JPS5899759A - Automatic analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To avoid trouble due to a defective insulation by determining the lowering stroke to a reagent liquid storage section of a reagent distributor based on the residue of a reagent from the data of the quantity of the reagent left up to the last operation when a defective insulation occurs in a liquid level detector. CONSTITUTION:Before the lowering of a reagent pipetting section, insulation is checked for between a probe 60 and an electrode 61. When it is good, the operation is performed normally while when it is bad, checking is made to see if the same bad condition took place in the previous lowering of the section. If the continuous deficiency of the operation is discovered, a warning is given to halt analysis action. If the previous condition was normal, the lowering stroke is determined based on the residue of the reagent up to the last operation. This method enables smooth continuation of the analysis operation without abrupt stoppage while allowing the probe 60 to be halted at the surface of the reagent. Therefore, the analysis operation can be performed continuously overcoming water drop, if any, generated in the electrode 61.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer that adds a reagent to a 1% liquid sample to cause a chemical reaction, measures the coloring state of the sample, and analyzes the components in the sample. Regarding the automatic analyzer, the objective is to provide an automatic analyzer that can detect and display the remaining amount of reagent.

Examples based on the present invention will be described below.

In FIG. 1, a sampler 10 includes a sample table 11, an ion analysis tank 15, and a drive section for rotating these. On the sample table 11.

A regular sample container row 12 in which samples to be analyzed are loaded into a plurality of holes on the outer circumference side, and a special sample container row 13 in which emergency test samples and standard samples are loaded and arranged in a plurality of holes on the inner circumference side are formed. Additionally, these sample containers are rotated and transferred to the sample suction positions 44 and 44' as required. Sample table 1
There is a rotatable ion analysis tank 15 inside the tank 1, and a plurality of ion selection electrodes 16 for sodium ions, potassium ions, chloride ions, etc., and a comparison electrode 17 are extended inside. These electrodes are connected by a sampling mechanism (not shown) when a sample sampled from a row of sample containers is introduced into the analysis tank 15 and diluted with a diluent. It is adjusted so that it is immersed in the liquid.

The reaction section 20 includes a doughnut-shaped constant temperature passage 23 and a reaction table 21 installed thereon.
1 is approximately the same height as the sample table 11.

The constant temperature passage 23 consists of a constant temperature bath, and constant temperature liquid is circulated from the constant temperature water supply section 29. The reaction table 21 has many holes, and the reaction vessels 2 made of rectangular transparent cells are inserted into the holes.
2 are loaded to form one reaction vessel row. The lower part of the reaction vessel is immersed in a constant temperature liquid.

A light source 25 is provided inside the reaction table 21 that is rotated continuously and intermittently by a drive mechanism (not shown), and a light beam 26 from the light source 25 is directed to the reaction container 22 in the constant temperature passage 23.
After passing through the photometer 27 and being dispersed by a diffraction grating within the photometer 27, a specific wavelength light is extracted via a photodetector. The contents within reaction vessel 22 are stirred by a stirrer 28 .

Above the reaction vessel row is a washer 24 having a plurality of pure water discharge pipes and a plurality of liquid suction pipes, respectively, and when one reaction table 21 is stopped, these pipes are inserted into the reaction vessels to perform a cleaning operation.

The sampling mechanism 40 includes a rotating arm holding a sample suction/discharge tube 41, an up/down mechanism for this rotary arm, and a sample pipettor 42.
and 44' and the sample ejection position 450;
The sample suction and discharge tube can be moved up and down at each position.

The reagent solution storage section 30 is arranged close to the 1 reaction section 20,
The height position of the reagent liquid container 31, 31' is the reaction table 21.
is made almost the same. The storage section 30 consists of a refrigerator, and inside thereof two rectangular parallelepiped-shaped reagent liquid containers 31 and 31' are arranged in series. Each reagent liquid container 31 is prepared according to the analysis item.

Each container 31. -31' has an opening 32.32',
These openings are arranged in series toward a particular position in relation to the row of reaction vessels 22.

The reagent pipettor 35 is equipped with reagent pipetting parts 36 and 37 that are transferred on rails (not shown), and these pipetting parts 36 and 37 are equipped with reagent suction and discharge pipes 38,
39 is attached.

