JPH06308133A - Inspecting apparatus for specimen - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To highly efficiently inspect a specimen under different conditions of the incubation time in an automatic specimen inspecting apparatus which distributes a reagent to a container such as a tube or the like where a specimen, for instance, blood is distributed, repeatedly stirs/mixes the reagent and incubates the specimen, and then inspects the specimen according to an EIA method, an RIA method, a chemiluminescent measuring method, etc. CONSTITUTION:A tray feeding part 4, processing parts 9-11, an incubator 12 and measuring devices 14, 15 are arranged around the turntables 7, 13 as the core. A storing tray 6 accommodating many tubes 5 is sent from the tray feeding part 4 to the processing parts 9-11 or incubator 12 by utilizing the turntables 7, 13. Finally, the measuring devices 14, 15 are used to carry out measurements.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a specimen testing apparatus, in particular, a reagent is dispensed into a container such as a tube in which a specimen such as blood is dispensed, beads are supplied, and the mixture is stirred and mixed, followed by incubation, and B / F separation. The present invention relates to a sample inspection apparatus which performs a process necessary for inspection such as cleaning, and then performs an inspection by, for example, EIA method, RIA method, chemiluminescence measurement method, or the like.

[0002]

BACKGROUND ART The EIA method is an immunoassay method utilizing an antigen-antibody reaction, and is effective for early detection of abnormalities such as physical diseases and accurate analysis of diseases. Then, as an EIA automatic analyzer for automatically performing EIA measurement, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 62-62
-133355 and JP-A-62-133356. This EIA automatic analyzer holds a required number of reaction vessels in a loop by a rotary holder,
A sample dispensing device, a reagent dispensing device, a bead discarding device, a measuring device, etc. are arranged in the vicinity thereof, and the sample container held by the holder can be moved by a transfer device. Is capable of transferring one reaction container at a time.

Further, as an EIA automatic analyzer, a sample / reagent dispensing device, a bead feeding device, an incubator, a measuring unit, etc. are arranged around a rotary holder that holds a large number of reaction vessels in a loop, and a rotary holder is provided. There is also one in which a reaction container can be transferred in units of one unit to and from each of the devices arranged around it. Further, as an automatic chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay device, for example, a fully automatic chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay system Lumipulse 1200 manufactured by Fujirebio Co., Ltd. is known [“chemiluminescent immunoassay” (Life Co., Ltd.
Science issue) P27-30].

The outline of the apparatus is as follows. The reagent is made into a liquid cartridge, and the reagent cartridge is supplied to the conveyor one by one at a constant cycle, and the conveyor intermittently conveys at the same cycle. Various processing units are provided on the side of the conveyor to perform the necessary processing on the reagent cartridge on the conveyor as a prerequisite for the luminescence measurement.

A luminescence measuring device is arranged near the end of the conveyor, and chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay is performed by the luminescence measuring device on the sample in the reagent cartridge which has been processed by various processing units. It has become. The sample inspection apparatus supplies the samples one by one to the conveyor at regular intervals, and the samples are inspected one by one.

[0006]

However, in each of the above-described sample testing devices, it is difficult to increase the number of test samples per unit time because all the samples (reaction vessels) can be moved in units of one unit. There was a problem. That is, there is a limit in meeting the demand for a large number of inspections at the same time. In addition, it has been difficult or impossible to carry out tests with different conditions such as incubation time and temperature with a single device.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel sample testing apparatus capable of testing a sample under different conditions, particularly incubation conditions such as time and temperature, with extremely high efficiency.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sample inspection apparatus, comprising a tray supply section, a processing section, an incubator and a measuring apparatus so that trays can be moved in and out of a turntable. Is characterized by. According to another aspect of the sample testing apparatus of the present invention, a turntable is provided so that trays can move back and forth between a plurality of adjacent turntables, and a tray supply section, a processing section, an incubator and a measuring apparatus are provided between the turntable and the turntable. It is characterized by being provided so that trays can come and go.

According to a third aspect of the sample testing apparatus, a plurality of turntables are provided, and a plurality of incubators are provided together with a processing section or the like so that trays can come and go with these turntables. A sample testing apparatus according to a fourth aspect is the sample testing apparatus according to the third aspect, characterized in that incubation times and / or temperatures of a plurality of incubators are different from each other.

