JP4722645B2 - Condenser lens driving device and microscope - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a condenser lens driving device and a microscope.

  Conventionally, in order to irradiate the sample mounted on the sample mounting surface of the stage with appropriate illumination light, a condenser lens is disposed in proximity to the sample. For example, the microscope disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a condenser vertical movement mechanism that can manually place a condenser lens at an optimal illumination position.

When the thickness of the slide glass or container on which the sample is placed is different, the observer operates the operating unit to activate the condenser vertical movement mechanism, so that the condenser lens is placed at an appropriate position and appropriate for each sample. It is possible to achieve a proper lighting condition. In this case, since the adjustment range is relatively small, manual fine adjustment is relatively easy.
JP-A-10-311952

  However, for example, in a microscope of a type that automatically replaces a slide glass, it may be necessary to largely operate the stage when the slide glass is replaced. Since the condenser lens must be placed close to the sample mounted on the stage, when operating the stage largely, the condenser lens must be largely retracted to avoid interference with the stage. I must.

  In this case, the condenser vertical movement mechanism disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a disadvantage that the observer has to move the condenser lens greatly by operating the operation unit prior to the movement of the stage. In addition, it is necessary to return the condenser lens to its original position even after the condenser lens is largely retracted and the slide glass is replaced. In this case as well, the observer needs to move the condenser lens greatly by operating the operation unit. There is. As a result, every time the slide glass is replaced, it takes a long time to obtain the optimum illumination for the sample, and there is a disadvantage that the observation time is prolonged as a whole.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and can be manually driven when finely adjusting the condenser lens. When the condenser lens is retracted due to the operation of the stage, the condenser lens is moved greatly and quickly, and the observation time is increased. It is an object of the present invention to provide a condenser lens driving device and a microscope that can shorten the period of time.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following means.
The present invention relates to a condenser lens driving device that linearly drives a condenser lens in a direction approaching or separating from a sample mounting surface of a stage, a shaft fixed to an operation unit that is rotated by an operator, A manual drive unit including a conversion mechanism that converts a rotational operation into a linear operation of a condenser lens; a motor; and a rotational force transmission mechanism that transmits the rotational force of the motor to the shaft and rotates the shaft by a predetermined angle. possess an electric drive unit comprising, the rotational force transmitting mechanism, and a guide link member which is swingable over a predetermined swinging range is fixed to the shaft, and a crank member which is rotated by the motor, A swinging slider crank mechanism comprising a slider member attached to the crank member and moved along the guide link member Ri, in the positioning position of the condenser lens relative to the stage, to provide a condenser lens driving device placing a guide link member to the swing limit.

  According to the present invention, when the condenser lens is arranged at an optimum position to obtain optimum illumination, the shaft fixed to the operation unit by operating the manual drive unit and rotating the operation unit by the operator is provided. By rotating the shaft and converting the rotation operation of the shaft into the linear operation of the condenser lens by the operation of the conversion mechanism, the condenser lens is linearly driven so as to be close to or away from the sample mounting surface of the stage. The distance from the sample can be finely adjusted. In order to largely retract the condenser lens with respect to the stage, the electric drive unit is operated, and the rotational force of the motor is transmitted to the shaft by the operation of the rotational force transmission mechanism to rotate the shaft. As a result, the conversion mechanism of the manual drive unit operates and the condenser lens can be largely linearly operated.

In this case, since the electric drive unit operates the condenser lens by the operation of the motor, the condenser lens can be automatically retracted when the stage is largely moved. In addition, since the electric drive unit rotates the shaft by a predetermined angle by the rotational force of the motor by the rotational force transmission mechanism, the condenser lens can be retracted quickly with respect to the stage, and by returning by the same angle, The condenser lens can be quickly returned to a position where proper illumination can be achieved.
In addition, since the condenser lens is linearly driven by the manual drive unit and the electric drive unit via the same shaft, the mechanism can be shared to simplify the configuration and reduce the size of the apparatus.

  Thus, when the motor is operated, the crank member is rotationally driven, and the slider member attached to the crank member is rotated together with the crank member. Since the slider member is provided so as to move along the guide link member, the guide link member is swung over a predetermined swing range by the rotation of the crank member. Since the guide link member is fixed to the shaft, the shaft is rotated by a predetermined angle by swinging the guide link member over a predetermined swing range.

