Liquid sampling device

Abstract

To provide a device that can efficiently collect a liquid in a container.SOLUTION: A liquid collection device 1 includes at least one container holders 16-1, 16-2 on which top-open containers S-1, S-2 that accommodates a liquid are to be set, a height adjustment mechanism 4 for independently adjusting the height of the containers S-1, S-2 set on the container holders 16-1, 16-2, respectively, inhalers 6-1, 6-2 for inhalation of the liquid in the containers S-1, S-2, a liquid level sensor 8 for detecting the height of the liquid surface in the containers S-1, S-2, respectively, and a controller 14 for controlling the operations of the height adjustment mechanism 4 and the inhalers 6-1, 6-2. The controller 14 controls the height adjustment mechanism 4 on the basis of the height of the liquid surface in the container detected by the liquid level sensor 8 before the inhalers 6-1, 6-2 operate executing an inhalation operation to inhale the liquid in the container S-1, S-2, and executes a liquid level adjusting operation to adjust the liquid level of the liquid in the container to a predetermined height.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a liquid sampling device for sampling a liquid from a container.

Background Art

[0002] When performing chromatographic analysis on residual pesticides in food, for example, after putting the analyte together with a solvent and an internal standard reagent into a container and centrifuging it with a centrifuge, the supernatant liquid in the container is inhaled as a sample by an inhaler, and a pretreatment of injecting the liquid into a vial for liquid chromatography (LC) or gas chromatography (GC) is required. As a container for centrifugation, a centrifuge tube as disclosed in Patent Document 1 is used.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] Generally, the above pretreatment is performed manually. In recent years, there are also devices that automatically execute some steps of the pretreatment. However, in the fields of food and pharmaceuticals, since the number of analysis target samples is large, the pretreatment takes a lot of labor and time. Therefore, an increase in the efficiency of sample pretreatment is desired. In particular, since various states such as liquid, powder, and gel are contained in a dissolved state in a reagent in a container for centrifugation, the height of the liquid surface in the container varies depending on the sample, and it is necessary to check the height of the liquid surface in the container and change the height of the inhaler when inhaling the liquid in the container according to the height of the liquid surface. For this reason, it has been difficult to improve the efficiency such as simultaneously inhaling samples from a plurality of containers.

[0005] This invention has been made in view of the above problems, and aims to provide a device that can efficiently collect liquid from a container. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The liquid collection device according to the present invention comprises: at least one container holder for setting an open-top container for containing liquid; a height adjustment mechanism for independently adjusting the height of each of the containers set in the at least one container holder; an inhaler for drawing up the liquid in each of the containers set in the at least one container holder; a liquid level sensor for detecting the height of the liquid level in each of the containers set in the at least one container holder; and a controller for controlling the operation of the height adjustment mechanism and the inhaler. The controller is configured to control the height adjustment mechanism based on the respective liquid level in the containers detected by the liquid level sensor before the inhaler performs an inhalation operation to draw up the liquid in each of the containers set in the at least one container holder, and to perform a liquid level adjustment operation to adjust the liquid level in the containers to a predetermined height. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the liquid sampling device of the present invention, the device is configured to set the liquid level in the container set in the container holder to a predetermined height before the liquid in the container set in the container holder is drawn in by the inhaler. Therefore, it is not necessary to operate the inhaler while considering the liquid level in the container, and the liquid in the container can be collected efficiently. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This is a schematic diagram showing one embodiment of a liquid collection device. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart illustrating an example of the liquid collection operation in the same embodiment. [Figure 3] This figure shows the state in which the liquid levels in each container are at the same height in the same embodiment. [Figure 4] This figure shows the state when the liquid in each container is collected simultaneously in the same embodiment. [Figure 5] This is a block diagram showing an example configuration of an analytical system equipped with a liquid sampling device. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the liquid collection device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0010] As shown in Figure 1, the liquid collection device 1 comprises a container block 2, a height adjustment mechanism 4, inhalers 6-1 and 6-2, a liquid level sensor 8, an arm 10, an arm drive mechanism 12, and a controller 14.

[0011] Container block 2 is provided with container holders 16-1 and 16-2. Each of the container holders 16-1 and 16-2 is an open hole at the top. Each of the container holders 12-1 and 12-2 is set with an open-top container S-1 and S-2 for containing the liquid to be collected. Containers S-1 and S-2 are, for example, centrifuge tubes used in a centrifuge.

