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EP-3961224-B1 - AUTOMATIC ANALYSIS DEVICE

EP3961224B1EP 3961224 B1EP3961224 B1EP 3961224B1EP-3961224-B1

Inventors

  • YASUI, AKIHIRO
  • SETOMARU, TAKESHI
  • KIYOKAWA, Akinori
  • FUKAYA, MASASHI

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20200305

Claims (14)

  1. An automatic analysis device (100) for measuring properties of liquid where a sample is reacted with a reagent, comprising: a reaction disk (1) that includes a plurality of reaction containers (2) circumferentially arranged thereon, the reaction container (2) being configured to react the sample with the reagent; a reagent disk (9) that is configured to keep a plurality of reagent containers (10) containing the reagent; and a measurement unit (4A, 4B) that is configured to measure physical properties of the liquid held in the reaction container (2), wherein a rotation axis of the reaction disk (1) is arranged between a rotation axis of the reagent disk (9) and the measurement unit (4A, 4B), and the measurement unit (4A, 4B) is arranged on a front surface side (391) of the automatic analysis device (100) to be accessed by a user of the automatic analysis device (100), wherein the measurement unit (4A, 4B) includes a slit (4B3) that is configured to diffract light passing through the liquid in the reaction container (2), a diffraction grating (4B4) that is configured to disperse light passing through the slit (4B3), and a multi-wavelength detector (4B5) that is configured to detect the light dispersed by the diffraction grating (4B4), and the rotation axis (301) of the reaction disk (1), the rotation axis (302) of the reagent disk (9), and at least the diffraction grating (4B4) and the multi-wavelength detector (4B5) of the measurement unit (4A, 4B) are arranged on the same virtual straight line (311) when the automatic analysis device (100) is viewed from an upper surface side.
  2. The automatic analysis device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the straight line (311) is neither parallel nor perpendicular to any of sides (391-394) of a casing (351) that constitutes the automatic analysis device (100).
  3. The automatic analysis device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the measurement unit (4A, 4B) is arranged on a periphery of a first corner (352) of an outer periphery of the device (100) when the automatic analysis device (100) is viewed from the upper surface side.
  4. The automatic analysis device (100) according to claim 3, wherein the reagent disk (9) is arranged on a periphery of a third corner (354) of the outer periphery of the device, that is different from the first corner (352), when the automatic analysis device (100) is viewed from the upper surface side.
  5. The automatic analysis device (100) according to claim 4, wherein the first corner (352) and the third corner (354) are positioned at diagonal corners of the automatic analysis device (100).
  6. The automatic analysis device (100) according to claim 1, further comprising: a reagent dispensing mechanism (7) that is configured to dispense the reagent into the reaction containers (2), wherein the reagent dispensing mechanism (7) is arranged at a position adjacent to outer peripheries of the reaction disk (1) and the reagent disk (9).
  7. The automatic analysis device (100) according to claim 6, further comprising: a sample dispensing mechanism (11) that is configured to dispense the sample into the reaction containers (2), and a cleaning mechanism (3) that is configured to clean the reaction containers (2) after measurement, wherein the automatic analysis device (100) is operable such that, in the reaction containers (2) of the reaction disk (1) stopped during dispensing of the sample by the sample dispensing mechanism (11) or during dispensing of the reagent by the reagent dispensing mechanism (7), a reaction container (2) arranged at a position closest to the measurement position of the measurement unit (4A, 4B) is a reaction container (2) during or after cleaning by the cleaning mechanism (3).
  8. The automatic analysis device (100) according to claim 6, wherein the reagent disk (9) has a reagent suction position (321, 322) to be accessed by the reagent dispensing mechanism (7) when the reagent is dispensed into the reaction container (2), and the reagent suction position (321, 322) is arranged on the straight line (311).
  9. The automatic analysis device (100) according to claim 6, further comprising: a sample dispensing mechanism (11) that is configured to dispense the sample into the reaction containers (2), wherein the reaction disk (1) is configured to rotationally move and stop the reaction containers (2) at least once within one cycle, and the automatic analysis device (100) is operable such that a sample discharging position (41) of the sample dispensing mechanism (11) is set while the reaction disk (1) is rotationally moved from the measurement unit (4A, 4B) to a reagent disk side.
  10. The automatic analysis device (100) according to claim 6, further comprising: a stirring mechanism (5) that is configured to stir the liquid, wherein the reaction disk (1) is configured to rotationally move and stop the reaction containers (2) at least once within one cycle, and the automatic analysis device (100) is operable such that a stirring position (45, 46) of the stirring mechanism (5) is set while the reaction disk (1) is rotationally moved from the reagent disk (9) to a measurement unit side.
  11. The automatic analysis device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the automatic analysis device (100) is operable such that, when a total number of the reaction containers (2) is set to N, the number of the reaction containers (2) by which the reaction disk (1) moves in one cycle is set to A (N+1 ≥ A), and after B (B ≥ 1) cycles, the reaction disk (1) is set to rotationally move by C (C ≥ 1) rotations ± a movement amount equivalent to one reaction container (2), the N and the A are mutually prime, the B and the C are mutually prime, the B is an odd number, and the reaction disk (1) is rotationally controlled such that the reaction container (2) moves by an amount A in the circumferential direction in one cycle so as to satisfy a relationship of A × B = N × C ± 1.
  12. The automatic analysis device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the reaction disk (1) and the measurement unit (4A, 4B) are fixed to the same first base (361).
  13. The automatic analysis device (100) according to claim 12, further comprising: a sample dispensing mechanism (11) that is configured to dispense the sample into the reaction containers (2), a reagent dispensing mechanism (7) that is configured to dispense the reagent into the reaction containers (2), and a stirring mechanism (5) that is configured to stir the liquid, wherein the sample dispensing mechanism (11), the reagent dispensing mechanism (7), and the stirring mechanism (5) are fixed to a second base (362) that is different from the first base (361).
  14. The automatic analysis device (100) according to claim 13, wherein the reagent disk (9) is fixed to a third base (363) that is different from the first base (361) and the second base (362), and the first base (361) and the second base (362) are connected to each other through a plurality of pillars (371), and the second base (362) is fixed to the third base (363) through another plurality of pillars (372), so that the first base (361) and the third base (363) are connected to each other across the second base (362).

