JPH0368347B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement in a switching valve device in a blood testing device.

As shown in FIG. 1, a testing device for blood, etc. usually has a titration plate 2 or a test device, in which a large number of reaction vessels 20 are arranged vertically and horizontally on the top of a box-like body 1. A mounting table 3 on which racks for aligning and supporting the tubular reaction vessels are placed is mounted so as to be movable in the left and right directions, and a dispensing head 4 is arranged above the movement path of the mounting table 3 to move the machine. The support frame 10 is installed on the front side of the support frame 10, which is installed on the rear side of the dispensing head 4, so that the vertical relative distance to the dispensing table 3 can be freely changed. A predetermined amount of test solution or reagent, etc. is dispensed into each reaction tank 20... (or each reaction tank supported on a rack) of the titration plate 2 that is placed on top and transferred below the dispensing head 4. A dispensing device 5 for dispensing the liquid is provided. To explain the configuration using the titration plates 2, there is a storage space located above the mounting table 3 on either side of the left or right side of the dispensing head 4 and mounted on the support frame 10. 1
Titration plates 2, which are fed out one by one from 1, are placed on a mounting table 3 and sent below the dispensing head 4, and at that position, either raising the mounting table 3 or lowering the dispensing head 4, By aligning the dispensing needles 50 of the dispensing device 5 installed on the bottom side of the dispensing head 4 with the respective reaction vessels 20 of the titration plate 2, and operating the dispensing device 5 in that state. , perform the work of dispensing a predetermined amount of test liquid, reagent, etc. into each reaction tank 20..., and when the dispensing work is completed,
A collection storage 1 is mounted on the front side of the support frame 10 by moving the mounting table 3 and disposing it on the other side of the dispensing head 4.
2 and collected in the collection warehouse 12.

By the way, in the testing apparatus for blood, etc. configured as described above, the dispensing device 5 installed on the lower surface side of the dispensing head 4 collects the test liquid from the dispensing needle 50 of the dispensing device 5.
To dispense a predetermined amount of a reagent, etc., as shown in FIG.
A vacant chamber 54 that communicates with a pump P consisting of a cylinder 51 and a piston 52 and a supply pipe 53 for test liquid, etc.
(or a conduit), and its empty space 54
A valve mechanism a that closes when the inside of the empty chamber 54 becomes negative pressure and opens when the pressure increases is installed at the communication site between the empty chamber 54 and the dispensing needle 50. Supply pipe 5
3 is equipped with a valve mechanism b that opens when the inside of the empty chamber 54 becomes negative pressure and closes when the pressure rises, so that the piston 52 can draw suction as shown in FIG. When the operation is performed, the valve mechanism a is "closed" and the valve mechanism b is opened, so that the test liquid, etc. is sucked into the cylinder 51 from the supply pipe 53 side, and the piston 52 is activated to discharge as shown in FIG. When this is done, the valve mechanism a opens and the valve mechanism b closes, pushing out the sample liquid, etc. drawn into the cylinder 51 toward the dispensing needle 50, and pushing the cylinder 51 in response to the stroke of the piston 52. The content of the test solution is dispensed into the reaction tank 20 from the dispensing needle 50.

As long as the stroke of the piston 52 is controlled at a constant level, the dispensing device 5 should always be able to measure a constant amount of test liquid, etc. into the cylinder 51 and discharge it from the dispensing needle 50. However, since the test liquid is highly viscous such as blood, valve mechanisms a,
The valve ball 55 and the valve seat 56 that make up the valve seat 56 become stuck together, causing malfunction in the valve opening operation, and the movement of the valve ball 55 being pushed toward the valve seat 56 by the spring 57 becomes slow. , due to malfunction in the valve closing operation, the test liquid, etc. may flow back into the supply pipe 53 side, or air may be sucked from the dispensing needle 50 side, causing a certain amount of test liquid, etc. to be reacted. There is a problem that the operation of dispensing into the tanks 20 becomes inaccurate.