These reagent intake and exhaust pipes 38 and 39 are each independent.
Moved back and forth to □. The reagent suction/discharge tube 38 is moved to the row of openings 32 and moved to the reagent discharge position 46. The reagent suction and discharge tube 39 is moved along the row of openings 32',
It is moved to the reagent discharge position 47.

The rows of reagent liquid containers 310 and 31' are arranged in parallel, and the rows of openings 32 and 32' are also arranged in parallel. Since the reagent liquid tank 31.3i' is a rectangular parallelepiped.

A large number of them can be arranged very closely adjacent to each other. The reagent suction and exhaust pipes 38 and 39 are connected to the appropriate reagent liquid tank 31 according to the analysis item.
, 31', descends to suck and hold the reagent liquid, and rises to discharge the held reagent liquid into the reaction tube 22. This operation control is performed by a microcomputer-based user 51. The pipettor 35 is equipped with a well-known syringe mechanism.

When the sample tape 11 on which the sample to be analyzed is placed is placed in the sampler 10 and the start button on the operation panel 52 is pressed, the operation of the analyzer 1 is started. The sample suction and discharge pipe 41 of the sampling mechanism 40.

Inhale and hold the sample from the sample inlet position 44 or 44';
When the held sample is discharged to the sample discharge position 45.

The row of reaction containers 22 is moved across the light beam 2.6, and the reaction table 21 makes one rotation and one step, and the reaction container next to the reaction container that received the sample is positioned at the sample discharge position 45. This sampling operation is repeated continuously. While the reaction table 21 is stopped, the stirrer of the stirrer 28, each tube of the washer 24, etc. are inserted into the reaction container at predetermined positions, and necessary operations are performed.

While the reaction table 21 is stopped, the sample discharge position 4
Reagents are added to the reaction vessel at positions 6 and 47 to begin the color reaction. For analysis items that require only one type of reagent for reaction, the reagent is added to the discharge position 47 or one reaction container by the reagent pipetting section 37. Various samples for the i-th analysis can be arranged on the reaction table 21. One way is to distribute one sample into reaction vessels as many as the number of analysis items, and then distribute the first sample in the same way to multiple reaction vessels, for example 20 reaction vessels, corresponding to each analysis item. The prepared reagent is transferred to the reagent pipetting section 36.
37 to the necessary reaction vessels. ~ The reagent pipetting parts 36 and 37 are each suspended from the rail and move along the rail, but these
It can be moved overhead along with the rail. Reagent suction and exhaust pipe 3
8, 39 can be stopped at the openings 32, 32' of each reagent tank as required.

The operation of the drives of the pipetting sections 36 , 37 is controlled by a microcomputer 51 . Discharge position 46.
The suction/discharge pipes 38, 39 are stopped -1 above/on the reagent liquid tanks 31, 31' where the reagent corresponding to the analysis item of the sample that has arrived at 47 is selected by the reagent pipetting section 36, 37 and subjected to one reaction. Subsequently, the pipette 7'' portions 36 and 37 are lowered and a predetermined amount of reagent liquid is sucked into and held in the pipettes 38 and 39 by the operation of the reagent piventor 35, and then the pipetting portion 36.
37 and move the suction and exhaust pipes 38 and 39 to the reagent discharge position 46.
．． 47 to move horizontally and discharge the reagent solution held in the suction/discharge pipe into the corresponding reaction container.

Since the reaction table 21 of the sample in the reaction container is rotated each time a sampling operation is performed, the color state of the sample can be observed by crossing the light beam 26 with the sampling operation. In other words, the optical characteristics of the same sample are observed over the number of times that one reaction container is opened until it reaches the position of the groove cleaner 24.

The light received by the photoelectric detector of the photometer 27 is passed through a non-limiting wavelength selection circuit to select the necessary wavelength according to the analysis item, and a signal having a magnitude corresponding to the transmitted light intensity is sent to the logarithmic converter 53. be guided. The analog signal is then converted into a digital signal by the A/D converter 54 and guided to the microcomputer 51 via the interface 501.
The necessary operations are performed and the results are stored in memory. When all of the multiple photometry operations for a specific analysis item are completed, the multiple photometry data are compared, the necessary calculations are performed, and the concentration value of the analysis item is printed to the printer 5.
5 is printed. The CRT 56 can display analysis results and statistical data.

