JPS6039178B2 - chemical analyzer - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the chemical analysis of substances, and more particularly to an apparatus for chemical analysis of fluids such as biological fluids.

Advantageous Techniques and Problems Thereof US Pat. No. 3,574,064 describes an automatic biological reaction measuring device that automatically processes a serum sample with a specific antigenic substance carried by a slide.

The device feeds a number of antigen-bearing slides from a magazine onto a rotating carrier and dispenses a serum sample onto each slide. The carrier carries the slide and rotates through the incubator, then through a wash station, a station for applying conjugate solution to the slide, and then through another incubator.
The slides are then removed and examined under a laboratory microscope. A disadvantage of known devices of this type is that only one type of test can be carried out at the same time.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION In view of these points, an object of the present invention is to provide a chemical analysis device that allows two or more types of tests to be conducted simultaneously.

In other words, the chemical analyzer according to the present invention includes a slide feeding device for supporting and feeding a plurality of independent slides, a fluid sample feeding device for supporting a plurality of fluid sample containers, and a metering feeding position. a dispensing device for supplying a predetermined amount of fluid sample to the slide from one of the fluid sample containers;
a plurality of incubators for maintaining a supplied slide in controlled environmental conditions, each incubator having a conveyor adapted to receive and move the supplied slides within the incubator; a plurality of incubators, a slide transfer device for transporting slides from a slide feeder to a dispensing position and then to a conveyor of a desired incubator, and a plurality of analyzers, each analyzer having a corresponding one incubator. A plurality of analysis devices are provided along the conveyor in the incubator and are configured to analyze the properties of the fluid on the slide held in the incubator for a required period of time.

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on examples shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a chemical analysis apparatus 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As illustrated, this apparatus 20 includes a sample tray 22 as a sample supply device, a slide supply table 24 as a slide supply device, a metering supply device 26, a slide conveyance device 28, and fence warmers 30, 32. As described below, the analyzer 20 selects a test slide from the supply table 24, transports the slide to the metering assembly 26 to place a drop of biological fluid, e.g., serum, on the slide, and places the slide in an incubator 30, 32. Put it in one side. After the slides were placed in the incubator for the required time, they were irradiated with radiation (
or fin shooting). Details of the sample tray 22 are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

Tray 22 has a circular, generally flat top plate 35 with a number of slots 36 around its periphery, in which slots 36 can accommodate cups 3 as fluid sample containers containing the biological fluid to be tested.
7 is now accepted. Slots 36 are marked with a series of numbers 1-35 as a means of identifying the location of each sample to be analyzed. At the beginning of each test run, the tray 22 is placed on the analyzer with the reference position 57 below the dosing device 26. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a circular cover 55 covers the cup 37. tray
22 is removably mounted on the retaining plate 40 by a clip 42. The clip is movable in the radial direction and is attached to the retaining plate 40.
It can be engaged with and released from a pin 43 attached to the pin 43. A stepping motor 5 that rotates the sample tray 22
0', the drive shaft 54 is driven via the reduction gear 52. The drive shaft 54 is fixed to the holding plate 40, projects downward, and is supported by a frame 56 of the analyzer. An encoder disk 58 mounted on shaft 54 cooperates with a photovoltaic cell 59 to determine a particular rotational position of the sample tray. Details of the slide feeding table are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

The table 24 has a plurality of cartridge holders 60 attached by set screws 61. The cartridges 62 installed in the retainer 60 each have a stack of slides 6
It accommodates 3. The supply table 24 is fixed to a shaft 64, and a motor 66 drives the shaft 64 via a Geneva drive mechanism 67 to slide the desired cartridge into the supply arm 9.
0' is the adjacent position. A highly preferred slide for use in the present invention is the slide described in Belgian Patent No. 801,402, which is formed as a multilayer element containing the necessary reagents that react with components such as serum.

Certain reactions produce colorimetric optical density changes that are sensed by a radiometer. That is, the amount of light reflected from the slide element changes in response to the reaction, and this change is indicative of the amount of the particular component present in the biological fluid being tested. The analyzer of the present invention can also use other types of slides.

For example, U.S. Patent Application No. 7,725 (U.S. Patent No. 4,
053,381). This US application describes a type of slide that uses electrodes to potentiometrically display the activity of ions in a liquid test solution. The slide 63 is pushed out of the cartridge 62 by a pushing mechanism 65.

