JPH112593A - Excess liquid removing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable accurate measurement and test without contamination of preceding liquid at a low cost and without the need of maintenance by absorbing excess liquid by capillary phenomenon by use of a wire material provided in a gap between longitudinal lines taking an attitude of intersecting the longitudinal direction of a short piece body. SOLUTION: A test paper piece 1 is immersed in an urine tested body, and comes into contact with a spring 4 with excess urine adhering to the periphery of a reagent pad 1a. When the spring 4 is in contact with the longitudinal direction of the test paper piece 1, the wires 4a of the spring 4 intersect substantially rightangled to the longitudinal direction so that excess urine of the test paper piece 1 is absorbed in a gap between the wires 4a by capillary phenomenon. Further, the excess urine absorbed in a gap between the wires 4a of the spring 4 is sufficiently absorbed from the gap by an absorbing material 4b loaded in a hollow part of the spring 4. Finally, when a large quantity of excess urine of the absorbing material 4b is accumulated, the excess urine is dropped through a water feed plate connected to the lower part of the spring 4 to be guided to a storing case in the interior of a rack 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for removing excess liquid adhering to strip-shaped strips, and more particularly to an apparatus for removing an excessive sample adhering to a test paper for clinical examination. The present invention relates to a device for removing surplus liquid suitable for an apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, in a clinical test, a test paper which is immersed in a sample and exhibits a color reaction is optically measured, and the concentration of various components of the sample is automatically calculated based on the measurement result. Inspection machines are used.

[0003] This type of measurement / inspection machine has a transport mechanism for transporting a test paper to a measurement section and a device for optically measuring the test paper. As a mechanism, there is known a mechanism having a turntable having a groove on the surface on which a test paper is placed, or a mechanism for moving the test paper linearly along a rail.

On the other hand, in such a urinalysis measuring and testing machine, a test paper immersed in a sample is placed on a turntable or a rail and transported, thereby inevitably causing a transport mechanism and its surroundings. Since wastewater becomes dirty due to urine, an excess liquid removing device for removing excess urine adhering to the test paper has been conventionally proposed.

One of them is provided with a slit penetrating through the front and back surfaces of the turntable, and through this slit, a surplus liquid of a system for sucking surplus urine of test paper by a suction pump from a lower part of the turntable through a pipe. There is a removal device.

On the other hand, when the test paper is transported along the rail, the test paper is pushed out along the rail while being in contact with one long side along the longitudinal direction of the test paper, and is perpendicular to the long side. There is a surplus liquid removing apparatus having a groove plate in which a large number of grooves are formed on the surface over many rows. In such an excess liquid removing device, when the groove plate comes into contact with the test paper, the excess urine close to the groove on the surface of the groove plate is absorbed into the gap of the groove by capillary action, and the absorbed excess urine is It is configured to flow down along this gap.

[0007]

However, in the above-described conventionally proposed suction type excess liquid removing apparatus,
Built-in suction pump and tank to store excess urine,
Further, since the suction pump and the tank have to be connected by a pipe, the entire apparatus has a large and complicated structure, which increases the cost. In addition, since the operation of the suction pump and the clogging of the pipe must be regularly managed and maintained, complicated and troublesome maintenance is required.

On the other hand, in the groove plate type excess liquid removing apparatus, depending on the gap size of the groove formed in the groove plate, the viscosity of the urine, etc., it becomes difficult for the surplus urine to flow down along the groove and to be sufficiently removed from the groove. Sometimes the excess urine is not excluded,
In such a case, if the test papers are successively brought into contact with the groove plate by carrying out the measurement and inspection successively, the excess urine remaining in the grooves will flow back to the next test paper, and as a result Because of the so-called pre-liquid contamination, accurate measurement and inspection using test paper could not be performed.

Therefore, the present invention has been conceived in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and adopts a simple structure for removing excess liquid, thereby reducing costs and reducing complicated and troublesome maintenance. It is an object of the present invention to provide a surplus liquid removing apparatus which eliminates the necessity and eliminates pre-liquid contamination, thereby enabling accurate measurement and inspection using test paper.

[0010]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention takes the following technical means.

