JPH09189703A - Preheating device for automatic analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To control the temperatures of reaction containers with high accuracy by providing a plurality of preheating means separately from a reaction line so that the preheating means can surround the outer periphery of the reaction containers. SOLUTION: After reaction containers 16 are housed in a stocker 18 and sample containers 25 are set on a sample stocker 24, the containers 25 are successively transferred to a sucking position 30. Then a carrying unit 12 is moved and the containers 16 are taken out from the stocker 18 with a chuck 19. After a reagent is dispensed to the containers 16 through a dispensing nozzle 13, the containers 16 are carried to one preheating device 11. The chuck 19 successively carries the containers 16 to other preheating device 11 and a heater 34 heats constant-temperature blocks 22a and 22b. A thermister 35 controls the temperatures of the blocks 22a and 22b to set temperatures and a heat insulating material 36 keeps the blocks 22a and 22b at the set temperatures. The heated containers 16 are successively transferred to a throwing-in position 37 on a reaction line 10 and a motor 21 transfers the containers 16 to a dispensing position 29. A dispensing nozzle 14 sucks the samples from the containers 25 and dispenses the samples to the containers 16 at the position 29. Thus the temperatures of the containers 16 can be controlled with high accuracy by using the blocks 22a and 22b for heating the containers 25.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer for a biological sample such as blood, which raises the temperature of a reaction container containing a liquid such as a sample to a predetermined temperature and maintains it at a constant temperature. Of the preheating device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-71155 discloses an automatic analyzer having means for preheating a reaction container contained in a reaction line before the operation of analyzing a biological sample. In this conventional example, means for blowing heated air to the reaction vessel is used as means for preheating the reaction vessel. That is, with the configuration shown in FIG.
The temperature of the circulating air is controlled by warming the air circulated by the fan 4 by the heater 3, detecting the temperature by the thermistor 2, and opening and closing the lid 5 for introducing the outside air to control the amount of the outside air taken in. It was controlled and sprayed onto the reaction vessel 1 which was rotationally transferred by the reaction table 6.

[0003]

However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-7
The conventional example of Japanese Patent No. 1155 has the following problems. (1) Since the preheating device is arranged in the constant temperature reaction tank, the reaction table 6 cannot be operated while the reaction container 1 is being heated. (2) Since the temperature of the outside air changes drastically, it is difficult to maintain the reaction container 1 at a constant temperature with high accuracy. Further, depending on the outside air temperature, a large difference occurs in the time required for the reaction container 1 to rise to the set temperature. (3) Since the thermistor 2 measures the temperature of the air and does not directly measure the temperature of the reaction vessel 1, the temperature may differ between the thermistor 2 and the position of the reaction vessel 1, and the reaction may occur. The temperature of the container 1 cannot be controlled accurately.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art. The invention of claim 1 precisely controls the temperature of the reaction vessel and eliminates the waiting time for heating the reaction vessel.
Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a preheating device for an automatic analyzer which enables the operation of the reaction tank even during heating. In addition to the object of the invention of claim 1, the invention of claim 2 provides a preheating device for an automatic analyzer, which can make the temperature rising time to a predetermined temperature of the reaction container constant without being affected by the outside air temperature. The purpose is to do.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows. According to the invention of claim 1, a reaction container, a reaction container housing part for housing the reaction container, a sample container containing a sample, a sample container housing part for housing the sample container, and a reaction for reacting the sample in the reaction container. In an automatic analyzer having a line, a temperature maintaining means for the reaction line, and a preheating device for preheating the reaction vessel, a plurality of preheating means arranged separately from the reaction line and configured to wrap around the outer periphery of the reaction vessel. Will be provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the structure of the first aspect, a thermistor is provided near the outside of the preheating means.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the reaction vessel containing the reagent is heated by wrapping the outer periphery of the reaction vessel with a member having high thermal conductivity by the preheating device before the reaction vessel is charged into the reaction line. By this, heating is efficiently performed in a short time. This member is provided with a thermistor to control the temperature of the member with high accuracy. A plurality of this preheating device is provided, and a plurality of reaction vessels can be heated at one time. After that, the reaction container is put into the reaction line. In the reaction line, there is a temperature maintaining means that is installed so as to surround the reaction container and controls the temperature, and the reaction container is maintained at a constant temperature.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect, the thermistor installed near the outside of the preheating means measures the outside air temperature of the preheating device, and the heating temperature of the preheating device is determined by the measured temperature. Set. For example, when the outside air temperature is low, the set temperature of the preheating device is increased to heat rapidly. Therefore, there is no difference in the heating time of the reaction container even if the outside air temperature is different.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[First Embodiment of the Invention] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an automatic analyzer equipped with a preheating device according to a first embodiment of the present invention by partially breaking it, and FIG. 2 shows a preheating device by the first embodiment of the present invention by partially breaking it. 3 is a perspective view showing a reaction container used in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

