141 is provided at the center of the plate-like member. The plate member and the rectangle of the hole 141 are provided such that one short side is on the front side.

The engaging section 13 is disposed inside the hole 141 of the auxiliary mounting table 14 when viewed from above, and the upper end of the engaging section 13 extends to the upper side of the upper surface of the auxiliary mounting table 14. The upper surface of the movable table 12 is below the upper surface of the auxiliary mounting table 14.

The movable table moving mechanism 15 includes a movable table linear moving mechanism 151 and a movable table tilting mechanism 152. The movable table linear moving mechanism 151 includes a motor and a mechanism configured to convert rotational motion of the motor into linear motion, and linearly move the movable table 12 in the front-rear direction by the linear motion. In the present embodiment, the auxiliary mounting table 14 is also configured to be linearly moved in the front-rear direction by the movable table linear moving mechanism 151. The movable table 12 is configured to be moved, by the movement in the front-rear direction, between a first position (FIGS. 3A, 5A, and 6A) separated from the internal mounting table 21 and a second position (FIGS. 3B, 5B, and 6B) close to the internal mounting table 21. When the movable table 12 is located at the first position, the engaging section 13 is disposed outside the sample storage 20, and when the movable table 12 is located at the second position, the engaging section 13 is disposed in the sample storage 20. Furthermore, the front end of the auxiliary mounting table 14 moves between the outside of the sample storage 20 and the inside of the sample storage 20.

Note that it is not essential in the present invention to move the auxiliary mounting table 14, and only the movable table 12 (and the engaging section 13 fixed to it) may be configured to be moved in the front-rear direction. In that case, it is preferable that the front end of the hole 141 of the auxiliary mounting table 14 is opened as in the present embodiment such that the engaging section 13 passes through the opening portion and reaches the inside of the sample storage 20. Furthermore, the auxiliary mounting table 14 may be omitted.

The movable table tilting mechanism 152 includes a movable table tilting/opening and closing door lifting motor 1521, a mechanism (not illustrated) configured to convert a rotational motion of the motor into a linear motion in the vertical direction, and an abutment tool 1522 configured to move in the vertical direction by the linear motion. Furthermore, on the side surface of the external mounting table 11, a substantially horizontal rotating shaft 114 extending in the left-right direction is provided at a position closer to the front than the center of gravity. A slab 115 extending downward and forward is further fixed to the side surface of the external mounting table 11, and a protrusion 116 is fixed to the front end of the slab 115 and forward and downward of the rotating shaft 114 (FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C).

When the abutment tool 1522 is above the protrusion 116, the external mounting table 11 is biased such that the rear side of the rotating shaft 114 is lowered by the weight of the external mounting table 11, and when the movable table 12 on the external mounting table 11 becomes substantially horizontal, a stopper (not illustrated) comes into contact with the lower side of the external mounting table 11, thus the movable table 12 is maintained in a substantially horizontal state. From this state, when the abutment tool 1522 descends and comes into contact with the protrusion 116, the protrusion 116 is pushed rearward (FIG. 6C). Since the protrusion 116 is fixed to the external mounting table 11 via the slab 115, the external mounting table 11 rotates about the rotating shaft 114 as the protrusion 116 is pushed rearward, and the front side of the rotating shaft 114 is tilted so as to be lowered. Accordingly, the movable table 12 and the auxiliary mounting table 14 are also tilted such that the front side is lowered. When the abutment tool 1522 is raised from this state and separated from the protrusion 116, the rear side of the rotating shaft 114 of the external mounting table 11 is lowered by its own weight and comes into contact with the stopper. As a result, the movable table 12 and the auxiliary mounting table 14 return to a substantially horizontal state.

In the present embodiment, the abutment tool 1522 is fixed to the side surface of the opening/closing door 24. With the rotation of the movable table tilting/opening and closing door lifting motor 1521, a connecting rod 241 extending below the opening/closing door 24 moves up and down, so that the opening/closing door 24 moves up and down and the abutment tool 1522 also moves up and down. The abutment tool 1522 is not in contact with the protrusion 116 (FIG. 6B) in a state where the opening/closing door 24 is lowered from the closed position where the sample loading/unloading port 23 is closed (FIG. 6A) to the open position where the entire sample loading/unloading port 23 is just opened. When the opening/closing door 24 further descends from the open position and the abutment tool 1522 comes into contact with the protrusion 116, the movable table 12 or the like are tilted as described above (FIG. 6C). The position of the movable table 12 when the movable table 12 is tilted in this manner from the state where the movable table is located at the second position corresponds to the above-described third position.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the opening/closing operation of the opening/closing door 24 and the tilting operation of the external mounting table 11, the movable table 12, and the like can be performed by the same motor (the movable table tilting/opening and closing door lifting motor 1521), so that the device cost can be suppressed.

Note that, in the above description, the protrusion 116 is pushed rearward by the abutment tool 1522, but the abutment tool 1522 may be configured to push the protrusion 116 downward. Furthermore, the abutment tool 1522 may be fixed to the connecting rod 241 instead of being fixed to the opening/closing door 24.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7, an operation of inserting the sample accommodation unit 90 into the sample storage 20 by the sample inserting device 10 and an operation of taking out the sample accommodation unit 90 from the sample storage 20 will be described.

As described later, since the movable table 12 is located at the first position when the inserting and taking-out operations are completed, the movable table 12 is disposed at the first position when a new inserting operation is started. Furthermore, the sample loading/unloading port 23 is closed by the opening/closing door 24. In this state, the sample accommodation unit 90 is mounted on the movable table 12 and the auxiliary mounting table 14, and the flange 93 of the sample accommodation unit 90 is engaged with the engaging section 13 of the movable table 12 (FIGS. 3A, 5A, and 6A). Here, the auxiliary mounting table 14 supports a portion including a side portion (an end portion on a side with respect to a direction in which the movable table 12 moves between the first position and the second position as described later) of the sample accommodation unit 90.

