JPH07234228A - Sample transport system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Structure] The parent sample rack 4 that accommodates five blood collection tubes is erected on the input unit 5, is transported to the right on the transfer line 6, and is recovered by the recovery unit 7. The sub-sample rack 12 containing the five sub-containers supplied by the supply unit 8 is carried to the right on the transfer line 13, and the sub-samples dispensed from the parent sample by the pipetting machine 9 are analyzed by analyzers 14 and 15. The sub-containers are discarded in the removing section 16 and only empty racks are returned to the supplying section 8. Similarly, the nozzle rack 22 is carried to the right on the transfer line, the nozzles used for the dispensing of the dispensers 9 and 10 are discarded, and only the empty rack is returned to the supply unit 8. The sub-container and the nozzle are stacked and stored in the axial direction. [Effect] The supply of sub-containers and nozzles related to the dispensing operation can be more automated, and the storage space and consumption can be reduced, so the operating costs of clinical tests and industrial waste are reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to improvement of a sample transport system in the field of clinical examination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional sample transport system, after separating a blood sample into serum and blood clots, in order to prevent diffusion and remixing, a separate dispensing operation in which the supernatant serum is transferred to another container, A preparative dispensing operation for subdividing the serum into containers for analysis is performed. In these dispensing operations, the dispensed container (sub-container) and the disposable pipette nozzle that is used to prevent cross-contamination of samples should be manually loaded into a dedicated rack in advance and supplied in rack units. Many. When the number of processed specimens is large, the loading operation is troublesome, and in order to save labor, it is possible to supply a known parts feeder with a sub-container or pipette nozzle in an arbitrary posture and to supply it to a pipetting machine after automatic alignment. Since it is an empty container, the installation space is large, and there are complaints that abrasion powder due to vibration during alignment adversely affects dispensing and analysis. In addition, when the number of specimens processed and the number of test items are large, multiple analyzers and dispensers are provided, so the number of consumed sub-containers and pipette nozzles increases, and their removal work is cumbersome and disposable. Although clinical examination costs and medical industry wastes have also increased, we are currently unable to find a powerful alternative. Related to this type of device, there are, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-9730 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-64462.

[0003]

That is, the above-mentioned prior art is not sufficiently considered in respect of automatic supply, automatic removal, and saving of the sub-container and pipette nozzle involved in the dispensing operation.
In particular, when the number of processed samples and the number of test items are large, it is complicated to supply and remove them by hand, and there is a problem that the installation space tends to be large during automation and the inspection cost and industrial waste increase. The object of the present invention is to reduce the above problems.
It is to provide a labor-saving, space-saving, resource-saving sample transport system.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, the sub-containers have a tapered cross section at the lower side and are stacked and housed and supplied in the axial direction. is there. Similarly, the pipette nozzle has a tapered cross section at the bottom and is stacked and stored in the axial direction.
It is something that is supplied. In addition, a plurality of analyzers are connected by a sub-container transfer line, and used sub-containers are removed from the line. Further, a plurality of pipetting machines are connected by a nozzle transport line, and used pipette nozzles are removed from the line. For rectangular racks of m rows and n columns that are used for off-line analysis such as outsourced inspections and that store sub-containers, a supply device that moves vertically and a device that collects dispensed racks, and a transport device between them should be provided. It was done.

[0005]

First, the sub-containers and pipette nozzles each having a tapered section at the lower side are axially stacked and accommodated, so that the internal space is used to accommodate the next sub-container and the lower portion of the pipette nozzle. Therefore, the installation space is small compared to the number of stored items, and the automation of supply is relatively easy.
Further, since the sub-container and the pipette nozzle are transported between a plurality of analyzers and pipetting machines, used in correspondence with each other, and removed after final use, it is possible to reduce consumption while avoiding mutual contamination. In addition, since the racks for outsourced inspection are stored in multiple layers in the vertical direction, the installation space is smaller than the number of storages.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A sample transport system which is an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The schematic configuration of this system is a transport line that penetrates left and right and carries the parent sample to the right,
It consists of a dispenser that dispenses a parent sample to make a child sample, a transportation line that conveys the child sample to an analyzer, a transportation line of an analysis pipette nozzle, and a control device for each part. First, blood collection tube 1
The blood sample inside is separated into serum 2 and blood clot 3 by centrifugation, and after being opened, it is accommodated in units of 5 in a rack 4 as a parent sample and is installed in a parent sample inlet 5. The parent sample loading section 5 is connected to the parent sample transport line 6 and the parent sample collecting section 7 so that the rack is transported to the right in the pipetting machine. Here, the transport line includes a U-groove guide that holds and guides a gap on the side surface of the rack, including the two types described later, and a belt conveyor that loads and transports the rack. In order that the constituent units such as 8, the online pipetting machine 9, and the offline pipetting machine 10 can be divided and conveyed, the penetrating transfer line is also divided and connected in units. Next, a sub-sample transport line 13 for transporting a sub-sample rack 12 containing five sub-sample containers (hereinafter referred to as sub-containers) 11 is provided from the supply unit 8 to the pipetting machines 9 and 10 and the analyzers 14 and 15. Is connected to the sub-container removing unit 16 via. The sub-sample transport line 13 (see FIG. 3) is a transport line 13b, 13c, 13d for transporting the rack 12 to the right, and transport lines 13f, 13g, 13h which are directly under the transport line 13 for returning an empty rack to the left.
And the left and right transport lines 13e and 13a capable of left and right transport, which are held by an elevating mechanism (not shown) to connect the upper and lower transport lines. Therefore, the sub-container 11 supplied by the supply unit 8 is carried to the right, and the sub-samples formed by the pipetting nozzle (hereinafter referred to as nozzle) 17 by the pipetting machine 9 are analyzed by the known pipette devices 18, 19. 14, 1
5, the used sub-container is grasped and conveyed by a known robot device 20 provided in the sub-container removing section 16 and discarded in the bucket 21, and only the rack 12 is lowered, conveyed leftward, and raised to supply section 8. Configured to return to. Next, a nozzle rack 22 accommodating five dispensing nozzles 17
A nozzle transport line 23 for transporting is connected between the supply unit 8 and the dispensers 9 and 10. The nozzle transport line 23
(See FIG. 4) is a transport line 23 for carrying the rack 22 to the right.
b, a transport line 23d which is directly below it and which returns the empty rack to the left, and a transport line 23c at both ends capable of being transported left and right, which is entirely held by an elevating mechanism (not shown) for connecting the upper and lower transport lines. , 23a. Therefore, the nozzle 17 supplied by the supply unit 8 is carried to the right, used by the dispensers 9 and 10 and then discarded in the bucket 24, and only the rack 22 is returned to the supply unit 8 by descending, conveying leftward, and ascending. To be done.

On the other hand, above the supply section 8 (see FIG. 7), a sub-container storage section 25 and a nozzle storage section 26 are provided, and a sub-container 11 and nozzles 17 are stacked in the axial direction in a light press-fit state. (The configurations of the two are the same, and the nozzle-related symbols are omitted below.) The tape 27 is sandwiched by a wide tape 27 to be formed into a roll shape, and is erected on a shaft 28a. The heads of the rows of the sub-containers 11 are a tape feed roller 29a and a tape winding roller 30.
It is sequentially introduced into the supply position 31a by the rotation of a, is pushed out from below the storage portion by pushing in from above (not shown), and is stored by the upper fixing by the grip 32a and the gripping of the child container and the nozzle by the grip 33a, and the lowering operation. It is configured to be pulled down from the section and supplied to the rack 12 immediately below. It should be noted that a drum having two windings is erected in each of the storage parts, and after one of the drums is used up, the supply positions 31a, 3
The entire 1b interval has moved and is configured to continue to use the other. Next, the online dispenser 9 that dispenses for the analyzer downstream of the transport line will be described. (See FIG. 8) First, the linear pulse motors 35, 3 for guiding and driving the nozzle head 34a in the front-back and up-down directions are provided above the dispenser.
6a is provided. The nozzle 17 is press-fitted and held in the nozzle head 34a (see FIG. 9), and the serum 2 is collected from the blood collection tube 1 into the nozzle 17 by the known pipette device 38a via the tube 37a (FIG. 10). (Refer to FIG. 11), it is dispensed into the sub-container 11, and the shoulder of the nozzle is hooked on the remover 39 which can be moved back and forth, removed, and returned to the rack 22 (see FIG. 11). Next, the offline dispenser 10 that dispenses for measuring instruments other than the analyzer will be described (see FIGS. 12 and 5). Similarly to the above, linear pulse motors 40, 41, 36b for guiding and driving the nozzle head 34b in the front-back, left-right, and up-down directions are provided above the pipetting machine.
Is provided. The nozzle head 34b has the nozzle 1
7 is press-fitted and held, and the serum is collected from the blood collection tube 1 into the nozzle 17 by the known pipette device 38b via the tube 37b, and is dispensed into the sub-container 42. Here, the sub-containers 42 are housed in, for example, a rectangular rack 43 of 10 rows and 5 columns, two racks per floor are provided in the elevator 44a of the fourth floor, a total of eight racks are provided, and after the completion of dispensing of all the first floor, the rectangular racks are provided. 43 is transferred to the elevator 44b by a known transfer device (not shown) that moves the elevator 43 to the right,
4b is configured to move up and down by one floor to supply the next child container. After the dispensing is completed, the nozzle 17 is removed by the fixed remover 45 and discarded in the bucket 24. Then, (see FIG. 2) the constituent units such as the parent sample input unit are electrically connected to the central processing unit 46 that integrally controls the whole via each control unit. Next, the operation of this system which is sequentially executed according to the program registered in the central processing unit 46 will be described. First, the operator stores the child container rolls and the nozzle rolls in the respective storage units 2
5, 26, and the child container 42 for off-line analysis is loaded on the rectangular rack 43 and then installed on the elevator 44a, and the blood collection tube loaded on the rack 4 in the pretreatment step of this system is used as the parent sample for the parent sample loading unit. Installed in No. 5 and executes system start-up operation. The rack 4 is pulled out to the parent sample transport line 6 from the input section, and at the same time, the slave containers 11 are sequentially supplied to the slave sample rack 12 on the slave sample transport line 13 by the supply section 8. Similarly, the nozzles on the nozzle transport line 23 are provided. Rack 2
Nozzles 17 are sequentially supplied to 2. Next, the three racks are simultaneously transported to the online pipetting machine 9, and according to the information such as the dispensing amount instructed from the central processing unit 46 by collating the inspection request information and the parent sample recognition information (not shown), A series of dispensing operations, that is, nozzle mounting, dispensing, dispensing, nozzle removal, and movement of each rack to the next address are sequentially executed in association with each other from the first address in each rack, and the dispensing of 5 samples in the rack is completed. After that, each rack is carried out and the next rack is carried in. Of the three racks carried into the adjacent offline pipetting machine 10, the child sample rack 12 is carried out as it is,
Analysis is started after the sample is distributed to the analyzers 14 and 15, while the rack is carried into the sub-container removing section 16, and after discarding the sub-container, only the empty rack is returned to the supply section 8. The parent sample rack 4 and the nozzle rack 22 are associated with each other in the same manner as described above, and a series of dispensing operations are performed to dispense a designated amount of subsidiary sample into a designated subsidiary container 42 on the rectangular rack 43, and the nozzle 17 is removed. After being discarded and the dispensing of the 5 specimens in the rack is completed, the parent specimen rack 4 is carried out and collected in the collection unit 7, the empty nozzle rack 22 is returned to the supply unit 8, and the offline dispenser 10
The next rack is loaded into. In order to continuously operate the system, at least two stocks are prepared for each of the parent sample, the child container, and the nozzle in the supply section and the recovery section, and the rack processing is sequentially executed and one of them is used up. In this case, the buzzer requesting the operator to replenish at the same time as switching to the other is configured and operated. With respect to the rectangular rack 43 for off-line analysis and the sub-container 42, which have a small number of analyses, the racks already dispensed are taken out from the elevator 44b at any time, and depending on the situation, the rack with empty sub-containers is replenished. As described above, the sample analysis process is sequentially and almost automatically executed according to the program registered in the central processing unit, and the process result is output and used for diagnosis.

