JPS62115369A - Automatic analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify time course data processing and to simplify and miniaturize computer constitution by rotating and controlling a reaction vessel holder and successively moving respective reaction vessels from a sample dispensing position to optical measuring position. CONSTITUTION:The reaction vessel holder 5 is driven and controlled in such a manner that the holder is rotated clockwise by a driving device 11 consisting of a pulse motor with the rotation corresponding to one turn minus n-reaction vessels (n=1, 2, 3,...) as one period. The respective reaction vessels 4 are, therefore, intermittently transmitted by each one pitch in the clockwise direction which is the rotating direction opposite from a step rotating direction at every step rotation of the holder 5. More specifically, the vessels 4 are intermittently transferred from a sample dispensing position (b) to the 1st reagent dispensing position (c), 1st stirring position (d), 2nd reagent dispensing position (e), 2nd stirring position (f) and optical measuring position (g). The need for successively rearranging the arithmetic processing of a computer from the measured values at which the reaction in each of the samples is not progressed to the measured values at which the reaction is progressed is thus eliminated.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer that performs biochemical analysis and immunological analysis, and in particular, it is simple and compact, and is capable of obtaining highly accurate analytical data. Regarding automatic analysis equipment.

[Prior art and its problems]

Various automatic analyzers of this type have been proposed in the past, but in recent years automatic analyzers have become more complex, larger, more expensive, and faster, and they do not require as many blood tests. Small and medium-sized hospitals in areas where they do not have the necessary capacity to install large-scale automatic analyzers of this kind are currently requesting specialized blood testing centers to conduct blood tests for their own patients. It is very inconvenient when necessary, and is likely to result in wasted costs. In addition, when it is necessary to check the analysis data with the patient's blood or retest, it takes a lot of time to obtain the results. I had the problem of doing so.

In addition, among conventional automatic analyzers, there are simple, small, and low-cost automatic analyzers, but many of these small automatic analyzers have a simple configuration, but they do not have a large number of items. At present, they do not have the ability to analyze with high precision, and since many of them are semi-automatic, their handling is complicated, and they have the problem of not being able to fully meet the needs of regional and small and medium-sized hospitals. Was.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been devised in view of the current situation and aims to provide an automatic analyzer that is compact, low cost, and easy to handle.

[Structure of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a sample holder that holds a required number of sample containers in a loop, a transfer device that transports the sample containers to a sample suction position, and a loop that holds a required number of reaction containers. A reaction container holder held in a shape, a transfer device that transfers the reaction container to a sample dispensing position, and a sample in the sample container transferred to the sample suction position into the reaction container transferred to the sample dispensing position. a reagent supply device that dispenses a reagent corresponding to the measurement item into the reaction container into which the sample has been dispensed; and a reagent supply device that is stationary at a predetermined position and crosses the transfer path of the reaction container row. and an optical device that forms an optical path to measure optical characteristics of a plurality of reaction liquids in the reaction vessel array when the reaction vessels are in a rotating transfer state. The reaction container is rotated in a direction opposite to the direction in which it is intermittently transferred from the reagent dispensing position to the optical measurement position, and the rotation of the reaction container is stopped at least one pitch before the sample dispensing position. The drive is controlled.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the automatic analyzer A according to this embodiment holds a required number of sample containers l in a loop shape on the outer circumferential side, and a required number of auxiliary containers used for emergency specimens on the inner circumferential side. Sample holder 3 holding the container 2 in a loop shape
and a reaction container holder 5 which is rotatably arranged on the outer peripheral side of the holder 3 and holds a required number of reaction containers 4 in a loop shape.
a reagent table 6 disposed on the inner peripheral side of the holder 5; a pipette device 8 for dispensing the required amount of the specimen in the sample container l or the specimen in the auxiliary container 2 into the reaction container 4;
A pipette device 10 for a first reagent dispenses a required amount of the first reagent in a plurality of reagent bottles 9a placed on the reagent table 6 into the reaction container 4 according to the measurement item; A pipette device 12 for a second reagent dispenses a required amount of a second reagent in a plurality of reagent bottles 9b placed in the reaction container 4 according to the measurement item, and Optical measuring device 1 for colorimetrically measuring a reaction product obtained by adding a first reagent and a second reagent to a specimen (the same applies hereinafter)
3, a drive device 14 that rotates the sample holder 3 intermittently at required timing, and reagent bottles 9a and 9b that respectively control the forward and reverse rotation of the reagent table 6 to correspond to measurement items.
a drive device 7 that transfers the reaction container holder 5 to predetermined first and second reagent suction positions, a drive control 11 that rotationally controls the reaction container holder 5 at a required timing, and two stirring devices 15 and 16.
and a cleaning device 17.

