JPH06323965A - Specimen dispenser having specimen conveying function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To convey a specimen rack to an analysis position by using a moving device for moving a dispensing head. CONSTITUTION:A moving device 1 is constituted of an X-axis driving part 1X, a Y-axis driving part 1Y and a Z-axis driving part 1Z. A planar body 2 is attached to the lower end of the Z-axis driving part 1A. A dispensing head 3 and a chuck 12 are attached to the body 2. A position changing device, which relatively inverts the vertical position relationship of the chuck 12 and the dispensing head 3, is provided. Under the state, wherein the dispensing head 3 is positioned lower than the chuck 12, a master specimen is distributed into a slave specimen. Under the state, wherein the chuck 12 is positioned lower than the dispensing head 3, a master specimen rack 6 is held with the chuck 12 and conveyed to an analysis device with the moving device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sample dispensing apparatus for dispensing a parent sample in a sample container to another sample container as a child sample, and more particularly to a sample container for a parent sample or a child sample to an analyzer. The present invention relates to a sample dispensing device having a transporting function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a sample such as blood collected from a human body is contained in a sample container such as a blood collection tube. However, when various tests are performed on the same sample, the parent sample in the sample container is It is necessary to dispense as a sub-sample into another sample container.

Therefore, conventionally, a dispensing head is provided in a main body attached to a moving device having three orthogonal axes of an X axis, a Y axis and a Z axis, and a sample held by the dispensing head is detachably attached to the specimen. I try to dispense.

[0004]

The conventional sample dispensing apparatus described above can dispense a parent sample as a child sample,
Since it is a dedicated dispensing machine, it does not have a function to transfer the sample container of the parent sample or the child sample to the analyzer for inspection, and therefore there is a problem that it has to be transferred by a transfer conveyor or human power. is there.

The present invention has been made in view of the present situation, and it is possible to transport a sample container of a parent sample or a child sample dispensed from the parent sample to an analyzer without using any other transportation means or human power. An object of the present invention is to provide a sample dispensing device having a sample transport function capable of performing the above.

[0006]

According to the present invention, as means for achieving the above object, a dispensing head is provided in a main body attached to a moving device having three orthogonal axes of an X axis, a Y axis and a Z axis. In a sample dispensing apparatus that dispenses a parent sample in a sample container as a child sample into another sample container by a chip that is detachably held by a dispensing head, a chuck that holds the sample container in the main body, and this chuck And a dispensing head for moving the dispensing head and the dispensing head relative to each other in the vertical direction.

Further, in the present invention, the position changing device is constituted by a drive mechanism for moving up and down at least one of the chuck and the dispensing head, or the chuck and the dispensing are arranged at intervals in the circumferential direction. It is preferable that the rotary body has a head attached thereto and a drive mechanism that rotates the rotary body around a central axis that is obliquely downward. Also, the chuck is provided with a sample container in a rack unit accommodating a plurality of sample containers. It is more preferable to have a structure for gripping.

[0008]

In the sample dispensing apparatus according to the present invention, the main body is provided with the chuck together with the dispensing head. Therefore, by gripping the sample container with this chuck, the sample container is analyzed using the moving device. Can be transported to Moreover, the chuck and the dispensing head are relatively moved up and down by using the repositioning device, and the unused device is retracted upward, so that the operation of the used device is not hindered at all.

Further, in the present invention, the position changing device is constituted by a driving mechanism for vertically moving at least one of the chuck and the dispensing head, so that the constitution of the driving mechanism is simplified and the control is easy. Is.

Further, the repositioning device is composed of a rotary body to which a chuck and a dispensing head are attached at intervals in the circumferential direction, and a drive mechanism for rotating the rotary body around a central axis in a diagonally downward direction. As a result, the main body portion can be made compact and does not interfere with the transportation of the sample container.

