EP1372943A1

EP1372943A1 - Method for disassembling or assembling the machine parts of rotary tablet presses and corresponding rotary tablet press

Info

Publication number: EP1372943A1
Application number: EP02722220A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Hans Krämer
Original assignee: Kilian & Co KG GmbH
Current assignee: IMA Kilian GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 2001-03-20
Filing date: 2002-03-14
Publication date: 2004-01-02
Anticipated expiration: 2022-03-14
Also published as: DE50212898D1; DE10113586A1; ATE411157T1; EP1372943B1; WO2002074527A1

Abstract

The invention relates to rotary tablet presses (100) comprising a rotatable tablet press kit which is formed from a die plate (21), an upper guiding ring (32) for the upper upper punch (25) and a lower guiding ring (27) for the lower punch (28). The invention also relates to a method for disassembling or assembling especially the kit (20). The individual disassembly or assembly steps are stored in a protocol and a pre-determined time interval is associated with each disassembly step. An automatic or manual release is required at the end of each disassembly step or process. Said release can only take place, at the earliest, once the corresponding time interval has elapsed. A lifting device for lifting or sinking the tablet press kit (20) can only be switched on once all of the preparatory disassembly steps have been carried out.

Description

Title: Process for dismantling or assembling the machine parts of rotary tablet presses and rotary tablet presses

The invention relates to a method for disassembling or assembling the movable or drivable machine parts of rotary tablet presses, in particular for disassembling or assembling the rotatable tablet press kit of the rotary tablet press formed by the die plate, upper stamp guide ring for upper stamp and lower stamp guide ring for lower stamp. The invention also relates to generic rotary tablet presses, in which the method can be used advantageously and which have a tablet press formed by a die plate, upper punch guide ring for upper punch and lower punch guide ring for lower punch, with a rotatably mounted in a housing and connected or connectable to a drive shaft. Kit are provided, with stationary control cams are provided for the stroke movement of the upper and lower punches. ^'

Generic rotary tablet presses have been manufactured by the applicant for decades and are described, for example, in EP 623 456 AI or EP 893 239 AI. With the rotary tablet presses, high numbers of tablets can be pressed every hour. The tablet press kit formed by the die plate, upper punch guide ring and lower punch guide ring as well as the upper and lower punches is subject to considerable wear. The entire kit is therefore rotated at regular intervals replaced a second, identical kit so that production can resume while the first kit is being overhauled. In order to keep downtimes to a minimum, disassembly or assembly of the kit should be as short as possible. On the other hand, for the functionality of the rotary tablet press and for achieving "high" output, it is essential that all ^'* ' functional parts and units are installed and connected in the correct position and in a functional manner rotates at high rotational speed, the operational safety of the entire tablet press also depends on the correct assembly of the driven and movable machine parts Assembly booklet), in which the most important disassembly and assembly steps can be explained by photographs.

The object of the invention is to provide a method for disassembling or assembling the drivable machine parts, in particular the tablet press kit, and a rotary tablet press suitable for the use of the method, which facilitates the exchange of the machine parts or of the kit with the greatest possible safety for man and machine.

This object is achieved in terms of the method aspect by the method specified in claim 1. According to the invention, it is provided that the individual disassembly or assembly steps are stored in a (history) log, with each disassembly or assembly step being assigned a predetermined time window and at the end of each disassembly or assembly step or at the end of one of several disassembly or assembly steps Assembly steps formed disassembly or Assembly process requires an automatically or manually activated release, whereby the release is possible at the earliest after the associated time window for the dismantling or assembly step or process and only after all preparatory dismantling or assembly steps or processes have been activated of the machine parts or switching of the control device of a ^'lifting device for the lifting and lowering of the tablet press kit is possible. By the method according to the invention, a control routine is therefore involved in the disassembly or assembly of the machine parts, which must inevitably be carried out with all disassembly or assembly steps before the rotary tablet press can be started again or a lifting device for the comparatively heavy tablet press - The kit can be switched on and operated. Particularly in the presence of a lifting device for the tablet press kit, this effectively prevents machine or body parts from being squeezed between the housing and the upper or lower punch guide ring when the tablet press kit is raised or lowered.