The sample holder 3 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 1 via the drive device 14 to intermittently transport each sample container 1 one after another to the sample suction position a.

Each sample container 1 contains a required amount of a specimen (serum) to be measured. As a matter of course, the auxiliary container 2 is also intermittently transferred together with the sample container 1 as the sample container 1 is intermittently transferred. Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, this sample holder 3 is pivotally supported on a support base 18 that can slide linearly to the left, and this sliding operation makes the sample holder slide device an m-configuration. When the pipette device 8 aspirates the sample in the auxiliary container 2 by the actuator 11, the amount of movement is as follows:
The slide operation of the holder 3 shown in FIG. 2 is not limited to an actuator, and a known slide mechanism such as a rack-and-binion mechanism can be used.

When the predetermined sample container l or auxiliary container 2 is transferred to the predetermined sample suction position a in this way, the required amount of the sample in the sample container l or the auxiliary container 2 is aspirated via the pipette device 8, and then , and are dispensed into the corresponding reaction vessels 4.

The pipetting device 8 has the same structure as a known pipetting device.
Although not shown, there is an arm with one end supported by a shaft, a pipette disposed at the other end of this arm, and a sample ring pump that is communicatively connected to this pipette and aspirates the required amount of sample and discharges it into the reaction container 4. , and a drive device that controls the rotation of the arm from the sample suction position a to the sample discharge position and further to the washing position at a predetermined timing around an axis, and controls the movement up and down at each position. This method of measuring a sample involves filling the suction system with water, separating the sample and water via air, then suctioning and weighing the sample, discharging only the sample, and then passing washing water through the pipette. Clean the inside of. During this cleaning, the pipette is of course set at a pipette cleaning position (not shown). This pipette is equipped with a suction amount confirmation device (not shown) consisting of a known structure for checking the amount of sample, etc. that has been sucked up. The zero reaction container holder 5, which is configured to automatically correct the amount, is rotated in the first book-needle direction via the drive device 11 as described above. be done. A pulse motor is applied to the drive device 11, and assuming that the number of reaction vessels 4 currently held in the reaction vessel holder 5 is 80, the drive device 11 moves a predetermined reaction vessel 4 from the initial stop position. Rotate stepwise to a position that has advanced at least one container in the clockwise direction in Figure 1 (that is, 355.5 degrees). As a result, each reaction container 4 is intermittently transferred one pitch at a time in the clockwise direction in FIG. From there, it is intermittently transferred to a first reagent dispensing position C, a first stirring position d, a second reagent dispensing position e, a 21st W stirring position f, an optical measurement position g, and a cleaning position. Slightly above the bottom of each reaction vessel holding hole of this reaction vessel holder 5, a light guiding hole is provided which horizontally passes Tt through one reaction vessel holding hole. The optical properties of the reaction liquid in the rectangular cylindrical reaction vessel 4 are measured by the measurement light guided through the light guide hole.

The drive device 7 that controls the forward and reverse rotation of the reagent table 6 moves the reagent ports 9a and 9b containing reagents corresponding to the measurement items to the first reagent suction position and the second reagent suction position i as described above. Transport. The first and second reagent bottles 9a and 9b arranged on the table 6 are set at predetermined positions and stored in the memory of the Mm device, and contain reagents corresponding to measurement items. Bottle 9a, 9
b is transferred by each of the drive devices 7 described above.

In this way, the reagent bottles 9a, 9 corresponding to the measurement items are
When the reagent b arrives at a predetermined reagent suction position, a required amount of the corresponding reagent is dispensed into the corresponding reaction container 4 via the first and second reagent pipetting devices 10.12, respectively.

