JPH0666813A - Auto-analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To avoid a trouble due to reagent shortage and wasteful action in the case of confirming a residual quantity of a reagent in a reagent bottle on the way of analysis and to prevent unnecessary consumption of the reagent and a sample. CONSTITUTION:An auto-analyzer, wherein a sample is dispensed to a reaction tube 10 by a sample dispensation mechanism 11 while a first reagent and a second reagent in a reagent bottle 13 is dispensed to the reaction tube 10 by a reagent dispensation mechanism 15 so as to carry out sample analysis, is provided with a contact sensor 18 for detecting transfer of the reagent bottle 13, a nozzle 17 for recognizing a residual quantity of the reagent in the reagent bottle 13, a sample dispensation control part 12 for controlling the sample dispensation mechanism 11 and a reagent dispensation control part 16 for controlling the reagent dispensation mechanism 15. With respect to the reagent bottle 13 of which transfer is detected before a start of analysis action, the residual quantity of the reagent is recognized, and when the residual quantity of the second reagent becomes less than a quantity necessary for a required analysis, dispensation of the first reagent and the sample is stopped.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer,
In particular, it relates to a reagent remaining amount monitor in a reagent bottle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an automatic analyzer analyzes a sample such as serum collected from a human body in the following steps.

First, a first reagent corresponding to an analysis item is dispensed from a reagent bottle into a reaction tube, then a sample is dispensed into the same reaction tube in which the first reagent is dispensed, and a reaction solution in the reaction tube is removed. Stir. Next, the second reagent is dispensed from the reagent bottle into the same reaction tube, and the reaction solution is stirred. Then, analysis is performed by measuring the concentration of the specific component in the reaction solution by photometry or the like.

However, when the second reagent in the reagent bottle is insufficient at the stage of dispensing the second reagent, the already dispensed first reagent and sample are wasted, and an analysis instruction is given. This is also wasteful, and it is necessary to perform analysis instruction, sample supply, and reagent addition again.

Therefore, in order to avoid troubles due to a shortage of reagents by making it possible to recognize the remaining amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle, for example, the amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle is input to the device in advance and the used amount is used. A method of measuring the remaining amount of a reagent by subtracting (hereinafter, referred to as a method 1), and a method of measuring the remaining amount of a reagent in a reagent bottle each time by using a nozzle used when aspirating and dispensing a reagent (hereinafter, referred to as Method 2),
A method has been adopted in which a barcode label is attached to a reagent bottle, information on the amount of the reagent is input by this, and the remaining amount is subtracted by subtracting the amount used (hereinafter referred to as technique 3).

[0006]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, Method 1
However, since the work of manually inputting the reagent amount is required in advance, not only is it troublesome, but mistakes such as forgetting or making a mistake in inputting are likely to occur.

Further, in the method 2, since the remaining amount of the reagent is recognized only when the reagent is used, it is necessary to visually check the amount of the reagent in advance, which is troublesome.

Further, in the method 3, when the amount of the reagent is changed during the addition of the reagent or the like, the remaining amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle cannot be recognized. is there. For this reason, when the lid of the reagent storage is opened, there are cases in which measures such as reading the barcodes of all reagent bottles to check the remaining amount of the reagent are taken, but the amount of the reagent may have changed. There are reagent bottles that do not need to be checked without any action, which is a wasteful operation.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and its purpose is to confirm the trouble due to the shortage of reagents during the analysis and the remaining amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic analyzer capable of avoiding wasteful operation and preventing wasteful consumption of reagents and samples.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a first reagent and a second reagent which are dispensed into a reaction tube by a sample dispensing mechanism and placed in a reagent bottle. In the automatic analyzer for dispensing a sample into the reaction tube by the reagent dispensing mechanism to analyze the sample, the reagent bottle movement detection means for detecting the movement of the reagent bottle and the remaining amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle are recognized. A reagent remaining amount detection means, a sample dispensing control means for controlling the sample dispensing mechanism, and a reagent dispensing control means for controlling the reagent dispensing mechanism,
In addition, the reagent remaining amount is recognized for the reagent bottle whose movement is detected before the start of the analysis operation, and when the remaining amount of the second reagent becomes less than the amount required for the desired analysis, the first reagent and It is characterized by stopping the dispensing of the sample.

