Reaction disc and containing hole emptying method therefor

Abstract

The present invention provides a reaction disc and a containing hole emptying method therefor. The reaction disc comprises a reaction disc main body, a first gripping module, and a second gripping module. The reaction disc main body, the first gripping module, and the second gripping module are all electrically connected to a controller. The reaction disc main body is configured to be rotatable about a fixed axis, and at least two annular containing hole arrays are concentrically arranged on a bearing surface of the reaction disc main body, the at least two containing hole arrays being arranged in a radial pattern as a whole. The first gripping module is configured to be in a detection and marking mode, and the second gripping module is configured to be in a detection and gripping mode. According to the method, after the bearing surface of the reaction disc main body is divided into four fan-shaped areas, by executing a predetermined control strategy, outer-ring containing holes marked in advance by the first gripping module within a target fan-shaped area can be emptied while inner-ring containing holes within the target fan-shaped area are emptied by means of the second gripping module. The present invention can solve the problem of low efficiency or excessive implementation costs associated with gripper-based reaction disc containing hole emptying schemes in the existing technology.

Description

A reaction disk and a method for clearing its containing hole Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the field of in vitro diagnostic automation equipment, and more particularly, relates to a reaction disk and a method for emptying a receiving hole thereof. Background Art

[0002] Existing in vitro diagnostic analyzers typically use a reaction tray as a cuvette carrier. Specifically, the tray's carrier surface is typically arranged with a concentric array of circular lattices, each of which serves as a receiving well for the cuvette. In recent years, with the increasing throughput and speed of in vitro diagnostic analyzers, the reaction trays required to accommodate these cuvettes have also been required to accommodate a greater number of cuvettes.

[0003] During actual testing, during the initialization process of the IVD analyzer or during pre-test preparation, a predetermined process of clearing the reaction tray wells is required. Specifically, a cup gripper is typically used to detect whether each well on the reaction tray has a cuvette. The gripper then moves the detected cuvette to the cup ejection position, thereby clearing the wells on the reaction tray.

[0004] However, in existing reaction tray well emptying processes, only a single gripper is typically used to inspect and discard the cuvettes. This results in inefficiencies due to the large number of wells on existing reaction trays. To address this, some have proposed using multiple robotic arms to collaborate and empty the wells on the reaction tray. However, this approach not only complicates the structure and increases the cost of the entire in vitro diagnostic analysis system, but also relies on complex collaborative optimization algorithms. Consequently, this approach is prohibitively expensive.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] In view of this, the present invention provides a reaction tray and a method for emptying its receiving holes.

[0007] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reaction tray, the reaction tray comprising:

[0008] The reaction disk body is configured to be rotatable around a fixed axis, and has at least two annular arrays of receiving holes concentrically arranged on its bearing surface, wherein the at least two arrays of receiving holes are radially arranged as a whole;

[0009] a first grabbing module configured to reciprocate on a first linear path, for detecting whether a cuvette is contained in a receiving hole below the first linear path, and if so, marking the receiving hole;

[0010] a second grabbing module configured to reciprocate along a second linear path perpendicular to the first linear path, and configured to detect whether there is a cuvette in an unmarked receiving well below the second linear path; if so, grab the cuvette and move it to a cup-throwing position below the distal end of the second linear path; and move the cuvette in the marked receiving well to the cup-throwing position;

[0011] The controller is electrically connected to the reaction disk body, the first grabbing module, and the second grabbing module.

[0012] Optionally, for the first straight line path and the second straight line path, the proximal ends and distal ends of both have corresponding vertical projection points on the plane where the bearing surface is located, the proximal projection points of both are located on the inner side of the innermost circle accommodating hole array and the distal projection points are located outside the bearing surface, and the proximal projection point and distal projection point of each straight line path are collinear with the center of the bearing surface.

[0013] According to a second aspect of the present invention, a method for emptying a receiving hole of any of the above-mentioned reaction trays is provided;

[0014] The bearing surface of the reaction disk body is evenly divided into a first fan-shaped area, a second fan-shaped area, a third fan-shaped area, and a fourth fan-shaped area. The first fan-shaped area, the second fan-shaped area, the third fan-shaped area, and the fourth fan-shaped area are distributed along the reversing direction of the reaction disk body, and the reversing direction is clockwise or counterclockwise.

