the test piece during transfer of the test piece and sends the test piece in one direction. [Effect] The test pieces can be automatically taken out one by one simply by placing them in the test piece storage container.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a test strip supply device and an analyzer using the same, and is particularly applied to the case where a biological sample such as urine or blood is analyzed using a test strip impregnated with a reagent. Apparatus suitable for

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In clinical tests in hospitals, in order to easily test a plurality of analysis items in a urine sample or blood sample,
Often use test strips. The test piece is a strip-shaped strip made of plastic or the like, and a plurality of test layers impregnated with a reagent are attached to the strip.

In the prior art of a test strip automatic analyzer that automates the handling of such reagent strips, the test strips are placed in a cylindrical container and rotated, and when the test strips come directly below, the shutter is lowered and the test strips are passed to the transfer device. Transfer to the desired position with the transfer device.
At that time, when the cylindrical container comes directly under and the shutter is lowered, a plurality of test pieces are lowered. The second and subsequent sheets are pushed back by the shutter and the test piece is pushed back into the cylindrical container.

[0004]

According to the above-mentioned prior art, since the second and subsequent test pieces are pushed back into the cylindrical container by the shutter, the test piece is easily caught in the test piece take-out groove of the cylindrical container and is particularly curved. There is a problem that the smooth operation of the test piece is disturbed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a test strip supply device capable of smoothly and automatically supplying a test strip.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a cylindrical container for accommodating a plurality of test pieces is provided, and a through groove into which a test piece can be fitted is formed in a wall of the cylindrical container. The test piece is inserted into the through-groove by reciprocally rotating so that the cylindrical container rotates, and the test piece inside the through-groove is moved out of the cylindrical container when the cylindrical container stops rotating. put out. In this case, there may be multiple test pieces that have fallen, and the test piece presence / absence determination detector makes a determination.While the test piece is determined to be present, the test piece is not returned to the cylindrical container, and the transfer position and the reverse position are used. It is characterized in that only the test piece is operated to position the test piece at the external take-out position of the test piece supply device.

[0007]

The tubular test strip accommodating container has a test strip accommodating chamber having a depth matching the length of the test strip, and the test strip accommodating chamber is accommodated so that the directions of a plurality of test strips coincide with each other. To be done. The wall of the cylindrical container is formed with a through groove into which one whole test piece can be fitted. A pop-out prevention member is arranged around the outer periphery of the cylindrical container so as to cover at least a region where the through groove is moved during the rotating operation from the outside. The presence of the pop-out prevention member can prevent the test piece in the container from penetrating through the through-groove and popping out while the container is rotating.

When the cylindrical container is reciprocally rotated, a plurality of test pieces in the cylindrical container move in a direction substantially orthogonal to the lengthwise direction, and some of them move in the through groove provided on the wall surface of the container. Slip into. A test strip guide member is preferably provided in the cylindrical container in order to help ensure that the test strip is fitted into the through groove. This guide member is arranged so as to cover the through-groove at a distance, and the test piece can enter the through-groove from one side end side in the length direction of the through-groove, but the other side end. As one example, one having a shape that prevents entry into the through groove from the side is adopted.

When the reciprocating rotation of the cylindrical container is stopped and the through-groove is positioned at the delivery position of the test piece, the test piece in the through-groove is taken out of the cylindrical container and tested by the presence / absence detecting means. While the test piece is determined to be present, the test piece is moved to the external take-out position by the transfer device without raising the shutter, and the test piece is supplied so that the test piece can be further processed.

[0010]

EXAMPLE An example of a test piece is shown in FIG. The test piece 14 is a stick 8 made of an elongated plate-shaped plastic having a length L.
A plurality of test layers 9 impregnated with a reagent are fixed to each other with a nylon mesh film, and a black mark for distinguishing between the front and the back is attached. After all of these test layers are simultaneously immersed in the sample, they are pulled up from the sample and the color reaction in the test layer proceeds. Generally, the size of each test layer 9 is about 5 mm square, and the thickness of the test layer is 0.5 to 1.5 mm. Test piece 1 in the example of FIG.
In No. 4, the length L is 120 mm, the width w is 5 mm, and the height h is 1.8 mm. The material of the test layer 9 is filter paper or felt, the base 8 is plastic, and the protective film 10 is nylon mesh.

Specimens vary from straight to curved.

The present invention is applied to the analysis of a biological sample such as a urine sample or a blood sample, and an automatic analyzer applied to a urine sample will be described here as an example.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic overall configuration of an automatic urine analyzer which is an embodiment of the present invention. The analysis device in FIG.
Automatic test strip supply device 52, sample positioning device 51,
The test piece holding and transporting device 53, the measuring device 54, and the control calculation unit 65 are provided. The control calculation unit 65 controls the operation of each mechanism unit, calculates the measurement data of each test layer of the test piece measured by the photometer 63, and outputs the measurement result.

