JPH0780355A - Method and apparatus for automatic centrifuge - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To reduce the dummy insertion and recovery time required to balance the weight of diagonal buckets mounted on the rotor of an automatic centrifuge. According to the automatic centrifugation method of the present invention, a sample rack 2 holding a sample tube containing a sample is stored in a rack stocker 3, the weight of the sample rack is measured, and the measured value is stored in a memory. Using the weight data, the computer 4 automatically selects two racks or two groups of racks with a well-balanced weight, automatically takes them out from the stocker, and puts them in buckets 6 diagonally of the rotor 5, respectively. insert. In this way, racks are inserted into all necessary buckets and centrifugation is performed. Combine with a dummy rack only if the racks cannot be combined within the allowable weight difference.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic centrifugal separation method and apparatus, and more particularly to setting a weight balance of buckets diagonally arranged on a rotor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a sample is separated and processed by a centrifuge, it is rotated at a high speed, so that a pair of sample containers (also called sample tubes) placed in a bucket at a position diagonal to the drive shaft of a motor is used. The weight must be adjusted so that the weight difference is within the allowable value allowed for the centrifuge, and then the centrifugal processing is started.

In an automatic centrifuge, a robot hand is used to insert a rack into a bucket of the centrifuge. The racks supplied at this time usually do not have the same weight due to differences in the amount of samples, the type of sample container, the number of stored samples, and the like. Therefore, when centrifuging that rack, weigh the rack pair so that the weight difference is within the tolerance allowed by the centrifuge, and place it in a bucket that is diagonal to the motor drive shaft. The adjustment must be made before proceeding to centrifugation.

In the conventional automatic centrifuge, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-293047, when a rack containing sample containers is arranged in a bucket at a position diagonal to the drive shaft of a motor, When the rack is held by the robot's hand for insertion into the bucket, that is, immediately before the rack is loaded into the bucket, the weight of the rack becomes equal to or less than the weight difference allowed for the centrifuge. Weigh the rack with the weight sensor built into the hand and put it in the bucket. The weights of the racks put in at this time are added and stored, and if the difference in the weight of the racks placed in the buckets at a diagonal position to the rotor axis exceeds the specified unbalanced weight, the weight is put on the lighter bucket side. It is designed to be put in and adjusted to an unbalanced level.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]
The goal is to end the centrifugation process promptly, using as little human hands as possible, and saving unnecessary time. According to the conventional method, if the weight difference of the racks placed in the buckets at a position diagonal to the rotor rotation axis exceeds the specified unbalanced weight, put a weight on the lighter bucket side, and Since it is designed to be balanced, if there are differences in the weights of the racks, as many dummies as the number of pairs of buckets are required. Moreover, assuming that the difference in weight is large, there is a drawback in that many kinds of dummies must be prepared.

Further, since the dummy is inserted in the bucket,
Since the dummy has to be collected after the rack is taken out after the centrifugal processing is completed, there has been a problem that the processing takes extra time for the operation. Therefore, in order to shorten the time, it was necessary to omit or shorten the time for inserting and collecting the dummy used for adjusting the balance of the bucket.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] Since there are many racks containing sample tubes in the rack stocker, considering the combinations among them, pair combinations within the allowable weight difference without using balance adjustment weights. We focused on the fact that it is possible to make Generally, in the field where an automatic centrifuge is used, there are many racks containing supplied samples,
It is customary to temporarily store the rack containing the sample before inserting it into the rotor bucket. In the present invention, when stocked in the rack stocker,
The racks are temporarily stored in a stock location where the addresses are known in advance, and at the same time, the weight of each rack is measured and the data of the rack stocking position (address) and the rack weight are stored in a memory. On the other hand, for the bucket of the rotor into which the rack is inserted, the address of the position for receiving the rack is determined in advance and stored in the memory.

Both data are processed by a computer, and a combination of racks within the allowable weight difference that does not require the use of a dummy is prepared from the data of the stocked sample racks, and the position of the rotor bucket is set. It was decided whether to insert the sample rack, and the designated sample rack was taken out from the stocker by the hand of the robot and inserted into the designated position of the bucket of the centrifuge rotor.

