JPS6057259A - Device for biochemical analysis - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform measurement and rotation with one time of operation and to enable simplification of the operation by pressing a disc detained with plural measuring elements to perform prescribed measurement, releasing the pressing to make the disc move upward and rotating the same by a prescribed angle. CONSTITUTION:A disc 2 detained with plural measuring elements 3 is placed to a driving shaft 17 and is kept energized upward at all times by means of a spring 24. The shaft 17 is so provided as to be rotated intermittently by a Geneva cam 28 meshed with a pin 27 of a disc 26 which is driven by a motor 25. When the operator pushes a knob 44, the disc 2 is moved downward and the element 3 is brought into tight contact with an irradiating cylinder 39, by which prescribed measurement is accomplished. When the knob 44 is released, the disc 2 is lifted by a spring and a motor 25 starts running to rotate the shaft 17 at a prescribed angle via the Geneva mechanism so that the succeeding element 3 is moved into the irradiating cylinder. The measurement and movement are thus accomplished with one time of operation and the operation is simplified.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a biochemical analyzer, and more particularly to a device for chemically analyzing and measuring a liquid sample using a measuring element impregnated with a reaction reagent. .

[Conventional technology]

Generally for liquid samples such as blood and serum.

In many cases, it is necessary to know whether or not a particular component is contained in the liquid sample, or its content.

For this purpose, chemical analysis using reaction reagents is performed.

There are two methods for chemical analysis of liquid samples: the dry method and the wet method. Of these, the dry method uses a liquid sample measurement element consisting of a thin plate impregnated with a specific reagent sandwiched between mounts. A liquid sample to be analyzed is supplied dropwise to the element, placed in a thermostatic chamber for reaction, and the liquid sample and reagent are allowed to react, and the progress or results of the reaction are monitored.

For example, this method involves measuring and detecting changes in color density due to reactions using an optical density meter or other means, and is extremely convenient in that a liquid sample can actually be treated as a solid.

However, it is difficult to drop a large number of samples onto a measuring element one by one and measure the change in color density caused by one reaction using an optical density meter. Biochemical analyzers have been developed that use a disk that is locked in position and are installed so that the disk can be rotated at a constant angle, allowing photometry to be performed by sequentially moving measurement elements to measurement positions. The operation includes the operation of bringing the measuring element into close contact with the photometry section for photometry, the operation of performing photometry using the optical means for photometry, and the operation of moving the next measurement element above the measurement section by rotating the disk after photometry. The operation was complicated and troublesome because it depended on each individual operation. Also, the equipment has become larger.

It had become extremely expensive.

(Objective/Structure of the Invention) ゛The present invention is intended to solve the above problem, by lowering a disk in which a plurality of measuring elements are fixed at equidistant positions on the same circle, and Photometry starts in conjunction with the operation of bringing the measuring element into close contact with the photometry section placed directly below it.
an operation of bringing the measuring element together with the disk into close contact with the measuring section by configuring the disk to rotate by a predetermined angle by returning the disk to the upper position after photometry;
The object of the present invention is to provide a simplified biochemical analyzer that allows the photometric operation by a photometric optical means and the operation of moving the next measuring element above the measuring section by rotating the disk after photometry to be performed in one operation. .

(Example) Next, the present invention will be described based on an example shown in the accompanying drawings.

(2) is a main body, and at the front upper part of the main body 1 is a preheating chamber 4 for preheating the measuring element 3 fixed to the disk 2 together with the disk;
A photometry chamber 5 is provided for photometry of one measurement element 3 on the disk 2 in a heated state. The preheating chamber 4 and the photometry chamber 5 include a tray 7 supported by a plurality of columns 6 erected from the inner bottom surface of the main body 1, and a lid 9 attached to the tray 7 via a pivot member 8 so as to be openable and closable. It also serves as an exterior cover for the heat sink, which will be described later.

10 is a fixed heat sink attached to the inner surface of the tray 7 via a spacer 11; 12 is a spacer 1 attached to the inner surface of the lid 9;
This is an opening/closing heat sink attached via 1'. Circular grooves 10', 12' are provided on opposing surfaces of both of the hot plates 10, 120 to form a storage chamber 15 in which the disk 2 can be accommodated. Further, the fixing plate 10 and the opening/closing heat radiating plate 12 are heated to a predetermined temperature by the heat generated by the heating elements 13 and 14, respectively.