  In this case, according to the present invention, the condenser lens is positioned with respect to the stage at the swing limit of the guide link member. In the vicinity of the swing limit position, the swing angle of the guide link member with respect to the rotation angle of the crank member is extremely small, so that the condenser lens can be accurately positioned at the same position. Therefore, even when the condenser lens is largely retracted when the stage is operated, the condenser lens can be accurately returned to the state before retracting only by rotating the crank member to the position where the guide link member reaches the swing limit. This makes it possible to obtain appropriate lighting quickly.

Moreover, in the said invention, the said guide link member is good also as providing the circular arc-shaped guide part which guides the said slider member in the circumferential direction around the rotation center of the said motor in the said rocking | fluctuation limit position.
In this way, in the region where the slider member is disposed in the arcuate guide portion of the guide link member, the guide link member swings only by moving the slider member in the circumferential direction around the rotation center of the motor. Therefore, the rotation angle position of the crank member that achieves the condenser lens positioning state can be widened. Therefore, the condenser lens can be accurately positioned without setting the rotation angle position of the crank member with high accuracy, and the sensor for detecting the rotation angle position of the crank member can be simplified.

In the above invention, the electric drive unit may include a swing range moving mechanism that moves the swing range of the guide link member by the rotational force transmission mechanism according to the position of the condenser lens by the manual drive unit. preferable.
When the shaft and conversion mechanism of the electric drive unit and the manual drive unit are made common as described above, the position of the condenser lens relative to the stage by the electric drive unit even if the position of the condenser lens is finely adjusted by the manual drive unit. Must be arranged at the swing limit of the guide link member. According to the present invention, the manual drive unit determines the swing range of the guide link member by the rotational force transmission mechanism according to the position of the condenser lens by the manual drive unit by operating the swing range moving mechanism. Therefore, the proper illumination position can always be arranged at the swing limit of the guide link member, and the restoration can be performed quickly and accurately after the condenser lens is retracted.

The present invention also provides a microscope including any one of the condenser lens driving devices described above.
According to the present invention, even when the stage is largely moved, the condenser lens is largely retracted by the operation of the condenser lens driving device, so that interference between the stage and the condenser lens can be avoided, and the condenser lens can be quickly moved after the retracting. It can be returned to its original position. Therefore, when observing a plurality of samples by exchanging the slide glass, it is possible to shorten the observation time and observe the sample under appropriate illumination.

  According to the present invention, it can be manually driven when finely adjusting the condenser lens position, and when the condenser lens is retracted due to the operation of the stage, the condenser lens can be moved automatically and quickly to shorten the observation time. There is an effect.

A condenser lens driving device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention and a microscope 2 including the same will be described below with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the condenser lens driving device 1 according to the present embodiment is provided in a mounting portion 4 that supports the stage 3 of the microscope 2.

  The condenser lens driving device 1 according to the present embodiment is a device that moves a condenser receiver 6 to which a condenser lens 5 is attached from the lower side of the stage 3 in the vertical direction. As shown in FIG. And an electric drive unit 8.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the manual drive unit 7 includes a handle (operation unit) 9 operated by an observer, a shaft 10 fixed to the handle 9, and a rotational movement of the shaft 10. And a conversion mechanism 11 that converts the vertical movement. In this embodiment, the conversion mechanism 11 includes a pinion gear 12 provided on the shaft 10 and a rack gear 13 provided on the capacitor receiver 6 and meshing with the pinion gear 12. Reference numeral 30 in the figure denotes a guide rail. When the observer operates the handle 9 to rotate the shaft 10, the rotational operation of the shaft 10 is converted into a linear motion along the vertical direction of the capacitor receiver 6 by the pinion gear 12 and the rack gear 13 and attached to the capacitor receiver 6. Further, the condenser lens 5 can be linearly moved in the vertical direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, the electric drive unit 8 includes a motor 14 and a rotational force transmission mechanism 15 that transmits the rotational force of the motor 14 to the shaft 10.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the rotational force transmission mechanism 15 includes a crank member 16 fixed to the motor shaft 14 a and a guide link member 17 fixed to the shaft 10.

