Patent Publication Number: US-11639063-B2

Title: Printing mechanism for sample container

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present invention belongs to the technical field of medical instruments, and relates to a printing mechanism, in particular to a printing mechanism for a sample container. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     At present, a body fluid inspection flow in hospital outpatient clinics is as follows: a patient goes to an inspection window with an inspection list, a worker selects a container according to doctor&#39;s advice and explain preserving requirements, the patient comes to the window again after taking a sample, and the worker receives the sample, prints a bar code and pastes the bar code to the container, and meanwhile, the worker prints a receipt to the patient and inform a list taking time and location. There are following problems: 1, it is necessary for the patient to queue up long in a peak period and the waiting time is long; 2, various mistakes such as insufficient sample collection amount, wrong taking of the container and the like are caused by various reasons; 3, the workload is large, so that a mistake of confusing one thing with another is prone to happen; 4, when the sample is received, it is necessary to print the bar code with a patient ID card and paste the bar code to the container and the receipt is printed for the patient. As the sample may have biohazard to lead to probability of hospital-acquired infection, patients often complain; and 5, the detection speed is reduced as the bar codes pasted manually are inconsistent, and it cannot exert the maximum efficiency. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Aiming at the above-mentioned problem, the objective of the present invention is to provide a printing system capable of improving the work efficiency, reducing mistakes, avoiding the probability of hospital-acquired infection, shortening the inspection time, optimizing the treatment flow and improving the medical experience of the patient. 
     The objective of the present invention can be realized by the technical schemes as follows: a printing mechanism for a sample container, including: 
     a receiving end provided with a receiving rack, the receiving rack being connected with a fixed receiving plate and a movable receiving plate, wherein corresponding receiving trough and falling channel are formed by splicing and separating the fixed receiving plate and the movable receiving plate; 
     a discharging end provided with a rotating assembly that receives a sample container falling in the falling channel and drives the sample container to rotate to align an unprinted blank region on the sample container with a printing assembly; 
     wherein a position away from the receiving end is provided with a translation motor, an output end of the translation motor is connected with a lead screw, the receiving rack is spirally connected to the lead screw, a stopping arm is arranged on a moving trajectory of the receiving rack, and the fixed receiving plate and the movable receiving plate are separated and actuated as the stopping arm and an ejector rod lean against each other or are separated from each other. 
     In the printing mechanism for a sample container, the fixed receiving plate and the movable receiving plate are matched magnetically. 
     In the printing mechanism for a sample container, the fixed receiving plate is connected with a magnetic block and the movable receiving plate is connected with the ejector rod, wherein the ejector rod penetrates through the fixed receiving plate and the magnetic block and is spirally connected to the movable receiving plate, and the fixed receiving plate and the movable receiving plate are separated by pushing the ejector rod. 
     In the printing mechanism for a sample container, the rotating assembly includes a rotating bracket and the rotating bracket is connected with a rotating motor, wherein an output end of the rotating motor is connected with a primary rotating shaft and two auxiliary rotating shafts fitting the primary rotating shaft and being connected to the rotating bracket, and a “tripod”-shaped structure is formed between the primary rotating shaft and the two auxiliary rotating shafts. 
     In the printing mechanism for a sample container, each of two sides of the rotating bracket is provided with a first guide slot, and two ends of one of the auxiliary rotating shafts are respectively clamped into the first guide slots. 
     In the printing mechanism for a sample container, the rotating bracket is connected with a discharging guide plate. 
     In the printing mechanism for a sample container, the primary rotating shaft is embedded with an annular magnetic ring, or the auxiliary rotating shafts are embedded with annular magnetic rings, or both the primary rotating shaft and the auxiliary rotating shafts are embedded with annular magnetic rings. 
     In the printing mechanism for a sample container, the receiving rack is connected with a pushing structure and the pushing structure is located between the receiving trough and the stopping arm, wherein two auxiliary rotating shafts are separated at a relative distance via the pushing structure. 
     In the printing mechanism for a sample container, the pushing structure includes a pushing bracket and the pushing bracket is connected with ejector blocks in leaning fit with two ends of one of the auxiliary rotating shafts correspondingly, wherein each of the ejector blocks is provided with a first working inclined plane that pushes the auxiliary rotating shaft away and a second working inclined plane that restores the auxiliary rotating shaft, the first working inclined plane and the second working inclined plane being adjacent two inclined planes on the ejector blocks. 
     In the printing mechanism for a sample container, the first working inclined plane extends obliquely upwards from the end away from the receiving trough to the end close to the receiving trough and the second working inclined plane extends obliquely upwards from the end close to the receiving trough to the end away from the receiving trough, wherein a slope gradient of the first working inclined plane is smaller than that of the second working inclined plane. 
