JPH0439624B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] This invention supplies a test sample to a biochemical analyzer, specifically an analysis slide equipped with an analysis element impregnated with a reaction reagent, and This invention relates to a device for chemically analyzing changes in color density by measuring changes in color density due to reactions.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, when determining whether or not a specific component is contained in blood and its content, an analysis slide equipped with an analytical element impregnated with a reaction reagent is used, and the test sample to be analyzed is placed on this analytical element. A method of supplying the sample dropwise and reacting it with a test sample in a thermostatic reaction chamber, and measuring the progress or result of the reaction, for example, by using an optical density meter to measure the change in color density due to the reaction, or other methods. However, the serum used as a test sample for the above measurements must be separated from whole blood in a separate process using a centrifugal separator (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 49-60293). However, this had to be taken with a pipette and individually dispensed manually onto the analysis slide, which was cumbersome to handle.

In addition, when using an analysis slide, it is necessary to maintain the analysis slide at an appropriate temperature for reaction with serum.
An incubator described in Publication No. 21567 was known. This device circulates the analysis slide and
During the movement, the analysis slide received heat from a constant temperature plate that it slid into contact with, so that it reached the appropriate temperature for the reaction, but the analysis slide was moored and transported by an endless means stretched between two shafts using a slide holder. Since the analysis slide is held in a large space, there is a risk that the serum will evaporate before reacting with the reagent and that the necessary photometric values will not be obtained.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention is intended to solve the above problems, and involves separating serum from whole blood, aspirating the separated serum with a pipette and dispensing it onto an analysis slide kept at an appropriate temperature, and evaporating the dispensed serum. The slide is transported to the photometry site without any problems, and the color change due to the reaction of the analysis slide is measured.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a biochemical analyzer that can improve the efficiency of analysis work.

[Structure of the invention]

A centrifugal separator for separating serum from whole blood, a tunnel-shaped constant temperature bath consisting of a transport path that can transport analysis slides in a straight line at a constant pitch and covered with heat-generating means from above and below, and a centrifugal separator. A pipette device that can aspirate the serum and dispense it to the analysis slide running in the conveyance path through a dispensing hole penetrating the top surface of the thermostatic chamber, and a pipette device that can aspirate the serum and dispense it to the analysis slide running in the conveyance path through the dispensing hole penetrating the top surface of the thermostatic chamber; The above object can be achieved by including a plurality of photometric heads provided through the lens.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be described based on an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a biochemical analyzer main body (hereinafter simply referred to as the main body), and within the main body 1 is provided centrifugal separation means 2 for separating serum from whole blood. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the centrifugal separator 2 is provided with an arm 5 having the same length extending in three directions at the upper end of the output shaft 4 of the drive unit 3. disk 6
is rotatably supported via its support shaft 6'. The disk 6 has a low cylindrical body 6a and an upper plate 6b.
It becomes stuck. A plurality of holes 7, 7... are equally arranged on the same circle on the outer edge of the top plate 6b of each disk 6, and each hole 7, 7... has a cylindrical container 9 that can receive a test tube 8. 3 Pin 1 as shown in Figure I
0, and the lower end thereof can swing outward as shown in the figure due to centrifugal force when the disk 6 rotates at high speed. The disk 6 revolves in the same circle together with the output shaft 4, which rotates one-third of a turn (120 degrees) in the direction of the arrow due to the operation of the drive unit 3, and is stopped at a predetermined position by fixed position stopping means (not shown). It is designed to be able to stop accurately at positions A, B, and C.

11 is the main body 1 corresponding to the disk stop position A
The circular hole 11 is formed in the upper surface plate 1a of the disk, and the circular hole 11 has a size such that all of the holes 7 on the upper surface of the disk can be completely exposed. This is for attaching the test tube 8 to the container 9 hanging down into the hole 7 of the disk 6. Reference numeral 12 denotes a rotation urging means for rotating the disk at a high speed at the disk stop position B, and the rotation urging means 12 is connected to the solenoid 1 as shown in FIG.
A motor 15 is installed on a movable plate 14 that can be moved up and down using one end as a fulcrum by the operation of 3.
An upwardly concave friction member 17 is provided on the conical shaft 16 of
The friction member 17 moves against the disk 6 by vertical movement of the movable plate 14.
It is configured such that it can be coupled to and separated from a downwardly convex friction member 18 provided at the lower end of the support shaft 6'.
It goes without saying that the motor 15 of the rotation urging means 12 should be capable of rotating at a high speed (for example, 3000 rpm or more) necessary to separate serum from whole blood in the test tube 8. Reference numeral 19 denotes a pipette insertion hole provided in the top plate 1a of the main body 1 corresponding to the stop position C of the disk, and the pipette insertion hole 19 matches one hole 7 (opening of the test tube 8) on the disk. . In addition, at the C position, the disk 6 is rotated forward and reverse by a predetermined angle by a rotational urging means (not shown) having the same structure as the rotational urging means at the B position, and the test contains the serum to be aspirated with the pipette device. Pipe 8 can be selected. This selection may be made by attaching, for example, a bar code to a suitable location on the disk and detecting this with a detector (not shown).

