JPH07209306A - Reagent dispensing device for automatic chemical analyser - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate maintenance work such as the replacement of a reagent tube and to prevent the deterioration of a reagent by cooling a reagent nozzle. CONSTITUTION:A cold reserving tube 24 is connected to a refrigerator 20 by cold gas and a cold reserving cover 25 cooling a reagent nozzle 27 is provided in the vicinity of the reagent nozzle 7. The cold gas is composed of gas such as air. The cold reserving cover 25 is allowed to communicate with the cold reserving tube 24 by cold gas and a cold gas discharge port 26 discharging cold gas to the outside is provided to the cold reserving cover 25.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic chemical analyzer for dispensing a reagent into a reaction container containing a sample of serum or the like for reaction and measuring the reaction solution, and particularly keeping the reagent cool. Regarding technology.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an automatic chemical analyzer has been used to quantitatively analyze a predetermined analysis item of a sample by adding a reagent to a sample such as serum and reacting it and measuring a physical characteristic of the reaction solution, for example, absorbance. Has been done using. This automatic chemical analyzer generally performs a quantitative analysis of a plurality of types of analysis items by one unit, and it is necessary to add a dedicated reagent to the sample in order to analyze each item.

As one of the reagent dispensing methods in the above-described automatic chemical analyzer capable of performing multi-item analysis, there is a method called a dispense method. In particular, this reagent dispensing method is often used for large-scale automatic chemical analyzers. Hereinafter, the reagent dispensing mechanism of the conventional automatic chemical analyzer adopting this method will be described with reference to FIG.

In the figure, 1 is a piston that moves in the reagent volume metering syringe 2, 4 is a common channel for connecting the switching valve 6 and the reagent volume metering syringe 2, and 3 is a reagent bottle 8 containing a reagent. A reagent tube for communicating with the valve 6, 5 is a reagent tube for connecting the switching valve 6 and a reagent nozzle, 9 is a reagent nozzle moving mechanism that is connected to the reagent nozzle 7 and moves, 1
Reference numeral 0 is a reaction container for receiving the reagent from the reagent nozzle 7, 20 is a refrigerator for cooling the reagent, 22 is a circulation flow path for circulating cold water as a medium between the cooler 21 and the refrigerator, and 23 is around the reagent tube. It is a branch flow path in which the cold water that is wrapped around the circulation flow path 22 partially branches and flows back.

Next, the operation will be described. The reagent volume metered syringe 2 is connected to the CO of the switching valve 6 via the common channel 4.
It is connected to the M port. Further, NO (Nor of the switching valve 6
The mally open) port connects the reagent in the reagent bottle 8 to the NC (Normally close) via the reagent tube 3.
e) The port communicates with the reagent nozzle 7 via the reagent tube 5. The reagent nozzle 7 is installed on the reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9. By the initial operation of the reagent dispensing mechanism performed in advance, all of the reagent tubes 3 and 5 and a part of the common flow path 4 on the switching valve 6 side are filled with a predetermined reagent. In this state, the dispensing operation of the reagent is performed as follows.

At the standby position of the reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9 (not shown), the piston 1 of the reagent volumetric syringe 2 is moved to suck a predetermined amount of reagent. The reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9 moves onto the reaction container 10 placed at the reagent dispensing position, moves the piston 1 again, and discharges a predetermined amount of reagent into the reaction container 10. When the ejection of the reagent is completed, the reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9 returns to the standby position. This series of operations is repeated.

On the other hand, the reagents are stored in the refrigerator 20 to prevent deterioration.
It is kept refrigerated inside. The refrigerator 20 cools the inside of the refrigerator 20 by circulating the cold water cooled by the cooler 21 through the circulation flow path 22. The reagent bottle 8 and the switching valve 6 are installed in the refrigerator 20 and are constantly cooled to prevent reagent deterioration, but the reagent tube 5 connecting the switching valve 6 and the reagent nozzle 7 is pulled out from the refrigerator 20. Therefore, the reagent in the tube 5 will deteriorate over time. In order to prevent this, the circulation flow path 22 is partially branched and refluxed, and the branch flow path 23 is wrapped around the reagent tube 5 to prevent the temperature rise of the reagent tube.