  The guide link member 17 has a guide groove 17a extending in the radial direction. On the other hand, a roller 18 disposed in the guide groove 17a is rotatably attached to the tip of the crank member 16. When the crank member 16 is rotated by the operation of the motor 14, the roller 18 attached to the tip of the crank member 16 rolls on the inner surface of the guide groove 17a along the guide groove 17a of the guide link member 17. As a result, the guide link member 17 However, the shaft 10 is swung according to the position of the roller 18 to rotate the shaft 10 over a predetermined swinging range.

That is, the guide link member 17 swings the guide groove 17a over a predetermined angle range, and the roller 18 constitutes a slider member that moves along the guide groove 17a. Therefore, the rotational force transmission mechanism 15 includes the crank member 16 and the guide member. A swing slider crank mechanism including the link member 17 and the slider members (17a, 18) is configured.
Therefore, the guide link member 17 has a swing limit at both ends of the predetermined angle range, and a predetermined swing from the lower swing limit shown in FIG. 3 to the upper swing limit shown in FIG. It can be swung in the range.

  Since the guide link member 17 is fixed to the shaft 10, the pinion gear 12 of the shaft 10 rotates when the guide link member 17 is disposed at the lower swing limit as shown in FIG. When the rack gear 13 that meshes with the upper part is raised, the condenser lens 5 mounted on the condenser receiver 6 is disposed at the uppermost position, and when the guide link member 17 is disposed at the upper swing limit as shown in FIG. The condenser lens 5 is arranged at the lowest position.

FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the guide link member 17 and the roller 18 when placed at the lower swing limit.
According to this figure, the straight line L ₁ connecting the centers of the roller 18 of the motor shaft 14a as the rotational axis of the crank member 16, and the straight line L ₂ along the guide groove 17a of the guide link member 17 orthogonal, Even if the crank member 16 rotates, the change in the swing angle of the guide link member 17 is small.

  In addition, an arcuate guide surface 17b having a certain radial dimension around the motor shaft 14a is provided at the tip of the guide groove 17a of the guide link member 17. This prevents the guide link member 17 from changing the swing angle even if the crank member 16 rotates in the region where the roller 18 is in contact with the arcuate guide surface 17b (the region indicated by the oblique lines in the figure). It has become.

Further, in the position shown in FIG. 5, as described above, the straight line L ₁ connecting the center of the rotation center and the roller 18 of the crank member 16, and the line L ₂ along the guide groove 17a of the guide link member 17 is orthogonal Therefore, even if the handle 9 is operated and a rotational force is directly applied to the shaft 10, the swing of the guide link member 17 and the shaft 10 is prevented by the crank member 16.

  Therefore, in the condenser lens driving device 1 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the motor 14 is fixed to a plate 19 that is swingably mounted around the shaft 10, and the plate A clamp member (swinging range moving mechanism) 20 capable of fixing 19 to the mounting portion 4 is provided. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, the clamp member 20 passes through an arc-shaped long hole 21 provided in the plate 19 and can be fastened to a screw hole of a bracket 22 fixed to the mounting portion 4. When the clamp member 20 is fastened with the screw 23, the plate 19 is sandwiched and fixed between the clamp member 20 and the bracket 22 in the thickness direction. On the other hand, when the clamp member 20 is loosened, the plate 19 19 is configured to be able to swing around the center of the shaft 10 together with the motor 14.

  Thereby, the shaft 10 in a state where the swinging is prevented by the crank member 16 by loosening the clamp member 20, the motor 14 fixed to the plate 19 and the crank member 16 fixed to the motor 14 together with the center of the shaft 10. The condenser lens 5 can be finely adjusted manually by swinging around the axis.

  As shown in FIG. 2, angle detection plates 24 and 25 are fixed to the motor shaft 14a and the shaft 10, respectively. As shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 7, and 8, the angle detection plates 24 and 25 are provided with notches 24 a, 24 b, 25 a, and 25 b at two positions with an interval of 90 °. Yes. In addition, each of the angle detection plates 24 and 25 is provided with two optical sensors 26 and 27 each having an optical axis arranged in the thickness direction of the angle detection plates 24 and 25. It is possible to detect a state in which the optical axes of the optical sensors 26 and 27 coincide with the notches 24a, 24b, 25a, and 25b of the angle detection plates 24 and 25.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the position where one optical sensor 26 detects one notch 24 a of the angle detection plate 24 fixed to the motor shaft 14 a is below the guide link member 17. It is a position that becomes the swing limit, and the position where the other optical sensor 26 detects the other notch 24b is set to be the position that becomes the upper swing limit. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the position where one optical sensor 27 detects one notch 25a of the angle detection plate 25 fixed to the shaft 10 is the upper limit position of the condenser lens 5, The position where the other optical sensor 27 detects the other notch 25 b is set to be the lower limit position of the condenser lens 5. The reason why the angle detection plates 24 and 25 and the optical sensors 26 and 27 are provided at two locations is to confirm the operation of the motor 14 and the operation of the condenser lens 5, respectively.

