JPS6257935B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a spectrophotometer.

Infrared spectrophotometers use long-wavelength light, so there is no need to install a light-shielding cover in the sample chamber in a normal laboratory, but in a general ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer, a cover is installed in the sample chamber so that illumination light, etc. This prevents contamination from causing photometry errors. Conventional spectrophotometer sample chamber lids have been designed to be attached and removed up and down like the lid of a pot, or to be connected at one end with a screw so that the lid can be rotated to open and close.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional self-recording spectrophotometer. The main body 1 consists of a high part that houses the spectrometer and electrical system, and a low part on the right side that divides the monochromatic light into two optical paths.The main body 1 consists of a high part that houses the spectrometer and electrical system, and a low part on the right side that divides the monochromatic light into two optical paths. covered with. A sample chamber 10 is attached to the right side of the main body 1, and a detection section 20 containing a part for combining two optical paths and a photoelectric detector is further attached to the right side of the sample chamber 10. A pen rider 5 for freely sliding a pen 4 is provided on the upper surface of the main body 1, and the spectral absorption characteristics of the sample are recorded on a recording paper 3 that moves under the pen rider 5. A panel 6 is attached to the front side of the recording device, which displays the measured wavelength and absorbance, and which is equipped with switches and knobs for operating the spectrophotometer.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AB in FIG. 1, and shows the structure of the sample chamber 10 provided with a rotary lid that can be opened and closed using a screw. Rotating lid 1 with slightly bent tip
The other end of 1 is attached to the upper end of the side plate 17 with a screw 12, and when the rotating lid 11 is closed, the side plate 1
7 to seal the sample chamber 10. The light transmitting windows 15 and 16 are passages for the light transmitted through the sample cell and the light transmitted through the reference cell, respectively. The sample cell and reference cell through which these lights pass are housed in a cell holder and installed on the holder stand 13, but the holder stand 13 and the tray 14 are integrally formed and can be detachably attached to the sample chamber 1.
It is attached to the bottom of the 0.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along line CD in Figure 1, showing the sample chamber 10.
shows the structure in the direction of light flux passage. A transmission window 15 is provided on the side plate 17 to face the side plate 17, which is a path for the light beam to pass through the sample cell closer to the operator, and the light beam that has passed through the window 15 enters the detection section 20. Both ends of the rotary lid 11, one end of which is supported by a screw thread, come into contact with projections provided on the side plate 17, thereby blocking the intrusion of external light.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line CD when a removable lid is used in the sample chamber of FIG. 1, and the same parts as in FIG. 3 are given the same reference numerals. There is a knob 19 on the removable lid 18.
is provided to cover the opening of the sample chamber 10 in the manner of a pot lid.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line AB when a removable lid is used in the sample chamber shown in FIG. 1, and the same parts as in FIG. 2 are given the same reference numerals.

In a spectrophotometer configured in this manner, when a large auxiliary device or the like is installed inside the sample chamber, the lid of the sample chamber becomes obstructed. Some devices have removable lids, but
In any case, it is necessary to keep the sample chamber in a sealed state, and a black cloth or the like is used. However, there has been a problem in that it is difficult to prevent external light from entering the sample chamber with high precision, resulting in poor measurement accuracy.

The present invention aims to solve the problems associated with attaching ancillary devices to a sample chamber, and to provide a spectrophotometer that can also attach large ancillary devices. An opening for attaching and removing the sample cell is provided in the upper part of the sample chamber of the cover covering the main body, which has a sample chamber that accommodates the sample cell and can block the intrusion of external light during photometry. In a spectrophotometer, the sample chamber is made of an opaque substance at the opening thereof, moves linearly inside the cover, and is moved between the closed position and the outside of the cover so as to block the sample chamber from external light. a sliding lid configured to be slidable between an open position and an open position in which the sample chamber can be accessed; The fixed lid is configured to be replaceable.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a self-recording spectrophotometer according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the same parts as in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals. A cover 2 that covers the main body 1 and is in contact with the stand 7 is molded from a synthetic resin material mixed with glass fiber or the like, and is designed to cover the sample chamber 10 and the detection section 20 all at once. This cover 2 is provided with an opening for the sample chamber 10 and also forms a side plate of the sample chamber. Further, a power supply circuit housing portion 33 is provided by protruding from the back of the main body 1. The sample chamber 10 is provided with a slide lid 25 having a knob 29 and sliding in the horizontal direction so that it can be opened and closed.

