ES2656717T3 - Apparatus for separating one or more units of a drug from a continuous band - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus for separating one or more units of a drug from a continuous band containing a plurality of drug units (4), comprising a frame (1) having a vertical extension and a longitudinal extension with respect to a support plane and which includes one or more storage compartments (2), each storage compartment (2) being adapted to receive storage means for said continuous band (3), characterized in that said frame (1) comprises one or more separation work stations flanks arranged along the longitudinal extension of said frame (1), each of said separation work stations including at least said storage means and a drive unit (8) adapted to move said continuous band (3) to along the vertical extension of said frame (1), said apparatus also being provided with a cutting unit (9) adapted to run longitudinally in relation to said sea co (1) along each separation workstation to separate a portion (32) of band containing one or more drug units (4) from each band (3) continues in a single cutting pass.

Description

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APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING ONE OR MORE UNITS OF A PHARMACO OF A CONTINUOUS BAND

DESCRIPTION

Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus for separating one or more drug units from a continuous band for the automatic composition of prescriptions specified by medical personnel for each patient.

The invention makes it possible to carry out daily operations more efficiently and simplify mechanical devices that separate and collect drugs that will be distributed later.

Background of the invention

Health centers, such as hospitals and reception centers for patients who are incapacitated or only partially self-sufficient, must constantly address the need to administer to the people in their care the medications required by their respective therapies.

Some known solutions are found in the known technique that propose devices for collecting units of medicaments to assist healthcare personnel.

In particular, devices are known for the automatic distribution of product units, be they medicines, food or objects, in general of compact sizes.

Among these, are devices designed to provide individually packaged and stored product units and others designed to dispense individually packaged units but joined into continuous strips or bands that must be separated when they are to be administered.

The apparatus described in US 3,131,830 can dispense products of various kinds. The mechanisms of the apparatus pick up a band consisting of individual portions of a container and feed it forward through the action of a driving wheel. The unit to be administered is pushed out of a relative opening and separated from the continuous web by a cutting element.

The distributor described in US 3,131,830 is a first mechanism that dispenses objects, including medicines, packaged in continuous bands, but which cannot be managed or connected to a centralized distribution control system.

US Patent 5,102,008 describes a device for dispensing drugs that have been individually packaged in cavities created in a band.

A first end of the band is fixed to a first electric coil that feeds the band initially wound on a second coil that rotates freely on a pin. The band moves through an element that can expel the medication from the cavity, so that the patient can pick it up.

A preferred embodiment of the invention consists of a microprocessor-controlled drug dispenser that facilitates the patient to follow the therapy. This preferred embodiment is also provided with connections to the medical center's office to oversee the administration of the medications.

The device described above shares some design aspects of the invention that will be described below, but does not achieve the latter's ability to function, since it is essentially conceived as a device for domestic use or by small health centers.

US Patent 7,963,201 describes an apparatus and methods for administering medications designed to help patients both in the amounts of medication they must take and at the times when they take the medication from their therapies. The apparatus described in that document is provided with a plurality of cores to allow it to manage several drugs; Each core is equipped with an actuator connected to a power mechanism housed in the unit itself. The devices described in that document may be provided with an interface that allows an online connection with a computer unit to manage the supply and supply of drugs to operators.

A disadvantage of the apparatus described in US Patent 7,963,201 is the fact that it makes it possible to manage only a limited number of products, and therefore more devices will be required for larger quantities.

All the equipment and devices described so far do not achieve the optimum level of security and quality of service required for the particularly delicate phase of drug distribution in health centers.

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health or hospital care, particularly in larger facilities.

Summary of the invention

The present invention aims to overcome the limits and disadvantages of the solutions currently available in the market, improving the speed with which drugs are made available to operators in the delivery of prescriptions and reducing the complexity of the mechanisms necessary to separate and collect individual medication units.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is an apparatus for separating one or more units of drugs from a continuous band, provided with mechanisms that make it possible to separate single doses or units of medicine in a highly automated manner and make them available for later use. Collection and distribution.

The apparatus can contain a plurality of drugs packaged in a continuous band, so that they can be handled by mechanical devices, installed in the same apparatus, which dispense and separate the individual unit doses of each medication from the packages, so that they can be collected a relative collection device and are made available to the operator, which is then administered to patients.

The above purposes and tasks, and others that will be more evident in the following, are achieved by means of an apparatus for separating one or more units of medicine from a continuous band, as defined in claim 1.

