JP2000084436A - Centrifugal separation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain efficient centrifugal separation treatment in a centrifugal separation device. SOLUTION: A first rotor 10 and a second rotor 12 are installed. A rack conveyance mechanism 14 and a tube transfer mechanism 16 are commonly used for these rotors. Rack accumulation stations 28, 30 corresponding to each rotor are formed, and the rack conveyance is carried out by using them. While one rotor is rotating, the tubes in the other rotor are exchanged. Moreover, the prescribed rack conveyance is performed while the corresponding rotor is rotating.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a centrifugal separator for centrifuging a liquid sample in a container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A general centrifugal separator is:
It comprises a rack transport mechanism for transporting the rack holding the containers, a container transport mechanism for transporting the containers between the rack and the bucket, and one rotor for rotating the plurality of buckets. In such an apparatus, for example, centrifugal separation processing is performed collectively on 100 liquids (samples), and the rotation time is, for example, 5 minutes. However, in consideration of the exchange time of the container in the bucket, one centrifugation process usually takes about 10 minutes.

[0003] In this case, if 100 samples arrive regularly at 10-minute intervals, the above-mentioned ability can be processed without any problem. In practice, however, there are cases where the samples arrive collectively. In some cases, a small amount of sample may arrive irregularly. In such a case, if the start of centrifugation is delayed until 100 or a predetermined number of specimens are collected, the first arrival of the specimen is delayed for a considerable time. In analyzing a sample, it is necessary to go through many processes such as centrifugation, sample dispensing, and sample test, and if centrifugation becomes a bottleneck, the efficiency of the entire analysis system is reduced.

Incidentally, in order to increase the efficiency of the centrifugal separation process, it is also possible to perform centrifugal separation on many samples at once using a large rotor. However, considering the time required for preparing a predetermined number of samples as described above, a centrifugal separator equipped with a large rotor may be rather inefficient. On the other hand, it is also possible to prepare a plurality of centrifuges each having a small rotor and operate them in parallel. In this case, the sample waiting time can be reduced,
A problem arises in that the system cost and the installation area increase in proportion to the number of units.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to enable efficient centrifugation with a single centrifuge.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plurality of rotors for rotating a bucket for accommodating a plurality of containers, and a mechanism common to the plurality of rotors. A rack transport mechanism that transports a rack holding containers, a mechanism common to the plurality of rotors, and a container transport mechanism that transports containers between the container rack and the bucket, The rotors are independently rotatable.

According to the above configuration, a single centrifugal separator is provided with a plurality of rotors, which can be operated independently, so that efficient operation can be realized. In particular, since the rack transport mechanism and the container transport mechanism are commonly used for a plurality of rotors, the installation area of the apparatus can be reduced and the apparatus cost can be reduced as compared with the case where a plurality of centrifuges are used.

[0008] Preferably, a control unit is provided for causing one of the rotors to perform container replacement while the other rotor is rotating. According to this configuration, the processing efficiency can be improved by the parallel operation (pipeline processing).
Further, even if the samples arrive discontinuously, the waiting time for each sample can be reduced. In addition, there is an advantage that a rational operation according to an increase / decrease in the number of samples per time can be realized.

Preferably, the rack transport mechanism includes a rack receiving section for receiving the rack, a rack discharging section for discharging the rack, and a transport line section for performing rack transport between the rack receiving section and the rack discharging section. And the transport line section has a rack storage station provided corresponding to each rotor, and a station passage provided in parallel with each rack storage station.

According to the above configuration, a rack storage station is provided for each rotor, and the rack storage station can be used to take out a container from the rack and insert a container into the rack.

Preferably, the rack storage station includes a pre-processing station for storing racks before centrifugation, a post-processing station for storing racks after centrifugation, and a rack from the pre-processing station to the post-processing station. And an inter-station transfer path.
In this case, preferably, when the corresponding rotor is rotating, the rack is transferred from the pre-processing station to the post-processing station. Alternatively, preferably, when the corresponding rotor is rotating, the rack is discharged from the post-processing station, the rack is transferred from the pre-processing station to the post-processing station, and the rack is transferred to the pre-processing station. And is executed.

According to the above configuration, the rack can be efficiently transported by using the idle time efficiently. In particular, even if a common transport line is used between the rotors, competition on the transport line is prevented. Thus, problems such as transport delay can be avoided.

Preferably, a label reader is provided for reading the contents of a label provided on the container when the container is picked up from the rack by the container transport mechanism. According to this configuration, no special operation is required for reading the label, and the processing time can be reduced.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of a centrifugal separator according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a plan view of the device.

The centrifugal separator according to the present embodiment comprises a first rotor 10, a second rotor 12, a rack transport mechanism 1
4, a tube transfer mechanism 16, a rack receiving unit 18,
A rack discharge unit 20.

The first rotor 10 and the second rotor 12 are
As shown in FIG. 1, the rotors 10 and 12 are provided in parallel along the longitudinal direction of the device, and have the same structure as each other and rotate independently of each other. can do. The operations of the rotors 10 and 12 are controlled by a control unit (not shown). The control unit also controls the operation of the rack transport mechanism 14 and the tube transfer mechanism 16.

Each of the rotors 10 and 12 has four buckets 22 in this embodiment. The buckets 22 are members that hold a plurality of tubes, and a plurality of buckets are prepared according to, for example, the type of tube. Each bucket is supported by a rotor arm 24 as shown.

The rack transport mechanism 14 is a mechanism for transporting a rack 26 holding a plurality of tubes in an upright position. A rack receiving section 18 is provided at a stage preceding the rack transport mechanism 14.
A rack discharge unit 20 is provided at a subsequent stage of the rack transport mechanism 14. The rack 26 is set in the rack receiving section 18 by the operator, while the rack 26 holding the centrifuged tubes is discharged to the rack discharge section 20, and the racks 26 are taken out by the operator.

