JPH01313762A - Automatic supply device for plate sample - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the improvement in working efficiency, the improvement in measurement accuracy and a large effect for operator's safety and sanitation by putting the device into the state in which samples can be automatically supplied by each sheet successively to a sample analyzer from a housing means in which the samples are housed. CONSTITUTION:A cap of a cassette case 12 in the sample housing means is first opened and the 1st sheet of cassette cartridge in which the samples 20 are housed is lifted by a lifting cylinder 60. The lifted cassette cartridge is then lowered and a slide table 34 carrying the cassette case 12 is moved left ward by a piece of the cassette cartridge. The 2nd sheet of the cassette car tridge is lifted by the lifting cylinder 60. The similar operation is thereafter repeated even for the 3rd and succeeding cartridges. The higher measurement accuracy, the better working efficiency and the higher effect for the operator's safety and sanitation than in the operations carried out heretofore manually in a dark room are obtd. in this way.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an automatic feeding device for plate-shaped samples, and in particular, for safely storing a large number of plate-shaped samples to be examined by a sample analyzer, and for safely storing a large number of plate-shaped samples to be examined by a sample analyzer. The present invention relates to an automatic feeding device that automatically feeds plate-shaped samples one by one to a sample analyzer.

(Prior Art) The electrical properties of photoconductive materials such as purified selenium (Se) used in the photosensitive drums of electronic copying machines are not constant and vary slightly due to various current factors in the process from raw materials to refining. Because of the differences in photoconductive materials, samples of such photoconductive materials are extracted from each batch, their properties measured, and analyzed in order to obtain reference data for later use. Ru. Traditionally, a large number of samples to be tested have been lined up and stored in a storage device.
During inspection, samples were taken out one by one from the storage device and fed to the sample analyzer.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the past, all of the loading and unloading of samples into and out of the storage device was done manually, and the handling of the samples was also done using a bottle set or the like. However, if the sample is a photoconductive material such as selenium, and its electrical properties temporarily deteriorate due to a phenomenon called photofatigue when exposed to light, the sample should be handled to avoid this phenomenon. Therefore, it must be done in a darkroom.

Manual work in a darkroom significantly degrades the work. Furthermore, since the work is performed by humans, a minimum number of working lights are provided in the darkroom, but the light from these working lights changes the electrical characteristics of the sample, resulting in a decrease in measurement accuracy. Furthermore, since the work is carried out in a dimly lit dark room, there are serious safety and health problems for the workers, such as impairing the workers' eyesight and causing great fatigue.

Therefore, in order to solve the various problems mentioned above, it is an object of the present invention to inspect a large number of samples stored safely (in a light-shielded state) in a sample storage device, instead of having to work by an operator in a darkroom. In this case, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic feeding device for plate-shaped samples that can be automatically fed one by one to a sample analyzer.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a sample storage device for storing a plurality of samples side by side, and a sample storage device for storing a plurality of samples side by side in an automatic feeding device for plate-shaped samples. An automatic feeding device for a plate-shaped sample, characterized by having a feeding means for sequentially feeding the sample at a pitch, and a taking-out means for moving the sample in a sample storage device brought to a predetermined position so that it can be taken out from the outside. This will be adopted.

(Example) Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a cassette cartridge for holding a sample handled by the automatic plate sample supply device of the present invention and a sample storage device for storing the cassette cartridge;
The figure is a front view of the automatic feeding device for plate-shaped samples of the present invention, and
The figure is a plan view of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a side view of FIG. 2, FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a control circuit of an automatic plate sample supply device.

Referring first to FIG. 1, a sample storage device 10 is shown. The storage device 10 includes a cassette case (main body) 12,
The cassette case 12 has both side plates 12a and both end plates 12b.
A lid 14 is rotatably attached to one side plate 12a so that it can be opened and closed. This cassette case 12 has an opening 16 at the top and an opening 22 at the bottom.
A holding member 24 is fixed to the lower inner side of both side plates 12a as shown by dotted lines. Therefore, a cassette cartridge, which will be described later, is placed and held on the upper surface of this holding member 24 within the cassette case.

The cassette cartridge 18 holds one of the samples 20, and as is clear from the drawing, it has a concave structure with both sides (front and back) open. A groove for guiding the sample 20 is formed. With this configuration, the sample can be taken in and out of the cassette cartridge from above. Note that the upper part of the cassette cartridge, that is, the part that becomes the entrance/exit, is rounded (R) so that the sample can be taken in and out smoothly.