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken along line GH in Figure 6, and shows the conventional 3rd
4 shows the sample chamber structure in the light flux passing direction corresponding to FIG. As mentioned above, the cover 2 forms the side plate 17 of the sample chamber 10, and its lower end is connected to the main body base 3.
It is placed close to 2. A support 8 is installed on the main body base 32, and a tray 14 and a holder stand 13 are removably installed on a plate 9 attached thereto. If a cell holder containing a sample cell is installed on this holder stand 13, the monochromatic light passing through the light-transmitting window 15 can be transmitted through the sample liquid in the sample cell.

In the upper part of the sample chamber 10, there is a groove 24 provided in the side plate 17.
Slide lid 25 with the bent part inserted
It can be easily opened and closed by holding the knob 29 shown in FIG. 6 and moving it back and forth.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line IJ in FIG. 6, and shows the support structure when the slide lid 25 is opened. Since the cover 2 is provided with a boss 27, a guide plate 26 is attached to the lower end of the boss 27 with screws 28. When the slide lid 25 is opened, it is supported and guided by the guide plate 26 and moves close to the lower surface of the cover 2.

Figure 9 is a sectional view taken along the line E-F in Figure 6, showing the sample chamber 10.
A longitudinal vertical section is shown. This figure shows the slide lid 25 in a closed state, and the L metal fitting made of magnetic material fixed to the bottom surface of the knob 29 of the slide lid 25 is in close contact with the magnet 30 fixed to the upper part of the side plate 17 on the left side near the operator. are doing. Therefore, when the slide lid 25 is closed, it is reliably locked by the magnet 30, so that it completely prevents light from entering and does not move or make abnormal noises even if there is vibration. To open the slide lid 25, when the knob 29 is pressed, the slide lid 25 is guided by a guide plate 26 supported by a boss 27 and moves as shown by the broken line, and the tip of the slide lid 25 moves to the P position. At this time, most of the opening of the sample chamber 10 is left open, making it extremely easy to replace the cell holder containing the sample cell. In addition, slide lid 2
If it is necessary to remove or insert the slide cover 25, it can be removed by slightly bending the slide cover 25 from the pushed-in state and pulling it upwards. It can be easily installed by inserting it into the holder and pressing it.

As is clear from FIG. 9, the lid 25 can be stopped at any position. For example, a normal cell may be placed on the reference light side of the light-transmitting window 16, and the sample light of the light-transmitting window 15 may be closed. Even when a large auxiliary device is installed on the side, the lid can be stopped at the center position. Even if external light is blocked using cloth, etc., the area covered will be small, and if necessary, by providing the accessory device itself with something equivalent to a small lid, it will be possible to use a sliding lid as well. External light can be blocked with high precision.

In addition, as shown in FIG.
3 is made to protrude from the main body 1 so that the recording paper 3 runs toward the back of the cover 2, so that the recording paper 3 is flowing to the right half of the top surface of the cover 2 in FIG. Therefore, since the opening of the sample chamber 10 is hardly covered by the recording paper, it is easy to replace the sample cell or the cell holder containing the sample cell. In addition, since the slide lid 25 is used, it can be opened and closed independently of the recording paper 3, and the recording paper 3 can be opened and closed while lifting the recording paper 3 like a conventional rotary lid using a screw or a removable lid of a pot lid type. This eliminates the inconvenience of replacing sample cells.