Further, by providing the chuck with a structure for gripping the sample container in units of racks containing a plurality of sample containers, it is possible to improve the transfer efficiency.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show a sample dispensing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the drawings, reference numeral 1 is an X-axis drive unit 1X, Y.
An orthogonal triaxial moving device having an axis driving unit 1Y and a Z-axis driving unit 1Z, and an L-shaped plate is provided at a lower end portion of the Z-axis driving unit 1Z of the moving device 1 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. The main body 2 is fixedly mounted, and the dispensing head 3 on which the tip 4 is detachably attached is attached to the main body 2. Then, the suction of the dispensing head 3 dispenses the sample.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the parent sample rack 6 for accommodating a plurality of parent sample containers 5 has a transport conveyor 7 as shown in FIG.
Is transported to the dispensing position by the, and the parent sample collected by the dispensing head 3 with the chip 4 mounted thereon is transported to the slave sample rack 9 containing a plurality of slave sample containers 8, It is adapted to be dispensed as a sub sample into a predetermined sub sample container 8.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the dispensing head 3 is provided with a tip station 10 for each dispensing operation.
In, a new tip 4 is attached, and after one dispensing work, the used tip 4 is thrown to the tip dump 11. Then, the parent sample rack 6 after the dispensing work is completed in this way,
The chuck 12 is gripped and conveyed by a chuck 12 which will be described later, and is carried into an input port 13a of an analyzer 13.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the chuck 12 is provided with a claw 12a that opens and closes to the left and right, and is fixed to the lower end portion of the ball spline shaft 14 via a chuck holder 15, and the ball spline shaft 14 is provided. Is engaged with a ball spline nut 16 provided on the body 2 and is held by the body 2 so as to be vertically movable.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, one end of a connecting member 17 is fixed to the upper end of the ball spline shaft 14, and the other end of the connecting member 17 is an air cylinder mounted on the main body 2. It is fixed to the tip of 18 rods 18a. The chuck 12 is the air cylinder 1.
By the expansion and contraction operation of 8, as shown in FIG.
It moves up and down from the upper position to a position lower than the dispensing head 3. That is, the chuck 12
A position changing device 20 for moving the chuck 12 and the dispensing head 3 relative to each other in the vertical direction is configured by the mechanism for vertically moving the.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
When the parent sample rack 6 is transported to the dispensing position by the transport conveyor 7, the dispensing head 3 is driven by the moving device 1.
Moves to the tip station 10 and the tip 4 is mounted on the dispensing head 3. After that, the chip 4 moves to above the parent sample container 5.

Next, the chip 4 is lowered by the drive of the Z-axis drive section 1Z, and the parent sample is transferred from the parent sample container 5 to the chip 4
Collected in. Once the required amount is collected, tip 4
As the child sample rack 8 moves to the child sample rack 9 and the parent sample is dispensed as a child sample into a predetermined child sample container 8.

After the dispensing, the dispensing head 3 is placed in the tip disposal area 11
Move up to where chip 4 is thrown away. After that, the above operation is repeated a necessary number of times, and the dispensing work is completed.

After the dispensing work is completed, the air cylinder 18 shown in FIG. 3 is contracted, and the chuck 12 in the solid line position is lowered to the chain line position. That is, the position of the chuck 12 is lower than the position of the dispensing head 3.

Next, the chuck is moved to the position of the parent sample rack 6 by driving the moving device 1, and the parent sample rack 6 is gripped by the claws 12a of the chuck 12 from the left and right.
The parent sample rack 6 is used as the analyzer 1 shown in FIG.
It is conveyed to the input port 13a of No. 3, and is carried in to the analyzer 13 from the input port 13a.

Since the parent sample rack 6 is transported by using the moving device 1 for moving the dispensing head 3, the device structure can be simplified and the accurate transport can be performed.
Positioning can be performed. Also, the air cylinder 1
Since the chuck 12 is moved up and down by 8, the chuck 12 does not interfere when using the dispensing head 3, and conversely when using the chuck 12, the dispensing head 3 interferes. Never.