[0009]

In the automatic centrifuge, since the number of centrifuges that can be centrifuged in one time is limited, it is necessary to temporarily store the rack containing the supplied sample. When the rack is inserted into the stock location or during the stock, the weight of the rack is measured, and the computer processes the position information in the stocker, the rack weight information, and the stored rack rack storage position information. By combining the racks with each other, it becomes possible to omit the balance adjustment for each pair of buckets due to the weight.

[0010]

1 is a perspective view of an automatic centrifuge according to the present invention.
2, an electrical block diagram is shown in FIG. 2, and control operation flowcharts are shown in FIGS. A centrifuge 1 is provided in the center of the right half of the apparatus housing, and a rack stocker 3 for temporarily storing a sample rack 2 holding sample tubes containing samples is horizontally provided in the left half of the apparatus. They are provided side by side. Below the rack stocker 3, a weight sensor 50 for measuring the weight of the sample rack 2 stored in the rack stocker 3 and a stocker position sensor 48 (FIGS. 10 and 11) are provided.

The storage address of the rack stocker 3 and the weight measured by the weight sensor 50 of the sample rack 2 stored at that address are stored in the RAM 82 in the control unit 4. RAM
The address (predetermined) of the position of the bucket 6 of the rotor 5 into which the rack is to be inserted is also stored in the table. A hand (also called a robot hand) for picking and separating the sample rack 2 at the rear end of the upper surface of the device housing 7
Is rotatably attached to the bottom surface of the vertical moving head 28. A hand opening / closing and rotating mechanism (for example, a motor) 28 a is provided in the vertical moving head 28 and controlled by the control unit 4. Hand 7 to centrifuge lid 1 of centrifuge 1
0 on one bucket 6 provided directly below the bucket window 12 provided at the rear end of the rack and one sample provided immediately below the stocker window 18 provided at the rear end of the rack stocker lid 16. A moving mechanism 20 that horizontally moves between the rack 2 and the rack 2 and moves the rack 2 in the vertical direction is provided at the rear end of the top surface of the housing.

The hand rotating mechanism is operated as needed when placing or picking up the sample rack 2 in the rack stocker 3 or the bucket 6 or the loading station 34 or the discharging station 62. The moving mechanism 20 includes a horizontal drive table 22 arranged at the rear end of the upper surface of the housing, a horizontal moving plate 24 movably mounted on the table 22 in the horizontal direction, and a horizontal moving plate 24 mounted vertically on the horizontal moving plate 24. And a vertical moving head 28 mounted on the front surface of the vertical driving table 26 so as to be vertically movable. A motor drive system is used for these moving mechanisms, for example.

The CPU 4a of the control unit 4 decodes and executes the system program stored in the ROM 80 to control each unit. The control unit 4 balances the weights of the diagonal buckets 6 based on the sample rack data (address and weight) stored in the built-in RAM and the rack position (address) information of the diagonal buckets into which the sample rack should be inserted. As described above, the sample rack of the rack stocker 3 is selected, and the operations of the stocker table 30, the moving mechanism 20, the hand opening / closing / rotating mechanism 28a, the hand 7 and the centrifuge 1 of the rack stocker 3 are controlled and selected. The sample rack 2 is stored in a predetermined position of a predetermined bucket.

As a method for balancing the weight of the buckets 6 on the diagonal of the rotor 5, two sample racks having almost the same weight within the allowable weight difference from the rack stocker 3 are selected and the buckets on the diagonal of the rotor 5 are selected. And the total weight of the number of sample racks accommodated in one bucket from the rack stocker 3 is within the tolerance. Select two groups of sample rack groups and set them in diagonal buckets. The method of mounting each set can be taken.

A dummy rack storage 32 is provided at a position adjacent to the centrifuge lid 10 at the rear end of the stocker lid 16 on the upper surface of the housing, and a plurality of types of dummy racks 33 (FIG. 16) having different weights are stored. . The rack storage position (address) information of the dummy rack storage 32 and the weight of the dummy rack 33 stored at that position are stored in the RAM of the control unit 4 in advance. When the two sample racks or sample rack groups within the allowable weight difference cannot be selected, the CPU of the control unit 4 replaces some of the sample racks based on the data of the dummy racks stored in the RAM. Then, the dummy rack 33 is selected, and two sets within the allowable weight difference are selected. As the dummy rack 33, one sample tube, two sample tubes,
... n types of sample racks each having a standard weight of the maximum number n (for example, n = 5) are used.