     In the printing mechanism for a sample container, two ends of the ejector block are respectively connected to the pushing bracket via rotating bars, wherein a connecting rod on the ejector block away from one end of the receiving trough is connected with an elastic piece, and the elastic piece is vertically connected to the pushing bracket via a fixing bar. 
     In the printing mechanism for a sample container, a side on the fixed receiving plate opposite to the movable receiving plate is provided with a guiding inclined plane, or a side on the movable receiving plate opposite to the fixed receiving plate is provided with a guiding inclined plane, or opposites of the fixed receiving plate and the movable receiving plate are both provided with guiding inclined planes. 
     Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: 
     (1) According to the printing mechanism for a sample container provided by the present invention, the sample container in the receiving trough falls onto the rotating structure below accurately by leaning and matching the stopping arm and the ejector rod, and the rotating motor is matched with the rotating structure, so that the sample container rotates. It is ensured that the blank region on the sample container corresponds to the printing assembly, so that patient information is printed, the transfer number of times of the sample container between inspection staff and the patient is reduced, a phenomenon of wrong taking or cross contamination is avoided, and therefore, the subsequent detection precision and detection efficiency is improved. 
     (2) The fixed receiving plate and the movable receiving plate are matched magnetically, so that it is convenient to change the relative distance between the fixed receiving plate and the movable receiving plate, and therefore, the sample containers in the receiving trough can fall onto the rotating structure below reliably. In addition, the ejector rod and the fixed receiving plate are in clamping fit via a protruding portion on the ejector rod, so that the relative distance between the fixed receiving plate and the movable receiving plate is controlled, and therefore, the ejector rod is prevented from sliding out of the fixed receiving plate, thereby, the using reliability of the receiving rack is improved. 
     (3) By means of screw fit, the ejector rod is rotated to adjust the distance when the movable receiving plate is far away from the fixed receiving plate, so that it is suitable for discharging sample containers of different sizes, and therefore, it is guaranteed that when the movable receiving plate is far away from the fixed receiving plate, the sample containers in the receiving trough can fall onto the rotating structure below reliably. 
     (4) As the primary rotating shaft or the auxiliary rotating shafts are embedded with the annular magnetic rings, an idle stroke is avoided when the primary rotating shaft drives the auxiliary rotating shafts to rotate, so that the rotating reliability of the sample containers is improved. 
     (5) By means of the pushing structure, the printed sample containers located on the rotating structure are discharged, and the unprinted sample containers on the receiving trough fall onto the rotating structure by leaning the receiving trough against the stopping arm to fit so as to form a continuous action, so that the printing working efficiency of the sample containers is improved. 
     (6) The rotating bracket is provided with the first guide slot, so that when the ejector block pushes the auxiliary rotating shaft, two ends of the auxiliary rotating shaft to move along the first guide slot. The moving linearity of the auxiliary rotating shaft is guaranteed, so that the printed sample containers are discharged smoothly. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a structural schematic diagram of a printing mechanism for a sample container of the present invention. 
         FIG.  2    is a local structural schematic diagram of a printing mechanism for a sample container of the present invention. 
         FIG.  3    is a structural schematic diagram of a sample container in a receiving rack falling to a rotating assembly in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG.  4    is a structural schematic diagram of a rotating assembly in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG.  5    is a structural schematic diagram of an ejector block in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     In the drawings,  100 , transition motor;  200 , lead screw;  300 , receiving rack;  310 , receiving trough;  311 , guiding inclined plane;  320 , movable receiving plate;  330 , ejector rod;  331 , protruding portion;  340 , movable receiving plate;  350 , magnetic block;  400 , rotating assembly;  410 , rotating motor;  420 , rotating bracket;  421 , first guide slot;  430 , primary rotating shaft;  440 , auxiliary rotating shaft;  441 , extension rod;  450 , magnetic ring;  460 , discharging guide plate;  500 , stopping arm;  510 , stopping rod;  600 , printing assembly;  700 , pushing structure;  710 , pushing bracket;  711 , second guide slot;  720 , ejector block;  721 , first working inclined plane;  722 , second working inclined plane;  730 , rotating bar;  740 , elastic piece;  750 , fixing bar. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Specific embodiments of the present invention are described below, and further description on the technical scheme of the present invention is made below in combination with the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments. 