The cassette cartridge 18 holding the sample is housed and held side by side in the cassette case 12, as shown. When stored and the lid 14 is closed, the sample is protected from light by the side plates 12a and end plates 12b of the cassette case, the bottom of the cassette cartridge 18, and the lid 14.
It is kept in the same condition as a dark room, with no light shining on it from any direction.

Furthermore, the lid 14 has not only a light shielding function but also a dustproof function.

Next, referring to FIGS. 2-4, the automatic feeding device 26
It is shown. The automatic feeding device 26 has a pedestal 28,
Inside the pedestal 28, a mechanical section 30 is disposed in the upper part and a control part 32 is disposed in the lower part. A slide table 34 is slidably attached to the upper surface of the pedestal 28 via a slide table rail 36. A plurality of cassette case reference plane forming members 38 for positioning the cassette case 12 from three sides are provided on the top surface of the slide table 34, and a plurality of cassette case reference plane forming members 38 for elastically holding the cassette case 12 are provided.
Two cassette case retainers 62 are arranged on the other side. Therefore, the cassette case 12 includes the cassette case reference surface forming member 38 and the cassette case retainer 62.
is held in place on the slide table by the

Further, the slide table has a post-shaped lid support 42, and this lid support 42 works to support the opened lid from below.

Next, referring to FIG. 5, the cassette case of the present invention, that is, the means for feeding the storage device will be explained.

A rotary actuator 4 is mounted on one end of the upper surface of the pedestal 28.
A vacuum pad 44 is attached to the tip of the arm 40a of this rotary actuator. The vacuum pad 44 is connected to a vacuum source (not shown) and is configured to attract the top surface of the lid 14 of the cassette case. Therefore, when the rotary actuator 40 is actuated, the arm 40a is rotated,
M1 should not be attracted to the vacuum pad 44 at the tip of the arm 40a.
4 is rotated and opened. Similarly, the lid 14 is rotated and closed by actuation of the rotary actuator 40 in the opposite direction.

The slide table 34 is connected to a ball screw 46 via a nut 48, and the ball screw 46 is driven and rotated by a stepping motor 50 to rotate the nut 48 at a constant pitch (distance corresponding to the width of the cassette cartridge) in a horizontal direction (for example, as shown in the figure). (to the left).

Therefore, the slide table 34 connected to the nut
are sequentially sent by the stepping motor 50 at a constant pitch. A timing pulley 52 is attached to the end of the ball screw 46 opposite to the end where the stepping motor 50 is attached.
(related to the amount of feed movement) is transmitted to a rotary encoder 58 via a timing belt 56 and a timing pulley 54.
It is read in.

Further, a lifting cylinder 60 is provided at a predetermined position below the upper surface of the pedestal 28.
0, the relatively long piston rod 62 of the cylinder 60 pushes up the cassette cartridge 18 housed in the cassette case at a specific position from below through the lower opening 22 of the cassette case, and moves the cassette cartridge upward from the cassette case. It is configured to be raised slightly more than half the height. In this raised state, the sample 20 in the cassette cartridge is grasped by any suitable conveyance means and is ready to be supplied to the sample analyzer.

Since the cassette case 12 is sequentially fed by the stepping motor 50 by a fixed pitch corresponding to the width of the cassette cartridge, the cassette cartridges can be sequentially pushed up one by one by the lifting cylinder 60.

Next, the configuration of the control section 32 will be explained with reference to FIG.

The control unit 32 has an overall control unit 64, and this overall control unit 6
Three signals ``START'', ``NEXT'', and ``ENDPA'' are input to 4.

The overall control unit 64 is a rotary actuator DI06.
6 to the rotary actuator 40, and is also connected to the lifting cylinder 60 via the lifting cylinder DIO68. The rotary actuator DIO 66 or the lifting cylinder DIO 68 is operated by the rotary actuator 40 or the lifting cylinder 6 in response to a command from an appropriate one of the three signals mentioned above.
Activate 0. The rotation angle of the ball screw 46 from the rotary encoder 58, that is, the increment amount corresponding to the feed amount of the nut 48 is counted up by a high-speed counter 72 and supplied to the comparison circuit 74, and the setting circuit 70 also outputs an increment amount corresponding to the width of the cassette cartridge. The setting amount to be set is the comparison circuit 74 and the stepping motor driver 7.
6, and furthermore, the comparison result (difference) between the set amount and the count number in the comparison circuit 74 is supplied to the circuit of the stepping motor driver 76 as a correction value. In this way, the stepping motor 50,
Ball screw 46, rotary encoder 58, high speed counter 72, setting circuit 70, comparator circuit 74 and stepping motor driver 76 form a feedback loop to accurately position nut 48.

