The present invention relates to automatic analyzers for analyzing biological samples (e.g., blood and urine) and particularly to an automatic analyzer that includes a reaction disk having reaction vessels (in which to react a sample and a reagent) arranged on the circumference thereof and that also includes a light source and a spectrophotometer that are disposed so as to sandwich one of the reaction vessels.
Automatic analyzers are used to examine particular constituents of a biological sample such as blood and urine. Colorimetric analyzers, in particular, are designed to perform analysis by measuring color change in the reacted solution resulting from the mixing of a sample and a reagent. More specifically, colorimetric analyzers irradiate transparent reaction vessels with light and measures absorbance change resulting from color change in the reacted solution. In this case, adhesion of contaminants to the reaction vessels may result in inaccurate measurement data. To prevent this, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for monitoring reaction vessels for contaminants and identifying contaminated reaction vessels that are not suited for accurate measurement, so that such contaminated vessels will not be used for measurement.
Nozzles are inserted into a reaction vessel to dispense particular amounts of a sample and a reagent into the reaction vessel. In addition, a stirrer for stirring the sample-reagent mix and a rinse nozzle for rinsing waste after measurement are also put into the reaction vessel. If these nozzles and stirrer are deformed for some reason and put into the reaction vessel, the inner surfaces of the reaction vessel may be damaged with scars or scratches. According to the technique of Patent Document 1, both of scars and contaminants on reaction vessels can be detected, but contaminants cannot be distinguished from scars. Because scars and contaminants exert different influences on measurement, separate detection of the two will lead to enhanced measurement reliability. An object of the invention is thus to provide an automatic analyzer capable of separate detection of contaminants and scars on reaction vessels, so that measurement reliability can be improved.
The following configuration of the present invention achieves the above object.
An automatic analyzer according to the invention includes: a plurality of reaction vessels in which to mix a sample and a reagent; a light source for irradiating the plurality of reaction vessels with light; a detector for measuring the light that has passed through the plurality of reaction vessels; a reaction disk having the plurality of reaction vessels arranged on the circumference thereof; a reaction disk drive mechanism for rotating the reaction disk in a circumferential direction; a control mechanism for controlling at least either one of the detector and the reaction disk drive mechanism such that a circumferential length of each of the plurality of reaction vessels is divided into at least two areas and such that absorbance measurement is conducted for all of the divided areas; and a storage mechanism for storing the absorbances measured from all of the divided areas.
The following is a more specific embodiment of the prevent invention.
Reaction vessels and a reaction vessel detecting mechanism are disposed on the outer circumference of a reaction disk. At least one positional detector for detecting the position of a reaction vessel is placed on the track of the reaction vessels. A light source and a spectrophotometer are also disposed so as to sandwich one of the reaction vessels, thereby measuring the light intensity of the reaction vessels. In this photometric method, the invention further provides the steps of: repetitively starting and stopping the rotation of the reaction disk with high resolution; conducting photometric measurement while the reaction disk is being halted; and acquiring an absorbance distribution of the reaction vessels.
In accordance with the present invention, it is possible to detect contaminants and scars on reaction vessels in a separate manner, thereby enhancing the reliability of measurement.
The data to be used when making the above judgment is the results of absorbance measurement obtained by measuring the absorbances of the flat portions of reaction vessels. Examples of abnormalities to be detected include a steep absorbance distribution slope (count/mm) of a reaction vessel (e.g., a slope greater than a given value) and a great difference between a first absorbance value and a second absorbance value which is obtained one pulse before the first absorbance value (e.g., an absorbance difference greater than a given value). A typical drive system for the reaction disk has a resolution of several tens of μm/pulse, which is sufficient for abnormality detection.
After detecting a scar on a reaction vessel, the analyzer unit notifies the user of the corresponding reaction vessel number and registers that reaction vessel as an unusable reaction vessel. If no problem is found with that reaction vessel after remeasurement, that registration is canceled. While the above example has adopted one-pulse rotation of the stepper motor, two or more-pulse rotation can also be adopted, which shortens measurement time. This decision can be made by taking into account light flux and the travel distance per pulse. In addition, measurement time can be shortened further by, as illustrated in
The present invention is applicable not only to automatic analysis, but to inspection devices used during the manufacture of reaction vessels. In the latter case, the quality of reaction vessels can be examined.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2010-012732 | Jan 2010 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2011/051127 | 1/21/2011 | WO | 00 | 7/27/2012 |