[0011]

In the automatic analyzer of the present invention having the above structure, when the apparatus is started up, the operation for confirming the remaining amount of the reagent is carried out for all the reagent bottles containing the reagents corresponding to the measurement items. Therefore, when the reagent bottle movement detection means detects the movement of the reagent bottle, that is, the increase or decrease of the reagent in the reagent bottle, the remaining amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle is determined as the reagent remaining amount before starting the analysis operation. It is recognized by the quantity detecting means. That is, the remaining reagent amount is always accurately recognized for all reagent bottles containing the reagent corresponding to the measurement item. Then, when the remaining amount of the second reagent in the reagent bottle becomes less than the amount required for the desired analysis, the dispensing of the first reagent and the sample is stopped by the reagent dispensing control means and the sample dispensing control means. Give instructions. Therefore, it is possible to avoid troubles caused by insufficient reagents during analysis.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an automatic analyzer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the outline of the automatic analyzer according to the same embodiment.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the automatic analyzer is
The system controller 1 is provided as a control center of the entire apparatus, and according to information such as test items input from the operation unit 2, under the control of the system controller 1, the sample unit 3, the reagent unit 4, the reaction unit 5, and the photometry unit 6 It is possible to analyze the sample by operating the respective units such as, and display the analysis result on the CRT 7 and the printer 8.

A plurality of sample tubes 9 for containing a sample such as serum collected from a human body are arranged in the sample 3 part, and the sample in the sample tubes 9 is dispensed to the reaction tube 10 in the reaction part 5. The sample dispensing mechanism 11 of FIG. The sample dispensing mechanism 11 is configured to select a desired sample tube 9 and dispense a predetermined amount of sample in the sample tube 9 to a predetermined reaction tube 10 under the control of the sample dispensing control unit 12. ing.

As shown in FIG. 3, the reagent section 4 includes a plurality of reagent bottles 13 each containing a reagent corresponding to a measurement item.
Is arranged in the reagent storage 14, and is provided with a reagent dispensing mechanism 15 for dispensing the reagent in the reagent bottle 13 corresponding to the measurement item input from the operation unit 2 into the reaction tube 10. The inside of the reagent storage 14 is divided into a room temperature storage 14a and a cold storage 14b so that it can be kept at an appropriate temperature according to the type of reagent.
Under the control of the reagent dispensing control unit 16, the reagent dispensing mechanism 15 is configured to suck the reagent in the reagent bottle 13 with the nozzle 17 and dispense it into a predetermined reaction tube 10. The nozzle 17 has an integral structure with a sensor that detects the remaining amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle 13 when sucking the reagent. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, when the reagent bottle 13 is inserted / removed on / from the wall surface of the reagent storage 14 for adding a reagent, the reagent bottle 13 may move, that is, the reagent in the reagent bottle 13 may increase or decrease. A contact sensor 18 for detecting the presence of the contact is provided for each reagent bottle 13.

The reaction section 5 has a circular shape, and a plurality of reaction tubes 10 for mixing and reacting a sample and a reagent are arranged by a drive source (not shown) so as to be intermittently movable by, for example, one pitch per cycle. There is. And reaction tube 1
A stirring section 19 for stirring a reaction solution in which the sample and the reagent dispensed in 0 are stirred, a cleaning section 20 for cleaning the inside of the reaction tube 10 before and after the analysis, and a reaction tube 10 for performing a stable reaction. A constant temperature bath 21 for keeping the internal solution at a constant temperature is provided.

The sample in the reaction tube 10 and the reagent are mixed,
The photometric unit 6 for analyzing the stirred reaction solution is equipped with a light source 22.
And a diffraction grating 23 that transmits the light from the light source 22 to the reaction liquid in the reaction tube 10 and disperses the transmitted light for each wavelength, and receives the dispersed light to detect the absorbance for each wavelength. The photodiode 24 is provided.

Next, the operation when the sample is analyzed will be described. First, the apparatus is instructed to start up, the measurement item is input from the operation unit 2, or the operation under the specified condition is instructed. Then, the remaining amount of the reagent in all the reagent bottles 13 containing the reagent used for the item that can be analyzed by the device is confirmed by directly detecting the height of the liquid surface by the nozzle 17, for example. After performing such an operation of confirming the remaining amount of the initializing reagent, the contact sensor 18 causes the reagent bottle 1
When the movement of No. 3 is detected, the remaining amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle 13 is recognized by the nozzle 17 before the analysis operation is started. That is, the reagent remaining amount is always accurately recognized for all the reagent bottles 13 containing the reagents corresponding to the measurement items. Therefore, erroneous information about the remaining amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle 13 is not given. Then, the first reagent corresponding to the measurement item is dispensed into the reaction tube 10 by the reagent dispensing mechanism 15 according to the instruction of the reagent dispensing control unit 16. Then, according to the instruction of the sample dispensing control unit 12, the same reaction tube 10 in which the first reagent is dispensed by the sample dispensing mechanism 11
The sample is dispensed into and the reaction solution is stirred by the stirring unit 19. Next, according to the instruction of the reagent dispensing control unit 16, the second reagent is dispensed into the same reaction tube 10 by the nozzle 17 of the reagent dispensing mechanism 15, and this reaction liquid is stirred by the stirring unit 19. The reaction solution is subjected to photometry in the photometry section 6, and the photometry analysis result information is sent to the CRT 7 for image display and is also sent to the printer 8 for printing processing. After the analysis, the solution in the reaction tube 10 is discharged, and the cleaning unit 20 cleans the reaction tube 10 to prepare for the next analysis.

