CN109092670B

CN109092670B - Device for separating capsule cap and capsule body and capsule screening equipment

Info

Publication number: CN109092670B
Application number: CN201810950935.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈雪荣
Original assignee: Shaanxi Bicon Pharmaceutical Group Holding Co ltd
Current assignee: Shaanxi Bicon Pharmaceutical Group Holding Co ltd
Priority date: 2018-08-20
Filing date: 2018-08-20
Publication date: 2021-04-06
Anticipated expiration: 2038-08-20
Also published as: CN109092670A

Abstract

The invention discloses a device for separating a capsule cap from a capsule body and capsule screening equipment, and relates to the field of capsule mechanical equipment. The device can once only separate capsule in batches, the device is before separating the capsule, with batch capsule dispersion loading in the separation cavity, avoid leading to the separation not thorough because of excessive intensive between the capsule, accurate separation capsule cap and capsule body (registrate) effectively, and can keep the integrality of capsule cap and capsule body, improve the purity of retrieving the medicine, the medicine after the separation directly drops to collecting chamber and collects, the capsule shell of separation then under the blockking of the board that sieves with the medicine separation, the device compact structure, the function is diversified, can separate capsule cap and capsule body fast accurately, effectively retrieve qualified medicine, and is green.

Description

Device for separating capsule cap and capsule body and capsule screening equipment

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of capsule mechanical equipment, in particular to a device for separating a capsule cap from a capsule body and capsule screening equipment.

Background

In the production process of the capsule, some defective products can occur due to mechanical precision, misoperation and the like, and most of unqualified capsules are caused by appearance defects of a capsule shell, such as that a capsule cap and a capsule body are not separated in time, the size of the capsule is deviated or the weight of the medicine in the capsule is not uniform when the capsule is filled. However, the medicine filled in the capsule shell is a qualified product, and in order to save cost and avoid medicine waste, defective capsules which are unqualified in the capsule shell but filled with the medicine need to be recycled.

At present, the recovery mode of the medicinal powder comprises two modes of manual disassembly and pulverization. The manual disassembly speed is slow, the efficiency is low, a large amount of manpower and time are consumed, the manual operation easily pollutes the medicine, and the medicine recovery needs complicated subsequent treatment. The crushing method is to separate the capsule to be disassembled by adopting mechanical external force, the capsule has small volume and thin wall thickness, and the separation method of the mechanical external force is easy to mix the fragments of the capsule shell into the medicine.

How to prepare a device capable of effectively separating a capsule cap from a capsule body and recovering medicine filled in the capsule on the basis of keeping the integrity of the capsule cap and the capsule body is one of the problems to be solved urgently.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a device for separating a capsule cap and a capsule body, which can separate a batch of capsules at one time, wherein the device dispersedly fills the batch of capsules into a separation cavity before separating the capsules, so that incomplete separation caused by excessive concentration of the capsules is avoided, the capsule cap and the capsule body (sleeved) are accurately and effectively separated, the integrity of the capsule cap and the capsule body can be kept, the purity of recovered medicines is improved, the separated medicines directly fall into a collection chamber for collection, and the separated capsule shell is separated from the medicines under the blocking of a sieving plate.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a capsule sorting apparatus, which comprises the above apparatus for separating a capsule cap from a capsule body, and can effectively recycle the medicine in a defective capsule on the basis of sorting out a qualified capsule and a defective capsule.

The embodiment of the invention is realized by the following steps:

a device for separating a capsule cap from a capsule body comprises a hollow capsule body and a capsule sieving plate;

the capsule sieving plate is connected to the inner side wall of the capsule main body and divides the capsule main body into a separation chamber and a collection chamber which are sequentially communicated from top to bottom, and the separation chamber is provided with an air inlet communicated with the supercharging device, an air outlet used for pressure relief and a feed inlet used for adding capsules into the separation chamber;

the device also comprises a capsule separation component used for leaving part of capsules before separation in the separation chamber, and the capsule separation component is arranged between the feed inlet in the separation chamber and the capsule passing sieve plate.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the capsule separation assembly comprises a capsule separation plate and a pushing member for pushing the capsule on the capsule separation plate into the capsule passing sieve plate;

one end of the capsule separation plate is connected to the inner side wall of the separation chamber, and the outer diameter of the capsule separation plate is smaller than that of the capsule passing sieve plate; the pushing parts are correspondingly arranged above the capsule separation plates, and the number and the arrangement positions of the pushing parts correspond to those of the capsule separation plates.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the capsule partition plate is provided with a plurality of through holes.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the pushing member includes a retractable device and a pushing plate, the retractable device is connected to the inner sidewall of the separation chamber and correspondingly connected to a position above the capsule separation plate, a retractable rod of the retractable device is connected to the pushing plate, and the pushing plate is perpendicular to the capsule separation plate.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the capsule separation plate comprises a first separation plate and a second separation plate;

