JPS6128303B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic sample supply device for sequentially supplying test samples to an automatic analyzer such as a blood analyzer. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic sample supply device that can supply samples efficiently and reliably.

Generally, when supplying a sample such as blood, which has a relatively high viscosity and tends to precipitate, to an analyzer, it is necessary to prevent contamination between samples and to supply a sufficiently stirred and shaken sample. Samples are supplied to the analyzer manually by using a shaking device provided separately from the main body of the analyzer, or by stirring and shaking directly by hand. For this reason, human labor is required for so-called preprocessing, and even if it is possible to eliminate labor for analysis, it is not possible to completely save labor.

Conventionally, as a sample supply device for an automatic chemical analyzer, in most cases, a disk-shaped loader has many holes around its periphery, sample containers are placed and held in these holes, and the loader is used to feed a single sample container. A method is used in which the sample is aspirated and supplied by rotating the sample suction pipe up and down. The method using a disk-shaped loader has only one row of holes drilled near the circumference of the loader, and in order to load and hold multiple samples at the same time, the circumference of the loader must be made longer. Therefore, it is conceivable to increase the diameter of the disk-shaped loader or to decrease the diameter of the sample container. However, increasing the diameter of the disc-shaped loader requires more space and makes handling the loader inconvenient. There is also a limit to reducing the diameter of the sample container. That is, the sample suction pipe may accidentally jump out of the sample container, which is undesirable. Furthermore, the method of raising and lowering the sample suction pipe has disadvantages in terms of sample contamination because the path through which the sample passes is long, and it also has drawbacks such as requiring a large amount of the previous sample. be.

In addition, as a method to use space effectively, there is a method of moving a rectangular parallelepiped box-type loader that holds and holds multiple sample containers in a row back and forth, Methods such as randomly arranging sample containers and feeding them one after another are possible, but both require force to push or pull on a flat surface, and compared to a disk-shaped loader that rotates around an axis. However, there are drawbacks such as the driving device being somewhat complicated and large-scale, and requiring a considerable amount of driving force.

Furthermore, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 141691/1983, a continuous automatic colorimetric measuring device has been proposed which is equipped with a table feeding mechanism, a table sliding mechanism, and a test tube lifting/lowering mechanism. However, in this device, the drive uses a motor and a cam,
The structure is complicated, and since a suction pipe with wings is fixed to shake the container, a shaking device is required.Furthermore, there is no container presence/absence detection device, so the number must be memorized in advance. There are problems such as lack of certainty.

In any case, a disc-shaped loader is the simplest, but it has the disadvantage of having a small capacity to accommodate samples per area, and it also has problems with sample suction and stirring methods, as well as problems with highly viscous samples. It was not possible to easily use an automatic sample supply device for the blood analyzer used.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and includes a loader that holds sample containers in a plurality of rows in a circular manner, and an upper part of a rotating shaft is fixed to a loader platform for mounting and fixing the loader. A feed gear is fixed to the lower part of this rotating shaft, a feed pawl that meshes with this feed gear is fixed to the tip of the piston rod of a cylinder device, and the cylinder device is driven. A loader rotation device configured to intermittently rotate the loader, a loader horizontal movement device configured to move the loader and rotation device horizontally by one row of sample containers using a cylinder device, and a small diameter hollow rod inside a large diameter hollow rod. A head for raising and lowering the sample container is fixed to the upper end of a small-diameter rod of a telescopic mechanism in which the rod can be extended and telescopically inserted, and a spring with an arcuate cross section is attached to the lower end of the small-diameter rod fixed to this head. The upper end of the spring material is fixed, the lower end of this spring material is connected to a winding spool, and this winding spool is connected to a horizontally installed cylinder device via a gear mechanism, and this cylinder is A sample container elevating device configured to rotate a take-up spool and move a spring member forward or backward to raise or lower the sample container to a predetermined position by operating the device, and when the sample container is raised. The automatic sample supply device is equipped with a sample agitation suction device that stirs the sample by rotating or vibrating a sample suction pipe whose lower end is located inside the sample, and a sample container detection device that detects the position of the sample container containing the sample. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an automatic sample supply device that has a sample storage capacity twice as large as a conventional device in the same space and is effective as a supply device for relatively high viscosity blood, etc. It is.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be explained based on embodiments shown in the drawings. The automatic sample supply device of the present invention can be roughly divided into devices having the following five functions. Namely, (1) a loader horizontal movement device for shifting the disc-shaped loader together with the loader rotation device (see Figures 1 to 3), (2) a loader rotation device for rotating the disc-shaped loader ( (See Figures 4 and 5), (3) Sample container lifting device for raising and lowering the sample container (see Figures 10 to 15), (4) Rotating the sample suction pipe to stir the sample such as blood. (5) A device having a function of detecting the presence or absence of a sample container (see FIGS. 6 to 9). An automatic sample feeder is included.