Description

Technical Field The invention relates to an automatic analysis device that analyzes a biological sample such as blood or urine. Background Art As an example of an automatic analysis device that is compact, can analyze multiple types of items, and has high processing capacity and dispensing accuracy even when an item requiring dilution/pre-treatment and a general reaction measurement item are mixed, WO-A-2013-058170 (PTL 1) discloses an automatic analysis device including: a plurality of sample dispensing mechanisms that can be individually driven, each of the plurality of sample dispensing mechanisms including a sample collection position, a sample nozzle for collecting a sample, and a cleaning tank for cleaning the sample nozzle, collecting samples from a plurality of sample collection positions, and being independently operated and configured to perform sample dispensation with respect to the reaction containers on the reaction disk; at least one sample dispensing mechanism that is provided for each of a sample requiring dilution/pre-treatment and a sample not requiring dilution/pre-treatment; and control means for exclusively controlling each of the sample dispensing mechanisms to operate the sample dispensing mechanism. In the automatic analysis device, the sample is dispensed without creating vacancy in the reaction container. Citation List Patent Literature PTL 1: WO-A-2013-058170 Summary of Invention Technical Problem An automatic analysis device that quantitatively or qualitatively analyzes a specific component in a biological sample such as blood or urine and is essential in current diagnosis due to high reproducibility of the analysis result, a high processing speed, and the like. "Sample" described in the present specification includes both of biological samples such as blood or urine of an inpatient or an outpatient and blood or urine of a subject in a medical check-up or the like. A measurement method of the automatic analysis device is roughly divided into: an analysis method (colorimetric analysis) of using a reagent that reacts with an analysis target component in a sample such that the color of reaction liquid changes and measuring the change in color with a measurement unit; and an analysis method (immunological analysis) of counting markers using a reagent, the reagent obtained by adding a marker to a material that is specifically bonded directly or indirectly to a target component. A general automatic analysis device that performs the colorimetric analysis is configured such that a reaction of a biological sample and a reagent is analyzed in a continuous and cyclic manner by repeating a rotation operation and a stop operation of a reaction disk including a plurality of reaction containers annularly arranged on a rotatable disk. This automatic analysis device is required to be compact and to be capable of measuring multiple types of items. The automatic analysis device includes not only a reaction disk but also at least one reagent disk where reagent containers containing a reagent for reacting with a biological sample are held, and the reaction disk and the reagent disk are arranged on a plane in many cases. Recently, as the number of analysis items increases, the number of reagent containers provided in a reagent disk tends to increase. The number of the reaction containers provided in the reaction disk change depending on the processing capacity of the device per unit time. Therefore, the size of reaction disk depends on the processing capacity of the device. Accordingly, when the reagent disk and the reaction disk are arranged on a plane, the reagent disk and the reaction disk account for most part of the area of the device. In an actual automatic analysis device, the other units need to be arranged on the periphery of a reagent disk or a reaction disk, and the size of the device tends to increase depending on the layout of units. In order to prevent the size of the device from increasing, various methods are disclosed for the configuration of the device. In the automatic analysis device, a plurality of reagent containers containing a reagent are kept cool at about 10 degrees in a reagent disk and are rotationally moved to a position where the reagent is suctioned. In addition, the reagent is suctioned from the reagent container by a reagent probe while the reaction disk is rotating, and the reagent is discharged into the reaction container while the reaction disk is stopped. In addition, a measurement unit provided around the reaction disk measures a color change of a reaction liquid in the reaction container that is passing through the front of the measurement unit during the rotation of the reaction disk that repeatedly moves and stops. Here, in order to acquire a small color change of the reaction liquid, the measurement unit has a property of disliking disturbance noise such as electrical noise, mechanical vibration, or temperature change. However, in the technique described in P