In the simplest embodiment of the method according to the invention, the release or acknowledgment takes place. Completion of the individual disassembly or assembly steps or processes manually by the assembly staff. However, some or all releases are preferably made automatically, the automatic confirmation expediently being given by release signals from sensors, limit switches or the like. takes place, e.g. only send a release signal after a certain unit or machine part has been completely removed from its installation position or has been inserted exactly again into the installation position.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention, each demonstration stored in the progress log is Day or assembly step or process can be represented in a display unit in image, writing and / or word, the respective steps or processes being displayed during the course of the associated time window. As a result of the aforementioned measure, in addition to the control function, a manual is also available as a video image and / or in language, which tells the assembly staff, for example, exactly which parts or assemblies with which tools and which tightening or loosening forces are to be installed next or must be dismantled.

It is particularly advantageous here if the progress log and the time window are stored in an external module that can be connected to the machine controller; This has the advantage that assembly-related shutdown of the tablet press can only be carried out by the operating personnel who are in charge of assembly and equipped with the external module. In addition, the external module can optionally be used on several rotary tablet presses and / or can be updated without decommissioning the tablet press. It is particularly favorable if the individual disassembly or assembly steps or processes are represented in word, language and / or image with the external module and / or see the automa i -__ or manual release signals are evaluated.

The aforementioned object is also achieved by the invention specified in claim 6. According to the invention, a lifting device is provided for the installation and removal of the kit, which comprises at least one lifting cylinder which can be controlled via a control device and cooperates with a lifting piston, the control device preferably switching the lifting cylinder only after having gone through an assembly or disassembly process according to one of the Claims 1 to 6 releases. The concentricity is preferably Tablet press around one that has stationary control cams that are interrupted on a section of the orbit of the kit, pressure rollers for exerting the compressive forces for tablet pressing being arranged there. In a preferred embodiment of the tablet press according to the invention, the reciprocating piston is arranged on the drive axis and in particular can be acted upon hydraulically. It is particularly favorable here if a cavity in the drive shaft forms the lifting cylinder and the lifting piston is guided in a sealed manner in the cavity; in this configuration, the provision of the additional lifting device does not lead to an enlargement of the necessary housing interior, and consequently not to one Expansion of the footprint for the tablet press.

To carry out the method according to the invention, it is particularly expedient if an external module can be connected to the machine control of the rotary tablet press, in that at least the log with the individual dismantling and assembly steps or processes and the time windows are stored. Further preferably, the external module has a display unit such as a screen and / or a loudspeaker, with which the individual disassembly and assembly steps can be represented in word, ... writing and / or image ... Further preferably, the lifting device can be equipped with a on a roof structure of the housing arranged transport device, in particular a slide rail, cooperate, in which the tablet press kit can be hung or snapped in the raised state and with which the kit can be linearly moved out of or into the housing.

Further advantages and refinements of the method according to the invention and the rotary tablet press according to the invention result from the description of the presented embodiments and the dependent claims. The drawing shows:

1 shows a section through a rotary tablet press with the tablet press kit in the operating position.

Fig. 2 in a sectional view corresponding to Fig. 1

Tablet press with the kit raised and transported out of the housing; and

Fig. 3 is a diagram for the schematic representation of the disassembly method according to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a rotary tablet press, denoted overall by 100, with a multi-sided housing 1, of which at least one side wall 2, here the front side wall in FIG. 1, can be removed. The housing 1 further comprises a base plate 3, support columns 4 at the corners and a roof structure 5. The interior of the housing 1 is divided by an intermediate floor 7 into a press chamber 6 and a drive chamber 8. The tablets are pressed by means of a tablet press kit, designated as a whole by 20, which is arranged in the pressing chamber 6 of the tablet press 100 and is coupled to initiate or transmit the rotational movement with a drive shaft 10 which passes through the intermediate floor 7 centrally and in the drive chamber 8 a drive and gear unit 9 is rotatably connected.