The sample racks having the same number of sample tubes contained therein often have a weight within a tolerance. Dummy rack 33
When there is only one sample rack with the same number of sample tubes that cannot be paired, there are two sample racks with the same number of tubes, but one is + 3σ and the other is the standard weight. Is -3 [sigma], and there are large variations in the opposite directions. When the maximum number of sample tubes that can be accommodated in the sample rack 2 is n = 5, five dummy racks 33 having different weights are stored in the dummy rack storage 32, for example, one dummy rack 33 each.

Each part of the automatic centrifuge will be further described in order. (1) Centrifuge Unit (FIGS. 1 and 17) The centrifuge 1 includes eight buckets 6 for storing the sample rack 2, a rotor 5 that holds the bucket 6 so that it can swing, and a rotor 5. Motor 5M for rotating
And a chamber 9 (FIG. 17) that provides a space in which the rotor 5 rotates. A centrifuge lid 10 is provided on the upper end of the chamber 9, and the centrifuge lid 10 is provided with a bucket window 12 through which the hand 7 inserts or ejects the sample rack 2 into the bucket 6. A slide lid 14 is attached to the window so that the window can be opened and closed by being slid to the left and right by the hand 7.
In order to reduce windage loss during rotation of the motor for performing centrifugal processing, the slide lid 1 is moved by the hand 7 under the control of the control unit 4.
It is designed to open and close 4. The centrifuge section can be removed from the automatic centrifuge for maintenance.

(2) Rotor 5 (FIGS. 6 and 17) The rotor 5 holds eight buckets 6 (FIG. 7) so that they can swing. The rotor 5 is composed of eight arms 5a, the center of which is the shaft 5 of the motor 5M of the centrifuge 1.
The rotor 5 is fixed to Ma and is rotated by the rotation of the motor. Then, the trunnion pin 5 for rotatably holding the bucket 6 is provided at the distal end of the arm 5a.
b is provided.

(3) Bucket 6 (FIG. 7) The bucket 6 is in the shape of a rectangular box with a bottom as shown in FIG. 7, and the central portions of the two long sides thereof extend upward, and the rotor is provided at that portion. 6a for passing trunnion pin 5b of
Is provided. When the sample rack 2 is inserted into the bucket 6 and the rotor 5 rotates, the bucket 6 swings almost vertically around the trunnion pin 5b due to centrifugal force,
Centrifugal force acts on the sample in the sample container. A partition plate 6b is provided on the inside of one bucket 6 so that two racks 2 can be housed therein.
Individual racks can be centrifuged. The partition plate 6b of the bucket has a horizontal surface 6c whose central portion extends upward and is parallel to the bottom of the bucket. The height of the surface 6c is set to be higher than that of the sample tube 8 inserted in the rack 2, and when the robot hand tries to hold the rack 2, the horizontal projection provided on the hand first moves the partition plate from above to the partition plate. By pressing down the leveling surface 6c, the bucket 6 is forcibly corrected to be horizontal, and then the robot hand can correctly hold and transport the rack 2.

(4) Sample rack 2 (FIG. 8) Each sample rack 2 into which a sample container containing a sample is inserted is accommodated in a bucket 6 and centrifuged. The sample rack 2 has a plurality of windows 2a on its side wall and a rib 2b which is parallel to the bottom surface at the center in the height direction. The window 2a is for the purpose of reducing the weight of the rack, and the rib 2b parallel to the bottom surface is a guide for preventing the sample container from falling out of the window when the sample container is inserted into the rack. Since a large number of racks are prepared and supplied to the medical field in advance, the rack in which the sample container containing the sample is inserted is supplied to the automatic centrifuge.

