JPS6114468B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic dripper, that is, a device that automatically drips liquid from the tip of a nozzle.

The automatic infusion machine of the present invention is used, for example, when automatically diluting serum used in antigen-antibody reactions using a certain amount of diluent, but is not limited to such uses. It can be widely used for the purpose of automatically dispensing a fixed amount of liquid.

The mechanism and operation of the automatic infusion machine of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings. In Figure 1,
The liquid tank 1 contains the liquid used for dripping, and when the dripper starts operating, the stirring magnet (for example, a barium ferrite magnet) 2 placed below the liquid tank 1 moves back and forth, and its magnetic force According to
A stirring element (for example, a barium ferrite magnet) 3 contained in the liquid tank moves to stir the liquid in the liquid tank. After stopping stirring,
The liquid tank mounting table 4 rises, the nozzle 5 is immersed into the liquid in the liquid tank, the piston drive gear 6 starts rotating, and the piston upper and lower male threads are rotated by the action of the piston upper and lower female threads 7 and the piston upper and lower male threads 8. As the shaft connected to 8 rises, the piston 9
The piston holding plate 10 to which the piston 9 is fixed rises, and as the piston 9 rises, liquid is sucked into the liquid suction pipe 11 from the nozzle 5. Next, when the liquid tank mounting table 4 descends and stops, the carrier 13 on which the tray 12 is mounted moves, and the hole 14 provided in the tray 12 moves.
When the first row of
3 stops moving, and the piston 9 descends to drip liquid from the tip of the nozzle 5. This operation is performed by the program detection sensor 17 working through the through hole 16 provided in the programming card 15. The program detection sensor 17 is composed of a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and the light emitted by the light emitting element is transmitted to the programming card 15.
When the light receiving element is reached through the through hole 16 provided in the nozzle 5, the program detection sensor 17 is activated, the motor for lowering the piston 9 starts rotating, the piston drive gear 6 rotates, and the light is emitted from the tip of the nozzle 5. Liquid drips. When the liquid leaves the tip of the nozzle 5 and begins to drip, the droplets block the light from the light emitting element of the drop detection sensor 18, and the action of the drop detection sensor 18 causes the piston 9 to descend. The rotation of the motor stops, and the dripping of liquid from the nozzle 5 is stopped. The liquid dropped as described above enters the hole 14 provided in the tray 12.

The liquid is dripped from the nozzle 5 as described above, and the rotation of the motor that lowers the piston 9 is stopped by the action of the drip detection sensor 18, and the carrier 13 is moved to form a hole 14 in the tray 12. When the second row of
Light from the light-emitting element reaches the light-receiving element through the through-hole 16 provided in the light-emitting element, and the program detection sensor 17 operates, causing liquid to drip from the nozzle 5 into the second row of holes 14, and the drip is detected by the dripping of the liquid. The sensor 18 works, the carrier 13 moves, and the tray 12
As in the previous case, the third row of holes 14 provided in
After the liquid is dropped into all of the holes 14 provided in the tray 12, the carrier 13 returns to its original position and stops due to the action of the microswitch. After the carrier 13 has stopped, the tray 12 is replaced with a new tray.

In the above case, in order to adjust the number of nozzles 5 according to the number n of holes 14 in one row provided in the tray 12, the liquid suction tube holding plate 19 holding a desired number of liquid suction tubes is attached to the detachable lever. It can be replaced by operating 20. In the automatic dripper of the present invention, it is possible to use 8 to 12 nozzles. When dropping liquid from the nozzle 5 in the above, the rotation of the piston drive gear 6 is stopped after two drops have been dropped, that is, after the drop detection sensor has worked twice, and the rotation of the piston drive gear 6 is stopped. Two drops of liquid can also be dropped into the holes 14 of the tray 12, doubling the amount of liquid dropped. Furthermore, a desired hole among the through holes 16 provided in the programming card 15 is covered with paper or tape, etc.
If the light reaching the light receiving element from the light emitting element of the program detection sensor 17 is blocked to prevent the program detection sensor from working, liquid from the nozzle 5 will not flow into the row of holes 14 of the tray 12 corresponding to the blocked holes. No dripping is performed, and liquid can be dripped only on desired columns.

The mechanism of the automatic dripper of the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2, 3, and 4.

When the automatic dripper starts operating, the stirring crank 21 rotates, and by the action of the crank rod 22 and sliding rod 23, the stirring magnet 2 reciprocates back and forth below the liquid tank 1, and the stirring element 3 moves inside the liquid tank 1 and stirs the liquid in the liquid tank 1. When the stirring is finished, the liquid tank upper and lower crank 24 rotates, and the liquid tank mounting table 4 is raised by the actions of the liquid tank upper and lower crank rods 25 and the liquid tank upper and lower rods 26, and the nozzle 5 releases the liquid in the liquid tank 1. The liquid tank upper limit position detection micro switch 27 operates to stop the liquid tank mounting table 4 from rising, and the piston drive motor 28 operates to rotate the piston drive gear 6, which connects the upper and lower piston female screws 7 and the piston. By the action of the upper and lower male screws 8, the piston holding plate 10 to which the piston 9 is fixed is raised, and the liquid in the liquid tank 1 is sucked into the liquid suction pipe 11 from the nozzle 5. When suction of liquid is stopped by the action of a suction stop micro switch (not shown), the liquid tank mounting table 4 is lowered, the liquid tank lower limit position detection micro switch 29 is activated, and the lowering of the liquid tank mounting table 4 is stopped. At the same time, the carrier feed motor 30 starts rotating, and the fast feed ratchet wheel 31 and the carrier fast feed rack 3
2 moves the carrier 13 on which the tray 12 is placed, and when the first row of holes 14 provided in the tray 12 comes directly under the nozzle 5, the carrier 13 stops and the piston 9 descends. and nozzle 5
As described above, the liquid is applied from the tip of the carrier 13 through the through hole 16 provided in the programming card 15 and is performed by the function of the program detection sensor 17. The movement is carried out by the action of the feed ratchet wheel 33 and the carrier feed rack 34, and liquid is dripped from the nozzles 5 into the second and third rows of holes 14 provided in the tray in sequence, and into the last row. On the other hand, after the dripping is finished, the operation of the automatic dripper stops.