That is, the surplus liquid removing device according to the first aspect of the present invention is a surplus liquid removing device for removing excess liquid adhering to a strip-shaped short piece, and is in contact with the short piece along the longitudinal direction. In addition, it has a vertical line crossing the longitudinal direction thereof, and is provided with a wire that absorbs the excess liquid by capillary action in a gap between the vertical lines.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surplus liquid removing apparatus according to the first aspect,
It is characterized in that a transport press-contact means for pressing the short piece against the wire while moving the short piece is provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surplus liquid removing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the gap between the vertical lines of the wire is varied. It is characterized by having a variation means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surplus liquid removing apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the wire is formed of a coiled spring. Features.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surplus liquid removing apparatus according to the fourth aspect, wherein:
The column line gap changing means is characterized in that the spring is vibrated to change the column line gap.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surplus liquid removing apparatus according to the fourth or fifth aspect, wherein a suction material is loaded in a hollow portion of the spring. It is characterized by having.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surplus liquid removing apparatus according to any one of the fourth to sixth aspects, wherein the spring is provided in a longitudinal direction of the short piece. And a lower part of the spring is connected to a water supply plate for transmitting and dropping the excess liquid.

The surplus liquid removing device according to the invention described in claim 8 is the surplus liquid removing device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the wire is provided in a longitudinal direction of the short piece. Is characterized by being in contact with both sides of the long side along.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an excess liquid removing apparatus according to any one of the first to eighth aspects, wherein the short piece is a test for clinical examination. Paper, and the surplus liquid is a sample that is excessively attached to the test paper.

[0020] In the surplus liquid removing device according to the first aspect of the present invention in which the above technical means are adopted, for example, the conveying pressure contact means presses against the wire while moving the short piece. When the wire comes into contact with the short piece in the longitudinal direction, the excess liquid attached to the short piece by capillary action is absorbed in the gap between the vertical lines crossing the longitudinal direction. At this time, the excess liquid adheres to the adjacent line forming the gap between the column lines, and drops along the line below the wire. As a result, when the next short piece contacts the wire,
Excess liquid is removed from the contact portion of the wire.

Therefore, according to the surplus liquid removing device according to the first aspect, since a wire having a simple vertical line structure is employed to remove the surplus liquid adhering to the short pieces, the cost is reduced. Can be suppressed. In addition, since a simple mechanism based on the capillary phenomenon is used, there is no need to perform maintenance and management on items related to the removal of excess liquid, so there is no need for complicated and troublesome maintenance. In addition, the surplus liquid adheres to the adjacent line forming the gap between the column lines, and drops along the line without fail, so that the surplus liquid is reliably dropped below the wire.
When the next short piece contacts the wire, the surplus liquid is removed from the contact portion of the wire, so-called pre-liquid contamination due to the backflow of the surplus liquid is eliminated.

Further, in the surplus liquid removing device according to the second aspect, the conveying pressure contact means presses against the wire while moving the short piece. Then, the capillarity occurs in a state where the short piece and the wire are pressed against each other.

Therefore, according to the surplus liquid removing apparatus of the second aspect, the capillary phenomenon occurs when the short piece and the wire are pressed against each other, so that the contact between the short piece and the wire is reliably maintained. Capillary phenomenon proceeds smoothly.

Further, in the surplus liquid removing device according to the third aspect, when the surplus liquid is absorbed by the vertical line of the wire by capillary action, the vertical line gap changing means increases or decreases the vertical line gap. And fluctuate. As a result, the absorption of the excess liquid in the gap between the column lines is promoted, and the gap optimal for the capillary phenomenon is formed.

Therefore, according to the surplus liquid removing device of the third aspect, the column line gap changing means promotes the absorption of the surplus liquid by the column lines and forms an optimum gap for the capillary phenomenon. Therefore, it is possible to cope with the fluctuation factor of the capillary phenomenon due to the viscosity of the liquid, and it is possible to reliably remove the excess liquid attached to the short piece.

In the surplus liquid removing device according to the fourth aspect, the springs are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the short piece at regular intervals so as to intersect with the longitudinal direction. Will be done. That is, the element wires of the spring correspond to the above-mentioned column lines, and the interval between the element wires corresponds to the gap between the above-mentioned column lines. Then, the excess liquid adhering to the short piece by capillary action is absorbed in the interval between the wires. The absorbed excess liquid adheres to the above-mentioned element wire and drops along this element without fail.

Therefore, according to the surplus liquid removing device of the fourth aspect, since a spring having a simple winding structure is employed for removing the surplus liquid, the cost can be reduced and the cost can be reduced. There is no need for complicated and troublesome maintenance for removing the excess liquid. In addition, since the surplus liquid adheres to the element wire and drops along the wire without fail, so-called pre-liquid contamination due to the backflow of the surplus liquid is eliminated.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, when the excess liquid is absorbed by the element wire of the spring due to the capillary phenomenon, the vertical line gap changing means oscillates the spring so that the element is removed. The distance between the lines is increased or decreased. As a result, the absorption of the excess liquid in the gap between the strands is promoted, and the gap optimal for the capillary phenomenon is formed.