[0010]

According to the sample testing apparatus of claim 1, the sample is stored in the tray (through the sample storage container or directly).
It can be transported and processed in units of the number of samples that can be obtained, and the inspection efficiency can be greatly improved. That is, the tray supply unit supplies the tray to the turntable, and the turntable is rotated in such a direction that the tray can be supplied to the next processing unit.
Then, the tray can be subjected to the processing by sending it to the processing section. Then, the trays in each processing section can be sent to the processing section, incubator, or measuring device to be performed next by the function of the turntable, and the process of measuring can be different for each tray. In particular, the incubation time is the time difference between the time when the tray is put in from the turntable from the incubator and the time when the tray is pulled out from the incubator to the turntable.Therefore, the incubation time is made different for each tray. It is possible to set the trays not to be uniform but to be different for each tray.

According to the sample inspection apparatus of the second aspect, since a plurality of turntables are arranged adjacent to each other and trays can be delivered between the adjacent turntables, the number of processing units that can be delivered to and from the turntable can be increased. The trays that have been processed in each processing unit arranged around one turntable and further incubated in the incubator are moved to the adjacent turntable, and the processing unit, incubator, or measurement unit around this turntable is moved. It can be used for processing by the device, and it is possible to deal with inspection conditions with many processes leading to measurement.

According to the sample inspection apparatus of the third aspect, since not only the turntable but also the plurality of incubators are provided, it is possible to cope with the inspection condition in which the number of processes leading to the measurement is large, particularly the inspection condition in which the number of incubations is large. According to the sample inspection apparatus of the fourth aspect, since the incubation time and / or the incubation temperature of the plurality of incubators are different, it is possible to smoothly cope with the inspection condition having a plurality of incubations having significantly different incubation times or different incubation temperatures.

For example, when a tray having a short incubation time of 1 hour and an extremely long tray having a incubation time of 24 hours or 48 hours are incubated in the same incubator, a large number of trays having a short incubation time are transferred to the incubator first. When a tray with a long incubation time is placed after being placed, it is likely to be blocked by the tray with a long incubation time. However, according to the sample testing apparatus of the fourth aspect, the incubation times of a plurality of incubators are made different, and the incubator for a long time and the incubator for a short time can be provided, so that such an inconvenience can be avoided. Of course, by making the temperature of the incubator different, it is possible to deal with the inspection condition having a plurality of incubations having different incubation temperatures.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The sample testing apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the sample inspection device of the present invention. In the drawings, reference numeral 1 denotes a parent sample tube storage box in which a large number of tubes 2 containing a parent sample (for example, blood) 2 are stored in line. 3 is a dispenser,
The parent sample in each of the tubes 2, 2, ... Is dispensed into the assay tubes 5, 5 ,.

In the assay tube storage box 4, the assay tubes 5, 5, ... Are arranged in a state of being stored in a tray 6 as shown in FIG. Specifically, one tray 6 is formed so that ten assay tubes 5, 5, ... Can be aligned and arranged in a line, and a fixed number of trays 6, 6, for example, 20 can be provided.
Are arranged side by side in the box 4. Then, the tray 6 at the top is supplied to the turntable (7) described below, and the remaining trays 6, 6, ... Are sequentially conveyed to the top side.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a first turntable, which is rotatably provided, and o is its rotation center. The turntable 7 has a strip-shaped tray receiving area 8 extending in its diameter direction, and when the tray 6 is loaded from the tray supply section 4 in the longitudinal direction by a slide transfer mechanism (not shown), the tray receiving area 8 receives it. After the tray 6 is rotated so that the tray receiving area 8 faces a destination (a processing unit, an incubator, or another turntable for processing such as reagent dispensing described later), the tray 6 is delivered.

Further, the turntable 7 receives the tray 6 which has been subjected to processing such as reagent dispensing at a destination such as a processing unit and sends it to the next destination. As a matter of course, when the tray is received and sent, the turntable 7 is rotated so that the tray receiving area 8 faces the other party. 9
Is a processing unit that performs reagent dispensing, bead loading, mixing, etc.
10 is a processing unit that performs cleaning, reagent dispensing, mixing, etc.
Reference numeral 1 is a processing unit that performs cleaning, reagent dispensing, etc.
The trays 10 and 11 are provided so that the tray 6 can be transferred to and from the turntable 7.