(5) Rack loading load 31 (FIG. 9) The rack loading load 31 is a groove having a width slightly wider than the length of the rack, and an endless belt 32 is installed at the bottom of the groove. When the rack 2 is supplied onto the belt 32, the rack 2 is automatically carried to the back of the rack loading load 31. The deepest position of the rack loading load 31 is a loading station 34 for holding the rack by the robot hand 7 coming down from above.
In the rack carried to this position by the belt, the innermost wall serves as the stopper 35, and thereafter, the belt 32 and the bottom of the rack 2 slip and remain at that position. A rack sensor (for example, a micro switch) 36 that detects the presence or absence of a rack is attached to the side wall of the loading station 34. When a large number of racks are supplied, the racks are stocked so that they are sequentially stacked. When the first rack is transferred by the robot hand 7, the racks 2 that have been stocked in the rack loading load 31 are automatically sequentially packed into the back.

(6) Rack Stocker 3 (FIGS. 11 to 13) The rack stocker 3 is a stock place for temporarily storing the supplied rack 2 until it is centrifuged. The rack 2 is mounted on the disk-shaped stocker table 30 in the radial direction.
A plurality of rack holding fittings 40 and rack holding pins 42 for holding the racks are arranged at equal intervals. The stocker table 30 is fixed to the shaft of the servo motor 44, and can be rotated in any direction by a control signal from the control unit 4. The position of the rack holding metal fittings 40 mounted on the disk is detected by the position sensor 48, and the position information of all the rack holding metal fittings (from address 1 to 36) is detected.
The address) is stored in the RAM. Furthermore, a weight sensor 50 for measuring the weight of the rack is arranged below the disk.

The pin 52 of the weight sensor has two columnar shapes, and the table 30 facing the pin 52 has two holes 30a. When the rack 2 is housed in the rack holding metal fitting 40, the pin 52 is lifted from below to push up the rack 2 and measure the weight of the rack.
The measurement data is stored in the memory area corresponding to the position information stored in advance. Therefore, rack stocker 3
Position and the weight information of the rack at that position as a set R
It will be stored in AM.

In this case, the number of racks to be stocked may be equal to or larger than the number of racks to be inserted into the bucket in one centrifugal process, but the larger the number, the higher the probability that there are racks having the same weight. desirable. However, since the shape of the stocker becomes large, it is preferable that the number of racks is two to three times the number of racks to be inserted into the bucket in one centrifugal process. Further, in this embodiment, the rotary type stocker is arranged in a disc shape, but the present invention is not limited to the disc type and may be a horizontal type or a vertical type stocker.

(7) Hand 7 (see FIGS. 1, 14, 15,
17 and 18) The hand 7 holds the rack, transfers the rack while holding it, and opens and closes the slide lid 14 of the centrifuge lid 10. An opening / closing mechanism of the hand 7 and a rotation mechanism 80 a are housed in the head 28 and controlled by the control unit (computer) 4. Each tip of the pair of hands 7 is a holding piece (also referred to as a finger portion) 7a for holding the sample rack, and claws 7b are formed so as to project on both sides of the holding piece, and the inside of the claw is a tapered surface 7c. . The tapered surface 7c engages with the tapered surface 2d when the sample rack 2 is clamped, and corrects the deviation in the direction of the sample rack 2 in the direction opposite to the clamping piece 7a of the hand 7 to reliably clamp the sample rack 2. It is provided.

A first rack sensor 71 for detecting the presence or absence of a sample rack to be held and a second rack sensor 72 for discriminating between the sample rack 2 and the dummy rack 33 are attached to one of the holding pieces 7a. ing. These rack sensors are composed of, for example, micro switches. As shown in FIG. 15, the sample rack 2 and the dummy rack 33
Without it, the first rack sensor 71 is not pushed by the rack when being held by the holding piece 7a (FIG. 15A). If the sample rack 2 is present, the first sensor 71 and the second sensor 72 are pushed and the switch is turned on (FIG. 15B). If the dummy rack 33 is present, the second rack sensor 72 is not pressed against the notch 33a of the dummy rack, and the first rack sensor 72 is not pressed.
Only the rack sensor 71 is turned on (FIG. 15C).

(8) Rack discharging load 60 The rack discharging load 60 has almost the same structure as the rack loading load 31, but the moving direction of the belt moves from the back to the front. The foremost wall is closed and serves as a rack stopper.
The rack after the centrifugal processing is transferred from the bucket 6 to the discharge station 62 of the rack discharge load 60 by the hand 7. A rack sensor 64 that detects the presence or absence of a rack is attached to the side wall of the discharge station 62. When the hand 7 releases the rack 2, the rack 2 is moved to the end point of the discharge load 60 by the belt. The rack 2 carried to this position by the belt remains in that position because the belt and the bottom of the rack are in a slip state thereafter. Bucket 6
The racks 2 transferred from the above are successively stacked and stocked after the first rack.