The mechanism has a pusher element 68 slidably mounted on a track 69 secured to the substrate 56. The pushing element 68 is driven by a crank 73. This crank is pivoted to element 68 by pin 74 and pin 74 of motor frame 77.
It is pivoted to 6. The motor 78 is. - Rotate the la 80,
The roller 80 engages in the slot 81 of the crank 73 and causes the crank 73 to swing, causing the pushing element 68 to push out the slide 63 at the required time. The slide 63 pushed out by the pushing mechanism 65 is transferred to the slide transfer device 2 shown in FIGS.
8 slide supply arms 90' are supplied. He has 9 arms and 91 and 92 arms. Rail 91 has a groove 93 on its inner surface 97 and rail 92 has a groove 94 on its inner surface 98. The slide 63 engages within the grooves 93, 94 with close tolerances so that the slide 63 is in a precise relative position with respect to the dispensing device 26. The restraining springs 95 and 96 provide a retaining device for retaining the slide within the arm 90. A drive shaft 113 is fixed to the lower surface of a rotary plate 114 to which an arm 90 is attached. A motor 1101 is driven through a Geneva gear 111 fixed to a shaft 113, causing the plate 114 to rotate intermittently.
The motor 120 is connected to the collar 124 fixed to the shaft 113.
engages the biased D roller 122 driven by , and moves the plate 114 and the arm 90 up and down during the metering and dispensing operation, as will be described later. To move slide 63 directly from the dispensing table into the dispensing position, arm 90 is rotated 180 degrees.

Before moving slide 63 to the dispensing position, a selected cup on sample tray 22 must be engaged with metering device 26. As shown in FIG. 8, two jaws 140, 141 are provided for raising one cup 37 into contact with metering head 142. As shown in FIG. Chin 14
0 and 141 are pivotally supported by pins 143 and 144, and are pushed apart from each other by a spring device (not shown). The jaws 140, 141 are moved in the direction of the sample tray 22 by a device not shown. Jaws 140 and 141 are board 1
46) moves vertically downward, and when the notches 147, 148 of the jaws coincide with the closing opening 145, the jaws 140, 141 are opened by the aforementioned spring device as shown by the chain line in FIG. position. Once during the return movement, the jaws 140, 141 move inwardly and engage the flange 149 of the cup 37, pulling the cup up and away from the head 142.
contact with. Jaws 140,1 after each metering connection operation.
41 and return the cup to the sample tray 22. The jaws 140, 141 remain in the open position shown in FIG. 3 until the next cup lifting operation. While the cup 37 is moved upwardly by the jaws 140, 141, the cap 38 of the cup
The metering tip 39 is exposed. Cap 38 falls over opening 151 in plate 40, as shown in FIG. A drop of sample is formed on the metering tip 39 of the cup 37 when the cup 37 is in a position to engage the metering head 142 shown in FIG. 8 and the slide 63 is in the lower position of the cup. A measuring cup of the type committed to US patent application Ser. No. 4,041,995 is a suitable measuring cup for operation of the device according to the invention. As described in this US patent application, air pressure is applied to the liquid in the measuring cup from above to force a drop of sample downward. In order to transfer a drop of this sample onto the slide 63, the motor 20 is activated and the plate 11 of the transfer device 28 is moved.
4 and the arm 90 to bring the droplet into contact with the slide 63. The raised position of the slide 63 is shown by a solid line in FIG. After the sample droplets have attached to the slide 63, move the motor 2, the rotary plate 114, the arm 90, and the slide 63 to the lower position, operate the motor 110, and rotate the rotary plate 114 by 90 degrees.
The slide 63 is placed at a position where it is sent into one of the thermostats 30 and 32. When the arm 90 is in a position close to one of the thermostats 30 and 32, the motor 125 moves the pushing member 127 along the grooves 93 and 94 via the crank mechanism 126.
Slide 63 into slot 16 of incubator housing 170.
8 and put it in a thermostat. (See Figures 1, 6, 7, and 11) Examples of thermostats are shown in Figures 9 to 13.

Since the fence warmers 30 and 32 have substantially the same shape, only the value warmer 30 will be described. The heat sink housing 17 is made of a material with good heat insulation properties, and both end walls 171 and 172 are made of a cylindrical wall 173.
It consists of a combination of . Ring 174 attached to end wall 171
Attach heating element 175 to. The heating element 175 is of the type having a high resistance wire embedded in silicone rubber and is shown in FIG. A conveyor 180 mounted within the housing 170 receives the slide 63 at a receiving station 182 shown in FIG. 12 and advances the slide through the incubator housing. An example of a slide storage device for conveyor 180 is US patent application Ser. No. 751,869 (US Pat.
No.). A rotor 184 of the conveyor 180 rotates around a marker line 185 shown in FIG.

