JPS58154663A - Autodiluter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce a device called a diluter in size, to increase an operation speed and to improve the reliability, by automating said device, and repeating the same operation. CONSTITUTION:In front of a box-like casing 1, a large diameter cylinder 2 for a dispenser to suck/discharge diluted solutions and a small diameter sampling cylinder 3 to suck/discharge reagents are arranged in parallel and adjacently so that respective opening ends are turned downwards. Plungers are reciprocated in the cylinders 2, 3 and their lods 6, 7 are projected from the lower ends of respective cylinders. A suction/discharge port on the upper end of the cylinder 2 is selectively inter connected with an suction pipe 9 or a probe 10 provided with a pipe to be used as both the suction/discharge pipe for reagents and a discharge pipe for diluted solutions through a switching valve 8.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to an autodiluter.

An autodiluter sucks up a predetermined amount of reagent, etc. and a predetermined amount of diluent, etc. from one container and transfers it to another container.
This is a device that can perform the same operation repeatedly by automating the device, usually called a giluta, which obtains a predetermined amount of liquid diluted at a predetermined ratio by discharging it into one container.

Various types of autodilutors are known, each of which is equipped with a dispensing cylinder and a small-diameter sample cylinder for sucking in and discharging samples, and a piston (plunger) moves simultaneously inside both cylinders. An inhalation process is performed, and after the inhalation process is completed, a discharge process is performed. The conventionally proposed devices have the drawbacks of having a complicated structure, requiring many adjustments, and poor operational reliability.

The present invention aims to eliminate the drawbacks of the above-mentioned conventional devices.According to the present invention, the dispensing cylinders are arranged parallel to each other and adjacent to each other, and the intake and discharge ports of the dispensing cylinders have a switching valve. The sample cylinder is connected to the suction pipe and the suction/discharge port of the sample cylinder through the cylinder. , both cylinders have \゛i
It is reciprocated by a cam provided on the end face of a cylinder that is rotated by an electric motor around an axis in the F direction, and a tension spring that urges a cam follower connected to each plunger toward the cam, A valve operation cam that protrudes in the radial direction and extends in the circumferential direction is provided on the side surface of the cylinder to switch the switching valve at both end positions of the reciprocating rotation of the cylinder, and the suction and discharge port of the dispensing cylinder is connected to the suction process of the cylinder. During the discharge process, it communicates with the suction pipe σ), and in the discharge process, it cuts off communication with the suction pipe and communicates with the suction and discharge port of the sample cylinder and the globe, and is connected to the radial protrusion provided on the side surface of the cylinder. The direction of rotation of the electric motor is reversed in response to the electrical signal from the operating detection section, and the starting, stopping, rotational speed, number of continuous operations, etc. of the electric motor are changed.
) has an electrical control circuit to control the pond. An auto diluter is provided.

Since the plunger is actuated by a cylindrical cam and a tension spring that presses each cam follower toward the cam surface, it is possible to operate both plungers at the same time, thus shortening the cycle time. The reliability of the system is high, the equipment can be made smaller, and its durability is improved.

Note that the positive actuation stroke by the cylindrical cam is the ejection stroke of each plunger, and the suction stroke is performed by the tension spring. To limit the amount of suction and discharge, a spacer of a predetermined length may be placed to absorb the force exerted by the tension spring, thereby limiting the suction stroke midway. The cylindrical cam continues to rotate, but the cam follower stops at a predetermined position. The cylindrical cam then rotates in the opposite direction and recontacts the cam follower to begin the ejection stroke of the plunger. By changing the length of the spacer with respect to the plunger of the groove, the amount of suction and discharge can be adjusted as desired.

Fig. 1 is an external view of the auto diluter (n 1E) according to the present invention, Figs. 2 and 3 are schematic layout diagrams showing the suction and exhaust systems, and Figs. 4 and 5 show the main parts of the drive mechanism. It is a schematic diagram.

In the figure, ■ is a box-shaped casing, with a large-diameter dispenser cylinder 2 on the front for inhaling and discharging diluted liquid, and a small-diameter sample cylinder 3 for inhaling and discharging reagents. are arranged parallel to each other and adjacent to each other with their open ends facing down. Plungers 4, 5 reciprocate within the 7 cylinders 2, 3, their rods 6, 7 projecting from the lower end of the respective cylinder. cylinder 21
7') The suction and discharge port at the upper end selectively communicates with the suction pipe 9 via the switching valve 8 and the probe lo equipped with a pipe 11 that also serves as a suction and discharge pipe for reagents and the like and a discharge pipe for diluent and the like. 6
, the suction and discharge ports at the upper end of the cylinder 3 are always in communication with the pipe 11. During the downward stroke of the plungers 4 and 5, the switching valve 8 is in the position shown in FIG. The tip of the tube 11 is inserted into a reagent bottle, etc., and the reagent is sucked into the tube 11 by the downward stroke of the plunger 5. Normally, the amount of suction by the plunger 5 is small, and the sucked reagent does not reach the inside of the cylinder 3. not reached. Note that a diluent exists in the cylinder 3 during normal operation. During the discharge stroke, the switching valve 8 is switched to the position shown in FIG. 3, and the tube 11 is discharged first with reagent and then with diluent.