The reagent dispensing in the processing units 10 to 11 is performed by rotating the turntable smaller than the turntable 7 while each tube 5 of the tray 6,
5, ... May be carried out by a mechanism in which one or a plurality of nozzles attached to the small turntable are used to perform sequential dispensing, and the same number of nozzles as the number of tubes 5 that can be stored in the tray 6 are used. It may be performed by a mechanism for simultaneously dispensing to all the tubes 5, 5, ... In the tray 6. In addition, beads loading nozzle is installed on the vertical slide shaft so that it can move up and down.
This nozzle may be operated by a mechanism for sequentially feeding beads into each of the tubes 5, 5, ... Or, all the tubes 5, 5 ,.
Alternatively, a mechanism for simultaneously adding beads may be used.

For mixing, for example, the tubes 5, 5, ... Are bound and fixed from above and below at the reagent dispensing / bead loading positions, and the bottom of the tubes 5 is displaced from the center of rotation of the rotating body rotated by the motor. It can be done by shaking at the place. Further, the washing can be performed, for example, by simultaneously injecting water from a plurality of nozzles provided corresponding to the tubes 5, 5, ... And sucking the water.

Reference numeral 12 denotes an incubator, which is an elevator-type closed thermostatic chamber having multiple stages (for example, 7 to 8 stages) of fan-shaped tables for accommodating a large number of trays 6 slid from the turntable 7, and an amplitude of 10 m at 200 γPM.
m has a shaking function and is kept at 37 ° C., for example. A second turntable 13 has exactly the same mechanism as the turntable (first turntable) 7, both turntables 7 and 13 are arranged close to each other, and the tray 6 can be transferred between them. ing. Therefore,
The tray 6 that has undergone various processing and incubation in the processing units 9 to 11 and the incubator 12 is transferred from the first turntable 7 to the second turntable 13.

Reference numeral 14 is a measuring device for performing the measurement by the RIA method. For example, all the assay tubes (10 tubes in this embodiment) 5, 5, ... (10 stations in this embodiment) The specimen is inspected by a method of collectively loading the gamma ray measuring wells and counting the gamma rays all at once. Reference numeral 15 is a measuring device for performing measurement by the EIA method. For example, all the tubes 5, 5, ... In the tray 6 are collectively loaded in a light-shielding well for measuring absorbance, and are composed of a light source and a photodetector which face each other with the tube 5 interposed therebetween. By moving the absorption measuring unit, the samples in the tubes 5, 5, ... Are sequentially measured so that the measurement is performed.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a tray recovery unit for recovering the empty tray 6 after the measurement, and the tray 6 from the turntable 13 is conveyed by a belt conveyor for reuse. Reference numeral 17 is a computer that controls and manages the entire sample testing apparatus.

Second turntable 1 in this embodiment
3 receives from the first turntable 7 the tray 6 which has undergone various treatments and incubations to be carried out before the measurement by the RIA method or the EIA method, and the measuring apparatus 14 or 15 receives the tubes 5, 5 in the tray 6; It plays the role of sending the empty tray 6 to the tray collecting section 16 by measuring the sample in the tube and discarding the tubes 5, 5 ,.

An example of the process up to the measurement of one tray 6 by the sample inspection apparatus will be described. The tray 7 transferred from the tray supply unit 4 to the turntable 7 is first subjected to processing such as reagent dispensing, bead loading, and mixing in the processing unit 9, is returned to the turntable 7 and is sent to the incubator 12, where the first It is the second incubation. First about this tray 6
If, for example, the incubation time for the first time is 1 hour, the tray 6 is pulled out from the incubator 12 to the turntable 7 after 1 hour, and the processing unit 10 performs processing such as cleaning.
Move to execute a series of processes required for each tray 6, 6, etc. such as successively receiving trays 6, 6, ... From the tray supply unit 4 and sending them to the processing unit 9 etc. and the incubator 12. . The computer 17 controls the sample inspection device such as the turntable 7 based on a predetermined program and data on all trays.