In addition, the attachment part 1 of the opening/closing heat sink 12 attached to the lid body 9
6 is semi-fixed so that it can be adjusted vertically. That is, in the process of closing the lid 9, the opening/closing heat sink 12 moves from the pivot point of the lid 9 to the fixed heat sink IO as shown in FIG. 3A.
This is because unless that part is released upward, it will not be possible to uniformly adhere the entire surface as shown in Figure B. In addition, by making the opening/closing heat sink 12 semi-fixed, after the lid body 9 is closed, the opening/closing heat sink 12 is completely brought into close contact with the fixed heat sink 10 due to its own weight, and a thermal exchange occurs between the nine heat sinks. will be obtained.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a drive shaft whose upper end protrudes into the disk storage chamber 15 through the center hole 18, 18' of the tray 7 of the measurement chamber 5 and the fixed heat sink lO. As shown in the figure, its lower end is vertically movably fitted into a shaft cylinder 19 that stands upright on the inner bottom surface of the main body 1 so as to be horizontally rotatable. A disk mounting plate 21 having the same shape as a non-circular fitting groove 20 provided on the lower surface of the center of the disk 2 is provided at the upper end of the drive shaft 17 . In addition, the drive shaft 17
is engaged with a long hole 22 provided on the outer surface of the shaft cylinder 19 via a pin 23, and can rotate integrally with the shaft cylinder 19.
1 is constantly pressed upward by a spring 24 loaded inside.

The drive shaft 17 is connected to the main body 1 as shown in detail in FIG.
The Geneva cam 28 is rotated in the direction of the arrow through gears 29 and 30 by the intermittent rotation of the Geneva cam 28 which meshes with a pin 27 provided at an eccentric position on a disc 26 fixed to the output shaft of a drive motor 25 provided at the bottom of the motor. There is. The rotation angle of the drive shaft 17 with respect to one rotation of the drive motor 25 is determined according to the number of measuring elements 3 equally arranged on the same circle of the disk 2. Since the measuring element is locked at eight equal parts, the drive shaft 17 is adjusted to rotate 1/8 per rotation of the drive motor 25.6 Also, the drive motor 25 is stopped after one rotation. The mechanism for this is a groove 31' provided on the circumferential surface of a disc body 31 fixed to the output shaft of the drive motor 25.

This can be done by the action of the microswitch 32 and the actuator 32'. That is, the starting of the two-disc body 31 is performed in response to a signal from a control circuit (not shown), and the second disc body 31 rotates once and the actuator 32' is activated at its a31'.
When the microswitch 320 is engaged, the drive motor 25 is stopped by the action of the microswitch 320. Of course.

- Other means (for example, an appropriate drive system such as a stamping motor) can be selected.

33 is an optical means for photometry, and a light source 34 such as a halogen lamp
The generated light passes through a lens 35 and a filter 36 into a photometric light beam of a desired wavelength, passes through a cylindrical slit 37 and is bent upward by a mirror 38, and passes through an irradiation tube 39 onto the measurement surface of the measurement element 3. The reflected light from the measurement surface, which depends on the sample, is transmitted to a light receiving element (not shown) through an optical fiber 40, thereby obtaining a desired measurement value. In this case, the light source 34 is turned on during lightning by turning on the main switch so that a stable photometric light beam can be obtained. and the cylindrical slit 3
A shutter blade 41 that is opened and closed by a rotary solenoid 53 is provided immediately before the shutter 7, so that a light beam can be irradiated onto the measuring element only during photometry.

That is, this is to prevent thermal effects on the measuring element. In addition, the photometric optical means 33 of the embodiment includes a transparent glass 42 inclined at 45° in the optical path of the photometric beam in order to eliminate as much as possible errors in measurement values due to changes in the light intensity of the photometric beam over time. A portion of the light reflected from the transparent glass 42 is referenced via an optical fiber 42' so that the measured value of the photometric light beam reflected from the measuring element can be corrected to a correct value.

The irradiation tube 39 that irradiates the measuring element 3 with a photometric beam by the photometric optical means 33 projects into the disk storage chamber 15 from the photometric window 43 provided on the tray 7 and the fixed heat sink 10. . The head of this irradiation tube 39 is sometimes referred to as a "photometering section" for convenience.

Reference numeral 44 denotes a knob for pushing down the entire disk 2 in the disk storage chamber 15 during photometry and bringing the measuring surface of one measuring element 3 on the disk into contact with the head (photometering section) of the irradiation tube 39.

The shaft end of the knob 44 is loosely fitted into a guide tube 45 fitted into the opening/closing heat sink 12 and the center hole of the heating element 14, and inserted into a slide tube 46 which can come into contact with the upper surface of the disk 2 via a collar 46'. The shaft of the knob 44 is pushed upward by a spring 47 loaded in the slide tube 46 (see FIG. 6A).
It has a through pin 49 that engages with. Therefore, knob 4
When 4 is pushed downward against the spring 47, the slide cylinder 46 is pushed by the elastic force of the spring 47, and the collar 46 is pushed downward.
', move the disk 2 down as shown in Figure 6B, and measure the measuring element 3.
is brought into close contact with the head of the irradiation tube 39. Since the downward movement of the disk 2 is eliminated together with the disk drive shaft 17, the actuator 51 of the microswivel notch 51 provided directly below the disk member 50 provided midway along the drive shaft 17
', and the shutter of the fill optical means 33 is
A rotary solenoid 53 that opens and closes the twine blades 41 can be driven.