Due to the reciprocating action of the plungers 4, 5, a reciprocatingly rotating variable speed electric motor 15 drives the cam cylinder 16 in rotation about an upright axis. The cam cylinder 16 is provided with a cam surface 17 on its upper end surface as shown in the exploded view in FIG.
As the cylinder 16 rotates, the rollers 18, 1.9, which act as cam followers for the plungers 4, 5,
It moves up and down along 7. That is, each roller assumes the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 6 at the upper end of the stroke of the cam, and the position shown by the broken line indicated by numerals 18' and 19' at the lower end of the stroke. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, according to the present invention -)3mutT
ry,, a protrusion 1 on the cam surface 17 adjacent to the upper end of the troller
7A is provided. This is because the dispensing roller 18 rides on the protrusion at the end of the discharging process (at this time, the plunger 4 assumes the uppermost position) and then separates from the protrusion 17A to become a flat surface, causing a small amount of air to flow into the tip of the probe nozzle. This air can act as an air layer to separate the diluent and sample liquid3. Note that in this case, the roller 19 and therefore the sample plunger 5 have not completed the ejection process. Although the amount of suction air is somewhat reduced, the diameter of the sample cylinder is significantly smaller than the diameter of the dispense cylinder, so the effect is negligible.

In addition, at the beginning of the suction process, the dispensing roller 18
runs onto the protrusion 17A, but since the switching valve 8 is switched at this time, the air sucked into the tip of the probe is not forced out. Figure 8 shows probe nozzle 1.
1 is an enlarged view, 56 is an air layer, 57 is a sample liquid, and 5 is an enlarged view of 1.
8 indicates a diluent.

In order to correctly transmit the movement of the rollers 18, 19 along the cam surface 17 to the plunger of the groove, the rollers 18, 19 are each mounted on a plate fixed to a block 20 which moves up and down along an upright guide shaft 21, 22. It is rotatably attached to 23.

At the lower end of the plate 23 there is an arm or plunger actuating part 2'3A which extends forward (to the right in FIG. A tension spring 24 is provided to pull the connected plate 23 downwardly and bring the rollers 18, 19 into contact with the cam surface 17, respectively. In the illustrated embodiment, the block 20 has a hexagonal prism shape and is made of stainless steel plate 2.
3 is fixed with a screw (not shown). Note that the rod 21 that guides the block 20 associated with the plunger 4 is fixed to the casing, but the rod 22 associated with the plunger 6 is rotatable as will be described later.

A mechanism is provided to switch the switching valve 8 at both ends of the operation of the cam 16, that is, at both the upper and lower end positions of the cam surface 17 in FIG. The kneader includes a cam 25 projecting radially from the outer surface of the cylinder 16 and extending in the circumferential direction, a lever 30 having driven rollers 26 and 27 in contact with the cam 25 and swinging around a vertical axis 28, and a rod 22. A fork 31 is fixed at a position close to the lower end of the rod 22 and transmits the swinging motion of the lever 30 to a reciprocating rotational motion about the axis of the rod 22; a swinging plate 32 that swings reciprocally around the gauging plate 32; a drive plate 33 that is supported so as to be slidable in a horizontal direction along the front panel IA of the gauging 1 and drivingly connected to the swinging board 32; A rack 34 fixed to the drive plate 33 and a shaft 35 of the switching valve 8
A gear 36 is attached to the rack 34 and meshes with the rack 34. (See FIG. 5) The mechanism for switching the rotational direction of the motor includes a plate-shaped cam plate 40 attached to the side surface of the cylinder 16 and photoelectric detectors 41 and 42 attached to the gauging.

Some clockwise rotation of the cylinder 16 from the position shown in FIG. 5 causes the cam plate 40 to interrupt the optical path of the detector 42 and the control electronics are activated to reverse the direction of rotation of the motor. Approximately 230° counterclockwise from the position shown in Figure 5.
When rotated, the cam plate 40 enters the optical path of the detector 41 and the rotation of the motor 15 is reversed.