Reference numeral 20 denotes a tunnel-shaped constant temperature bath for the analysis slide 21 installed in the groove 1b provided on the top plate 1a of the main body 1, and the constant temperature bath 20 has an outer surface protected by a metal plate 22 as shown in FIG. An upper housing 24 with a cross-sectional shape formed of a heat insulating material 23 and a lower housing 25 with a cross-sectional shape are combined so that their opening sides face each other,
A heating element 26 and a heat radiating element 27 constituting a heating means are arranged inside the upper housing 24 and the lower housing 25, so that the analysis slide can be heated and maintained at a temperature suitable for reaction. Furthermore, the reason why the constant temperature bath 20 is made into a tunnel type is to prevent the dispensed serum from evaporating before it reacts with the reagent (before being transported to the photometry site). The heat dissipation plate 27 in the lower housing 25 is formed to have a square cross-section, and between its upper ends there is a groove 28 in the center that can lightly grip both edges of the analysis slide 21.
A top plate 2 having a conveyance path 28 in which a and 28b face each other.
9 is placed.

Reference numeral 30 denotes an intermittent conveyance means for intermittently conveying the analysis slides 21 on the conveyance path 28 at a constant pitch.As shown in the figure, the intermittent conveyance means 30 is provided at the center of the inner bottom surface of the heat dissipation plate 27 in the lower housing 25. Two grooves 31a and 31b are provided along the path length direction. An H-shaped base 32 is slidably fitted into the grooves 31a and 31b. The H-shaped base 32 can be moved back and forth with a predetermined stroke by a drive device (not shown). 33 are both side walls 32 of the H-shaped base 32
A pressing member 34 is attached to the center of the horizontal shaft 33, which extends between a and 32b at a predetermined distance. Further, on the outside of both side walls 32a and 32b of the H-shaped base 32, a drive device (not shown) (which may be common to the drive device of the H-shaped base 32 or a separate device) is used to drive a predetermined stroke in the path length direction. Front and rear sliding plates 35a and 35b face each other. The sliding plates 35a, 35b are provided with vertical holes 36a, 3 at the same interval as the installation interval of the horizontal shaft 33.
6b, and pins 37 protruding from the upper portions of both end surfaces of the pressing member 34 are provided in the vertical holes 36a, 36b.
a and 37b are fitted. Therefore, the pressing member 3
4 stands up as shown in FIG. 6I by sliding the sliding plates 35a and 35b toward the front with the H-shaped base 32 stopped. On the other hand, when it slides backwards, it falls backwards as shown in the same figure. By combining the movement of the sliding plate with the sliding movement of the H-shaped base 32, the pressing member 34 can move forward in an upright state and move backward in a collapsed state. When the pressing member 34 stands up, its upper end protrusion 34a protrudes above the conveying path 28 of the analysis slide 21 as shown in FIG. 7, and when it falls down, it sinks below the conveying path. By repeating the forward movement in an upright state and the backward movement in a fallen state, the analysis slide 21 is intermittently and sequentially transported forward.

Reference numeral 38 denotes a supply section that supplies the analysis slides 21 to the transport path 28, and the supply section 38 supplies the cassettes 3 in which the analysis slides 21 are stacked and stored, as shown in FIG.
9 is removably arranged on the upper surface of the peripheral portion of the rotating body 40.
It consists of a stationary bed 42 fixed to the upper end of the support shaft 41 of the rotating body 40, and a pusher 43 installed on the stationary bed 42. As shown in FIG. 9, the pusher 43 has a movable body 47 equipped with a pusher plate 46 slidably fitted onto two shafts 45a, 45b which are provided between opposing mounting plates 44a, 44b.
A driving pulley 49 whose movable body 47 is fixed to a conical shaft of a motor 48 disposed outside the mounting plate 44a, and a driven pulley fixed to a shaft supported by a side plate 44c erected on the other mounting plate 44b side. 50 and is moored to a rope 51 stretched between the two. Therefore, the pusher plate 4 is moved through the rope 51 by the operation of the motor 48.
6 moves forward, the cassette 3 located in front of it
The analysis slide 21 in 9 is pushed out as shown in the figure and is supplied to a conveyance path 28.
In this case, the rotating body 40 is driven by its driving means 52.
The cassette 39 loaded with the necessary analysis slides 21 is rotated by the operation of the pusher plate 46.
It is now possible to choose which one will come.

