JPH0660903B2 - Automatic chemical analyzer - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a direct photometric automatic chemical analyzer capable of discriminating a factor that adversely affects the measurement of a large number of reaction cells.

[Technical background of the invention] In recent automatic chemical analyzers, an increase in processing capacity,
There is a tendency to reduce the amount of samples to increase the number of photometric items and reduce the running cost.

The miniaturization of the sample is dealt with by adopting the reaction tube direct photometry method, and the increase in the processing capacity and the measurement items is dealt with by the increase in the reaction cell and the photometry section.

By the way, the factors that deteriorate the photometric data in the above apparatus are observed. Bubbles adhere to the reaction cell to scatter the measurement light, or foreign substances are mixed in to block the measurement light, and the true amount of transmitted light for the sample cannot be obtained.The minimum amount of light that can be detected by the photometer Although the amount of transmitted light is constant, the amount of transmitted light decreases due to the contamination of the reaction cell, which results in a decrease in the resolution of the altimeter, and moreover, the ratio of the measurement light that hits the sample to stray light without reaching the photometer. It can be mentioned that the error rate of the measurement data increases due to the increase in the number.

In order to verify the factors that cause such deterioration of the measurement data, in the direct photometric automatic chemical analyzer, pure water is injected into the reaction cell, and the amount of transmitted light of pure water obtained immediately by passing through the reaction cell ( Hereinafter also referred to as "100% T value".)
Based on the above, a verification means for determining the presence / absence of air bubbles in the reaction cell, the mixing of foreign matter, the degree of contamination, etc. is adopted. This 10
If the 0% T value is I ₀ , the amount of transmitted light of the unknown sample is I, and the absorbance of the unknown sample is E, these relationships can be expressed by the following equation (1).

E = log I ₀ / I (1) The transmitted light amount I must be stored for each reaction cell and displayed by a printer or the like in order for the operator to verify the factors that adversely affect the measurement. . The above factors are generated when measuring the amount I of transmitted light of pure water and at the time of measuring the sample.
In particular, the amount I of transmitted light of pure water is usually measured only when the power of the apparatus is turned on, and the value of the amount I of transmitted light is used every time when the sample is measured. Therefore, the storage and display of the amount I of transmitted light is important.

On the other hand, in the verification of sample measurement, the reaction absorbance range and the concentration range are checked, and when abnormal, information is added as a data error, and re-measurement is performed, so the labor is surprisingly small.

[Problems of background art] However, in the conventional verification means, the transmitted light amount of each pure water obtained from a large number of reaction cells is displayed as it is by a printer or the like. It was necessary to search for abnormal data from, and there was a strong possibility that verification omissions would occur.

There is also a method of displaying the determination result of the amount I of transmitted light of pure water, but the measurement of the amount I of transmitted light of pure water must be performed again and the reaction cell must be washed again to maintain the accuracy of the measurement result. Maintenance is also not easy.

These problems are caused by the processing speed of 300 samples / hour, maximum items of 32 items (colorimetry only), maximum reaction time of 420 seconds (7 minutes), and the number of reaction cells of 1 as in recent automatic chemical analyzers.
This is remarkable in high-performance products such as 408.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is not necessary for an operator to verify the amount of transmitted light of pure water, and maintenance is easy, and the direct photometry system is excellent in operability and reliability. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic chemical analysis device.

[Summary of the Invention] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an automatic chemical analyzer according to the present invention has a reaction cell based on photometric data of individual reaction cells obtained by direct photometry by injecting pure water into a plurality of reaction cells. In an automatic chemical analysis device capable of verifying the suitability of the above, a verification unit that determines whether or not the photometric data of pure water in each reaction cell is within an allowable range, and a storage unit that stores the determination information by the verification unit. And a control unit for controlling the reaction cell to selectively use it for chemical analysis of the sample based on the determination information stored in the storage unit.

[Examples of the Invention] Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of the apparatus of the embodiment, in which 1 is an automatic chemical analysis unit and 2 is an analysis data processing unit.

