JPS61265284A - Manipulator for glass electrode,etc. - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention "Field of Industrial Application" The present invention is applicable to extracting information from cells in the field of basic medicine or biotechnology such as genetic recombination, which has been actively researched in recent years. This invention relates to a manipulator that enables remote control of glass electrodes and the like using liquid pressure.

"Prior art" In recent years, glass electrodes have a diameter of 1 to 3 fiφ and a length of 50 to 60 mm.
A needle-shaped glass tube with potassium chloride K inside it.
An electrolyte such as C1 or sodium chloride (Na C1) is injected into the cell, and a tip with a diameter of 0.1 μm has been developed.By inserting this into a cell, various information about a single cell can be obtained. It is already known that it has become possible to take out and record information.

By the way, when inserting a glass electrode with a tip of 0.1μ into a single cell, the electrode must be positioned correctly so as not to destroy the cell or the electrode, and must be moved minutely and without wobbling or meandering. No.

In order to satisfy this request, the present applicant has filed a patent application filed in 1983-
A manipulator such as No. 27478 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-153162) was proposed. The manipulator is hydraulic as shown in FIG. 7, and when the X-axis linear drive mechanism 81 is operated, the glass electrode A etc. attached to the operation table 82 are moved in the vertical direction (hereinafter referred to as the X-axis direction). If the Y-axis linear drive mechanism 83 is operated, the glass electrode A etc. will move in the lateral direction (hereinafter referred to as the Y-axis direction), and by further turning the tilting lever 85, the Z
When the shaft drive mechanism 84 is operated, the glass electrode A and the like are moved in the height direction (hereinafter referred to as the Z-axis direction). Furthermore, when the tilting lever 85 is tilted in any direction, the glass electrode etc. are moved by the X-Y axis planar drive mechanism 86 in accordance with the direction and amount of tilting of the lever. .

However, this manipulator has an X-axis linear drive mechanism 81.
The Y-axis linear drive mechanism 83 is formed completely separately from the x-y-axis plane internal movement mechanism 86, and each is connected to the operation console.As a result, not only are there a large number of parts, but the operation console 82 Of course, the X-axis linear drive mechanism 81
, the Y-axis linear drive mechanism 83, the Z-axis drive mechanism 84, and the x-y-axis plane internal movement mechanism 86, each hydraulic cylinder is installed depending on the installation location and the mechanical difference of the location.
Hydraulic cylinders of different sizes and shapes are used, and the hydraulic cylinders are not compatible with each other, making it necessary to use a dedicated hydraulic cylinder, which is extremely inconvenient. In addition, the hydraulic cylinders 87 and 88 in the X-Y axis flat shaft internal drive mechanism 86 are not only the corresponding hydraulic cylinders of the operating table 82, but also the hydraulic cylinders of the X-axis linear drive mechanism 81 and the Y-axis linear drive mechanism. It is also connected to the hydraulic cylinder 83 by a tube. Therefore,
Not only does each hydraulic cylinder have to be used specifically for its installation location, but it is also difficult to inject liquid and bleed air, making assembly extremely complicated, and the hydraulic cylinders are connected in advance with tubes. At the same time, after sealing a liquid medium inside and conducting various tests such as pressure resistance and leakage,
Each drive mechanism 83 such as the operation table 82 and the X-axis linear drive mechanism 81
．． 84, and the current situation is that the various tests mentioned above are conducted after installation, which requires a long period of time, and during this period it cannot be used as a manipulator. It was something lacking.

``Problems to be Solved by the Invention'' In view of the above circumstances, the present invention has been developed by connecting hydraulic cylinders in advance with tubes, sealing a liquid medium inside, and then conducting various tests such as pressure resistance and leakage. If the need arises to replace the hydraulic cylinder or hydraulic path from any of the manipulators, you can immediately replace them and use them as a manipulator. It is an object of the present invention to provide a manipulator such as a glass electrode that can be easily attached to all locations regardless of the location.

``Means to be Solved by the Invention'' The present invention includes an operation table equipped with a plurality of hydraulic cylinders that move glass electrodes, etc. in the vertical, horizontal and height directions, and a plurality of hydraulic cylinders that drive the operation table. In a manipulator such as a glass electrode, which consists of a driving part and a driving part, each hydraulic cylinder of the operating table and the driving part is formed in the same shape, and the hydraulic cylinders are connected with each other with a tube so as to form a set of two. ,
Furthermore, the present invention is characterized by a manipulator such as a glass electrode in which hydraulic cylinders are detachably provided on the operating table and the drive section.