Therefore, according to the surplus liquid removing device according to the fifth aspect, the vertical line gap changing means promotes the absorption of the surplus liquid by the element wire of the spring and forms an optimum interval for the capillary phenomenon. In addition, it is possible to cope with the fluctuation factor of the capillary phenomenon due to the viscosity of the liquid and the like, and it is possible to reliably remove the excess liquid attached to the short piece.

In the excess liquid removing device according to the sixth aspect, when the excess liquid is absorbed by the gap between the strands of the spring due to capillary action, the absorbing material in the hollow portion sufficiently removes the excess liquid from the gap. Absorb. As a result, when the next short piece comes into contact with the spring, the excess liquid is removed from the interval between the strands of the spring.

Therefore, according to the surplus liquid removing device of the sixth aspect, since the surplus liquid is removed by the synergistic action of the capillary action and the absorbing material, the removal of the surplus liquid is further promoted.

In the surplus liquid removing device according to the seventh aspect, the surplus liquid is guided to the spring which is in contact with the long side along the longitudinal direction of the short piece. The excess liquid absorbed in the interval between the strands of the spring adheres to the strand and drops along the strand, and finally the excess liquid is connected to the lower part of the spring. It will fall below the spring along the water supply plate.

Therefore, according to the surplus liquid removing device of the seventh aspect, the surplus liquid absorbed by the spring is:
Since the liquid is guided below the spring by the water supply plate, it is possible to prevent the surplus liquid from remaining in the spring.

Further, in the excess liquid removing device according to the eighth aspect, the excess liquid is guided to the wire rod which is in contact with both long sides along the longitudinal direction of the short piece. The excess liquid absorbed in the gaps between the vertical lines of the wire is removed from both sides of the short piece along the vertical lines while adhering to the vertical lines.

Therefore, according to the surplus liquid removing device according to claim 8, since the surplus liquid is removed from both sides of the short piece, compared with the case where the surplus liquid is absorbed from one side of the short piece,
Its absorption efficiency can be improved.

Further, in the surplus liquid removing device according to the ninth aspect, the sample adhered to the test paper in the clinical test is removed as the surplus liquid.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, since the excess liquid removing device is used for removing the sample adhered to the test paper in a clinical test, such a test paper is used after being immersed in the sample. It can be suitably used in measurement inspection.

The fact that such excellent effects are obtained in the present invention will be more apparent from the embodiments described below.

[0039]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an excess liquid removing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the test paper shown in FIG. 1 in contact with a spring as viewed from above. It is. 1 and 2, the spring is partially omitted.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the excess liquid removing device includes a pair of two transport rails 2 supporting the lower surface of the test paper 1, and extrudes the test paper 1 along the transport rail 2 in FIG. The extruding mechanism 3 moves in the direction of the arrow, a coiled spring 4 in contact with the test paper 1, and a rack 5 for fixing the spring 4. Is built into the measurement inspection machine.

The test paper 1 is composed of strip-shaped strips, and a plurality of reagent pads 1a, which show a color reaction in response to a urine sample, are attached to predetermined positions on the surface thereof. The reflected light based on the color reaction of the test paper 1 is measured by a measurement / inspection machine. Before the measurement, the test paper 1 is immersed in the urine sample for a certain period of time, and the extra adhering urine is removed by the excess liquid removing device. Is done.

The transport rails 2 are built in the measurement and inspection machine in a posture extending horizontally with respect to the floor surface, and are fixed in parallel in a posture maintaining a space slightly shorter than the long side dimension of the test paper 1. I have. The test paper 1 is placed on the two transport rails 2 so as to extend in the longitudinal direction.

The extruding mechanism 3 contacts the extruding arm 3 a with one long side of the test paper 1 placed on the transport rail 2,
By moving the pushing arm 3a along the transport rail 2 in the direction of the arrow in the figure, the test paper 1
To the side. The pushing mechanism 3 itself is configured to slide by a moving mechanism (not shown).

The spring 4 is arranged close to the end of the transport rail 2 so as to contact one long side along the longitudinal direction of the test paper 1. Such a spring 4
Is formed by spirally winding an extra-fine wire 4a having excellent wettability with respect to a liquid. For example, the test paper having a wire diameter of 0.5 mm, a shaft diameter of 6 mm, and a length of the test paper It is formed of stainless steel in a shape slightly longer than one long side dimension. Then, the excess urine attached to the test paper 1 is absorbed by the capillarity in the interval between the wires 4a.