The automatic chemical analysis unit 1 supports a large number of reaction cells 4 in a circular shape, and is driven by a reaction disk drive unit 55 controlled by the CPU 50 of the analysis data processing unit 2 described later to make one reaction in the direction of arrow A in FIG. A reaction disk 3 which rotates intermittently at cell intervals and a large number of sample containers 6 containing various kinds of samples are circularly supported and driven by the reaction disk drive unit 55 to be similar to the reaction disk 3 in the direction of arrow A in FIG. Rotating sample disk 5, pure water bottle 7 filled with pure water, pure water supply pump 8 controlled by CPU 50
And a pure water injecting section 10 having a pure water injecting nozzle 9 for injecting pure water into each of the reaction cells 4, a reagent bottle 11 filled with a reagent, and a reagent pump 12 controlled by the CPU 50.
And a reagent injection unit 14 having a reagent injection nozzle 13 for injecting a reagent into each of the reaction cells 4, and moving between the sample container 6 on the sample disk 5 and the reaction cell 4 on the reaction disk 3 under the control of the CPU 50. Sampling section 17 having a sampling nozzle 15 and a sampling pump 16 for sucking and discharging a sample, and the reaction cell 4
20. A photometric system 20 having a light source lamp 18 and an altimeter 19 arranged across the movement path of
And a cleaning / drying unit 23 having a cleaning syringe 21 and a nozzle 22 controlled by the CPU 50 for cleaning and drying the reaction cell 4, and a reaction discharge means for discharging the reaction liquid in the reaction cell 4 (see FIG. (Not shown) and a stirring unit 24 for stirring the reaction liquid in the reaction cell.

Here, the reaction disk 3 will be described in more detail.
Now, when the 48 reaction cells 4 as shown in FIG. 2 are at the positions shown in FIG. 2, the positions of the reaction cells 4 are represented by P _{1 to} P ₄₈ , the sample dispensing position is P ₁ , and the sample dispensing is position _{P 2,} the pure water supply position P _18, the stirring position P _18, the photometric position P _{22, P 3 6} the reaction fluid discharge position, the cleaning and drying position _{P 3} 7 _{~P 4 0}
, Respectively.

The reaction disk drive unit 55 is controlled by the CPU 50, drives the reaction disk 3 and the sampling disk 5, and outputs a signal (reaction cell number) corresponding to a specific reaction cell 4 on the reaction disk 3, which will be described later. The data is sent to the pure water value verification unit 36 of No. 2.

When each reaction cell 4 is located at the position shown in FIG. 2, this position is referred to as a "home position". Then, the CPU 50 can recognize the home position of each reaction cell 4 and the rotational position thereafter.

As shown in FIG. 3, the photometric system 20 is arranged such that the optical path from the light source lamp 18 to the photometer 19 passes through the reaction cell 4 at the photometric position P ₂₂ . Then, the photometer 19 is a diffraction grating 2 that receives the light from the light source lamp 18.
5, a slit 26 that allows the diffracted light from the diffraction grating 25 to pass therethrough, and a detector 27 that receives the diffracted light that has passed through the slit 26, converts the diffracted light into an electric signal, and sends the electric signal as photometric data of the reaction cell 4. .

Next, the analysis data processing unit 2 will be described in detail.

The analysis data processing unit 2 converts the photometric data from the photometric system 20 into an analog / digital signal as shown in FIG.
A D converter 31 and a data capturing section 32 that captures the photometric data converted into a digital signal and sends it out,
A cumulative data calculation control unit 33 that calculates and stores the cumulative number, cumulative value, and cumulative average of individual photometric data based on the photometric data, and also initializes these cumulative data.
And the cumulative average and photometric data and the reaction cell number representing the specific reaction cell 4 from the reaction disk drive unit 55 are input, and based on these data, the photometric data and cumulative average of the specific reaction cell 4 are input. Deviation calculator 34 for calculating the deviation of
And a determination unit 35 that determines whether or not this deviation is within a preset allowable value range and sends determination information indicating that the deviation is good if the deviation is within the allowable range and defective if the deviation is outside the allowable range. As a storage means for storing the judgment information from the water value verification unit 36 and the judgment unit 35 as a binarized signal such as good = 0 and bad ≠ 0 for each reaction cell as shown in FIG. Reaction cell determination table 37 and this reaction cell determination table 3
7. Only the reaction cell number determined to be good from 7 is selected, and based on this, the reagent injection unit 14, the sampling unit 17, the reaction disk drive unit 55, and the dispensing / photometry control unit 47 for controlling the photometry system 20; The printer 46 is a display means for displaying photometric data, determination information, and the like.