The kit 20, which is non-rotatably connected to the drive shaft 10, consists, as is known per se, of a die plate 21 having circumferentially distributed matrices 22 arranged on a circle, an upper punch guide ring 23 with guides 24 for the upper punch 25 and a lower punch guide ring 26 with guides 27 for the lower punches 28. During the rotation of the kit 20, the lifting movement of the upper and lower punches 25, 28 is realized by means of fixed control cams 29, 30, each of which is assigned a lubricant supply 31. The control cams 29, 30 are interrupted on a partial section of the orbit of the kit 20, wherein there are drivable pressure rollers 32, 33 arranged, with which the pressing forces for pressing the tablets are applied. Other machine parts and machine units are used by filling devices, material wipers, measuring devices, ejection devices and the like. formed, which are not shown in the drawings or are not provided with reference numerals.

The tablet press kit 20 can be replaced as a unit. To facilitate the disassembly or assembly of the kit 20, the drive shaft 10 is provided in its section protruding into the pressing chamber 6 with a cavity 11 formed by a bore, in which a piston 12 is guided with its piston head 13 sealed. An axial line 14 opens into the cavity 11 in order to be able to supply hydraulic fluid to the cavity 11 for lifting the reciprocating piston 12 and the piston rod 15, respectively. The hydraulic fluid is supplied and discharged by means of control units. and . _, , _, .. facilities that, like the machine control, for example for the drive gear unit 9, are not shown.

1 shows the rotary press 100 in the operating state. The kit 20 is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the drive shaft 10, the reciprocating piston 12 is retracted and all of the units are assembled. To facilitate the removal of the kit 20, a slide rail 16 is arranged on the underside of the roof structure 5, which has a snap-in recess 17 into which an undercut snap-in part 18 arranged centrally on the upper side of the upper punch guide ring 23 is snapped into place. that can. For this purpose, the kit 20 can be lifted vertically with the hydraulic lifting device 35 formed by the cavity 11 and the reciprocating piston 12 into the position shown in FIG. 2 for the kit 20 'and from there, after the snap-in part 18 has snapped into the snap-in recess 17, by means of the slide rail 16 advantage through the open side wall 2 of the housing 1 heraustranspor- "'" will be ^"h," "such ^as' indicated ^by' the removal position" for "de" construction tz ^Λ 20 ''. The snap-in part 18 is connected to a lifting rod 37 which passes through a central bore 38 in the punch guide ring 23 and which has a shoulder which comes into contact with an abutment shoulder 39 of the stepped bore 38. For this purpose, the lifting rod 37 moves in the bore 38 (FIG. 2), while in the operating position it is clamped to the punch guide ring 23 by means of the central screw 36.

Before the lifting device 35 may be actuated, a number of machine parts, units screws, hydraulic lines and the like must. removed and the rotation between kit 20 and drive shaft 10 are released. For example, From Fig. 2 it can be seen that the upper pressure roller 33 is to be removed and that the side walls 36 of the lower cam control 29 must be pushed apart so that the lower punches 28 from the associated. Cam controls .29 are released. When assembling a new tablet press kit 20, the kit 20 must first be placed in the reverse order. Corresponding central position is transported into the housing 1 and then lowered into the functional position by means of the lifting device 35.

