JPS63236966A - Automatic sample conveying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To analyze a necessary sample without touching the sample at all by composing a sample conveying device for biochemical analysis of a rack where a sample cup is put, a bar code reader, etc., a separation amount detecting mechanism, a stand-by line, a reinspection line, etc. CONSTITUTION:Plural racks 4 which store blood letting tubes 20 and sample cups 21 are set at a start yard 6, mounted automatically on a conveyor belt 1 by using a magic hand, and sent to a preprocessor 7 such as a flat film type automatic blood plasma separating device. Here, all blood in the tubes 20 is sucked, the blood plasma is separated and put in the cups 21 of the same racks, which are moved forth; and the bar code reader 8, etc., discriminates the sample and a separated blood plasma detecting mechanism 9 composed of a photosensor confirms the separation. When the discrimination is impossible because of a bar code label 22 is dirty, the rack 4 is moved back to the stand-by line 2 by a onward-direction inverting mechanism 10 and the discriminated sample is analyzed by an automatic analyzing device 14 and sent to the reinspection line 3 according to the analytic result when necessary, so that the sample is inspected again.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] This invention is applicable to a laboratory (particularly a laboratory that performs biochemical analysis, etc.)
This invention relates to a system in which when a person sets a sample, the sample is automatically transported and tested on a belt conveyor.

[Conventional technology]

When performing biochemical analysis, for example, when performing biochemical analysis of blood, perform pretreatment such as separating the blood into plasma and blood cells using a centrifuge as necessary before placing the sample in a sample cup. The samples are arranged sequentially in the sampler section (turntable type or rack type) of an analyzer for analysis and inspection. The inspector then uses a pipette or the like to take out the required amount from the sample cups arranged in the sampler section and transfers it to a reaction tube for analysis and testing. In addition, blood may contain various pathogenic bacteria and viruses, and in biochemical tests of body fluids such as blood, there is a risk of infection or onset of disease if the examiner comes into direct contact with these blood. Because of the danger of this, it is important to avoid direct contact with hands during blood tests, etc. as much as possible.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, conventional biochemical tests have the following problems.

■When transferring specimens that have undergone predetermined pretreatment to a special cup, errors in changing the specimens are likely to occur.

■There is a risk of the sample coming into contact with the human body when transferring the pretreated sample to a special cup.

■The storage of tested specimens is done manually, but there is also a risk that the specimens may come into contact with the human body.

■Some of the samples include samples for which the amount of blood separated is insufficient or samples whose analytical values exceed the measurable range, so it is necessary to quickly and efficiently post-process these samples, which is troublesome. be.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to prevent the examiner from directly touching blood, etc. when performing biochemical analysis, and to prevent specimens that cannot be tested. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic specimen transporting device that can quickly remove specimens and facilitate reexamination of specimens that require reexamination.

[Means for solving problems]

That is, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an automatic sample transport device that includes a rack installation yard, a belt conveyor, an analyzer, and a stockyard for storing samples, ranks, etc.; ■ Barcode readers, ■ Separation amount detection mechanism, ■ Evacuation line, ■ Re-examination line, ■ Direction change mechanism that guides samples that cannot be identified or insufficient amount of separation to the evacuation line, and ■ Samples that require re-examination, the re-examination line. and a direction change mechanism for guiding the rack to the rack, and the rack contains one sample collection tube and one sample cup, or only one sample cup, and the rack or the sample cup or the sample collection tube contains A feature is that barcode labels are attached.

[For production]

The sample collection tubes and ranks containing sample cups placed on the belt conveyor from the rack installation yard are pretreated, and the samples are transferred from the sample collection tubes to the sample cups. This sample collection tube has a barcode label affixed to it, and is identified by a barcode reader while moving on a belt conveyor, and the separation amount is measured by a separation amount detection mechanism. Racks containing specimens that cannot be read by the barcode reader or containing specimens with insufficient separation volume are guided to the evacuation line by the direction change mechanism. A sample that has been identified by the barcode reader and has a sufficient amount of separation will proceed as it is and stop in front of the analyzer, where it will be dispensed using the analyzer's pipettor system and analyzed.
be inspected. During that time, the rack stops in front of the re-examination line and waits for the analysis results.Ranks containing sample cups that are determined to require re-examination are guided to the re-examination line by the direction change mechanism, where they are reprocessed and re-examined. . Racks containing sample cups that have been successfully tested go straight to the stockyard and are stored in the stockyard.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic layout diagram of an automatic sample transport device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a rack for storing specimens used in the automatic sample transport device according to the present invention. In these figures,
1 is the main axis line, 2 is the evacuation line, and 3 is the re-inspection line, all of which are constructed of belt conveyors. Reference numeral 4 denotes a rack containing sample collection tubes (hereinafter referred to as blood collection tubes) 20 and sample tubes 21, and a barcode label 22 is affixed to the blood collection tubes 20. 5 is the belt line 1.2 described above.
This is a crossing roller for guiding the rack 4 containing the blood collection tubes 20 and sample cups 21 to the rack 3.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a starting yard in which the blood collection tubes 20 and the racks 4 containing sample cups 21 are placed side by side, 7 a pretreatment device, 8 barcode readers, 9 a separation amount detection mechanism for detecting the amount of separated plasma, and 10. 11 is a mechanism for changing the direction of travel of the rack 4, and 12 and 13 are stoppers. Further, numeral 4 is an automatic analyzer for dispensing into a reaction tube (not shown) using a pipettor or the like (not shown) and performing necessary analysis.