The cumulative data calculation control unit 33, as shown in FIG.
A cumulative table 38, which is a memory for storing the cumulative number and cumulative value of each reaction cell 4, the photometric data from the data capturing section 32, and the cumulative number of the corresponding reaction cells 4 read from the cumulative table 38 are input. , The cumulative number is the initial value (=
If it is 0), the input photometric data is written as the cumulative value of the corresponding reaction cell 4 in the cumulative table 38, and the cumulative number is set to 1, and the photometric data is cumulative for each reaction cell 4 from the cumulative table 38. The number of times and the cumulative value are read out and subjected to division processing to obtain a cumulative average, which is sent to the deviation calculating section 34. The cumulative average calculating section 40 and the photometric data from the determining section 35 are input, and the cumulative table 38 is based on the photometric data. Of the reaction cell 4 corresponding to each of the reaction cells 4, and an initialization unit 42 for initializing the cumulative number of times and the accumulated value of each reaction cell 4 of the accumulation table 38. It is configured.

As shown in FIG. 1, the analysis data processing unit 2 includes an operation panel 43 and an interface 44 that is in charge of signal transmission between the components, and includes the initial accumulation unit 39, the cumulative average calculation unit 40, and the cumulative operation unit. 41, the initialization unit 42, the pure water value verification unit 36, and the dispensing / photometry control unit 47 are included in the CPU 50.

Next, the operation of the embodiment apparatus having the above-described structure is shown in FIG. 7 which is a flow chart showing the processing steps of the apparatus as a whole and the difference in 100% T value between the normal reaction cell 4 and the dirty reaction cell 4 shown in FIG. The description will be made with reference to the graphs shown. The wavelength of the light emitted from the light source lamp 18 is λ, the 100% T value of the normal reaction cell 4 at this time is T ₀ , and the 100% T value of the contaminated reaction cell 4 is T ₁ .

Further, it is assumed that pure water has already been injected by the pure water injection unit 10 into the reaction cell 4 located at the photometric position P ₂₂ in the home position shown in FIG.

The light source lamp 18 of the photometric system 20 measures the light of wavelength λ at the photometric position P.
Emit to reaction cell 4 at ₂₂ .

This light passes through the reaction cell 4 and the pure water in it and is transmitted through the photometer 1
The light is diffracted by the diffraction grating 25 of No. 9 and is detected by the detector 27 through the slit 26. At this time, if the reaction cell 4 is dirty, the 100% T value detected by the detector 27 is T.
_It becomes ₁ , and this value is used as the photometric data in the A / D converter 31.
To enter. On the other hand, when the reaction cell 4 is not dirty, the 100% T value at that time becomes T ₀ , and this value is input to the A / D converter 31 as photometric data.

The A / D converter 31 converts the input photometric data into a digital signal and sends it to the first accumulating section 39 via the data capturing section 32.

The first-time accumulating unit 39 reads the cumulative number of the reaction cells 4 corresponding to the input photometric data from the cumulative table 38. If the cumulative number is an initial value, the photometric data is written in the cumulative table 38 and the cumulative number is set to 1. To do.

On the other hand, when the cumulative number read from the cumulative table 38 is not the initial value, the first cumulative unit 39 sends the photometric data to the deviation calculator 34.

In parallel with the operation of the initial accumulating unit 39, the cumulative average calculating unit 4
0 reads out the cumulative number of times and the cumulative value of the reaction cell 4 corresponding to the photometric data from the cumulative table 39, executes the cumulative value / the cumulative number of times to calculate the cumulative average, and calculates the value as the deviation calculating unit 34.
Send to.

The deviation calculator 34 calculates the deviation between the photometric data and the cumulative average based on the reaction cell number from the reaction cell driver 55, and sends the photometric data and the calculated deviation to the determiner 35. The determination unit 35 determines whether the deviation is within a preset predetermined range (for example, within 5 mAbs) based on the input deviation and the photometric data. If the deviation is within this range, the photometric data is accumulated in the operation unit 41. To the reaction cell determination table 3 which is sent to the reaction cell determination table 3 to update the accumulated value and the number of times of the corresponding reaction cells 4 in the accumulation table 38 and to show that the determination result is good.
Send to 7.