Reference numeral 53 denotes a dispensing hole for dispensing the separated serum onto the analysis slide 21 that travels intermittently within the transport path 28, and the dispensing hole 53
It is provided in a penetrating manner in the upper housing 24 corresponding to the first stop position. 54 is a pipette device, and the pipette device 54 descends through the pipette insertion hole 19 provided in the top plate 1a of the main body 1 corresponding to the stop position C of the disk 6 constituting the centrifugal separator 2, and enters the test tube 8. After aspirating the serum, it moves upward, rotates at the upward movement point, descends above the dispensing hole 53, and transfers the aspirated serum to the element surface 2 of the analysis slide 21.
It is now possible to dispense into 1a. The pipetting device 54 is connected to the top plate 1 of the main body 1 as shown in FIG.
A pipette main body 58 is held in a vertically movable manner by a frame 57a at the end of a horizontal arm rod 57 fixed to the head of a vertical shaft 56 which is rotatably supported by a bearing member 55 provided at a. A rack 59 formed on one side of the frame 57a is engaged with a pinion 60 that is pivotally supported in the middle of the U-shaped frame 57a. The pinion 60 is connected to a drive means (not shown) through the inside of the horizontal arm rod 57, and can move the pipette main body 58 up and down by rotating the pinion in forward and reverse directions. Also,
The vertical shaft 56 is a motor 61 installed inside the main body 1.
The pipette main body 58 is connected to a driven gear 63 that meshes with a drive gear 62, and is rotated by the forward and reverse rotation of the motor 61, so that the pipette main body 58 can rotate between the centers of the pipette insertion hole 19 and the dispensing hole 53. ing. 6
4 is a suction machine, and 65 is a conduit connected to the suction machine 64.

66 is a photometric optical means, and the photometric optical means 6
6, as shown in FIGS. 8, 11, and 12, a light beam generated from a light source 67 such as a halogen lamp is converted into a photometric light beam of a desired wavelength through a lens 68 and a filter 69, and the photometric light beam is rotated. distributed through a dynamic mirror device 70 and an optical fiber 71
Measurement surface of analysis slide 21 (back side of element)
The light is guided to the photometric head 72 which is placed close to the photometric head 72, and is irradiated with the light. This irradiation light is reflected from the measurement surface and transmitted to the light receiving element 74 through the optical fiber 73, and is calculated by a calculation device 75 such as a microcomputer, and the measured value can be displayed on the display window 76 of the main body 1. . This measured value may be printed on a roll of recording paper (not shown) if necessary.

A plurality of photometric heads 72 (four in the figure) are provided at the stop positions of the analysis slide 21 traveling in the transport path 28, and the end faces A, B, C, and C of the respective optical fibers 71 connected to each photometric head 72 are provided.
D. By setting the angle of the mirror 70a of the rotating mirror device 70, the photometric light beam can be guided (see FIG. 11). Also, the photometric head 72
When irradiated with the photometric light beam, it moves upward and presses against the measurement surface of the analysis slide 21 as shown in FIG. 12.

The reason why a plurality of photometry heads 72 are provided here is for a rate analysis method that enables a plurality of measurements due to the time difference between dispensing serum onto an analysis slide and photometry.

Reference numeral 77 is a transparent glass inclined at 45° installed in the optical path of the photometric light beam, in order to eliminate as much as possible errors in measured values due to changes in the light intensity of the photometric light beam over time, and the transparent glass 77 is used to reflect light. Some of the light passes through a correction circuit (not shown) through the light receiving element 78.
The measurement value of the photometric light beam reflected from the measurement surface of the analysis slide 21 can be corrected to a correct value by referring to the measurement surface of the analysis slide 21.

In the figure, 79 is a storage container for the analysis slides measured by the photometric optical means 66, and 80 is an operation panel for inputting analysis items and the like and starting each device.

Next, the effect will be explained.

First, a test tube 8 containing an appropriate amount of whole blood is inserted through a circular hole 11 provided in the upper surface plate 1a of the main body 1 to a disk 6 that is stopped directly below the circular hole 11. Next, operate the operation panel 80 to input analysis items, etc.
Let it start. This causes the drive unit 3 to operate and its output shaft 4 to rotate one-third of the way and then stop.
The disk at position A moves to position B, the disk at position B moves to position C, and the disk at position C moves to position A at the same time. Disk 6 with test tube 8 attached is B
When it stops at that position, the rotation urging means 12 installed at that position is activated. That is, the movable plate 14 is moved upward by the solenoid 13, and the motor 15 and the support shaft 6' of the disk 6 are directly connected through the friction members 17 and 18, thereby rotating the disk 6 at high speed. This disk 6
The centrifugal force caused by the high-speed rotation of the tube separates blood cells and serum from whole blood in the test tube due to the difference in specific gravity. After the time required for this separation has elapsed, the rotational biasing means 12 separates from the disk 6. The disk 6 is braked by a braking means (not shown) and becomes stationary. During the centrifugation at the B position, the test tube 8 is attached to the A position. After that, the drive unit 3 was activated again and its output shaft 4 rotated one-third of a turn, and the disk that completed centrifugation at position B moved to position C, and first the test tube was attached at position A. The disk reaches position B and is centrifuged in the same manner as above.