"Embodiment" Hereinafter, an embodiment of a manipulator such as a glass electrode according to the present invention will be described based on the drawings. In FIG. 1, 1 is a drive unit, and 2 is an operation console. The drive unit 1 includes an X-Y axis in-plane drive mechanism 3, a Z-axis drive mechanism 4, an X-axis linear drive mechanism 5, and a Y-axis linear drive mechanism 6. In the X-Y axis in-plane drive mechanism 3, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, a fixed base 7 is screwed to the base 3, and a Y-axis slide base 9 is attached to the fixed base 7 in the lateral direction. In other words, it is mounted so as to be slidable in the Y-axis direction. An L-shaped bracket 10 is fixed to the end face of the fixed base 7 with screws, and a main body 11 of the Y-axis linear drive mechanism 6 is further fixed to the bracket 10 with screws.

A screw shaft 13 of a knob 12 is screwed into the main body 11, and one end of a piston rod 14 is inserted into a hole 13a in the screw shaft 13.

On the other hand, a U-shaped bracket 15 is fixed to the Y-axis slide table 9 with screws in correspondence with the Y-axis linear drive mechanism 6, and a hydraulic cylinder 16 is attached to the bracket 15 with screws 17.
Fixed by As will be described later, the hydraulic cylinder 16 includes a casing 18 having a hydraulic chamber therein, a diaphragm, and a cylindrical body 19 for attaching the diaphragm to the casing 8 and fixing it to the bracket 15. An X-axis slide table 20 is mounted on the Y-axis slide table 9 so as to be able to slide freely relative to the Y-axis slide table 9 . The sliding direction of the X-axis slide table 2o is the vertical direction, that is, the X-axis direction, and the Y-axis slide table 9 relative to the fixed base 7
This is the direction perpendicular to the sliding direction of. X-axis slide stand 2o
A bracket 21 is screwed to the end face of the bracket 21 in the same way as above,
A hydraulic cylinder 22 is fixed to the bracket 21 with screws. An X-axis linear drive mechanism 5 is attached to the end surface of the Y-axis slide table 9 in correspondence with the hydraulic cylinder 22. Like the Y-axis linear drive mechanism 6, the X-axis linear drive mechanism 5 includes a main body 23, a knob 24 screwed to the main body 23, and a piston whose one end is inserted into a hole in the threaded shaft of the knob 24. It consists of a rod 25 and a main body 2.
3 is screwed to the bracket 26. Of course, the bracket 26 is screwed to the Y-axis slide base 9. A sphere 28 is fixed to the upper surface of the X-axis slide table 2o via a support shaft 27. Sphere 28
, the receiver of the celestial sphere 3o of the tilting lever 29 is fitted into the hole 31. Large ball 3o has adjustment ring 32 and presser ring 33
It is rotatably supported. The adjustment ring 32 is fitted to a case 34, and when the adjustment ring 32 is turned with respect to the case 34, the distance between the center of the sphere 28 and the center of the large sphere 3o changes, and as a result of this change, it is tilted. Y-axis slide stand 9 to X-axis slide stand 2 relative to the amount of tilt of lever 29
The amount of sliding of the glass electrode A can be changed, and in turn, the amount of movement of the glass electrode A attached to the operating table 2 can be adjusted. The tilting lever 29 is equipped with a hydraulic cylinder 35 similar to the one described above, and a Z-axis drive consisting of a piston loft 36a that presses the diaphragm of the hydraulic cylinder 35 and a knob 36 screwed into the main body. #R structure 4 is provided. Each of the hydraulic cylinders 16, 22, 35 is arranged to be piped to a corresponding hydraulic cylinder of the operation console 2, as will be described later.

The operation console 2 includes an X-axis moving section 37, a Y-axis column moving section 38, and a Z-axis moving section 39. The X-axis moving unit 37, the Y-axis moving unit 3M, and the Z-axis moving unit 39 each have the same configuration,
The moving directions are vertical, horizontal, and vertical when assembled, and only the X-axis moving section 37 will be described below. As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the X-axis moving section 37
It has a base 40 with a three-dimensional cross section, and a slider 42 is slidably mounted in a slot 41 of the base 40 by a bare tongue 43. As shown in FIG. 5, the bearing 43 has rails 44 and 45 made of two wire rods in each groove of the base 40 and the slider 42, and a plurality of steel balls 46 are interposed between each rail 44 and 45. This is what I inserted.