[0012] The height adjustment mechanism 4 is located below the container block 2. The height adjustment mechanism 4 is equipped with vertically extending rods 18-1 and 18-2 located directly below the container holders 16-1 and 16-2 of the container block 2. Each rod 18-1 and 18-2 passes through through holes 20-1 and 20-2 provided in the bottom of each container holder 16-1 and 16-2 of the container block 2, and can support the bottom surface of each container S-1 and S-2 from below. The height adjustment mechanism 4 can move each rod 18-1 and 18-2 up and down independently using a rack and pinion mechanism, thereby allowing the height of each container S-1 and S-2 to be adjusted independently.

[0013] The configuration of the height adjustment mechanism 4 can be any configuration that enables the independent adjustment of the heights of containers S-1 and S-2 set in container holders 16-1 and 16-2. In this embodiment, container holders 16-1 and 16-2 are provided in a common container block 2, but container holders 16-1 and 16-2 may be provided in separate blocks, and the heights of container holders 16-1 and 16-2 may be adjusted independently by the height adjustment mechanism 4.

[0014] The inhalers 6-1, 6-2, and the liquid level sensor 18 are mounted on an arm 10 located above the container block 2. Pipettes or syringes with needles at their tips can be used as inhalers 6-1 and 6-2. The inhalation ports at the tips of inhalers 6-1 and 6-2 face vertically downward and are aligned at the same height. Inhalers 6-1 and 6-2 are used to draw liquid from containers S-1 and S-2, respectively, which are set in container holders 16-1 and 16-2. The liquid level sensor 8 is used to detect the liquid level in containers S-1 and S-2 when positioned directly above them. A non-contact liquid level sensor, such as an ultrasonic liquid level sensor, can be used as the liquid level sensor 8.

[0015] The arm 10 is moved in the horizontal and vertical directions by the arm drive mechanism 12. The arm 10 can position the inhaler 6-1 directly above the container holder 16-1, and simultaneously position the inhaler 6-2 directly above the container holder 16-2. The arm 10 can also position the liquid level sensor 8 directly above the container holder 16-1 and directly above the container holder 16-2.

[0016] Here, in the drawings, the container block 2 is depicted as having two container holders 16-1 and 16-2, but the number of container holders provided in the container block 2 may be only one or three or more. The number of rods of the height adjustment mechanism 4 and the number of inhalers are the same as the number of container holders. Also, in this embodiment, only one liquid level sensor 8 is provided, but the same number of liquid level sensors as the number of container holders may be provided so as to be able to simultaneously detect the liquid levels in a plurality of container holders.

[0017] The controller 14 is realized by a computer circuit including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the like. The controller 14 controls the operations of the height adjustment mechanism 4, the inhalers 6-1 and 6-2, and the arm drive mechanism 12, and is configured to simultaneously execute the liquid sampling by the inhalers 6-1 and 6-2 from the containers S-1 and S-2 set in the respective container holders 16-1 and 16-2.

[0018] An example of the liquid sampling operation from the containers S-1 and S-2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 3, and 4 together with the flowchart of FIG. 2.

[0019] When the containers S-1 and S-2 are set in the container holders 16-1 and 16-2 of the container block 2, the controller 14 starts the liquid sampling operation from the containers S-1 and S-2 automatically or based on an instruction from the user. When a conveying device such as a robot arm that automatically sets the containers for each of the container holders 16-1 and 16-2 is provided, based on a signal output from the conveying device indicating that the setting of the containers in the container holders 16-1 and 16-2 is completed, it can be detected that the containers S-1 and S-2 are set in the container holders 16-1 and 16-2, and the liquid sampling operation from the containers S-1 and S-2 can be started.

[0020] When the controller 14 starts the liquid sampling operation from the containers S-1 and S-2, first, it sequentially positions the liquid level sensor 8 directly above the containers S-1 and S-2 of the container holders 16-1 and 16-2 to detect the liquid level heights in the respective containers S-1 and S-2 (Figure 2: Step 101). At this time, the controller 14 controls the height adjustment mechanism 4 to position the respective rods 18-1 and 18-2 at a predetermined home position.

