Automated analyzer

Abstract

Provided is an automated analyzer comprising a reagent cooler such that it is possible to cool the entire interior of the reagent cooler with one refrigeration device while also preventing condensation in the reagent cooler.　This automated analyzer comprises: a reagent cooler that cools a plurality of reagent containers; a heat pipe that is provided inside the reagent cooler and cools the interior of the reagent cooler; a cooling device that cools the heat pipe; a dehumidification pipe that conveys air from the exterior of the reagent cooler and discharges the same from an end thereof into the reagent cooler interior, at least one section of said dehumidification pipe being in contact with or in the vicinity of the heat pipe; and a first drain that drains, to the exterior of the reagent cooler, condensation water which drains from the end of the dehumidification pipe.

Description

automatic analyzer

[0001] The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer.

[0002] Automated analyzers perform analysis by dispensing a sample solution containing a substance to be analyzed and a reaction reagent into a reaction vessel, allowing the reaction to occur, and then optically or electrically measuring the reaction solution. For example, some automated analyzers use blood, serum, urine, or other samples to detect specific biological components or chemical substances contained in the sample. These automated analyzers are equipped with a reagent refrigerator for storing the reagent at low temperatures, for example, between 5 and 12°C, to ensure stable storage of the reaction reagent. When the environment around the analyzer is hot and humid, ambient air may enter the reagent refrigerator through the reagent suction hole, causing moisture in the air to condense inside the refrigerator. Condensation, particularly on the top of the reagent container, could lead to moisture entering the reagent container and changing the state of the reagent.

[0003] As a conventional technique for addressing the above-mentioned problem, as described in Patent Document 1, an automatic analyzer has been proposed which has an outlet for discharging condensation water that has formed inside the reagent refrigerator, an outside air inlet path for directing air from outside the reagent refrigerator into the inside, and multiple coolers provided below the bottom surface of the inner wall of the reagent refrigerator, in which the cooler located below the outside air inlet path on the most downstream side is set to a lower temperature than the other coolers.

[0004] JP 2023-181437 A

[0005] The technology described in Patent Document 1 uses multiple coolers, which provides excellent cooling performance, but the cost of the equipment increases accordingly, making it difficult to apply to reagent refrigerators in small automatic analyzers.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic analyzer equipped with a reagent refrigerator that can uniformly cool the entire interior of the refrigerator with a single cooling device and prevent condensation from forming inside the reagent refrigerator.

[0007] To achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows: An automatic analyzer comprising: a reagent refrigerator that keeps a plurality of reagent containers cold, a heat pipe that is provided within the reagent refrigerator and that cools the interior of the reagent refrigerator, a cooling device that cools the heat pipe, a dehumidifying pipe that is provided in contact with or near at least a portion of the heat pipe and that passes air outside the reagent refrigerator and discharges it from an end into the reagent refrigerator, and a first drain that discharges condensation water discharged from the end of the dehumidifying pipe to the outside of the reagent refrigerator.

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an automatic analyzer equipped with a reagent refrigerator that can uniformly cool the entire interior of the refrigerator with a single cooling device and prevent condensation from forming inside the reagent refrigerator.

[0009] FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an outline of a reagent refrigerator of an automatic analyzer according to Example 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a reagent refrigerator of an automatic analyzer according to Example 1 of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a reagent refrigerator of an automatic analyzer according to Example 1 of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of a drain outlet of a reagent refrigerator of an automatic analyzer according to Example 1 of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a reagent refrigerator of an automatic analyzer according to Example 2 of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a reagent refrigerator of an automatic analyzer according to Example 2 of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a reagent refrigerator of an automatic analyzer according to Example 3 of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a reagent refrigerator of an automatic analyzer according to Example 3 of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a reagent refrigerator of an automatic analyzer according to Example 4 of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a reagent refrigerator of an automatic analyzer according to Example 4 of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the bottom portion of a cooling jacket of an automatic analyzer according to Example 4 of the present invention. FIG. 12 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a reagent refrigerator of an automatic analyzer according to Example 5 of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a reagent refrigerator of an automatic analyzer according to Example 5 of the present invention.

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the automatic analyzer of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiment, an automatic immunoanalyzer will be described as an example.

