JP2001343310A - Liquid stirring method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method capable of sufficiently and easily stirring liquid. SOLUTION: In this stirring method of liquid, a part of the liquid 2 is once sucked from a liquid tank 1 that is opened upwardly and stores the liquid 2, through an opening part 1a, and the sucked liquid is delivered into the liquid tank through the opening part 1a. The delivery position of the liquid is horizontally shifted from a suction position. When the suction and the delivery of the liquid 2 are repeated for a plurality of times, the suction position and/or the delivery position are preferably shifted horizontally from the previous arrangement. The inner surfaces of the side walls of the liquid tank 1 are provided with gradient parts 1b becoming higher outwardly, and the liquid is preferably delivered toward the gradient parts 1b.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for stirring a liquid such as blood.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When testing a liquid sample such as blood, a sample in a sample tank is usually dispensed into a separate container for each test item using a dispensing apparatus having a nozzle, and each sample is tested. However, for accurate testing, the component concentration must be the same between each dispensed sample. Therefore, it is necessary to stir the sample in the sample tank before dispensing to make the component concentration uniform throughout the sample.

Conventionally, as a method for stirring a liquid sample such as blood, there is a method using a stirrer. However, preparing a dedicated device for stirring the sample or adding a dedicated function to the dispensing device increases the cost. Moreover,
In order to prevent contamination, it is necessary to add a function for washing the stirrer, so that the size of the apparatus is increased.

[0004] Therefore, a method utilizing a nozzle of a dispensing apparatus is often used for stirring the sample. In this method, first, a part of the sample in the sample tank is sucked by the nozzle and temporarily stored in a chip mounted on the tip of the nozzle. Next, the aspirated sample is discharged from the chip to the sample tank. Thereby, the sample is stirred.

[0005]

However, this method is inefficient, and the above-described suction and discharge of the sample must be repeated many times in order to sufficiently stir. Also, when the sample is blood, the components sink to the bottom,
The sample must be aspirated by inserting the nozzle deep into the sample. Therefore, the amount of the sample attached to the chip surface increases, and it takes time to wash the chip after stirring. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method capable of sufficiently and simply stirring a liquid.

[0006]

According to the liquid stirring method of the present invention, a part of the liquid is temporarily sucked from the opening, and the sucked liquid is sucked from the opening. In the method of stirring a liquid by discharging into a tank,
The liquid discharge position is shifted in the horizontal direction from the suction position.

In the method of the present invention, since the discharge position is shifted in the horizontal direction from the suction position, when the liquid is discharged, the liquid in the liquid tank flows upward at the suction position and conversely downward at the discharge position. Therefore, convection occurs inside the liquid,
The liquid is agitated by convection. That is, according to the method of the present invention, the liquid is efficiently stirred by the convection, and thus sufficient stirring can be simplified. Further, according to the method of the present invention, the liquid can be agitated only by preparing a liquid suction / discharge unit such as a nozzle, so that it is economical. Furthermore, in the method of the present invention, even if the liquid is a liquid in which components are likely to precipitate, such as blood, the precipitated component diffuses throughout the liquid by convection, so that the liquid does not need to be sucked from a deep place. Therefore, post-processing such as chip cleaning is easy.

In order to stir the liquid carefully, it is preferable to repeat the suction and discharge of the liquid a plurality of times. In this case, the n-th (n is a natural number of 2 or more) ejection position is set to n-1.
It is preferable to shift the discharge position in the horizontal direction from the second discharge position. As a result, the direction of the discharge position with respect to the suction position becomes n-th and n−1
Since it changes at the second time, the direction of the convection also changes, and therefore, the stirring can be performed more efficiently. Note that there is no particular limitation on how to shift the ejection position, for example,
It is preferable to shift the liquid tank between the left end and the right end alternately. Also,
The same effect can be obtained by shifting the suction position instead of or together with the discharge position. The means for changing the position may be manual or automatic control. Further, when discharging the liquid to the liquid tank, air may be supplied to the sucked liquid and discharged together with the air. Thereby, stirring may be efficiently performed.

The shape of the liquid tank is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include a cylindrical shape, a conical shape, a cubic shape and the like, and a round bottom or a flat bottom may be used. In particular, it is preferable to use a liquid tank provided with a slope that rises outward on the inner surface of the side wall, and discharge the liquid toward the slope of the liquid tank when discharging the liquid. In this method, a water flow along the inclined portion is generated near the side wall of the liquid tank by discharging the liquid. Since the slope is high in the outward direction, the water flow along it has an obliquely downward direction, that is, the liquid flows downward while approaching the suction position. Therefore, according to this method, a strong convection can be generated, and more efficient stirring can be performed. In this method, the inclined portion of the liquid tank is preferably provided at an appropriate height on the inner surface of the side wall. Further, the whole from the bottom to the opening may form an inclined portion. Further, if the inclined portion is raised outward, it may be linearly or curvedly high. Further, the suction and discharge of the liquid are not limited to the vertical direction, and may be performed in an oblique direction by tilting the container or the nozzle. In the present invention, the material of the liquid tank can be variously applied as long as it does not affect a specimen such as blood, and examples thereof include glass and plastic.