By the way, the tray 6 in which the first incubation for 1 hour is carried out by the incubator 12
Returning to the above, after one hour, it is sent to the processing unit 10 and undergoes processing such as cleaning there. Then, it is sent to the incubator 12 again and a second incubation (incubation time of 40 minutes, for example) is performed. After that, the washing reagent is dispensed in the processing unit 11 and then returned to the incubator 12 where a third incubation of, for example, 2 hours is performed. Then, when it is finished, the first turntable 7 sends the tray 6 to the second turntable 13, and the turntable 13 sends it to the measuring device 14 or 15. Then, the assay tubes 5, 5, ... In the tray 6 are subjected to a sample test by the RIA method or the EIA method, and then discarded.
On the other hand, the empty tray 6 has the second turntable 13
Sent from the tray to the tray recovery unit 16 for reuse.

The above-mentioned process is only for one tray 6, and the process is not necessarily the same for another tray 6. The other tray 6 can be measured by a completely different process. Regarding the incubation, for one tray 6, the first incubation was for 1 hour, the second incubation was for 40 minutes, and the third incubation was for 2 hours, while for the other tray 6, Even if the combination of the incubation times of the respective incubations is different depending on the tray 6, the first incubation is 10 minutes, the second incubation is 3 hours, and the third incubation is 1 hour and a half. .

Of course, only one incubator 12 can perform incubations with different incubation times many times. As described above, the fact that the process up to the measurement of each tray 6 can be freely set is a great advantage of the present sample testing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the second embodiment of the sample testing apparatus of the present invention. In this embodiment, a second incubator 18 is added to the first embodiment so that the tray 6 can be exchanged with the second turntable 13.
It is used as an incubator for (time to 20 hours), and the first incubator 12 provided so that the tray 6 can be exchanged with the first turntable 12 is short time (30 minutes to 2 hours). It was decided to use it as an incubator.

According to such a sample testing apparatus, it is possible to more effectively adapt to a sample having a large number of incubations and a long incubation time in the process from the sample dispensing to the measurement, and The order of the treatments for the trays 6, 6, ... Can be determined in consideration of the consistency of the incubation time management, and the downtime due to the long incubation can be reduced to improve the operation rate. In addition, two incubators 12, 18
The incubation temperature of the
It can also be carried out in a mode in which the temperature is 7 ° C. and the other temperature is 40 ° C., and it is possible to handle the case where there are two incubation temperatures.

FIG. 4 shows a modification of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 3. The difference from the second embodiment of the present sample operating device is that the parent sample tube storage box 1 and the dispenser are different. 3, the assay tube storage box 4 containing the already dispensed assay tubes is set in the device, and only one measuring device 14 (or 15) is provided. , There is no essential difference.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the third embodiment of the sample testing apparatus of the present invention. In this embodiment, the number of turntables is one and the number of incubators is also one, and the present invention can be carried out in this manner. It is suitable when there are few processes from sample dispensing to measurement.

Each of the above embodiments is merely an embodiment of the present invention. For example, the tubes 5 accommodated in one tray 6,
The number of 5, ... Does not necessarily have to be 10, and may be more or less, and the shape of the tray 6 is also shown in FIG.
The shape does not have to be as shown in, and various variations are possible.

For example, the plate may be provided with a large number (for example, 96) of sample storage holes for storing the samples in the vertical and horizontal directions as a tray to further improve the inspection efficiency. That is, it goes without saying that the tray itself may form a large number of containers equivalent to a large number of tubes, and a large number of specimens may be directly stored in the tray. Of course, the arrangement of the processing units 9 to 11, the incubators 12, 18, the turntables 7, 13 and the like need not be as in the embodiment.

[0034]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided the sample testing apparatus, wherein the tray supply section, the processing section, the incubator and the measuring apparatus are provided so that the tray can be moved in and out of the turntable. . Therefore, according to the sample testing apparatus of the first aspect, the processing can be performed in units of the number of samples that can be stored in the tray, and the testing efficiency can be made extremely high. That is, the tray can be supplied to the processing by supplying the tray to the turntable from the tray supply unit, rotating the turntable in the direction in which the tray can be supplied to the next processing unit, and sending it to the processing unit.

