JPH04104058A - Test-tube sorting and conveying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve high speed for sorting and conveying test tubes and to improve processing capability per unit time by providing a feed-screw conveying means having screw-shaped feeding screws and a plurality of sorting and conveying parts which are aligned in the direction of a line. CONSTITUTION:Each hand part 32 of a sorting and conveying means 30 grips and lifts up a respective independent test tube from a takeoff rack 72. The gripped test tube is sorted and conveyed to a feeding unit 42 for the sorting item which is specified for the test tube. When the place to which each hand part 32 is sent is the same place, a feed screw 44 holds the test tube at the root part at the side of the screw blade. The test tube is conveyed by the turning motion. In this constitution, the test tube can be conveyed to the specified position with the feed screw 44 even if the test tube is received at any test-tube receiving position of a line feeding unit 42. Therefore, the number of the test tubes per unit time for sorting and conveying can by improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a test tube sorting and conveying device for sorting test tubes containing test samples according to the samples.

[Prior art] Blood, etc. collected from the human body is collected and dispensed for various tests and
Testing devices that perform analysis are known and are widely used in medical research facilities, clinical testing centers, and the like.

Incidentally, in recent years, with the progress and development of medical science, there has been a demand for automated testing equipment that can process a wide variety of tests and analyzes in large quantities at high speed.

Therefore, in such an inspection apparatus, there is a need for an apparatus that can not only shorten the inspection time but also perform the pre-stage sorting and dispensing of inspection samples at high speed.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a conventional test tube sorting and conveying apparatus for sorting and conveying test tubes used in the above-mentioned inspection apparatus and the like.

In the figure, a plurality of racks 10 are placed on a rack transfer table, with their test tube alignment directions parallel to each other.

Here, the number of racks 10 in the X direction is determined according to the number of sorting required in the next processing step.

A transport means 12 for sorting and transporting test tubes is provided above the rack 10 placed on the rack transfer stand.

This conveying means 12 is composed of a gripping part 14 that grips the test tube and a moving part 16 that moves the gripping part 14 in the X-axis direction.

The gripping section 14 is composed of a moving table 18 fixed to one side of a belt 17, which will be described later, and a plurality of hands 20 arranged on the moving table 8 so as to be vertically movable.

In this conventional example, the plurality of hands 20 are
Five test tubes are arranged in the X direction, and up to five test tubes can be conveyed at the same time when the gripping section 14 moves in the X direction.

The moving unit 16 is composed of a motor 22 and a pulley 24 that are arranged to face each other with the plurality of racks 10 in between, and a belt 17 that is stretched around these and moves in the X direction.

Next, the operation of the above conventional device will be explained.

Five test tubes containing the dispensed test sample are simultaneously picked up by the five hands 20.

Then, due to the rotational drive of the motor 22, the belt 17 is
It moves in the axial direction, and as a result, the gripping part 14 is moved in the X-axis direction.

The test tubes are then stored one by one in racks 10 corresponding to prespecified test items.

Therefore, in this conventional device, only one test tube is stored in each rack by one movement of the gripping section 14, and when there is a request to store two test tubes in the same rack, the gripping section 14 is moved. The request is processed by two round trips.

When each rack 10 stores test tubes, it is moved one pitch forward from its test tube storage position by the action of the rack transfer table, and is placed in a standby state for storing the next test tube. That is, in the rack 10, each test tube is stored in the rack 10 in order to smoothly perform sequential analysis in the next analysis step.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, the conventional apparatus has a problem in that it is only possible to sort and transport a large number of test tubes per unit time.

In other words, in the conventional apparatus described above, only one test tube can be stored in one rank at a time. It is necessary to move the grip part 14 back and forth the same number of times as the number of pieces, and as a result, the throughput per unit time has been reduced.