Further, in order to prevent the deterioration of the reagent due to the temperature rise, it is drawn out from the refrigerator 20 keeping the reagent cold,
The reagent tube 5 connected to the reagent nozzle has a double tube structure, or a part of the refrigerant flowing to cool the inside of the refrigerator for refrigerating the reagent is diverted, and a part of the refrigerant is used to contact the outside air. Attempts have also been made to keep the surroundings cool.

[0009]

Each of the above-mentioned methods for keeping a reagent tube cold has the following problems. The former method has a double-tube structure only through the air layer, so if the reagent is not used and stays in the tube for a long time, the reagent is warmed by the heat transfer of the outside air, resulting in deterioration. occured.

On the other hand, in the latter method, since the cooling medium is flown, the temperature rise of the reagent can be suppressed even if it stays for a long time and the deterioration can be prevented. However, since the reagent nozzle is not cooled, deterioration of the reagent near the nozzle remains a problem.

Since the refrigerant flowing in the branch flow path 23 is a liquid, it is important to prevent the liquid leakage because the secondary damage accompanying the liquid leakage has a great influence.
Therefore, a method of winding the tube around an object to be cooled is taken. Therefore, the reagent tube near the reagent nozzle and the reagent nozzle are not cooled. Therefore, when the reagent is left in the tube without being used for a long time, its deterioration occurs, and it is the current situation that management such as refreshment of the reagent after every certain period of rest is required. Further, when it is necessary to replace the reagent tube due to stain with time, the maintenance work is difficult. The present invention eliminates the above drawbacks,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a reagent dispensing system that prevents reagent deterioration with a simple configuration.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention takes out a predetermined amount of a reagent stored in a refrigerator in a cold storage and puts it in a reaction container via a reagent tube led out of the refrigerator. The reagent dispensing system for an automatic chemical analyzer for dispensing is characterized in that it has a cold insulating tube that hermetically covers the periphery of the reagent tube, and a cooling unit that sends cold air into the cold insulating tube. .

Further, in a reagent dispensing system for an automatic chemical analyzer, which takes out a predetermined amount of a reagent kept cold in a refrigerator and dispenses it into a reaction container via a reagent tube led out of the refrigerator, A cold insulation tube that hermetically covers the periphery of the reagent tube, a cold insulation cover that covers the reagent nozzle attached to the tip of the reagent tube, and a cooling means that sends cold air to the cold insulation tube and the cold insulation cover. Characterize.

[0014]

According to the present invention configured as described above, the circumference of the reagent tube led out of the refrigerator is covered with a cold insulation tube, and cold air is sent into the cold insulation tube to keep the entire reagent tube cold. ing. Therefore, the reagent remaining in the reagent tube can be surely cooled, and the deterioration of the reagent can be prevented. Also,
The concern of liquid leakage is eliminated.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a first diagram of a reagent dispensing system to which the present invention is applied.
It is a block diagram which shows an Example. In the figure, as many reagent lines as the number of measurement items are necessary, but all the operations are the same, so here, for the sake of simplicity, only one reagent line will be taken up and described.

In the figure, the parts corresponding to those in the conventional example are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted as appropriate. 14 is a tank containing the ion-exchanged water 52, 13 is a liquid-sending pump for sending the ion-exchanged water 52 to the ion-exchanged water flow passage 12, 11 is a solenoid valve for connecting the reagent volume metering syringe 2 and the ion-exchanged water flow passage 12, Reference numeral 23 denotes a blower fan for sending cold air as a medium in the refrigerator 20 into a cold insulation tube 24 as a circulation flow path, and 25 is a cold insulation cover into which cold air from the cold insulation tube 24 flows, and is provided near the reagent nozzle 7. Further, reference numeral 26 is a cool air discharge port which is provided in the cold insulation cover 25 and discharges cool air to the outside.