Brief description of the figures

Additional features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment, provided by way of example only indicative and without limitations, with reference to the attached figures, in which:

- Figure 1 is a front perspective view of an apparatus for separating one or more medication units from a continuous band according to the present invention;

- figure 2 shows a detail of the apparatus of figure 1;

- Figure 3 is a perspective view in the foreground of the rear part of the apparatus;

- Figure 4 is a front perspective view in the foreground of the apparatus of Figure 1 in an initial phase of the operating cycle;

- Figure 5 is a perspective view in the foreground of the rear part of the apparatus in a second phase of the operating cycle;

- Figure 6 is a front perspective view of the apparatus in a third phase of the operating cycle;

- Figure 7 is a front perspective view of the apparatus in a fourth phase of the operating cycle;

- Figure 8 is a perspective view of the apparatus in a final phase of the operating cycle.

Detailed description of the invention

In the perspective view of Figure 1 a possible embodiment of an apparatus for separating a

0 more medicament units of a continuous band object of the present invention, comprising a frame

1 having a vertical extension and a longitudinal extension with respect to a support plane.

In the following description, the terms "vertical", "vertically", "longitudinal", "longitudinally", "upper part", "lower part" will refer to the support plane of frame 1.

The frame 1 includes one or more storage compartments 2 suitable for receiving respective storage means for a band 3 in which a plurality of medication units 4 are individually packaged; the storage means may be composed, for example, of at least one coil 5, on which the band 3 is wound, rotatably mounted on a suitable support structure 6, so that the unwinding of the band 3 is allowed for subsequent operations, which will be explained below.

Advantageously, the unwinding of the band 3 is guided by relative through means 7, through which the band 3, associated with the support structure 6, is fed.

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Between two adjacent units 4, the band 3 is provided with a hole 14, the function of which will be explained in detail below.

The apparatus according to the present invention also comprises, associated with frame 1:

- at least one traction unit 8 adapted to drive the band 3 in an alternating vertical rectilinear movement with respect to the frame 1;

- a cutting unit 9 that slides longitudinally with an alternating rectilinear movement with respect to the frame 1 along relative guide means 10;

- at least one retention and collection unit 11 for the drug units 4 separated from the band 3 that moves vertically with an alternating rectilinear movement with respect to the frame 1.

The operation and sequence of movements of the previous units according to the steps described below are controlled, in a known manner, by suitable actuating means, such as electric motors, and by appropriate control means, such as sensors, micro switches, timers, etc., not shown in the attached figures.

Hereinafter, the term "separation workstation" will be defined for the provision of devices consisting of a web coil, a traction or drag unit and a retention and collection unit.

The apparatus according to the present invention can be implemented with a single separation workstation or, more conveniently, in a modular arrangement by configuring in a series next to two or more separation work stations, as exemplified in the embodiment illustrated in the attached figures, in which the apparatus comprises three separation work stations, each formed by a coil, a belt drive unit and a retention and collection unit for the drug units separated from the band .

In each case, the apparatus comprises a single cutting unit that transversely intercepts, during its operating path, all separation stations.

In addition, the bands of the different separation work stations may contain the same medication, different medications or different types of medications, depending on the specific requirements of the care center (hospital, assisted residence, nursing home, etc.).

The components that make up each separation workstation are described in detail below.

Each traction unit 8 is associated with a first carriage 12 moved vertically, for example, through a rack and pinion system, and which supports one or more traction means 13, depending on the number of separation work stations, arranged facing a corresponding portion of the band 3 left by the passing means 7; the traction means 13 are composed, for example, of a piston that extends intermittently from a cylinder to engage the hole 14 in the portion of the band 3 that slides out of the through means 7.

The movement of the first carriage 12 from the lower position, shown in figure 3, to the upper position, shown in figure 5, causes the band 3 to be pulled up through the piston coupling in the corresponding hole 14 in the band 3. During the course of the first carriage 12, the continuous band 3 is guided by a track 15 that has an open central portion to allow the passage of one or more drug units 4 protruding from the continuous band 3.

Each retention and collection unit 11 is associated with a second carriage 16 which can slide vertically in an alternating rectilinear motion with respect to a first bracket 17 of the frame 1.

The second carriage 16 supports one or more retention means 18, which comprises one or more arms 19 articulated to respective second brackets 20 in solidarity with the second carriage 16; therefore, the arms 19 can rotate about an axis A arranged longitudinally with respect to the frame 1 between a rest position and a retention position in which the movement is controlled by an actuator such as a jack 25 of pneumatic or hydraulic type .

