Reaction cup recovery device and sample analyzer

Abstract

The utility model provides a reaction cup recovery device and a sample analyzer, and the reaction cup recovery device comprises a pipeline which is arranged below a discarding port of a reaction cup; the conveying assembly comprises a sliding groove and a cup pushing mechanism, an external expansion part is arranged on the inner wall, close to an opening, of the sliding groove, the external expansion part is used for bearing a protrusion on the outer wall of the reaction cup so that the reaction cup falling from the pipeline can be hung in the sliding groove, and the cup pushing mechanism is used for pushing the reaction cup to the outlet end of the sliding groove; and the waste container is arranged on one side of the outlet end of the sliding chute and is used for bearing the reaction cup. According to the scheme, the limitation of the internal space of the sample analyzer is ingeniously avoided, the requirement on the overall layout of the analyzer is remarkably reduced, and the problem that the waste material container cannot be directly discarded due to the fact that a certain distance exists between the discarding opening and the waste material container in the prior art is solved, so that the design freedom degree is expanded, and excellent flexibility and universality are shown.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application belongs to the technical field of in vitro diagnostic instruments, and specifically relates to a reaction cup recovery device and a sample analyzer. Background Art

[0002] In the application of fully automatic chemiluminescence immunoassay analyzers, the reaction cup must be discarded into a dedicated solid waste container after completing the measurement process. Traditional equipment design usually requires that the waste container be placed directly below the discard port of the reaction cup, that is, the reaction cup can fall directly into the waste container after being discarded, which puts forward high design requirements for the overall layout of the equipment.

[0003] However, in some cases, due to the limitation of the internal space of the instrument, the discard port of the reaction cup may be a certain distance away from the waste container, making it impossible to directly discard the reaction cup. Utility Model Content

[0004] The present application discloses a reaction cup recovery device and a sample analyzer, so as to solve the problem in the prior art that the waste container cannot be directly discarded due to a certain distance between the discarding port and the waste container.

[0005] In a first aspect of the present application, a reaction cup recovery device is provided, comprising:

[0006] A pipeline is arranged below the discarding port of the reaction cup;

[0007] The conveying assembly includes a chute and a cup-pushing mechanism, wherein an outward expansion portion is provided on the inner wall of the chute near the opening, and the outward expansion portion is used to support the protrusion of the outer wall of the reaction cup, so that the reaction cup falling from the pipeline hangs in the chute, and the cup-pushing mechanism is used to push the reaction cup to the outlet end of the chute;

[0008] The waste container is arranged at one side of the outlet end of the chute and is used to receive the reaction cup.

[0009] Optionally, a buffer assembly is further provided between the conveying assembly and the waste container, and the buffer assembly includes a hopper, blades provided at the bottom of the hopper, and a driving mechanism, and the driving mechanism is used to drive the blades to open or close.

[0010] Optionally, a fixing block is provided on one side of the blade;

[0011] The driving mechanism includes a rack, a gear and a first driving member, the rack is provided with an annular portion, the annular portion is sleeved on the outer side of the fixed block, the gear rotates under the drive of the first driving member, and the rack reciprocates under the drive of the gear to pull the blades to move in relative or opposite directions.

[0012] Optionally, the cup pushing mechanism includes:

[0013] a second driving member;

[0014] A transmission member, used for reciprocating along the direction of the slide slot under the action of the second driving member;

[0015] The push plate is fixedly connected to the transmission member and is used to push the reaction cup to slide along the slide groove.

[0016] Optionally, the cup pushing mechanism further includes:

[0017] A guide rail, fixed below the slide groove;

[0018] The slider is slidably arranged on the guide rail, and the push plate is fixedly connected to the slider.

[0019] Optionally, the outwardly expanded portion is a ridge or a step.

[0020] Optionally, a first sensor is provided at the entrance end of the slideway, and the first sensor is used to feedback information on whether the reaction cup is in place.

[0021] Optionally, a buffer portion is provided at the outlet end of the pipe, and a cross-sectional diameter of the buffer portion gradually decreases near the opening.

[0022] Optionally, the slide chute is arranged horizontally.

[0023] According to a second aspect of the present application, a sample analyzer is provided, comprising a cleaning mechanism, a measuring mechanism, and a reaction cup recovery device provided by any one of the implementation modes of the first aspect, wherein the cleaning mechanism is used to clean the reaction liquid in the reaction cup, and the measuring mechanism is used to measure the reaction liquid after cleaning, and the measuring mechanism is provided with a measuring disk, a cup throwing position is provided on one side of the measuring disk, and a reaction cup discarding port is provided at the bottom of the cup throwing position.