FIG. 5 shows a cross section of the liquid tank 1 used above. As shown in FIG. 5, the bottom 35 of the liquid tank 1 is slightly inclined, and a liquid retention groove 36 is provided at the end of the lower bottom surface perpendicular to the inclined surface, and the stirring element 3 is moved by the stirring magnet 2. The nozzle 5 reciprocates in the center of the liquid tank 1, and the nozzle 5 is placed so as to be immersed in a groove 36 of the liquid tank. Even when the liquid in the liquid tank 1 becomes low, a small amount of liquid is collected in the groove 36 and sucked up from the nozzle 5 to the liquid suction pipe 11, so that the liquid in the liquid tank can be used effectively.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an automatic dripper of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the liquid stirring device and carrier feeding device of the automatic dripper of the present invention, and FIG. A sectional view along the line A and a diagram for explaining the vertical movement of the piston, FIG. 4 is a front view taken along the line B-B in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is an automatic drip machine of the present invention. FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Liquid tank, 2...Stirring magnet, 3...Stirring element, 4...Liquid tank mounting stand, 5...Nozzle, 6...Piston drive gear, 7...Piston top and bottom female screws, 8... ... Piston upper and lower male threads, 9 ... Piston, 10 ... Piston holding plate, 11 ... Liquid suction pipe, 12 ... Tray, 13 ... Carrier, 1
4... Hole, 15... Programming card, 16
...Through hole, 17...Program detection sensor,
18...Dripping detection sensor, 19...Liquid suction tube holding plate, 20...Liquid suction tube holding plate attachment/detachment lever,
21... Stirring crank, 22... Crank rod, 23... Sliding rod, 24... Crank for upper and lower liquid tanks, 25... Crank rod for upper and lower liquid tanks, 26... Rod for upper and lower liquid tanks, 27... Liquid Tank upper limit position detection micro switch, 28...Piston drive motor, 29...Liquid tank lower limit position detection micro switch, 30...Carrier feed motor, 3
1... Rapid feed ratchet wheel, 32... Carrier fast feed rack, 33... Feed pawl wheel, 34... Carrier feed rack, 35... Bottom of the liquid tank, 36... Groove provided at the edge of the liquid tank.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A slightly inclined bottom surface 35 and a liquid retention groove 36 provided at the lower end of the bottom surface 35 and perpendicular to the inclined surface.
a liquid tank 1 having a liquid tank 1, a device for moving the liquid tank 1 up and down, a liquid suction pipe 11 equipped with a nozzle 5 and a piston 9 for absorbing liquid in the liquid tank provided directly above the liquid retention groove 36; , a device for moving the piston 9 up and down, holes 14 for receiving dropped liquid droplets in m rows n
A carrier 13 on which a tray 12 is placed, a device for intermittently moving the carrier 13 horizontally for a certain distance, and a hole 14 in the tray 12 that allows the horizontal movement of the carrier 13 provided at one end of the carrier 13 Corresponds to the number m of rows of holes 14 in the tray 12, which are provided parallel to the moving direction of the carrier 13 between the program detection sensor 17 and the light-emitting element and light-receiving element of the detection sensor 17 for controlling the carrier to stop directly below. Automatic dripper with a programming card 15 having a number of through holes 16 and a drip detection sensor 18 for controlling the dripping of liquid from the nozzle 5. 2. Immerse the stirring element 3 in the liquid in the liquid tank 1, place the stirring magnet 2 under the liquid tank,
The automatic dripping machine according to claim 1, comprising a liquid tank in which a stirring element 3 is moved by reciprocating a stirring magnet 2 to stir the liquid. 3. The automatic dripping machine according to claim 1, comprising a drop detection sensor 18 in which a light emitting element and a light receiving element are arranged so that the droplets dropped from the nozzle 5 block light from the light emitting element. 4 Using a combination of a programming card 15 having through-holes 16 in a number corresponding to the number of rows m of holes 14 provided in the tray 12 and a program detection sensor 17, the through-holes 16 are arbitrarily marked with paper or tape. By blocking the light from the light emitting element of the program detection sensor 17,
The automatic dripping machine according to claim 1, wherein liquid can be dripped only into desired rows of holes. 5. The automatic infusion machine according to claim 1, wherein the liquid suction tube holding plate 19 holding a desired number of liquid suction tubes 11 can be replaced by an attachment/detachment lever 20.