Hitachi-high-technologies Corporation

Hitachi High-tech Corporation

Hitachi, Ltd.

Roche Diagnostics Operations, Inc.

Roche Diagnostics Gmbh

F. Hoffmann-la Roche Ag

Masato Ishizawa

Minoru Sano

Yoshiyuki Shoji

Akihisa Makino

Takamichi Mori

Toshiyuki Shimamori

Hitoshi Tokieda

Yosuke Horie

Kouhei Nonaka

Mitsuhiro Hishinuma

Tomohiro Inoue

Shuhei Yamamoto

Isao Yamazaki

Akihiro Nojima

Masaki Hara

Kohshi Maeda

Kimikazu Sugiyama

Mitsuru Oonuma

Yasuhiro Yoshimura

Akira Omachi

Stephan Sattler

Hironori Kaji

Satoru Yamamoto

Nobuo Suzuki

Atsushi Kazama

Hiroshi Ohga

Chie Yabutani

Ryuji Tao

Akira Inagaki

Takeshi Setomaru

Yoichiro Suzuki

Shigenori Watari

Hideyuki Yanami

Kohei Nonaka

Hidetsugu Tanoue

Hideyasu Chiba

Hiroshi Hashimoto

Kenichi Nishigaki

Chie Sugiyama

Yohichi Aruga

Kazumi Kusano

Takehiko Hosoiri

Provided is an automatic analyzer provided with a liquid level sensing function in which liquid levels in sample containers having various heights can be precisely detected using ultrasonic waves. This device is provided with: a conveyance rack for conveying a sample container which contains a sample and is loaded thereon; a fixed ultrasonic distance sensor for measuring the liquid level position in the sample container loaded on the conveyance rack; sound wave guides for suppressing diffusion of sound waves transmitted from the ultrasonic distance sensor, the sound wave guides being disposed between the sample container and the ultrasonic distance sensor; and a sound wave guide control unit for adjusting the length or switching the length of the sound wave guides in accordance with the distance between the ultrasonic distance sensor and the sample container.

Automatic analyzer

An ultrasonic cleaner according to the present invention includes a vibrating partfor enlarging ultrasonic vibration of a bolt-clamped Langevin type transducer (BLT)on a side surface side in a cleaning tank, generates cavitation by the ultrasonic vibration with respect to cleaning liquid supplied into the cleaning tankby driving the BLTon the periphery of a nozzle without unevenness, and is capable of performing effective nozzle cleaning.

Ultrasonic cleaner and automatic analyzer using the same

A reagent-bottle lid opening mechanism is disclosed, which has a needle for piercing a lid of a reagent bottle to be delivered to a reagent disk, has an aligning mechanism of automatically adjusting a position of the needle with respect to the lid such that a needle body of the needle can stick in the center of the lid, and accurately and repeatedly makes an incision in the center of the lid. As a result, an automatic analyzer is provided that is capable of unsealing the center of the lid of the reagent bottle with accuracy even if the central axis of the needle and the central axis of the lid are offset from each other.

To clean a reagent probeor a sample probewith a heated cleaning solution, after a first cleaning solution is caused to overflow from a first cleaning containeror a second cleaning container, the first cleaning solution is temporarily drawn back into the cleaning-solution heating passageto be heated by the heating mechanism. After the heating, the first cleaning solution thus heated is re-supplied to the first cleaning containeror the second cleaning container. As a result, the cleaning solution heated to clean a dispensing probe can be supplied to a cleaning bath with efficiency.

An automatic analyzer with high processing capacity is capable of immediately measuring an emergency specimen rack. The automatic analyzer includes a conveying line for conveying a specimen rack, and an analysis unit which has a dispensing line in which a plurality of specimen racks are arranged for waiting until sample dispensing, and a sampling area for dispensing the sample to the analysis unit. A rack save area is provided in the dispensing line and at a position adjacent to the upstream side of the sampling area. When a specimen rack exists in the sampling area at the time of measuring an emergency specimen rack, a controller moves the specimen rack to the save area and positions the emergency specimen rack to be moved from a downstream side of the sampling area to the sampling area.

An automatic analyzer includes: a reagent mounting unitin which a plurality of reagent bottlesare installed when a reagent bottleis loaded into the automatic analyzer; a reagent conveying mechanismincluding a gripper mechanismand a reagent mounting mechanismfor moving the reagent mounting unitbetween an installation position at which an operator installs the reagent bottlein the reagent mounting unitand a position at which the gripper mechanismgrips the reagent bottleIt is thereby possible to achieve saving of a mechanism installation space and reduction of the number of constituent components, automatically carry out an operation from opening of the reagent bottle to loading of the reagent bottle into the reagent disk, and alleviate an operator's burden.