In the transport device configured as described above, first, a plurality of racks 4 containing blood collection tubes 20 and sample cups 21 are set in the starting yard 6.

and magic hand or robot mechanism (not shown)
When automatically loaded onto the conveyor belt 1 by the rack 4, the rack 4 comes to the pretreatment device 7. The pretreatment device 7 is, for example, a flat membrane type automatic plasma separator or the like, which aspirates whole blood in a blood collection tube 20, separates plasma from it, and puts the separated plasma into a sample cup 21 in the same rack. .

The rank 4 containing the sample cup 21 containing the pretreated sample moves on the conveyor belt 1, where the sample is identified by barcode readers 8, and then separated plasma amount detection mechanism 9.
(For example, a mechanism using an optical sensor, etc.) detects whether or not the amount of separation required for analysis has been achieved.

If the sample could not be identified due to dirt on the barcode label 22, etc. The rack containing the missing specimens is sent to the evacuation line 2 by the direction changing mechanism 10. In this operation, as shown in FIGS. 3(1) and (2), as soon as a signal to remove the rack 4 from the belt line 1 is issued by the separated plasma amount detection mechanism 9, the traveling direction changing mechanism 10 is rotated to move the rack 4. It is guided to the belt line 2 via passing rollers, and returns to its original position when the guidance is finished.

The rack 4 containing sample cups 21 with a sufficient amount of samples identified and separated further advances straight and is stopped at the sample suction position by the operation of the stopper 12 in front of the analyzer 14. When the suction is finished using a pipettor or the like (not shown), the stopped state caused by the stopper is released, and the rack 4 continues to advance, and is stopped by the next operation of the stopper 13 and waits for the analysis result. For a sample with any of the following items, the direction change mechanism 11 is immediately rotated by a signal from the automatic analyzer 14, and the rack 4 is sent to the retest line 3 via the passing roller 5, thereby reducing the amount of sample dispensed by half. etc., and then re-examine only that item.

Those whose analysis values for all items are within the measurable range continue straight ahead, and the blood collection tubes 20 and sample cups 21 are extracted by a magic hand or a robot mechanism (not shown) and placed in the blood collection tube stockyard 15 and sample cup stockyard, respectively. It is stored in a storage pallet (not shown) in 16. Then, only the remaining empty ranks go straight and are stored in the rack reservoir 17.

Although the details of the present invention are as described above, the technical scope is not limited to the illustrated example. For example, in FIG. 1, the preprocessing device 7 may not be provided, and the preprocessed samples may be placed in the rack 4. In this case, the barcode 22 is displayed on the sample cup 21.
Or you can paste it on rack 4. Furthermore, a plurality of analyzers 14 shown in FIG. The specimen may be pulled back to a previous point using a magic hand or a robot mechanism for reexamination.This automatic specimen transport device is useful not only for blood tests but also for biochemical analysis of other body fluids such as urine. It is also possible to use

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described in detail above, the present invention provides an automatic sample transport device equipped with a rank installation yard, a belt conveyor, an analyzer, a stockyard for storing samples, ranks, etc., a rank for storing one sample cup, a barcode reader, etc. It consists of a separation amount detection mechanism, an evacuation line, and a retest line, and barcode labels are affixed to racks, sample cups, etc., and the direction of movement is changed for samples that cannot be identified or have an insufficient amount of separation, or for samples that require retesting. Since the present invention is characterized in that a mechanism guides the specimen to the evacuation line and reexamination line, it becomes possible for the inspector to analyze and test the necessary sample without directly touching the specimen at all. Furthermore, there is no need to re-transfer the pretreated specimen into a dedicated cup, which sometimes occurred in the past, and re-examinations can be carried out extremely easily.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic layout diagram of an automatic sample transport device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram of a rack containing sample tubes and sample collection tubes used in the automatic sample transport device according to the present invention. FIGS. 3(1) and 3(2) are views of the operation side of the advancing direction changing mechanism when guiding the rack to the evacuation line. l-... Belt line 2-... Evacuation line (belt conveyor) 3-... Re-inspection line (belt conveyor)
4.-Rack 5.--Transferring roller 6...Stockyard 8-Barcode readers 9
-Separated amount detection mechanism 10.11-... Direction changing mechanism 14-Analyzer 15-Sample collection tube (blood collection tube) stockyard 16-Sample cup stockyard 17-Rack reservoir 20--Sample force tube 21-Sample collection tube (Blood blood collection tube) 22・- Barcode label

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In an automatic specimen transport system equipped with a rack installation yard, a belt conveyor, an analyzer, and a stockyard for storing specimens, racks, etc., racks for storing specimen cups, barcode readers, etc.
a separation amount detection mechanism; a belt conveyor for the evacuation line; a belt conveyor for the re-examination line; a direction change mechanism that guides samples that cannot be identified or whose amount is insufficiently separated to the evacuation line; and samples that require re-examination to the re-examination line. An automatic specimen transport device comprising: a guiding movement direction changing mechanism; (2) The rack is a rack that holds only one sample collection tube and one sample cup or one sample cup, and barcode labels are affixed to the rack, the sample cup, or the sample collection tube. An automatic sample transport device according to claim 1, characterized in that: