JPS60259967A - Liquid distributor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate accurate weighing along with a simplified construction by eliminating power exclusively for running a liquid utilizing the dropping thereof. CONSTITUTION:An electromagnetic valve 13 is always connected between C and NO and a tube 12 is filled with air. When distributing a reagent into a reaction tube 16, the electromagnetic valve 13 is energized to communicate between C and NC. With such an arrangement, the reagent drops down through the electromagnetic valve 13 and finally reaches the position of a liquid sensor 14a. When the liquid sensor 14a detects a liquid, a controller 15 operates to stop the energization of the electromagnetic valve 13. The electromagnetic valve 13 communicates again between C and NO to introduce air into the tube 12. The reagent in the tube 12 flows down through a reaction tube 16 as intact to distribute.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a liquid dispensing device suitable for analyzing a specimen.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an apparatus for testing and analyzing various liquid samples in living bodies, such as the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1521-1983. In this device, reagents are repeatedly dispensed into many reaction tubes, reacted with serum, and measured for absorbance.

When dispensing reagents, the injection volume is determined for each reaction tube.
In order to measure the amount, a dispensing device using a syringe pump as shown in FIG. 2 has conventionally been used.

In FIG. 2, 1 is a container containing a reagent, 2 is a syringe, 3 is a check valve, and 4 is a reaction tube. When the syringe 2 is pulled down for dispensing, the valve element a of the check valve 3 opens and sucks up the reagent from the container 1. When the syringe 2 is moved to the normal position in this manner, a certain amount of reagent can be measured. Next, push up syringe 2,
The valve body of the check valve 3 opens and the reagent is delivered.

Such conventional dispensing devices have the following drawbacks. Since the syringe 2 is used to aspirate the reagent through reciprocating motion, a check valve 3 is required to determine the direction of flow. Since this valve 3 opens and closes depending on the force of the flow, it essentially operates only when there is some backflow. Therefore, there is a corresponding measurement error, and the opening/closing operation often becomes uncertain due to contamination of foreign matter.

Furthermore, even if the amount of reagent in the container 1 decreases and air is sucked up, there is no function to detect this, leading to unexpected measurement errors. Furthermore, when attempting to change the amount of suction liquid, it is necessary to change the stroke of the syringe 2, which is extremely troublesome. Basically, in order to push up the syringe 2, a power source such as a piston using compressed air or a motor is required, and in order to operate a large number of syringes, the configuration becomes complicated and many motors and pistons are required. Ta.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention was made in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and provides a liquid dispensing device that can simplify the configuration and easily perform accurate metering without using power or check valves to flow the liquid. This is what we are trying to provide.

[Summary of the invention]

The liquid dispensing device of the present invention includes a container for containing the liquid to be measured, a container for transporting the liquid to be delivered from the container, and a container for storing the liquid to be measured.
It is characterized by comprising a three-cut tube, a switching valve provided in the middle of the tube, and a liquid sensor provided in the middle of the tube downstream of the switching valve.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to this invention, there is no need to attach power for flowing the liquid by utilizing the falling of the liquid, so the structure can be simplified. Moreover, since check valves, which were the cause of measurement errors, are not used, accurate measurements can be made, and since the liquid sensor can immediately detect when the liquid has run out, there is no risk of measurement errors continuing for a long time, increasing the reliability of the device. can be increased.

Further, by providing a plurality of liquid sensors, there is an advantage that the amount to be dispensed can be easily changed.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a container containing a liquid to be measured, such as a reagent, and the liquid delivered from this container 11 flows down through a tube 12. tube 12
An electromagnetic valve 13 is provided as a switching valve in the middle of the
Furthermore, liquid sensors 14a and 14b are provided below. The liquid sensors 14a, 14b and the electromagnetic valve 13 are connected to each other by a control device 15. Note that 16 in the figure is a reaction tube to which reagents are supplied.

Next, to explain the operation of this dispensing device, the electromagnetic valve 13
Normally, C and No are connected and the tube 12 is filled with air. When a reagent is to be dispensed into the reaction tube 16, the electromagnetic valve 13 is energized to establish communication between C and NC in the figure. In this way, the reagent is transferred to the electromagnetic valve 1.
3 and finally reaches the position of the liquid sensor 14a.

When the liquid sensor 14a detects liquid, the control device 15 operates to stop energizing the electromagnetic valve 13. Solenoid valve 1
3, C-N0 is connected again, and air is introduced into the tube 12. Until then, the reagent that had been in the tube 12 flows directly into the reaction tube 16 and is dispensed.

In this series of operations, the amount of reagent dispensed is determined by the length of the tube 12 from the electromagnetic valve 13 to the liquid sensor 14a.

Therefore, if it is desired to reduce the amount dispensed, a liquid sensor may be attached to the upstream side of the tube 12 as shown in 14b.

In addition, two liquid sensors 14a and 14b are installed,
If these are switched and used by the control device 15, the amount to be dispensed can be easily changed. When the reagent runs out, the control device can detect this because the reagent no longer reaches the liquid sensor 14a or 14b.

This dispensing device utilizes falling liquid and does not require special power to flow the liquid, so the configuration can be simplified and accurate metering can be performed. Another feature is that the dispensed amount can be easily changed by changing the installation position of the liquid sensor.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and can be implemented with various modifications without changing the gist.

Although the above embodiment describes the case of dispensing a reagent, the present invention is not limited to reagents, and can also be implemented when dispensing other liquids such as drinking water.

Further, although the above embodiment shows a case in which two liquid sensors are used, it is possible to use only one liquid sensor, or the number of liquid sensors can be increased further than two.

Regarding the volume to be measured, a large amount of liquid can be measured by creating a large diameter part (reservoir) or a curved part in the middle of the tube.

The idea of the present invention can be further expanded to include a configuration in which air pressure is applied to the container and the liquid is pushed up to be measured. The switching valve is not limited to a solenoid valve either.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an example of a conventional liquid dispensing device. 1... Container 2... Syringe 3... Check valve 4... Reaction tube 11... Container 12... Tube 13... Solenoid valve 14a, 14b... Liquid sensor 15... Control device 16...Reaction tube Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A container for containing the liquid to be melt-resistant. and the tube that carries the liquid that is pumped out of this container. A switching valve is installed in the middle of this tube. A liquid dispensing device comprising: a liquid sensor provided in the middle of the tube on the downstream side of the switching valve. (2) The liquid dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of liquid sensors are provided. 2) The liquid dispensing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tube has a large diameter portion in the middle. (a) The liquid dispensing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tube has a curved portion in the middle.