In this embodiment, analysis by colorimetric method and analysis by reaction rate method can be performed. Although not shown.

A suction and exhaust pipe cleaning section is arranged near the sample table 11 and the reagent liquid storage section 30. The constant temperature bath 23, which serves as a transfer path for the reaction container, is maintained at a constant temperature of 25 to 37 r.

In this embodiment, the analysis operating conditions of the apparatus are stored on a cassette tape, and the analysis items can be changed by reading this cassette tape and replacing the reagent liquid tank. There is no need to clean the channel system when replacing reagents. One analysis item and analysis conditions for each item can be input using the CRT, item keys, profile keys, and numeric keys.

Next, the display of the remaining reagent cap will be explained. FIG. 2 shows the structure of the tips of the suction and exhaust pipes 38 and 39. The probe 60 is a reagent inlet/outlet and is made of a chemically resistant metal capillary tube. The electrode 61 is for detecting the liquid level of the reagent.
Chemical-resistant metal wire with electrically insulating outer sheath 62
I'm trapped. The tip of the electrode 61 is slightly shorter than the probe 6o (2 m). The probe 6o and the electrode 61 are further wrapped and fixed in an outer cylinder 63. The reason why the tips of the suction and discharge tubes 38 and 39 have the above structure is that the reagent pipetting portions 36 and 37 are lowered and the suction and discharge tubes 38 and 39 are inserted into the reagent liquid tank 31 and 31'. When the voltage-applied electrode 61 and the probe 60 enter the reagent liquid level, the microcomputer 51 is notified that there is electrical continuity between them, and the microcomputer 51 controls the reagent pipetting portions 36 and 37 to descend. This is to perform reagent fractionation with the probe 60 slightly submerged in the reagent liquid surface. Reagent pipetting section 36.
The vertical movements of 37 are independently driven by pulse motors. Figure 3 shows reagent pipetting section 36.37.
The program flowchart shows the up-and-down operation and reagent separation part. FIG. 4 is a program flowchart when a liquid level detection signal is input. Under the program control of the main program, the reagent pipetting control program runs every 0.1 seconds. A method of controlling the vertical movement of the reagent pipetting section 36 and 37 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. The first timing check program checks whether the current time is the required timing for vertical movement control.

If it is not necessary, return to the main program, and if necessary, jump to the control program of that timing leg. T
, , T, , T, , T4 indicate control timing, respectively. The lowering control program at time T presets the down counter of a pulse motor control circuit (known in the art and not shown) to the number of pulses required for the maximum lowering stroke to begin lowering the reagent piventing portion 36,37. The descent continues.

When the liquid level detection signal from the tips of the suction and exhaust pipes 38 and 39 enters the microcomputer, a 1-interrupt factor analysis is performed, and as shown in Fig. 4, 1 interrupt signal is the liquid level detection signal. Once this is known, the number of remaining pulses on the down counter of the pulse motor control circuit is read and stored, and then the pulse motor is stopped and the vertical movement is stopped. If the reagent is empty, the probe 60 descends to the bottom of the reagent tank 31, 31' and stops. This operation is performed between times T and T in FIG. In addition, the up and down movements of the reagent piventing parts 36 and 37 are performed completely independently,
Control is also performed separately. Time T.

is the timing of reagent separation. The micro combinator checks the condition of the electrode 61 and probe 60.

Check whether there is electrical continuity between the two, and if there is no continuity, it means that the reagent tank 31, 31' is empty, and an alarm (for example, a buzzer sound) is sent and the CRT5
6 indicates that there is a shortage of reagents.

Ota. This fact is memorized so that when the sample for which the reagent should have been dispensed at this timing is measured and the results are printed out, the fact that the reagent is insufficient can be printed along with the data. If there is electrical continuity between the electrode 61 and the probe 60, calculate the remaining amount of reagent in the reagent liquid tank 31, 31' based on the number of remaining pulses of the pulse motor control circuit, which has already been stored, using the following formula, and to be displayed.

however.