[0015] When the number of the accommodating hole arrays is three, the three accommodating hole arrays are numbered N1, N2, and N3 from the outside to the inside;

[0016] The specific method for clearing the receiving hole is as follows:

[0017] Controlling the reaction disk body to rotate forward, controlling the first grabbing module to mark the target N1 circles of accommodating holes in the second sector-shaped area, and controlling the second grabbing module to empty the target N1 circles of accommodating holes in the first sector-shaped area;

[0018] Controlling the reaction disk body to rotate forward, controlling the first grabbing module to mark the target N1 circles of accommodating holes in the fourth sector-shaped area, and controlling the second grabbing module to clear the target N1 circles of accommodating holes in the third sector-shaped area;

[0019] Controlling the reaction disk body to rotate forward, controlling the first grabbing module to mark the target N2-circle accommodating holes in the third sector-shaped area, and controlling the second grabbing module to clear the target N2-circle accommodating holes in the second sector-shaped area, and clearing the N1-circle accommodating holes if the N2-circle accommodating holes radially corresponding to the target N1-circle accommodating holes are in the marked state;

[0020] Controlling the reaction disk body to rotate forward, controlling the first grabbing module to mark the target N2-circle accommodating holes in the first sector-shaped area, and controlling the second grabbing module to clear the target N2-circle accommodating holes in the fourth sector-shaped area, and clearing the N1-circle accommodating holes if the N2-circle accommodating holes radially corresponding to the target N1-circle accommodating holes are marked;

[0021] Controlling the reaction disk body to rotate forward, controlling the first grabbing module to mark the target N3-circle accommodating holes in the second sector-shaped area, and controlling the second grabbing module to clear the target N3-circle accommodating holes in the first sector-shaped area, and clearing the N2-circle accommodating holes if the N3-circle accommodating holes radially corresponding to the target N2-circle accommodating holes are in the marked state;

[0022] Controlling the reaction disk body to rotate forward, controlling the first grabbing module to mark the target N3-circle accommodating holes in the fourth sector-shaped area, and controlling the second grabbing module to clear the target N3-circle accommodating holes in the third sector-shaped area, and clearing the N2-circle accommodating holes if the N3-circle accommodating holes radially corresponding to the target N2-circle accommodating holes are in the marked state;

[0023] The reaction disk body is controlled to rotate, and the second grabbing module is controlled to clear the marked target N3 circle accommodating holes in the second sector-shaped area and the fourth sector-shaped area.

[0024] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0025] The technical solution of the present invention requires implementing the proposed method for clearing the receiving holes on the basis of the proposed reaction disk. In this method, the first gripping module is configured in a detection and marking mode, and the second gripping module is configured in a detection and gripping mode. After the bearing surface of the reaction disk body is divided into first through fourth sector-shaped areas, a predetermined control strategy is implemented to simultaneously clear the inner ring receiving holes within the target sector-shaped area through the second gripping module and the outer ring receiving holes within the target sector-shaped area, which were previously marked by the first gripping module.

[0026] Compared with the reaction tray receiving hole emptying solution based on a single cup gripper in the prior art, the present invention has higher work efficiency due to the use of two grabbing modules working together. Compared with the reaction tray receiving hole emptying solution based on multiple cup grippers in the prior art, the implementation of the technical solution of the present invention only requires the addition of a grabbing module on the basis of the existing reaction tray receiving hole emptying solution based on a single cup gripper, and there is no need to add a corresponding cup throwing position due to the addition of a grabbing module, which has little impact on the structure and cost of the entire in vitro diagnostic analysis system; at the same time, the receiving hole emptying method proposed by the present invention is based on a simple, clever and practical concept, and its development difficulty is lower and easier to implement than complex collaborative optimization algorithms. It can be seen that the use of the present invention can effectively solve the problems of low efficiency or excessive implementation costs of the existing reaction tray receiving hole emptying solution based on cup grippers.

[0027] Other features and advantages of the present invention will be described in detail in the following detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] The present invention may be better understood by referring to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which the same or similar reference numerals are used throughout the drawings to designate the same or similar parts.