Next, the movable table tilting/opening and closing door lifting motor 1521 is operated to lower the opening/closing door 24 to a position where the abutment tool 1522 does not contact the protrusion 116 while the sample loading/unloading port 23 is opened. In a state in which the sample loading/unloading port 23 is opened in this manner, the movable table linear moving mechanism 151 moves the movable table 12 and the auxiliary mounting table 14 forward, that is, in a direction approaching the internal mounting table 21, and disposes the movable table 12 at the second position (FIGS. 3B, 5B, and 6B). As a result, the engaging section 13 is disposed immediately after the internal mounting table 21, and most of the sample accommodation unit 90 except for the first engaging section 931 is mounted on the internal mounting table 21. At this time, since the abutment tool 1522 does not abut on the protrusion 116 as described above, the movable table 12 is not tilted.

Subsequently, the movable table tilting mechanism 152 operates the movable table tilting/opening and closing door lifting motor 1521 to further lower the abutment tool 1522 (and the opening/closing door 24 to which the abutment tool is fixed), and the abutment tool 1522 is brought into contact with the protrusion 116 to tilt the external mounting table 11, the movable table 12, and the like (FIGS. 5C and 6C). As a result, the movable table 12 is disposed at the third position, and the flange 93 of the sample accommodation unit 90 and the engaging section 13 of the movable table 12 are disengaged and enter a disengaged state.

Next, the movable table 12 and the auxiliary mounting table 14 are moved in a direction away from the internal mounting table 21 by the movable table linear moving mechanism 151. Then, the movable table tilting mechanism 152 operates the movable table tilting/opening and closing door lifting motor 1521 to raise the opening/closing door 24 and the abutment tool 1522, thus releasing the tilting of the external mounting table 11, the movable table 12, and the like, and closing the sample loading/unloading port 23 by the opening/closing door 24. As a result, the movable table 12 returns to the first position.

By the above operation, the sample accommodation unit 90 is inserted into the sample storage 20, and the sample inserting device 10 returns to the initial state (FIG. 7).

When the sample accommodation unit 90 is taken out from the sample storage 20, the operation may be performed in the reverse order to the inserting.

Note that although the taking-out operation is started from a state in which the sample accommodation unit 90 transferred from the autosampler 30 or the sample storage shelf 22 is mounted on the internal mounting table 21, the sample accommodation unit 90 is not necessarily mounted at a certain position on the internal mounting table 21, and a slight positional deviation may occur. In such a case, by providing the taper 134 in the first claw portion 131 and the second claw portion 132 of the engaging section 13 (FIG. 4B), the flange 93 can be engaged with the engaging section 13 even if the position of the sample accommodation unit 90 is slightly shifted in the front-rear direction on the internal mounting table 21. The positional deviation in the left-right direction can be handled by providing the first claw portion 131 and the second claw portion 132 with a certain length in the left-right direction (FIG. 4A).

According to the sample inserting device 10 of the present embodiment, since the sample accommodation unit 90 in which a plurality of samples are accommodated in advance can be inserted into the sample storage 20 and taken out at once, it is possible to minimize the time during which the opening/closing door 24 of the sample loading/unloading port 23 of the sample storage 20 is open, which can minimize a change in temperature or condensation in the sample storage 20.

In the sample inserting device 10 actually manufactured by the present inventor, the time during which the opening/closing door 24 is open can be suppressed to about 10 to 20 seconds. Using the prepared sample inserting device 10, an experiment was conducted in which the microplate 90 was loaded in while the temperature was adjusted so that the inside of the sample storage 20 was cooled to a temperature in the range of 5 to 7° C. under an environment where the room temperature was 25° C. At that time, the opening time of the opening/closing door 24 was set to 10 seconds, and a temporal change in the temperature in the sample storage 20 and the temperature of the sample in the microplate stored in advance in the sample storage shelf 22 separately from the microplate 90 to be loaded in was measured. As a result, while the opening/closing door 24 was opened, the temperature in the sample storage 20 increased to 10.5° C., and the temperature of the sample on the sample storage shelf 22 increased to 8 to 9° C. However, these temperatures decreased immediately after the closing of the opening/closing door 24, and returned to the temperature (5 to 7° C.) before the opening/closing door 24 was opened in about 12 minutes. Furthermore, when air having a high temperature enters the sample storage 20 with the inner surface of the sample storage 20 cooled as the sample storage is cooled, the air may be cooled on the inner surface to generate dew condensation. However, when the inner surface was confirmed after the above experiment, such dew condensation did not occur.

Furthermore, if a robot, instead of the operator, performs the operation of mounting the sample accommodation unit 90 on the external mounting table 11 and the operation of picking up the sample accommodation unit from the external mounting table 11, the burden on the operator can be further reduced. At that time, the operation time can be further shortened by synchronizing the opening/closing operation of the opening/closing door 24 and the moving operation of the movable table 12 with the operation of the robot.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the movable table is moved to the third position tilted with respect to the surface of the external mounting table, and the flange of the sample plate and the engaging section of the movable table are brought into a disengaged state. The present invention is not limited to the example, and a mechanism configured to change the engagement state between the flange of the sample plate and the engaging section of the movable table is provided. For example, when the engaging section protrudes from the movable table by an electrical or mechanical mechanism and is retracted and accommodated in the movable table, the engagement state can be changed without tilting the movable table.