The sample positioning device 51 sequentially transfers the urine sample-containing sample containers 56 arranged on the turntable 57 to the test piece immersion position B. The test strip automatic supply device 52 is a cylindrical container 1 containing a large number of test strips.
The test pieces 14 from 1 are supplied one by one to the predetermined external extraction position A. The supply of the test strip to the external extraction position A is performed in synchronization with the operation cycle of the analyzer. A lid 13 capable of putting in and taking out the test piece is attached to a place corresponding to the upper or lower portion of the cylindrical container 11. A through groove 15 is formed in a curved wall located at the lowermost layer of the cylindrical container 11, and a guide member 16 for helping the test piece to be securely fitted into the through groove 15 is provided with a through groove 15. It is arranged to cover. The cylindrical container 11 is slidably installed on a container support 18 that also serves as a test piece pop-out prevention member and an outside air blocking member. The test piece transport stage 31 for moving the test piece coming out of the through groove 15 to the external extraction position A is provided with the support base 18.
Underneath, and can move on the guide shafts 36, 37, and the upper surface of the transfer stage 31 can slide with respect to the lower surface of the support base 18 during the movement.

The test strip holding and transporting device 53 comprises a swivelable arm 58, a drive mechanism 59, and a test strip gripper 60 mounted near the tip of the arm 58. The carrying device 53 is used for the test piece 14 supplied to the external extraction position A.
Is conveyed to the immersion position B by grasping it with the grasping body 60, and all the test layers 9 of the test piece 14 are immersed in the sample of the sample container 56 at the immersion position B in the grasped state. After dipping for a predetermined time, the test piece 14 is pulled up from the sample, the test piece is conveyed to the measuring device 54, and the test piece is released from the gripper 60 on the test piece mounting position C. After that, the grip body 60 is
Returning to the external extraction position A of the test strip supply device 52, the next test strip has been supplied to the external extraction position A by this time.
Such an operation is repeated during the analysis operation.

In the measuring device 54, the test piece holding / conveying device 5 is used.
The roll paper 61 is used to transfer the reacting test piece 14a received from the No. 3 sheet. By winding the roll paper 61 by the winding mechanism 62 at predetermined time intervals, the test piece 14a placed at the mounting position is transported to the photometric position D. The test piece 14a is positioned at the photometric position D by the photometer 63 after a certain time has passed from the immersion of the sample. In the photometer 63, a small reflection type detector including a light source that emits light of a specific wavelength corresponding to each analysis item and a silicon photodiode light receiving element corresponds to the detection position of each test layer surface of the test piece 14a. A plurality of them are arrayed, and the reflection intensity from each surface of the test layer that has reacted and colored is measured. The measurement result is subjected to data processing in the control unit 65 via the A / D converter 64 and displayed on the liquid crystal display 66, and
It is launched by the printer 67. The analysis work by this device proceeds by input from the operation panel 68. The test piece after the measurement is taken up together with the roll paper by the take-up mechanism 62, and after the measurement, the whole roll paper can be taken out and discarded.

A specific structure of the test strip automatic supply device 52 employed in the analyzer of FIG. 7 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 and 8. A cylindrical container is shown in these figures as an example of the cylindrical container 11 that can accommodate a plurality of test pieces. The cylindrical container 11 has a container body 12 and a lid 13, and the lid 13 has a desiccant chamber 17 in which a desiccant is stored. The space between the lower part of the container body 12 and the end of the desiccant chamber 17 forms a test strip accommodating chamber, and the distance between them, that is, the depth of the test strip accommodating chamber is greater than the length 1 of the test strip 14. It is formed to be slightly larger. As a result, even if the test pieces are arranged in the lengthwise direction and placed in the storage chamber and the cylindrical container 11 is reciprocally rotated, the test pieces do not come apart.

The curved wall of the cylindrical container 11 is provided with a rectangular through groove 15 extending parallel to the direction of the center of rotation and having a size and shape into which the test piece can be fitted and fitted.
That is, the length of the through groove 15 is slightly larger than the length 1 of the test piece 14, and the width of the through groove 15 is slightly larger than the width w of the test piece 15. The depth of the through groove 15 is the height h of the test piece 14.
Is almost the same as. A guide member 16 extends on the rotation center side of the through groove 15. The guide member 16 guides, for example, a test piece trying to enter from the counterclockwise direction into the through groove 15, but is fixed to a wall surface so as to prevent the test piece entering from the clockwise direction from entering the through groove 15. It has a foot part.

The distance between the extended portion of the guide member 16 and the upper edge of the through groove 15 is larger than the height h of one test piece 14 and is twice the height of the test piece 2h. Smaller than As a result, the test pieces 14 are smoothly introduced into the through groove 15 one by one.