There is a switch 50 on the front panel lA. control knob 51.5
21 indicator light 53 is provided, and a push button switch 54 is also provided at the upper end of the probe 10. In the illustrated embodiment, the switch 50 is a three-mode changeover switch of off, manual, automatic, and continuous mode, and the control knob 51 is a 15 stop times,
That is, the control knob 52 controls the rotational speed of the motor 15, controlling the time interval between the intake stroke and the exhaust stroke in one cycle and the time interval between each cycle in continuous mode.

The control electronic circuit for this purpose will not be described in detail since it can be easily constructed using conventional electrical and electronic techniques.

A block 60 is attached to the front panel to control the suction and discharge amount of each plunger, and guide bottles 61 and 62 are installed in the block 60. Spacers 63, 64, etc., each having a predetermined length and having internal diameter holes that fit the guide pins 61, 62, are placed on the block 60, which limit the downward movement of the arm 23A. In this case, the corresponding roller 18°19 separates from the cam surface in the middle of its downward movement along the cam surface 17, but the cylinder 16 rotates by a predetermined rotation angle, and the switching movement of the valve 8, the reversing operation of the motor 150, etc. are normal. It is held at the time of. This state is shown in FIG. 6 18''.

The desired stroke can be obtained by changing the length of the spacer.

/Lindas 2 and 3 are attached to a block 65 attached to the front panel IA with lock screws 66, and can be easily removed, making it easy to replace them when damaged, and to clean and disinfect the inside. .

The autodiluter according to the present invention can be significantly miniaturized, has a fast operating speed, and has high operational reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of an autodiluter according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a liquid suction and discharge system. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the switching position of the switching valve in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a partially sectional side view showing the main parts of the plunger drive mechanism. FIG. 5 is a partially sectional top view of FIG. 4. Figure 6 is a developed view of the cylindrical cam. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the electrical system. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a bubble suction state at the tip of the probe. 1: Gauging 2: Dispensing cylinder 3
: Sample cylinder 4; Dispensing plunger 5: Sample plunger 8: Switching valve 9: Suction pipe lO nib lobe 15: Electric motor 16: Cylinder 17: Cam 18.19: Cam follower (roller) 24: Tension spring 25; Valve operation cam 40: Radial protrusion 41.42: Detection section 63; Spacer 23; Plate 23A nib plunger operating section 17A: Small protrusion 56: Air bubble 57: Sample liquid 58: Diluent Patent applicant Nichiryo Co., Ltd. (2 others) Rod, 7 figures high 2 figures

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A large-diameter dispensing cylinder for inhaling and discharging a diluted liquid and a small-diameter sample cylinder for inhaling and discharging a sample liquid such as a reagent are arranged parallel to each other and adjacent to each other. The inlet and outlet of the cylinder communicates with the inlet pipe and the inlet and outlet of the sample cylinder via a switching valve, and the inlet and outlet of the sample cylinder communicates with the probe that inhales and discharges reagents, etc., and discharges diluted liquid, etc. The actuating plungers of both cylinders include a cam provided on the end face of a cylinder that is reciprocally rotated by an electric motor around an axis parallel to Y, and a cam follower connected to each plunger facing the cam. A valve operating cam is provided on the side surface of the cylinder and protrudes in the radial direction and extends in the circumferential direction to switch and dispense the switching valve at both end positions of the rotation of the cylinder. The suction and discharge port of the sample cylinder communicates only with the suction pipe during the suction process of the cylinder, and the communication with the suction pipe is cut off during the discharge process and communicates with the suction and discharge port of the sample cylinder and the glove; The direction of rotation of the electric motor is reversed in response to an electrical signal from a detection unit that cooperates with a radial protrusion provided on the side of the electric motor, and controls the starting, stopping, rotational speed, and number of continuous operations of the electric motor. An auto diluter characterized by comprising an electrical control circuit. (2) A spacer that controls the amount of suction and discharge by each plunger by restricting the suction stroke movement of each plunger by the cam, cam follower, and tension spring midway through. The auto according to claim 1, wherein the auto is provided so as to be able to come into contact with the plunger actuating portion that moves together with the cam follower, and the amount of suction and discharge can be adjusted by changing the length of the spacer. Diluta. (3) A small protrusion is provided adjacent to the end position of the ejection stroke of the cam, and when the dispensing plunger completes its ejection stroke, the dispensing plunger moves a small amount in the suction direction by the small protrusion, and the diluted liquid is kneaded into the probe. 2. The autodiluter according to claim 1, wherein the autodiluter generates air bubbles that partition the sample liquid and the sample liquid.