JPH0672899U - Automatic opening device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] In a state where a plurality of blood collection tubes are held in multiple rows in a rack, the rubber stoppers of the respective blood collection tubes are automatically pulled out at high speed without touching the hands, and Collect the rubber stoppers without touching them and discard. A rack for vertically holding a plurality of containers in a plurality of rows, a through hole for a push-up body opened at the bottom of each container holding hole of the rack, and an automatic opening device at the opening position Plural sets of push-up members that are inserted into the through holes and are held in one row of the rack are lifted to the opening height position, and the rubber stoppers of the containers that are lifted to the opening height position at the opening position are removed. It comprises a plurality of opening means, a plurality of plug receiving pads for receiving the opened rubber plugs, and a pad tilting device for tilting these plug receiving pads.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an automatic opening device capable of continuously pulling out a rubber stopper fitted in a container opening such as a blood collection tube without touching it with a hand, and in particular, the container is, for example, a line. The present invention relates to an automatic uncapping device suitable for large-cap opening processing that can quickly perform this type of uncapping operation when, for example, 5 containers hold 10 rows of containers in a rack.

[0002]

[Prior art and its problems]

 As is well known, a rubber plug such as a vacuum blood collection tube is fitted to the opening of a container that holds blood for the purpose of preventing the blood sample from flowing out.

By the way, the rubber stopper is removed, for example, when the blood collection tube is set in the automatic analyzer, but the present situation is that the removal operation of the rubber stopper is conventionally performed manually.

However, when the rubber stopper is removed manually, there is a risk that the collected blood sample may come into contact with various diseases and that the removal of the rubber stopper may be necessary for many blood collection tubes. This is a very complicated task because it is carried out against other people, and there is also the problem that blood contact infection may occur when collecting the removed rubber stoppers. In the case of a center or the like, since the blood collection tubes are often held in a rack with 5 rows and 10 rows, for example, the work of removing the rubber stopper is very complicated and blood contact infection occurs. There was a problem that the frequency also increased.

The present invention has been made in view of such a current situation, and an object thereof is to provide a rack with a plurality of blood collection tubes in a plurality of rows. A highly safe automatic opening device that can automatically pull out the rubber stoppers of blood collection tubes at high speed without touching them and collect and discard the pulled rubber stoppers without touching them. It is the one we are trying to provide.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above object, in this invention, an automatic opening device is provided in a rack for vertically holding and holding a plurality of containers in a plurality of rows and at the bottom of each container holding hole of this rack. Through-holes for the push-up body, a plurality of sets of push-up bodies that are inserted into the through-holes at the opening position and hold each container held in one row of the rack to the opening height position, and the opening height at the opening position. It is composed of a plurality of opening means for removing the rubber stopper of each container lifted to a certain position, a plurality of stopper receiving pads for receiving the opened rubber stoppers, and a pad tilting device for inclining these stopper receiving pads. It is characterized by that.

[0007]

【Example】

 Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the automatic cap opening apparatus according to this embodiment is provided with a rack 15 for vertically standing and holding every five blood-collected containers 14 in which rubber stoppers 16 are tightly mounted, every five rows. A belt conveyor type rack transfer means A for sequentially transferring the rack 15 to the opening position, an opening device 1 arranged at the end of the rack transfer means A, and an arrangement of the opening device 1 A push-up device B for lifting the containers 14 held by the rack 15 in a row at the site, plug receiving pads 19a, 19b for receiving the rubber plugs 16 pulled out by the opening device 1, and these plug receiving pads 19a, 19b. And a rubber stopper recovery container 8 for recovering the rubber stopper 16 received by the stopper receiving pads 19a and 19b.

Therefore, the rack 15 holding a plurality of rows of the containers 14 is transferred to the opening position (the left end portion in FIG. 1) by the rack transfer means A, and then the rack transfer means A makes a line. Each container 14 is intermittently transferred by a distance corresponding to each distance, and after the rubber stoppers 16 of all the containers 14 are pulled out at the opening position, they are returned to the rack mounting position (the right end portion in FIG. 1) again. Be transferred.

