JP3284163B2 - Sample container for near infrared component analyzer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a near-infrared component analyzer for quantitatively analyzing chemical components contained in cereals and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A near-infrared component analyzer measures the content of a plurality of components such as proteins, starches, amylose, and fatty acids contained in cereals and the like. Is required. Near-infrared light beams having different wavelengths are emitted from a number of light sources toward one point in the sample. Therefore, each near-infrared light beam forms an angle with each other, and the near-infrared light beam incident on one point in the sample passes through a different portion of the sample and reaches the detector, so that each near-infrared light beam is Since the sample did not pass under the same conditions, accurate component analysis results could not be obtained.

The applicant of the present invention has disclosed a near-infrared component analyzer for performing measurement by passing each near-infrared light beam through a sample under the same conditions as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Nos. 6-176766 and 6-162207.
No. proposed. The present invention intends to provide the sample container of the near-infrared component analyzer with a new and useful configuration.

[0004]

[Problems to be solved by the invention]
A thermistor is provided to measure the temperature of the sample inside. The thermistor may be provided on the sample container side, however, it is more convenient to provide the thermistor on the near infrared component analyzer side and insert the sample container into the sample container when the sample container is mounted. However, with this latter configuration, it is necessary to provide a through hole through which the thermistor enters at the bottom of the sample container, and the sample container must be inserted by aligning the through hole of the sample container with the thermistor. Mounting of the sample container becomes troublesome. If the sample container is mounted in the wrong direction, the thermistor may not be inserted into the through hole and may be broken near the bottom of the sample container.

A first object of the present invention is to make it easy to insert a thermistor into a sample container when the sample container is mounted, and to surely insert the thermistor into the sample container even if the sample containers are inserted in a wrong manner. It is to provide a sample container for a near infrared component analyzer.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above objects, near-infrared light from a plurality of light sources emitting near-infrared light at different wavelengths is condensed to substantially the same point. After condensed by the diffusing means, the diffused light thus obtained is held in the sample container to be analyzed, and guided to the detector through a sample holding portion in which a thermistor inserted into the sample container is implanted. In the sample container of the near-infrared component analyzer configured to convert to an electric signal, two through holes are provided symmetrically at the bottom of the sample container, and the sample container is placed in the sample container holding portion by pointing to the sample container. A sample container for a near-infrared component analyzer is provided, wherein the thermistor is inserted into the sample container through any one of the holes.

[0007]

Since two through holes are provided symmetrically at the bottom of the sample container, the trouble of mounting the sample container in the near-infrared component analyzer with the directions aligned is eliminated.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In FIG. 1, a tubular body 3 is mounted on an upright frame 2 installed on a base 1 and extends horizontally from a vertical frame 2. A light source device LS and an optical system are provided in the cylinder 3. In the light source device LS, a block 4 is provided at the left end of the cylindrical body 3 with its front face toward the right end, that is, toward the upright frame 2, and the light emitting diodes respectively fitted into a large number of through holes 4 a provided in the block 4. 9 The light emitting surface 9a of the light emitting diode 9 has a body 9b.
Since the diameter is smaller, the through-hole 4a is also formed as a small-diameter portion 4b near the front of the block 4, and then the diameter is expanded, and the filters 11 each having a specific transmission wavelength are fitted into the enlarged-diameter portion 4c. . A large diameter concave portion 4d is provided on the rear surface of the block 4, and the bottom of the light emitting diode 9 exposed in the concave portion 4d is held by the array support plate 10. Further, a circuit board 14 for driving and controlling the light emitting diodes 9 is provided behind the array support plate 10, and the concave portion 4 d is closed by the panel 5. The rear part of the cylinder 3 is closed by a lid 7. It is preferable that the block 4 and the panel 5 are made of a material having good heat transfer such as a metal, and have a function of a heat sink that absorbs heat generated from the light emitting diode 9 and transfers the heat to the cylinder 3.

