JPH07101138B2 - Liquid cooling device in automatic analyzer - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a liquid cooling device in an automatic analyzer for performing biochemical / immunological analysis, and particularly to a liquid cooling device in an automatic analyzer utilizing the Peltier effect. Regarding the device.

[Prior art and its problems]

As is well known, the liquid cooling device in conventional automatic analyzers expands and condenses the liquefied refrigerant by an evaporator and a condenser to generate cold air, which is forced by a fan into a container storage part such as a reagent bottle. In most cases, the liquid is cooled to a required temperature by introducing it (hereinafter referred to as a cold air circulation cooling system).

However, in the above-mentioned conventional cold air circulation cooling system, since an evaporator and a condenser are required, and a long flow path connected to the evaporator and the condenser is required, the liquid cooling device as a whole is In addition to the increase in size, there is a problem that the cooling efficiency becomes extremely poor because the flow path until the cool air is introduced to the container storage portion is long.

[Object of the Invention]

The present invention was devised in view of the current situation,
The purpose is to be able to significantly reduce the size of the cooling device in the automatic analyzer, and to have very good cooling efficiency, and to use the exhaust heat as a preheating source for the sample. An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid cooling device in an analyzer.

[Structure of Invention]

In order to achieve the above object, in the liquid cooling device according to the present invention, a heat retaining case in which a chamber for accommodating a container is formed, an electronic cooling unit disposed at the bottom of the heat retaining case, And a fan for forcibly exhausting the hot air generated in the electronic cooling unit to the outside of the heat insulating case, and the hot air forcibly exhausted by the fan is used as a preheating source for the sample. It is characterized by having done.

[Action]

Therefore, in the liquid cooling device according to the present invention, the container space can be widened, and moreover, in order to cool the liquid in the container efficiently, the cool air generated by the electronic cooling unit having the Peltier effect is used. In addition to cooling the sample in the container, the exhaust heat air generated by the electronic cooling unit is used as a preheating source in the reaction process of the sample and the like.

〔Example〕

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

As shown in FIG. 1, a liquid cooling device A according to this embodiment is a plane circle formed by a container 1 for storing a liquid such as a reagent and a plurality of chambers 2 for radially storing the container 1. Shaped heat-retaining case 3, lid 4 detachably attached to the upper opening of this heat-retaining case 3, electronic cooling unit 5 disposed on bottom 3a of said heat-retaining case 3, and said electronic cooling unit 5 And a fan (not shown) for forcibly exhausting the hot air generated in step 1 to the outside. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 is a heat insulating material, 12 is an opening for releasing hot air to the outside of the heat insulating case, and 13 is a clip ring.

The heat insulating case 3 is made of a heat insulating material, and has a bottom portion 3a.
As shown in FIG. 1, heat radiation fins 7 having a substantially comb-tooth shape are formed on the outdoor side.

The lid 4 is detachably attached to the heat insulating case 3.

The electronic cooling unit 5 basically includes an N-type semiconductor 8 and a P-type semiconductor 8 formed of two different materials, as shown in FIG.
Power semiconductor 11 and metal semiconductor 10a, 10b, 10c, respectively.
When a direct current is applied from the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 to the low temperature due to the endothermic effect, the joint a joined with the metal 10a is heated to a low temperature, and the joint b joined with the metals 10b and 10c is heated due to the heat generating effect. It has a high temperature and is configured to produce the Peltier effect.

Therefore, in the above embodiment, as shown in FIG.
Each of the heat absorbing sides of the N-type semiconductor 8 and the P-type semiconductor 9 is provided with a heat insulating case 3
Of the N-type semiconductor 8 and the P-type semiconductor 9 are arranged so as to be exposed and arranged at predetermined intervals along the circumferential direction of the inside of the bottom chamber, and the heat radiation sides of the N-type semiconductor 8 and the P-type semiconductor 9 face the outside of the bottom chamber of the heat insulating case 3. There is.

In this way, the N-type semiconductor 8 and the P-type semiconductor 9 are arranged so as to face the bottom of each container 1 housed in the heat insulating case 3, and each pair of the N-type semiconductor 8 and the P-type semiconductor is arranged. 9
The indoor side is connected with a metal 10a, and the metals 10b and 10c are respectively connected to the outdoor sides of the N-type semiconductor 8 and the P-type semiconductor 9 to a direct current, thereby making the indoor side a low temperature region by an endothermic effect, The outdoor side can be a high temperature region.

The cold air generated at the joint a in this manner is the same as the container 1
The hot air generated at the joint b is brought into contact with the bottom of the container 1 to directly cool the liquid in the container 1 to the required temperature, and as shown in FIG. Thus, the gas is forcedly exhausted to the outside of the case 3 through the opening 12.

The cooling temperature can be freely set by adjusting the voltage of the direct current.

The field of application of the present invention is not particularly limited, but is suitable for cooling reagents, for example, and the heat generated at the junction b can be used as a preheating source for samples, for example.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, in the liquid cooling device in the automatic analyzer according to the present invention, the sample in the container is cooled by the cold air generated by the electronic cooling unit having the Peltier effect. Compared to the conventional type in which the electronic cooling unit of the kind is arranged on the side of the heat insulating case, the storage space of the container can be widened, and the exhausted hot air generated by the electronic cooling unit is reacted with the sample. Since it is configured to be used as a preheating source in a process or the like, there is an effect that power consumption in this kind of automatic analyzer can be significantly reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a half sectional view of a liquid cooling device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged explanatory view showing an arrangement example of N-type semiconductors and P-type semiconductors. [Explanation of symbols] A ... Liquid cooling device, 1 ... Container 2 ... Indoor, 3 ... Insulation case 5 ... Electronic cooling unit 8 ... N-type semiconductor, 9 ... P-type semiconductor

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A heat retaining case in which a chamber for accommodating a container is formed, an electronic cooling unit disposed at the bottom of the heat retaining case, and hot air generated in the electronic cooling unit is forced out of the heat retaining case. A liquid cooling device in an automatic analyzer, wherein the hot air forcedly exhausted by the fan is used as a preheating source for the sample.