JPS60247167A - Chemical manipulator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To smoothly feed the holder of a reaction container by driving the head for feeding said holder over a shortest distance, in a DNA sequencer, by flushing the upper end surface of the stage of a thermostatic tank or a mixer with the surface of a base table. CONSTITUTION:An X-screw shaft 5 and a Y-screw shaft 9 are provided to a base table 1 and a head 2 is attached to the shaft 5. The head 2 is freely driven to X-direction and Y-direction by revolving the X-screw shaft 5 and the Y-screw shaft 9. A holder receiving part 20, thermostatic ovens 21, 22, 23 held to predetermined temps., a mixer 24, a dryer 26, a centrifugal separator 26 and a nozzle stage 29 are provided on the base table 1 and the upper end surfaces of these stages are brought to the same height as that of the base table 1. The holder received in each stage is picked by the chuck 3 attached to the leading end of the head 2 and fed to a desired stage according to analytical operation. Because the each stage is formed so as to make the surface thereof same to that of the base table, the reactor holder of a chemical manipulator can be fed smoothly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to improvements in chemical manipulators [particularly, a novel improvement 1/1 for smoothing the movement of a head for conveying a holder of a reaction vessel. ! -It is related to

(Prior art) Chemical manipulators [I] have been conventionally used in NA sequencers, etc., but stages such as thermostatic chambers and mixers installed in the device have varying heights t (mounted at different heights). When a reaction container is stored in each stage, the head for holding and transporting the reaction container in a holder cannot move in the shortest distance and moves avoiding the protruding stage.

(Objective of the Invention) This invention has been made to quickly solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and by configuring the upper end surfaces of each stage to be on the same plane, the head can be driven at the shortest distance to the desired stage. The purpose is to provide a chemical manipulator that can

(Structure of the invention) The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a chemical manipulator related to the present invention. In the drawing, a plurality of stages, which will be described later, are arranged on a base 1.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a head which is arbitrarily driven on a flat table on the base 1; 3 a chuck member provided at the end of the head 2 for removably holding a holder 40 to be described later; 4 provided on the head 2; a two-axis motor for driving the chuck member 3 in a direction perpendicular to the base 1, a 2x threaded shaft passing through the nut hole of the head 2 at 5, an X-axis motor for rotationally driving the threaded rod 5 at 6;
an X guide shaft that passes through the 7tri head 2 and guides the head 2 in a movable manner in the X-axis direction; and an 8l-1 X-axis motor 6
9 is a Y-screw shaft that passes through the nut hole of the motor head 8, and 10 is a Y-axis motor that rotationally drives the X-screw shaft 9;
This is a shaft head that holds the other end of the X screw shaft 5 and the X guide shaft, and a Y guide shaft that passes through the 12id shaft head 11 and guides the shaft head 11 so as to be movable in the X direction. Then, the head 2 [X screw 2 is rotated by the rotation of the X screw shaft 5,
It moves in the axial direction, and is moved in the X-axis direction by rotation of the X screw shaft 9.

In addition, various stages are provided for accommodating a holder 40 (to be described later) of the base IKO. 20 is a holder storage part that can store 12 holders, +90°C and -20°C at 21°22.25, respectively.

It is a constant temperature bath at +20℃, and a lid 2 is placed on the constant temperature bath 21 at 90℃.
1a is available. 24 is a mixer, and a constant temperature bath 2
Like 1, 22, and 23, it can accommodate two holders. 25 is a dryer, 260 is a centrifugal separator having a holder storage bucket) 26a, 27 is an opening provided in the centrifugal separator 26, and this opening 27i1Qt lid 27a
is available. 28 is a balancer for the centrifugal separator 26.

Reference numeral 29 denotes a nozzle stage having a plurality of removable nozzles and a protrusion 50 for attaching and detaching each nozzle via the chuck member 3. Different reagents are poured out from each nozzle by a pump (not shown). It has become. All of the above stages are embedded in the base 1, and are disposed on the upper end surface of the holder 40 so as to be flush with the base 1 when the holder 40 is stored.

FIG. 2 shows details of the holder 40, with a plate section 41.
42 are through-holes formed at four locations in the plate portion 41, and a test tube-shaped reaction vessel 45 is inserted into each through-hole 42 and positioned and locked by a collar portion 45a.