The near-infrared light emitted from the light emitting diode 9 and passing through the filter is supported on the support 1 provided at the right end of the cylindrical body 3 by the Fresnel lens 12 bonded to the front of the block 4.
The light is condensed at one point in a bore 16a penetrating through 6. Here, the near-infrared light condensed at one point is applied to the three translucent plates 1 provided immediately after the converging point and fitted in the bore 16a of the support 16.
7, 18, and 19 are diffused. Note that the intensity of the diffused light is maximized as a whole in the horizontal direction along the optical axis L. Referring to FIG. 2, a vertically moving member 23 provided inside the upright frame 2.
Is screwed with two screw rods 21 and 22. The screw rods 21 and 22 are provided with bearings 25 and 27 provided on the base 1 and bearings 24 provided on the sample container receiving portion 2 a at the top of the upright frame 2.
26, and are rotatably held by the motor 28 mounted on the base 1 via gears 21a and 21b fitted to the lower end inside the base 1. That is, when the screw rods 21 and 22 rotate, the sample container 30 inserted from the sample container receiving portion 2a and arranged on the vertically moving member 23 can move up and down. Further, the thermistor element 31 is provided on the upper surface of the vertically moving member 23.
Is implanted, and when the sample container 30 is placed, the thermistor 31 is inserted into one of the through holes 32 provided on both sides of the bottom of the sample container 30. Measure the sample temperature.

Incidentally, as clearly shown in FIG.
Are provided symmetrically at the bottom of the sample container 30,
The thermistor 31 can be introduced into the sample container 30 through any of the through holes 32 even if the sample container 30 is inserted into the container holding portion 2a with the orientation being changed. In addition, since each through hole 32 is dished at the bottom surface of the sample container 30, the thermistor 3 is guided by the dishing portion of the through hole 32 as a guide.
Since 1 is inserted, it is easy to introduce the thermistor 31 into the sample container.

The front wall 2 and the rear wall 2r of the upright frame 2 are
A circular opening matching the cylindrical body 3 is provided, and the rearmost one 19 of the three translucent bodies 17, 18, 19 is fitted in the opening 2b of the rear wall 2r, and the opening of the front wall 2f is opened. Has a transparent glass 34 fitted therein. Furthermore, front wall 2f
A rectangular concave portion 35 is formed on the rear surface side, and a sliding member 36 is provided in this concave portion 35, and moves up and down in the concave portion 35 in conjunction with the above-mentioned vertical moving member 23, and when the vertical moving member 23 rises, the front surface The opening of the wall 2r is closed, and when the vertically moving member 23 descends, the opening of the front wall 2f is opened. When the vertically moving member 23 is lowered, the sample container 30 placed on the vertically moving member 23 is aligned with the opening, and the near-infrared light emitted from the light source 9 and diffused through the translucent plates 17, 18, 19 is formed. The light passes through the sample in the sample container 30, and further passes through the transparent glass 34 in the opening provided in the front wall 2 f of the upright frame 2, and is aligned with the transparent glass 34 to cover the concave portion 35.
Is incident on the optical detector 42 attached to the camera.

The sliding member 36 is provided with an opening, into which an optical standard filter 37 is fitted. The optical standard filter 38 covers the transparent glass 34 when the sliding member 36 moves up in conjunction with the up-down moving member 35, so that the diffused light is filtered by the optical standard filter 37.
, And reaches the photodetector 42. Detector 42
Is covered by a cover 39 attached to a transparent plate 38 together with an arithmetic processing circuit 43 provided immediately after.

The operation of the near-infrared component analyzer of this embodiment will be described below. When the motor 28 is driven to lower the sample container 30 placed on the vertical moving member 23 through the sample holding unit to lower the vertical moving member 23 to a position 23 'shown by a broken line in FIG. After the diffused light has passed through the sample inside the container 30 along the optical axis L, it reaches the detector 42. The vertical moving member 23 can be lowered stepwise by controlling the rotation of the motor 28, the diffused light can irradiate each part in the vertical direction of the sample, each part of the sample is measured, and the measurement average is taken. By doing so, the reliability of the component measurement of the sample can be improved.

Since the diffused light includes light having different wavelengths obtained by passing the near-infrared light from the light emitting diode 9 through the filter 11, near-infrared light having each wavelength is contained in the sample. Since it is absorbed by the corresponding component, it is possible to analyze the component of the sample with considerable accuracy by examining the degree of absorption of near-infrared light at each wavelength. After the component of the sample is measured, when the motor 28 is rotated in reverse to raise the vertical moving member 23, the sliding member 36 moves in conjunction with this, and the optical standard filter 37 covers the transparent glass 38, so that the diffused light Is the standard filter 3
7, the light intensity is reduced and reaches the optical detector 42. For this reason, the detector 42 is protected from strong light, and the standard filter 37 enables optical calibration at the time of measurement.