[0011] Example 1 will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 4. Figure 1 is a plan view showing an outline of the reagent refrigerator of the automatic analyzer of Example 1, Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a vertical cross section AA of the reagent refrigerator seen from the direction of the arrow in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a horizontal cross section BB of the reagent refrigerator seen from the direction of the arrow in Figure 2, and Figure 4 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the drain outlet of the reagent refrigerator.

[0012] 1 to 4, reagent containers 6 placed inside the reagent refrigerator 1 rest on a reagent disk 3, which can be rotated by a drive unit 20. As shown in FIG. 1, the top of the reagent refrigerator 1 is provided with suction holes 22 for aspirating reagents from the reagent containers 6. A cooling jacket 2 is provided around and under the reagent disk 3. The cooling jacket 2 is made of a material with relatively high thermal conductivity, such as copper or aluminum, to effectively transfer heat. Insulating materials 4 and 5, such as polystyrene foam, are provided around the cooling jacket 2 to insulate it from the surroundings. As shown in FIG. 2, the top of the bottom of the cooling jacket 2 is inclined at an angle α (α>0) with respect to the horizontal. A heat conducting member 10 connected to a Stirling refrigerator 9 is provided at a higher position on the top of the bottom of the cooling jacket, and a drain port 18 (sometimes referred to as a "drain") is provided at a lower position on the bottom of the cooling jacket to drain condensed water. Furthermore, a heat pipe 7 is provided in contact with the upper bottom of the cooling jacket 2, passing over the heat conducting member 10.

[0013] The heat pipe 7 is a pipe made of copper or other material that has a working fluid sealed inside, and has a high equivalent thermal conductivity. The principle is as follows: 1) The working fluid absorbs heat and evaporates on the inner wall of the high-temperature section. 2) The working fluid vapor moves through the cavity to the low-temperature section. 3) The working fluid vapor cooled in the low-temperature section condenses and returns to liquid, which is absorbed into the core of the capillary structure of the inner wall. 4) The working fluid travels through the core of the capillary structure of the inner wall to return to the high-temperature section.

[0014] The heat pipes 7 are installed in a ring shape above the bottom surface of the cooling jacket 2 to match the shape of the bottom surface. Meanwhile, air pipes 8 (also called "dehumidifying pipes" due to their function) for flowing air are installed in contact with or near the heat pipes 7. The first air pipe is connected to an inlet air pipe 16 near a drain outlet 18, and the inlet air pipe 16 is connected to a blower 17. As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the air pipes 8 are arranged so as to go almost completely around the inside of the refrigerator, and an air pipe outlet 19 is provided near the drain outlet 18.

[0015] The material for the air pipe 8 is preferably a metal material such as copper or aluminum, which conducts heat well. The heat pipe 7 and air pipe 8 are directly connected by brazing or the like, and the heat pipe 7 and air pipe 8 are fixed to the bottom surface of the cooling jacket 2 by brazing, welding, or mechanical fasteners. The heat pipe 7 and air pipe 8 may also be fixed by mechanical fasteners. Alternatively, the heat pipe 7 and air pipe 8 may not be in direct contact with each other, but may be fixed to the cooling jacket 2 at a nearby position.

[0016] Cooling jacket 2 and heat conduction member 10 are fixed with bolts or the like (not shown), and a member for reducing contact thermal resistance, such as thermally conductive grease or a highly thermally conductive sheet member, is provided between them. Heat conduction member 10 is made of a material with high thermal conductivity, such as copper or aluminum. Heat conduction member 10 is attached to heat absorption section 11 of Stirling refrigerator 9. Heat dissipation fins 13 are attached to heat dissipation section 12 of Stirling refrigerator 9. Heat dissipation fan 14 draws air into heat dissipation fins 13 from above, and the drawn-in air passes between Stirling refrigerator 9 and casing 15 before being released to the outside by heat dissipation fan 14.

[0017] Stirling refrigerator 9 can provide greater cooling capacity than a Peltier element of similar size. As a result, the interior of reagent refrigerator 1 can be sufficiently cooled with just one Stirling refrigerator 9, making it particularly suitable for small automatic analyzers that require a small refrigerator installation space and that are to be manufactured at low cost. Furthermore, by combining a Stirling refrigerator with a heat pipe, an especially significant effect is achieved in that the interior of the refrigerator can be uniformly cooled with just one refrigerator. Note that the structure of Stirling refrigerator 9 used here is a common one, so a description thereof will be omitted.