As is apparent from FIGS. 3 and 4, the rack 15 is provided with container holding holes 20 each having a substantially U-shaped cross section and configured to hold 10 rows of five containers 14 in a row. It is composed of a small-diameter through hole 21 opened at the bottom of the container holding hole 20. The depth of the container holding hole 20 is such that the upper end of each container 14 slightly projects from the upper surface of the rack 15 when the container is stored, and the push-up device B pushes the container 14 up to the opening height position. Each container 14 is formed so as to have a depth dimension such that the container 14 does not fall out of the holding holes 20 when being opened.

The rack transfer means A is composed of a well-known endless belt conveyor, and the through holes 2 that are opened so as to be coaxial with the through holes 21 of the rack 15 are arranged in a row. Each unit is opened at a predetermined interval along the longitudinal direction of the line.

The opening device 1 arranged at the terminal end of the rack transfer means A configured as described above reciprocates the pair of rotating members 7A and 7B and the rotating members 7A and 7B. And a driving device 13 for dynamic control, and the rotating member 7A pulls out the rubber plugs 16 of the containers 14A of the front row to the fifth row of the containers 14 held by the rack 15. The rotating member 7B is configured to pull out the rubber plugs 16 of the containers 14B in the sixth row to the last row held by the rack 15.

Therefore, in the rack 15, when the start switch is turned on, first the container 14A in the front row is located below the rotating member 7A, and the container 14B in the sixth row is the rotating member 7B. It is automatically transported so that it is located below.

Since the detailed structure of the rotating members 7A and 7B is the same as that of the rotating member and its driving mechanism disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-10046 filed by the present applicant earlier, Detailed description is omitted here. Of course, the rotating members 7A and 7B are connected to one driving mechanism and are configured to be driven synchronously.

Further, the locking body 11 constituting the rotating members 7A and 7B has a locking end 11a shown in FIG. 4 when the rotating members 7A and 7B are set in the horizontal state. As shown, the rubber stopper 16 is fitted in the opening of the container 14 in a liquid-tight manner. The sawtooth-shaped locking end 11a of 11 and the upper end of the container 14 pushed up to the opening height position when the rotating members 7A and 7B are set horizontally. It is set at a height position where it does not come into contact with the head of the rubber stopper 16 mounted on the container 14 and bites into it. Of course, although not shown, a known pressure sensor is provided at the locking end 11a of the locking body 11, and the member in contact with the locking end 11a of the locking body 11 by the pressure sensor is a container. It is also possible to control the opening operation of the rotating members 7A and 7B by reliably selecting 14 or the rubber plug 16 so as to surely prevent the container 14 from being damaged.

Further, in the rotating members 7A and 7B, first, the locking end 11a of the locking body 11 bites into the head of the rubber plug 16, and from this state, it is required in the opening direction. After the rubber stopper 16 is rotated by an angle to pull up the rubber stopper 16 from the opening of the container 14, the locking body 11 is returned to the horizontal position, and then the locking body 11 is moved again in the opening direction. After being rotated, the locking end 11a of the locking body 11 is surely bite into the stepped portion of the rubber stopper 16 and engaged, and then the rubber stopper 16 is completely pulled out from the opening of the container 14. Drive is controlled. This is because when the rubber plug 16 is made of, for example, raw rubber having a high elasticity, the adhesion between the rubber plug 16 and the container 14 is large, and the rubber is not moved by one rotation operation of the locking body 11. Since there is a possibility that the plug 16 will be left unplugged, in order to completely prevent this, the operation of the locking body 11 is controlled as described above.