The second carriage 16 also supports one or more collection means 21 for the drug units 4 separated from the band 3. The collection means 21 may comprise one or more slightly inclined pins, so that the drug units are collected by gravity or, as exemplified in the embodiment of the attached figures, a helical screw that forms a plurality of spiral elements 22; the 22 elements in

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They are rotatably supported by respective third brackets 23, in solidarity with the second carriage 16, and are provided with means 24, such as a nut with a nut, which can convert a rotation movement into a translation movement and in which they are coupled The 22 spiral elements. In this manner, the rotation of the spiral elements 22 with respect to the means 24 also causes the extraction or retraction of the same spiral elements 22 along an axis B perpendicular to the longitudinal extension of the frame 1, depending on the direction of rotation

Both the retention means 18 and the collection means 21 are in an equal number to the separation work stations with which they are associated.

The cutting unit 9 comprises a third carriage 26 provided with a sliding element 27 suitable for sliding longitudinally with an alternating rectilinear movement with respect to the frame 1 along the guide means 10; the third carriage 26 also supports suitable cutting means 28, advantageously formed by a disk blade rotatably associated with the third carriage 26 along a vertical axis, or arranged perpendicularly with respect to the longitudinal sliding direction.

Advantageously, suitable detection means 29 arranged adjacent to the cutting means 28 can be provided on the side opposite the sliding element 27; such detection means 29 are designed to "read" a code, for example, a bar code or a QR code, printed on each portion of the band 3 containing one or more drug units 4, before this is separated portion by means of cutting means 28 of the remaining part of the band, in order to control that the data of the drug in the separation stage correspond to the specifications previously set.

The upper surface of the guiding means 10, in which the cutting means 28 act, defines a flat surface which will be referred to hereinafter as "working surface 33".

The apparatus operates as follows, with reference to the preferred embodiment illustrated in the attached figures: in an initial stage of the operating cycle, illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, a first portion 30 of the band 3 that slides out of the passing means 7, in which an operator previously inserted it at the beginning of the cycle, is coupled by the drag means 13, for example, through the insertion of the piston into the hole 14 facing it, and the same upwards by the translation movement of the first carriage 12 that passes through the guide track 15, with the consequent unwinding of the band 3 of the coil 5 (Figure 5).

The feeding of the first portion 30, of the same length as the path of the first carriage 12, consequently determines an equal forward movement, above the work surface 33, of a second portion 31 of the band 3, which is provided of a free end, since it is the header portion that results from the cutting of a previously separated portion of the band indicated by reference number 32 in Figure 3.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate, from the rear and from the front of the apparatus, respectively, the initial stage of the cycle in which the first carriage 12 is in the lower position, and therefore the second portion of the band 31 continuous has not yet reached above the work surface 33, the second carriage 16 is raised with respect to the work surface 33 with the arms 19 raised and the spiral elements 22 in a retracted position and supporting the portion 32 of band already separated. The cutting unit 9 is in a stationary position at one end of the work surface 33.

In Figure 5, the second band portion 31 has reached the position above the work surface 33 by the effect of the movement of the first carriage 12 to its upper travel limit; the second carriage 16 is lowered towards the work surface 33, so that the collection means 21 are arranged, such as the spiral elements 22, coaxially with respect to the hole 14 present in each second band portion 31; subsequently, a rotation is applied to the spiral elements 22 with respect to the screw 24 with nut, so that the spiral elements 22 are moved forward, towards the second band portion 31, so that they engage in the hole 14 In this position, the lateral edges of the second band portion 31 rest on a pair of projections 34 that project vertically from the work surface 33.

In the next stage, shown in Figure 6, the arms 19 rotate with respect to the A axis to a position lowered against the upper edge of the second band portion 31, which is therefore locked at the top by the arm 19 respectively against the corresponding pairs of projections 34 and is held by the end spiral of the respective spiral element 22 in engagement with the hole 14.

At this time, the second band portion 31 is ready to be separated from the first remaining band portion 30 by means of the cutting unit 9.

Referring again to FIG. 6, the cutting unit 9 is continuously driven along the guide means 10 from the stop position to the end of the operating path on the work surface 33, illustrated in Figure 7

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At this stage, the following operations are repeated successively at each separation workstation:

- if the detection means 29 are present, read the control code of the drug or drugs packaged in the second band portion 31;

- separating the second band portion 31 from the remaining part of the continuous band through the cutting means 28, by passing it through the base of the second portion of the band 31 protruding from the work surface 33.

Naturally, if the control code does not correspond to the predetermined specifications, the cycle can be interrupted or the cut part of the band is discarded.

In a single pass of the cutting unit 9, the second band portions 32 are thus separated from the remaining belt portions present in the different separation work stations.

In the subsequent stage, shown in Figure 8, the cutting unit 9 returns to the stationary position and the second carriage 16 is raised with respect to the work surface 33, jointly raising the arms 19, the spiral elements 22 and the second band portions 31, which have now become separate portions 32, held by arms 19 which are still in the retention position and by spiral elements 22 in the extended position.