The rack transport mechanism 14 includes a first rotor 10
The rack transport mechanism 14 has rack storage stations 28 and 30 corresponding to the rotors 10 and 12, respectively. That is, a rack transport line 27 is formed linearly across the first rotor 10 and the second rotor 12, and a rack storage station 28 is connected to the rack transport line 27 corresponding to the first rotor 10, A rack storage station 30 is connected corresponding to the second rotor 12.

The rack storage stations 28 and 30 have pre-processing stations 28A and 30A for storing racks before centrifugation, and post-processing stations 28B and 30B for storing racks after centrifugation. Stations 28A and 30A before processing and station 2 after processing
8B and 30B, inter-station transfer paths 28C and 30C for transferring racks between stations without passing through the rack transfer line 27 are formed.

The rack transport line 27 and the rack storage stations 28 and 30 are provided in parallel, that is, when a rack is loaded into the rack storage station 30, for example, the rack storage station 28
Rack storage station 3 without going through
It is possible to enter 0. Similarly, when discharging the rack from the rack storage station 28,
Rack storage station 30 provided at the subsequent stage
The rack can be sent out to the rack discharge section 20 without going through.

The tube transfer mechanism 16 has a manipulator 32 for grasping and transporting each tube. The manipulator 32 is held by a three-dimensional drive mechanism 34 and can move freely in three-dimensional directions. A label reader 36 is provided near the manipulator 32,
The label attached to the side of the tube picked up by the manipulator 32 is attached to the label reader 3.
6 allows optical reading. The read label information is sent to a control unit (not shown).

In the present embodiment, for example, while the first rotor 10 is rotating, the second rotor 12
The tube is replaced at. That is, the centrifugation process and the tube exchange are performed simultaneously between the two rotors.

In this embodiment, for example, while the first rotor 10 is rotating, the rack is discharged from the post-processing station 28B and the rack is transferred from the pre-processing station 28A to the post-processing station 28B. And rack loading of the pre-processing station 28A. The rack transfer from the pre-processing station 28A to the post-processing station 28B is performed via the above-described inter-station transfer path 28C. These operations are similarly performed in the second rotor 12.

Therefore, according to such rack transport control, efficient rack transport can be realized by effectively utilizing the pre-processing station and the post-processing station.

The operation of the centrifugal separator shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 2, (A) shows the first rotor 1
0 is shown, and rack transport corresponding to the first rotor 10 is shown in (B). (C) shows the operation of the second rotor 12, and (D) shows the rack conveyance corresponding to the second rotor 12.

As shown in the figure, during a period T1 in which the first rotor 10 is rotationally driven, the rack storage station 28 corresponding to the first rotor 10 discharges the rack, transfers the rack between the stations, and removes the rack. And are sequentially executed. On the other hand, in the period T1, in the second rotor 12, the period T
At 3, the tube exchange is performed. In a period T2 subsequent to the period T1, tube replacement is performed in the first rotor 10. By repeating such an operation between the two rotors, it becomes possible to realize an extremely efficient centrifugal separation process. In particular, when the sample to be subjected to the centrifugation treatment is irregularly charged, the two rotors can be effectively used to reduce the waiting time of the sample and achieve efficient centrifugation.

The operation shown in FIG. 2 is an example, and other operations can be performed. For example, when the number of samples per unit time is less than a certain number, centrifugation may be performed using only one rotor, or centrifugation may be performed by operating two rotors intermittently. May go.

In the above embodiment, an apparatus having two rotors has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to an apparatus having three or more rotors. In any case, an efficient centrifugal separation process can be performed by effectively utilizing the common rack transport mechanism 14 and tube transfer mechanism 16.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Efficient centrifugation can be realized with one centrifuge.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a preferred embodiment of a centrifugal separator according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation of the device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 first rotor, 12 second rotor, 14 rack transport mechanism, 16 tube transfer mechanism, 18 rack receiving section, 20 rack discharge section, 28, 30 rack accumulation station.

Claims (7)

[Claims] A plurality of rotors configured to rotate a bucket accommodating a plurality of containers; a rack transport mechanism that is a mechanism common to the plurality of rotors and transports a rack holding the plurality of containers; A mechanism common to the rotors, comprising: a container transport mechanism that transports containers between the container rack and the bucket; wherein the plurality of rotors are each independently rotatable. Separation device. 2. The centrifugal separator according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit for exchanging a container with another rotor while one of the rotors is rotating. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rack transport mechanism includes: a rack receiving unit that receives a rack; a rack discharging unit from which the rack is discharged; and a rack discharging unit between the rack receiving unit and the rack discharging unit. A transfer line unit that performs rack transfer, wherein the transfer line unit includes: a rack storage station provided for each rotor; and a station passage provided in parallel with each of the rack storage stations. A centrifugal separator characterized by the above-mentioned. 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the rack storage station includes: a pre-processing station for storing racks before centrifugation; a post-processing station for storing racks after centrifugation; And an inter-station transfer path for transferring a rack to the post-processing station. 5. The centrifuge according to claim 4, wherein a rack transfer from the pre-processing station to the post-processing station is performed when the corresponding rotor performs a rotation operation. apparatus. 6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein when the corresponding rotor is rotating, the rack is discharged from the post-processing station and the rack is transferred from the pre-processing station to the post-processing station. And a rack input to the pre-processing station. 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a label reader for reading the contents of a label provided on the container when the container is picked up from the rack by the container transport mechanism. Centrifuge.