Although this embodiment describes the case where the sample containers of the loader are arranged in double rows (two rows), it is also possible to arrange them in multiple rows (three or more rows).
In addition, this embodiment describes a case where it is applied to an automatic blood analyzer, in which 100 samples can be placed on the outside and 50 samples each on the inside, and in addition to being used as a sample container, it can also be used for daily tests. It is used as a holder for fixing the test tube being used, and for this purpose a container with an inner diameter of 12 to 15 mm is used.

The automatic sample supply device of the present invention includes a disk-shaped loader 2 for mounting and holding a sample container 1;
A loader platform 3 for fixing the loader platform 3, a rotating shaft 4 for rotating the loader platform 3, a feed gear 5 fixed to the lower part of the rotating shaft 4, a feed pawl 6 that meshes with the teeth of the feed gear 5, a feed pawl 6 fixed to the tip of the piston rod 7, a shift base 10 that rotatably supports the rotating shaft 4, a shift cylinder device 12 with the tip of the piston rod 11 fixed to the shift base 10, and a loader. A shift rail 13 for laterally moving the loader 2 along with the rotation device, a base 14, and a sample container lifting device 1
5, sample stirring suction device 16 and light emitting unit 17,
It includes a sample container detection device consisting of a light receiving section 18.

As shown in Figures 1 to 3, the loader 2 is, for example, a synthetic resin disc with a diameter of about 30 cm, and has two holes near its outer periphery for mounting and holding the sample container 1.
They are arranged in circular rows. This loader 2 has a pin protruding from the lower surface of the loader 2 so that it can be attached to and removed from the loader pedestal 3, and so that the loader 2 rotates in conjunction with the loader pedestal 3. 20 is provided, and this pin 20 is fitted into a hole 21 of the loader platform 3 (see FIG. 4). The legs 22 provided on the loader 2 are for making the loader 2 independent when removed from the loader platform 3. The loader platform 3 has a rotating shaft 4
Further, a feed gear 5 is fixed to the lower part of the rotating shaft 4, and a feed pawl 6 fixed to the tip of the piston rod 7 of the rotating cylinder device 8 meshes with the feed gear 5. According to the movement of the cylinder device 8, the feed gear 5 is fed one pitch at a time and rotates intermittently. The rotating shaft 4 is rotatably supported on the shift base 10. Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the feed gear 5 is provided with a counterbore 23 at a position corresponding to the sample container 1.
The temporary stop mechanism 26 is operated in conjunction with an optical means for detecting, for example, the light emitting section 24 and the light receiving section 25. The temporary stop mechanism 26 is configured, for example, to operate a piston 27 using compressed air pressure and press the ball 28 against the counterbore 23 . When the rotating cylinder device 8 operates, the compressed air passage is closed and the return spring of the piston 27 causes the piston 27 to rise, or negative pressure is applied instead of compressed air to attract the piston 27 and cause it to rise. Then, the temporary stop mechanism 26 is temporarily released. Therefore, the loader 2 always stops at a predetermined position, and at the same time, the brake is released when the loader rotates, so a very small rotating cylinder device 8 is sufficient.