In the first embodiment, the chuck 12
Although the case where the dispensing head 3 is moved up and down has been described, conversely, the dispensing head 3 may be moved up and down, or both the dispensing head 3 and the chuck 12 may be moved up and down.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. Instead of the position changing device 20 in the first embodiment,
The position changing device 30 is used.

That is, this repositioning device 30 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, a rotary body 31 having a truncated cone shape is provided, and its rotary shaft 31 a has a support frame 32 fixed to the main body 2.
And is rotatably supported via a bearing 33 at an angle of 45 degrees obliquely downward. The shaft end of the rotating shaft 31a is attached to the motor 34 attached to the main body 2 by a coupling 35.
The rotating body 31 is rotated by 180 degrees or rotated 180 degrees forward or backward by the drive of the motor 34.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the dispensing head 3 and the chuck 12 are fixedly mounted on the circumferential surface of the tip of the rotating body 31 at intervals of 180 degrees in the circumferential direction. By the rotation, the positions of the dispensing head 3 and the chuck 12 are alternately switched. In other respects, the structure is the same as that of the first embodiment and the operation is the same.

However, even in the case of this embodiment, the first
The same effect as that of the embodiment can be expected, and since this part of the main body is compact, the position changing device 30 does not get in the way when the parent sample rack 6 is transported.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the case where the parent sample rack 6 is carried has been described, but the child sample rack 9 can be carried similarly. Also, the rack 6,
The present invention can be applied not only to transporting 9 units but also transporting sample containers 5 and 8 units.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the chuck is provided together with the dispensing head, by gripping the sample container with this chuck, the sample container can be transported to the analyzer by using the moving device. Further, by using the position changing device to move the chuck and the dispensing head relative to each other in the vertical direction, one does not interfere with the work of the other.

Further, in the present invention, the position changing device is constituted by the driving mechanism for moving at least one of the chuck and the dispensing head up and down, whereby the structure of the driving mechanism is simplified and the control is easy. Is.

Further, the repositioning device is composed of a rotating body to which a chuck and a dispensing head are attached at intervals in the circumferential direction, and a drive mechanism for rotating the rotating body around an obliquely downward central axis. As a result, the main body portion can be made compact and does not interfere with the transportation of the sample container.

Further, by adopting a structure in which the chuck holds the sample container in units of racks that accommodate a plurality of sample containers, it becomes possible to improve the transfer efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of essential parts showing a sample dispensing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the overall configuration of the device shown in FIG.

3 is a partial cross-sectional view showing details of a repositioning device 20 in the device of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a main part configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Moving device, 1X ... X-axis drive part, 1Y ... Y-axis drive part, 1Z ... Z-axis drive part, 2 ... Main body, 3 ... Dispensing head, 4 ... Chip, 5 ... Parent sample container, 6 ... Parent sample Rack, 8 ... Child sample container, 9 ... Child sample rack, 12
… Chuck, 13… analyzer, 18… air cylinder,
20, 30 ... Repositioning device, 31 ... Rotating body, 34
…motor.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A sample container is provided with a dispensing head provided on a main body attached to a moving device having three axes orthogonal to X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis, and a chip detachably held by the dispensing head. In a sample dispensing device for dispensing a parent sample of another sample container as a child sample, in the main body, a chuck for holding the sample container and a position changing device for relatively moving the chuck and the dispensing head up and down, respectively. A sample dispensing device having a sample transport function, which is provided. 2. The sample dispenser having a sample transport function according to claim 1, wherein the repositioning device includes a drive mechanism for vertically moving at least one of the chuck and the dispensing head. apparatus. 3. The repositioning device comprises a rotating body to which a chuck and a dispensing head are attached at intervals in the circumferential direction, and a drive mechanism for rotating the rotating body around an obliquely downward center axis. The sample dispensing device having a sample transport function according to claim 1. 4. The sample dispenser having a sample transport function according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the chuck is configured to hold the sample container in units of racks containing a plurality of sample containers. apparatus.