The disk 6 moved to position C stops so that one of the test tubes is aligned with the pipette insertion hole 19.
Next, the pipette main body 58 of the pipette device 54 is lowered through the pipette insertion hole 19, the tip is inserted into the serum layer in the test tube, and the suction device 64 is operated to aspirate an appropriate amount of serum. In this C position, the disk 6 rotates and the serum to be aspirated by the pipette main body 58 is selected as described above.

After suction, the pipette main body 58 is moved upward by the operation of the pinion 60, rotated by the motor 61, reaches directly above the dispensing hole 53, and then descended again to drop the serum. On the other hand, the analysis slide 21 is selectively supplied to the transport path 28 by the pusher 43 of the supply section 38, and the dispensing hole 53 is selectively supplied to the transport path 28 by the operation of the intermittent transport means 30.
As mentioned above, the serum dropped from the pipette is placed on the analysis slide 21.
This means that it is correctly supplied to the element surface. After the serum has been dispensed onto the element surface, the analysis slide 21 moves forward and reaches the installation position of the photometric head 72 of the photometric optical means 66, where it is photometered. In this photometry, after the photometry head moves up and comes into close contact with the measurement surface of the analysis slide, the measurement surface is irradiated with a photometry light beam from a light source 67, and the reflected light is processed by a calculation device 75 such as a microcomputer via a light receiving element. and the measured value is
is displayed on the display window 76 of. At the same time, the information is recorded on a roll of recording paper as required.

The above operations are performed fully automatically.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a tunnel-shaped constant temperature chamber in which a centrifugal separation means for separating serum from whole blood and a transport path capable of linearly transporting analysis slides at a constant pitch are covered with heat generating means from above and below. and a pipette device capable of aspirating the serum produced by the centrifugal separation means and dispensing it to an analysis slide running in the transport path through a dispensing hole penetrating the top surface of the thermostatic chamber;
Since it is characterized by having a plurality of photometric heads installed through the bottom surface of the thermostatic chamber in order to photometrically measure the analysis slide after said dispensing, whole blood can be used as it is as a test sample, which is different from conventional methods. This method not only simplifies handling of the test sample since there is no need to prepare serum in a separate process, but also has the advantage that the serum after separation can be used immediately as a test sample.

In addition, by setting the test tube containing whole blood as specified, the analyst can separate serum from whole blood, aspirate the separated serum with a pipette, and dispense it onto an analysis slide kept at the appropriate temperature for reaction. The blood serum is transported to the photometric site without evaporation, and the color change due to the reaction of the analysis slide is measured in sequence, resulting in various excellent effects such as improving the efficiency of analysis work.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figures show one embodiment of the present invention, in which Figure 1 is an external perspective view of the main body, Figure 2 is a plan view of the centrifugal separation means,
3 is a cross-sectional view showing the swinging state of the test tube holding container before and after high-speed rotation, FIG. 4 is a front sectional view of the centrifugal separation means, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the conveyance path,
, is a diagram showing the operation of the pressing member of the analysis slide, FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram when the pressing member stands up and moves forward,
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the analysis slide supply section and photometric optical means, FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the pusher,
FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the pipette device, FIG. 11 is an enlarged view of the rotating mirror device, and FIG. 12 is a sectional view showing the relationship between the irradiation head and the analysis slide. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Main body, 2... Centrifugal separation means, 6... Disk, 12... Rotation biasing means, 20... Constant temperature chamber,
21... Analysis slide, 28... Conveyance path, 30...
...Intermittent conveyance means, 38... Supply unit, 43... Pusher, 54... Pipette device, 66... Optical means for photometry.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A centrifugal separation means for separating serum from whole blood, a tunnel-shaped constant temperature bath consisting of a transport path that can transport analysis slides in a straight line at a constant pitch and covered with heat generating means from above and below, and a centrifugal separation means. A pipette device that can aspirate the collected serum and dispense it to an analysis slide running in a conveyance path through a dispensing hole penetrating the top surface of the thermostatic chamber; 1. A biochemical analyzer comprising: a plurality of photometric heads extending through the biochemical analyzer.