The trays in each processing unit can be sent to the next processing unit, incubator, or measuring device by the function of the turntable.
The process leading to the measurement can be different for each tray. In particular, the incubation time is the time difference between the time when the tray is put in from the turntable from the incubator and the time when the tray is pulled out from the incubator to the turntable. It is possible to set the trays not to be uniform but to be different for each tray.

According to a second aspect of the sample testing apparatus, a turntable is provided so that trays can move back and forth between a plurality of adjacent turntables, and the tray supply section, the processing section, the incubator and the measuring apparatus are used as the turntable. It is characterized in that it is provided so that trays can come and go between them. Therefore, according to the sample testing apparatus of claim 2, since a plurality of turntables are arranged adjacent to each other and trays can be transferred between the adjacent turntables, the number of processing units that can be transferred to and from the turntable can be increased. The trays that have been processed in each processing unit arranged around one turntable and further incubated in the incubator are transferred to the adjacent turntable, and the processing unit, incubator or measuring device around this turntable is moved to this turntable. Can be used for processing, and it is possible to meet inspection conditions with many processes leading to measurement.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a plurality of turntables, and a plurality of incubators are provided together with a processing section and the like so that trays can be moved in and out of the turntables. Therefore, according to the sample inspection apparatus of the third aspect, not only the turntable but also the plurality of incubators are provided, so that it is possible to cope with the inspection condition in which the number of processes leading to the measurement is large, particularly the inspection condition in which the number of incubations is large. A sample testing apparatus according to a fourth aspect is the sample testing apparatus according to the third aspect, characterized in that incubation times and / or temperatures of a plurality of incubators are different from each other.

Therefore, according to the sample inspection apparatus of the fourth aspect, since the incubation time and / or the incubation temperature of the plurality of incubators are different, it is possible to smoothly perform the inspection condition having a plurality of incubations having significantly different incubation times or different incubation temperatures. Can handle.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a first embodiment of a sample testing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a sample dispensing container and a tray.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a second embodiment of the sample testing device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a modification of the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a third embodiment of the sample inspection device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

4 Tray supply section (assay tube storage box) 5 Sample dispensing container (assay tube) 6 Tray 7 Turntable (first turntable) 9 Processing section 10 Processing section 11 Processing section 12 Incubator (first incubator, short time) 13) Turntable (second turntable) 14 Measuring device 15 Measuring device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI Technical display location G01N 35/00 B 7370-2J 35/06 K 7370-2J

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A turntable that receives a tray that stores a plurality of sample dispensing containers or that forms a plurality of sample dispensing containers and that rotates and discharges the tray, and a tray supply unit that supplies the trays to the turntable. One or a plurality of processing units that receive the supply of the tray from the turntable, process the samples stored in the tray, and return the tray to the turntable; and receive the supply of the tray from the turntable. And an incubator for incubating the sample stored therein and returning the tray to the turntable, and a measuring device for supplying the tray from the turntable and measuring the sample stored therein. A sample testing device comprising: 2. A plurality of adjacently arranged turntables that receive a tray for accommodating a plurality of sample dispensing containers or that form a plurality of sample dispensing containers and rotate and discharge the trays. A tray supply unit for supplying the tray to any one of them, and a plurality of processes for receiving the supply of the tray from the turntable, processing the sample stored therein, and returning the tray to the turntable. Part, an incubator that receives the tray supplied from any one of the turntables, incubates the sample stored in the tray, and returns the tray to the turntable, and one of the turntables And a measuring device for measuring the sample stored in the tray from the adjacent turntable. The specimen testing device characterized in that the tray can be transferred between the bulls. 3. A plurality of adjoining turntables, which accommodate a plurality of sample dispensing containers or receive a tray which constitutes a plurality of sample dispensing containers, rotate and discharge, and said turntable. A tray supply unit for supplying the tray to any one of them, and a plurality of processes for receiving the supply of the tray from the turntable, processing the sample stored therein, and returning the tray to the turntable. Section, a plurality of incubators that receive the supply of the tray from the turntable, incubate the sample stored in the tray, and return the tray to the turntable, and one of the turntables A measuring device for receiving the tray and measuring the sample stored in the tray. Sample testing device characterized in that the above tray can be transferred 4. The sample testing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of incubators have different incubating times and / or temperatures.