First, the outline of the automatic analyzer will be described with reference to FIG. Box-shaped casing 17 of the analyzer body 17
A stocker 18 of the reaction container 16 and a plurality of (two in the figure) preheating devices 11 are disposed inside the b. In addition, the circular reaction line 1 is provided on the upper surface of the casing 17b.
0 and disposal position 38 are provided, and stocker 1
8, a preheating device 11, a reaction line 10, and a disposal position 38 are provided as a bridge, and a transfer unit 12 that can be freely moved vertically and horizontally is provided. The carrier unit 12 is provided with a chuck 19 configured so that the reaction container 16 can be freely attached and detached, and a reagent dispenser having a cold storage mechanism provided at a position where a reagent can be put into the reaction container 16 held by the chuck 19. A nozzle 13 is provided.

A reaction vessel 16 can be mounted in the reaction line 10 in an annular shape with the center of the circle of the reaction line 10 as an axis. The motor 21 can freely rotate about the axis. Inside the reaction line 10, a groove 2 formed in an annular shape according to the outer shape of the reaction vessel 16
A heating block 20 having 0a is provided, a heater 31 is attached to the outer periphery of the heating block 20, and a heat insulating material 32 is wound around the outside of the heater 31. A thermistor 33 is embedded in the heating block 20, and although not shown, the reaction line 1
At a predetermined position of 0, there is a reaction result measurement unit.

On the casing 17b, the sample dispensing nozzle 14 which moves its position by vertical movement and swivel transfer.
Are provided at the sample dispensing position 29, the nozzle cleaning tank 15 and the sample suction position 30 of the reaction line 10 so as to form an arc shape. The sample suction position 30 is on the sample stocker 24, and the sample containers 25 are sequentially transferred.

Next, the preheating device 11 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. The preheating device 11 includes a pair of constant temperature blocks 2 made of a material having a high heat capacity such as an aluminum material.
2a, 22b, a seat heater 34 closely attached to the outside of each of them, and a heat insulator 36 in which a temperature control thermistor 35 is embedded and further closely attached to the outer peripheral portion thereof. The constant temperature blocks 22a and 22b are provided with a guide 26 at the lower portion and a rotary solenoid 23 having a cam mechanism so that the constant temperature blocks 22a and 22b can slide in the approaching and separating directions. When the constant temperature blocks 22a and 22b are in close contact,
With the contact surface of the two blocks as the center line, the storage portion 22c is formed so that the outer shape of the reaction vessel 16 fits closely.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, the reaction container 16 is stored in the stocker 18 in advance, and the sample container 25 containing the sample is set in the sample stocker 24. The sample containers 25 are sequentially sample suction positions 30
Are transported by a conveyor (not shown). The chuck 19 takes out the reaction container 16 from the stocker 18 by the movement of the transport unit 12, dispenses the reagent to the reaction container 16 with the reagent dispensing nozzle 13 while chucking it to the chuck 19, and then places it in one of the preheating devices 11. Transport. Similarly, the chuck 19 sequentially conveys the reaction container 16 to the other preheating devices 11.

The operation of the preheating device 11 when receiving the reaction container 16 is such that the operation of the cam of the solenoid 23 causes the constant temperature blocks 22a and 22b to move away from each other so as to slide on the guide 26, thereby leaving a gap between the constant temperature blocks 22a and 22b. When the reaction container 16 has been transferred to, the constant temperature blocks 22a and 22b are moved in the direction in which they are in close contact with each other, and the storage container 22c holds the reaction container 16 without a gap. When the reaction container 16 is taken out from the preheating device 11, the operation is reversed.

In the preheating device 11, the seat heater 34 heats the constant temperature blocks 22a and 22b, and the thermistor 35 controls the temperature thereof to a preset temperature. The heated constant temperature blocks 22a and 22b are kept warm by the heat insulating material 36. As a result, the temperature of the reaction container 16 held in the constant temperature blocks 22a and 22b rises together with the reagent.

Next, the reaction vessel 16 is heated by the set temperature to the reaction line 1 sequentially by the chuck 19.
0 is moved to the loading position 37, and is rotated to the dispensing position 29 by the rotation of the motor 21.