In addition, it is possible to insert a small accessory device into the sample chamber 10 through the opening, or to install a large cell with a long optical path length, as long as the width of the sample chamber 10 allows. It is possible to increase the width of 25 without changing its functionality. As shown in FIG. 6, the front surface of the cover 2 excludes the sample chamber 10, and a side plate 17 with a holder stand 13 and a tray 14 attached thereto is attached to this part.
7 constitutes a fixed lid. Therefore, if a fixed lid consisting of a side plate 17 to which a relatively large auxiliary device such as a flow cell device is attached is installed in this part, even complicated auxiliary devices including piping and the like can be easily replaced and installed.

10 and 11 are a plan view and a side view, respectively, of the side plate 17 to which the holder stand 13 and the tray 14 are attached, and FIGS. 12 and 13 are respectively, FIG. 10 and 11. These are a plan view and a side view showing the state in which the side plate 17 shown in FIG. 1 is removed and the side plate 17 with an integrating sphere accessory attached is attached to the sample chamber 10, in which 51 is an integrating sphere, 52 and 53 are mirrors, and 54 is a fixing screw. ing.

The back of the sample chamber 10 is not shown and is shown as a space, but this part contains an electrical system that amplifies and processes the output signal of the photoelectric detector, and a circuit for a system that automatically opens and closes the slide lid 25, which will be explained later. A group of boards has been installed and is actually being used effectively.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a system for automatically opening and closing the slide lid of the sample chamber of the spectrophotometer of this embodiment. This self-recording spectrophotometer also makes it possible to intermittently inject a sample and reagent into a sample cell using a separately provided automatic sampling mechanism and repeatedly measure the absorbance response. In this case, the slide lid 25 must be opened during injection and closed during photometry;
A thread or the like can be attached to the vicinity of the knob 29 so that it can be opened and closed automatically in conjunction with the sample injection operation. This was difficult to achieve with conventional rotary lids and removable lids without affecting the recording paper, but since the sliding lid 25 moves lightly in a straight line, it can be opened and closed using an automatic opening/closing mechanism. is easy.

The slide lid 25 is opened and closed by a drive motor 44 and a drive mechanism 45.
is connected to an automatic opening/closing system via an interface 43. The automatic opening/closing system is stored in ROM49 by programming the sample exchange time and measurement conditions.
When started by the external operation unit 42, the drive motor 44 is driven by control between the ROM 49, RAM 48, and CPU 50. The signal indicating the completion of opening and closing of the slide lid 25 is sent to the signal processing unit 4.
1 and is transmitted to the storage control system via the bus line 46. The signal indicating the completion of opening/closing of the slide lid 25 may be provided by a mechanical switch installed at a position where the front and rear ends of the slide lid 25 come into contact, or by using a signal from a photocoupler installed at a position that cuts off when the opening/closing of the slide lid 25 is completed. You may do so.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of a self-recording spectrophotometer equipped with an automatic sampling mechanism, which is composed of a spectrophotometer main body 55, a computer 56, an operation panel 57, and a sample supply device 58, and 59 is an interface. , 60 is a sample cell, 61 is a test tube, and 62 is an autosampler.

In this self-recording spectrophotometer, an autosampler 62 is operated under the control of a computer 56, and a pipette 63 of the autosampler 62 is used to collect test tubes.
At the same time, the slide lid 25 of the spectrophotometer body 55 is opened by a predetermined amount by a drive device controlled by the computer 56, and the inhaled sample is put into the sample cell 60. When this operation is completed, the pipette 63 is lifted out of the sample chamber 10, the slide lid 25 is closed, and measurement is performed. The measurement results are recorded on the computer 56 and displayed on a recorder on the operation panel 57, a printer, or a CRT display. When the measurement and storage of one sample is completed, the slide lid 25 is opened, the sample in the sample cell 60 is aspirated by the pipette 63 of the autosampler 62, and the sample is returned to the original test tube 6.
1, and samples in other test tubes 61 are measured in the same manner.

As described above, the sample chamber of the spectrophotometer of this embodiment has the following effects by providing a slide lid that moves linearly on the back surface of the device cover.

(1) Even when using large attached equipment, the sample chamber can be effectively shielded from light.

(2) The sample chamber can be opened and closed with a sliding lid that moves smoothly without affecting the recording paper flowing out near the top of the sample chamber.
The recording paper will not be damaged.