In addition, when starting the dispensing work, the valve mechanisms a,
b and entered into the cylinder 51, or
In order to extract the air that has entered, the piston 52 must repeat the suction and discharge operations several times to push the air toward the dispensing needle 50 together with the sample, etc. There is a problem of wasted batches, and especially when dispensing expensive reagents, there is a problem of large losses.

The present invention has been made in order to solve these problems that occur with conventional means, and enables accurate weighing of test liquids, etc., which are dispensed from a dispensing needle into a reaction tank. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a new means that allows air to be removed without causing loss to the test liquid or the like.

In the present invention, as a means to achieve this objective, a suction port is provided at one end of the sleeve that expands and contracts in the axial direction, a discharge port is provided at the other end, and a communication port is provided in the middle. was opened, and inside,
A vacant chamber is provided that communicates with the suction port, the discharge port, and the communication port, and a valve mechanism is provided in each portion of the vacant chamber that communicates with the suction port and the discharge port, and the valve mechanism is connected to the expansion and contraction of the sleeve. A switching device for testing blood, etc., which is linked to the expansion and contraction of the sleeve so that the state in which one valve is open and the other valve is closed, and the state in which one valve is closed and the other valve is open are linked to the expansion and contraction operation of the sleeve. The valve device is raised.

Next, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the same reference numerals in the drawings are used for structural members having the same effect.

Figure 5 is a blood testing device A that can carry out the present invention.
In this figure, 1 is the body of the machine, 3 is a mounting table mounted on the front half side of the upper surface of the machine 1 so as to be movable from side to side, and 4 is arranged above the left and right movement locus of the platform 3. A dispensing head mounted on the front side of the support frame 10, 5 a dispensing device mounted on the bottom side of the dispensing head 4, and 11 mounted on the left side of the dispensing head 4 and mounted on the support frame 10. A storage compartment that can be mounted on the front of 10 so that it can be raised and lowered freely,
12 is located on the right side of the dispensing head 4 and supports the support frame 1.
13 is a storage tank for test liquids, etc.; 2 is a titration plate taken out from the storage 11 and transferred to the lower part of the dispensing head 4 by the mounting table 3; 20 ... indicates a reaction tank arranged in alignment with the titration plate 2, and the dispensing head 4
The vertical relative distance to the mounting table 3 can be changed by supporting the machine frame 4a on the front of the supporting machine frame 10 so that it can rise and fall freely, or by installing the mounting table 3 on the machine body 1 so that it can move up and down. It has become possible to do it freely.