The first and second reagent pipette devices 10 and 12 are
- Consisting of a rack 30 with a gear 30a engraved on the side edge and having a pipette 34, a pinion 31 that meshes with the gear 30a of this rack 30, and a gear 32 that meshes with this pinion 31, and the gear 32 is a stirring device 15゜1
It acts to rotate the arm of No.6. The pinion 31 is
By rotating, the rack 30 is moved forward and backward in the linear direction, and the stirring devices 15 and 16 are also rotated. That is, when the pinion 31 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 1 for a certain period of time, the rack 30 advances to the left in FIG.
The arm of the stirring device 15 and 16 also rotates clockwise to move the stirring rod to the stirring position d, which is not shown in the figure.
Stop directly above f. After this, the support stand 35 holding the first and second reagent pipette devices 10, 12 and the stirring devices 15, 18, respectively, is lowered, whereby the pipette 34 is inserted into the reagent bottle 9, and the stirring rod is inserted into the reaction vessel 4. Thereafter, the pipet/') 34 aspirates a certain amount of the reagent corresponding to the measurement item, and the stirring rod stirs the reaction solution in the reaction vessel 4. When these operations are completed, the support stand 35 is raised, and the pinion 31 is then rotated several times clockwise in FIG. As a result, the rack 30 moves backward in the first right direction and is set directly above the reagent discharge positions c and e. Of course, as the pipette 34 moves, the stirring rod also rotates by a predetermined angle counterclockwise in FIG. 1 and then stops. Thereafter, the support stand 35 is lowered again, the pipette 34 is inserted into the reaction container 4, and the prescribed amount of the aspirated reagent is discharged. At this time, since the reaction liquid is attached to the stirring rod, a receiver (not shown) is provided to prevent this reaction liquid from dripping and mixing into other reaction vessels 4. When the reagent is finished being discharged in this manner, the pinion 31 rotates clockwise in FIG. 1 again, and the rack 30 and stirring rod return to their original positions. After returning to this original position, the pipette 34 and stirring rod are cleaned. In addition, the reagent sucked into each pipette 34 fills the suction system channel with water, and separates the reagent and water with air.
At the time of discharge, only the reagent is pushed out by the reagent pump, and the inside of the flow path is cleaned with water filled in the flow path. At this time, the pipette 34 is set at the washing position. Although not shown, a heating device and a suction amount confirmation device are installed in the reagent suction channel, which detects the suction amount at the reagent suction position and automatically corrects the reagent amount. It is configured. Note that a known sampling pump is applied as the reagent pump. 33 in the figure is a guide roller of the rack 30.

As described above, the stirring devices 15.16 are arranged in the direction of intermittent movement of the reaction container 4 (clockwise in FIG.
The stirring rod is directly connected to a motor and rotates.

The optical device 13 forming a detection section or an observation point includes a light source 20 and a reaction chamber for the measurement light irradiated from this light source 20!
a reflection mirror 21 that reflects the light to the diffraction grating 22 after passing through the diffraction grating 22; and a required number of light receiving elements 23 that receive the measurement light reflected by the diffraction grating 22 and separated into each predetermined wavelength for each predetermined wavelength.
and converts the amount of light received by this light receiving element 23 into a voltage,
A data processing section 24 selects only the analysis value corresponding to the measurement item from among the voltage-converted analysis values, and a display section 2
It consists of 5. This optical device 13 is configured such that when the reaction container holder 5 is in a rotating state, the reaction container 4 is placed in the optical path B.
The absorbance of the reaction liquid in the reaction container 4 that crosses the light path B is measured and displayed on the printer 25 as it crosses the light beam. This optical path is arranged immediately before the washing position (in the illustrated embodiment, it passes approximately through the center of the reaction vessel 4, which is located 54° counterclockwise from the sample dispensing position).

The cleaning device 17 is configured to perform seven stages of cleaning, with cleaning water flowing in the first or second stage, water cleaning in the other cleaning lines, and one of them storing water.
Other than being configured to measure the blank value of the reaction vessel 4 itself, the details of the configuration are the same as those of a cleaning device used in a known automatic analyzer, so a description thereof will be omitted here.

Next, to explain the operation of the automatic analyzer A according to this embodiment, first, turn on the start switch (not shown).
Then, the pipette of the pipette device 8 is set to the sample suction position, and the required amount of sample is dispensed into the sample reaction container 4. In addition, when an emergency sample test is required, when the emergency sample serum is stored in the auxiliary container 2, it is detected that the auxiliary container 2 has arrived at the sample suction position,
The actuator 19 is operated automatically or manually to slide the support base 18 in a straight line, and the auxiliary container 2 is
is controlled so that it is positioned directly below the pipette of the pipette device 8, and after this, the pipette aspirates the sample in the same container 2, and then dispenses the sample into the reaction container 4 in the same manner as described above.

When it becomes unnecessary to aspirate the sample in the auxiliary container 2, the actuator 19 performs suction operation and is controlled to return to its original position so that the sample container 1 is directly below the pipette.