The cylindrical container 11 is reciprocally rotated by a pulse motor 25 which is a rotational drive source. The rotation angle of the reciprocating rotation (rotation reciprocating motion) of the container 11 itself depends on the rotational force transmission mechanism. It is controlled by the control unit based on signals provided from the notched disk 30 provided on the rotary shaft 22 and the notched position detector 29 mounted on the fixedly installed support base 18. The rotation angle of the reciprocating rotation of the cylindrical container is 30 degrees or more in the clockwise direction and the counterclockwise direction, respectively. If the angle is larger than this, the test piece in the container easily moves along the curved wall.

The bottom side of the container 11 is engaged with the power transmission projection 21 (see FIG. 4) of the rotational force transmission mechanism.
Since the lid 13 side of is supported by a support shaft 24 provided with a pressing spring 23, by pushing the container body 12 to the left side of FIG. It can be taken out from above. Although only one through groove is formed in the container 11 in the illustrated example, two or more through grooves may be formed if necessary.

The longitudinal outer surface of the cylindrical container 11 is formed so as to be slidable with respect to the curved inner surface of the container support 18. The container support 18 prevents the through groove 15 from being opened to the outside during the rotation operation of the container 11. If the through groove 15 is opened to the outside, the test piece will jump out from the through groove 15. So
The support base 18 is arranged so as to cover the entire region in which the through groove is rotationally moved during the rotation operation, and functions as a member for preventing the test piece from popping out. Moreover, since the test layer 9 of the test piece contained in the container 11 is generally deteriorated by moisture for a long time, the inside of the container 11 is maintained at a low humidity by the desiccant, but the outside air is passed through the through groove 15. In order to reduce the invasion of the container 11 into the container 11, the outer periphery of the container 11 is covered by the support 18 so that the moving region of the through groove 15 has no opening.

Support base 18 as a test piece jump-out prevention member
Covers the outer peripheral lower surface of the container 11, but since it is necessary to take out the test piece from the lower surface, the predetermined position of the support base member corresponding to the position of the through groove 15 when the rotation operation of the container 11 is stopped. In addition, a hole 20 is formed to allow the test piece to pass from the through groove 15 toward the transport stage 31. The hole 20 is closed by the closing member while the container 11 is rotating, and is opened when the test piece is lowered from the container. The lowered test piece is loaded in the test piece receiving groove 38 formed on the test piece conveying stage 31 which can slide. The length and width of the receiving groove 38 are also formed to fit the size of the test.

The side wall members arranged on both sides of the member forming the curved concave surface 19 of the container support 18 support the rotational force transmitting mechanism. The through hole 20 has a semi-cylindrical curved concave surface 19.
Is formed in the central part of the. Cylindrical test piece container 11
Are preferably made of a translucent material, for example acrylic resin. The illustrated support base 18 is formed so that the reciprocating rotation angle of the container 11 can be rotated up to 90 degrees in the clockwise direction and the counterclockwise direction, respectively, and the upper side is open so that the container 11 can be pulled out from the upper side. .

The cylindrical container 11 is supported by a support shaft 22 having a projection 21 for transmitting rotational power and a movable support shaft 24 having a spring 23 for axially pressing the container. The rotational force of the container 11 is given by the pulse motor 25, the pulleys 26, 27, and the timing belt 28, and the rotation angle is detected and controlled by the detector 29 and the rotating disk 30 having a notch on the circumference.

The test piece carrying stage 31 includes a motor 32.
(FIG. 5), the pulleys 33 and 34 (FIG. 1), and the timing belt 35 reciprocate in the horizontal direction along the guide shafts 36 and 37. A test piece receiving groove 38 is provided on the stage 31.
Is provided, and receives the descending test piece from the hole 20 for taking out the test piece of the container support base 18 on the upper side, and conveys the test piece to the external taking-out position A. The transport stage 31 is provided with a detector 49 (FIG. 1) that optically detects whether or not the test piece is descending. By this signal, the cylindrical container 1
By controlling the operations of 1, the transfer stage 31, and the shutter 45 (FIGS. 1 and 2), the trapping of the test piece can be eliminated. Below the test piece receiving groove 38, a front and back detector 40 (FIG. 2) for optically detecting the front and back of the test piece.
Is provided. Further, a slit groove 41 is formed so as to be vertically eccentric with respect to the rotary shaft so as to face the transfer passage of the transport stage 31, and further, to have an angle on both sides of the slit groove.
42 having a rotor and a motor 43 for driving it
A front / back surface reversing mechanism 44 (FIG. 5) is provided so that the front / back surface of the test piece can be determined and the rotation of the test piece can be controlled so that even a curved test piece can be reliably inserted into the slit 41 and reversed. The shutter 45 is provided to open and close the hole 20 for taking out the test piece of the container support 18, and is operated by the solenoid 46. The detector 47 and the detection terminal 48 shown in FIG. 1 are provided to determine the stop position of the transport stage 31.