(9) Dummy rack 33 As shown in FIG. 12, the dummy rack 33 has substantially the same outer shape as the sample rack. However, the notch 33a is formed in the upper part of the two side surfaces orthogonal to the longitudinal direction, that is, in the part where the second rack sensor 72 attached to the holding pieces 7a of the pair of hands hits, so that the second rack sensor 72 is not pressed. The sample rack 2 can be distinguished from the sample rack 2.

(10) Bucket Leveling Mechanism (FIGS. 19 and 20) As shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, the hand support portion 80 is rotatably attached to the bottom surface of the vertical moving head 28 of the automatic centrifuge, and the hand is rotated. A pair of robot hands 7 are attached to the bottom surface side of the support portion 80 so as to project downward. A U-shaped attachment fitting 81 is attached to the side surface of the hand support portion 80, and the slide shaft 82 is slidably supported by the attachment fitting 81. That is, the slide shaft 82 is inserted into the holes of the horizontal individual pieces 81a and 81b facing each other in the vertical direction of the mounting bracket 81, the flange 82a of the slide shaft 82 abuts against the individual piece 81b, and serves as a stopper, and the slide shaft is further extended. It doesn't go down. A coil spring 83 is wound around the slide shaft 82 between the flange 82a and the individual piece 81a, the flange 82a is biased downward, and is in contact with the individual piece 81b to be at the lowermost position.

A horizontal plate 84 is attached to the lower end of the slide shaft 82. On the bottom surface of the horizontal plate 84, a pair of pressing plates (horizontally projecting projections) 85 are provided so as to project downward, and the lower end of the pressing plate 85 is a horizontal pressing surface 85a. When the hand 7 descends, the pressing surface 85a contacts the horizontal surface 6c of the partition plate. The bucket 6 is set by the trunnion pin of the rotor so that
Is swingably supported around point P (Q) of
When the leveling surface 6c is inclined, when the pressing surface 85a is pressed downward, the bucket 6 is rotated around the point P (Q), and the entire horizontal leveling surface 6c becomes the pressing surface 85a. Face to face and corrected horizontally (Fig. 20A).

In this way, the posture of the bucket 6 is corrected horizontally, and thus the sample rack 2 is also held horizontally, and in this state, it is held by the hand 7 (FIG. 20B) and then lifted up (FIG. 20C). ). In FIG. 20C, when holding the left rack of the bucket 6 with a hand, the right holding plate 85 hits the partition plate 6b, and when holding the right rack, the left holding plate 85 hits. When the restraining plate 85 hits the partition plate 6b, even if the hand 7 further descends, the restraining plate 85 does not descend further due to the slide shaft 82 and the coil spring 83. Therefore, the partition plate 6b and the sample tube 8 should be damaged. There is no.

(11) Automatic processing operation (FIGS. 1 to 5) First, the sample rack 2 stocked in the rack loading load 31 is moved to the rack stocker 3 by the hand 7, and the weight of the rack is measured by the weight sensor 50. Then, the position information and the weight data are stored in the RAM. Similarly, racks are successively transferred to the rack stocker, and a maximum of 32 racks are stocked.

After that, when the rack 4 is processed by the computer 4 and the rack 2 is placed in the bucket 6 of the rotor of the centrifuge, the equilibrium state of the buckets diagonal with respect to the rotation axis of the rotor 5 is kept within the allowable value. To keep 16 racks, select two racks in pairs and combine them,
Place it in a bucket. While centrifuging, the empty 16 parts of the rack stocker were replenished with new racks, and the weight data of the newly measured racks and the previous remaining data were used to balance the diagonal buckets again. Select a combination of racks that keeps the state within the allowable value, and create a next bucket insertion command.