[0029] FIG1 shows a schematic structural diagram of a reaction disk according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] FIG2 is a schematic diagram showing a first state of an accommodating hole array according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0031] FIG3 is a schematic diagram showing a second state of the accommodating hole array according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] FIG4 shows a schematic diagram of a third state of an accommodating hole array according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] FIG5 is a schematic diagram showing a fourth state of the accommodating hole array according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0034] FIG6 is a schematic diagram showing a fifth state of the accommodating hole array according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0035] FIG7 is a schematic diagram showing a sixth state of the accommodating hole array according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0036] FIG8 is a schematic diagram showing a seventh state of the accommodating hole array according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0037] FIG9 is a schematic diagram showing an eighth state of the accommodating hole array according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0038] FIG10 is a schematic diagram showing a ninth state of the accommodating hole array according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0039] FIG11 is a schematic diagram showing a tenth state of an accommodating hole array according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0040] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing an eleventh state of the accommodating hole array according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] In order to enable those skilled in the art to more fully understand the technical solution of the present invention, the exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in more comprehensive and detailed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings below. Obviously, the one or more embodiments of the present invention described below are only one or more of the specific ways of implementing the technical solution of the present invention, and are not exhaustive. It should be understood that other ways belonging to a general inventive concept can be used to implement the technical solution of the present invention, and should not be limited by the exemplary embodiments described. Based on one or more embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative work should fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0042] Embodiment: FIG1 shows a schematic structural diagram of a reaction disk according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG1 , the reaction disk according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises:

[0043] The reaction disk body 100 is configured to rotate around a fixed axis. At least two annular receiving hole arrays 110 are concentrically arranged on its supporting surface. The at least two receiving hole arrays 110 are uniformly radially arranged overall. Each receiving hole array 110 is composed of a corresponding number of receiving holes 111, and the number of receiving holes 111 included in each receiving hole array 110 is a multiple of 4.

[0044] The first grabbing module 200 is configured to reciprocate along a first linear path and is used to detect whether a cuvette is contained in a receiving hole below the first linear path, and if so, mark the receiving hole;

[0045] The second grabbing module 300 is configured to reciprocate along a second linear path perpendicular to the first linear path, and is used to detect whether there is a cuvette in an unmarked receiving well below the second linear path. If so, the second grabbing module 300 grabs the cuvette and moves it to a cup-throwing position 400 below the distal end of the second linear path, and also moves the cuvette in the marked receiving well to the cup-throwing position 400.

[0046] The controller is electrically connected to the reaction disk body 100 , the first grabbing module 200 , and the second grabbing module 300 .

[0047] Furthermore, in an embodiment of the present invention, the proximal ends and distal ends of the first and second linear paths have corresponding vertical projection points on the plane of the support surface of the reaction disk body 100. The proximal projection points of the first and second linear paths are both located inside the innermost circle of the accommodating hole array, and the distal projection points are both located outside the support surface of the reaction disk body 100. The proximal projection point and the distal projection point of each linear path are collinear with the center of the support surface of the reaction disk body 100.

[0048] Specifically, in this embodiment of the present invention, the reciprocating motion of the first gripping module 200 along the first linear path is achieved based on the configured first linear guide 500, and the reciprocating motion of the second gripping module 300 along the second linear path is achieved based on the configured second linear guide 600. The length of the first linear path is substantially equal to the length of the first linear guide 500, and the length of the second linear path is substantially equal to the distance between the proximal end of the second linear guide 600 and the cup-throwing station 400. The first linear guide 500 is arranged horizontally to provide a horizontal first linear path, and the second linear guide 600 is arranged horizontally to provide a horizontal second linear path.

[0049] Specifically, in the embodiment of the present invention, the controller is specifically configured to:

[0050] The driving reaction disk body 100 is capable of fixed-axis rotation, including forward rotation, reverse rotation, rotation by a step, and rotation by a specified arc. When the driving reaction disk body 100 is in an initial state or when it changes from rotation to stillness, the lower portion of the first linear path has only one corresponding row of accommodating holes 111 arranged radially along the bearing surface of the driving reaction disk body 100, and the lower portion of the second linear path also has only one corresponding row of accommodating holes 111 arranged radially along the bearing surface of the driving reaction disk body 100.

[0051] Controlling the first grabbing module 200 to detect the target receiving hole, and receiving the number of the marked receiving hole sent by the first grabbing module 200;

[0052] Controlling the second gripping module 300 to detect target receiving wells and emptying the detected receiving wells containing cuvettes, specifically by grabbing the cuvettes and moving them to the cup-discharging position 400, and emptying the receiving wells previously marked by the first gripping module 200 according to the received numbers of the marked receiving wells;

[0053] Controlling the first linear guide rail 500 to move the first grabbing module 200 to a target position;

[0054] The second linear guide rail 600 is controlled to move the second grabbing module 300 to a target position.

[0055] Correspondingly, for the reaction disk of the embodiment of the present invention, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for clearing the receiving holes of the reaction disk, and the method for clearing the receiving holes is applied to the controller.

[0056] In an embodiment of the present invention, the bearing surface of the reaction disk body is evenly divided into a first fan-shaped area, a second fan-shaped area, a third fan-shaped area, and a fourth fan-shaped area. The first fan-shaped area, the second fan-shaped area, the third fan-shaped area, and the fourth fan-shaped area are distributed along the reverse direction of the reaction disk body, and the reverse direction is counterclockwise.