Reference numeral 44 denotes a protruding holding portion protruding from the center of the upper surface of the plate portion 41, and has a small diameter portion 44a for removing the chuck member 51Ci. It goes without saying that the protrusion 60 of the nozzle stage 29 has the same shape as the protrusion holding part 44. A holder 40 configured as shown above is a positioning hole for the chuck member 3 in 45 and is housed in a recess 46VC of each stage provided on the base 1, and is housed in a hole 47 provided corresponding to each reaction vessel 43. be done. Since the depth of the recess 46 matches the depth of the plate 41, the upper end surface of the plate ``W5'' is always flush with the surface of the base 1.

FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are side cross-sectional views showing details of the n-head 2, including a nut hole 50 into which the X-screw shaft 5 is screwed;
52 is a two-screw shaft rotatably driven by a two-shaft motor 4;
11Z A chuck holding part for screwing with the threaded shaft 52 and holding the chuck member 3, 54 is a first cylindrical body fixed to the chuck holding part 53, and 55 is slidably provided on the outer periphery of the first cylindrical body 54. 57 is a guide element which is slidably provided in the opening 54a of the first cylinder and is urged downwardly through a compression spring 58. ,
Reference numeral 59 denotes a plurality of spheres provided in the notch 54 of the first cylinder, and the spheres 59 have a plurality of spheres provided between the inner wall of the tapered part 55a of the second cylinder and the outer peripheral surface of the small diameter end 557a of the guide. Supported. Guide pin inserted into positioning hole 45 when chucking 60ri holder 40, 61ij second
This switch pin 63 is a switch pin provided at the lower end of the first cylinder 54 and urged downward by a capsular spring 63a. When pushed upward by the holder plate portion 41, it engages the sensor lever 61, and a signal A is output to confirm that the holder 40 has been chucked.

64 is a rotary lever provided to be rotatable about a center pin 64a with respect to the chuck holding portion 53, and one end faces the tip 65aVc of the release 65, and the other end is engaged with the second cylinder 55. . When the release 65 is driven in the direction of arrow B by the plunger 66, the second cylindrical body 55 is raised against the spring 56 via the rotation lever 64.

Incidentally, FIG. 4 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the centrifugal separator 26, and 70
Fi centrifugal rotor, 71 is centrifugal motor, 72 is motor 7
1, a centrifugal shaft that rotates at high speed; 73, a sense plate provided on the centrifugal shaft 72; 74, a positioning sensor that detects the position by a sense plate 76; 75a, a drive provided at the other end of the positioning shaft 76; This is a magnet part that magnetically couples with the magnet part 75b.

77 is a rotor position fixing motor. Motor 7 to 78
A slider is provided on the shaft of 7 and is in contact with a cam 78, and a tip 79a of the slider is rotated by the motor 77 and protrudes in the direction of the arrow against the spring 80. 8b.

Therefore, when the centrifugal separator 26 stops, it is always fixed to the rotor 70 in a fixed position and can be removed from the holder.

(effect) Next, specific operations will be explained.

The chuck member 3 is attached to the holder 40 from the holder storage portion 20.
When holding the head 2, the X-axis motor 6 and Y-axis motor 10 move the head 2 over the base 1 in the shortest distance to the storage section 20.
reach the top. The chuck member stopped on a predetermined holder 40 is lowered by the sgz-axis motor 4, and the protruding holding portion 44 of the holder is inserted into the opening 54a of the first cylindrical body 54. When the chuck member 5 further descends, the chamfered portion 57bK of the protruding holding portion 44 is positioned, and the guide 57 is relatively pushed up against the spring 58. Then, the spherical body 59 released from the small diameter portion 57a presses the rainbow protruding holding portion 44 against the tapered portion 55a in the radial direction, falls into the small diameter portion 44a, and is locked. At this time, the spring 56 causes the second cylindrical body 5 to
5 falls by the gap with the lower end of the first cylindrical body 54 to support the sphere 59 from the outer periphery, and the sphere 59 falls from the small diameter 6iS44a.
Fix it so that it does not fall out. Next, when the chuck member 3 rises, the holder 40 is lifted and becomes ready to be transported to a desired stage. At this time, since the guide pin 60 engages with the positioning hole 45, the boulder 40 does not rotate.