Therefore, the dispensing device 5 provided on the lower surface side of the dispensing head 4 is attached to the lower surface side of the fixed head 40 fixedly supported on the machine frame 4a of the dispensing head 4, as shown in FIG. A sleeve 60 formed in a vertically long cylindrical shape is arranged in the longitudinal direction (sixth The upper ends of the sleeves 60 are connected to the fixed head 40.
The sleeves 60...
, each upper end portion 50 of the dispensing needle 50...
a, respectively, and the dispensing needles 50
. . . integrally assembles a movable head 43 disposed below the fixed head 40, which can be raised and lowered by a hanging rod 41 of the fixed head 40 and urged downward by a hanging spring 42. The tip end side (lower end side) of the dispensing needles 50 is made to protrude from the lower surface side of the movable head 43. Each sleeve 60... has a cavity 61 formed therein, as shown in FIG.
1, the peripheral wall 601 is formed into a bellows shape or, as shown in FIG. The storage tank 13 for test liquid etc. is connected to the chamber 61 by a communication port 62 provided at the top, a communication port 63 provided at the body, and a communication port 64 provided at the bottom.
A communication port 62, which communicates with the pump P consisting of a cylinder 51 and a piston 52, and the dispensing needle 50, and also communicates with the storage tank 13 for test liquid, etc., is formed on the inner surface side of the cavity 61. A valve mechanism w is provided which closes the valve when the valve body 66 is raised by a valve seat 65 and a valve body 66 facing the valve seat 65 from below,
The communication port 64 that communicates with the dispensing needle 50 has a valve seat 67 formed on the lower surface side of the communication port 64 and a valve body 68 facing the valve seat 67 from below, which closes when the valve body 68 rises. A mechanism y is provided, and the valve bodies 66 and 68 of the valve mechanisms w and y are connected to the empty chamber 6.
The valve rods 69 are integrally connected to each other by a valve rod 69 formed shorter than the length l in the expansion and contraction direction when the valve 1 is expanded, and
Valve body 66 of valve mechanism w or valve body 68 of valve mechanism y
A spring 70 is connected to the spring 70 to urge it upward, so that when the chamber 61 is expanded, the valve body 68 of the valve mechanism y is moved as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. Occupies the valve closing position with the bias of the spring 70,
The valve body 65 of the valve mechanism w assumes an open position due to the regulation of the valve rod 69 connected to the valve body 68, and the empty space 61 contracts to reduce the length l of the valve rod 69.
, the spring 70 moves the valve element 65 of the valve mechanism w to the closed position, and the regulation of the valve rod 69 causes the valve element 68 of the valve mechanism y to be pulled downward from the valve seat 67 to return to the open position. It is made to occupy. That is, as the sleeve 60 expands and contracts and the empty chamber 61 expands and contracts, the valve mechanism w installed in the communication ports 62 and 64 opened at both ends of the empty chamber 61 in the expansion and contraction direction.
y is alternately switched between a state in which one valve is open and the other valve is closed, and a state in which one valve is closed and the other valve is open.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a valve opening/closing mechanism that expands and contracts the sleeve 60 to open and close the aforementioned valve mechanisms w and y, and the upper end portions 41a, 41a of the suspension rods 41, 41 suspend the movable head 43 from the fixed head 40 so as to be able to rise and fall freely. is made to protrude from the upper surface side of the fixed head 40, and one end side of lever rods 80, 80 formed in an angular shape as shown in FIG. A reciprocating rod 81 formed long in the front-rear direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 12) is connected to the other end side of the rods 80, 80, and the rear end side of the reciprocating rod 81 (left end in FIG. 12) side) to a crank wheel 82 provided on the rotating shaft of the motor M1 that is fixedly supported on the machine frame 4a of the aforementioned dispensing head 4.
The reciprocating rod 81 is connected to the rear (12th) by the drive of the motor M1.
When pulled out (to the left in the figure), the bent portion 801 where the lever rods 80, 80 are in contact with the upper surface of the fixed head 40,
801 as a fulcrum and rotates counterclockwise in FIG.
Move the lower end of 0... upward all at once to open the vacant room 61.
is contracted to create the state shown in FIG. 9 in which the valve mechanism w closes and the valve mechanism y opens, and when the reciprocating rod 81 is pushed forward, the lever rods 80, 80 move to the bent portion. Using 801, 801 as a fulcrum, it rotates clockwise in FIG. 12 to push the above-mentioned suspension rods 41, 41 downward, thereby moving the movable head 43 downward, and extending the parallel sleeves 60 all at once. 10 and 11, in which the valve mechanism w opens and the valve mechanism y closes. Note that 85 indicated by a chain line in FIG. 12 is a guide for guiding the reciprocating rod 81.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a pump operating mechanism that operates the pumps P that communicate with the respective empty chambers 61 of the sleeves 60 that are arranged in parallel, and protrudes from the cylinder 51 of each of the pumps P that are arranged in parallel as shown in Fig. 6. A connecting plate 90 is connected to each outer end side of the piston 52,
The connecting plate 90 is connected to the machine frame 4a of the dispensing head 4.
A motor is integrally assembled to a sliding member 92 that is slidably mounted on guides 91, 91 that are fixedly supported within the machine frame 4a, and is fixedly supported on the machine frame 4a by a rack 93 provided on the sliding member 92. It is constructed by meshing a pinion 95 provided on a shaft 94 rotated by M2, and by rotating the motor M2 in the forward and reverse directions,
By rotating the pinion 95 in forward and reverse directions, the sliding member 9
2 are moved forward or backward in the operating direction of the pistons 52 of the pumps P, thereby moving the connecting plate 90 so that the pistons 52 of the pumps P simultaneously perform suction or discharge operations.