[0021] Thereafter, based on the liquid level heights in the respective containers S-1 and S-2 detected by the liquid level sensor 8, the controller 14 performs a liquid level adjustment operation to align those liquid levels to the same height. The liquid level heights in the respective containers S-1 and S-2 detected by the liquid level sensor 8 can be detected as the distances between the liquid level sensor 8 and the liquid levels in the respective containers S-1 and S-2. The controller 14 uses the distances between the liquid level sensor 8 detected by the liquid level sensor 8 and the liquid levels in the respective containers S-1 and S-2 to calculate the adjustment amounts of the heights of the containers S-1 and S-2 required to set the liquid levels in the respective containers S-1 and S-2 to predetermined heights, that is, the driving amounts of the height adjustment mechanism 4. Then, based on the driving amounts of the height adjustment mechanism 4 obtained by the calculation, the controller 14 operates the rods 18 of the height adjustment mechanism 4 respectively, so that, as shown in Figure 3, the liquid level heights in the respective containers S-1 and S-2 are aligned to a predetermined height (Figure 2: Step 102).

[0022] Next, after the controller 14 positions the inhalers 6-1 and 6-2 directly above the containers S-1 and S-2 respectively, as shown in Figure 4, it lowers the arm 10 to position the tips of the inhalers 6-1 and 6-2 at the heights required to inhale a predetermined amount of the upper layer portion of the liquid in the respective containers S-1 and S-2, and simultaneously inhales the liquid in the respective containers S-1 and S-2 into the inhalers 6-1 and 6-2 (Step 103).

[0023] After the liquid collection operation described above is completed, the controller 14 raises the arm 10 to withdraw the tips of the inhalers 6-1 and 6-2 from the containers S-1 and S-2, and then moves the arm 10 horizontally to move the inhalers 6-1 and 6-2 to a predetermined dispensing position. The predetermined dispensing position is, for example, a position for dispensing the sample into a sample vial set in the autosampler of an LC system located adjacent to this liquid collection device.

[0024] In the above description of operation, the arm 10 is lowered when the liquid in each container S-1 and S-2 is drawn in by the inhalers 6-1 and 6-2, but the present invention is not limited to this. In step 102, when leveling the liquid levels in each container S-1 and S-2, the inhalers 6-1 and 6-2 may be positioned directly above each container S-1 and S-2, and the containers S-1 and S-2 may be raised by the height adjustment mechanism 4 until the intake ports of each inhaler 6-1 and 6-2 are inserted into the liquid in each container S-1 and S-2.

[0025] The liquid sampling device 1 described above can be used as one component of a pre-processing unit incorporated into a liquid chromatography analysis system. Figure 5 shows an example of the configuration of an analysis system consisting of a pre-processing unit and an LC system. This analysis system includes the liquid sampling device 1 and a centrifuge 100 as a pre-processing unit for preparing samples to be used in the LC system 200. The liquid sampling device 1 is positioned between the centrifuge 100 and the LC system 200. The centrifuge tubes containing the samples centrifuged in the centrifuge 100 are set in the container holders 16-1 and 16-2 of the liquid sampling device 1 by a transport mechanism such as a robotic arm provided on or separately from the centrifuge 100. The liquid sampling device 1 collects the supernatant liquid in the centrifuge tubes transported from the centrifuge 100 as a sample using aspirators 6-1 and 6-2. Subsequently, the liquid sampling device 1 dispenses the sample into sample vials for the LC system 200.

[0026] The embodiments described above are merely examples of embodiments of the liquid sampling device according to the present invention. Embodiments of the liquid sampling device according to the present invention are as follows.

[0027] In one embodiment of the liquid collection device according to the present invention, the device comprises: at least one container holder for setting an open-top container for containing liquid; a height adjustment mechanism for independently adjusting the height of each of the containers set in the at least one container holder; an inhaler for drawing up the liquid in each of the containers set in the at least one container holder; a liquid level sensor for detecting the height of the liquid level in each of the containers set in the at least one container holder; and a controller for controlling the operation of the height adjustment mechanism and the inhaler, wherein the controller is configured to control the height adjustment mechanism based on the respective liquid level in the containers detected by the liquid level sensor before the inhaler performs an inhalation operation to draw up the liquid in each of the containers set in the at least one container holder, and to perform a liquid level adjustment operation to adjust the liquid level in the containers to a predetermined height.

[0028] In the first embodiment of the above-described model, a plurality of container holders are provided, and the controller is configured to adjust the liquid levels in the plurality of containers to a predetermined height through the liquid level adjustment operation. In this configuration, since the liquid levels in the plurality of containers are adjusted to the same height, the inhaler can be accessed similarly from the plurality of containers, and liquid can be efficiently collected from the plurality of containers.