Automatic analyzer and reagent bottle loading method

An ultrasonic cleaner according to the present invention includes a vibrating partfor enlarging ultrasonic vibration of a BLTon a side surface side in a cleaning tank, generates cavitation by the ultrasonic vibration with respect to cleaning liquid supplied into the cleaning tankby driving the BLTon the periphery of a nozzle without unevenness, and is capable of performing effective nozzle cleaning.

A nucleic acid amplifier comprises a holderwhich is provided with a plurality of temperature control blockseach designed to hold at least one reaction vesselstoring a reaction solution. The temperature of the reaction solution in each reaction vesselis controlled individually by using temperature control devicesandarranged in each of the temperature control blocks. The temperature that is set in each temperature control blockand the timing for temperature changes are controlled independently of the temperatures of other temperature control blocks. This configuration makes it possible to provide a nucleic acid amplifier and a nucleic acid inspection device (employing the nucleic acid amplifier) capable of processing multiple types of samples differing in the protocol in parallel (parallel processing) and starting a process for a different sample even when there is a process in execution.

Nucleic acid amplifier and nucleic acid inspection device employing the same

The purpose of the present invention is to provide an automatic analysis device that combines a biochemical analysis unit and a blood coagulation analysis unit and has a high processing capacity while reducing device cost and life-cycle cost. An automatic analysis device is characterized in that when a synthetic-substrate item or latex-agglutination item from among synthetic-substrate, latex-agglutination, and clotting-time blood-coagulation-test items is made to be a first test item and the clotting-time item is made to be a second test item, if there is a measurement request for the first test item and second test item in the same specimen rack, a control unit determines the conveyance path of the specimen rack such that the first test item is measured using a biochemical analysis unit and the second test item is measured using a coagulation time analysis unit and controls a conveyance line.

Automatic analysis device

If an air bubble is entrained when a reagent is added to a sample, disturbance caused by this air bubble may prevent accurate optical measurement, thereby reducing accuracy for measuring blood clotting ability. The position to dispense the reagent depends on accuracy of stopping a reagent dispensing mechanism and dimensional errors of individual detectors, and thus conventional reagent discharging method may entrain an air bubble because a distance between a nozzle for dispensing the reagent and an inner wall of a reaction vessel is not constant and conditions for dispensing the reagent to the sample vary. In the present invention, an automatic analyzer with a nozzle for sucking and discharging the reagent for blood clotting reaction is provided with a dispensing mechanism that keeps a constant position for the nozzle to discharge the reagent by pressing the nozzle against the inner wall of the reaction vessel within the elastic range.

A device for detecting nucleic acid amplification in a sample, comprising: a loading unit (thermoregulation unit) which is provided with a plurality of holes for loading reaction containers and capable of arbitrarily controlling a measurement unit for measuring samples in the containers that are loaded in the holes. The loading unit and the measurement unit, which are placed opposite to each other, can be operated independently from each other. In a transfer operation, the operation speeds of the thermoregulation unit and measurement unit are controlled so that the sum of these speeds amounts to an arbitrary constant value.

Method for detecting nucleic acid amplification in sample and device therefor

There is provided a genetic test system provided with a dispensing means for dispensing a sample and a reagent to a reaction vessel and a vessel conveyance means for conveying the reaction vessel. The system further includes a plurality of nucleic acid amplification detection units, each including a temperature control means for accommodating a plurality of reaction vessels and performing temperature control for each accommodated position of the reaction vessel, a temperature monitoring means for monitoring a value of temperature to be controlled of the reaction vessel, and a light emission measurement means for measuring light emission of reaction liquid in the reaction vessel. At least one of the nucleic acid amplification detection units individually has a vessel conveyance means different from the above-mentioned vessel conveyance means.

Genetic test system

In an automatic analysis device, when an external force acts on a probe guardin a horizontal direction, the probe guardmoves in a direction escaping from the external force around a center portionof a test body container installing mechanism, and the probe guardis separated from a fixed position. An outer circumferential wallof the probe guardinvades a test body sampling mechanism track, and thus a risk that a sampling nozzleof a test body sampling mechanisminvades the test body container installing mechanismis avoided by the outer circumferential wall. When the probe guardis separated from the fixed position, this is detected, and thus the operation of the test body sampling mechanismand the test body container installing mechanismis stopped.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Masato Ishizawa