The valve opening/closing mechanism 8 and the pump operating mechanism 9 can be operated individually or by operating a control switch S provided on the operation panel 14 on the front side of the machine body 1.
The motors M1, M
2 circuits are controlled.

In FIG. 5 and FIG. 12, 15 is a pipe for supplying a test solution, etc. from the storage tank 13 to the empty chamber 61 in each sleeve 60 assembled in parallel to the fixed head 40, and is a transparent pipe. The nipple 16 is made of a synthetic resin material and is connected to a nipple 16 provided on the fixed head 40. The sample liquid etc. introduced here is communicated from the nipple 16 via a branch pipe (not shown) to a connecting pipe provided at the upper end of each sleeve 60, and from the connecting pipe to each empty chamber 6.
It is supplied to the communication port 62 of No. 1.

The thus constructed embodiment device operates as follows.

When dispensing a test solution or reagent, etc. to each reaction tank 20 of the titration plate 2 located below the dispensing head 4, the movable head 43 of the dispensing device 5 is lowered and mounted in parallel on the fixed head 40. sleeve 6
Assuming that 0... is in an extended state, those sleeves 6
The valve mechanisms w and y provided in each of the empty chambers 61 in 0... are kept in a state where the valve mechanism w is open and the valve mechanism y is closed.

From this state, the motor M2 is rotated forward to operate the pump operating mechanism 9 in a direction in which the connecting plate 90 pulls out the pistons 52 of each pump P, thereby causing each pump P to perform a suction operation. As a result, the test liquid or reagent in the storage tank 13 flows from the pipe 15 into the empty chamber 61 and the cylinder 51 via the open valve mechanism w in each sleeve 60. .

Next, from this state, the motor M2 is reversely rotated to cause the pump operating mechanism 9 to perform a discharge operation in which the piston 52 is pushed in. At this time, vacant room 6
1 and the air that has entered into the cylinder 51 becomes bubbles and is pushed out to the storage tank 13 side.
Therefore, by operating the pump operating mechanism 9 with the movable head 43 lowered and repeating the suction and discharge operations several times, air can be removed without discharging the test liquid etc. from the dispensing needle 50. It will be done easily and completely.

Next, after this air bleeding is finished and the test liquid etc. are sucked into the empty chamber 61 and the cylinder 51, the movable head 43 is raised by the operation of the valve opening/closing mechanism 8, and each sleeve 60 is contracted. As a result, the valve mechanisms w and y are placed in the state shown in FIG. 9, where the valve mechanism w is closed and the valve mechanism y is open, and at the same time, the pump operating mechanism 9 is driven to perform a discharge operation. As a result, the test liquid, etc. that have been sucked into the empty chamber 61 of the sleeve 60 and the cylinder 51 are removed from the piston 52.
A predetermined volume set by the stroke of and the cross-sectional area of the cylinder 51 is accurately discharged from the dispensing needle 50.

Next, when this discharge operation is finished, the movable head 43 is pulled down again by the operation of the valve opening/closing mechanism 8, so that the valve mechanism w is opened and the valve mechanism y is closed, and at the same time, the pump operation mechanism 9 is activated. to perform suction operation. As a result, the test liquid and the like are sucked into the empty chamber 61 in each sleeve 60 and into the cylinder 51 from the storage tank 13 side again.

