JPH0156706B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a chemical analysis and measurement device, and more particularly to a device for chemically analyzing and measuring a liquid sample using an analytical element impregnated with a reaction reagent.

In general, it is often necessary to know whether or not a specific component is contained in the liquid sample, or the content thereof, with respect to human body fluids or other liquid samples, and for this purpose, chemical analysis using reaction reagents is performed.
There are two methods for chemical analysis of liquid samples: the dry method and the wet method. Of these, the dry method uses a liquid sample analysis element consisting of a thin plate impregnated with a specific reagent inserted into a mount. A liquid sample to be analyzed is supplied dropwise to the element, placed in a constant humidity chamber for reaction, and the liquid sample and reagent are reacted. This is a method of measurement and detection using an optical concentration meter or other means, and is very convenient in that a liquid sample can actually be treated as a solid.

In the analysis of such liquid samples, it is usually necessary to analyze each liquid sample for a large number of items, and it is desirable to perform such analysis on a large number of liquid samples with high efficiency.

In conventional chemical analysis and measurement devices, a plurality of containers each containing different types of liquid sample analysis elements are arranged side by side independently of a reaction constant temperature bath, and the liquid sample analysis elements are A specific liquid sample analysis element is selected and the selected liquid sample analysis element is supplied into the thermostatic chamber, and the reaction between the liquid sample and the reagent is allowed to proceed in this thermostatic chamber, and the necessary After the reaction time has elapsed, the analytical element is transferred to a measurement area by a transfer mechanism, and the analytical element is measured using a measuring instrument disposed in the measurement area.

However, the reaction time required for an analytical element is a unique time that varies depending on the type of reagent in the analytical element, and requires a high degree of rigor. In order to detect this, it is necessary not only to perform one measurement on the same analytical element, but also to allow it to react for a predetermined period of time after that measurement, and then perform a second measurement, as well as to use multiple measuring instruments. The reason for this is that each measuring instrument has its own delicate characteristics, which vary from instrument to instrument, resulting in a loss of reliability of the measured values.Therefore, all analytical elements should be measured using the same instrument. In conventional methods, the number of analytical elements that can be subjected to analytical processing at the same time is limited to a small number, and therefore analysis cannot be performed with high efficiency. In the above-mentioned chemical analysis method, certain types of analytical elements may be subjected to processing such as cooling before being measured with a measuring instrument, but when such special processing is performed using conventional methods, This requires a separate processing chamber such as a cooling chamber, a transfer system from the thermostat to the processing chamber, and a control system for controlling the transfer system, making the apparatus extremely complicated. Furthermore, with conventional devices, when the number of test items increases, the number of storage containers for analytical elements increases, requiring a large installation area, which is particularly inconvenient when conducting clinical tests in hospitals. Ta.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a chemical analysis and measurement device that is compact and can perform chemical analysis of a liquid sample with high efficiency.

The present invention is characterized by a thermostatic reaction chamber having a disc-shaped holder in which a plurality of liquid sample analysis element holders are arranged along the periphery; a support body in which element chambers are arranged; a moving mechanism that relatively moves the support body along the outer periphery of the support body; The present invention is characterized in that it includes a transport mechanism for moving the sample analysis element into and out of the holding section, and a measurement chamber provided on the support body in parallel with the element chamber.

The present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of the chemical analysis and measurement device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional plan view of FIG. ). This constant temperature bath 1 is the support 1
1, and each liquid sample analysis element (hereinafter referred to as "analysis element") is supported in this thermostatic chamber 1.
A disk-shaped holder 3 is provided, which has a plurality of analytical element holders (hereinafter referred to as "holding parts") 2 (2A to 2H) on its outer periphery for holding. As shown in FIG. 1, the holding part 2 has a rotary holding plate 20 that is placed in a recess 31 formed in the holding body 3 with its inner side downward. is rotated in the vertical direction about an axis P at the outer end of the recess 31. Reference numeral 12 denotes a feed port through which the analytical element enters and exits the thermostatic chamber 1, and is opened and closed as appropriate by, for example, a shutter (not shown).