[0018] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the upper surface of the bottom surface of the cooling jacket 2 is inclined at an angle α (α>0) with respect to the horizontal plane to facilitate the installation of the heat pipes 7 and air pipes 8. However, the upper surface of the bottom surface of the cooling jacket 2 does not need to be inclined. That is, by installing the heat pipes 7 and air pipes 8 at an angle, it is only necessary to make it easier to discharge condensation generated in the air pipes to the drain outlet 18. For example, even if the upper surface of the bottom surface of the cooling jacket 2 is horizontal, a columnar support member can be provided on the upper surface of the bottom surface of the cooling jacket 2 to install the heat pipes 7 and air pipes 8 at an angle. In this case, the heat conduction member 10 can be provided so as to protrude from the upper surface of the bottom surface of the cooling jacket 2, and the upper surface of the heat conduction member 10 can be in contact with the heat pipes 7 and air pipes 8, or the upper surface of the heat conduction member 10 can be shaped so as to encase the heat pipes 7 and air pipes 8.

[0019] In addition, in this embodiment, the heat pipe 7 and the air pipe 8 are arranged around the bottom surface of the refrigerator, but depending on the cooling performance of the refrigerator, it is also possible to arrange them around only half or one-quarter of the bottom surface of the refrigerator.

[0020] Next, the operation of the reagent refrigerator of the automated analyzer of this embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 4. When Stirling refrigerator 9 is operated, heat absorption section 11 of the Stirling refrigerator is cooled to a low temperature. Meanwhile, heat dissipation section 12 of the Stirling refrigerator becomes hot, and heat is dissipated to heat dissipation fins 13 attached to heat dissipation section 12. By operating heat dissipation fan 14 attached to casing 15 so as to blow air in the direction of the arrow, air that has been heated by passing through heat dissipation fins 13 passes between Stirling refrigerator 9 and casing 15 and is exhausted to the outside of the casing by heat dissipation fan 14.

[0021] Next, the cooling jacket 2 is cooled by transferring heat to the heat absorption portion 11 of the Stirling refrigerator via the thermally conductive grease 21 and the thermally conductive member 10. Heat pipes 7 installed on the upper bottom surface of the cooling jacket 2 transfer heat to the thermally conductive member 10 from locations on the cooling jacket 2 that are distant from the thermally conductive member 10. Because the equivalent thermal conductivity of the heat pipes 7 is very high, the entire cooling jacket 2 is cooled relatively uniformly. As the entire cooling jacket 2 is cooled, the air inside the cooling jacket 2 is cooled, which in turn cools the reagent disk 3, the reagent containers 6, and the reagents stored in the reagent containers 6.

[0022] Meanwhile, air sent from outside by blower 17 to inlet air pipe 16 passes through air pipe 8, which is arranged near or in contact with heat pipe 7, travels around the interior of the refrigerator, and is blown into the refrigerator from air pipe outlet 19, which is located near drain outlet 18. At this time, air pipe 8 is cooled by the low-temperature heat pipe 7 with which it is in contact, and moisture in the air condenses inside air pipe 8 and is discharged from air pipe outlet 19. The air is then discharged to the outside of the refrigerator via drain outlet 18, which is located near air pipe outlet 19, and drain pipe 30, and dry, low-humidity air is blown into the refrigerator.

[0023] The top and sides of the reagent refrigerator are often occupied by devices required for reagent intake and replacement, making it difficult to install a refrigeration unit. Therefore, it is desirable to install the refrigeration unit below the reagent refrigerator. In this embodiment, the Stirling refrigerator 9 is installed below the reagent refrigerator. Generally, a heat pipe achieves higher heat transfer performance when the heated portion is located below the cooled portion. In this embodiment, the heat pipe 7 is installed on the sloped bottom of the cooling jacket 2, and the thermally conductive member 10 connected to the heat absorption portion 11 of the Stirling refrigerator 9 is located at a high position on the bottom. This allows the heat pipe 7 to exhibit high heat transfer performance and uniformly cool the interior of the reagent refrigerator. Meanwhile, a drain port 18 is provided on the lower side of the bottom of the cooling jacket 2, allowing condensed water from the air inside the cooling jacket 2 to flow toward the drain port and be efficiently discharged.