Now, the sample container 30 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 3A is an enlarged perspective view showing a thin sample container inserted into the sample holder 2a. The sample container 30 has an opening at the top, a frame 30a having windows 30b at the front and rear surfaces, and a transparent plate 30d slidably disposed on a groove rail 30c provided vertically along both sides of each window 30b. It consists of. As shown in detail in FIG. 8B, a semicircular notch 30e is formed at the bottom of the slide groove 30b at the bottom thereof, and the notch 39e is formed.
Is provided with an elastic piece 30f. As can be clearly understood from FIG. 4C, the notches 30e of the lid are provided independently of each other in the groove rails 30c of both windows and are aligned with each other, so that one elastic piece inserted through the two notches 30e is provided. 30f is a projection 3 that acts as a fulcrum between the notches 30e.
0g (the bottom of the groove rail), the front end of the transparent plate 30d resiliently engages with the side edges of the transparent plates of both windows to perform snap action.
Give to. Thereby, the transparent plate 30d can be prevented from falling out of the sample container 30 unnecessarily.

[0016]

Since the two through holes 32 are provided symmetrically at the bottom of the sample container 30, even if the thermistor 31 is inserted into the sample holding portion 2a without aligning the directions, the thermistor 31 is inserted into one of the through holes 32. Since it is inserted, there is no trouble in mounting the sample container 30. In addition, since the through hole 32 is provided with a dish at the bottom of the sample container 30, the introduction of the thermistor 31 is smooth. Further, the transparent plate 30d of the sample container 30
Since the elastic piece 30f is snap-engaged with the side edge of the transparent plate 30d, it is possible to prevent the transparent plate 30d from falling off without permission.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3A is an enlarged perspective view of the sample container shown in FIG.
(B) Partial enlarged view of FIG. (C) Partial enlarged sectional view of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2a sample holder 4 block 4a through hole 9 light emitting diode 10 array support plate 11 filter 12 condenser lens 17, 18, 19 translucent plate 23 up-down moving member 28 motor 31 thermistor element 30 sample container 30a frame 30b window 30c groove rail 30d transparent plate 30f elastic piece 30g projection 32 through hole 36 sliding member 37 optical standard plate 42 detector 43 arithmetic processing circuit 50 O-ring L optical axis LS light source device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-198850 (JP, A) JP-A-6-313754 (JP, A) JP-A-6-201468 (JP, A) JP-A-48-1988 53786 (JP, A) JP-A-63-5235 (JP, A) JP-A-3-4247 (JP, U) JP-A-3-74349 (JP, U) JP-B-3-1616 (JP, B2) (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01N 21/00-21/61 JICST file (JOIS)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. Near-infrared light from a plurality of light sources, each emitting near-infrared light at a different wavelength, is condensed at substantially the same point by a condenser lens, and then diffused by a diffusion means. A sample of a near-infrared component analyzer that holds the sample container to be analyzed and converts the light into an electric signal by guiding the diffused light to a detector through a sample holder in which a thermistor inserted into the sample container is implanted. In the container, two openings are provided symmetrically through the thermistor at the bottom of the sample container, and even if the thermistor is placed in the sample container holding portion by pointing to the sample container, the thermistor is passed through any of the openings. A sample container for a near-infrared component analyzer, which is inserted into the inside. 2. The sample container for a near-infrared component analyzer according to claim 1, wherein each of the openings is provided with a dish. 3. The sample container for a near-infrared component analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the sample container is provided along a frame having an open top and a window provided on the front and rear surfaces of the frame along both sides. A near plate comprising a transparent plate sliding on groove rails provided above and below, and elastic means provided on the bottom of each groove rail and elastically engaging with a side surface of each transparent plate. Sample container for infrared component analyzer. 4. The sample container for a near-infrared component analyzer according to claim 3, wherein the elastic means is an elastic piece extending in a direction transverse to the groove rail, and a central portion thereof is formed in the groove. A sample container for a near-infrared component analyzer, wherein the sample container is pressed by a protrusion provided at a bottom of a rail.