JPH1183705A - Sample pretreatment equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To reduce sample size after mixing and to prevent contamination of impurities such as metal, oil, paint, etc. by reducing the size of the cutting portion by using a sample cutting means that does not use a blade. In addition, mixing of the sample (cross contamination) in the shredding step is prevented. SOLUTION: Sample masses 1 and 1a are dedicated sample containers 2 and 2a.
And a high-pressure liquid 4 such as pure water or a sample component extraction solvent that does not affect the components to be analyzed.
The XY table 7 to which the dedicated sample container 2 is fixed is set in advance while the sample 3 is ejected from the nozzle 3 interlocked with the sample detector 1 and the sample mass 1 is detected by the sample detection fiber 5 controlled by the sample detection / motor drive unit 9. By moving the sample in accordance with the shredding pattern and shredding the sample, contamination of impurities and a pre-processed sample can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for analyzing sample components such as foods and natural materials, and more particularly to an apparatus for pretreating a sample.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an analyzer for analyzing components such as foods and natural materials, a sample pretreatment for increasing the concentration of a target component or converting the sample into a subdivided state that is easily detected before the sample is put into the analyzer. There is a need to do. In particular, in the case of a solid material, as the first stage of the pretreatment, it is indispensable to finely cut the sample so as to efficiently extract the contained components. In the conventional shredding process, a method of reciprocating the blade with human power to perform the fine cutting and a method of rotating the blade with mechanical force to perform the fine cutting are generally used. In this method, when a plurality of samples are sequentially cut into small pieces, a blade, a supporting mechanism thereof, and a sample setting place are commonly used.

[0003]

The conventional method for cutting a sample used in a sample pretreatment apparatus requires a cutting tool larger than the sample width and a supporting mechanism for cutting the sample by moving the cutting tool. However, it is difficult to reduce the size of the minced section, and the sample adheres to the mincing device during the mincing, takes a long time to collect the sample after the mincing, and scatters around, resulting in sample loss. There has been a problem that it is not suitable for cutting many, especially small amounts of samples.

[0004] Furthermore, impurities such as metal chips, oil or paint pieces coming out of the sliding portion of the cutting tool and the support mechanism for reciprocating or rotating the cutting tool are mixed. A cleaning step is required to completely remove residues such as chips and juice from a previously processed sample.However, if the sample contains a highly sticky substance such as oil, However, even if the sample is washed, the previous sample component cannot be completely removed, and a phenomenon occurs in which the previous sample fragment component is mixed with the next sample fragment component (cross contamination). For this reason, in the conventional sample shredding process and the washing process required for the subsequent process, humans are required to monitor the contamination of impurities, and it is difficult to automate the sample shredding process.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and by using a dedicated shredding site for each sample without using a blade (usually made of metal),
An object of the present invention is to provide a sample pretreatment device capable of preventing contamination of impurities and cross contamination of a sample.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a sample pretreatment apparatus according to the present invention has a fixed bottom surface, a sample container capable of accommodating a sample on the bottom surface, and a high-pressure liquid. A high-pressure liquid generating mechanism, and a high-pressure liquid ejecting mechanism that ejects the high-pressure liquid generated by the liquid generating mechanism from a nozzle to the sample in the container, so that the sample can be shredded by the high-pressure liquid ejected from the nozzle. I made it.

Further, a feeding mechanism having the above functions and sequentially transferring the sample containers each containing a plurality of samples to a location of a moving mechanism, and transferring the sample containers having completed the shredding process to a next process location. A delivery mechanism for sequentially transferring the sample containers is provided, and the feeding mechanism, the moving mechanism, and the delivery mechanism are operated to perform the shredding process sequentially while feeding and moving the sample containers.

[0008] The sample pretreatment apparatus of the present invention is constituted by the above means, and can prevent the contamination of impurities in the sample shredding step and the cross contamination in the washing step, and the components which are not affected by these. A sample pretreatment device for an analyzer can be obtained.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a sample pretreatment apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 1, 1,
1a is an individual sample mass, which is set and accommodated on the bottom surface of a dedicated sample container having a constant bottom surface of 2a and 2a, respectively. Reference numeral 3 denotes a nozzle which can be moved in a vertical direction by a nozzle up / down moving mechanism 14, which will be described later. Reference numeral 4a denotes a liquid which is a high-purity water which does not affect the sample components and a solvent which can be used for extracting the sample components. Reference numeral 5 denotes a sample detection fiber for detecting the shape of the sample. Reference numeral 6 denotes a cover that is attached to the dedicated sample container 2 in conjunction with the nozzle 3 and is made of a flexible material. Reference numeral 7 denotes an XY table that can move in the XY axis directions, and reference numerals 8 and 8a denote table moving pulse motors that move the XY table 7. Reference numeral 9 denotes a sample detection / motor drive unit which performs transmission / reception processing from the sample detection fiber 5 and XY
This is a unit for controlling the table 7 and a fluid switch 15 described later. Reference numerals 10 and 10a denote belt conveyors which are used for feeding dedicated sample containers 2, 2a and the like to shredding locations and for delivering to the next step. Reference numeral 11 denotes a pump for sending the liquid 4a to a high-pressure liquid generator 13, which will be described later. Reference numeral 12 denotes an accumulator for storing the high-pressure liquid from the high-pressure liquid generator. Reference numeral 13 denotes a hydraulic device and an intensifier which are not shown. This is a known high-pressure liquid generator for converting a high-pressure liquid of 100 MPa to the accumulator 12. 14 is a nozzle up / down moving mechanism using a mechanism for rotating a screw rod by a motor and changing a rectangular block with a screw hole inserted into the screw rod into a linear motion, and 15 is a fluid switch for turning on / off the injection of high-pressure liquid. Reference numeral 16 denotes a belt conveyor 1 using a robot or the like having a position detection sensor (not shown).
A container positioning mechanism for picking up the dedicated sample containers 2 and 2a carried at 0 and fixing them at predetermined positions on the XY table 7, and 17 and 18 are high-pressure pipes.