Here, in this conventional device, for example, the hand 20 is
Is it possible to arrange them in alignment in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction?In this case, the only option is to store them in the rack 10 as described above, which is an obstacle to improving the processing capacity. It had become.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide a test tube sorting and conveying device that can sort and convey test tubes at high speed and has improved throughput per unit time. It's about doing.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the test tube sorting device according to the present invention is equipped with a transporting device that transports test tubes in the row direction, or a row feeding unit that transports the test tubes in the row direction according to the number of items to be sorted. a plurality of row feeding means arranged in a row, the three row feeding unit including a feed screw conveying means having a screw-shaped feed screw that rotates with its axis facing the row direction, and a test tube that moves up and down. The sorting system includes a plurality of row conveyance sections for grasping test tubes with hands and conveying the test tubes in the row direction, and a plurality of row conveyance sections arranged in the column direction in accordance with each test tube receiving position of the column feeding unit. ,
A descending passage is formed at the forward end of each column feeding unit in the feeding direction to allow the test tubes fed by the feed screw to be lowered to the test tube rack stored and waiting under the UNISOTO, and the test tubes are sent to the test tube rack in the column direction. It is characterized by storing test tubes in a front-loaded manner.

[Operation] According to the above configuration, the feed screw conveying means is provided to store the test tubes in the test tube rack in a front-loaded manner. It can be transported regardless of the situation.

In other words, no matter which test tube receiving position of the row feeding unit corresponds to the sorting item, the test tube can be transported to the specified position by the feed screw, so the number of test tubes per unit time can be reduced. Sorting will improve the number of items transported.

Here, multiple test tubes can be conveyed to each column feeding unit at the same time, and sorting is always performed regardless of the distribution state of the number of test tubes received. Rapid sorting is carried out with a nearly constant amount of conveyance.

E implementation f! Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the test tube sorting and conveying apparatus according to the present invention. In comparison with the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 32 or Y-axis direction (column direction)
The second reason is that a feed screw conveying means 40 for feeding the test tubes in the Y direction is provided above the plurality of racks 10 placed on the rank transfer table. be.

First, the conveying means 30 for the sorting will be explained.

The sorting and conveying means 30 is composed of a plurality of hand sections 32 that are independently movable in the X-axis direction and a moving mechanism 34 that moves them.

The hand section 32 is composed of a hand 32a that grips a test tube, an air cylinder 32b that moves the hand 32a up and down, and a moving table 32C that supports these.

For sorting in this embodiment, ten hand units 32 are provided in the conveying means 30, and as described above, each of them is movable independently in the X direction.

The moving mechanism 34 includes a motor 36 and a pulley 3 which are arranged opposite to each other with a front self-feeding screw conveying means 40 interposed therebetween.
8, and three wires stretched across these wires to move the front hand portion 32 in the X-axis direction. These moving mechanisms 34 are arranged according to the number of the hand sections 32.

Next, the feed screw conveying means 40 will be explained.

The feed screw conveyance means 40 is composed of a plurality of feed units 42 arranged in the X direction according to the number of items to be sorted. In this embodiment, the feed screw conveying means 40 includes 50 feed units 42.

FIG. 2 shows a cross section of the feed unit 42 taken in the X direction, and FIG. 3 shows a cross section of the feed unit 42 taken in the Y direction.

In FIG. 2, a screw-shaped feeder 44 whose axis is oriented in the Y direction receives the test tubes conveyed from the conveying means 30 from above and conveys them in the Y direction.

Here, in this embodiment, the feed screws 44-1 and 44-44 are vertically arranged with their shafts facing toward the hand.
2, the test tube is held in the valley part on the side of the screw blade in each feed screw, and the test tube is pushed to the front of the screw blade by its rotational movement f'
Transporting test tubes for F.

In FIG. 3, a guide plate 46 erected on the base 41 is provided at a position opposite to the feed */44 1.44 two. This guide plate 46 cooperates with the feed screw 44 to support the test tube, and as shown in the figure,
The upper part is slightly curved in the opposite direction to the test tube insertion side, making it easy to insert test tubes. Note that the guide plate 46 preferably has a polished surface in order to reduce contact resistance with the test tube. Of course, this also applies to the feed screw 44, and by polishing the surface of the screw blade, it is possible to feed the test tube without damaging the test tube. Here, it is also preferable to uniformly adhere an elastic member for shock absorption to the surface of the screw blade of the feed screw 44.