In this embodiment, the number of test pieces that can be loaded into the cylindrical container 11 at one time is 200, and the handle of the test piece is the bottom side of the container 11 (right side of FIG. 4). To load. The operation of the present apparatus is started in the state of FIG. 1 in which the container 11 is mounted and the hole 20 of the container support 18 is closed by the shirt 45, and is performed in the following procedure.

(1) The pulse motor 25 is operated to reciprocally rotate the cylindrical container 11 several times to fit one test piece into the through groove 15. In this embodiment, 90 on each side
The test piece can be fitted into the through groove 15 almost certainly by reciprocating once or more.

(2) With the through groove 15 of the container 11 aligned with the hole 20 of the container support 18, the shutter 45 is pushed downward to open the hole 20, and the test piece is dropped onto the transport stage 31. In this case, the second test piece may overlap and fall after the test piece to be taken out.

(3) The transfer stage 31 is moved backward (see FIG. 1).
Of the test piece receiving groove 38 to the hole 20.
Then, the test piece that has been lowered is inserted into the groove 38 by inserting it into the groove 38 (see FIG. 2).

(4) The detector 49 determines that the test piece is descending on the transfer stage 31 while the transfer stage 31 is moving backward.

(5) The transfer stage 31 is moved forward (see FIG. 2).
And move the test piece to the external extraction position A. At this time, the second (or the second and later) test piece that has fallen due to the overlapping stays in the hole 20 or at the outlet by the barrier 50 (FIG. 3) for preventing movement provided on the lower side of the hole 20. ing.

(6) The front and back of the test piece is judged by the front and back detector 40 during the transportation of the test piece, and in the case of the back side, the back and front reversing mechanism 4
Align with the table by 4 (see Fig. 3).

(7) (5) The detector 49 for the presence or absence of the second (or second and subsequent) test pieces that have fallen due to overlapping during operation.
Determine with.

(8) When it is determined that there is no test piece in (7), the shutter mechanism returns to the position corresponding to the hole 20,
The solenoid 46 is actuated to close the hole 20, and the operation from (1) is started to take out the next test piece.

When it is determined in (9) and (7) that the test piece is present, the solenoid 46 does not operate even if the shutter mechanism returns to the position corresponding to the hole 20, and the second and subsequent test pieces are not operated. The work from (3) is started without returning the inside of the container 11.

By repeating the above operation, the test pieces loaded in the cylindrical container 11 can be continuously and automatically sent out. When used in an automatic urine analyzer, the apparatus of this example can supply a test piece at a rate of one sheet every 12 seconds.

In the embodiment described above, the desiccant chamber in the test piece container is provided on the back side of the lid in this example, but its position and shape are not necessarily limited to this, for example, the container body. It may be provided on the inner surface of the.

[0039]

According to the present invention, the test pieces can be smoothly and automatically supplied one by one, so that the operability is remarkably improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of a test strip supply device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory view of the apparatus of FIG.

4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of the apparatus of FIG.

5 is a front view of the device of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a test piece.

FIG. 7 is a schematic overall configuration diagram of an analyzer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a partial cutaway view of the device of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

7: Black mark for front / back judgment, 11 ... Cylindrical container, 13 ... Lid,
14 ... Test piece, 15 ... Through groove, 16 ... Guide member, 18
... Container support, 22, 24 ... Support shaft, 25 ... Pulse motor, 31 ... Transfer stage, 38 ... Test piece receiving groove, 44
... front and back reversing mechanism, 45 ... shutter, 51 ... sample positioning device, 52 ... test strip automatic supply device, 53 ... test strip holding / conveying device, 54 ... measuring device, 65 ... control computing unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cylindrical container capable of accommodating a plurality of test pieces, wherein the test piece accommodating container having a through-groove into which the test piece is formed is formed on a wall surface, and the test piece accommodating container itself is reciprocally rotated. A drive device, a detector for determining that the test strip has come out of the test strip storage container from the through groove when the rotation of the test strip storage container is stopped, and to the outside of the test strip storage container. In the test strip feeding device equipped with a transfer device that moves the ejected test strip to the external extraction position, a means for detecting the front and back of the test strip, and a reversing device that reverses the test strip and aligns it in the same direction, the test strip is detected by the detector. When the presence or absence of the test piece is determined, and while it is determined to be present, the rotation of the test piece storage container is stopped, and the transfer device and the front and back reversing device are operated to move the test piece to the external extraction position. Test piece feeder.