By the way, each time the second reagent is sucked, the remaining amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle 13 is checked by the nozzle 17, and the number of tests of the remaining reagent is counted. . When the remaining amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle 13 containing the second reagent reaches the processable number from the first reagent dispensing point to the second reagent dispensing point, for example, as shown in FIG. When the processable number from the point of injection to the second point of reagent is 30, the reagent dispensing control unit 16 and the sample dispensing control unit 12 respectively perform the first test when the remaining amount of reagent reaches 30 tests. An instruction is given to the reagent dispensing mechanism 15 and the sample dispensing mechanism 11 to stop the dispensing of the reagent and the sample, and for example, masking of measurement items is performed. Then, the operator is notified that the second reagent in the reagent bottle 13 is insufficient, and is instructed to supply the second reagent into the reagent bottle 13. When the operator supplies the second reagent into the reagent bottle 13, that is, when the reagent bottle 13 is inserted or removed, the contact sensor 18 detects the movement of the reagent bottle 13, and the nozzle 17 leaves the reagent remaining in the reagent bottle 13. Check the amount. Therefore, since the operation for checking the remaining amount of the reagent is performed only when the remaining amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle 13 may increase or decrease, there is no fear that the remaining amount of the reagent will increase or decrease. It is possible to avoid the unnecessary operation of performing the confirmation operation up to. For those that did not dispense the first reagent and the sample due to lack of the second reagent, the measurement request given to the device as unmeasured is still in the state, so replace the missing reagent with the reagent bottle. After adding in 13, the analysis can be automatically performed with the highest priority without inputting information such as measurement items again.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the wasteful consumption of the reagent and the sample and to avoid the trouble caused by the lack of the reagent during the analysis.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, in the above embodiment, the case where the nozzle 17 is applied as a means for recognizing the reagent remaining amount in the reagent bottle 13 has been described. However, by irradiating 13 lasers on the reagent bottle and recognizing and detecting the height of the liquid surface, You may ask. Further, as an example in which the contact sensor 18 is applied as a means for detecting that the amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle 13 has increased or decreased, a means for detecting the weight of the reagent bottle 13 or the like is applied. Good.

[0022]

Since the automatic analyzer of the present invention has the above-mentioned configuration and operation and does not give erroneous information about the remaining amount of the reagent in the reagent bottle, it avoids troubles due to a shortage of reagents during the analysis. It is possible to prevent unnecessary consumption of reagents and samples. Further, since the checking operation of the remaining amount of the reagent is performed only for the reagent bottle in which the amount of the reagent may be changed, it is possible to avoid unnecessary operation when checking the remaining amount of the reagent.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an automatic analyzer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an outline of an automatic analyzer according to the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a part of the reagent part in a notch in the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a main-part configuration of a reagent part in the example.

FIG. 5 is a process explanatory diagram when an analysis is performed by the automatic analyzer of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Reaction Tube 11 Sample Dispensing Mechanism 12 Sample Dispensing Control Unit (Sample Dispensing Control Unit) 13 Reagent Bottle 15 Reagent Dispensing Mechanism 16 Reagent Dispensing Control Unit (Reagent Dispensing Control Unit) 17 Nozzle (Reagent Remaining Amount Detecting Unit) ) 18 Contact sensor (reagent bottle movement detection means)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sample is dispensed into a reaction tube by a sample dispensing mechanism, and a first reagent and a second reagent contained in a reagent bottle are dispensed into the reaction tube by a reagent dispensing mechanism to analyze the sample. In an automatic analyzer, reagent bottle movement detection means for detecting movement of the reagent bottle, reagent remaining amount detection means for recognizing the reagent remaining amount in the reagent bottle, and sample dispensing control for controlling the sample dispensing mechanism Means and a reagent dispensing control means for controlling the reagent dispensing mechanism, and recognizes the reagent residual amount for the reagent bottle whose movement is detected before the start of the analysis operation, and determines the residual amount of the second reagent. An automatic analyzer characterized in that the dispensing of the first reagent and the sample is stopped when the amount becomes smaller than the amount required for the desired analysis.