A piston rod 47 is installed in the center of the end surface of the slider 42, and a hole 48 is provided extending from the other end of the slider 42 to the tip of the piston rod 47. A return spring 49 is inserted into the hole 48. and the end plate 50 of the base 40
A return spring 49 is hooked between the end of the piston rod 47 and the end of the piston rod 47. That is, the length of the return spring 49 is made as long as possible so as not to impair the tensile coefficient during expansion or compression. A bracket 51 is fixed to the other end of the base 4o with screws, and a hydraulic cylinder 52 having the same structure as each of the hydraulic cylinders 16, 22, and 35 described above is further fixed to the bracket 51 with screws.

As shown in FIG. 4, the hydraulic cylinder 52 has a flange of a diaphragm 56 sandwiched between a casing 54 having a hydraulic chamber 53 therein and a cylindrical body 55, and a screw ring 57 fixed between the two. It is something. Casing 54
Around the periphery, there is a valve part 5 for injecting liquid medium, venting air, etc.
8 and a mouth member 59 for connecting to the hydraulic cylinder 22 of the drive unit 1. As shown in FIG. 6, the diaphragm 56 is made of a rubber material mixed with a mesh material, and has a diameter of 5 μm.
The flange is formed to be as small as possible, and a ring-shaped protrusion 6o as a sealing stop is integrally formed on the flange. The cylindrical body 55 is fixed to the bracket 51 by screws 61.

Further, a loft 62 embedded in the end plate 50 is inserted into the return spring 49 so that it does not bend inadvertently.

The Y-axis moving section 38 is attached to the slider 42 of the X-axis moving section 37.
and a slider 66 of the Z-axis moving section 39 are fixed to the base 64 of the Y-axis moving section 38 via a loft 65, respectively. In this case, the glass electrode A is connected to the X-axis moving section 37, the Y-axis moving section 38, and the Z-axis moving section 3.
9, it is of course assembled in such a manner that it can be moved in the vertical, horizontal, and height directions, that is, in the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis directions.

The glass electrode A is attached to the base 67 of the Z-axis moving unit 39 using a tool 77.
It is designed to be installed through the Furthermore, when assembling the X-axis moving section 37, Y-axis moving section 38, and Z-axis moving section 39, it is also possible to attach plates and the like with the interposition of odor 78,79. The base 40 of the X-axis moving unit 37 is equipped with operation knobs 68 to 70, and is attached to a physical and chemical instrument such as a microscope via a manual movement mechanism 76 for manually moving it in the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis directions. It looks like this. Not only can the base 40 of the X-axis moving section 37 be attached to a physical and chemical instrument as is, but also because each of the X-axis moving section 37, Y-axis moving section 38, and Z-axis moving section 39 is extremely small, the manual moving mechanism 76 It is easy to assemble into the body, and various types of assembly other than the one shown in FIG. 1 can be used. The hydraulic cylinder 52 of the X-axis moving section 37 is connected to the hydraulic cylinder 22 of the driving section 1 through a tube 71, and the hydraulic cylinder 72 of the Y-axis moving section 38 is connected to the hydraulic cylinder 16 of the driving section 1 through a tube 73. , furthermore, the hydraulic cylinder 74 of the Z-axis moving part 39 is the hydraulic cylinder 3 of the driving part l.
5 are connected to each other by tubes 75. Water having a small coefficient of thermal expansion is sealed at a predetermined pressure in each hydraulic cylinder 16, 22, 35°52, 72, 74.

In the manipulator for the glass electrode, etc., first, in order to move the glass electrode A to the position where the cell is located, the manual movement mechanism 76 is used, and then the X-axis linear drive mechanism 5, the Y-axis linear drive mechanism 6, and the Z-axis drive mechanism 4 are used. When processing cells or obtaining information from cells, the glass electrode A is moved using the X-Y axis in-plane drive mechanism 3 and also the Z-axis drive mechanism 4. At this time, the X-axis linear drive mechanism 5 and the Y-axis linear drive mechanism 6 can also be used together as appropriate.

Therefore, if the knob 24 of the X-axis linear drive mechanism 5 is turned, this rotation causes the piston rod 25 to press the diaphragm of the hydraulic cylinder 22, or if the pressure is reduced, the pressing force of the hydraulic cylinder 22 changes. , is transmitted to the hydraulic cylinder 52 in the X-axis moving part 37 of the operation console 2, and the diaphragm 56 of the hydraulic cylinder 52 is transmitted by the piston rod 47.
The pressing force changes, and as a result, the slider 42 slides relative to the base 40 by an amount corresponding to the amount of rotation of the knob 24.