[0024] The present application provides a reaction cup recovery device and a sample analyzer. This solution cleverly avoids the limitation of the internal space of the sample analyzer, significantly reduces the requirements for the overall layout of the instrument, and solves the problem in the prior art that the waste cannot be directly discarded due to the certain distance between the discard port and the waste container, thereby expanding the design freedom and providing more possibilities for innovative design. At the same time, the solution shows excellent flexibility and versatility. The reaction cup can be effectively transported over a long distance and can be seamlessly integrated into other material handling systems to improve overall operating efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of a reaction cup provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0026] Figure 2A schematic diagram of the main structure provided for the embodiment of the present application;

[0027] Figure 3 A top view of a conveying assembly provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] FIG4( a ) is a schematic diagram of the matching structure of the reaction cup and the outer expansion portion provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] FIG4( b ) is a schematic diagram of the matching structure of a reaction cup and another type of expansion portion provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the structure of the cache component provided in the embodiment of the present application;

[0031] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the partial structure of the conveying assembly provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0032] Figure markings: 1-reaction cup; 2-pipeline; 3-conveying assembly; 4-waste container; 5-cache assembly; 11-protrusion; 21-buffer; 31-slide; 32-cup pushing mechanism; 311-outward expansion portion; 321-second driving member; 322-transmission member; 323-push plate; 324-guide rail; 325-slider; 51-hopper; 52-blade; 53-driving mechanism; 521-fixed block; 531-rack; 532-gear; 533-first driving member; 5311-annular portion. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application are described clearly and completely below. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0034] In chemiluminescent immunoassay, a reaction cup is used to carry human body fluid samples such as blood and serum. The sample is subjected to operations such as adding reagents, mixing, incubating, and washing in the analyzer. The product after the reaction between the sample and the reagent is detected by a measuring mechanism to obtain the test result. In this process, the reaction cup undergoes a series of circulations and is discarded after the measuring mechanism completes the measurement. The reaction cup recovery device provided in the embodiment of the present application is used to receive the reaction cup and transport it to a waste container.

[0035] Reference Figure 1 As shown in the structural diagram, a protrusion 11 is provided on the outer wall of the reaction cup 1, and the protrusion 11 is mainly used for limiting.

[0036] Reference Figure 2 and Figure 3As shown in the structural schematic diagram, the embodiment of the present application provides a reaction cup recovery device, including: a pipeline 2, arranged below the discarding port of the reaction cup; a conveying component 3, including a slide 31 and a cup pushing mechanism 32, the slide 31 is provided with an outward expansion portion 311 on the inner wall close to the opening, the outward expansion portion 311 is used to support the protrusion 11 on the outer wall of the reaction cup 1, so that the reaction cup falling from the pipeline is suspended in the slide 31, and the cup pushing mechanism 32 is used to push the reaction cup to the outlet end of the slide 31; a waste container 4 is arranged on one side of the outlet end of the slide 31, and is used to receive the reaction cup 1.

[0037] In this embodiment, the discard port of the reaction cup is set on one side of the measuring mechanism, and the reaction cup falls from the discard port to the pipe 2, and then slides to the conveying component 3. The pipe 2 can be vertical or curved. Since the reaction cup has a certain length and considering the space limitation inside the analyzer, a vertical pipe is selected in this embodiment.

[0038] Since the reaction cup has a certain impact force when it falls from the pipe 2, the reaction cup is easily bounced up under the action of the impact force, making it difficult for it to enter the position where the slide groove 31 is located. In order to solve this problem, the present embodiment provides an outward expansion portion 311 so that the cross-section of the slide groove 31 forms a trumpet-shaped opening, so that the reaction cup can be ensured to fall into the opening of the slide groove 31.

[0039] The chute 31 is divided into an upper part and a lower part by the lower edge of the outward expansion portion 311. The width of at least one cross section of the upper part is smaller than the outer diameter of the protrusion 11, and the width of the lower part is slightly larger than the cup body diameter of the reaction cup. When the reaction cup falls into the chute 31, under the limiting effect of the protrusion 11, the reaction cup is in a suspended state, and the cup body stands upright in the chute 31. At this time, the reaction cup is pushed to the outlet end of the chute 31 by the cup pushing mechanism 32 and falls into the waste container 4.

[0040] Referring to the structural schematic diagram shown in FIG4 , the outward expansion portion 311 is a ridge or a step. The outward expansion portion 311 shown in FIG4(a) is a ridge. In this case, the contact position between the protrusion 11 on the outer wall of the reaction cup and the chute 31 is close to the lower edge of the outward expansion portion 311; the outward expansion portion 311 shown in FIG4(b) is a step. In this case, the contact position between the protrusion 11 on the outer wall of the reaction cup and the chute 31 is the lower edge of the outward expansion portion 311. Since the width of the outward expansion portion 311 shown in FIG4(a) gradually decreases, it is beneficial for the reaction cup to fall and achieve a suspended state. Therefore, in this embodiment, the outward expansion portion 311 is preferably a ridge. The outward expansion portions 311 on the inner walls on both sides of the chute 31 can be symmetrically arranged or asymmetrically arranged, which is not specifically limited here.