[0024] Furthermore, in this embodiment, air taken in from the outside by the blower 17 flows through the air pipe 8, which is located in contact with or near the heat pipe 7, to condense and separate moisture. The moisture exiting the air pipe outlet 19 is discharged through the drain 18, and dry air is blown into the chamber from the air pipe outlet 19. With this structure, the air pipe 8 contacts the low-temperature heat pipe over a long distance, allowing more moisture in the air to condense and be removed. This reduces the humidity inside the reagent refrigerator, significantly reducing condensation on reagent containers and other components. Furthermore, the pressure inside the chamber is maintained higher than outside, preventing ambient air from entering through the reagent aspiration hole 22 and causing an increase in the chamber temperature. As described above, the structure of this embodiment makes it possible to provide an automated analyzer equipped with a reagent refrigerator that can uniformly cool the chamber interior with a single refrigerator and suppresses condensation inside the reagent refrigerator.

[0025] Figure 5 shows a vertical cross section of a reagent refrigerator for an automated analyzer according to another embodiment (Example 2) of the present invention, and Figure 6 shows a horizontal cross section. Parts common to Example 1 are numbered the same. In this example, heat pipes 7 are arranged so that they overlap each other at a low position on the upper surface of the jacket bottom. Arranging the heat pipes in this manner increases the contact area between heat pipes 7 and cooling jacket 2 at positions far from heat conduction member 10 connected to Stirling refrigerator 9, thereby increasing the amount of heat dissipation. This improves cooling performance at positions far from the refrigerator and enables more uniform cooling within the refrigerator.

[0026] Figure 7 shows a vertical cross section of a reagent refrigerator of an automatic analyzer according to another embodiment (Example 3), and Figure 8 shows a horizontal cross section. Parts common to Example 1 are numbered the same. In Figures 7 and 8, heat pipe 7 is installed above the bottom surface of cooling jacket 2 so as to pass over heat conductive member 10. Inlet air pipe 16 branches into inlet air pipe 24 and inlet air pipe 25, which are connected to air pipe 25 and air pipe 26, respectively. Air pipe 25 and air pipe 26 are installed near or in contact with heat pipe 7.

[0027] A second drain outlet 29 is provided near the heat conduction member 10. An outlet 27 of the air pipe 25 is located near the second drain outlet 29, and an outlet of the air pipe 26 is located near the drain outlet 18. The air blown into the air pipe 25 is cooled by the heat pipe 7, and moisture in the air passing through the air pipe 25 condenses on the inside of the air pipe 25.

[0028] The moisture condensed on the inside of air pipe 25 is discharged to the outside of the refrigerator from air pipe outlet 27 through second drain port 29, drain pipe 31 and drain pipe 30. The air sent to air pipe 26 is similarly cooled by heat pipe 7, and the moisture in the air passing through air pipe 26 condenses on the inside of air pipe 26. The moisture condensed on the inside of air pipe 26 is discharged to the outside of the refrigerator together with the air from air pipe outlet 28 through drain port 18 and drain pipe 30.

[0029] Because the temperature of the cooling jacket 2 near the heat conduction member 10 is low, moisture in the air may condense directly on the upper surface of the bottom of the cooling jacket 2. In such cases, the moisture condensed on the cooling jacket 2 is guided to the drain outlet 29 and discharged to the outside of the chamber. The structure of Example 4 maximizes the performance of the heat pipe 7 to uniformly cool the inside of the chamber, suppresses condensation inside the reagent refrigerator, and further enables moisture condensed on the cooling jacket 2 near the heat conduction member 10 to be efficiently discharged to the outside of the chamber.

[0030] FIG. 9 shows a vertical cross section of a reagent refrigerator of an automated analyzer according to another embodiment (Example 4), FIG. 10 shows a horizontal cross section, and FIG. 11 shows a perspective view of the bottom portion of the cooling jacket 2. Parts common to Example 1 are labeled with the same numbers. In FIGS. 9 to 11, in this example, the upper surface of the bottom of the cooling jacket 2 is sloped so that the outer side is lower and the inner side is higher (angles α>0, β>0 in FIG. 9). The heat pipe 7 is installed near the inner edge 200 of the jacket bottom on the heat conductive member 10 side, and near the outer edge 201 of the jacket bottom on the drain outlet 18 side, so that the heat pipe 7 near the heat conductive member 10 is higher than the opposite side (see FIG. 11).