Similarly, when the Y-axis linear drive mechanism 6 and the Z-axis drive mechanism 4 are operated, the Y-axis moving section 38 and the Z-axis moving section 39 of the console 2 operate in response to the manipulated variables. Tilt lever 29
When you tilt the
- The Y-axis in-plane drive mechanism 3 operates. In other words, depending on the direction and amount of tilting of the tilting lever 29, the Y-axis slide base 9
slides on the fixed base 7, and the X-axis slide base 20 slides on the Y-axis
The shaft slides against the slide table 9. These sliding movements cause the hydraulic cylinder 16.2 by each piston rod 14.25 to
2 changes, and this change causes the hydraulic cylinder 72 of the Y-axis moving section 38 and the hydraulic cylinder 52 of the X-axis moving section 37 to change.
The glass electrode A moves in the same manner as described above. When the pressing force of each hydraulic cylinder 52, 72, 74 of the operating table 2 decreases, the return spring 49 is elastically biased to operate at a fast response speed.

In this embodiment, water, which has a smaller coefficient of thermal expansion than oil, is used as the liquid medium, so it is possible to extremely minimize the positional shift of the glass electrode A due to temperature changes, so-called thermal drift. By making the internal volume smaller than that of a conventional manipulator using oil, the drift can be reduced to one-tenth.

Furthermore, the operating table 2 uses a very small diaphragm 56 with an oral diameter of 511 or less, and has no X-axis movement of 37. Each return spring 49 of the Y-axis moving part 38 and the Z-axis column moving part 39 is provided in the center, that is, in the center of the slider 42, 63, 66, a hole 48 that reaches the tip of the piston rod 47 is provided, and a return spring 49 is provided in the core 48. By housing the spring 49, the overall shape can be made extremely compact. Therefore, the operating table 2 can be mounted so as to face above the stage of a microscope that does not have much space, and as a result, the distance from the fixture 77 to the tip of the glass electrode A can be shortened compared to the conventional method. Therefore, it is possible to reduce blurring caused by vibration, and not only can work be performed smoothly, but also many manipulators can be mounted facing above the stage of the microscope. Moreover, since the operating table 2 is extremely small, it can easily be integrated into the manual moving mechanism 76 or an adapter for attaching it to a microscope, which is convenient.

"Effects of the Invention" As described above, according to the manipulator such as a glass electrode according to the present invention, two hydraulic cylinders are connected in advance with a tube, and a liquid medium is injected to improve pressure resistance and prevent leakage. After conducting various tests such as the above, when it becomes necessary to replace the manipulator's hydraulic cylinder or hydraulic line, it can be immediately replaced and used as a manipulator. There is no need to set up various long-term test periods, and when replacing the X-axis linear drive mechanism, the same one can be easily installed at all locations, regardless of the location of the X-axis linear drive mechanism. Therefore, during manufacturing, it is possible to simplify, rationalize, and further reduce costs, and when exporting, etc., only the parts can be sent to the site and assembled.
Moreover, the test period is short, and as a result, it is extremely convenient for sales.・

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of a manipulator such as a glass electrode according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram, and FIG. 2 is a z-
FIG. 3 is a partially exploded perspective view of the y-axis in-plane drive mechanism, FIG. 3 is a partially exploded perspective view of the Z-axis moving section, FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of the X-axis moving section, and FIG. 5 is a partially exploded perspective view of the Y-axis in-plane drive mechanism. Sectional view taken along line 1-1 in Figure 4, No. 6
The figure is a sectional view of a diaphragm, and FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a conventional manipulator such as a glass electrode. l...Drive unit 2...Operation console 3...X
-Y-axis in-plane drive mechanism 4...Z-axis drive mechanism 5...X-axis linear drive mechanism 6...Y-axis linear drive mechanism 16.22, 35, 52, 72.74...hydraulic pressure Cylinder 37...X-axis moving part 38...Y-axis moving part 39...Z-axis moving part 40...Base 42...
・Slider 47...Piston rod 49・
...Return spring 56...Diaphragm patent applicant Narishige Scientific Instruments Research Institute Co., Ltd.
Narishige

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a manipulator for glass electrodes, etc., which is composed of an operation table equipped with a plurality of hydraulic cylinders that move the glass electrode etc. in the vertical, horizontal and height directions, and a drive section equipped with a plurality of hydraulic cylinders that drive the operation table, The hydraulic cylinders on the operation console and the drive unit are formed in the same shape, and the hydraulic cylinders are connected with tubes so that two cylinders form a set, and each hydraulic cylinder is connected to the operation console and the drive unit. A manipulator for glass electrodes, etc., characterized by being provided in a detachable manner.