[0057] 1 , in an embodiment of the present invention, three accommodating hole arrays are provided on the supporting surface of the reaction disk body. The three accommodating hole arrays are, in order from the outside to the inside, an N1 circle accommodating hole array, an N2 circle accommodating hole array, and an N3 circle accommodating hole array.

[0058] The method for clearing the receiving hole according to the embodiment of the present invention is specifically as follows:

[0059] The position of the reaction disk body is reset to zero. At this time, the state of the accommodating hole array is shown in FIG2 , where A, B, C, and D are the first sector area, the second sector area, the third sector area, and the fourth sector area, respectively.

[0060] The reaction disk body is controlled to rotate forward 90 degrees. During this process, the first gripping module is controlled to mark the target N1 circles of receiving holes in the second sector-shaped area B. At the same time, the second gripping module is controlled to clear the target N1 circles of receiving holes in the first sector-shaped area A. After executing this step, the state of the receiving hole array is shown in Figure 3.

[0061] First, the reaction disk body is controlled to rotate forward 90 degrees. At this time, the state of the accommodating hole array is shown in Figure 4. Then, the reaction disk body is controlled to rotate forward 90 degrees. During this process, the first gripping module is controlled to mark the target N1 circles of accommodating holes in the fourth sector-shaped area D. At the same time, the second gripping module is controlled to clear the target N1 circles of accommodating holes in the third sector-shaped area C. After executing these steps, the state of the accommodating hole array is shown in Figure 5.

[0062] First, the reaction disk body is controlled to rotate forward 180 degrees. At this time, the state of the accommodating hole array is shown in Figure 6. Then, the reaction disk body is controlled to rotate forward 90 degrees. During this process, the first gripping module is controlled to mark the target N2 circles of accommodating holes in the third sector-shaped area C. Simultaneously, the second gripping module is controlled to clear the target N2 circles of accommodating holes in the second sector-shaped area B. Furthermore, if the N1 circle of accommodating holes radially corresponding to the target N2 circles of accommodating holes are marked, the N1 circle of accommodating holes are cleared. After executing these steps, the state of the accommodating hole array is shown in Figure 7.

[0063] First, the reaction disk body is controlled to rotate forward 90 degrees. At this time, the state of the accommodating hole array is shown in Figure 8. Then, the reaction disk body is controlled to rotate forward 90 degrees. During this process, the first gripping module is controlled to mark the target N2 circles of accommodating holes in the first sector-shaped area A. At the same time, the second gripping module is controlled to clear the target N2 circles of accommodating holes in the fourth sector-shaped area D. Moreover, if the N1 circle of accommodating holes radially corresponding to the target N2 circles of accommodating holes are marked, the N1 circle of accommodating holes are cleared. After executing these steps, the state of the accommodating hole array is shown in Figure 9.

[0064] The reaction disk body is controlled to rotate forward 90 degrees. During this process, the first gripping module is controlled to mark the target N3-circle accommodating holes in the second sector-shaped area B. At the same time, the second gripping module is controlled to clear the target N3-circle accommodating holes in the first sector-shaped area A. Furthermore, if the N2-circle accommodating holes radially corresponding to the target N3-circle accommodating holes are marked, the N2-circle accommodating holes are cleared. After executing this step, the state of the accommodating hole array is shown in FIG. 10 .

[0065] First, the reaction disk body is controlled to rotate forward 90 degrees. At this time, the state of the accommodating hole array is shown in Figure 11. Then, the reaction disk body is controlled to rotate forward 90 degrees. During this process, the first gripping module is controlled to mark the target N3 circles of accommodating holes in the fourth sector-shaped area D. At the same time, the second gripping module is controlled to clear the target N3 circles of accommodating holes in the third sector-shaped area C. Moreover, if the N2 circles of accommodating holes radially corresponding to the target N3 circles of accommodating holes are marked, the N2 circles of accommodating holes are cleared. After executing these steps, the state of the accommodating hole array is shown in Figure 12.

[0066] The reaction disk body is controlled to rotate, and during the rotation of the reaction disk body, the second grasping module is controlled to clear the marked target N3-circle accommodating holes in the second sector-shaped area B and the fourth sector-shaped area D, thereby completing the clearing of all accommodating holes on the N1-circle accommodating hole array, the N2-circle accommodating hole array, and the N3-circle accommodating hole array.