The disassembly or assembly of the kit 20 is carried out using a method which is now explained with reference to FIG. 3. An external module 50 is shown schematically in FIG. 3, which can be used, for example, by a portable computer with data input and output. y

unit 51, a display 52 and a memory and computer unit 53 is formed. A log is stored in the memory and computer unit 53 with all the dismantling processes DMV _X to DMV _X to be carried out for the replacement of the kit 20. Individual of these disassembly processes DMV, as illustrated with the disassembly process DMV ₃ , are divided into individual steps "S1 ^!, S2. The - disassembly process" - DMVi can include, for example, the loosening of the filler shoe drive shafts and the loosening of the clamping connection between the filler shoe and the filler pipe, etc. For the dismantling process DMVi, a time window t _{x is} stored in the memory and computer unit 53, which consists of a time period predetermined by the factory, which, according to experience at the factory, is at least necessary for performing all steps in the dismantling process DMVi. Accordingly, each further dismantling process DMV _{X is} a corresponding one time slot t _x assigned. the data stored in the log disassembly operations include information and data or files that after the program has been started by the input START, on -the display 52 ^'for example as a video sequence, accompanied by language and script can be displayed. The operating personnel can h ier are demonstrated by the disassembly and removal steps to be carried out.

The process is structured in such a way that the dismantling process DMV ₂ following the dismantling process DMVi is only started after a release. F _x for the completion of all necessary steps in the dismantling process DMVi has taken place. The release Fi takes place either manually or by automatic confirmation, provided the correct removal of the machine parts to be dismantled via image or touch sensors, light barriers, limit switches or the like. can be checked. The release F _λ can, however, take place at the earliest at a time at which the time window t _{x has} expired. By pressing the ENTER key, the expiry of the first time window t _x started. As soon as the release F _{x has} been carried out correctly, the next dismantling process DMV _{2 is} started, so that the dismantling processes and steps to be carried out are shown on the display 52, and the time window t ₂ is opened.

The change between the mandatory acknowledgment of the successful ^• completion '' ^,: a'll "er dismantling processes and steps, each time after the factory-specified time window, takes place in the diagram up to process step DMV _x -2 The sequence of the dismantling processes DMV _X to DMV _X _ ₂ is blocked by the connection of the external module 50 and the start of the dismantling process, the machine control; its movable machine parts, in particular the drive and gear unit (9, Fig. 1) and the lifting device (35, 1) The control device 40 for the lifting device 35 is symbolically shown in Fig. 3. The associated release F _x _ ₂ for the dismantling process DMV _X _ ₂ now has a double function; short time delay, the subsequent dismantling process DMV _X. i and the associated time window t _x _ _ι started, on the other hand there is also a signal to the St Your device 40, which acts on the cavity 11 of the lifting device 35 with hydraulic fluid, so that the lifting piston 12 is pushed out with the lifting rod 15 for lifting the kit 20 (as shown in FIG. 2).

In the dismantling process DMV _X. _X then the snap-in means (18) snaps into the associated snap-in recess 17 in the slide rail 16 (FIG. 2). After the successful completion of this dismantling process DMV _X. _! was acknowledged by the release F _x _χ, in turn. a signal is sent to the control device 40 so that the cavity 11 is now hydraulically relieved and the lifting rod 15 is lowered. In the final dismantling process DMV _X can now, as under reference take on Fig. 2 explained, the kit 20 transported out of the housing and exchanged for another. The disassembly process is finished, as indicated by END in Fig. 3.

Then the assembly process starts, in which the individual assembly steps and assembly processes Xn '-' reverse -> order. It goes without saying that during the assembly process, the control device is not actuated at the end of the individual assembly processes, but rather at the beginning, since the individual machine parts and units must then be attached and connected again for the correct operation of the rotary tablet press 100. However, the method of operation with time windows, acknowledgment and visual or audiovisual representation of the respective assembly steps and assembly processes is carried out in the same way as for the disassembly procedure described in detail. The disassembly and assembly method can preferably be implemented by a computer program and / or a suitable circuit.

