JPS59157530A - Automatic sample sealing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform a series of sample sealing operations successively and automatically by carrying out the operations in relation to a pair of data corresponding to slide glass on a conveyance path and the detection signal of the slide glass. CONSTITUTION:A control part 800 is provided with a memory 850 which is stored with a pair of data corresponding to the slide glass on the conveyance path and the detection signal of the slide glass and shifts the contents, and control operation is performed on the basis of the contents. For example, a judgment on the size of the sample is made while the slide glass 110 moves from a position 210A to a position 210B. Then, a liquid adhesive is dispensed onto the glass 110 at a position 210C during the stop period of a device 200, cover glass is sorted in a stop period in a preliminary state wherein the glass 110 is moved to a position 210E, and sealing operation is performed by an adhering device at the position 210E during the stop period.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Technical field to which the invention pertains) The present invention relates to an automatic specimen enclosing device, and particularly to a slide glass that is supplied to a conveying means at predetermined time intervals. The present invention relates to an automatic specimen enclosing device that monitors a slide glass during the transport process and determines whether or not to perform the work in order to sequentially perform the work.

(Prior art and its problems) Generally, tissue specimens for microscopy used for cell tissue examination etc. are prepared as pre-treatment.

The material cut out to an appropriate size is dehydrated with alcohol, etc., embedded in paraffin, etc., further sliced, and sealed with adhesive and a cover glass of about 0.09 to 0.1 nm. It is considered to be an enclosed specimen that can be preserved.

However, conventionally, most of these steps have been performed manually. In recent years, efforts have been made to automate each of these processing steps, but there are various problems with attaching the slide glass.

(Object of the Invention) The object of the present invention is to fully automate such a specimen encapsulation device, and to detect a slide glass moving on a conveyance path and perform a predetermined operation at a predetermined position. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic specimen enclosing device having such a control mechanism.

(Summary of the Invention) In other words, one aspect of the present invention is a conveying means for moving a slide glass fed onto a conveyance path at a predetermined pitch at predetermined time intervals, and a means for moving the slide glass at a predetermined pitch in the vicinity of a position where the slide glass is fed. A slide glass detecting means for detecting whether or not the slide glass is supplied, and a plurality of blocks corresponding to positions for each pitch on the conveyance path on which the slide glass is moved, and the blocks correspond to the slide glasses on the conveyance path. storing the data and the signal detected by the slide glass detection means as set data;
a storage device capable of moving the group data to the adjacent block corresponding to the next movement position # in synchronization with the movement of the slide glass; This system is characterized in that work is executed in relation to set data.

(Embodiment of the Invention) An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of the configuration of an automatic specimen enclosing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This is a slide glass shooter in which 100 slide glasses 110 are fed one by one to a conveying device 200 at predetermined time intervals, and the slide glasses 110 fed from the chute 100 are transferred to the right side of the figure by the conveying device 200. It is carried from the front to the left.

= 3- 300 is a discrimination device, and the slide glass 110 on the conveyance device 200 is first subjected to discrimination by this discrimination device 300 as to the size of the specimen attached to its upper surface. Next, the slide glass 110 whose sample size has been detected by the discrimination device 300 is sent to the liquid-based device 400, where an adhesive liquid is applied to the slide glass 110 according to the size of the sample.
Supplied on top.

This is a 500&'1 force bar glass sorting and feeding device. 510
is the sorter, and one sorter 510 has a sorting section 511 for storing cover glasses of a plurality of types, four different sizes in this example, stacked up and down.
The extraction mechanism 530 can selectively pull out only one cover glass of a size corresponding to the size of the specimen. The cover glass that has been further pulled out is transferred to the transfer mechanism 550.
After the adhesive liquid has finished dropping, it is guided onto the slide glass which has been transported to the bonding position.

Below the slide glass 110 at this bonding position, there are four adhesive bags @600 that are moved up and down at appropriate timing to bond the slide glass 110 and the cover glass. Therefore, the slide glass 110 is attached to the adhesive device 6.
After being placed on the pedestal of 00, the cover glass was gently dropped from above and a slight pressing force was applied to complete the adhesive encapsulation.