[0008]

As described above, according to the present invention, the supply of the sub-containers and nozzles involved in the dispensing operation can be further automated, and the storage space and the consumption amount can be reduced. It is effective in saving labor, space and resources.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a sample transport system according to an embodiment of the present invention,
It is the top view which was sectioned for explaining a conveyance line.

FIG. 2 is a control system diagram.

3 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

4 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG.

5 is a view from C of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a view from G in FIG.

7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD of FIG.

8 is a sectional view taken along line EE of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a nozzle attached state.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a separated state of serum.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing a nozzle removed state.

12 is a sectional view taken along line FF of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a stored state of a child container.

FIG. 14 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a nozzle housed state.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Blood collection tube, 4 ... Parent sample rack, 5 ... Parent sample loading section, 6
... Parent sample transport line, 7 ... Parent sample collection unit, 8 ... Sub-container and nozzle supply unit, 9 ... On-line dispenser, 10 ... Off-line dispenser, 11 ... Sub-container, 12 ... Sub-sample rack, 13
... Sub sample transport line, 14, 15 ... Analyzer, 16 ... Sub container removal section, 17 ... Pipette nozzle, 22 ... Nozzle rack, 23 ... Nozzle transfer line, 25 ... Sub container storage section, 2
6 ... Nozzle storage part, 42 ... Child container, 43 ... Rectangular rack,
44a, 44b ... Elevator, 46 ... Central processing unit.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location G01N 35/10

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A transporting device for a sample container containing a blood sample, a sample loading device for loading at least the sample container into the transporting device, and a dispenser for dispensing the sample into another container, a sub-container. In a sample transport system that is connected with an injection device, a sub-container having a tapered narrowed cross section,
A sample transport system comprising: a sub-container housing device for accommodating the sub-containers stacked in an axial direction and a sub-container supply device for individually supplying the sub-containers to the dispensing device. 2. A transporting device for a sample container containing a blood sample is connected to at least a sample loading device for loading the sample container into the transporting device, and a dispensing device for dispensing and dispensing the sample into a sub-container. In a sample transport system comprising: a pipette nozzle for dispensing, which has a tapered cross section at the lower side and is used as a disposable; a nozzle storing device for stacking and storing the pipette nozzles in an axial direction; and the pipette nozzle A sample transport system comprising: a nozzle supply device that individually supplies liquid to the dispensing device. 3. A transporting device for a sample container containing a blood sample, which is connected to at least a sample loading device for loading the sample container into the transporting device and a dispensing device for dispensing and dispensing the sample into a sub-container. In the sample transport system, a plurality of analyzers, a sub-container transport device configured to sequentially transport between the dispensing device and the analyzer, and a sub-container removal for removing the sub-containers from the transport device A sample transport system comprising a device. 4. A transporting device for a sample container containing a blood sample, which is connected to at least a sample loading device for loading the sample container into the transporting device and a dispensing device for dispensing and dispensing the sample into a sub-container. In the sample transport system, a plurality of dispensing devices, a transport device for pipette nozzles configured to sequentially transport the dispensing devices, and a nozzle removing device for removing the pipette nozzles from the transport device are provided. A sample transport system characterized by the above. 5. A sample loading device for loading at least the sample container into the transporting device and a dispensing device for dispensing and dispensing the sample into a sub-container are connected to a transporting device for a sample container containing a blood sample. In the sample transport system, the apparatus further comprises a supply device for a sub-container rack that moves in the vertical direction and a collection device for a dispensed rack, and a sub-container rack transfer device that conveys the sub-container rack from the supply device to the recovery device. A sample transport system characterized in that