Next, the operation procedure of the sample pretreatment apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Each of the sample masses 1 and 1a to be minced are accommodated in their own dedicated sample containers 2 and 2a (S1), and settings necessary for the mincing process (moving speed of XY table, mincing pattern, raising / lowering position of nozzle unit, etc.) ) (S2), and the belt conveyors 10, 10a
Is started and the special sample containers 2 and 2a are placed (S
3). The operation of the belt conveyor 10 will be described later. A sensor of a pickup mechanism using a robot detects whether the dedicated sample container 2 placed on the belt conveyor 10 is present at the pickup position (S4). Is carried onto the XY table 7 (S5), and the dedicated sample container 2 is fixed by the container positioning mechanism 16 of the XY table (S6).

Then, the nozzle unit in which the nozzle 3, the sample detecting fiber 5, the cover 6, and the fluid switch 15 are integrated is lowered to a set position (S7), and the XY table is held while the nozzle unit position is fixed. 7 is returned to a home position to be described later (S8), moved to the shredder position, and a search is made for a boundary (outer edge of the sample) formed of continuous points as viewed from above (S9). When a continuous boundary line is detected by the sample detecting fiber, the fluid switch is opened to inject high-pressure liquid, and the sample is cut into pieces at a predetermined speed (S10). The presence or absence of the sample is detected for a certain length (corresponding to a certain distance that the XY table moves) (S11). If no sample is detected during this time, the fluid switch is closed and the ejection of the fluid is stopped ( S1
2), the nozzle unit is pulled up (S13). The dedicated sample container 2 is moved to the belt conveyor 10 by the pickup mechanism.
a (S14). When the next dedicated sample container 2a comes to the pickup position, the shredding procedure from step 4 (S4) is repeated (S15).

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the belt conveyor 10. By the operation start operation,
The belt conveyor 10 rotates (S31).

The belt conveyor 10 rotates until the dedicated sample container 2 placed thereon is fed to the pickup position (S32), and stops when the dedicated sample container 2 is fed to the pickup position (S33). ).

When the dedicated sample container 2 is carried to the XY table 7 by the pickup mechanism, the next dedicated sample container 2
belt conveyor 1 until a reaches the pickup position
0 rotates (S34), and this procedure is repeated for the next dedicated sample container.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the initial position and the home position of the XY table 7, and the dashed line shows the locus of the XY table 7 passing through the nozzle holes. XY
The table first moves to the left so that point a passes through the center of the nozzle, and then moves downward so that point b passes. Since the sample exists from the point b to the point c, the high-pressure liquid is ejected from the nozzle 3 during this time, and the sample is cut into small pieces.

When the cover 6 is made of a transparent material, ON / OFF of the high-pressure fluid and movement of the XY table are manually operated to cut the sample, and the belt conveyors 10 and 10a are omitted. Then, the sample can be changed manually. Also, instead of moving the dedicated sample container 2 on the XY table, the same effect can be obtained by fixing the XY table and moving the nozzle 3 back and forth and left and right.

[0017]

The sample pretreatment apparatus of the present invention is configured as described above, and provides the following effects.

1. Since high-pressure fluid is used, it is easy to reduce the size of the shredded section, and shredding can be performed in a dedicated sample container.
The used high-pressure liquid also remains in the dedicated sample container and there is no sample loss, so that a small amount of sample can be efficiently shredded.
In addition, there is no mixing of impurities, little heat is generated at the time of shredding, and there is no risk of deterioration of the sample.

2. Cross-contamination does not occur because shredding can be performed in a dedicated sample container.

3. The dedicated sample container that has been shredded is
The process can be continued as it is for the next extraction step or reaction step.

4. Since the shredding process is completed in the dedicated sample container, the shredding process can be automated. As a result, high-quality analytical measurement and efficient analytical work become possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a sample pretreatment device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the belt conveyor 10 used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a home position and a movement locus of an XY table 7 used in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1a: sample mass (meat, vegetables, etc.) 2, 2a: dedicated sample container 3: nozzle (can be moved up and down) 4: high-pressure liquid 4a: liquid 5: liquid 5 …………………………………………………………………………………………… ······························································································································ • Conveyor 10a Belt conveyor 11 Pump 12 Accumulator 13 High-pressure liquid generator 14 Nozzle vertical movement mechanism 15 Fluid switch 16 Container Positioning mechanism 17, 18… High pressure piping

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A sample container having a fixed bottom surface and capable of storing a sample on the bottom surface, a high-pressure liquid generating mechanism for generating a high-pressure liquid, and a high-pressure liquid generated by the liquid generating mechanism is supplied to a sample in the container. A high-pressure liquid jetting mechanism for jetting from a nozzle to jet a high-pressure liquid from the nozzle so that a sample can be cut into small pieces. 2. A sample container having a fixed bottom surface and capable of storing a sample on the bottom surface, the container being placed on a horizontal plane in an X direction,
A moving mechanism for moving in the Y direction, a high-pressure liquid generating mechanism for generating a high-pressure liquid, and a high-pressure liquid ejecting mechanism for ejecting a high-pressure liquid generated by the liquid generating mechanism from a nozzle to a sample in the container. A feeding mechanism that sequentially transfers the sample containers each containing a plurality of samples to the location of the moving mechanism, and a delivery mechanism that sequentially transfers the sample containers that have completed the shredding process to the next process location are provided, A sample pre-processing apparatus characterized in that shredding is sequentially performed while feeding and moving a sample container by operating these feeding mechanism, moving mechanism and delivery mechanism.