When the centrifugal processing is completed and the rack subjected to the centrifugal processing is taken out from the bucket of the rotor, an operation of arranging the rack specified in the bucket is immediately performed based on the insertion command until the unprocessed rack is exhausted. Automatic processing is performed. Device operation or control unit (computer) 4
The control operation of the above is collectively shown in FIGS.

In the above description, the sample rack 2 is stored in the rack stocker 3 and then the weight is measured there. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the sample rack 2 of the loading station 34 is picked up by the hand 7. The weight may be measured at this time or before being transferred to the rack stocker 3. In that case, the weight sensor may be provided on the vertical movement head 28 or the hand support portion 80 (FIGS. 17 and 18).

In a relatively small-sized automatic centrifuge, the rack stocker 3 shown in FIG. 1 may be omitted and the rack loading load 31 may also be used as the rack stocker. In the example of FIG. 1, the dummy rack storage 32 is provided in the vicinity of the loading station 34, but it is also possible to omit this and use it as the rack stocker 3.

[0037]

According to the present invention, the weight of the sample rack of the rack stocker is measured and stored in advance, and two sets of sample racks having a well-balanced weight are selected and inserted into diagonal buckets. ing. If the weight difference between the racks placed in diagonal buckets, which was a problem with the conventional method, exceeds the specified unbalanced weight, add a weight to the lighter bucket side to adjust the unbalance within the specified range. It has become possible to omit, and it is possible to considerably shorten the time until the processing of a large number of books is completed.

Further, since it is not necessary to secure a space for putting a weight for balance adjustment in the bucket, the bucket can be made small, which has the effect of reducing the moment of inertia of the rotor, which makes the motor compact and the device compact. Can be realized, and its economic effect is great. Also, in the conventional method, the weight is put into the bucket, so if the weight is left in the bucket due to some error, the remaining weight is not measured. It may be caused, which may cause the vibration of the centrifuge, and the vibration may induce abnormal operation of the device, thereby causing a dangerous state. According to the present invention, such a possible weight is dispensed with, which is an inherently safe method.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an automatic centrifugal separator according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an electrical block diagram of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of control operation of the control unit in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the details of the first half of the rack weight measurement / combination process of FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing details of the latter half of the rack weight measurement / combination process of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the rotor 5 shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the bucket 6 of FIG. 1, in which A is a plan view and B is a plan view.
Is a sectional view taken along the line aa of A, and C is a sectional view taken along the line bb of A.

8 is a diagram showing the sample rack 2 of FIG. 1, in which A is a plan view,
B is a left side view, C is a front view, and D is a plan view showing a state in which the sample rack of A is held by a holding piece of a hand.

9A and 9B are views showing the rack loading load 31 and its surroundings in FIG. 1, in which A is a plan view and B is a longitudinal sectional view.

FIG. 10 is a view showing the rack stocker 3 of FIG. 1 with a lid removed, where A is a plan view and B is a longitudinal sectional view.

FIG. 11 shows a sample rack 2 in the rack stocker 3 of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a view showing a state in which is stored, A is a plan view and B is a longitudinal sectional view.

12 is an enlarged view of the weight measuring unit 56 and its surroundings in FIG. 10, in which A is a plan view and B is a longitudinal sectional view.

13 is a diagram showing a state in which the weight of the sample rack 2 is being measured by the weight measuring unit 56 in FIG. 12, where A is a plan view and B is a longitudinal sectional view.

14 is a diagram showing a hand 7 and a rack sensor attached to the hand 7 of FIG. 1, in which A is a front view and B is a-a of A;
Sectional drawing, C is a bb sectional view of B.

FIG. 15 is a principle sectional view showing an operating state of the rack sensor of FIG. 14C.

FIG. 16 is a view showing a dummy rack, where A is a front view, B is a left side view, C is a right side view, D is a plan view, and E is a bottom view.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a state in which the hand 7 of FIG. 1 is on standby to open the slide lid 14, where A is a left side view and B is a front view.

18 is a diagram showing a state in which the slide lid 14 of FIG. 1 is opened and closed by the hand 7, A is a left side view, B is a front view, and C is a plan view of the slide lid 14. FIG.

FIG. 19 is a view showing an embodiment of a bucket leveling mechanism of an automatic centrifuge of the present invention together with its peripheral parts, where A is a left side view and B is a front view.