One end of the spring 4 is connected to a rack 5 described later.
And the other end of the spring 4 is fixed to the eccentric position of the rotating body 5b. When the rotating body 5b is rotated by the driving force of a motor (not shown) built in the rack 5, The spring 4 vibrates and fluctuates as the distance between the strands 4a increases or decreases. Both sides of the spring 4 close to the rotator 5b are guided by guide plates 5c protruding from the rack 5 and their swings are suppressed.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a section taken along line XX of FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 3, the spring 4 will be further described. An easy-to-absorb material 4b is loaded, and a lower part of the spring 4 is connected to a water feed plate 5d for transmitting and dropping excess urine sucked from the test paper 1. The water supply plate 5d is provided to guide excess urine to a storage case (not shown) inside the rack 5.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, when the test paper 1 is in contact with the spring 4, the test paper 1 is displaced slightly below the horizontal position of the axis of the spring 4 and comes into contact therewith.

The rack 5 can be detached from the measurement / inspection machine and can be washed with water. As shown in FIG. 1, the storage case for surplus urine contained in the rack 5 is provided with a handle 5e on a side surface thereof so that the case can be pulled out from the rack 5 body.

That is, the spring 4 has a vertical line in contact with the short piece along the longitudinal direction and crosses the longitudinal direction, and absorbs excess liquid by a capillary action in a gap between the vertical lines. Wire material has been realized.

The transport rail 2 and the pushing mechanism 3 are
A transport press-contact unit for pressing the wire against the wire while moving the short piece is realized.

The motor incorporated in the rotating body 5b and the rack 5 implements a vertical line gap changing means for changing the vertical line gap of the wire.

Next, the operation of the surplus liquid removing apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, when the test paper 1 immersed in the urine sample by the user is placed on the transport rail 2 so as to bridge the longitudinal direction, the pushing arm 3a of the pushing mechanism 3
The test paper 1 is moved toward the spring 4 along the transport rail 2 by being pushed out while being in contact with one long side of the test paper 1.

Subsequently, when the test paper 1 comes into contact with the spring 4, the pushing arm 3 a of the pushing mechanism 3 keeps pushing out the test paper 1, and the test paper 1 is pressed against the spring 4. Becomes

Here, since the test paper 1 has been immersed in the urine sample in advance, the test paper 1 comes into contact with the spring 4 in a state where excess surplus urine adheres around the reagent pad 1a.

When the spring 4 comes into contact with the test paper 1 along the longitudinal direction, the wires 4a of the spring 4 intersect at a substantially right angle to the longitudinal direction, and the capillary is inserted into the space between the wires 4a. The surplus urine attached to the test paper 1 is absorbed by the phenomenon.

FIG. 4 shows that the test paper 1 is a spring 4
FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway cross-sectional view of the state in contact with the test piece 1 as enlarged from above. As shown in FIG. 5, surplus urine adhering to the test paper 1 is adjacent to each other forming an interval between the element wires 4 a. It is absorbed while adhering to the element wire 4a. This depends on the surface tension of the liquid and the force caused by the wetting of the gap between the wires 4a, that is, the liquid wettability (adhesion) to the solid is greater than the surface tension of the liquid. This is a result caused by a so-called capillary phenomenon.

At the same time, the spring 4 is oscillating with the rotation of the rotating body 5b, and the interval between the wires 4a fluctuates as it becomes larger or smaller. As a result, an optimal interval for the occurrence of capillary action is formed in the spring 4, and the absorption of excess urine in the interval between the springs 4 is promoted.

Further, excess urine absorbed in the space between the wires 4 of the spring 4 is sufficiently sucked from the space by the suction material 4b loaded in the hollow portion of the spring 4. As a result, when the next test paper 1 comes into contact with the spring 4, excess urine is removed from the interval between the wires 4a of the spring 4.

Finally, when a large amount of surplus urine sucked up by the suction material 4b accumulates, the surplus urine drops along the water feed plate 5d connected to the lower part of the spring 4 and drops on the water feed plate 5d. The liquid is guided to a storage case provided inside the rack 5 through the storage case.

When cleaning such an excess liquid removing apparatus, the rack 5 is removed from the measuring and inspecting machine, and the storage case is pulled out to discharge the excess urine accumulated therein. After removing the spring 4 from the rack 5, the rack 5
The body may be washed and replaced with a spring 4 loaded with a new blotting material 4b, or only the blotting material 4b may be replaced.

As will be understood from the above description, the surplus liquid removing apparatus having the above-described configuration and operation has the following effects.

Since the spring 4 having a simple winding structure is used to remove the excess urine attached to the test paper 1, the cost can be reduced.