On the other hand, when the determination unit 35 determines that the deviation is out of the allowable range or the photometric data is determined to be erroneous data or no data (zero value), the reaction cell information corresponding to the photometric data, For example, the reaction cell number is sent to the printer 36 to be printed out, and the reaction cell determination table 37 stores the determination information indicating that it is defective. In this case, the photometric data is not sent from the determination unit 35 to the cumulative operation unit 41, and the cumulative table 38 is not updated.

The dispensing / photometry control unit 47 calls the number of the reaction cell at the sample dispensing position P ₁ and calls a signal indicating whether the reaction cell is good or bad from the judgment table 37, and judges that the reaction cell is good. Each part is controlled so that the sample dispensing is performed using only the reaction cell 4 thus prepared. At this time,
The sampling unit 17 controlled by the photometric control unit 47 operates, and the sample is dispensed to the reaction cell 4 at the sample dispensing position P ₁ .

Next, the reaction cell 4 into which the sample has been dispensed is sent to the sample dispensing position P ₂ in the same order as the above-described operation, and the reagent is injected by the reagent injecting section 14 there.

Then, the dispensing / photometry control unit 47 is operated by the reaction disk drive unit 5.
5, the reaction cell 4 into which the sample and the reagent have been injected is stirred by the stirring unit 24 and then rotationally moved to the photometric position P ₂₂ , and the photometric system 20 is controlled to measure the photometry of the reaction cell 4 at the photometric position P _22. Do.

It should be noted that 10 parts of pure water for the specific reaction cell 4 described above is used.
In the course of the measurement of the 0% T values up to dispensing of the sample, the reaction cell 4 filled with pure water once the cleaning and drying position P _{3 7} to P _{4 0} to sent the release of pure water, drying It goes without saying that it will take place.

In the above process, if the reaction cell to be inspected by the dispensing / photometry control unit 47 corresponds to a defect in the determination table 37, the dispensing / photometry control is not performed and the next reaction cell is provided to the inspection target. It is moved intermittently and is repeated until a good reaction cell arrives.

Thus, according to the apparatus of this embodiment, the pure water verification unit 36
Since the sample and reagent are automatically injected and provided for the measurement only in the reaction cell 4 determined to have no adverse effect on the measurement in 100, the verification of the 100% T value itself becomes unnecessary, and the maintenance of the device is not required. And the operation can be facilitated, and the reliability of the photometric data can be improved.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist thereof.

For example, the cumulative number of times sequentially written in the cumulative table, the cumulative value, the cumulative average value calculated by the cumulative average calculation unit, the deviation value calculated by the deviation calculation unit, and the determination result by the determination unit are associated with each reaction cell. It can also be displayed on the screen of a display means such as a CRT and easily.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention described in detail above, the measurement of a sample is performed using only the reaction cell determined to have no factor that adversely affects the measurement of the sample. It is not necessary for an operator to verify the transmitted light amount itself, and it is possible to provide an automatic chemical analyzer of the direct photometric system which is easy to maintain and has excellent operability and measurement data reliability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a state of a home position of a reaction disk in the apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a photometric system and an analytical data processing unit of the apparatus. Explanatory diagram, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an analysis data processing unit of the apparatus, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a cumulative table of the apparatus, and FIG. 6 is a reaction cell judgment table of the apparatus. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the apparatus, and FIG. 8 is a graph showing 100% T values of a normal reaction cell and a dirty reaction cell. 1 ... Automatic chemical analysis unit, 2 ... Analysis data processing unit, 4 ... Reaction cell, 20 ... Photometric system, 33 ... Cumulative data calculation control unit, 36 ... Pure water value verification unit, 37 ... Reaction Cell judgment table, 47 ... Dispensing / photometry control unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic chemical analyzer capable of verifying the adequacy of a reaction cell based on photometric data of individual reaction cells obtained by injecting pure water into a plurality of reaction cells and by direct photometry.
A verification unit that determines whether or not the photometric data of pure water in each reaction cell is within an allowable range, a storage unit that stores the determination information by the verification unit, and the determination information stored in the storage unit. And a control unit for controlling the reaction cell to selectively provide for chemical analysis of the sample.