In this embodiment, the loader 2 has an outer diameter of 50 mm.
There are 50 holes on the inside for inserting a total of 100 sample containers, and as shown in Figure 1, the outer samples are measured one after another, and when the number of samples reaches 50, the shift cylinder device 12 is activated and shift rail 1
3 and shift the loader 2 together with the shift base 10 to the position shown in FIG. The piston shaft of the shift cylinder device 12 is fixed to the shift base 10, and the main body side of the shift cylinder device 12 is fixed to the base 14. The remaining 50 inner samples are measured at the positions shown in Figure 2.

Next, the sample container elevating device will be explained based on FIGS. 10 to 15. Reference numeral 30 denotes a head that fits into the bottom of the sample container 1. This head 30 is made of a material such as silicone rubber and is capable of feeding out a small diameter rod into a large diameter rod and is a telescopic mechanism formed by inserting the rod in a telescopic manner. is fixed to the upper end of the small diameter rod. 1st
Figures 0 and 11 show large diameter rod 3 as an example.
1. This shows a case in which three rods, a medium-diameter rod 32 and a small-diameter rod 33, are combined and configured to move sequentially from the inside. The lower end of the small diameter rod 33 located at the center is fixed to the upper end of the spring member 34. Examples of the spring material 34 include a steel spring material with an arc-shaped cross section and a synthetic resin spring material used in tape measures and the like. The spring material 34 is wound into a spring shape and stored in a spring material storage case 35 shown in FIGS. 13 to 14. Note that all of FIGS. 13 to 15 show the state in which the spring material is not housed in order to clearly represent the structure. The spring material storage case 35 is equipped with a winding spool 36 and a spool driving gear 37, this gear 37 meshes with a spur gear 38, and one end of this spur gear 38 is connected to a cylinder device 40. By operating the cylinder device 40, the spool 36 is rotated, and the spring member 34 is advanced or retreated to raise or lower the sample container 1 to a predetermined position. In this way, there is an advantage that the vertical limit can be regulated by the magnitude of horizontal movement of the cylinder device 40, and the sample container can be easily stopped at a predetermined position. Note that when a rotary drive device is used, regulating the upper and lower limits is relatively troublesome.

Next, the sample stirring and suction device will be explained based on FIGS. 16 to 18. In this example, stirring is performed by rotating or vibrating the sample suction pipe 41, instead of stirring by blowing air into the sample or inserting a stirring rod in the shape of a propeller, as in the conventional case. The sample suction pipe 41 is made of a fluororesin having excellent chemical resistance and abrasion resistance, and is connected to a quantitative determination section of the automatic analyzer main body. As shown in FIG. 18, outside the sample suction pipe 41, there is provided an outer cylinder 42 having a double pipe structure in which the hole for holding the sample suction pipe 41 is eccentric. That is, the sample suction pipe 41 is connected to the outer cylinder 42.
It is inserted and held eccentrically inside. A pulley 43 is fixed to the upper part of the outer cylinder 42, and this pulley 43 and a pulley 45 connected to the rotating shaft of a motor 44 are connected by a belt 46. When the motor 44 is operated, the pulleys 43 and 45 rotate, causing the outer tube 42 to rotate and the sample suction pipe 41 to rotate eccentrically. The rotation speed of pulley 43 is 2000~
3000r.pm, even highly viscous samples such as blood can be stirred instantly and uniformly. Further, since stirring is performed by the sample suction pipe 41, contamination between samples can be extremely reduced. Note that instead of eccentrically rotating the sample suction pipe 41, the sample suction pipe may be configured to vibrate.

Next, a sample container detection device attached to the loader rotation device will be explained. As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 6 to FIG. 9, whether the samples in the outer row of the loader 2 or the samples in the inner row are being measured, Similarly, in order to be able to detect the presence or absence of a sample container, the optical path is set diagonally in the vertical and horizontal planes, so that detection can be performed under the same conditions. The detection device is an optical device consisting of a light emitting section 17 and a light receiving section 18, and is configured to prevent erroneous sky measurements and to stop the operation of the device or issue an alarm. be able to.

In this embodiment, a two-row loader system has been described, but it is also possible to further increase the number of rows to create a multi-row system.