The slide glass 110 that has been completely sealed is stored in the storage device 700.
The products are extruded one after another into the product section 710. In this way, a predetermined number of glass slides 110 that have been sealed accumulate in the product section 710 (10 in this example).

The tray (saucer) 750 is automatically pushed out by the extrusion mechanism 730.
With a total of 40 products stored in the tray, 1 gigaung of slide glass packaging is completed.

Furthermore, 800 is a control unit that controls these series of enclosing operations by a microcomputer (CPU) not shown, and 810 is an operation panel thereof. The operation panel 810 is provided with a display, switches, various display means for when an abnormality occurs, etc., and the enclosing device can be operated and its operation can be monitored via the operation panel 810. Note that 820 is a switch box equipped with a button switch for starting and stopping the enclosing device.

Next, a control mechanism for detecting the movement of the slide glass 110 and performing each work operation will be explained with reference to FIG. Here, slide glasses 111 to 118 are supplied onto the conveyance path 210 of the conveyance device 200, and these slide glasses 111 to 118 are fed from the chute 100 (see FIG. 1) located on the right side of the figure. It is dropped onto the conveyance path 210 at predetermined time intervals. Each time these slide glasses 110 are dropped, they are transported to the right at a predetermined pitch by the claws 231 of the roller chain 230 shown in FIG. From position 2103, 21OA, 210B,...
...It is being moved to the position of 210G.

In the case of this example, 301 is an actuator that starts the operation of the discrimination device 300, 401 is an actuator that starts the operation of the liquid device 400, and 601 is an actuator that starts the operation of the adhesive device 600, which will be described later. A program according to a flowchart is started to carry out operations in each of the devices 300, 400 and 600.

250A and 250B are at position 210A and position 21
These sensors serve as slide glass detection means provided along the transport path 210 at 0G (see FIG. 1), and these sensors 250A and 250B detect the transport path 21.
The presence or absence of the slide glass 110 at each position 2108 to 210G on 0 can be detected.

Furthermore, the control unit F100K is provided with a memory 850 that allows the memory contents to be shifted, so that the slide glass 110 is now positioned at positions 2108 to 210G as shown in FIG.
, the memory 850 has locations 2108 to 210G as shown in the third column.
The data 1 to 8 corresponding to the slide glass numbers 112 to 118, respectively, and the slide glass presence/absence detection signal (1" and 0") based on binary signals are stored. Location 2 on road 210
10F, that is, the case where there is no slide glass 116 at the position of the adhesive part actuator 601 is shown. Therefore, the detection signal in block E is "0".
Furthermore, the slide glass 112 is detected by the sensor 250A at the position 210A.

1'' is stored as the glass detection signal.

Next, in this state, if the slide glasses 111 to 11B at each position 2108 to 210G move one step to the left in FIG. 2 as the next slide glass 110 is supplied, the memory 8'50 The data in block A is also shifted one bit to the left, and as shown in Figure 3+Bl, the previous data B in block G is shifted and disappears, and the slide glass 11 in block A is also shifted to the left.
Corresponding data 1 of 1 and detection signal ``1'' are input.

However, suppose that each of the slide glasses 111-117 were in such positions 210A-210G.

The control unit 800 searches the data in the memory 850, and since the detection signal "1" is input to the blocks A and CK, flags for executing the work in these blocks A and C are set. − In addition, in the automatic specimen enclosing device, the transport device 2
The work to be performed during the moving operation of the transport device 200 and the work to be performed during the stop period of the transport device 200 are set by sequence control. The liquid work for supplying the adhesive liquid onto the slide glass 110 is performed during the stop period of the conveying device 200 at the position 210C, and the cover glass sorting and supplying operation is performed to sort and supply cover glasses onto the slide glass 110. The work is mainly performed during the stop period before the slide glass 110 is moved to the position 210E, and the enclosing work by the adhesive device 600 is performed during the stop period at the position z1og.

Therefore, first, the control operation by the sequence control mechanism configured as described above will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4. Now, suppose that each slide glass 110 moves one step from the state shown in FIG. 2 and stops. First, the flag is reset, and then the signal shown in FIG. Since the detection signal of block A is "1", a flag is set to cause the determination unit 300 to perform the determination work.