The operation of the condenser lens driving device 1 according to the present embodiment configured as described above and the microscope 2 having the same will be described below.
In the microscope 2 according to the present embodiment, the condenser lens 5 is raised, and the condenser lens 5 is brought close to the glass slide 28 mounted on the sample mounting surface 3a of the stage 3 as shown in FIG. By irradiating the sample with appropriate illumination light from below the glass 28, the light from the sample can be collected and observed by the objective lens 29 disposed above the slide glass 28.

  In this case, if the stage 3 is moved largely in the horizontal direction in order to replace the slide glass 28 or the like, the condenser lens 5 disposed close to the lower surface of the slide glass 28 interferes with the stage 3. Prior to the operation, it is necessary to retract the condenser lens 5 to a position where it does not interfere.

  Therefore, in this case, the motor shaft 14 a is rotated by sending an operation command to the motor 14. As a result, the crank member 16 fixed to the motor shaft 14a rotates, and the position of the roller 18 attached to the tip of the crank member 16 changes. Since the roller 18 is disposed in the guide groove 17 a of the guide link member 17, the guide link member 17 is swung to a swing angle position determined according to the position of the roller 18.

  In the condenser lens driving apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the motor 14 is between the position where one optical sensor 26 detects one notch 24a and the position where the other optical sensor 26 detects the other notch 24b. Rotated with. Accordingly, the condenser lens 5 is retracted from the upper limit position of the condenser lens 5 shown in FIG. 3 to the lower limit position of the condenser lens 5 shown in FIG. In this state, even if the stage 3 is operated in the horizontal direction, interference with the condenser lens 5 is avoided, so that the slide glass 28 can be exchanged smoothly.

After exchanging the slide glass 28, etc., the stage 3 is returned to its original position, and the slide glass 28 is placed directly below the objective lens 29. Therefore, it is necessary to raise the condenser lens 5 and place it in the original position. There is.
In this case, by sending an operation command to the motor 14 again, the crank member 16 is reversely rotated, and the guide link member 17 is swung to the lower swing limit shown in FIG. It can be quickly arranged at the upper limit position.

  In this case, according to the condenser lens driving device 1 according to the present embodiment, when the condenser lens 5 is disposed at the upper limit position, the guide link member 17 of the rotational force transmission mechanism 15 is disposed at the swing limit. In this state, even if the crank member 16 is slightly rotated, the change in the swing angle of the guide link member 17 is small. Therefore, the condenser lens 5 can be accurately placed at the original upper limit position.

  Furthermore, since the guide link member 17 is provided with the arcuate guide surface 17b, the swing of the guide link member 17 due to the rotation of the crank member 16 is further reduced. Therefore, positioning of the condenser lens 5 at the upper limit position can be performed with high accuracy without significantly increasing the detection accuracy of the notches 24a, 24b, 25a, 25b by the optical sensors 26, 27.

  In addition, when the illumination position by the condenser lens 5 is not in an optimal state due to some reason, such as when the thickness dimension of the slide glass 28 on which the sample is mounted is changed, the illumination is performed by operating the manual drive unit 7. The position can be finely adjusted.

  Specifically, the guide link member 17 is arranged at the lower swing limit position shown in FIG. 3, and the clamp member 20 is loosened so that the crank member 16 cannot be rotated from the guide link member 17 side. As a result, the plate 19 to which the motor 14 is fixed can be swung around the central axis of the shaft 10. In this state, the handle 9 is operated to apply a rotational force from the handle 9 to the shaft 10. Thereby, the rotational force transmission mechanism 15 is swung around the central axis of the shaft 10 together with the motor 14 fixed to the plate 19 while the relative positional relationship between the guide link member 17 and the crank member 16 is maintained. .

