JPH09281115A - Dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic dispenser enabling automatic exchange of a plate by a simple construction. SOLUTION: This dispenser has a dispensing driving part 4 to which a hand part 5 for moving a plate 9 holding a specimen and a dispensing part 7 for sucking and discharging a reagent to be injected into the specimen in the plate 9 are fitted replaceably and the part 4 is fitted to a three-axis table 2 provided on a base 1 whereon the plate 9 is placed. On the base 1, a hand part placing block 6 for holding the hand part 5 temporarily and a dispensing part placing block 8 for holding the dispensing part 7 temporarily are provided for the convenience at the time when these parts are not used respectively.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic pipetting device for automatically pipetting a fixed amount of a reagent onto a subject of a plate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional automatic dispensing apparatus, an operation for identifying an immune reaction and an antigen / antibody is performed by further dispensing a liquid after dispensing a liquid to a sample in a plate.

For the above-mentioned work, a microplate mainly having a large number of depressions is often used. By the way, the use of the dispensing device is complicated, and therefore it is necessary to automate complicated work and labor saving is required.

However, in the conventional dispensing devices, the microplate had to be replaced manually after the dispensing work was completed. For automatic exchange, prepare a separate transfer device for microplates and connect it to the microplate stocker,
Proposals have been made to newly prepare a hand device for plate transportation near the dispensing head, but this is a problem in terms of cost, complicated operation, and large size of the entire device. Was there.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic dispensing device capable of automatically exchanging plates with a simple structure. To do.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a hand part for moving a plate containing a sample and a dispensing part for sucking and discharging a reagent to be injected into the sample in the plate can be exchanged. And a dispensing drive unit attached to a three-axis table provided on a base on which the plate is placed.

The base is provided with a hand part holder for temporarily holding the hand part and a dispensing part holder for temporarily holding the dispensing part for the convenience of not using each. .

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the dispensing apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 show a side view and a top view of the dispensing device. In the figure, 1 is a base, 2 is a triaxial table mounted on the base 1, 3 is a controller also mounted on the base 1, and 4 is a dispenser mounted on the triaxial table 2. A driving unit, 5 is a hand unit detachably attached to the lower end of the dispensing driving unit 4, 6 is a stand for the hand unit 5 provided on the base 1, and 7 is the dispensing driving unit 4. An attachable dispensing part, 8 is a stand of the dispensing part 7 (dispensing amount is from 0.5 μl to 10 μl and from 5 μl to 200 μl
It is necessary to replace the disposable tips up to the required amount of liquid according to the amount of liquid required, and accordingly the dispensing section itself needs to be replaced. Here, three dispensing sections for placing three dispensing sections are required. A base is provided), and 9 is a microplate conveyed between the base 1 and the plate stocker 10 by the hand unit 5.

In the above construction, as a pre-operation for the dispensing operation, first, the hand unit 5 is attached to the dispensing driving unit 4 and 3
The axis table 2 activates the dispensing drive unit 4, and the hand unit 5 takes out one of the microplates 9 accommodated in the plate stocker (accommodates the plate before use) 10 and uses this as a base. Carry to a predetermined position on 1.

The finger members 51, 5 of the hand unit 5
When the rubber cushioning materials 57 and 58 as slip stoppers are provided on the sheet 2, it is possible to prevent the microplate 9 from dropping when it is carried.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of the hand unit 5. FIG. 3A shows the hand portion in an open state, and FIG. 3B shows the hand portion in a closed state. A plunger 41 which controls the dispensing operation of the dispensing unit 7 penetrates the central portion of the dispensing drive unit 4 (converts the rotation of a motor (not shown) into a vertical driving force), and the plunger 41 The gripping portion of the hand portion 5 is opened and closed by the vertical movement of.

That is, the hand portion 5 is provided with the left and right finger members 51 and 52 urged in the closing direction by the urging forces of the springs 53 and 54 so as to be rotatable around fulcrums 55 and 56. 41 is these finger members 5
By pressing the heads of the 1, 52 downwards, the finger members 51, 52 are resisted against the biasing force of the springs 53, 54.
It is made to be able to open.

The grip portion of the hand portion 5 is normally in a closed state (see FIG. 3B), and the plunger 41 is
The finger members 51 and 52 are opened by the descending motion of the
(See A).

By doing so, the grip of the microplate can be urged to the state in which the finger members 51 and 52 are closed, and even if the type of the microplate is changed, the gripping force is constant and is less likely to be affected.

Next, the microplate 9 is removed from the hand unit 4, and the dispensing drive unit 4 is moved to the hand unit stand 6 on the base 1 by the triaxial table 2. Hand part 4 here
And the dispensing drive unit are disconnected, and the hand unit 6 is housed in the hand unit stand 6.

Then, the dispensing drive unit 4 is slightly moved to connect the dispensing unit 7 stored in the dispensing unit holder 8 to the dispensing drive unit 4 this time. The connected dispensing unit 7 moves to the microplate 9 at the predetermined position together with the dispensing driving unit 4 by the triaxial table 2 and dispenses the reagent or the like into the recess of the microplate 9.

Driving of the triaxial table 4 (movement in XYZ directions, etc.), driving of the hand portion 5 (grasping and releasing of the plate 9, etc.), dispensing operation of the dispensing portion 7 (control of a predetermined dispensing amount, etc.) Are all performed by a program written in the CPU (central processing unit) in the controller 3.

When the dispensing operation is completed, the triaxial table 4 is driven again to move the dispensing driving unit 4 to the position of the dispensing unit holder 7, where the dispensing unit 7 is moved from the dispensing driving unit 8. Remove. Then, the dispensing driving unit 4 is further moved and carried to the position of the hand unit holder 6, where the hand unit 5 is moved.
Attach to

Next, the dispensing drive unit 4 to which the hand unit 5 is attached
Is moved to the position of the microplate 9, where the microplate 9 is held by the hand section 5. The processed microplate 9 is then stored in a processed plate stocker 11 provided separately from the stocker 10.

The microplate 9 on the base 1 is shown in FIG.
As shown in, up to two can be installed. Although not shown in the figure, a reagent storage container is arranged on the base 1 or in the vicinity of the base 1, and the dispensing unit 7 sucks the reagent or the like from this and dispenses it into the microplate 9. It is like this.

By repeating the above operation, the reaction in the sample in each microplate 9 by dispensing is caused.

[0023]

As described above, the present invention automates from the replacement of the plate containing the specimen to the dispensing operation with a simple construction of the replacement work of the hand part and the dispensing part with respect to the dispensing drive part. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a dispensing device that can extremely facilitate the dispensing operation while suppressing the increase in size.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a dispensing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the dispensing device of the present invention.

3A and 3B are diagrams for explaining the opening / closing operation of the hand unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 base 2 3 axis table 3 controller 4 dispensing drive unit 5 hand unit 6 hand unit holder 7 dispensing unit 8 dispensing unit holder 9 microplate 10 plate stocker

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A dispensing drive unit in which a hand unit for moving a plate accommodating a sample and a dispensing unit for sucking and discharging a reagent to be injected into a sample in the plate are exchangeably attached. And a dispenser in which the dispenser drive unit is attached to a triaxial table provided on a base on which the plate is placed. 2. The dispensing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the base is provided with a hand part holder for temporarily holding the hand part and a dispensing part holder for temporarily holding the dispensing part. .