In FIG. 2, a base 4 serving as the bottom wall of the feeding unit 42 is shown.
At the tip of No. 1 in the Y direction, that is, the tip of the test tube transfer, there is a passage U for dropping the sent test tube downward.
A letter-shaped notch 41a is formed. FIG. 4 shows the shape of the notch 41a in a perspective view.

In FIG. 2, a rack transfer table 5 on which a rack 10 is placed
0 is provided with a feed claw 52 for pitch-feeding the rack 10 in the Y direction. The feed pawl 52 is biased forward using, for example, a crank mechanism using an eccentric cam, and after the test tubes are stored in the rack 10, the rack 10 is pushed forward by the action of the feed pawl. The test tube is sent forward one pitch, and the next test tube is ready for storage.

In this embodiment, pitch feeding of the rack 10 was carried out using the feeding pawl 52 as described above, but the invention is not limited to this, and the rack transfer table 50 may be provided with a rail groove along the Y direction. A mechanism may be provided that lifts the rack with a rail floating from the rail groove and simultaneously transports it forward.

A distance sensor 54 is arranged at the front in the test tube transport direction. This distance sensor 54 detects the position of the test tube or the feed screw 44, and in this embodiment, a light reflection/reception type is used. 41a, the transport sorter (not shown) sends a predetermined detection signal to the control section.

In other words, if the test tube is not sent properly due to some kind of trouble, the distance sensor 54 can detect the trouble.

Next, the operation of the feeding unit 42 will be explained.

In FIG. 2, in step 101, the test tubes 8 are transported by the transport means 30, and the test tubes 8 are transported from above to one of the test tube receiving positions of the non-feeding/44, that is, the position of the valley of the screw blade. inserted. In this embodiment, there are ten test tube receiving positions.

Then, in step 102, the sending linens 441 and 44 are
-2 rotates synchronously and sends the test tube forward. Note that the rotation is controlled by a control section that controls this device.

When the test tube reaches the tip of the feeding unit 42, the distance sensor 54 confirms the presence of the test tube as described above, and at the same time, the test tube 8 is moved from the U-shaped notch 41a formed in the base 41. It falls downward (step 10B) and is further stored in the rack 10 through the insertion hole 10a formed in the upper part of the rack 10.

An opening 10b formed in the bottom surface of the rack 10 by the feed claw 52 or the rack transfer table 50 is pushed upward from below.
The rack 10 is engaged with the rack 10 and moved further forward to pitch the rack 10. Next, the feed claw 52 descends below the rack transfer table 50 and enters the next test tube standby state. Of course, in the rack 10, as a result of being pinch-fed by the feed claw 52, the test tube is placed in the waiting state t for storing the next test tube.

As described above, according to the feed screw 44, due to the action of the screw blades formed integrally with the shaft in a spiral manner,
It is possible to smoothly transport the test tubes, and since no mechanism is required to move the test tube itself in the Y direction, the test tube transport mechanism involved in column transport can be simplified.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of a drive mechanism 60 that drives the feed screw 44 described above.

In the figure, the power of a drive motor 62 driven by an AC power source is transmitted via a first heald 64. Here, transmission of the driving force to the feed screw 44 is controlled on and off by an intermittent clutch 66.

That is, if the feed screw 44 is rotating when inserting the test tube from above the feed screw 44, there is a risk of damaging the test tube, so in order to stop the feed screw when inserting the test tube, An intermittent clutch 66 is provided.

The intermittent clutch 66 is controlled by the above-mentioned control section, and its sorting operation is controlled in conjunction with the conveyance means 30, the feed claw 52, and the like.

Therefore, when the intermittent clutch 66 is ON, the power from the drive motor 62 is transmitted to the feed screw 441 via the first belt 64 and the second belt 65, and is transmitted to the feed screw 441 via the third belt 68. -2.

As a result, the feed screws 44-1 and 44-2 are rotated in synchronization with each other.

Here, a rotation detector 70 for detecting rotation of the feed screw 44 is provided at one end of the shaft of the feed screw 44-2. In other words, by detecting the rotational position of the feed screw 44, it is possible to always receive the test tube at the appropriate rotational position, and furthermore, if the heald etc. is damaged due to some kind of failure, it is possible to correct the failure. It can be easily detected and the control unit can handle the abnormality.