one end of the first partition plate is connected with the inner side wall of the separation chamber, the second partition plate is located below the first partition plate, one end of the second partition plate is connected with the inner side wall of the separation chamber, and the first partition plate and the second partition plate are arranged oppositely.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the lengths of the first partition plate and the second partition plate are less than or equal to half of the distance between the inner side wall of the separation chamber connected with the first partition plate and the inner side wall connected with the second partition plate.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the collection chamber is a funnel-shaped chamber, the collection chamber has a drug outlet for communicating with the drug collection box, and the drug outlet is located at the bottom of the collection chamber.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the device comprises a vibrator connected to the outer wall of the collecting chamber.

A capsule screening device, which comprises the device.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the feed inlet of the device is communicated with the defective capsule outlet of the capsule screening device.

The embodiment of the invention has the beneficial effects that:

the embodiment of the invention provides a device for separating a capsule cap from a capsule body, which comprises a hollow capsule dividing main body and a capsule passing sieve plate, wherein the capsule passing sieve plate is connected to the inner side wall of the capsule dividing main body and divides the capsule dividing main body into a separating chamber and a collecting chamber which are sequentially communicated from top to bottom, and the separating chamber is provided with an air inlet, an air outlet and a feed inlet, wherein the air inlet is communicated with a pressurizing device, and the air outlet and the feed inlet are used for pressure relief. The device increases the pressure in the separation chamber through the air inlet, when making the inside and outside gas of capsule reach the equilibrium, through the gas vent pressure release, and the atmospheric pressure reduction lag in the capsule still keeps great atmospheric pressure for the capsule is disassembled automatically under the effect of gas pressure difference.

The device further comprises a capsule separation component for leaving a part of capsules before separation in the separation chamber. The capsule in the separating chamber can influence each other if piling up excessive intensive follow-up separation's in-process before disassembling, reduces the separation rate of capsule, and the capsule separates the subassembly and can make partial capsule distribute in the cavity of separating chamber, and remaining partial capsule then falls into on the sieve is crossed to the capsule, avoids excessively piling up in batches the capsule and the separation that causes is insufficient, influences the rate of recovery of medicine, capsule shell is stopped to separate with the medicine on the sieve is crossed to the capsule after the capsule separation, and pure medicine after the separation directly sees through the capsule and crosses the sieve and get into the collection room and retrieve.

In addition, the embodiment of the invention also provides capsule screening equipment which comprises the device for separating the capsule cap from the capsule body, and the device can effectively recycle the medicines in the defective capsules on the basis of screening out the qualified capsules and the defective capsules.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, it should be understood that the following drawings only illustrate some embodiments of the present invention and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope, and for those skilled in the art, other related drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without inventive efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the construction of an apparatus for separating a capsule cap from a capsule body in example 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the apparatus for separating a capsule cap from a capsule body of FIG. 1 with a capsule loaded;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the structure of the apparatus for separating a capsule cap from a capsule body of FIG. 1 in which first and second partition plates are provided with through-holes;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural view of the telescopic rods of the first and second telescopic devices in fig. 3 in a stretching state.

In the figure: 10-means for separating the capsule cap from the capsule body; 100-a capsule body; 110-a separation chamber; 111-an air inlet; 113-an exhaust port; 115-feed port; 120-passing the capsule through a sieve plate; 121-a third telescopic device; 123-a third material pushing plate; 125-capsule recovery port; 131-a first divider plate; 133-a first telescopic device; 135-a first stripper plate; 141-a second divider panel; 143-a second telescopic device; 145-a second stripper plate; 150-a via; 200-a collection chamber; 201-a vibrator; 203-medicine outlet.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more apparent, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be described clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without any inventive step based on the embodiments of the present invention, are within the scope of the present invention. Thus, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention, presented in the figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, as claimed, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the invention. All other embodiments, which can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without any inventive step based on the embodiments of the present invention, are within the scope of the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", and the like, indicate orientations and positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are used only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, and do not indicate or imply that the equipment or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, should not be considered as limiting the present invention.

Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically defined otherwise.

In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly stated or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured," and the like are to be construed broadly and can, for example, be fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally formed; can be mechanically or electrically connected; either directly or indirectly through intervening media, either internally or in any other relationship. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly stated or limited, "above" or "below" a first feature means that the first and second features are in direct contact, or that the first and second features are not in direct contact but are in contact with each other via another feature therebetween. Also, the first feature being "on," "above" and "over" the second feature includes the first feature being directly on and obliquely above the second feature, or merely indicating that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. A first feature being "under," "below," and "beneath" a second feature includes the first feature being directly under and obliquely below the second feature, or simply meaning that the first feature is at a lesser elevation than the second feature.

