JPH0416746B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic chemical analyzer that can efficiently dispense reagents into reaction tubes in a short time when a plurality of samples are analyzed for a plurality of items.

Conventionally, automatic chemical analyzers that analyze samples such as serum and urine for several arbitrary items from among the items for which reagents have been prepared in advance have traditionally been equipped with multiple channels, as shown in Figure 1. Reaction tubes 1 of reaction tube arrays L ₁ , L ₂ , L 3 . . . which constitute multiple channels for each reagent 2, 4, 6 are provided as an analyzer and reagent dispensers 1, _{3, 5} are provided.
There are those that dispense only the reagent for the item to be analyzed through the dispensing nozzles 7, 8, and 9, and those that have one row of reaction tubes and one (two-stage reaction system) as shown in Figure 2. In some cases, two reagent dispensers 1 are used to sequentially take out reagents for the item to be analyzed and dispense them into the reaction tubes 10. The former device requires reagent dispensers for each number of reagents, making it expensive and
The disadvantage was that the reaction tubes for items not to be analyzed would play, reducing processing capacity accordingly. Furthermore, the latter device had the disadvantage of low throughput because reagents were sequentially dispensed using a single reagent dispenser.

This invention was made in order to eliminate the drawbacks of the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, and it does not require as many reagent dispensers as there are reagents, and it can be configured without any play in the reaction tubes, and it is possible to improve the dispensing processing capacity. The purpose is to provide an automatic chemical analyzer that can perform the following steps. That is, in a multi-channel automatic chemical analyzer that analyzes a sample liquid mixed with a specimen by dispensing reagents into reaction tubes using a reagent dispenser,
In addition to sequentially feeding the reaction tube arrays constituting multiple channels to the reagent dispensing position, multiple reagent dispensers are provided so that each reagent dispenser can selectively aspirate multiple different types of reagents. , the aspirated reagent can be discharged into any reaction tube in the reaction tube array at the dispensing position, and the order of analysis items to be allocated to the reaction tube array constituting each channel is determined for each reagent dispenser. An automatic chemical analyzer characterized in that the reagents in the same reagent group are not used consecutively in a plurality of different reagent groups installed so that they can be selectively aspirated. It is.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An automatic chemical analyzer which is an embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing the configuration of a reagent dispensing system of an automatic chemical analyzer according to an embodiment of the present invention. On turntable A are reagents a ₁ 13, a ₂ 1
4... are set, and a reagent is selected by rotating the turntable A. The reagent nozzle 12 is inserted into the reagent, and the reagent is aspirated by the reagent dispenser 11. The reagent nozzle 12 that has sucked the reagent is a reaction tube array that constitutes a plurality of channels that are sequentially sent to a reagent dispensing position by a drive mechanism (not shown).
L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ ... move upward and are discharged into any reaction tube 10. The reagent nozzle 12 that has discharged the reagent is moved into the cleaning tank 40 at the cleaning position and is cleaned. Similarly for turntable B...I, reagent b ₁ 23
b ₂ 24,...i ₁ 33i ₂ 34 are set, and the reagent is sucked into the reagent nozzle 2 by the reagent dispensers 21 and 31.
2 and 32 into the reaction tube 10. After discharging the reagent, the reagent nozzles 22 and 32 are cleaned in a cleaning tank 40. Regarding turntables A, B...I series,
Dispensing operations such as sucking the reagent, moving the nozzle, discharging the reagent, and cleaning the nozzle are performed by a control device 41 (not shown).
can be controlled in parallel with each other. Note that this control device 41 controls the reagents in each reagent group, such as reagent _a , a ₂ , etc., so that analysis is not performed continuously, and the above-mentioned dispensing operations are performed in parallel according to the assigned order of analysis items.