[0041] It can be seen from the above technical solutions that in the reaction cup recovery device provided in this embodiment, the reaction cup falls into the chute 31 through the pipeline 2, is pushed to the outlet end of the chute 31 by the cup pushing mechanism 32, and then falls into the waste container 4 to complete the recovery of the reaction cup. Among them, the length of the chute 31 can be set as needed, so that the reaction cup is transported to the waste container 4 far away from the discarding port, which solves the problem of not being able to be directly discarded due to the certain distance between the discarding port and the waste container in the prior art.

[0042] In this embodiment, the waste container 4 is a solid waste container, and other solid wastes generated by the analyzer can also be placed in the waste container 4 .

[0043] Since the volume of the waste container 4 is limited, as the reaction cups are transported, the waste container 4 gradually reaches full load, and the solid waste in the waste container 4 needs to be cleaned. In order not to affect the continuous transportation of the reaction cups, the present embodiment further provides a cache component 5 between the conveying component 3 and the waste container 4, and the cache component 5 includes a hopper 51, a blade 52 provided at the bottom of the hopper 51, and a driving mechanism 53, wherein the driving mechanism 53 is used to drive the blade 52 to open or close so as to release or block the reaction cups. When it is necessary to clean the waste container 4, the driving mechanism 53 drives the blade 52 to close, and the reaction cups are cached in the hopper 51; when waiting for the waste container 4 to return to its original position, the driving mechanism 53 drives the blade 52 to open, and the reaction cups fall into the waste container.

[0044] Reference Figure 5 As shown in the structural schematic diagram, the blade 52 is rotatably connected to the hopper 51. In this embodiment, two blades 52 are provided, and a fixed block 521 is provided on one side of the blade 52; the driving mechanism 53 includes: a rack 531, a gear 532 and a first driving member 533, the rack 531 is provided with an annular portion 5311, and the annular portion 5311 is sleeved on the outer sides of the two fixed blocks 521. The gear 532 rotates under the drive of the first driving member 533, and the rack 531 reciprocates under the drive of the gear 532 to pull the blade 52 to move in relative or opposite directions.

[0045] Figure 5 The blade 52 is shown in the open state. In this state, the first driving member 533 drives the gear 532 to rotate, driving the rack 531 to move upward. Under the traction of the annular portion 5311, the two blades 52 move in opposite directions, so that the two blades 52 gradually approach each other until they are closed. When the first driving member 533 drives the gear 532 to reverse, the blade 52 can be opened. The first driving member 533 is installed on the motor mounting plate. The first driving member 533 can be a DC motor, an AC motor, a stepping motor, a servo motor or other types of motors.

[0046] Reference Figure 6 As shown in the structural schematic diagram, the cup pushing mechanism 32 includes: a second driving member 321; a transmission member 322, which is used to reciprocate along the direction of the slide groove under the action of the second driving member 321; and a push plate 323, which is fixedly connected to the transmission member 322 and is used to push the reaction cup to slide along the slide groove 31.

[0047] In order to detect whether the push plate 323 is in place, optical coupling sensors are respectively provided at both ends of the slide groove 31. The optical coupling sensor can be a U-shaped optical coupling. A shading sheet is fixed on one side of the push plate 323. When the shading sheet reaches the U-shaped optical coupling, the information that the push plate 323 is in place is fed back.

[0048] In this embodiment, the second driving member 321 is a DC motor, an AC motor, a stepping motor, a servo motor or other types of motors. The transmission member 323 can be a conveyor belt, which reciprocates around the gear under the action of the second driving member. Since the conveyor belt has a certain length, in order to prevent the push plate 323 from shaking during the reciprocating motion of the transmission belt, the cup pushing mechanism 32 provided in this embodiment also includes: a guide rail 324, fixed below the slide 31; a slider 325, slidably arranged on the guide rail 324, and the push plate 323 is fixedly connected to the slider 325.

[0049] like Figure 3 As shown, a first sensor 312 is provided at the entrance of the chute 31, and the first sensor 312 is used to feedback information on whether the reaction cup is in place. The first sensor 312 can be a photoelectric sensor, a contact sensor or other types of sensors.