Example 1

Referring to fig. 1-2, the present embodiment provides an apparatus 10 for separating a capsule cap from a capsule body, which includes a hollow capsule body 100, a capsule passing sieve plate 120 and a capsule separation assembly. The device has the advantages that the sleeved capsule caps and the sleeved capsule bodies can be separated in batches, and pure medicines can be effectively recycled.

Specifically, the capsule passing sieve plate 120 is connected to the inner side wall of the capsule main body 100 and the capsule passing sieve plate 120 divides the capsule main body 100 into a separation chamber 110 and a collection chamber 200 which are sequentially communicated from below, and the separation chamber 110 has an air inlet 111 for communicating with a pressurizing device, an air outlet 113 for releasing pressure and an inlet 115 for adding capsules into the separation chamber 110.

The separation chamber 110 is a place for separating the nested capsule cap and capsule body to recover the medicine filled in the capsule. The working principle of the separation chamber 110 is: first, capsules are filled through the feed opening 115 of the separation chamber 110 and the capsules are fed in bulk into the separation chamber 110. Then, the pressure in the separation chamber 110 is increased through the air inlet 111 of the separation chamber 110, when the air pressure inside and outside the capsule reaches balance, the pressure is quickly released through the air outlet 113, so that the air pressure in the separation chamber 110 is quickly reduced, the air pressure in the capsule is reduced later, and the larger air pressure is still maintained, so that the capsule is automatically disassembled under the action of air pressure difference.

The device can carry out the capsule separation in batches fast, and separation efficiency is high. However, in the process of capsule separation, insufficient capsule separation may occur. Because the capsules entering the separation chamber 110 from the inlet 115 are uniformly stacked on the capsule screening plate 120, the capsule separation process is the separation of the capsule cap and the capsule body, and the separation process of adjacent capsules can be affected by excessively dense capsules, so that the separation of the capsules is insufficient, and the recovery of the medicine is incomplete.

The present invention is provided with a capsule separation assembly for leaving a part of capsules before separation in the separation chamber 110 to improve the separation efficiency of the capsules, the capsule separation assembly being provided between the feed port 115 and the capsule sieving plate 120 in the separation chamber 110.

Specifically, the capsule separation assembly includes a capsule separation plate and a pushing member for pushing the capsule on the capsule separation plate into the capsule passing sieve plate 120, one end of the capsule separation plate is connected to the inner side wall of the separation chamber 110, and the outer diameter of the capsule separation plate is smaller than the outer diameter of the capsule passing sieve plate 120. The material pushing part is correspondingly arranged above the capsule separation plate.

The part of the capsules entering the separation chamber 110 from the inlet port 115 stays on the capsule separation plate, and the part of the capsules directly falls onto the capsule screening plate 120. After the capsule cap is separated from the capsule body, the capsule cap and the capsule body separated on the capsule passing sieve plate 120 are left on the capsule passing sieve plate 120, and the medicine directly falls into the collection chamber 200 below the separation chamber 110; the capsule separation plate is provided with a plurality of through holes 150, the medicine separated on the capsule separation plate penetrates through the through holes 150 on the capsule separation plate, then passes through the capsule sieve plate 120 and finally falls into the collection chamber 200, and the capsule shell on the capsule separation plate is pushed to fall onto the capsule sieve plate 120 through the material pushing part to be recovered.

In this embodiment, referring to fig. 3, the through holes 150 are circular through holes 150, and the through holes 150 are uniformly distributed on the capsule separation plate, and the aperture of the through holes 150 is larger than that of the recovered medicine and smaller than the outer diameter of the capsule. It should be noted that the shape of the through holes 150 on the capsule separation plate can be diamond, square or irregular, and the number of the through holes 150 can be selectively set. Or in some embodiments, the through holes 150 may be omitted, and the medicine may be pushed into the capsule separation plate 120 together by the subsequent pushing member.

Further, the pushing element comprises a telescopic device and a pushing plate, the telescopic device is connected to the position, above the capsule separation plate, of the inner side wall of the separation chamber 110 in a corresponding connection mode, a telescopic rod of the telescopic device is connected with the pushing plate, the pushing plate horizontally moves back and forth above the capsule separation plate under the action of the telescopic rod, and the pushing plate and the capsule separation plate are perpendicular to each other.