     As shown in  FIG.  1    to  FIG.  5   , a printing mechanism for a sample container provided by the present invention includes: 
     a translation motor  100  located at a discharging end, an output end thereof is connected with a lead screw  200 , and the lead screw  200  is spirally connected with a receiving rack  300 , wherein the receiving rack  300  is located at a receiving end and is provided with a receiving trough  310 . Two sides of the receiving trough  310  are respectively provided with fixed receiving plates  320  and a movable receiving plate  340  movably connected with the fixed receiving plates  320  via ejector rods  330 ; 
     a rotating assembly  400  located below the moving trajectory of the receiving rack  300 , the rotating assembly  400  including the rotating motor  410 , wherein the output end of the rotating motor  410  is connected with a rotating structure for receiving a sample container in the receiving trough  310  and rotating the sample container so as to correspond a blank region on the surface of the sample container to a printing assembly  600 ; and 
     a stopping arm  500  located on the moving trajectory of the receiving rack  300 , wherein the stopping arm  500  and the ejector rod  330  lean against each other to fit so as to push the movable receiving plate  340  to move along a side away from the fixed receiving plate  320 , so that the sample container in the receiving trough  310  falls onto the rotating structure. 
     According to the printing mechanism for a sample container provided by the present invention, the sample container in the receiving trough  310  falls onto the rotating structure below accurately by leaning and matching the stopping arm  500  and the ejector rod  330 , and the rotating motor  410  is matched with the rotating structure, so that the sample container rotates. It is ensured that the blank region on the sample container corresponds to the printing assembly  600 , so that patient information is printed, the transfer number of times of the sample container between inspection staff and the patient is reduced, a phenomenon of wrong taking or cross contamination is avoided, and therefore, the subsequent detection precision and detection efficiency is improved. 
     Preferably, as shown in  FIG.  1    to  FIG.  5   , the fixed receiving plate  320  and the movable receiving plate  340  are matched magnetically. 
     Further preferably, two ends of the fixed receiving plate  320  each are connected with magnetic blocks  350 , and two ends of the movable receiving plate  340  each are connected with ejector rods  330 , wherein one end of each of the ejector rods  330  penetrates through the fixed receiving plate  320  and the magnetic blocks  350  and is connected to the movable receiving plate  340 , and the other end of the ejector rod  330  is provided with a protrusion portion  331 . 
     Preferably, the stopping arm  500  is arranged in a U-shaped, and a stopping rod  510  is respectively provided on two sides of the opened end of the stopping arm  500 , wherein the stopping rod  510  and the ejector rod  330  lean against each other to fit. 
     In the embodiment, the fixed receiving plate  320  and the movable receiving plate  340  are matched magnetically, so that it is convenient to change the relative distance between the fixed receiving plate  320  and the movable receiving plate  340 , and therefore, the sample containers in the receiving trough  310  can fall onto the rotating structure below reliably. In addition, the ejector rod  330  and the fixed receiving plate  320  are in clamping fit via a protruding portion  331  on the ejector rod  330 , so that the separating distance between the fixed receiving plate  320  and the movable receiving plate  340  is controlled, and therefore, the ejector rod  330  is prevented from sliding out of the fixed receiving plate  320 , thereby, the using reliability of the receiving rack  300  is improved. 
     Further preferably, the ejector rod  330  and the movable receiving plate  340  are in screw fit. 
     In the embodiment, by means of screw fit, the ejector rod  330  is rotated to adjust the distance when the movable receiving plate  340  is far away from the fixed receiving plate  320 , so that it is suitable for discharging sample containers of different sizes, and therefore, it is guaranteed that when the movable receiving plate  340  is far away from the fixed receiving plate  320 , the sample containers in the receiving trough  310  can fall onto the rotating structure below reliably. 
     Further preferably, a side on the fixed receiving plate  320  opposite to the movable receiving plate  340  is provided with a guiding inclined plane  311 , or a side on the movable receiving plate  340  opposite to the fixed receiving plate  320  is provided with a guiding inclined plane  311 , or opposites of the fixed receiving plate  320  and the movable receiving plate  340  are both provided with guiding inclined planes  311 . 
     In the embodiment, by arranging the guiding inclined planes  311 , self-centering of the sample container on the receiving trough  310  is realized, and the sample container is prevented from rolling out of the receiving trough  310  when entering the receiving trough  310 , so that the reliability of the receiving trough  310  is improved. 
     Preferably, as shown in  FIG.  1    to  FIG.  5   , the rotating structure includes a primary rotating shaft  430  mounted on a rotating bracket  420  and connected with the output end of the rotating motor  410 , and two auxiliary rotating shafts  440  fitting the primary rotating shaft  430  and being connected to the rotating bracket  420 , wherein a “tripod”-shaped structure is formed between the primary rotating shaft  430  and the two auxiliary rotating shafts  440 , and wherein the two auxiliary rotating shafts  440  are driven to rotate as the primary rotating shaft  430  rotates, so that the sample container located between the two auxiliary rotating shafts  440  rotates, and therefore, the blank region on the sample container is fully in the exposed state, and it is convenient to print patient information in the blank region by the printing mechanism  600 . 