[0031] 9 with respect to the horizontal plane may be made smaller than the angle α so that the drain port portion of the cooling jacket 2 is at a lower position, and the height of the inner edge 200 of the cooling jacket 2 may be kept constant and the drain port side of the outer edge 201 may be made lower, thereby allowing moisture that condenses directly on the cooling jacket 2 to be efficiently guided to the drain port 18. The structure of Example 4 makes it possible to maximize the performance of the heat pipe 7, uniformly cool the inside of the chamber with a single cooler, suppress condensation inside the reagent refrigerator, and further make it possible to efficiently discharge moisture that condenses on the cooling jacket 2 other than the inside of the air pipe 8 to the outside of the chamber.

[0032] FIG. 12 shows a vertical cross section of a reagent refrigerator of an automated analyzer according to another embodiment (Example 5), and FIG. 13 shows a horizontal cross section. Parts common to Example 1 are labeled with the same numbers. In FIGS. 12 and 13 , as in Example 4, the upper surface of the bottom of the cooling jacket 2 is sloped so that the outer side is lower and the inner side is higher, and the heat pipe 7 is installed near the inner edge of the jacket bottom on the thermally conductive member 10 side and near the outer edge of the jacket bottom on the drain outlet 18 side, so that the position of the heat pipe 7 near the thermally conductive member 10 is higher than the opposite side. Also, as in Example 4, the angle β with respect to the horizontal plane in FIG. 7 may be smaller than the angle α, so that the drain outlet portion of the cooling jacket 2 is lower. The height of the inner edge 200 of the cooling jacket 2 may be constant, and the drain outlet side of the outer edge 201 may be lower.

[0033] In this embodiment, inlet air pipe 36 connected to blower 17 branches to send air to air pipes 32 and 33. Air pipes 32 and 33 are each installed so as to come into contact with heat pipe 7. Air passing through air pipes 32 and 33 is cooled by heat conduction to heat pipe 7 as well as heat conduction member 10, and moisture in the air condenses inside air pipes 32 and 33 and is discharged from air pipe outlets 34 and 35, and then through drain outlet 18 and drain pipe 30 to be discharged to the outside of the refrigerator. On the other hand, the air blown out from air pipe outlets 34 and 35 is low-humidity, dry air, which reduces the humidity inside the refrigerator and suppresses condensation inside the refrigerator.

[0034] This embodiment allows the interior of the chamber to be cooled uniformly with a single cooler, suppresses condensation inside the reagent refrigerator, and also effectively discharges moisture condensed on the cooling jacket 2 other than the inside of the air pipe 8 to the outside of the chamber. Furthermore, according to this embodiment, by dividing the air pipe into two above the heat conduction member 10, more moisture can be condensed inside the tube by heat conduction to the heat conduction member 10 in addition to the heat pipe 7. Moreover, because the air tube is divided into two, the amount of moisture condensing inside each air pipe does not increase, moisture condensed inside the air pipe is effectively discharged, and air pressure loss inside the air tube is reduced, making it possible to reduce the power required for the blower 17.

[0035] As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an automatic analyzer equipped with a small reagent refrigerator that can uniformly cool the interior of the refrigerator with a single cooler and can suppress condensation inside the reagent refrigerator.

[0036] Although the above embodiment has been described using a Stirling refrigerator as an example of a cooling device, other cooling devices, such as a Peltier element, can also be used.

[0037] Furthermore, although the above embodiment is directed to an automatic immunoanalyzer, it is also possible to apply the present invention to other analyzers.

[0038] 1... reagent refrigerator, 2... cooling jacket, 3... reagent disk, 4, 5... heat insulating material, 6... reagent container, 7... heat pipe, 8... air pipe, 9... Stirling refrigerator, 10... heat conducting member, 11... heat absorption section, 12... heat dissipation section, 13... heat dissipation fin, 14... heat dissipation fan, 15... casing, 16... inlet air pipe, 17... blower, 18... drain port, 19... air pipe outlet, 20... drive section, 21... thermally conductive grease, 22... reagent suction hole, 23, 24... branched inlet air pipe, 25, 26... air pipe, 27, 28... air pipe outlet, 29... second drain port, 30, 31... drain pipe, 32, 33... air pipe, 34, 35... air pipe outlet, 36... inlet air pipe, 200... inner edge of bottom of cooling jacket, 201... outer edge of bottom of cooling jacket