[0067] Specifically, in an embodiment of the present invention, emptying the receiving hole means removing the reaction cup placed in the receiving hole if a reaction cup is detected in the receiving hole, specifically grabbing the reaction cup and discarding it to the cup throwing position; marking the receiving hole means marking the receiving hole if a reaction cup is detected in the receiving hole, specifically obtaining the number of the receiving hole and sending it to the controller.

[0068] Although one or more embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention can be implemented in any other form without departing from its spirit and scope. Therefore, the embodiments described above are illustrative and not restrictive, and many modifications and substitutions will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A reaction disk, characterized in that: include: The reaction disk body is configured to be able to rotate around a fixed axis, and at least two annular arrays of receiving holes are concentrically arranged on its bearing surface, and the at least two arrays of receiving holes are radial in shape as a whole; A first grabbing module is configured to be able to reciprocate on a first straight path, and is used to detect whether there is a reaction cup in a receiving hole below the first straight path, and if so, mark the receiving hole; A second grabbing module is configured to be able to reciprocate on a second straight path perpendicular to the first straight path, and is used to detect whether there is a reaction cup in an unmarked receiving hole located below the second straight path, and if so, grab the reaction cup and move it to a cup throwing position located below the far end of the second straight path, and move the reaction cup in the marked receiving hole to the cup throwing position; A controller, electrically connected to the reaction disk body, the first grabbing module and the second grabbing module; Marking the accommodating holes is to obtain numbers of the accommodating holes and send the numbers of the accommodating holes to the controller.

2. The reaction disk according to claim 1, characterized in that: For the first straight line path and the second straight line path, the proximal ends and distal ends of both have corresponding vertical projection points on the plane where the bearing surface is located, the proximal projection points of both are located on the inner side of the innermost circle accommodating hole array and the distal projection points are located outside the bearing surface, and the proximal projection point and distal projection point of each straight line path are collinear with the three points of the center of the bearing surface.

3. A method for emptying the receiving holes of the reaction disk according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The bearing surface of the reaction disk body is evenly divided into a first fan-shaped area, a second fan-shaped area, a third fan-shaped area and a fourth fan-shaped area, and the first fan-shaped area, the second fan-shaped area, the third fan-shaped area and the fourth fan-shaped area are distributed along the reversal direction of the reaction disk body, and the reversal direction is a clockwise direction or a counterclockwise direction; When the number of the accommodating hole arrays is three, the serial numbers of the three accommodating hole arrays are defined as N1, N2 and N3 according to their positions from outside to inside; Then the method for clearing the receiving hole is specifically as follows: Control the reaction disk body to rotate forward, control the first grabbing module to mark the target N1 circles of accommodating holes in the second fan-shaped area, and control the second grabbing module to clear the target N1 circles of accommodating holes in the first fan-shaped area; Control the reaction disk body to rotate forward, control the first grabbing module to mark the target N1 circles of accommodating holes in the fourth sector-shaped area, and control the second grabbing module to clear the target N1 circles of accommodating holes in the third sector-shaped area; Control the reaction disk body to rotate forward, control the first grabbing module to mark the target N2 circle accommodating holes in the third fan-shaped area, and control the second grabbing module to clear the target N2 circle accommodating holes in the second fan-shaped area, and if the N1 circle accommodating holes radially corresponding to the target N2 circle accommodating holes are in the marked state, clear the N1 circle accommodating holes; Control the reaction disk body to rotate forward, control the first grabbing module to mark the target N2 circle accommodating holes in the first fan-shaped area, and control the second grabbing module to clear the target N2 circle accommodating holes in the fourth fan-shaped area, and if the N1 circle accommodating holes radially corresponding to the target N2 circle accommodating holes are in the marked state, clear the N1 circle accommodating holes; Control the reaction disk body to rotate forward, control the first grabbing module to mark the target N3 circle accommodating holes in the second fan-shaped area, and control the second grabbing module to clear the target N3 circle accommodating holes in the first fan-shaped area, and if the N2 circle accommodating holes radially corresponding to the target N3 circle accommodating holes are in the marked state, clear the N2 circle accommodating holes; Control the reaction disk body to rotate forward, control the first grabbing module to mark the target N3 circle accommodating holes in the fourth fan-shaped area, and control the second grabbing module to clear the target N3 circle accommodating holes in the third fan-shaped area, and if the N2 circle accommodating holes radially corresponding to the target N3 circle accommodating holes are in the marked state, clear the N2 circle accommodating holes; The reaction disk body is controlled to rotate, and the second grabbing module is controlled to clear the marked target N3 circle containing holes in the second sector-shaped area and the fourth sector-shaped area.

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