Furthermore, if the detection signal to block K is 10", the detection signal of the next block C is 1" without setting a flag.
Search whether it is or not. Thus, in this example, since the detection signal is '1', the C flag is set to cause the liquid device 400 to perform the K liquid operation, and furthermore, by searching block E, the detection signal is 1.
1'', an E flag is set that causes the adhesive device 600 to perform the enclosing operation.

Note that if each slide glass 110 is in the position shown in FIG. 2, the memory 850 stores the third
Since a signal as shown is input to the device, when block E is searched, the detection signal is O'', so the E flag is not set.

As a result of the search, the C flag is set, so that the liquid part actuator 40 is activated during this stop period.
The liquid operation is carried out via the adhesive section actuator 601, and the adhesive sealing operation is carried out via the adhesive section actuator 601. Subsequently, each slide glass 110 is moved one step by the transport device 200, but since the A flag is set here, the size determination work of the specimen is executed via the discrimination section actuator 301 during this movement. Ru.

In this way, work is performed at each predetermined position in accordance with the movement and stopping of the slide glass 110, but as shown in FIG.
1 indicates the state of data in the memory 850 when the array of slide glasses 110 as shown in FIG. 2 is moved six steps by repeating such operations.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a conveyance device that moves a slide glass supplied on a conveyance path at a predetermined pitch at every predetermined time interval, and a conveyance device that moves a slide glass supplied on a conveyance path at a predetermined pitch. A means for detecting the presence or absence of a slide glass provided near a position where the glass slide is being transported, and data corresponding to each slide glass to be transported and a detection signal from the above-mentioned detection means are transmitted to each moving position for each pitch on the transport path. A storage device is provided that can store the memory contents in the corresponding block and shift such memory contents to the adjacent block corresponding to the next movement position in synchronization with the movement of the slide glass. It would be possible to detect the glass at a predetermined position and perform operations related to specimen encapsulation at each of these predetermined positions, so that a series of specimen encapsulation operations could be performed continuously and automatically.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of the automatic specimen enclosing device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of slide glass monitoring means for executing the series of operations, and FIG. -t A block diagram showing three aspects of data movement states in the memory of the slide glass monitoring means, and FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a procedure for executing a series of operations by the slide glass monitoring means. 100...Slide glass shooter. 110, 111-118...Slide glass. 12- 200... Conveyance device, 210... Conveyance path, 2108
．． 210A-210G...Position. 230...Roller chain% 231...Claw, 25
0A, 250B...Slide glass detection sensor. 300... Discrimination device, 301.401,601... Actuator, 400
...liquid device, 50'O...cover glass sorting and supply device. 510... sorter, 511... sorting department,
530...Extraction mechanism, 550...Transfer mechanism. 600... Adhesive device, 700... Storage device, 710... Product department, 730... Extrusion mechanism. 750...Saucer, 800...Control unit, 8
10... Operation panel, 820 river switch box, 8
50...Memory, A-G...Block. Patent Applicant: Sankyo Co., Ltd. Applicant: Fuji Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd., 1-1 Tanabe Shinden, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Fuji Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Inventor: Matsui, 7-11-13 Tamahei, Takato, Hino City, Japan Applicant: 0 Fuji Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd. 1-1-189 Tanabeshinden, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City

Claims (1)

[Claims] a conveyance means for moving a slide glass to be fed onto a conveyance path at a predetermined pitch at every predetermined time interval; and a slide glass for detecting whether or not the slide glass has been fed near a position where the slide glass is fed. a detection means, and a plurality of blocks corresponding to pitch-wise positions on the conveyance path on which the slide glass is moved, and data corresponding to the slide glass on the conveyance path and detected by the slide glass detection means are provided in the blocks. and a storage device capable of storing the set data as set data and moving the set data to the adjacent block corresponding to the next movement position in synchronization with the movement of the slide glass. An automatic specimen enclosing device characterized in that an operation is executed in relation to the set of data stored in the block of the device.