Claims

1. An automatic analyzer comprising: a reagent refrigerator that keeps a plurality of reagent containers cold; a heat pipe that is provided within the reagent refrigerator and cools the interior of the reagent refrigerator; a cooling device that cools the heat pipe; a dehumidifying pipe that is provided in the vicinity of or at least partially in contact with the heat pipe and that passes air from outside the reagent refrigerator and discharges it into the reagent refrigerator from its end; and a first drain that discharges condensation water discharged from the end of the dehumidifying pipe to the outside of the reagent refrigerator.

2. An automatic analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the dehumidifying pipe is arranged so as to lead from the first drain into the reagent refrigerator, make a substantial circle around the bottom surface of the inner surface of the reagent refrigerator, and return to the vicinity of the first drain.

3. An automatic analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the cooling device is provided below the reagent refrigerator, and the cooling section of the cooling device is installed at least in part directly below or in the vicinity of the location of the heat pipe inside the reagent refrigerator.

4. An automatic analyzer according to claim 2, wherein the dehumidifying pipe is provided at a position that is higher in the vertical direction than other positions in the middle of a path that goes almost completely around the bottom surface of the inner surface of the reagent refrigerator, and the cooling device is provided below the reagent refrigerator, and the cooling section of the cooling device is installed at least in part at a position directly below or in the vicinity of the position that is higher in the vertical direction than other positions.

5. An automatic analyzer according to claim 1, further comprising a blower for blowing air from outside the reagent refrigerator into the dehumidifying pipe.

6. An automatic analyzer according to claim 4, wherein the end of the dehumidifying pipe is located at the lowest position in a path that goes almost completely around the bottom surface of the inner surface of the reagent refrigerator.

7. An automatic analyzer according to claim 2, wherein the heat pipe extends substantially completely around the bottom surface of the inner surface of the reagent refrigerator, along with the dehumidifying pipe.

8. An automatic analyzer according to claim 7, wherein the cooling device is provided below the reagent refrigerator, and the cooling section of the cooling device is installed directly below or in at least a portion of a position in the reagent refrigerator where the heat pipes are installed, and the heat pipes are installed in a position farther from the cooling section than in a position closer to the cooling section.

9. An automatic analyzer according to claim 4, further comprising a second drain provided near the cooling unit for discharging condensed water formed inside the reagent refrigerator to the outside of the reagent refrigerator.

10. An automatic analyzer according to claim 3, wherein the dehumidifying pipe is configured to be two dehumidifying pipes that go almost completely around the bottom surface of the inner surface of the reagent refrigerator, a first dehumidifying pipe is led from the first drain into the reagent refrigerator and has its end near a second drain that is provided near the cooling unit and discharges condensed water that has formed inside the reagent refrigerator to the outside of the reagent refrigerator, and a second dehumidifying pipe is led from the second drain into the reagent refrigerator and has its end near the first drain.

11. An automatic analyzer according to claim 3, wherein the dehumidifying pipe is led from the vicinity of the cooling unit into the reagent refrigerator, branches midway, and is configured to run almost completely around the bottom surface of the inner surface of the reagent refrigerator, and each end of the branched dehumidifying pipe discharges condensed water from the first drain to the outside of the reagent refrigerator.

12. An automatic analyzer according to claim 3, wherein the bottom surface of the inner surface of the reagent refrigerator on the side where the cooling unit is provided is vertically higher than the side where the first drain is provided.

13. An automatic analyzer according to claim 3, wherein the bottom surface of the inner surface of the reagent refrigerator has a slope that is vertically higher on the inner periphery and vertically lower on the outer periphery, and the cooling section is provided on the inner periphery side of the position where the drain is provided.

14. An automatic analyzer according to claim 11, wherein the bottom surface of the inner surface of the reagent refrigerator has a slope that is higher on the inner periphery and lower on the outer periphery, and the slope on the side where the cooling unit is provided has a smaller angle of inclination with respect to the horizontal than the slope on the side where the first drain is provided.

15. An automatic analyzer according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the cooling device is a refrigerator of either a Stirling type or a Peltier type.

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