Specifically, in the present embodiment, referring to fig. 3 to 4, the capsule separation plate includes a first separation plate 131 and a second separation plate 141. One end of the first partition plate 131 is connected to the inner sidewall of the separation chamber 110, the second partition plate 141 is positioned below the first partition plate 131, one end of the second partition plate 141 is connected to the inner sidewall of the separation chamber 110, and the first partition plate 131 and the second partition plate 141 are oppositely disposed.

The length of each of the first and

second partition plates

131 and 141 is less than or equal to half of the distance between the inner sidewall of the separation chamber 110 to which the first partition plate 131 is connected and the inner sidewall to which the second partition plate 141 is connected. That is, the first partition plate 131 and the second partition plate 141 can share the capsule in the separation chamber 110, a virtual channel is formed between the first partition plate 131 and the second partition plate 141, the capsule entering from the inlet 115 partially stays on the first partition plate 131, partially stays on the second partition plate 141, and partially falls onto the capsule passing screen plate 120 through the channel between the first partition plate 131 and the second partition plate 141.

The first partition plate 131, the second partition plate 141 and the first capsule passing drying plate are positioned on three different layers in the vertical direction, so that the space in the separation chamber 110 is further effectively utilized, the capsules are fully distributed in the separation chamber 110, the capsules have a full separation distance, and the condition of insufficient separation is effectively avoided or reduced.

In the present embodiment, the length of the first and

second partition plates

131 and 141 is equal to half of the separation distance between the inner sidewall of the separation chamber 110 to which the first partition plate 131 is connected and the inner sidewall to which the second partition plate 141 is connected, and the length of the first and

second partition plates

131 and 141 is the same. It should be noted that in other embodiments, the lengths of the first partition plate 131 and the second partition plate 141 can be selectively set within a reasonable range according to requirements. Or a third partition plate may be further provided, the third partition plate being disposed below the second partition plate 141, one end of the third partition plate being connected to the inner sidewall of the separation chamber 110, and the third partition plate being disposed opposite to the second partition plate 141.

Further, the number and the arrangement positions of the pushing parts correspond to the number and the positions of the capsule separation plates. The first separating plate 131 and the second separating plate 141 each include a pushing member, the pushing member includes a first pushing member and a second pushing member, the first pushing member is correspondingly disposed above the first separating plate 131, and the second pushing member is correspondingly disposed above the second separating plate 141.

Specifically, the first pushing member includes a first expansion device 133 and a first pushing plate 135, and the first pushing plate 135 and the upper surface of the first partition plate 131 are spaced apart from each other to avoid scratching the first partition plate 131. The second pushing member includes a second telescoping device 143 and a second pushing plate 145, and the first pushing plate 135 is spaced apart from the upper surface of the first partition plate 131. The distance between the first material pushing plate 135 and the first separating plate 131 and the distance between the second material pushing plate 145 and the second separating plate 141 are both required to ensure that the first material pushing plate 135 can push the capsule shells on the first separating plate 131 into the capsule sieving plate 120.

In the present embodiment, the spacing distance between the first material pushing plate 135 and the first separating plate 131 and the spacing distance between the second material pushing plate 145 and the second separating plate 141 are both 1 mm. It is noted that in other embodiments, the separation distance may be 0.5mm, 0.6mm, 0.7mm, 0.8mm, 0.9mm, 1.1mm, 1.2mm, 1.3mm, 1.4mm, 1.5mm, 1.6mm, 1.7mm, 1.8mm, 1.9mm, 2.0mm, 2.1mm, 2.2mm, 2.3mm, 2.4mm, or 2.5 mm.

After the capsule cap is separated from the capsule body, the medicament passes through the sieve plate 120 and enters the separation chamber 110. It should be noted that the capsule passing sieve plate 120 can pass the medicine while the capsule shell is retained, and specifically, the aperture of the sieve hole of the capsule passing sieve plate 120 is larger than the outer diameter of the medicine and smaller than the outer diameter of the capsule.

A third expansion device 121 and a third material pushing plate 123 are correspondingly arranged above the capsule sieving plate 120. One end of the third telescopic device 121 is connected to the inner sidewall of the separation chamber 110, the telescopic rod of the third telescopic device 121 is connected to the third material pushing plate 123, and the third material pushing plate 123 is perpendicular to the capsule sieving plate 120. The inner side wall of the separation chamber 110 is further provided with a capsule recovery port 125, the capsule recovery port 125 is arranged opposite to the third pushing member, and the capsule recovery port 125 is used for communicating with a capsule recovery device.