The reagent capacity quantitative syringe 2 is connected to the COM port of the switching valve 6 via the common flow path 4. The NO port of the switching valve 6 communicates with the reagent 51 in the reagent bottle 8 through the reagent tube 3, and the NC port communicates with the reagent nozzle 7 through the reagent tube 5. The reagent nozzle 7 is installed on the reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9. On the other hand, the reagent volume quantitative syringe 2 is provided with a solenoid valve 11 provided in the ion-exchanged water channel 12.
And ion-exchanged water 5 serving as cleaning liquid via the liquid-sending pump 13
2 is connected to a tank 14 containing the same.

In the structure of FIG. 1, the cleaning operation in the flow path system and the replacement operation of the old and new reagents will be described. The reagent nozzle 7 is moved onto a drainage tank (not shown) by the operation of the reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9, and the flow path of the switching valve 6 is switched to the NC port side. The solenoid valve 11 is closed. Since the liquid feed pump 13 constantly circulates the ion-exchanged water 52 and constantly maintains the ion-exchanged water flow path 12 in a pressurized state, the ion-exchanged water 52 causes the inside of the reagent volume fixed quantity syringe 2 to open by opening the solenoid valve 11. The passage switching valve 6 is pressurized. Then, the ion-exchanged water 52 is discharged to a cleaning tank (not shown) through the common flow path 4, the reagent tube 5 and the reagent nozzle 7.
The inside of these channels is cleaned.

Since the reagent liquid in the reagent bottle 8 housed in the refrigerator 20 together with the switching valve 6 is maintained at a low temperature, deterioration of the reagent is prevented. After cleaning the flow path system with cleaning water,
A new reagent 51 is introduced into the tube 5, and the reagent solution is added to the required reaction container 10. After discharging the old reagent by washing, the replacement operation of introducing the new reagent into the tube 5 is performed while the reagent nozzle 7 is positioned on the drainage tank.

Ion exchange water 5 filled in the flow path system
By replacing 2 with the reagent solution only in the necessary part,
The reagent solution to be dispensed is prevented from being diluted with water. First, the electromagnetic valve 11 is closed, the switching valve 6 is switched to the NO port side, and the reagent liquid 51 in the reagent bottle 8 and the reagent volumetric syringe 2 are communicated with each other. In this state, the piston 1 is suctioned by a predetermined number of pulses to suck a predetermined amount of the reagent 51 from the reagent bottle 8 into the common flow path 4. The volume of the common flow path 4 needs to be at least long enough to accommodate the maximum volume of the reagent volume metering syringe 2.

Next, the ion-exchanged water 52 in the reagent nozzle 7 is replaced with a reagent solution. Switching valve 6 with solenoid valve 11 closed
Is connected to the NO port side, and the reagent metering syringe 2 is caused to perform a predetermined suction operation to further suck a new reagent solution into the common flow path 4. Subsequently, the switching valve 6 is switched to the NC side to cause the reagent volume syringe 2 to perform a discharge operation, and the reagent liquid is discharged from the common flow path 4, the reagent flow path 5, and the discharge port of the reagent nozzle 7 into the drainage tank. In this way, the reagent nozzle 7 is filled with the reagent solution. Even when the filling operation of the reagent solution into the reagent nozzle 7 is completed, the reagent solution remains in the common flow path 4, so that the new reagent solution is ion-exchanged when the dispensing reagent solution is sucked later. It does not come into contact with water so it is not diluted.

This completes the reagent replacement operation. Such a reagent replacement operation is usually executed prior to the actual analysis operation when the analyzer is started. In this state, the dispensing operation of the reagent is performed as follows.

At a position above the drainage tank of the reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9 (not shown), the switching valve 6 is switched to the NO port side, and the piston 1 of the reagent volume metering syringe 2 is moved to suck a predetermined amount of reagent. The reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9 moves onto the reaction container 10 placed at the reagent dispensing position, and the switching valve 6 is NC.
It is switched to the port side, the piston 1 is moved again, and a predetermined amount of reagent is discharged into the reaction container 10. When the ejection of the reagent is completed, the reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9 returns to the position above the drainage tank. This series of operations is repeated every cycle.

