JPH0645255Y2 - Liquid dispensing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a liquid dispensing device suitable for dispensing a plurality of samples and reagents in, for example, a biochemical analyzer or an immunoassay device.

[Conventional technology]

As a dispensing device for dispensing a plurality of liquids, for example, JP-A-58
-86462 discloses a tube which is fixedly connected to a plurality of reagent tanks, and a nozzle for dispensing each reagent into a reaction container, via a flow path switching valve and a multiple flow path switching unit, and a common syringe. And a plurality of reagents are dispensed to each reaction container via a multiple channel switching section and a channel switching valve corresponding to each reagent by this syringe, and JP-A-58- Japanese Patent No. 105065 discloses that a plurality of syringes and probes corresponding to a sample or a reagent to be dispensed are used to dispense the sample or the reagent into a reaction container such as a sample cup or a microplate.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the dispensing device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-86462, there is a flow path switching valve corresponding to each reagent and a multiple flow path switching unit connecting these to a syringe. Therefore, there is a problem that the switching operation becomes complicated, the configuration is complicated, and the device becomes large.
Further, in the dispensing device disclosed in JP-A-58-105065, since the same number of syringes as the number of samples and reagents to be dispensed are required, the configuration becomes complicated and the device becomes large. There is a problem of becoming.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and it is possible to simplify the configuration, to make the device small, and to appropriately and properly dispense a plurality of liquids. An object is to provide a liquid dispensing device.

[Means and Actions for Solving Problems]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, one air syringe, one air branch pipe connected to this air syringe, and a plurality of air branch pipes connected to each other via a first on-off valve are provided. A probe and a second opening / closing valve for opening the air branch pipe to the atmosphere, and the liquid is sequentially supplied from the plurality of probes through the first opening / closing valve respectively corresponding to the plurality of probes by the air syringe. And the air branch pipe is opened to the atmosphere via the second on-off valve prior to the suction of each liquid.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of this invention. In this example, the reagent 2-containing a plurality of reagent containers 1-1 to 1-8
1 to 2-8 are dispensed into a reaction container containing a sample such as a microplate (not shown). The probes 3-1 to 3-8 corresponding to the reagent containers 1-1 to 1-8 are provided so as to be vertically movable and movable in the horizontal direction, and these probes 3-1 to 3-8 are respectively provided with opening / closing valves (first opening / closing). The valves) 4-1 to 4-8 are connected to the air branch pipe 5 (hereinafter simply referred to as the branch pipe 5). The branch pipe 5 is selectively opened to the atmosphere through an open / close valve (second open / close valve) 4-9, and an air syringe 7 is connected through a common end COM and a normally open end NO of the three-way valve 6. (Less than,
(Simply referred to as a syringe 7). The normally closed end NC of the three-way valve 6 is connected to the opening / closing valve 4-10 via the branch pipe 8.
And the air pump 9.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below with reference to the time chart shown in FIG.

With the three-way valve 6 switched to the NO side, the probes 3-1 to 3-8 are inserted into the reagents 2-1 to 2-8 in the reagent containers 1-1 to 1-8, respectively, and the opening / closing valve 4- 1 is opened and the on-off valves 4-2 to 4-10 are closed to cause the syringe 7 to perform a suction operation to set a predetermined amount of reagent 2-1 in the probe 3-1.
Aspirate. After that, the opening / closing valve 4-1 is closed and the opening / closing valve 4-9 is opened to open the passage to the syringe 7, the branch pipe 5, and the opening / closing valves 4-1 to 4-8 to the atmosphere.

Next, the opening / closing valve 4-2 is opened, the other opening / closing valves 4-1, 4-3 to 4-10 are closed, and the syringe 7 is sucked, whereby the probe 3-
A predetermined amount of reagent 2-2 is sucked into 2. Then open / close valve 4-2
Is closed and the on-off valve 4-9 is opened to similarly open the syringe 7, the branch pipe 5, and the passages leading to the on-off valves 4-1 to 4-8 to the atmosphere.

The above operation is performed while sequentially opening and closing the on-off valves 4-3 to 4-8, and a predetermined amount of the reagent 2-in each of the other probes 3-3 to 3-8.
Aspirate 3 to 2-8 sequentially.