[0010]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The sample tank 1 used in the present embodiment has a cylindrical shape, and has an opening 1a at the top. The inner surface of the side wall of the sample tank 1 is a surface 1b that is inclined so as to be higher in the outward direction, and the inner space has an inverted conical shape. Further, a liquid specimen 2 is accommodated inside. In the method of the present embodiment, the specimen 2 is agitated as follows.

First, a nozzle 3 having a tip mounted on its tip
Prepare Then, as shown in FIG. 1A, the nozzle 3 is lowered from the opening 1a to the center of the sample tank 1, and the sample 2
Aspirate a part of it. Subsequently, as shown in (B), the nozzle 3 is moved above the liquid level, and further moved to the right. At this time, the sample 2 flows upward in the center of the sample tank 1 from which the sample has been aspirated. When the nozzle 3 is moved to the vicinity of the right end of the sample tank 1, the sucked sample is discharged toward the inclined surface 1b as shown in FIG. Discharge with air if necessary. Then, the sample 2 near the right end of the sample tank 1 flows downward while approaching the center along the inclined surface 1b. Since the sample 2 near the center is flowing upward,
Convection occurs inside the sample. As a result, the specimen 2 is stirred by the convection.

Next, the nozzle 3 is moved, and a part of the sample 2 is sucked again from the center of the sample tank 1 as shown in FIG. Then, after raising the nozzle 3 to the left as shown in (E), the sample is ejected near the left end as shown in (F). Discharge with air if necessary. Then, a convection in a direction opposite to the convection generated in the above (C) occurs, and the specimen 2 is stirred again by the convection. Further, when the above (A) to (F) are repeated several times, the component concentrations become uniform throughout the sample. When another sample is stirred, only the tip of the nozzle 3 is replaced and the same stirring is performed.

In the method of the present embodiment, the sample 2 can be agitated by using a dispensing device provided with the nozzle 3. Therefore, no special device or function for stirring is required, and the cost is not high. In the method of the present embodiment,
Since the convection is used, and the direction of the convection is different between the stage of FIG. 1C and the stage of FIG. 1F, the specimen 2 can be sufficiently and easily stirred. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, even if the components are settled at the bottom of the sample tank 1, they are pulled up by convection, so that when the sample 2 is aspirated, the nozzle 3
There is no need to lower deeply. Therefore, even when the sample 2 is blood, the amount of the sample attached to the chip of the nozzle 3 can be reduced, and the chip can be easily cleaned.

In the present embodiment, the ejection position of the specimen 2 is shifted left and right to generate convection in different directions. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the suction position may be shifted instead of the ejection position, or both may be shifted. Further, in order to minimize the amount of the sample adhering to the chip, it is preferable to increase the angle of the inclined surface 1b with respect to the bottom surface so as to lower the liquid level.

[0015]

According to the method of the present invention, the liquid can be efficiently stirred, and the treatment after the stirring becomes easy. Furthermore, the method of the present invention is economical because it can be stirred by the dispensing device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a liquid stirring method according to an embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 sample tank 1a opening, 1b inclined surface 2 sample 3 nozzle

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A liquid tank having an upper opening and containing a liquid,
A liquid stirring method in which a part of a liquid is once suctioned from an opening and the sucked liquid is discharged from the opening into a liquid tank, wherein a discharge position of the liquid is shifted in a horizontal direction from a suction position. Method. 2. The liquid stirring method according to claim 1, wherein the sucked liquid is discharged together with air. 3. The liquid stirring method according to claim 1, wherein the suction of the liquid and the discharge of the liquid are repeated a plurality of times. 4. The n-th discharge position (n is a natural number of 2 or more) is shifted horizontally from the (n-1) -th discharge position.
Liquid stirring method described in 1. 5. The n-th suction position (n is a natural number of 2 or more) is shifted in a horizontal direction from the (n-1) -th suction position.
Or the liquid stirring method according to 4. 6. The liquid tank according to claim 1, wherein an inclined portion which rises outward is provided on the inner surface of the side wall of the liquid tank, and the liquid is discharged toward the inclined portion.
The liquid stirring method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein 7. The liquid stirring method according to claim 1, wherein the liquid is blood.