JPH1010136A - Automatic analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform the control, which can continue measurement when a dispenser fails the attachment/detachment of a chip used in the dispenser in an automatic multiple-item analyzer. SOLUTION: This analyzer has a sensor 31, which can judge the failure or the defaults in chip attachment and detachment, recognizes the attaching and removing state based on the state of the sensor 31 and has the control system, which switches the dispensing action to the recovery processing action in correspondence with the state. When the chip attachment fails, the normal operation is stopped, and the control is switched to the standby operation for returning to the dispense-starting position in preparation for the next dispensing operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer, and more particularly, to an automatic analyzer that continuously performs multi-item analysis.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an automatic analyzer dispenses a liquid sample such as a specimen to be inspected and a reagent to be mixed with the specimen for analysis, and after reacting for a certain period of time, performs a component analysis by a measuring mechanism. Is going. The pipetter is disclosed in JP-A-6-18534.
As shown in JP-A No. 1-59072 and JP-A-63-106567, when aspirating liquid for dispensing, a nozzle tip is attached to the tip of the nozzle and dispensing is performed. It is known to remove the nozzle tip later.

[0003]

However, in an automatic analyzer, when performing a multi-sample / multi-item analysis, it is necessary to set a reaction time and analysis contents as required in order to realize a highly accurate analysis. It is generally desired that the analysis can be performed with the shortest processing time, and the dispensing operation time and the reaction time are controlled by controlling each mechanism of the apparatus according to a predetermined operation schedule. When the pipetter fails to attach or remove the nozzle tip, the dispensing operation is stopped, affecting not only the corresponding dispensing operation item but also the measurement operation schedule of the subsequent analysis items, There is a problem that the inspection efficiency of the device is reduced.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic analyzer capable of continuing the subsequent measurement according to the analysis schedule even when the chip attachment / detachment fails.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, generally, a detector for judging failure of chip mounting or chip removal is attached, and the state of failure of detachment is recognized based on the state of the detector, and dispensing operation is performed. Is used as a control method for applying the preparation operation for the analysis item next to the failure analysis item.

According to the control method, since the preparation operation is performed within the time of the dispensing operation timing in response to the state where the chip attachment / detachment has failed, the operation schedule after the recovery processing is not interrupted.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the automatic analyzer according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the automatic analyzer. The pipetter 10 aspirates the sample placed on the sample disk 11 and the reagent placed on the reagent disk 12 and discharges it to the reaction container placed at the dispensing position 14. The reaction vessel containing the mixture is transported by the transport mechanism 13 to the incubator 15 maintained at a constant temperature. After the elapse of the reaction time, the sipper 16 aspirates the reaction solution and sends it to the measurement unit 17, where the components to be measured are analyzed. FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the pipettor 10 in the present embodiment.
Nozzle section 20 having chip mounting section 24 and detection cutoff plate 2
Numeral 1 is attached to the pipetter head section 22 so as to be able to move up and down. FIG. 3 shows a chip buffer provided with a detector 31 for temporarily storing the nozzle chips 30 and determining the presence or absence of the nozzle chips. The nozzle chip 30 conveyed onto the chip buffer moves the nozzle unit 20, whose position is controlled on the chip buffer by a left-right driving mechanism (not shown), from the upper side to the lower side, thereby forming The nozzle tip 30 is mounted by causing friction on the inner wall. After the mounting, the nozzle unit 20 is moved upward together with the nozzle tip, and further moved to a predetermined position of the liquid sample by the left-right driving mechanism to suck and discharge. At the end of dispensing, when removing the used nozzle tip, the pipettor is moved to a predetermined tip removal position by the left-right drive mechanism, the nozzle portion is moved downward (FIG. 4 (A)), and then the recess of the tip removal instrument 41 is removed. The nozzle tip is hooked on 42 (FIG. 4B) and moves upward (FIG. 4B).
(C)) can be removed.

The operation of a plurality of analysis items such as item A, item B, and item C shown in FIG. 5 includes chip mounting operations 1a, 1b, 1c and reagent suction operations 3a, 3b, 3 for each measurement item.
c and is executed at a fixed cycle time according to a schedule. This schedule is determined so that the processing time is shortened by combining the operation blocks 1 to 5 according to a certain rule when the multi-item analysis is requested.

FIG. 6 shows a control flowchart. The cycle start 101 indicates a cycle start time. At the tip mounting operation step 102, when the upward movement after the nozzle portion is moved downward after the tip mounting operation is completed, if the signal of the detector 32 detects that the nozzle tip is present on the buffer, it is determined that the nozzle tip mounting has failed. And a standby position moving step 108 in which the sample aspirating operation step 104, the reagent aspirating operation step 105, the discharging operation step 106, and the chip removing operation step 107 are stopped, and the preparation position is returned to the dispensing start position in preparation for the next dispensing operation. The control is switched to time waiting step 109. In this way, for items for which nozzle tip mounting has failed, the operation is stopped, and the missing nozzle tip is used as the next dispensing tip. The operation can be continued.

Next, chip removing operation step 107
At the tip removal position, when the upward movement after the removal of the nozzle tip ends, the signal generated by the detection blocking plate 21 attached to the pipetter head part 22 blocking the detector 23 for detecting the upper point, the nozzle part is removed. If it is detected that has not reached the normal upper stop point, it is determined in the determination step 110 that the chip removal has failed, and control is switched from the next cycle dispensing operation 113 to the chip removal retry operation step 112 in the next cycle. In this way, measurement can be continued for items for which dispensing has been completed before the chip removal has failed, and operation can be continued according to the normal schedule for items for which dispensing has become impossible.

These controls are realized by a control circuit configuration shown in FIG. From the detection signal detected by the detection detection unit 73, the control processing device 70 outputs a control command to the motor drive control unit 71 according to the control flowchart shown in FIG. The motor 72 drives the pipettor 22 according to the motor drive control unit 71.

[0012]

According to the automatic analyzer using the control method of the present invention, even when the attachment / detachment of the nozzle tip fails, the measurement operation schedule can be continued without interrupting the inspection of the registered multiple items. Yes, the inspection efficiency of the device can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an automatic analyzer according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the pipettor of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the chip buffer of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a chip removing method of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a schedule example of a dispensing operation timing for a multi-item analysis request.

FIG. 6 is a control flowchart when a chip attachment / detachment fails.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a control circuit of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Pipetter, 11 ... Sample disk, 13 ... Transport mechanism, 14 ... Dispensing position, 17 ... Measuring part, 20 ... Nozzle part, 21 ... Detection shut-off plate, 23 ... Upper point detector, 24 ... Chip mounting part, 30 ... nozzle tip, 31 ... tip detector, 41 ... tip removal tool, 42 ... removal recess.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An automatic analyzer having a pipettor for dispensing a liquid sample, a nozzle tip mounted on the pipetter, and a processing device for controlling the pipetter, receives a tip failure when the pipetter fails to mount the nozzle tip. Detected by the chip detector provided in the section, and by this detection signal,
It is characterized in that it is configured to judge a measurement item that cannot be dispensed, stop the dispensing operation corresponding to the analysis item, and use the missing nozzle tip as the next dispensing tip. Automatic analyzer. 2. An automatic analyzer having a pipettor for dispensing a liquid sample, a nozzle tip mounted on the pipettor, and a processing device for controlling the pipetter, wherein when the pipetter removes the nozzle tip, the pipettor is removed. The detector provided at the removal end position detects that it does not return to the removal end position from the removal position, judges the removal failure by this detection signal, and stops the dispensing operation corresponding to the next analysis item. An automatic analyzer configured to execute the operation of removing the nozzle tip again.