In this way, by opening the branch pipe 5 to the atmosphere via the on-off valve 4-9 prior to the suction of each reagent, the syringe 7
Since the internal pressure from the on-off valves 4-1 to 4-8 corresponding to each probe 3-1 to 3-8 can be maintained at atmospheric pressure, the influence of the internal pressure in the air flow passage can be prevented, Each reagent can always be aspirated accurately under the same conditions.

After suctioning the reagents 2-1 to 2-8, open the open / close valves 4-1 to 4-8 and move the open / close valves 4-9 while moving the probes 3-1 to 3-8 onto the corresponding reaction vessels. And 4-10 are closed and the syringe 7 is discharged, whereby the reagent sucked into the probes 3-1 to 3-8 is simultaneously discharged into the corresponding reaction container, and the syringe 7 is returned to the origin position. After that, in this state, the three-way valve 6 is switched to the NC side and the air pump 9 is operated, whereby the probe
The reagent remaining in 3-1 to 3-8 is discharged into each reaction container by air pressure, and the sample and the reagent in each reaction container are stirred by this air pressure.

Next, the operation of the air pump 9 is stopped, the three-way valve 6 is switched to the NO side, and after the on-off valves 4-1 to 4-8 are closed, the on-off valve 4-10 is opened to open the air pump 9 and the three-way valve. Open the passage between 6 and the NC end to the atmosphere. After that, with the open / close valves 4-1 to 4-9 open and the open / close valve 4-10 closed, the syringe 7 is suctioned to fill the passage from the syringe 7 to the probes 3-1 to 3-8. The air is released to prepare the next reagent for dispensing.

In the above example, the reagent was dispensed,
The present invention can be effectively applied to the case of dispensing a plurality of samples. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the probe 3-
Although 1 to 3-8 can be moved up and down and horizontally, it is also possible to move the reagent containers 1-1 to 1-8 and the reaction container with respect to the probes 3-1 to 3-8. . Further, the number of reagents and samples to be dispensed, that is, the number of probes is not limited to eight, but may be any number. Furthermore,
In the embodiment described above, the probe is provided by the air pump 9.
Although the reagent remaining in 3-1 to 3-8 is discharged and the sample and the reagent in the reaction container are stirred, such an operation is performed without using the air pump 9, for example, the three-way valve 6
It is also possible to connect NC to the atmosphere, NO to the branch pipe 5, and COM to the syringe 7 so that the suction and discharge of air by the syringe 7 is performed.

[Effect of device]

As described above, according to the present invention, one syringe, one branch pipe, an opening / closing valve that selectively communicates this branch pipe with the atmosphere, and a branch pipe are respectively connected through the opening / closing valves. With a simple configuration using a plurality of probes, a plurality of liquids can be easily dispensed, and the device can be made compact. Moreover, since the passage leading to the syringe, the branch pipe, and the opening / closing valve corresponding to the plurality of probes is opened to the atmosphere prior to the suction of each liquid, even if the amounts of liquid to be sequentially sucked are different from each other. Without adversely affecting suction
It is possible to always dispense each liquid under the same conditions with high accuracy. Further, since the liquid is dispensed by sucking and discharging the air syringe, the liquid does not diffuse into the air,
Therefore, it is possible to effectively prevent contamination between liquids dispensed by a plurality of probes.

[Brief description of drawings]

 FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a time chart showing its operation. 1-1 to 1-8 …… Reagent container, 2-1 to 2-8 …… Reagent 3-1 to 3-8 …… Probe, 4-1 to 4-10 …… Open / close valve 5 …… Branch pipe, 6 ... 3-way valve 7 ... Syringe, 8 ... Branch pipe 9 ... Air pump

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An air syringe, an air branch pipe connected to the air syringe, a plurality of probes each connected to the air branch pipe via a first opening / closing valve, and the air branch. A second opening / closing valve for opening the tube to the atmosphere, and the liquid is sequentially sucked from the plurality of probes by the air syringe via the first opening / closing valve respectively corresponding to the plurality of probes, and A liquid dispensing device characterized in that the air branch pipe is opened to the atmosphere via the second on-off valve prior to suction of each liquid.