An anti-clockwise rotation with respect to the forward movement rotation of the spiral elements 22 determines the retraction of the latter towards the third brackets 23 and the collection of the portions 32 separated in a spiral adjacent to the end spiral, while the arms 19 rotate upwards to the stationary position to start a new cycle, starting from the position shown in Figures 3 and 4.

Repeated rotations to retract the spiral elements 22 during the following operating cycles cause the separated band portions 32 to gradually move backward along the spirals, toward the third brackets 23, so that they eventually fill the entire length of the spiral elements 22, which thus collect a plurality of separate band portions 32, each containing one or more drug units 4.

Once the filling is completed, the spiral elements 22 are collected by suitable collection and transfer devices (which are not the subject of the present invention), which transfer the separated portions 32 from the spiral elements 22 to a storage cabinet .

From the above description, it is evident how the apparatus for separating one or more drug units from a continuous band as described above, can overcome the limits and disadvantages of the solutions currently available in the market.

In particular, the apparatus according to the present invention has an extremely compact and fully automated structure, and can quickly modify the number of workstations based on the quantity or type of drugs to be separated thanks to the potential modularity of their construction.

In addition, the apparatus has the ability to feed, separate, collect and dispense in an organized manner one or more separate drug units, even of different brands and types, extremely quickly, through a single operating pass of the means 9 of cutting along all separation workstations, thereby reducing collection times and possible operating errors considerably.

Naturally, the present invention is susceptible to many applications, modifications or variants, without thereby departing from the scope of protection of the patent, as defined by claim 1.

In addition, the materials and equipment used to implement the present invention, as well as the shapes and dimensions of the individual components, may be the most suitable for specific requirements.

Claims (8)

10 fifteen 2. 20 3. 25 Four. 30 5. 35 40 6. Four. Five 7. 8. fifty 9. 55 Apparatus for separating one or more units of a drug from a continuous band containing a plurality of drug units (4), comprising a frame (1) having a vertical extension and a longitudinal extension with respect to a support plane and which includes one or more storage compartments (2), each storage compartment (2) being adapted to receive storage means for said continuous band (3), characterized in that said frame (1) comprises one or more separation work stations flanks arranged along the longitudinal extension of said frame (1), each of said separation work stations including at least said storage means and a drive unit (8) adapted to move said continuous band (3) to along the vertical extension of said frame (1), said apparatus also being provided with a cutting unit (9) adapted to run longitudinally in relation to said sea co (1) along each separation workstation to separate a portion (32) of band containing one or more drug units (4) from each band (3) continues in a single cutting pass. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cutting unit (9) can slide longitudinally relative to said frame (1) along guide means (10) defining a working surface (33) of said frame ( one). Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each drive unit (8) of said one or more separation work stations is associated with a first carriage (12) that can move vertically relative to said frame (1) between a position adjacent to said work surface (33) and a position lowered with respect to said work surface (33), said first carriage (12) supporting respective drive means (13) for said one or more separation work stations adapted to engage and drag to said work surface a first portion (30) of said continuous band (3) leaving said storage means. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each of said one or more separation work stations further comprises a holding and collecting unit (11) for a plurality of said separate band portions (32) of said band (3) continued, said holding and collecting unit (11) being adapted to slide vertically in relation to said frame (1) between a position close to said work surface (33) and an elevated position with respect to said surface (33) of job. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein each holding and collecting unit (11) is associated with a second carriage (16) that can slide between said proximal position and said elevated position, said second carriage (16) supporting means (18) respective retention means for said one or more separation work stations adapted to retain a second portion (31) of said continuous band (3) adjacent to said first portion (30), a free end of said second portion (31) protruding from said work surface. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said cutting unit (9) comprises a third carriage (26) which can slide along said guide means (10), said third carriage (26) supporting means (28) of suitable cut adapted to separate said second portion (31) of said continuous band (3) to obtain said band portion (32) containing one or more drug units (4). Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the retention and collection unit (11) comprises means (12) for collecting a plurality of said separate band portions (32) of said continuous band (3). Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said collection means (12) comprise a helical screw that forms a plurality of spiral elements (22), each spiral element (22) being adapted to collect and support a portion (32) of band of said plurality of band portions. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said helical screw is rotatably supported on said second carriage (16) by means (24) suitable for transforming a rotation movement of said helical screw into a translation movement of said elements (22 ) in a spiral so as to cause the extraction and retraction of said spiral elements (22) in relation to said second carriage (16) along an axis (B) perpendicular to the longitudinal extension of said frame (1). Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said storage means consist of at least one coil (5) rotatably mounted on a support structure (6), said continuous band (3) being wound on said coil (5).