Next, with further reference mainly to FIG. 6, the operation of the automatic feeding device of the present invention will be explained.

In the automatic feeding apparatus of the present invention, the operation mode is determined by three types of contact signals, "start", "next", and "endpa" input from the outside.

First, in response to the "start" signal, a signal to open the lid of the cassette case 12 is issued from the general control section 64 through the rotary actuator DI○66, and the rotary actuator 40 opens the M14 of the cassette case. After that, the general control unit 64 sends the uplift cylinder DIO6
A cassette lifting signal is output through 8, and the lifting cylinder 60 lifts the first cassette cartridge 1.
8 is raised.

Next, in response to the "NEXT" signal, a cassette lowering signal is output from the general control unit 64 through the lifting cylinder DIO 68, and the cassette cartridge 18 that has been lifted is lowered. Thereafter, the set amount of movement for one cartridge is output to the stepping motor driver 76, and the slide table 34 on which the cassette case 12 is mounted is moved to the left by one cartridge. At this time, rotary encoder 5
8 captures the actual movement amount of the slide table 34, thereby controlling the stepping motor driver 76.
Hefeed back. After that, the general control unit 64 outputs a cassette lifting signal through the lifting cylinder DIO 68, and the lifting cylinder 60 outputs a cassette lifting signal.
The third cassette cartridge 18 is lifted up. The third and subsequent sheets are returned in response to the °'NEXT'' signal.

Finally, at the "end" signal, a cassette lowering signal is output from the general control unit 64 through the lifting cylinder DIO 68, and the cassette cartridge 18 that is being lifted up is
unload. Thereafter, the slide table 34 is returned to the first position by the stepping motor 50. Then, from the general control unit 64, the rotary actuator DIO6
A lid closing signal for the cassette case 12 is outputted through the rotary actuator 40 through the rotary actuator 40.
The second lid 14 is closed.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained in detail above, the present invention provides an automatic supply of plate-shaped specimens that can automatically supply one sheet at a time from a container storing the specimens. Since it is possible to provide a device, it is possible to eliminate various drawbacks that occur when conventional methods are performed manually.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a cassette cartridge for holding a sample handled by the automatic plate-shaped sample supply device of the present invention and a sample storage device for storing the cassette cartridge. FIG. 2 is a front view of the automatic feeding device for plate-shaped samples of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a side view of FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view showing the feeding portion of the storage device of the automatic plate sample feeding device. FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of the control circuit of the automatic plate sample supply device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Storage tool, 12... Cassette case, 14... Lid, 16... Opening, 18... Cassette cartridge, 20... Sample, 22... Opening, 24... Holding Components, 26... Automatic supply device, 28... Frame, 30... Machine part, 32... Control part, 34... Slide table, 40... Rotary actuator, 44... Vacuum pad, 46... Ball screw, 48... Nut, 50... Stepping motor, 58... Rotary encoder, 64... General control unit, 66... Rotary actuator DIO168...
- Lifting cylinder DIO0 Fig. 2 4n Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 "Next"

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) In an automatic supply device for plate-shaped samples, a sample storage device stores multiple samples side by side, a feeding means for sequentially feeding the sample storage devices at a constant pitch, and a sample storage device brought to a predetermined position. 1. An automatic feeding device for a plate-shaped sample, characterized in that it has a take-out means for moving the sample inside the sample so that it can be taken out from the outside. (2) In the apparatus according to claim 1, the sample storage device has a rotatable lid at the top and an opening at the bottom, and the sample is stored in the sample storage device with the sample stored in the cassette cartridge. A device featuring: (3) The device according to claim 2, further comprising means for rotating and opening the lid. (4) The device according to any one of claims 2 to 3, wherein the ejecting means is configured to push up the cassette cartridge from below through an opening at the bottom of the sample storage section. (5) The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the feeding means has a slide table on which the sample storage device is placed, and a ball screw connected to the slide table to feed the slide table at fixed pitches by a stepping motor. Device. (6) In the device according to claim 5, the feeding means includes a rotary encoder that detects the rotation angle of the ball screw and generates a signal, and compares the signal from the rotary encoder with a set amount corresponding to a constant pitch to obtain a correction value. a feedback circuit that sends a feedback circuit to the stepping motor.