[0029] In the first embodiment described above, a plurality of inhalers are provided corresponding to each of the plurality of container holders, each inhaler has an inlet facing vertically downward, and the height of the inlet of all the inhalers is the same, and the controller is configured to simultaneously inhale the liquid in the plurality of containers, whose liquid levels have been adjusted to a predetermined height by the liquid level adjustment operation, using the plurality of inhalers. With this configuration, the liquid in the plurality of containers can be collected simultaneously, and the collection of liquid from a large number of containers can be performed with high efficiency.

[0030] In the second embodiment of the above-described embodiment, the liquid level sensor is a non-contact type sensor that measures the distance from above the container holder to the liquid level. This second embodiment can be combined with the first embodiment.

[0031] In the second embodiment described above, the controller is configured to, in the liquid level adjustment operation, measure the distance between the liquid level of each of the containers set in each of the plurality of container holders and the liquid level sensor using the liquid level sensor, calculate the amount of height adjustment required to bring the liquid level of each of the plurality of containers to the predetermined height based on the measured distance, and control the height adjustment mechanism (4) so ​​that the height of each of the plurality of containers is adjusted by the calculated amount.

[0032] In the third aspect of the above embodiment, the container is a centrifuge tube for centrifuging the sample. This third aspect can be combined with the first and / or second aspect.

[0033] In the fourth aspect of the above embodiment, the height adjustment mechanism has a plurality of rods corresponding to each of the plurality of container holders, and the controller moves the plurality of rods of the height adjustment mechanism up and down during the liquid level adjustment operation. This fourth aspect can be combined with the first, second, and / or third aspects described above. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0034] 1 Liquid sampling device 2 container blocks 4. Height adjustment mechanism 6-1,6-2 Inhaler 8. Liquid level sensor 10 Arms 12 Arm drive mechanism 14 Controllers 16-1, 16-2 Container holder 18-1, 18-2 Rods 20-1, 20-2 Through holes S-1,S-2 container 100 Centrifugal Separators 200 LC System

Claims

1. Multiple container holders for setting open-top containers that hold liquid, A height adjustment mechanism for independently adjusting the height of each of the multiple containers set in each of the multiple container holders, A plurality of inhalers are provided corresponding to each of the plurality of container holders, for drawing up the liquid in the plurality of containers set in each of the plurality of container holders, The plurality of inhalers are held with their respective inhalation ports facing vertically downwards, and with the height of each inhalation port of the plurality of inhalers aligned to the same height, and an arm is provided for adjusting the height of the plurality of inhalers by moving at least vertically, A liquid level sensor that detects the height of the liquid level in each of the multiple containers set in the multiple container holders, The device comprises the height adjustment mechanism, the plurality of inhalers, and a controller for controlling the movement of the arm, A liquid collection device comprising: a controller configured to control the height adjustment mechanism based on the height of the liquid level in each of the multiple containers detected by the liquid level sensor before the inhaler performs an inhalation operation to draw in the liquid in each of the multiple containers set in each of the multiple container holders, thereby performing a liquid level adjustment operation to bring the liquid levels in each of the multiple containers to the same height; then, based on the height of the liquid levels in the multiple containers, control the arm to lower each of the multiple inhalers to the height necessary for each of the multiple inhalers to draw in a predetermined amount of liquid from the multiple containers, thereby causing the multiple inhalers to simultaneously perform the inhalation operation to draw in the predetermined amount of liquid from the multiple containers.

2. The liquid sampling device according to claim 1, wherein the liquid level sensor is a non-contact type sensor that measures the distance from above the container holder to the liquid surface.

3. The liquid sampling device according to claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to, in the liquid level adjustment operation, measure the distance between the liquid level of each of the containers set in each of the plurality of container holders and the liquid level sensor using the liquid level sensor, calculate the amount of height adjustment required to bring the liquid level of each of the plurality of containers to the predetermined height based on the measured distance, and control the height adjustment mechanism so that the height of each of the plurality of containers is adjusted by the calculated amount.

4. The liquid sampling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the container is a centrifuge tube for centrifuging the sample.

5. The height adjustment mechanism has a plurality of rods corresponding to each of the plurality of container holders, The liquid sampling device according to claim 1, wherein the controller moves the plurality of rods of the height adjustment mechanism up and down during the liquid level adjustment operation.

Images