Since the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is constructed as described above, for example, there are four turntables A, B, C, and D installed, and the reagent groups installed on each turntable are as shown in FIG. Assume that a multi-item analysis is to be performed on a sample using two 8-channel reaction tube arrays. In this case, the measurement items are analyzed using the reagents a ₁ , a ₂ , b ₁ , b ₅ , c ₃ for the sample, and the measurement items for the sample are analyzed using the reagents a ₃ , a ₄ , a ₅ , a ₆ , b ₃ ,
If the measurement items are to be analyzed using the reagents b ₄ , b ₆ , c ₁ , c ₂ , c ₆ , and d ₄ , the analysis items are allocated to each reaction tube array L ₁ and L ₂ as shown in Figure 5a. By performing the procedure as shown in Fig. 3, the dispensing operation can be completed with three dispensing operations. That is, for the first reagent dispensing in the reaction tube row _L1 , turntables A, B, and C are rotated, and each reagent a ₁ , b ₁ , and c ₃ is sucked from each reagent nozzle at the reagent suction position, and then the reaction tube row Move the reagent nozzle onto L ₁ and dispense the reagent into the reaction tube. After discharging the reagent, the reagent nozzle is cleaned in the cleaning tank 40. The second time, reagents a ₂ , b ₅ , c ₂ , and d ₄ are dispensed in the same manner. The third time is the reagent
a Dispense ₄ . The reaction tube row _L2 is also carried out as shown in the figure, and the dispensing operation is completed three times. Figure 5b shows the number of dispensing operations when reagents from the same reagent group are used continuously in a reagent group in which each turntable is in charge of the order in which they are allocated to the reaction tubes installed in the reaction tube array. FIG. The analysis items are shown in Figure 5a.
is the same as In this case, the number of times of dispensing increases because the dispensing operations of the reagent dispenser cannot be efficiently performed in parallel. Therefore, by controlling the allocation of analysis items and the dispensing operation using the control device 41, the dispensing operation can be performed in parallel for each reagent dispenser, and a large number of dispensing operations can be performed in one dispensing operation. As shown in FIG. 5a, reagents can be dispensed in a small number of times. In addition, when the number of reaction tube rows and the number of measurement items are different, the reaction tube rows are not fixed for each sample as in reaction tube row L ₁ in Figure 5a, but are placed in the same reaction tube row.
By allocating the analysis items for the next sample to be analyzed, processing capacity will not be reduced.

According to this invention, as described above, each reagent dispenser is in charge of a plurality of reagents, and the reagent nozzle can move on the reaction tube array and dispense into any reaction tube. This eliminates the one-to-one correspondence between the reaction tubes and the reagents to be dispensed into the reaction tubes in the reaction tube rows that make up multiple channels, as in the conventional device shown in Figure 2. Reagents for the desired items can be dispensed into reaction tubes in a packed state to avoid empty reaction tubes. Therefore, the number of reagent dispensers can be reduced compared to conventional devices, making it possible to lower the cost. In addition, when an analysis item is specified for a sample, the reaction tubes that make up each reaction tube row are The order of analysis items is assigned to each reagent nozzle, and the dispensing operations by each reagent dispenser are performed in parallel according to this assignment, so that the maximum number of reagent nozzles can be dispensed at once, reducing the dispensing processing capacity. You can improve your performance.

The number of reaction tube rows, the number of reagents on the turntable, the number of dispensers, etc. shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. It may be configured according to the number of samples to be analyzed and the number of analysis items. In addition, the reagent nozzle is configured separately from the reagent suction nozzle and the reagent discharge nozzle.
By performing suction and discharge via a switching valve, the nozzle movement time can be shortened and the dispensing processing capacity can be further improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1 and 2 are schematic explanatory diagrams showing the configuration of a conventional device. FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing the configuration of an automatic chemical analyzer according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of reagent groups assigned to each turntable in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5a is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of allocation of analysis items to reaction tubes constituting each reaction tube array and the number of dispensing operations in an embodiment of the present invention. Fifth
Figure b is a comparative example, showing an example of allocation and the number of dispensing operations when reagents in the same reagent group are used consecutively in a reagent group in which each reagent dispenser is in charge of allocating analysis items. It is an explanatory diagram to illustrate. 11, 21, 31... Reagent dispenser, 12, 2
2, 32... Reagent nozzle, 10... Reaction tube, 1
3, 14, 23, 24, 33, 34... Reagent, 4
0...Cleaning tank, 41...Control device, A, B, C,
D...I...Turntable, _L1 , _L2 , _L3 ...Reaction tube rows forming a plurality of channels.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a multi-channel automatic chemical analyzer that analyzes a sample liquid mixed with a specimen by dispensing reagents into reaction tubes using a reagent dispenser,
In addition to sequentially feeding the reaction tube arrays constituting multiple channels to the reagent dispensing position, multiple reagent dispensers are provided so that each reagent dispenser can selectively aspirate multiple different types of reagents. , the aspirated reagent can be discharged into any reaction tube in the reaction tube array at the dispensing position, and the order of analysis items to be allocated to the reaction tube array constituting each channel is determined for each reagent dispenser. An automatic chemical analyzer characterized in that the reagents in the same reagent group of a plurality of different reagent groups installed so as to be selectively aspirated can be arbitrarily determined by preventing consecutive use of reagents.