     Further preferably, the primary rotating shaft  430  is embedded with an annular magnetic ring  450 , or the auxiliary rotating shafts  440  are embedded with annular magnetic rings  450 , or both the primary rotating shaft  430  and the auxiliary rotating shafts  440  are embedded with annular magnetic rings  450 . 
     In the embodiment, as the primary rotating shaft  430  or the auxiliary rotating shafts  440  are embedded with the annular magnetic rings  450 , an idle stroke is avoided when the primary rotating shaft  430  drives the auxiliary rotating shafts  440  to rotate, so that the rotating reliability of the sample containers is improved. 
     As shown in  FIG.  1    to  FIG.  5   , the receiving rack  300  is connected with a pushing structure  700  and the pushing structure  700  is located between the receiving trough  310  and the stopping arm  500 , wherein two auxiliary rotating shafts  440  are separated at a relative distance via the pushing structure  700 , thereby, the printed sample containers are discharged automatically. 
     In the embodiment, by means of the pushing structure  700 , the printed sample containers located on the rotating structure are discharged, and the unprinted sample containers on the receiving trough  310  fall onto the rotating structure by leaning the receiving trough  310  against the stopping arm  500  to fit so as to form a continuous action, so that the printing working efficiency of the sample containers is improved. 
     Further preferably, the pushing structure  700  includes a U-shaped pushing bracket  710 , and two sides of the opened end of the U-shaped pushing bracket  710  are each connected with an ejector block  720 , an extension rod  441  is respectively provided on two ends of one of the auxiliary rotating shafts  440 , and two extension rods  441  respectively form abutting fit with the ejector block  720  on the corresponding side. 
     Further preferably, each of two sides of the rotating bracket  420  is provided with a first guide slot  421 , and two extension rods  441  are respectively clamped into the corresponding first guide slots  421 . 
     In the embodiment, the rotating bracket  420  is provided with the first guide slot  421 , so that when the ejector block  720  pushes extension rod  441  of the auxiliary rotating shaft  440 , two ends of the auxiliary rotating shaft  440  to move along the first guide slot  421 . The moving linearity of the auxiliary rotating shaft  440  is guaranteed, so that the printed sample containers are discharged smoothly. 
     Further preferably, the rotating bracket  420  is connected with a discharging guide plate  460 . 
     Preferably, as shown in  FIG.  1    to  FIG.  5   , two ends of the ejector block  720  are connected to the U-shaped pushing support  710  via corresponding rotating rods  730 , the rotating rod  730  on the U-shaped pushing support  710  away from the side of the receiving trough  310  is in clamping connection with the second guide slot  711  in the U-shaped pushing support  710 , the rotating rod on the U-shaped pushing support  710  close to the side of the receiving trough  310  as a fulcrum when the ejector block  720  rotates, wherein the end of the rotating rod  730  in clamping connection with the second guide slot  711  is connected with the fixing bar  750  on the U-shaped pushing bracket  710  via the elastic piece  740 , the ejector block  720  is provided with the first working inclined plane  721  and the second working inclined plane  722 , a slope gradient of the first working inclined plane  721  extends obliquely upwards from the end away from the receiving trough  310  to the end of the receiving trough  310 , the slope gradient of the second working inclined plane  722  extends obliquely upwards from the end close to the receiving trough  310  to the end of the receiving trough  310 , and the slope gradient of the first working inclined plane  721  is smaller than that of the second working inclined plane  722 . 
     In the embodiment, when the pushing structure  700  is close to the rotating structure, the first working inclined plane  721  is in rolling fit with the end portion of the auxiliary rotating shaft  440 . Along with progressive increase of the slope gradient on the first working inclined plane  721 , the auxiliary rotating shaft  440  is pushed to move along the first guide slot  421 , and the auxiliary rotating shaft  440  generates a downward pressure to the ejector block  720  to drive the rotating rod  730  in clamping connection to the second guide slot  711  to move along the second guide slot  711 , since the rotating rod close to the side of the receiving trough  310  is fixed, the rotating rod  730  away from the side of the receiving trough  310  moves along the second guide slot  711 , so that the ejector block  720  deflects. When the auxiliary rotating shaft  440  bestrides the second working inclined plane  722  from the first working inclined plane  721 , as the slope gradient of the second working inclined plane  722  is greater than that of the first working inclined plane  721 , rolling connection between the auxiliary rotating shaft  440  and the first working inclined plane  721  is relieved, the auxiliary rotating shaft  440  falls back, and at the time, the completed sample containers are discharged. 
     The specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrations of spirit of the present invention. Various modifications or supplements can be made on the described specific embodiments or can be replaced a similar manner by those skilled in the art without deviating from the spirit of the present invention or surpassing the scope defined by the attached Claims.