N: Remaining amount of reagent (number of residual fractions) S7: Horizontal cross-sectional area of reagent i tank (♂) K: Stroke (m) of pulse morph l step
) P2 ; Number of remaining pulses when the down counter detects the liquid level V; Amount of reagent collected per run (m*'), which differs depending on the analysis item and is stored for each analysis item.

FIG. 5 shows an example of displaying the remaining amount of reagent of KCRT56.

In the figure, R1 and R2 mean a first reaction liquid and a second reaction liquid, respectively, which are complementary to the reagents dispensed by the reagent pipetting sections 37 and 36, respectively. In this example, the number of analysis items is 1.
There are 6 types, and the remaining amounts of R1 and R2 reagents from ICH (channel) to 16CH are displayed by the number of fractions. Other possible units for displaying the remaining amount include the remaining volume or the height of the reagent liquid level, but the number of fractions remaining is
Easiest for operators to disassemble. At time T,' in FIG. 3, the required amount of the reagent to be dispensed is dispensed by the reagent pipettor 35. The reagent pipettor 35 is also operated independently of the reagent pipette ink portions 36 and 37, and is driven by a pulse motor and controlled by a microcomputer.

At the time 'leJ T4, the reagent pipetting part 36,37 is raised, contrary to the time T1. However, the pulse motor is stopped at this time not by the liquid level detection signal but by the top dead center detection number i that detects the top dead center of the reagent pipetting section 36,37. In conventional multi-item automatic analyzers, for example, if there are 30 reagent liquid tanks, 30 liquid level detectors and their necessary electrical circuits are required to detect a reagent shortage, resulting in an extremely complicated configuration. became. However, it was only possible to detect a shortage of reagents, and it was not possible to detect the remaining amount of reagents. In order to display the remaining amount of reagent, there was a method in which the amount of reagent sent was entered before the start of analysis, and the amount of used reagent was subtracted and displayed. I had to enter the amount of reagent, and even if I had to add more in the middle, I had to enter it again.

Next, the automatic repair function when the liquid level detection function fails will be explained. The liquid level detection function of the probe shown in FIG. 2 often makes detection errors. This is because the surfaces of the probe 60 and electrode 61 are wet with the liquid, so the insulation resistance between them decreases, creating a condition similar to that of being inserted into the liquid. This is because incorrect detection may occur. In other words, even if the probe is in the air, it can be detected as if it were in a liquid.

This means that the interface between air and liquid (liquid level) cannot be detected. If the liquid level detection function fails as described above, the reagent pipetting section 36. and 37 is the reagent liquid tank 3
1 and descend to 31'.

The downward movement continues without stopping even when the tip of the probe reaches the liquid level. It will not stop until the tip of 39 reaches the bottom of the reagent liquid tank. At this point, the suction and exhaust pipe 38. and 39 can inhale the reagent, but the suction/discharge tube 38. The surfaces of 39 and 39 are contaminated from top to bottom by the currently inserted reagent and cannot be used for the first dispensing of other reagents. In this embodiment, the above-mentioned troubles are avoided by providing a fault recovery function in the method of controlling the vertical movement of the reagent pipenting sections 36, 37- shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, reagent pipetting section 36.37
When the start of the downward movement, that is, at time T1, the control is provided with a failure recovery function. FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the failure repair function at the time T1. Its functions will be explained according to FIG. Before starting the descent at time T, first check the insulation between the probe 60 and the electrode 61. If the insulation is good, as described above, the number of pulses required for the maximum descending stroke is preset to the down counter of the Norculus motor control circuit, and the reagent pipenting section 36, 37 is lowered. If there is a defect in the insulation between the probe 0 and the electrode 61 when the bamboo starts descending at time 1 T, check whether there was a defect in the electrode insulation during the previous descent. Find out.

That is, if there are two consecutive electrode insulation failures.

This is not simply a decrease in insulation due to wetting of the electrode surface;
Some part of the electrode may have been damaged.