(3) By increasing the width of the slide lid, it is easy to make the sample chamber larger, making it easier to replace the sample cell holder and attach attached devices.

(4) Since the sliding lid moves smoothly in a straight line, the sample chamber can be opened and closed automatically.

(5) By adding a fixed lid, the range of use of the spectrophotometer can be dramatically expanded.

16, 17, and 18 are sectional views showing modifications of the slide lid sliding portion of the embodiment shown in FIG. 7. In the case of FIG.
The folded portions on both sides of the lid are slidable, but in FIG. 16, a rail 41 with a trapezoidal cross section is provided on the shoulder of the side plate 17, and a slide lid 25 having a groove to engage with the rail 41 is used. It is. 17th
In the figure, a rail 42 having a semicircular cross section is provided on the shoulder of the side plate 17, and a slide lid 25 having a V-shaped groove that engages with the rail 42 is used. Further, in FIG. 18, a round bar rail 43 is tightly molded on the shoulder of the side plate 17, and the same slide lid 25 as in FIG. 17 is engaged.

The slide lid 25 and the various rails 41, 42, 43 may be made of molded synthetic resin or light metal such as aluminum.

The present invention has the effect of solving problems associated with attaching ancillary devices to a sample chamber, and making it possible to provide a spectrophotometer that can also be attached with large-sized ancillary devices.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conventional self-recording spectrophotometer;
The figure is a sectional view taken along line A-B in figure 1, and figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line C in figure 1.
-D sectional view, Figure 4 is a CD sectional view when a removable lid is used in the sample chamber in Figure 1, and Figure 5 is an A-B sectional view when a removable lid is used in the sample chamber in Figure 1. cross section,
6 is a perspective view of a self-recording spectrophotometer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line GH in FIG. 6, FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line IJ in FIG. 6, and FIG. is E-F in Figure 6
The sectional view, FIGS. 10 and 11 are respectively a plan view and a side view of one state of the fixed lid of this embodiment, and FIGS. 12 and 13 are respectively the 10th
A plan view and a side view of another embodiment using a fixed lid in a different state from the fixed lid shown in FIGS.
Figure 4 is a block diagram of the system for automatically opening and closing the slide lid of the sample chamber of this embodiment, Figure 15 is an explanatory diagram of another embodiment equipped with an automatic sampling mechanism, and Figures 16 and 17. and FIG. 18 is a sectional view showing a modification of the slide lid sliding portion of FIG. 7. 1... Main body, 2... Cover, 3... Recording paper, 10... Sample chamber, 13... Holder stand, 14... Receiver, 15, 1
6... Translucent window, 17... Side plate, 20... Detection section, 24...
Groove, 25... Slide lid, 26... Guide plate, 27
…Boss, 29…Knob, 30…Magnet, 33
...Power supply circuit storage section, 41...Trapezoidal cross-section rail, 4
2...Rail with semicircular cross section, 43...Round bar rail.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An upper portion of the sample chamber of a cover that covers a main body that has an optical system for spectroscopic measurement and a sample chamber that accommodates a sample cell of a sample to be measured and can block entry of external light during photometry. In a spectrophotometer provided with an opening for attaching and removing the sample cell, the sample chamber is made of an opaque material in the opening and moves linearly inside the cover, a slide lid configured to be slidable between a closed position to block the sample chamber from external light and an open position to allow access to the sample chamber from outside the cover; A spectrophotometer characterized in that the front part of the chamber is formed of a removable fixed lid and is configured to be replaceable with the fixed lid to which an accessory device is attached. 2. The sliding lid is a plate that moves linearly, guided by a groove or rail provided on the upper shoulder of the side plate constituting the sample chamber, and guided by a guide plate attached to the lower side of the cover. A spectrophotometer according to claim 1. 3. The spectrophotometer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the slide lid is attachable to and detachable from the cover. 4. The spectrophotometer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sliding lid is a lid that can be automatically opened and closed by an automatic opening and closing system.