A motor 190 that continuously rotates the rotor 184 is connected to the belt 1
93, drives the rotor ball 192 via the gear 191. The rotor 184 has a plurality of slide holding members 200 spaced apart from each other on the outer periphery thereof. Slide holding village 20
The slides are received at the receiving station 182, transported to the sensing station, and after analysis at the sensing station is complete, are ejected through the ejection chute 240'.
Each slide holding member 20 (as shown in Figure 11),
It is C-shaped, and the two legs 201 and 204 are connected to the connecting member 203.
The shape is connected by . A pin 205 secured to member 200' near the joint of leg 204 is adapted to move in the parallax direction within a slot 210 formed in outer ring 211 of rotor 184. As shown in Figure 13,
The lower part of the holding member 200 rests on the pressure plate 215. A circular spring 217 engaged with the inner ring 22 of the rotor 184 presses the pressure plate 215 towards the retaining member 20. The slide holding member 200 is moved axially on the rotor 184 by cam devices 225, 226.

The cam devices 225 and 226 are attached to the pin 205 of the holding member 200.
It is designed to engage with. Cam device 225, 22
6 is adapted to engage with the pin 205 of the holding member 200. The blade 227 of the cam device 225 is connected to the pin 228
11, and moves between the solid line position and the chain line position in FIG. Blade 227 is coupled via link 230 to solenoid 231 which, when actuated, moves the blade to the solid line position in FIG. Return'
The imitation 232 returns the blade from the solid line position to the chain line position.
The cam pupil 226 has a similar structure to the cam device 225.
If the solenoid 231 is actuated as the rotor 184 moves from right to left in FIG. move towards it.

This retaining member is attached to the discharge chute 24 near the wall 172.
0, so when the holding member 20 and the slide 63 are held, the slide 63 passes over the discharge chute 24.
0 falls into the duct 234 and is discharged. Retaining member 20 retains the new slide 63 when it reaches receiving station 182 in FIG. When the slide is not held correctly by the retaining member 200', the slide is pushed past the retaining member 200' and enters the second duct 235 of the discharge chute 240. The slides in the discharge chute 240 are collected in a container 241, shown in FIG. 10, for later disposal. Note that, in the illustrated embodiment, since the retaining members 200 are close to each other, adjacent retaining members successively store new slides in the retaining portions that are moved by the blade 227 to a position closer to the wall 172 to hold the slide. However, the previous holding member is not engaged by the blade 227 and passes through a position close to the wall 171, so that the slide stored and held by the next holding member is
It must be possible to enter the housing 170 through the slot 168, and this retainer village cannot then accept the slide.

The analytical device for performing the scanning analysis of the slide is, in the illustrated example, a radiometer 250 (FIG. 9), which includes an energy source, for example an incandescent lamp, which emits the required light beam, a plane mirror 255, which is reflected from the slide, and a plane mirror 255; It has a sensor 254 that receives light that has passed through lenses 256 and 257. By performing the analysis of test slides through two channels, the number and type of tests that can be performed by the analyzer is significantly increased.

In the illustrated example, this multi-channel test is performed using two sets of temperature chambers, an analyzer, and one slide transfer device, and this slide transfer device is capable of transporting slides to the required temperature chamber. shall be. In one example of the analyzer of the present invention, one set of incubators 30 performs a glucose test, and one set of incubators 32 performs a BUN test.

Then perform a blood urea nitrogen test. To perform both tests, the first test slide received by the slide transfer assembly 28 contains the necessary reagents to perform the glucose test, and the slide is moved to the dispensing station to dispense a sample of biofluid onto the slide. and send the slide into the temperature chamber 30. Slides to be subjected to the BUN test are sent into the incubator 32 through a similar process. It is also possible to perform reaction rate analysis in one incubator and end point analysis in the other incubator. In one thermostat, the above-mentioned U.S. patent application No. 687
Electrometer analysis as described in No. 725 can also be carried out. The operation of the analyzer of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 14.

An operator places cups containing the biological fluid to be analyzed on sample trays 22 and identifies each sample by its respective tray number. The tray 22 is placed on the machine with a neutral position 57 directly below the dosing device 26. A cartridge of test slides is placed in the supply table 24, with the slide for a particular test in an identifiable position. For example, slides for glucose testing are placed at positions A and B in FIG. 14, and slides for BUN testing are placed at positions C and D in FIG. The computer 40 inputs 400 input data such as shark positive values, sample identification, and each sample for the required tests.
Put it in 1. The output signal of the computer is supplied to the control device 402. Based on each input, the control device 402 supplies input signals to each component of the analyzer, as shown by dotted lines in FIG. 14, and controls the operation of each component at the required time of the machine cycle. As the computer 401, any computer such as a commercially available programmable mini computer or a programmable microprocessor is used. Instructions and methods for programming this type of computer are well known and will not be described here. At the start of analysis, the slide extrusion mechanism 65 sends one slide from the cartridge A through the arms of the slide transfer device 28 .