Next, referring again to FIG. 1, the overall operation of the test tube sorting and conveying apparatus according to the present invention will be explained.

In FIG. 1, a plurality of test tubes after being dispensed are held upright in a take-out rack 72.

For sorting, each node section 32 of the conveying means 30 independently picks up test tubes from the sorting rack 72.

Next, along with the operation of the motor 36, the /Xt section 32 transports the gripped test tube to the designated sorting item sending unit 42.

As described above, even if the conveyance destinations of the respective hunt parts 32 are the same, there is no problem in the apparatus according to the present invention, and the receivers can be easily transferred by the operation of the feed screw 44. A plurality of test tubes can be sent in the Y direction, and furthermore, they can always be stored in the rack 10 in a front-loaded manner.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the test tubes are stored in the rank 10, the rack 10 is sent one pitch forward (in the Y direction) by the action of the feed claw 52, and all the test tubes in the rack 10 are When the test tubes are stored, the rack transfer table 50
Through these operations, each rack 10 is transferred to the next analytical processing step.

In FIG. 1, the hand portion 32 passes the test tube to the feeding unit 42, returns to the take-out rack 72, and picks up the next test tube. Here, when the test tubes in the first row have been transported, for example, the test tubes in the second row are picked up and sorted and transported forward.

Here, since each hand section 32 can move independently in the X direction, the transport destination position is independent for each hunt section 32 and does not overlap, regardless of the operation of other hunt sections. Therefore, it is possible to transport test tubes quickly and sequentially.

Therefore, the transport time in each hand section 32 depends on the moving distance, and by setting frequently sorted items closer to the take-out rack 72, the transport time for sorting can be further shortened.

Thus, according to the device according to the present invention, the hunt section 32
All of the feeding units, that is, all of the sorting units, can transport the test tubes forward, and all of the feeding units, that is, all of the sorting units, can transport the test tubes independently. Highly efficient and rapid sorting and transportation can be carried out without being subject to regulations. Therefore, the number of lines processed per unit time can be significantly increased.

In addition, in the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 6, the number of pieces processed per unit time was approximately 1,500 pieces.
According to the device according to the present invention, this can be increased to 38 times per unit time.
It is possible to increase the number of pieces up to 2,000 pieces, eliminate unnecessary operation time related to sorting and conveyance, which was previously wasteful, and it is possible to build a high-throughput inspection and analysis device using this device by 14 times.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the test tube sorting according to the present invention is performed using a conveying device, in which the sorting device that conveys the test tubes in the row direction uses the conveying means, and the sorting device that receives the test tubes from the conveying means. Since the feed screw conveying means for picking up and feeding in the column direction is provided, the amount of test tubes sorted per unit time can be significantly increased.

In the feed screw conveying means, since the feed screw is used to feed in the column direction, the structure can be extremely simplified, and the reliability of the device can be improved, as well as being durable. It is possible to provide something durable and robust.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a transport device for sorting test tubes according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side sectional view of a feeding unit of a transport means for sorting, Fig. 3 is a sectional view from the front of the feeding unit, and Fig. 4 5 is a perspective view showing a U-shaped notch provided in the base, FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing a drive mechanism for a feed screw, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional device. 10 ... Rack 30 ... Sorting is carried out by means of transport 32 ... Hand section 40 ... Feed screw transport means 41 ... Base 41a ... U-shaped notch 42 ... Feeding unit

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A column feeding means in which a plurality of column feeding units for feeding test tubes in the column direction are arranged in a row in accordance with the number of sorting items, and each of the column feeding units has a column feeding unit that feeds the test tubes in the column direction. A feed screw transport means equipped with a screw-shaped feed screw that rotates with its axis directed; and a row transport section that grips a test tube with a test tube hand that moves up and down and transports the test tube in the row direction; a plurality of sorting and conveying means arranged in the column direction in accordance with each test tube receiving position of the unit, and a test tube fed by the feed screw at a tip end in the test tube feeding direction of each column feeding unit; A descending passage is formed for lowering the test tubes to the test tube racks stored and waiting below the unit, and the test tubes are stored in the test tube racks in the column direction by the feed screw conveying means. Sorting and conveying equipment.