As described above, since the reagent solution between the reagent tube 5 and the reagent nozzle 7 is arranged outside the refrigerator 20, it is constantly in contact with the outside temperature, and the retention of the reagent solution for a long time deteriorates. Will cause. In order to prevent this, the reagent tube 5 is a cold insulation tube 2 as a circulation flow path.
4, the one end of the cold insulation tube 24 is connected to a blower port of a blower fan 23 that blows out cool air in the refrigerator 20. On the other hand, the other end is connected to a cold insulation cover 25 that covers the upper part of the reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9 in which the reagent nozzle 7 is installed. Cold air as a medium sent from the inside of the refrigerator 20 by the blower fan 23 passes through the inside of the cold insulation tube 24, reaches the inside of the cold insulation cover 25, and is discharged from the cold air discharge port 26 as discharge means.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the cold insulation cover 25 of the reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9. In addition, in FIG. 1, the cold insulation tube 24 is connected from the upper side of the cold insulation cover 25, but in FIG. 2, an example is shown in which it is connected from the lateral side.

In FIG. 2, 20 items of the reagent nozzles 7 are arranged on the reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9 in 10 lines in two rows. A cold insulation cover 25 having a length in the moving axis direction of the reagent nozzle moving mechanism is attached. Cool cover 25
The cold insulation tube 24 is connected to one end in the length direction of the, and a plurality of cool air discharge ports 26 are provided on the opposite sides.
Therefore, it has a flow path structure that can cool the reagent nozzle 7. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing another example of the cold insulation cover 25 of the reagent nozzle moving mechanism.

The difference from FIG. 2 is that the cold insulation cover 25 does not have the cold air discharge port 26, and instead the cold insulation tube 24 has a double tube structure. Cold air is a cold insulation tube 24
It is blown out from (inside flow path) into the cold insulation cover 25, and is forcibly recirculated into the refrigerator 20 through the outer flow path 24a as a recirculation flow path of the cold insulation tube.

Thus, in this embodiment, the periphery of the reagent tube 5 is covered with the cold insulation tube 24, and
Since the cold insulation cover 25 covers the mounting portion of the reagent nozzle 7 and the cold air from the inside of the refrigerator 20 is sent into the cold insulation tubes 24 and the cold insulation cover, the reagent remaining in the reagent tube 5 and the reagent nozzle 7 is effectively removed. Will be able to keep cool. Further, since gas is used as the refrigerant, there is no fear of liquid leakage.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the system of an automatic chemical analyzer using the reagent dispensing system of the present invention. In the figure, 9-1 and 9-2 are a first reagent nozzle moving mechanism and a second reagent nozzle moving mechanism controlled by the reagent nozzle movement control unit 31, respectively, and 15 is a reaction table in which a plurality of reaction vessels 10 are arranged, 33 is a stirring mechanism for stirring the reaction container 10, 32 is a stirring control unit for controlling the stirring mechanism, 35 is a washing / drying mechanism for washing the reaction container 10, 34 is a washing / drying control unit for controlling the washing / drying mechanism 35, and 36 is A light source lamp placed in the center of the reaction table 15, 37 a spectroscopic unit for measuring the light from the light source lamp 36, 38 a logarithmic converter for logarithmically converting the output of the spectroscopic unit 37, 39 an AD of the output of the logarithmic converter An AD converter for conversion, 41 is a sampling mechanism that dispenses a specimen sample into the reaction container 10 from the sampling position 16, and 40 is sampling control that controls the sampling mechanism 41. , 42 is a sample rack containing the specimen sample is transferred to the sampling position 16. Reference numeral 43 is a sample rack accommodating mechanism in which the sample rack 42 is installed, 30 is connected to the AD converter, the washing / drying control unit 34, the stirring control unit 32, the reagent nozzle movement control unit 31, the reagent volume quantitative syringe 2, and the sampling control unit 40. A system control device for controlling each of them, and 44 and 45 are a display unit and a printing unit for displaying and printing the output of the system control device 30, respectively.