[0050] The following briefly describes the working process of the reaction cup recovery device provided in this embodiment:

[0051] S1, when the reaction cup falls from the pipe 2 into the chute 31, the first sensor feeds back the information that the reaction cup is in place to the controller;

[0052] S2, when the push plate 323 is at the initial position (i.e., at the entrance end of the chute 31), the controller controls the second driving member 321 to work, and the push plate 323 pushes the reaction cup to the exit end of the chute 31;

[0053] S3. The reaction cup falls into the waste container 4 through the buffer component 5; or, when the buffer component 5 is closed in advance, the reaction cup stays in the buffer component 5.

[0054] From the above, we can see that the cuvette recovery device can not only efficiently transfer the cuvette from the analyzer to the waste container, but also provide buffer space when necessary to ensure smooth continuous operation. In addition, the flexibility and versatility of this solution allows it to be easily integrated into other systems that require material handling, greatly improving operational efficiency and the level of equipment automation.

[0055] In order to reduce the impact force when the reaction cup falls from the outlet end of the pipe 2 into the chute 31 , a buffer portion 21 is provided at the outlet end of the pipe 2 , and the cross-sectional diameter of the buffer portion 21 gradually decreases near the opening.

[0056] In this embodiment, the chute 31 is horizontally arranged to receive the reaction cup dropped from the pipe 2 and facilitate the reciprocating motion of the push plate 323. In order to make the push plate 323 smooth in the chute 31, its width is smaller than the width of the chute 31. In other embodiments, the chute 31 can also be inclined as long as it does not affect the sliding of the reaction cup in the chute 31.

[0057] This embodiment also provides a sample analyzer, including a cleaning mechanism, a measuring mechanism and Figure 2 The reaction cup recovery device provided by any one of the implementation modes, wherein the cleaning mechanism is used to clean the reaction liquid in the reaction cup, the measuring mechanism is used to measure the reaction liquid after cleaning, the measuring mechanism is provided with a measuring disk, a cup throwing position is provided on one side of the measuring disk, and a discarding port for the reaction cup is provided at the bottom of the cup throwing position, and the reaction cup is thrown out from the discarding port and enters the reaction cup recovery device.

[0058] The above are merely embodiments of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present application are included in the scope of the claims of the present application to be approved.

Claims

1. A reaction cup recovery device, characterized in that: include: A pipeline is arranged below the discarding port of the reaction cup; The conveying assembly includes a chute and a cup-pushing mechanism, wherein an outward expansion portion is provided on the inner wall of the chute near the opening, and the outward expansion portion is used to support the protrusion of the outer wall of the reaction cup, so that the reaction cup falling from the pipeline hangs in the chute, and the cup-pushing mechanism is used to push the reaction cup to the outlet end of the chute; The waste container is arranged at one side of the outlet end of the chute and is used to receive the reaction cup.

2. A reaction cup recovery device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A buffer assembly is also provided between the conveying assembly and the waste container. The buffer assembly includes a hopper, blades provided at the bottom of the hopper, and a driving mechanism. The driving mechanism is used to drive the blades to open or close.

3. A reaction cup recovery device according to claim 2, characterized in that: A fixing block is provided on one side of the blade; The driving mechanism includes a rack, a gear and a first driving member, the rack is provided with an annular portion, the annular portion is sleeved on the outer side of the fixed block, the gear rotates under the drive of the first driving member, and the rack reciprocates under the drive of the gear to pull the blades to move in relative or opposite directions.

4. The reaction cup recovery device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The cup pushing mechanism comprises: a second driving member; A transmission member, used for reciprocating along the direction of the slide slot under the action of the second driving member; The push plate is fixedly connected to the transmission member and is used to push the reaction cup to slide along the slide groove.

5. The reaction cup recovery device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The cup pushing mechanism also includes: A guide rail, fixed below the slide groove; The slider is slidably arranged on the guide rail, and the push plate is fixedly connected to the slider.

6. The reaction cup recovery device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The outwardly expanded portion is an edge or a step.

7. The reaction cup recovery device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A first sensor is disposed at the entrance end of the slideway, and the first sensor is used to feedback information on whether the reaction cup is in place.

8. The reaction cup recovery device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The chute is arranged horizontally.

9. The reaction cup recovery device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The outlet end of the pipeline is provided with a buffer portion, and the cross-sectional diameter of the buffer portion gradually decreases near the opening.

10. A sample analyzer, characterized in that: The invention comprises a cleaning mechanism, a measuring mechanism and a reaction cup recovery device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the cleaning mechanism is used for cleaning the reaction liquid in the reaction cup, the measuring mechanism is used for measuring the reaction liquid after cleaning, the measuring mechanism is provided with a measuring disk, a cup throwing position is provided on one side of the measuring disk, and a discarding port for the reaction cup is provided at the bottom of the cup throwing position.

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