20A and 20B are views for explaining the operation of the bucket leveling mechanism and the robot hand of FIG. 19, where A is a left side view showing a state in which the attitude of the bucket is corrected horizontally, and B is one sample rack with the robot hand. 2 is a left side view showing a state in which the sample rack is held by C, and C is a front view showing a state in which one sample rack is lifted from a bucket by a robot hand.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Satoshi Shigeno 1065-3 Naka-Otsuka, Fujioka-shi, Gunma Kubota Works Fujioka Plant

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A sample rack holding a sample tube containing a sample is stored in a rack stocker, the weight of the sample rack is measured, the measured value is stored in a memory, and the weight difference within an allowable weight difference from the rack stocker is stored. Two sample racks of approximately equal weight are automatically selected, these two selected sample racks are automatically taken out from the rack stocker, and each is automatically mounted in a diagonal bucket of the centrifuge and centrifuged. An automatic centrifugation method characterized by: 2. A sample rack holding a sample tube containing a sample is stored in a rack stocker, the weight of the sample rack is measured, and the measured value is stored in a memory. From this rack stocker, one bucket is stored. The sum of the weights of the sample racks accommodated automatically selects two sets of sample rack groups within the tolerance, and automatically removes these two selected sample rack groups.
An automatic centrifuge method characterized by automatically mounting each in a diagonal bucket of a centrifuge and centrifuging. 3. The automatic centrifugal separation method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of types of dummy racks having different weights are stored in a dummy rack storage area, and rack storage position (address) information of the dummy rack storage area and the position thereof. The weight of the dummy rack stored in the memory is stored in the memory in advance, and when two sample racks or a group of sample racks within the allowable weight difference cannot be selected, the dummy racks are replaced with some of the sample racks. It is characterized in that two racks or rack groups within the allowable weight difference are selected and selected. 4. A centrifuge, a weight sensor for measuring the weight of a sample rack holding a sample tube containing a sample, a rack stocker provided alongside the centrifuge, and a storage address of the rack stocker. , A memory that stores the weight measured by the weight sensor of the sample rack stored at that address, a pair of hands that can hold or separate the sample rack, and that hand of the centrifuge. A moving mechanism that horizontally moves between one bucket and one sample rack of the rack stocker, and moves vertically, and a centrifuge of the centrifuge based on the data of the sample rack of the memory. In order to balance the weight of two sample racks or two sets of sample rack groups stored in diagonal buckets,
An automatic centrifuge including: a control unit that selects a sample rack of the rack stocker, controls the operations of the rack stocker, a moving mechanism, a hand, and a centrifuge to store the selected sample rack in a predetermined bucket. Separation device. 5. The automatic centrifuge according to claim 4, wherein two weight-balanced sample racks or two sample rack groups for storing in the diagonal buckets cannot be selected. A dummy rack storage area is provided for storing a plurality of types of dummy racks having different weights, which are used instead of some of the sample racks. 6. The automatic centrifuge according to claim 4 or 5, further comprising a rotating mechanism for rotating the hand around a vertical axis. 7. The automatic centrifuge according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the rack stocker has a disk shape, and a sample rack can be radially positioned and held on the upper surface, and is freely rotatable. It is characterized by having a stocker table attached. 8. The automatic centrifuge according to any one of claims 4 to 7, after the centrifugation process and before the sample rack is picked from the bucket of the centrifuge with the hand, the horizontal plane of the bucket. A bucket leveling mechanism for correcting the deviation from is provided in the vicinity of the hand. 9. The automatic centrifuge according to any one of claims 4 to 8, wherein the box-shaped sample rack is vertically arranged on both sides of opposing inner surfaces of a pair of holding pieces for holding the sample rack of the hand. A taper surface for engaging the taper surface formed by chamfering the four corners along the direction to correct and hold the sample rack in the opposite direction of the holding piece. Characterize. 10. The automatic centrifugal separator according to claim 4, wherein the presence or absence of a sample rack to be held is detected in at least one of a pair of holding pieces that holds the sample rack of the hand. The first rack sensor is attached. 11. The automatic centrifuge according to claim 4, wherein at least one of a pair of holding pieces that holds the sample rack of the hand identifies the type of the held rack. A rack sensor is attached.