Since a simple mechanism based on the capillary phenomenon is used, it is only necessary to remove the rack 5 and wash it with water, and there is no need to perform special maintenance management, so that there is no need for complicated and troublesome maintenance. .

The surplus urine is sufficiently absorbed by the blotting material 4b while adhering to the adjacent wires 4a forming the space between the wires 4a, so that when the next test paper 1 comes into contact with the spring 4, Since the excess urine is removed from the contact portion of the spring 4, so-called pre-liquid contamination due to the backflow of the excess urine is eliminated.

The spring 4 oscillating with the rotation of the rotating body 5b promotes the absorption of excess urine in the space between the wires 4a and forms an optimum space for the occurrence of the capillary phenomenon. Therefore, it is possible to cope with a variation factor of the capillary phenomenon due to the viscosity of the test paper 1, and it is possible to reliably remove excess urine attached to the test paper 1.

Since the excess urine is removed by the synergistic action of the capillary action and the absorbing material 4b, the removal of the excess urine is further promoted.

The excess urine absorbed by the spring 4
Since the water is supplied to the storage case provided inside the rack 5 by the water supply plate 5d, it is possible to prevent excess urine from remaining in the spring 4.

In this embodiment, the surplus liquid removing device is applied to the test paper 1 for urine test.
The present invention is not particularly limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to a short piece immersed in a specimen in another clinical test.

A spring 4 is provided on one side of the long side of the test paper 1.
However, as another embodiment, the pushing mechanism 3 may be constituted by a spring, and the test paper 1 may be pushed out while the spring is in contact with the pushing mechanism 3. In this case, since the excess urine is removed from both long sides of the test paper 1 by capillary action, the absorption efficiency can be improved as compared with the case where the excess urine is removed from one side of the test paper 1. it can.

On the other hand, as another embodiment, two structures composed of the spring 4 and the rack 5 are installed, and the interval between the springs 4 is slightly shorter than the short side of the test paper 1. It may be. In such a configuration, by placing the test paper 1 at an interval between the two springs 4, excess urine is removed from both long sides of the test paper 1, and the same effect as described above can be obtained.

In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, another spring 6 for transmitting surplus urine is connected to the lower part of the spring 4 in place of the water feed plate 5d. It may be vibrated in conjunction with. In this case, the excess urine absorbed by the spring 4 is forcibly guided to the storage case provided inside the rack 5 by the vibrating spring 6, and the residual urine in the spring 4 is further prevented. Therefore, so-called pre-solution contamination is further reduced.

Further, as another embodiment, a water supply plate 5d
Alternatively, a suction material 7 different from the suction material 4b loaded in the hollow portion of the spring 4 may be connected to the lower portion of the spring 4 as shown in FIG. In this case, the surplus urine absorbed by the spring 4 is also sucked by this other sucking material 7. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the surplus urine from remaining on the spring 4 even with another blotting member 7 connected to the spring 4.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a surplus liquid removing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the test paper shown in FIG. 1 in contact with a spring as viewed from above.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a section taken along line XX of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a partially cut-away cross-sectional view of a state in which a test paper is in contact with a spring, which is enlarged from above.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the surplus liquid removing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the excess liquid removing device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Test paper 2 Transport rail 3 Extrusion mechanism 4 Spring 4a Element wire 4b Suction material 5 Rack 5b Rotating body 5d Water feed plate

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A surplus liquid removing device for removing surplus liquid adhering to a strip-shaped strip, comprising: a vertical line having a posture in contact with the strip in a longitudinal direction and crossing the longitudinal direction. And a wire rod for absorbing the surplus liquid by capillary action in the gap between the vertical lines. 2. The excess liquid removing device according to claim 1, further comprising a transport press-contact unit that presses the short piece while moving the short piece. 3. The excess liquid removing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a vertical line gap changing unit that changes a vertical line gap of the wire. 4. The excess liquid removing device according to claim 1, wherein the wire is formed of a coiled spring. 5. The excess liquid removing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said column line gap changing means changes the gap between said column lines by vibrating said spring. 6. The excess liquid removing device according to claim 4, wherein the hollow portion of the spring is loaded with a blotting material. 7. The spring according to claim 1, wherein the spring is in contact with a long side of the short piece along the longitudinal direction, and a water supply plate for transmitting and dropping the surplus liquid is connected to a lower portion of the spring. An excess liquid removing device according to any one of claims 4 to 6. 8. The excess liquid removing device according to claim 1, wherein the wire is in contact with both long sides along the longitudinal direction of the short piece. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the short piece is a test paper for a clinical test, and the surplus liquid is a sample extraly attached to the test paper. An excess liquid removing device according to any one of the above.