Next, the operation will be described. First, the reaction container 10 is placed on the reaction table 15. Then, the sample specimen is installed in the sample rack 42 installed in the sample rack housing mechanism 43, and the sampling position 1
Transferred to 6. The sampling mechanism 41 controlled by the sampling controller 40 sucks a predetermined amount from the sample specimen on the sampling position 16 and dispenses it into the reaction container 10 on the reaction table 15. The first reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9-1 and the second reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9-1, which are respectively controlled by the reagent nozzle movement controller 31
The reagent nozzle moving mechanism 9-2 moves back and forth with respect to the row of the reaction vessels 10, and the reagents necessary for the analysis are added to the reaction vessels 10. Therefore, the analytical reagents for each are selectively added to the samples sequentially sent, and the samples are successively analyzed.

The reaction container 10 to which the reagent has been added at each predetermined position as the reaction table 15 rotates is stirred by the stirring mechanism 33 controlled by the stirring controller 32.
The reaction liquid in the reaction vessel 10 thus stirred is repeatedly metered every time it passes through the photometric position composed of the light source lamp 36 and the spectroscopic unit 37 until the reaction is completed. The photometric data is taken into the system controller 30 via a signal processing unit including a logarithmic converter 38 and an AD converter 39.

In the reaction container 10 in which all the reaction steps have been completed, the cleaning / drying mechanism 35 controlled by the cleaning / drying control unit 34 sucks and discards the reaction liquid, and the inside of the pipe wall is cleaned and dried. Wait for analysis routine.

The system controller 30 controls the entire series of these systems. The display output of the measurement result is performed by the display unit 44 and the printing unit 45. FIG. 5 shows comparison data of r-GTP with the prior art. In FIG. 5, (A) shows the result when the prior art is used, and (B) shows the result when the reagent cooling system of the present invention is applied. . From the figure, it can be seen that when the dispensing pause time (hr) increases, the variation (X, CV) in the measurement data due to the influence of reagent deterioration increases in the case of the conventional method.

[0034]

As described above, in the present invention, the cold insulation tube is provided around the reagent tube, and the refrigerant is supplied into the cold insulation tube to prevent the temperature rise of the reagent tube. Therefore, it is possible to keep the cold more accurately than in the conventional case, and it is possible to prevent the deterioration of the reagent due to the temperature rise of the reagent tube. In addition, since gas is used as the refrigerant, there is no fear of leakage as in the conventional case. Further, the replacement of the reagent tube is relatively easy, and maintenance work is simplified and the burden on the operator can be reduced as compared with the conventional case.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of a reagent dispensing system for an automatic chemical analyzer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a cold insulation cover in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing another configuration example of the cold insulation cover.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an automatic chemical analyzer to which the reagent dispensing system of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing measured data in an example of the reagent dispensing system for an automatic chemical analyzer of the present invention, compared with the case of a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an example of a conventional reagent dispensing system for an automatic chemical analyzer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Reagent Tube 7 Reagent Nozzle 20 Refrigerator 24 Cooling Tube 24a Outside Flow Path 25 Cooling Cover 26 Cold Air Discharge Port

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A reagent dispensing system for an automatic chemical analyzer, wherein a predetermined amount of a reagent stored in a refrigerator in a refrigerator is taken out and dispensed into a reaction container via a reagent tube led out of the refrigerator, A reagent dispensing system for an automatic chemical analyzer, comprising: a cold-retaining tube that hermetically covers the periphery of a reagent tube; and a cooling unit that sends cold air into the cold-retaining tube. 2. A reagent dispensing system for an automatic scientific analyzer in which a predetermined amount of a reagent stored in a refrigerator in a refrigerator is taken out and dispensed into a reaction container via a reagent tube led out of the refrigerator, A cold insulation tube that airtightly covers the periphery of the reagent tube, a cold insulation cover that covers the reagent nozzle attached to the tip of the reagent tube, and a cooling means that sends cold air to the cold insulation tube and the cold insulation cover. Dispensing system for automated scientific analyzers characterized by. 3. The reagent dispensing system for an automatic chemical analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the cooling unit is a forced air blowing unit that forcibly blows the cold air in the refrigerator into the cold insulation tube. 4. The reagent dispensing system for an automatic chemical analyzer according to claim 1, further comprising a reflux flow path for circulating the cold air sent into the cold-retaining tube into the refrigerator.