Outside the thermostatic chamber 1, a plurality of compartments 4 are provided which are sequentially divided and connected along the outer periphery of the holder 3. In this example, a link-shaped rotating body 4 serving as a support body rotates around the pillar 11 while being guided by a guide member 41 extending along a circle centered on the central axis X of the pillar 11.
2, a plurality of cylindrical bodies 40 each having a notch 401 formed on the inner side of the bottom wall are sequentially vertically provided along the outer periphery of the rotating body 42, and these cylindrical bodies 40 The compartments 4 (4A to 4H) are configured.
In the figure, 43 indicates a wheel. In this example, the compartment 4
Of these, the compartments indicated by 4A to 4F are configured as an element chamber 100 for storing analytical elements, and the compartment indicated by 4G is configured to store reagents and reagents for analytical elements in which optical analyzers and the like are incorporated. It is configured as a measurement chamber 200 for measuring the concentration of a reactant in a liquid sample, and the compartment indicated by 4H is used as a discharge compartment 300 for discharging analytical elements that are no longer needed after the measurement has been completed. Configure.

A motor 5 is provided outside the rotating body 42 to rotate the rotating body 42 via a gear mechanism.
This motor 5 constitutes a moving mechanism that moves the compartment 4 along the outer periphery of the holding body 3 by rotating the rotating body 42 . Between the constant temperature bath 1 and the rotating body 42, there is a transport mechanism 6 (see FIG. 1,
It is shown by the dashed-dotted line in FIG. ) will be established. This conveyance mechanism 6 is attached to a rotating plate 62 which is rotated by a motor 61 through a gear mechanism around the support column 11, and as shown in FIG. a pair of rollers 63 to be moved;
63', a support shaft 65, 65' that supports the rollers 63, 63' respectively and is moved forward and backward in the vertical direction;
It is comprised of a drive section 66 that moves 65' forward and backward. The belt 64 is connected to the notch 401 of the cylindrical body 40.
The raised position (indicated by a solid line) is located at the same level as the inner surface of the bottom wall of the cylindrical body 40, and the lowered position (indicated by a two-dot chain line) is located at the same level as the upper surface of the holder 3. Go up and down between. In the figure, reference numeral 7 denotes a liquid sample source that is moved as the transport mechanism 6 moves, and drops a liquid sample onto the analysis element sent from the element 100 to the holding section 2 in accordance with the timing of sending these elements. .

To explain an example of the operation of the chemical analysis and measurement apparatus having such a configuration, first, a plurality of analytical elements S of the same type are stacked and housed in the element chamber 100 as shown by the dashed lines in FIG. The types of analytical elements S stored are different for each element chamber 100. For example, one element chamber 100 (4A)
A liquid sample is dropped onto the analytical element S, and the liquid sample is sent into the first holding section 2A, and then into the element chamber 100 described above.
A liquid sample is dropped onto the analytical element S in the element chamber 100 (4B) adjacent to (4A) and sent to the holding part 2B adjacent to the above-mentioned holding part 2A. A liquid sample is sequentially dropped onto the analytical element S housed in the element chamber 100 and sent into each of the holding parts 2. This operation involves first positioning the transport mechanism 6 between one element chamber 100 (4A) and one holding section 2A facing it, placing the belt 64 of the transport mechanism 6 in the raised position, and driving the belt 64. As a result, the analytical element S located at the lowest position in the element chamber 100 (4A) is sent out by friction with the belt 64, and at this time, the liquid sample is dripped onto the analytical element S from the liquid sample source 7. Then, by retracting the support shafts 65, 65' and placing the belt 64 in the lowered position, the analytical element S on the belt 64 slides down on the rotary holding plate 20 through the feeding port 12 of the thermostatic chamber 1. , abuts against the wall surface of the recess 31 and is held by the holding portion 2A. Thereafter, by driving the motor 61, the rotating plate 62 is rotated clockwise in FIG.
(4A), and hold the analytical element S in the element chamber 100 (4B) in the holding part 2B by the same operation. By sequentially performing such operations, the analytical elements S stored in each element chamber 100 are delivered to each of the holding sections 2. After each analytical element S held in the holding part 2 is maintained at a constant temperature in the thermostatic chamber 1 for a specific reaction time for each analytical element S, each analytical element S is measured by a measuring instrument. . This operation is performed as follows. For example, the first holding part 2
When measuring the analytical element S held in A, the rotating body 42 is rotated by driving the motor 5 to stop the measurement chamber 4G at a position facing one of the holding parts 2A, and the motor 61 is rotated. The rotating plate 62 is rotated by driving, and the conveying mechanism 6 is moved to the first holding part 2.
A, and then the rotary holding plate 20 associated with the holding portion 2A is rotated around the axis P by a drive mechanism (not shown) to stand up to the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. As a result, the rotation holding plate 2
The analytical element S on the measuring chamber 200 is sent onto the belt 64 placed in the lowered position of the transport mechanism 6 by sliding it, and then the belt 64 is placed in the raised position to feed the analytical element S into the measurement chamber 200. When the measurement here is completed, the analytical element S is discharged to the discharge compartment 300 via the transport mechanism 6. By rotating the rotary body 42 in this way to sequentially move the measurement chambers 200 and moving the transport mechanism 6 accordingly, the analysis elements S each held in the holding section 2 can be measured. This will be done sequentially.
Furthermore, when measuring each analytical element S two or more times, the above-mentioned operation will be repeated. When the measurement of the analytical element S is thus completed, a new analytical element S is sent from the element chamber 100 into the empty holding section 2. Here, when sending the analytical elements S in the element chamber 100 to the holding parts 2, instead of placing the analytical elements S in each holding part 2 in the order corresponding to the arrangement of the element chambers 100 as described above, It is also possible to arbitrarily select the element chamber 100 and send the analytical element S to one of the holding parts 2 from there. In this case, the analytical elements S from the arbitrarily selected element chambers 100 will be placed in each holding section 2, and the analytical elements S will be placed in each analytical element S.
The samples are sent into the measurement chamber 200 and measured according to their own reaction times.