As described above, the automatic sample supply device of the present invention arranges sample containers in multiple rows in a circle on a disc-shaped loader, and moves the loader in the lateral direction using a cylinder device, thereby performing other operations such as loader rotation, sample container elevation, etc. Since the function is effectively performed, the area occupied per specimen can be reduced. Furthermore, since the sample container is lifted and lowered to bring it to the sample suction pipe, and stirring is performed by the sample suction pipe itself, contamination between samples can be prevented as much as possible. Furthermore, the configuration is relatively simple and operation is reliable, and since it is equipped with a sample container detection device, it is possible to prevent empty measurements and stop the operation. This has the effect of matching the specimen number and data order (number), and is suitable for handling highly viscous blood samples.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show embodiments of the present invention; Fig. 1 is a partial cross-sectional front view of the automatic sample supply device clearly showing the loader horizontal movement device, and Fig. 2 shows the loader horizontally moving one row of sample containers. FIG. 3 is a bottom view showing the main parts of the automatic sample supply device; FIG. 4 is a partial cross-section explanatory diagram of the loader rotation device; FIG. The figure is a plan view of the loader rotating device, Figure 6 is a plane explanatory diagram showing the state in which the outer sample container is detected, Figure 7 is an explanatory side view of the same, and Figure 8 is the plan view showing the state in which the inner sample container is detected. 9 is an explanatory side view of the same side, FIG. 10 is a sectional view of the sample container lifting device showing the sample container in a lowered state, and FIG. 11 is a plan view showing the sample container in an elevated state. Cross-sectional view of the container lifting device,
FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the sample container and the head for lifting the sample container, FIG. 13 is a front view showing the drive unit of the sample container lifting device, FIG. 14 is a plan view of the same, and
Figure 5 is a perspective view of the spring material storage case, Figure 16 is a plan view of the sample stirring and suction device, Figure 17 is a front view of the same,
FIG. 18 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 17. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Sample container, 2... Loader, 3... Loader stand, 4... Rotating shaft, 5... Feed gear, 6... Feed claw, 8... Rotating cylinder device, 10... Shift base, , 12...shift cylinder device, 1
3...Shift rail, 14...Base, 15...
...Sample container lifting device, 16...Sample stirring and suction device, 17...Light emitting section, 18...Light receiving section, 24...
Light emitting section, 25... Light receiving section, 26... Temporary stop mechanism, 27... Piston, 28... Ball, 30...
...Head, 34...Spring material, 35...Spring material storage case, 36...Spool, 37...Gear, 38...
... Spur gear, 40 ... Cylinder device, 41 ... Sample suction pipe, 42 ... Outer cylinder, 43 ... Pulley, 4
4...Motor, 45...Pulley, 46...Belt.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A loader that holds multiple rows of sample containers in a circular manner;
The upper part of the rotating shaft is fixed to a loader platform for mounting and fixing this loader, the loader and the loader platform are attached with pins, a feed gear is fixed to the lower part of this rotating shaft, and the feed gear meshes with the feed gear. A loader rotation device is configured to intermittently rotate a feed gear and a loader by fixing a feed pawl to the tip of a piston rod of a cylinder device and driving the cylinder device, and a loader and loader rotation device are horizontally rotated by the cylinder device. A loader horizontal movement device that moves one row of sample containers in the direction, and a telescopic mechanism that allows a small diameter rod to be fed out and telescopically inserted into a large diameter hollow rod. The upper end of a spring material with an arcuate cross section is fixed to the lower end of a small diameter rod fixed to this head, and the lower end of this spring material is connected to a winding spool. The take-up spool is connected to a horizontally installed cylinder device via a gear mechanism, and by operating this cylinder device, the take-up spool is rotated to move the spring material forward and backward, and the Sample stirring involves rotating or vibrating a sample container lifting device configured to raise or lower the sample container to the position and a sample suction pipe whose lower end is located within the sample when the sample container is raised. An automatic sample supply device comprising a suction device and a sample container detection device that detects the position of a sample container containing a sample.