During measurement, the knob 44 continues to be pressed while the shutter blade 41 opens and closes, but in the above-mentioned medium pressure state, the knob 44 rotates in a certain direction to move the through pin 49 horizontally in the L-shaped groove 48 of the slide tube 46. It is also possible to continue the pressed state by aligning the grooves 48'G with each other.

Note that the measuring element 3 usually has a hole 3a in the center as shown in the fourth figure.
It is made by impregnating a light-transmitting thin plate 3C, such as a film base, sandwiched between two rectangular outer frames 3bIJ14 with a specific reaction reagent for the purpose of analysis. The G disc 2 is locked in grooves provided at equidistant positions around the periphery of the disc 2.

Next, the effect will be explained.

Now, by turning on a main switch (not shown), the heating elements 13 and 14 are made to generate heat, and the light source 34 of the photometric optical means 33 is made to emit light.

The fixed heat sink 10 and the open/close heat sink 12 are heated by the heat generated by the heating elements 13 and 14. Accordingly, when the temperature inside the disk storage chamber 15 formed by the grooves 10' and 12' provided on the opposing surfaces of both heating plates reaches a predetermined temperature, the preheating chamber 4
Then, each lid 9 of the measurement chamber 5 is opened and the measurement element 3 is accommodated together with the disk in the groove 10' of the fixed heat sink 10.
Close the lid 9. After a certain period of time (several minutes) has passed and the measuring element 3 is in a used state, the lid 9 of the measuring chamber 5 is opened again and a sample for measurement such as blood is dispensed into each measuring element with a pipette. and close the lid body 9.

Thereafter, when the knob 44 provided on the top surface of the lid 9 is pushed down, the disk 2 moves downward as described above to bring one measurement element into close contact with the head of the irradiation tube 39 of the photometric optical means 33. The shutter blade 41 is opened and closed by the operation of this knob 44,
A photometric light beam from the light source 34 is irradiated onto the measuring surface of the measuring element 3, and the reflected light is transmitted to the light receiving element, and the measured value is displayed on the display window 52 of the main body l by a microcomputer (not shown). The information is recorded on a roll of recording paper (not shown).

When the photometry is completed, the pressure on the knob 44 is released, and a signal is sent from the control device built into the main unit.

The drive motor 25 starts and drives the drive shaft 1 through the Geneva mechanism.
7 is rotated by a certain angle to move the ninth-order measurement element onto the measurement section (the hem r of the irradiation tube 39).

In this way, once the photometry of all ′ measurement elements has been completed,
Open the lid 9 of the measurement chamber 5, take out the disk, and remove it from the preheating chamber 4.
The disk that has been preheated inside the chamber is loaded into the measurement chamber, and the above-mentioned operations are repeated.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the disk on which a plurality of measuring elements are fixed at equidistant positions on the same circle is moved downward, and one measuring element is brought into close contact with the photometric section arranged directly below it. The device is characterized in that the disk is rotated by a predetermined angle by starting photometry in conjunction and returning the disk to the upper position after photometry, so the operation of moving the disk downward to bring the measuring element into close contact with the measuring section. This has the excellent effect that the operation of opening and closing the shutter blade of the photometric optical means and the rotation of the disk after photometry to move the next measuring element above the measuring section can be performed by operating the knob. .

Further, the present invention has a simple structure and can be made compact as a whole, and is extremely convenient because it can simultaneously carry out a large number of measurements one after another in an assembly line manner.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figures show one embodiment of the invention, with FIG. 1 being a partially cutaway external perspective view, and FIG. 2 being a partially cutaway side view. Figures 3A and 3B are enlarged sectional views showing the process of closing the opening/closing heat sink, Figure 4 is a perspective view of the disk and its drive unit, Figure 5 is a side view of the photometric optical means, and Figure 6 is The relationship between the knob for starting photometry and the disk is shown; A is a sectional view before photometry starts, B is a sectional view during photometry, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the knob. 1-main body, 2-disc, 3-measuring element, 4-preheating chamber, 5-measuring chamber, 7-1-ray, 9-lid body. 10- Fixed heat sink, 12- Open/close heat sink, 13゜14
- Heating element, 15- Disk storage chamber, 17- Drive shaft, 25- Drive motor, 32.50- Micro switch,
33-optical means for photometry, 39-irradiation tube (photometering section), 44
-Pick. Patent applicant Konishiroku Photo Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A disk with multiple measuring elements fixed at equidistant positions on the same circle is moved down, and one measuring element on the disk is brought into close contact with the photometry section placed directly below, and photometry is started. . A biochemical analysis device characterized in that the disk is configured to rotate by a predetermined angle by returning the disk to an upper position after photometry.