In order to remove the holder 40 from the head 2 by one stroke, after storing the desired stage concave = (146K), the second cylindrical body 55 is moved against the spring 56 by the plunger 66 via the release 65 and the rotation lever 64. Then the sphere 59
When the chuck member 3 is lifted in this state, the weight of the holder 4o causes the sphere 59 to come off the small diameter portion 44a.
The protruding holding portion 44 separates from the chuck member 5. When the holder 40 is removed from the head, the rotating lever 64 is reset and the guide 57 falls again, returning the chuck member 3 to the state shown in FIG. 3(b).

When adding a reagent to the sample in the reaction container 45 in the constant temperature tank 25 at +20°C, the chuck member 3 is used to hold the protrusion 6o as described above, and the desired nozzle is transported from the nozzle stage 29. Let's do it. At this time, each nozzle is connected to a pump by a tube (not shown), and can be moved to the constant temperature bath 23.

The lids 21a, 27a and the balancer 28 also have protrusions 30 similar to the nozzles, and can be attached and detached as required via the chuck member 3 as described above. In order to prevent the sample inside the reaction container 43 from drying out in the +90°C constant temperature bath, a pair of through holes 21b are formed in the lid 21a (additionally added) to allow the protruding holding part 44 of the holder 4o to escape. As shown in FIG. 4, a pair of packets 26ald of the separator 26 are provided so as to be able to swing freely on a diagonal line.Therefore, two holders can be set, but if only one holder is used, the balancer 28 is stored in the other packet 26.

Since the opening 2'7 of the centrifugal separator is covered with a metal lid 2'7a during use, the installation position of the bucket 26a is sufficiently lower than the opening 27 by more than the height of the protruding holding part 44. . Therefore, when putting the holder 40 in and out of the bucket) 26a,
The chuck member 5 is driven equally in two axes.

When adding a sample system at a constant temperature M23 of +20°C, after setting the holder 40 in the constant temperature bath 26, move the chuck member 3 onto the nozzle stage 29 and hold the desired reagent nozzle via the protrusion 30. Then, it is moved onto the constant temperature bath 25 and the reagent is injected into the reaction container 43 within the holder.

A swingable packet is housed in the mixer 24, similar to a centrifugal separator, and mixing is performed by a swing motor (not shown).

All of the above operations are carried out in the required sequence according to signals from a control section (not shown), so that by simply setting a group of holders in the holder storage section 20, the process is completed automatically and quickly.

(Effects) As described above, according to the present invention, the upper end surface of each stage such as a thermostatic chamber and mixer is configured to be on the same plane so as to match the surface of the base, so that the holder that holds the reaction vessel can be transported easily. It is possible to provide a chemical manibulator that can drive the head over the shortest distance and quickly transport the holder to a desired stage.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the holder, FIG. 5(a) is a side partial sectional view of the U head, and FIG. 3(b) is a chuck member. FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the centrifugal separator. 1...Base 2...Head 3...Chuck member 4...2-axis motor 5...X
Screw shaft 6...X-axis top 7...X guide shaft 9.
...Y screw shaft 10...Y-axis motor 12...Y guide shaft 20...Holder storage part 21...+90℃ constant temperature chamber 22...-20℃ constant temperature chamber 23...+20℃ constant temperature Tank 24...Mixer 25...Dryer 26...Centrifugal separator 26a...Packet 27...
・Opening hole 28... Balancer 29... Nozzle stage 60... Projection part 40...
・Holder 43...Reaction container 44...Protruding holding part
46... Concavity 47... Hole 50... Nut hole 51... Straight hole 52... 2 screw shaft 54...
- First cylindrical body 55... Second cylindrical body 57... Guide element 5
9... Sphere 6108. Sensor lever 64... Rotating lever 64a
... Center bottle 65 ... Release 66 ... Plunger 70 ... Centrifugal rotor 71 ... Centrifugal motor
72... Centrifugal shaft 76... Sensor plate 74... Positioning sensor 76... Positioning motor 77... Rotor fixed motor 7816. Power, 79...Slider and above Applicant Seiko Electronic Industries Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Mogami Figure 2 7/7 Figure 3 (α)

Claims (1)

[Claims] A head that can be driven arbitrarily in a plane along an X guide and a Y guide, a plurality of stages including a constant S tank and a mixer provided on a plane opposite to this head, and a plurality of stages that include a constant S tank and a mixer, and A chemical manipulator consisting of a holder selectively housed in each stage and a plurality of reaction vessels held in the holder is configured such that the upper end surfaces of the plurality of stages are on the same plane. A chemical manipulator whose percentage is .