Furthermore, the device also comprises a control system, a first control valve is arranged at the separated feeding hole 115, a second control valve is arranged at the air inlet 111, a third control valve is arranged at the air outlet 113, the first control valve, the second control valve and the third control valve are all in functional connection with the control device, and the control device can be used for opening and closing the first control valve, the second control valve and the third control valve. The control system is functionally connected to the first expansion device 133, the second expansion device 143, and the third expansion device 121 to control the operations of the first expansion device 133, the second expansion device 143, and the third expansion device 121.

Further, the collection chamber 200 is a funnel-shaped chamber, the collection chamber 200 has a medicine outlet 203 for communicating with the medicine collecting tank, and the medicine outlet 203 is located at the bottom of the separation chamber 110. The funnel-shaped separation chamber 110 enables the medicine to more easily fall into the medicine collecting box through the medicine outlet 203, so that the collection of the medicine is more convenient. A fourth control valve is arranged at the medicine outlet 203 and is functionally connected with the control system.

In this embodiment, the device further comprises a vibrator 201, and a rotator is connected to the outer wall of the collection chamber 200 for enabling the medicine in the collection chamber 200 to more rapidly fall into the medicine collection box. The vibrator 201 is functionally connected to the control system.

The invention also provides capsule screening equipment which comprises a capsule screening machine and a device 10 for separating the capsule cap and the capsule body, wherein a defective capsule outlet of the capsule screening machine is communicated with a feed inlet 115 of the device.

The screened defective capsules can automatically recycle the medicines through the device 10 for separating the capsule caps and the capsule bodies, and the waste of the medicines can be effectively avoided.

To sum up, the embodiment of the invention provides a device for separating a capsule cap from a capsule body, which comprises a hollow capsule dividing main body and a capsule sieving plate, wherein the capsule sieving plate is connected to the inner side wall of the capsule dividing main body and divides the capsule dividing main body into a separating chamber and a collecting chamber which are sequentially communicated from top to bottom through the capsule sieving plate, and the separating chamber is provided with an air inlet communicated with a pressurizing device, an air outlet and a feed inlet for pressure relief. The device increases the pressure in the separation chamber through the air inlet, when making the inside and outside gas of capsule reach the equilibrium, through the gas vent pressure release, and the atmospheric pressure reduction lag in the capsule still keeps great atmospheric pressure for the capsule is disassembled automatically under the effect of gas pressure difference.

The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A device for separating a capsule cap from a capsule body is characterized by comprising a hollow capsule-separating main body and a capsule-passing sieve plate;

the capsule sieving plate is connected to the inner side wall of the capsule dividing main body, the capsule sieving plate divides the capsule dividing main body into a separating chamber and a collecting chamber which are sequentially communicated from top to bottom, and the separating chamber is provided with an air inlet communicated with the pressurizing device, an air outlet used for pressure relief and a feed inlet used for adding capsules into the separating chamber;

the device also comprises a capsule separation component used for leaving part of capsules before separation in the separation chamber, wherein the capsule separation component is arranged between the feed inlet and the capsule sieving plate in the separation chamber; the capsule separation component comprises a capsule separation plate and a pushing piece used for pushing the capsules on the capsule separation plate into the capsule passing sieve plate;

one end of the capsule separation plate is connected to the inner side wall of the separation chamber, and the outer diameter of the capsule separation plate is smaller than that of the capsule passing sieve plate; the pushing parts are correspondingly arranged above the capsule separation plates, and the number and the arrangement positions of the pushing parts correspond to those of the capsule separation plates;

the pushing piece comprises a telescopic device and a pushing plate, the telescopic device is connected to the position, above the capsule separation plate, of the inner side wall of the separation chamber, the telescopic rod of the telescopic device is connected with the pushing plate, and the pushing plate and the capsule separation plate are vertically arranged.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the capsule separation plate is provided with a plurality of through holes.

3. The device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the capsule separation plate comprises a first separation plate and a second separation plate;

one end of the first partition board is connected with the inner side wall of the separation chamber, the second partition board is located below the first partition board, one end of the second partition board is connected with the inner side wall of the separation chamber, and the first partition board and the second partition board are arranged oppositely.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first and second divider plates each have a length less than or equal to half of a separation distance between an inner sidewall of the separation chamber to which the first divider plate is connected and an inner sidewall to which the second divider plate is connected.

5. The device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the collection chamber is a funnel-shaped chamber having a drug outlet for communication with a drug collection bin, the drug outlet being located at the bottom of the collection chamber.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the apparatus comprises a vibrator, the vibrator being attached to an outer wall of the collection chamber.

7. Capsule screening apparatus, characterized in that it comprises a device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. The capsule screening apparatus of claim 7, wherein the inlet port of the device is in communication with a reject capsule outlet of the capsule screening apparatus.