Therefore, in the present invention, a plurality of holding parts are arranged side by side on the outer periphery of the holding body in a constant temperature room, and the element chamber and the measurement chamber are movable relative to the holding body along the outer circumference of the holding body. Since the analytical element is also moved in and out between these compartments and the holding part, it is possible to select any analytical element and send it to any holding part in the constant temperature room, and also to place it in the constant temperature room. You can send any analytical element out of the existing analytical elements to the measurement chamber at any time, and you can immediately insert a new selected analytical element into the empty holding part after the measurement of the analytical element is completed. can be located. Therefore, while arbitrary analytical elements are continuously supplied to arbitrary positions in a thermostatic chamber, measurements of these analytical elements are performed after an arbitrary reaction time has elapsed, so analysis processing must be performed simultaneously. The number of possible analytical elements can be increased, and chemical analysis of liquid samples can be achieved with high efficiency. In addition, since the element chambers are arranged sequentially along the outer periphery of the holder, the installation area of the device can be reduced while increasing the number of element chambers. Therefore, for example, the number of inspection items can be increased. Thus, even if the number of analytical elements increases, the device can be made smaller.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, since the analytical element is not moved within the thermostatic chamber, the analytical element can be prevented from being cooled by relative air flow, and the temperature of the analytical element can be maintained at a constant temperature. Therefore, highly reliable measurement results can be obtained.

In the present invention, some of the plurality of compartments may be configured as processing compartments for cooling, etc., which have an atmosphere at a temperature different from the temperature inside the thermostatic chamber, and in this way, the configuration of the apparatus can be changed. Although it is simple, any analytical element within the thermostatic chamber can be delivered to or taken out from the processing compartment at any time, and individual processing of the analytical elements can be carried out with high efficiency.

In the present invention, a plurality of transport mechanisms may be provided, and with such a configuration, analysis processing can be performed with higher efficiency when the number of compartments is large.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a chemical analysis and measurement device that is small in size and can perform chemical analysis of a liquid sample with high efficiency.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional side view showing a chemical analysis and measurement device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional plan view of FIG. 1, and FIG.
The figure is an explanatory diagram showing a specific configuration of the conveyance mechanism by enlarging a part of FIG. 1. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Constant temperature chamber, 3... Analysis element holding part, 3... Holder, 31... Recess, 4,4A-4H... Compartment chamber, 40
... Cylindrical body, 42... Rotating body, 5... Motor, 6... Transport mechanism, 62... Rotating plate, 100... Element chamber, 200...
Measurement chamber, 300...Discharge compartment, S...Analysis element.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A thermostatic chamber for reaction having a disc-shaped holder in which a plurality of liquid sample analysis element holders are arranged along the periphery, and a support in which a plurality of divided element chambers are arranged along the outer periphery of the holder. a moving mechanism for relatively moving the support body along the outer periphery of the holder; and a movement mechanism for moving the liquid sample analysis element stored in the element chamber of the support body into and out of the liquid sample analysis element holding part of the holder. 1. A chemical analysis and measurement device comprising: a conveyance mechanism for holding the device; and a measurement chamber provided on the support body in parallel with an element chamber.