For the person skilled in the art, a number of deviations result from the preceding description, which should fall within the scope of protection of the claims. The arrangement of the lifting device on the axis of rotation A of the kit 20 ensures a space-saving arrangement, but could possibly also be implemented differently. The time windows assigned to each assembly or disassembly process are preset at the factory. It goes without saying that experienced operating personnel can under certain circumstances carry out individual of these steps more quickly. The storage and computer unit could therefore possibly also be equipped with a learning routine which, after successful confirmation of certain dismantling or assembly processes, provides a shorter time window the next time the method is run.

Claims

Patent claims:

1. Method for disassembling or assembling the movable or drivable machine parts of rotary tablet presses (100), in particular that of the die plate (21), upper punch guide ring (32) for upper punch (25) and lower punch guide ring (27) - for ~ lower punch " (-28) ^• formed, rotatable tablet press kit (20) of the rotary tablet press, characterized in that the individual disassembly or assembly steps (S _x ) or processes (DMV _X ) are stored in a log, with each disassembly or assembly step (S _x ) or operation (DMV _X ) a predetermined time window (t _x ) is assigned and at the end of each dismantling or assembly step or at the end of a dismantling or assembly process formed by several dismantling or assembly steps (DMV _X ) an automatically or manually operated release (F _x) is necessary, wherein the release (F _x) is possible at the earliest after the / DER associated time window (t _x) and wobe i Only after all preparatory disassembly or assembly steps or processes have been approved, do you activate the machine parts or switch the control unit

(40) a lifting device (35) for lifting or lowering the tablet press kit (20) is possible.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the automatically confirmed release by release signals from sensors, limit switches or the like. he follows.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that each dismantling or assembly step or process stored in the log can be represented in a picture, writing and / or word via a playback unit (52), the representation of the respective steps (p _x ) or operations (DMV _X ) takes place during the expiry of the associated time window (t _x ).

'Are closable module'^"(" 50) "stored"^'A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the flow control protocol and the time window in an external to the engine control Toggle.

Method according to claim 4, characterized in that the individual disassembly or assembly steps and processes are represented in word, speech and / or image with the external module (50) and / or the automatic or manual release signals (F _x ) are evaluated.

Rotary tablet press with a rotatably mounted in a housing (1) and connected or connectable to a drive shaft (10) of the die plate (21), upper punch guide ring (23) for upper punch (25) and lower punch guide ring (26) for lower punch ( 28) formed tablet press kit (20), stationary control cams (29, 30) being provided for the lifting movement of the punches (25, 28), characterized in that for the installation and removal of the .. kit (20) Lifting device (35) is provided which comprises at least one lifting cylinder (11) which can be controlled via a control device (40) and which interacts with a lifting piston (12), the control device (40) preferably switching the lifting cylinder (11) only after disassembly has been carried out - or assembly method according to one of claims 1 to 5 releases.

Rotary tablet press according to claim 6, characterized in that the fixed control cams (29, 30) on a portion of the orbit of the kit (20) under are broken and there are pressure rollers (32, 33) for exerting the compressive forces for tablet pressing.

8. rotary tablet press according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the lifting piston (12) of the lifting device

(35) is arranged on the drive axle (A) and / or preferably '' the 'lifting device (35) can be hydraulically loaded.

9. rotary tablet press according to claim 8, characterized in that a cavity (11) in the drive shaft (10) forms the lifting cylinder and the reciprocating piston (12) in the cavity (11) is guided sealed.

10. rotary tablet press according to one of claims 6 to 9, characterized in that an external module (50) can be connected to its machine control, in which at least the history with the individual disassembly or assembly processes (DMV) and the time window (t _x ) are saved.

11. rotary tablet press according to claim 10, characterized marked ........ ,, that _. the external module _... (50) has a display unit such as a screen (52) and / or a loudspeaker with which the individual disassembly and assembly steps or operations can be represented in word, writing and / or image.

12. rotary tablet press according to one of claims 6 to 11, characterized in that on a roof structure (5) of the housing (1) a transport device, in particular a slide rail (16) is arranged, in which the kit (20) in the raised state can be snapped into place and with which it can be linearly transported out of the housing.