Washing apparatus and washing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11344924-B2
Application number	US-202016777164-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2020
Priority date	Jan 31, 2019
Publication date	May 31, 2022
Grant date	May 31, 2022

Abstract

A washing apparatus includes a stage, a suction nozzle, and a control unit. On the stage, an analytical unit is mounted. In the analytical unit, a well having a hole shape including a bottom surface and an inner peripheral surface is formed. The suction nozzle sucks a solution in the well. The control unit, after controlling the suction nozzle to sucks the solution in the well, controls the stage to rotate the stage on which the analytical unit is mounted at a predetermined speed of rotation, and controls the suction nozzle to suck a residue of the solution existing in the well.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A washing apparatus comprising:
a stage on which an analytical unit, in which a well is formed, is mounted, the well having a hole shape including a bottom surface and an inner peripheral surface;
a suction nozzle configured to suck a solution in the well; and
a control unit configured to control an operation of the suction nozzle and an operation of the stage, wherein
the control unit controls the suction nozzle to perform a first suction operation for sucking the solution in the well and then move the suction nozzle away from the bottom surface, and controls the stage to rotate the stage on which the analytical unit is mounted at a predetermined speed of rotation or more so that a residue of the solution in the well is moved in the well to an outer peripheral side of the analytical unit when viewed from a rotation center of the rotation, controls the stage to stop the rotation so that a position before rotation and a position after rotation of each well become the same position, and controls the suction nozzle to move the suction nozzle closer to the bottom surface and then perform second suction operation for sucking the residue of the solution existing in the well.

2. The washing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
when performing the second suction operation, the control unit controls the stage and the suction nozzle so that a tip of the suction nozzle is positioned near the bottom surface and is positioned at a moving destination of the residue of the solution by a centrifugal force generated by the rotation.

3. The washing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the suction nozzles are disposed in the same number as the number of the wells formed in the analytical unit, and the control unit simultaneously controls the respective suction nozzles.

4. The washing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a dispensing nozzle configured to dispense a solution into the well,
wherein a tip of the dispensing nozzle is arranged near the inner peripheral surface of the well and closer to a center of the analytical unit than a tip of the suction nozzle,
and wherein the control unit controls the dispensing nozzle to dispense the solution from the dispensing nozzle, when performing the first suction operation.

5. A washing method using the washing apparatus of claim 1 , the method comprising:
sucking, with the suction nozzle, a solution in the well;
rotating the stage, by the control unit at a predetermined speed of rotation; and
sucking, with the suction nozzle, a residue of the solution existing in the well.

Assignees

• Jvckenwood Corp

Inventors

• Iwama Shigehiko
• Hasegawa Yuichi
• Horikoshi Katsue
• Ono Masayuki

Classifications

• B01L2200/141

  Preventing contamination, tampering · CPC title

• B01L3/5085

  for multiple samples, e.g. microtitration plates · CPC title

• B08B3/02

  Cleaning by the force of jets or sprays · CPC title

• B08B3/044 Primary

  using agitated containers in which the liquid and articles or material are placed (by means of ultrasonic vibrations B08B3/12; cleaning casks or barrels by agitating B08B9/0817; mixers with shaking, oscillating or vibrating mechanisms B01F31/00) · CPC title

• G01N2035/0437

  Cleaning cuvettes or reaction vessels · CPC title