Of course, this auxiliary container 2 may be used not for emergency specimens but for general specimens, and all sample containers 1
The second reaction container holder 5, which may be used to aspirate the specimen in the auxiliary container 2 after aspirating and tying the specimen, moves the reaction container 4 into which the specimen has been dispensed counterclockwise in FIG. Rotate and move toward the first reagent dispensing position C direction every pitch.
When the zero reaction container 4, which is intermittently transferred clockwise in the figure, arrives at the first reagent dispensing position C, the reagent table 6 is rotationally controlled in synchronization with this, and the first reagent containing the reagent corresponding to the measurement item is The bottle 9a is set at the reagent suction position,
A required amount of the first reagent is aspirated by a pipette from inside the bottle 9a via the first reagent pipette device 10, and the first reagent aspirated into the pipette is transferred to the first reagent dispensing position f! 1
The required amount of reagent is dispensed into the reaction container 4 that has arrived at c. Then, the reaction container 4, which has finished dispensing the first reagent, is stirred one pitch downstream by the reaction container holder 5. It is intermittently transferred up to 1d. When the reaction container 4 is transferred to the stirring position, the stirring device 15 is activated and the sample, etc. in the reaction container 4 is stirred. After this stirring operation has been completed, the reaction vessel 4 is then moved forward by a predetermined pitch to the second reagent dispensing position e. In synchronization with this, the reagent table 6 is rotationally controlled, and the reagent bottle 9b containing the second reagent corresponding to the measurement item is transferred to the second reagent suction position i, and the second reagent pipette device 12
The required amount of the second reagent is aspirated, and this second reagent is dispensed into the reaction container 4. Next, the reaction container 4 into which the second reagent is dispensed is further moved by step rotation of the reaction container holder 5. The liquid is transferred intermittently by one pinch to reach the stirring position f, and the reaction liquid in the reaction vessel 4 is stirred by the stirring device 16.

On the other hand, optical measurement by the optical device 13 is performed when the reaction container holder 5 is stepped counterclockwise in FIG. The container crosses the optical path B. Optical device 13
The data processing unit 24 may print out data based on the reaction liquid in the reaction vessels that crossed the optical path B, or may print out data based on only the required number of reaction vessels. In the illustrated embodiment, the absorbance of the anti-Iε liquid in the reaction vessel located between the stirring position f and the optical measurement position when the reaction vessel holder 5 is in a stopped state is measured. Therefore, the reaction vessel at the stirring position f is rotated multiple times (three times in the illustrated embodiment) until it reaches the optical measurement position g.
Colorimetric measurements (4 times) are performed, and reaction time course data can be obtained based on these data, or desired data can be obtained by combining these data. After the predetermined colorimetric measurement operation has been completed, the reaction vessel is transferred to a cleaning device, and after being subjected to a predetermined cleaning by the cleaning device 17, it is provided for reuse.

The operation of each of these devices, control and measurement data.
Arithmetic processing etc. are controlled by a microcomputer.

In the above embodiment, the optical device 13 is explained using a diffraction grating to perform spectroscopy, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a filter switching method may be applied. Of course.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since this invention is constructed as described above, the entire device can be constructed compactly and easily, resulting in fewer failures and can be provided at low cost.Moreover, it is possible to measure multiple items, and it is possible to measure multiple items by repeating the rotation operation. Since the time course of the reaction solution can be obtained, highly accurate analytical data can be obtained.

In addition, in this invention, auxiliary containers are arranged in addition to the sample containers, and these auxiliary containers can be used for emergency samples, general samples, or quality control.
Since it can be used for multiple functions, it has the advantage of being able to easily meet the needs of hospitals, etc. where it is installed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the configuration of an automatic analyzer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II--II in FIG. 1. [Explanation of symbols] A... Automatic analyzer B... Light path l... Sample container 2... Auxiliary container 3... Sample holder
4... Reaction container 5... Reaction container holder 6... Reagent table 7... Reagent table drive device 8... Pipette devices 9a, 9b... Reagent bottle 10... First reagent pipette Apparatus 11...Reaction vessel holder drive device 12...Second reagent pipette device 13...Optical measurement device 14...Sample holder drive device 19...Sample holder slide device fjS2 Diagram Procedure Correction Teeth 1988 July 25th

Claims (1)

[Claims] A sample holder that holds a required number of sample containers in a loop, a transfer device that transports the sample containers to a sample suction position, a reaction container holder that holds the required number of reaction containers in a loop, and a sample holder that holds the required number of reaction containers in a loop. A transfer device that transfers the sample to the dispensing position, a pipette device that dispenses the required amount of the sample in the sample container that has been transferred to the sample suction position into the reaction container that has been transferred to the sample dispensing position, and a pipette device that transfers the sample to the sample dispensing position. a reagent supplying device for dispensing a reagent corresponding to a measurement item into a reaction container, and a reagent supply device that is stationary at a predetermined position to form an optical path that crosses the transfer path of the reaction container row, when the reaction container is in a rotating transfer state. and an optical device for measuring optical properties of a plurality of reaction liquids in the reaction vessel array, wherein the reaction vessel is optically disposed from the sample dispensing position through the reagent dispensing position. The reaction container is rotated in a direction opposite to the direction in which it is intermittently transferred to the measurement position, and the rotation of the reaction container is controlled so as to stop at least one pitch before the sample dispensing position. automatic analyzer.