The sample dispensing nozzle 14 sucks the sample in the sample container 25 transferred by the conveyor (not shown) to the sample suction position 30 by its vertical movement and swiveling motion, and the dispensing position 29. In, it is discharged to the reaction container 16. Then, the sample dispensing nozzle 14 is swirlingly moved to the cleaning tank 15 for cleaning.

The heating block 20 is heated to a predetermined temperature by a heater 31, and its control is controlled by the thermistor 33.
It is done in. The heated heating block 20 is the heat insulating material 3
It is kept warm by 2. The reaction container 16 charged into the reaction line 10 is kept at a constant temperature by the heat of the heating block 20 kept at a predetermined temperature.

After that, the reaction result of the sample and the reagent is measured by a measuring unit (not shown), and the used reaction container 16 is moved to the disposal position 38 by the chuck 19 and discarded.

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the preheating device 1 which does not use air as a heating medium and uses the constant temperature blocks 22a and 22b made of a member having a higher thermal conductivity is used.
By using a plurality of 1's, it is possible to simultaneously raise the temperatures of the plurality of reaction vessels 16 and the reagents in a shorter time and control the temperature with high accuracy. Further, by preliminarily shifting the preheating of the plurality of reaction vessels 16 and the reagents for each preheating device 11, it becomes possible to eliminate the waiting time for the preheating of the reagents to be charged into the constant temperature reaction tank. . Furthermore, by separating the preheating device 11 from the constant temperature reaction tank,
Even during the preheating of the reaction container 16 and the reagent, it is possible to perform the analysis operation of the reaction container 16 and the reagent put in the constant temperature reaction tank before that. From the above, the analysis time is shortened and the reliability of temperature control in the analysis reaction is improved.

[Second Embodiment of the Invention] A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the preheating device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The preheating device 11b of the present embodiment is a device in which the thermistor 39 is added to the atmosphere near the outside of the preheating device 11 of the first embodiment. The thermistor 39 is fixed to the casing 17b via a bracket 40. Since the other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, the same components are assigned the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4. The second embodiment of the present invention has the following effects in addition to the effects shown in the first embodiment. The thermistor 39 measures the temperature of the installation atmosphere of the preheating device 11b, and when the ambient temperature is lower than the specified temperature, the constant temperature blocks 22a, 22b of the preheating device 11b.
Is set higher than the desired temperature, and when the ambient temperature is higher than the specified temperature, the preset heating temperature of the constant temperature blocks 22a and 22b of the preheating device 11b is set lower than the desired temperature.

According to the second embodiment of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained in addition to the effects of the first embodiment. When the reaction vessel and the reagent are preheated by the preheating device 11b, if the temperature of the atmosphere in which the preheating device 11b is installed is low, the reaction container may not warm up easily. In the present embodiment, when the ambient temperature is low as described above, it is possible to heat the reaction container to a desired temperature in a shorter time by increasing the set temperature for preheating. On the contrary, when the atmospheric temperature is high, the set temperature is lowered to prevent the reaction container from overheating in a short time.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. According to the invention of claim 1, the temperature of a plurality of reaction vessels and reagents can be simultaneously raised in a shorter time and the temperature can be accurately controlled, and the waiting time for the preheating of the reagent to be charged into the constant temperature reaction tank can be eliminated. Will be possible. Further, during the preheating of the reaction container and the reagent, the analysis operation in the reaction container placed in the constant temperature reaction tank before that can be performed.

According to the invention of claim 2, in addition to the effect of the invention of claim 1, it becomes possible to make the temperature rising time to the predetermined temperature of the reaction container constant without being influenced by the outside air temperature. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an automatic analyzer including a preheating device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway view showing the preheating device for a reaction container according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a reaction container used in the analysis operation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway view showing a preheating device for a reaction container according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a preheating device for a reaction container of a conventional analyzer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11, 11b Preheating device 16 Reaction container 18 Stocker 20 Heating block 22a, 22b Constant temperature block 24 Sample stocker 25 Sample container 31 Heater 32 Heat insulating material 33 Thermistor 34 Sheet heater 35 Temperature control thermistor 36 Insulating material

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A reaction container, a reaction container housing part for housing the reaction container, a sample container containing a sample, a sample container housing part for housing the sample container, and a reaction line for reacting the sample in the reaction container. An automatic analyzer having a temperature maintaining means for the reaction line and a preheating device for preheating the reaction vessel, and a plurality of preheating means arranged separately from the reaction line and configured to wrap around the outer periphery of the reaction vessel A preheating device for an automatic analyzer, which is characterized in that 2. The preheating device for an automatic analyzer according to claim 1, further comprising a thermistor near the outside of the preheating means.