When arm 90 is in the dosing housing position, jaws 140, 141 raise sample cup 37 from tray 22 into engagement with dosing head 142. When the test slide 63 in the arm 90 is located directly below the supply end 39 of the cup 37, the supply V supply end 3
One drop of sample is extruded every 9 seconds. The arm 90 is raised to attach the sample droplet to the slide, and the sample droplet is transferred onto the slide. The arm 90 remains in the upper position for the required time, then moves downward and rotates into position adjacent to one of the incubators and then into the receiving station 182 for receiving the direct incubator. The slides are moved through the enclosure by a conveyor inside the enclosure, and after the required time, the slides are discussed using a radiometer. The reading results are sent to a computer, which performs necessary calculations according to a stored program to calculate the concentration of each sample. The calculation results are sent to the display or printing device 403 together with the sample identification number. Effects Since the present invention has the configuration described above, it is possible to simultaneously conduct two or more types of tests (two types in the above example) on one type of sample, thereby achieving the above-mentioned intended purpose. be able to.

Moreover, only one metering and feeding device is needed to conduct such a test.
It's good to have a stand. When using the test equipment of the same machine with a conventional analyzer, two or more analyzers are required, and the fluid sample to be analyzed must be prepared in the dispensing device of each analyzer. In the case of serum, it is not preferable because a large amount of blood must be collected from the patient, but with the device according to the present invention, such a problem does not occur because it can be prepared in one metering and feeding device.

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an analyzer according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a partial plan view of a part of the sample tray of the analyzer; Fig. 3 is a partial side view of the sample tray; The figure is a partial plan view of the slide supply table and slide transfer device; Fig. 5 is a side view of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a plan view of the slide transfer device; Fig. 7 is a side view of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 Figure 9 is a partial side view of the sample tray, metering supply device, and slide transfer device; Figure 9 is a partial plan view of the fence heating device; Figure 10 is a side view of Figure 9; Figure 11 is the constant striping device of Figure 9. Fig. 12 is a side view of the thermometer rotor in Fig. 11; Fig. 13 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 13-13 in Fig. 11; Fig. 14 is a partial enlarged sectional view of the analyzer shown in Fig. 1. It is a control system diagram. FIG. 2 FIG. 3 FIG. l FIG. 4 FIG. 5 FIG. 6 FIG. 7 FIG. 8 FIG. 9 FIG. l○ FIG. ll FIG. l2 FIG. l3 FIG, l4

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. (a) a slide supply device 24 for supporting and dispensing a plurality of independent slides 63; (b) a fluid sample supply device 22 for supporting a plurality of fluid sample containers; (c)
(d) a plurality of incubators for maintaining the dispensed slides in controlled environmental conditions; (e) a plurality of incubators 30, 32, each incubator comprising a conveyor 180 adapted to receive and move a supplied slide within the incubator; (e) slides; from the slide feeding device 24 to the metering position, and then
slide transfer devices 65, 28 for feeding the slides to the conveyor of one desired incubator; and (f) a plurality of analysis devices 250, each of which is provided in combination with the conveyor in one incubator to which each fractionating device corresponds; A chemical analysis device comprising: a plurality of analysis devices 250 adapted to analyze the properties of a fluid on a slide held in a thermostat for a required period of time. 2. In the device according to claim 1, the slide supply device 24 accommodates two sets of stacked slides 63, and the transfer device takes out one slide from a selected set of slides. A chemical analysis device characterized by: 3. In the device according to claim 1 or 2, the metering and feeding device 26 is configured to feed the selected slide 6.
3. A chemical analysis apparatus characterized in that the chemical analysis apparatus is of a type in which one drop of a dripping liquid from a fluid sample container 37 is attached to a fluid sample container 37. 4. In the device according to claim 1, 2, or 3, the fluid sample supply device comprises a circular tray 22 that accommodates a plurality of fluid sample containers 37 at its periphery and is rotatably mounted. A chemical analysis device comprising: 5. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein at least a portion of each analyzer 250 is placed in a thermostat 30, 32 that maintains the slide under controlled environmental conditions. A chemical analysis device characterized by the following: 6. A chemical analysis device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that one of the analysis devices is a radiometer. 7. A chemical analysis device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that one of the analysis devices is an electrometer. 8. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that one of the analyzers is suitable for analyzing the reaction rate between the sample on the slide and the reagent. chemical analysis equipment. 9. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that one of the analyzers is a device suitable for analyzing the end point of a reaction between a sample on a slide and a reagent. chemical analysis equipment. 10 In the apparatus described in any one of claims 1 to 9, each sample container 37 has a metering supply end 3.
9 and a cover 38 for covering the supply end, and means 140 for automatically removing the cap at the metering and supply position.