  As a result, the shaft 10 is rotated within the range of the long hole 21 of the plate 19, and the illumination position by the condenser lens 5 can be finely adjusted. After the fine adjustment is completed, the plate 19 is fixed by narrowing the clamp member 20 again. As a result, the condenser lens 5 cannot be driven by the manual drive unit 7 and can be driven only by the electric drive unit 8.

  In this way, by performing fine adjustment of the condenser lens 5 by the manual driving unit 7, even if the illumination position by the condenser lens 5 is changed, the condenser lens 5 is arranged at the optimum illumination position after the change. The guide link member 17 in the state is always arranged at the lower swing limit. Therefore, there is an advantage that the condenser lens 5 can be returned to the upper limit position quickly and accurately after the stage 3 is retracted.

  Further, by adopting a swing range moving mechanism that allows the plate 19 to be fixed or swingable by fastening and releasing the clamp member 20, the manual drive unit 7 and the electric drive unit 8 are connected to the same shaft 10 and rack gear 13. The pinion gear 12 can be shared. As a result, compared with the case where the manual drive unit 7 and the electric drive unit 8 are provided separately, there are advantages that the number of parts can be reduced, the mechanism can be simplified, and the apparatus can be downsized.

In the present embodiment, the rotational force transmission mechanism 15 including the swing slider crank mechanism is employed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any other form of mechanism may be employed.
Further, although the conversion mechanism 11 including the rack gear 13 and the pinion gear 12 is employed as the conversion mechanism 11 that converts the rotation operation of the shaft 10 into the straight movement operation of the condenser lens 5, the present invention is not limited to this.

1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a microscope having a condenser lens driving device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the bottom view which fractured | ruptured a part which shows the condenser lens drive device seen from the direction of arrow A of FIG. FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway view showing a state in which the guide link member of the rotational force transmission mechanism of the condenser lens driving device of FIG. 1 is arranged at the lower swing limit in the BB cross section of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing a state in which the guide link member of the rotational force transmission mechanism of the condenser lens driving device of FIG. 1 is arranged at the upper swing limit. It is a figure explaining the positional relationship of the guide link member and crank member in the position of FIG. It is the side view which fractured | ruptured a part which shows the rocking | fluctuation range moving mechanism seen from the direction of the arrow C of FIG. FIG. 3 is a side view showing the relationship between the angular position detection plate and the optical sensor when the condenser lens is at the upper limit position, as viewed from the direction of arrow D in FIG. 2. FIG. 8 is a side view similar to FIG. 7 showing the relationship between the angular position detection plate and the optical sensor when the condenser lens is at the lower limit position.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Condenser lens drive device 2 Microscope 3 Stage 3a Sample mounting surface 5 Condenser lens 7 Manual drive part 8 Electric drive part 9 Handle (operation part)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Shaft 11 Conversion mechanism 14 Motor 15 Rotational force transmission mechanism 17 Guide link member 17b Arc-shaped guide part 16 Crank member 18 Roller (slider member)
19 Plate (oscillation range moving mechanism)
20 Clamp member (oscillation range moving mechanism)
21 Long hole (oscillation range moving mechanism)

Claims (4)

A condenser lens driving device that linearly drives a condenser lens in a direction close to or away from the sample mounting surface of the stage,
A manual drive unit including a shaft fixed to an operation unit that is rotated by an operator, and a conversion mechanism that converts the rotation operation of the shaft into a linear operation of a condenser lens;
Possess a motor, and the rotational force of the motor is transmitted to the shaft electric drive unit and a torque transmitting mechanism for rotating the shaft a predetermined angle,
The rotational force transmission mechanism is fixed to the shaft and is provided so as to be capable of swinging over a predetermined swing range, a crank member that is rotationally driven by the motor, and the guide link that is attached to the crank member. A swing slider crank mechanism comprising a slider member that is moved along the member,
A condenser lens driving device in which a guide link member is arranged at a swing limit at a condenser lens positioning position with respect to a stage . 2. The condenser lens driving device according to claim 1 , wherein the guide link member includes an arcuate guide portion that guides the slider member in a circumferential direction around a rotation center of the motor at the swing limit position. Said electric drive unit, in accordance with the position of the condenser lens according to the manual driving unit, according to claim 1 or claim 2 comprising a swinging range shift mechanism for moving the swing range of the guide link member by the rotation force transmission mechanism Condenser lens drive device. A microscope comprising the condenser lens driving device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 .

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