During this operation, the opening and closing operations of the valve mechanisms w and y are such that, in the case of the valve mechanism w, the valve body 68 of the valve mechanism y is forcibly pulled downward by the expansion of the sleeve 60.
As a result, the valve body 66 is connected to the valve seat 65 via the valve rod 69.
When the sleeve 60 contracts, the force that pulls the valve body 68 of the valve mechanism y downward is released, and the spring 70 presses against the valve seat 66, opening the valve. I started to do this, and also
In the case of the valve mechanism y, the operation of extending the sleeve 60 causes the valve body 68 to come into pressure contact with the valve seat 67 to close the valve, and the contraction of the sleeve 60 causes the valve body 66 of the valve mechanism w to press against the valve seat 67.
5, the valve element 68 is pushed downward through the valve rod 69, opening the valve. Even if it sticks, it will open and close reliably, and since the spring 70 can be set to a spring pressure that is unrelated to the pressure of the test liquid, etc. generated in the empty chamber 61, a strong spring can be used and the opening and closing operation will be ensured. It will be possible to ensure that

As explained above, the switching valve device in the blood testing device according to the present invention has a suction port at one end of the sleeve that expands and contracts in the axial direction, a discharge port at the other end, and a middle portion. A communication port is provided, a vacant chamber is provided inside the chamber that communicates with the suction port, the discharge port, and the communication port, and a valve mechanism is provided in each portion of the vacant chamber that communicates with the suction port and the discharge port. , these valve mechanisms are linked to the expansion and contraction operation of the sleeve so that the expansion and contraction operation of the sleeve alternately switches between a state in which one valve is open and the other valve is closed, and a state in which one valve is closed and the other valve is open. At least with this configuration, the test liquid, etc. to be dispensed from the dispensing needle into the reaction tank can be weighed accurately, and air bleeding will not cause loss to the test liquid, etc. You will be able to do it.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is an overall schematic perspective view of a blood test device,
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional front view of the main parts of the dispensing device of the same device, FIGS. 3 and 4 are explanatory diagrams of the action of the same as above,
FIG. 5 is an overall schematic perspective view of a testing device for blood, etc. that can carry out the present invention, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a dispensing device of the same device, and FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional front view of the main parts of the same dispensing device. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectional front view of another embodiment of the above essential part, Figs. 9, 10, and 11 are explanatory diagrams of the action of the above essential part, and Fig. 12 is the valve opening/closing mechanism of the same dispensing device. FIG. Explanation of drawing symbols, A... Inspection device, 1... Airframe, 10... Support machine frame, 11... Storage, 12...
...Recovery warehouse, 13...Storage tank, 14...Operation panel, 15...Pipe, 16...Nipple, 2...
Titration plate, 20... reaction tank, 3... mounting table,
4...Dispensing head, 4a...Machine frame, 40...Fixed head, 41...Hanging rod, 42...Spring, 43...
Movable head, 5...dispensing device, 50...dispensing needle,
50a... Upper end portion, 51... Cylinder, 52...
Piston, 53... Supply pipe, 54... Vacancy, 55
...Valve ball, 56...Valve seat, 57...Spring, 60...
... Sleeve, 601 ... Peripheral wall, 61 ... Vacant room, 6
2, 63, 64...Communication port, 65...Valve seat, 66
...Valve body, 67...Valve seat, 68...Valve body, 69...
...Valve rod, 70... Spring, 8... Valve opening/closing mechanism, 80
... Lever rod, 81 ... Reciprocating rod, 82 ... Crank wheel, 83 ... Long groove, 84 ... Connection pin, 8
5...Guide, 801...Bending portion, 9...Pump operation mechanism, 90...Connection plate, 91...Guide, 9
2...Sliding member, 93...Rack, 94...Shaft,
95...Pinion, a, b...Valve mechanism, w, y...
...Valve mechanism, P...Pump, M1, M2...Motor, S...Control switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A suction port is provided at one end of the sleeve that expands and contracts in the axial direction, a discharge port is provided at the other end, and a communication port is provided in the middle, and the suction port, the discharge port, and the communication port are provided inside. A vacant chamber communicating with the mouth is provided, and a valve mechanism is provided in a portion of the vacant chamber communicating with the suction port and the discharge port, respectively, and one of the valve mechanisms is opened by expansion and contraction of the sleeve. A switching valve device for a blood testing device, which is connected to the expansion and contraction operation of a sleeve so that the other valve is closed and the other valve is closed and the other valve is opened.