It is considered dangerous to continue attempting to repair failures using computer programs alone. Therefore, an electrode failure alarm is generated and the main program is requested to stop the analysis operation.

Of course, the descending motion will not start. Next, if the insulation of the electrode was poor during the current descent, but the insulation of the electrode was good during the previous descent, in other words, the poor insulation of the electrode this time is due to insulation degradation due to wetting of the electrode surface. This section describes a control method when it is determined that there is a possibility of failure and that there is a possibility of repair. First, as a reminder for the first time, remember that the electrode had poor insulation this time. next.

The remaining amount of reagent up to the previous time is read out, and the number of pulses P3 required for the downward stroke to the reagent liquid level is calculated using the following equation.

Ps=Ps-... 8K.

However, P is the number of pulses required for the maximum downward stroke, and the other symbols are the same as when calculating the remaining amount of reagent. The number of pulses calculated in this manner may be presented to the down counter of the pulse motor control circuit to start the descent of the reagent bipentine ink portions 36 and 37. According to the above method, even if there is an insulation failure of the electrode, the descending operation of the probe 60 can be stopped at the reagent liquid level even if one analysis operation is continued without suddenly stopping υ.

However, when implementing the single control method, the following precautions must be taken. That is, calculate the number of strokes required for the downward stroke as described above and descend.

When the tip of the probe 60 reaches the reagent liquid level and stops descending, the number of remaining pulses P on the down counter of the pulse motor control circuit becomes 0, and the calculated result of the remaining amount N of the reagent becomes O.
It becomes. Therefore, if the calculation result of the remaining amount of reagent N is 0, read out the quality of the electrode insulation at time T1, and if it is good, store O as it is, but if
If the answer is no, it is sufficient to subtract 1 from the previous reagent remaining amount N (number of remaining aliquots) and store N-1. Subtracting 1 means that the number of fractions remaining is reduced by one due to the current fractionation.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the probe 60. Even if a water drop or the like adheres to the electrode 61 and an insulation failure occurs between the two, the failure repair function allows the analysis operation to continue as if there had been no insulation failure without stopping the analysis operation. .

Furthermore, according to the embodiment of the present invention, no matter how many reagent liquid tanks increase, only one liquid level detector is required for the first reaction liquid and one for the second reaction liquid.
You only need one piece at a time.

It not only detects reagent shortages but also detects the remaining amount of reagents.

can be displayed.

Furthermore, according to an embodiment of the present invention, even if reagent is added during analysis, the remaining amount of reagent can be displayed each time without inputting the amount of reagent because the calculation is based on the number of remaining pulses of the pulse motor control circuit. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the glove 6
Since only a small amount of the tip of the probe 60 enters the reagent solution, there is little contamination of the tip of the probe 60 by reagents, and by simply washing with distilled water, the dispensing of multiple types of reagents can be achieved with one probe 60.

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to detect reagent shortage and display the remaining amount of reagent with an extremely simple configuration, and it is possible to continue analysis operation even if the liquid level detector becomes insulated. 1. Improved operating rate of analyzer: becomes possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the tip of the suction and exhaust pipe, FIGS. 3 and 4 are operation flowcharts of the reagent beventing section, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of display of the remaining amount of reagent. FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of a control method for continuing normal operation even if insulation failure occurs in the liquid level detector. 10... Sampler, 11... Sample table, 20
. . . reaction section, 21 . . . reaction table, 22 . . . reaction container. 27... Photometer, 30... Reagent liquid reservoir, 31.3
1'... Reagent liquid tank, 36.37... Reagent bipenting section. 40...Sampling mechanism, 55...Printer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A reaction container for storing a sample to be analyzed, a reagent solution storage section, a reagent distribution device that sucks a reagent solution from the reagent solution storage section and supplies it to the reaction container, and the reagent solution. A liquid level detector that detects the liquid level of the reagent liquid in the liquid storage part, and a system that reads the remaining amount of reagent up to the previous inhalation when this liquid level detector has poor insulation, provided that there was no insulation during the previous inhalation. a control unit that determines the downward stroke of the reagent liquid of the reagent dispensing device to the storage section; An automatic analyzer characterized by comprising: −