On the other hand, the plug receiving pads 19a, 19b arranged on the front side of the rotating members 7A, 7B are formed of a long material having a substantially J-shaped cross section, and the rotating members 7A, 7B It is configured to receive the rubber plug 16 extracted by 7B. Of course, at least the lowermost surfaces of the plug receiving pads 19a and 19b have the rubber plugs 16 pulled out, and the containers 14 are lowered and housed in the container holding holes 20. It is formed in such a size that it does not come into contact with the upper end of 14 and does not collide with the containers 14 and the rubber stopper 16 even when the stopper is opened.

Further, the rubber plug collection container 8 is disposed on one side of the rack transfer means A, and after the pulled-out rubber plug 16 is received by the plug receiving pads 19a and 19b, The pad tilting device 30 operates to lift one end of each of the plug receiving pads 19a and 19b, and tilts the plug receiving pads 19a and 19b toward the rubber plug collecting container 8 with a slope. The rubber stoppers 16 of 19a and 19b are configured to slide and be automatically stored in the collection container 8.

On the other hand, the push-up device B that pushes up each container 14 held by the rack 15 at the opening position has five push-up rods 22 and 22 that are inserted into and removed from the through holes 2 and 21, respectively. A support body 23a, 23b connecting the lower ends of the push-up bars 22, 22, and a mechanism (not shown) connected to the support body 23a, 23b for moving the support body 23a, 23b up and down at a predetermined timing. , And each of the containers is constructed by raising the push-up rods 22, 22 in synchronization with the intermittent transfer of the rack 15 and inserting the push-up rods 22, 22 into the through holes 2, 21. 14 is lifted up to the opening height position, and after the rubber stopper 16 is removed by the above-mentioned stopper opening device 1, it is lowered to retract the push-up rods 22, 22 from the through holes 2, 21. Does not hinder the transfer of the rack 15. Is controlled as follows.

In this invention, in order to determine whether the rubber plug is left unremoved, although not shown, for example, a rubber plug detection device such as a limit switch is provided at the outlet end of the rack transfer path of the cap opening device. If a rubber stopper is left unplugged, the remaining rubber stopper comes into contact with the limit switch to turn off each drive device and automatically transfer the container holding the remaining rubber stopper. The rotation member may be stopped at the upper limit position of rotation of the locking body, and this state may be notified by an alarm or a lamp. Of course, the presence / absence of the remaining rubber plug may be detected by a detection unit such as an optical sensor.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the number of the containers 14 held in the rack 15 is set to 5 rows × 5 rows is described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. However, it is possible to arbitrarily set it as needed, for example, 10 rows in one row × 10 rows, and correspondingly changing the design of each mechanism and applying it. Of course, the numbers of the rotating members and the plug receiving pads are not limited to those in the above embodiment.

[0022]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, according to the automatic cap opening device of the present invention, when a plurality of containers such as a plurality of blood collection tubes in a row are held in a plurality of rows, the rubber stoppers attached to the respective containers are completely touched. Since it can be pulled out automatically and reliably at high speed in multiple rows without needing to worry about blood contact infections for this type of tester, the rubber stopper can also be used to clean up after removal. It has the excellent effect that it can be performed without touching it at all and is hygienic.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory plan view showing a schematic configuration of an automatic cap opening device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the automatic opening device.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a part of a main part of the automatic cap opening device.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of the same automatic opening device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A Rack transfer line B Push-up device 1 Opening device 2,21 Through holes 7A, 7B Rotating member 11 Locking body 11a Sawtooth-shaped locking end portion of locking body 14, 14A, 14B Container 15 Rack 16 Rubber plug 22 Pushing up Bar 23a, 23b support

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A rack for uprightly holding a plurality of containers in a plurality of rows, a through hole for a push-up body formed at the bottom of each container holding hole of the rack, and the through hole inserted at the opening position. And a plurality of sets of push-up members that lift each container held in one row of the rack to the opening height position, and a plurality of opening plugs that pull out the rubber stopper of each container that has been lifted to the opening height position at the opening position An automatic cap opening device comprising: a means, a plurality of plug receiving pads for receiving the opened rubber plugs, and a pad tilting device for tilting these plug receiving pads.