JP2004041433A - Medicine cassetter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a medicine cassetter with a simple structure which can accurately discharge a half a tablet only by a required number according to the rotation of a rotor. <P>SOLUTION: The cassette is provided with a reference bottom surface, a housing part which has a side forming a medicine housing space in cooperation with the reference bottom surface and a rotor made rotatable with respect to the reference bottom surface so that the rotation axis thereof is orthogonal to the reference bottom surface of the housing part. The rotor has a cut large enough to let the medicines housed be inserted therethrough. Discharge ports are provided on the reference bottom surface of the housing part in the regions corresponding to the track of the rotation of the cut provided on the rotor. The cut of the rotor has a combined shape of the semi-circle of the half a tablet and a rectangle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a medicine cassette configured to be able to discharge stored medicines at predetermined intervals.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A medicine cassette configured to be able to discharge medicines to be stored in predetermined amounts is used as one component of a medicine selection and supply device.
That is, the drug selective supply device includes a support base such as a drum, and a plurality of cassettes mounted on the support base, each of which includes a predetermined medicine. The cassette is detachably mounted on, for example, a base member attached to the support base.
In use, the drug selective supply device selectively drives one corresponding cassette according to a selection signal from an operator based on a prescription. As a result, the rotor of the one cassette rotates, and the necessary amount of the stored medicine is automatically discharged.
[0003]
More specifically, the cassette includes an accommodating portion and a rotor rotatably driven in the accommodating portion. The rotor is provided with a notch for holding the medicine to be contained. On the other hand, the housing portion is provided with a discharge port at a position corresponding to the rotation locus of the notch in the rotor. With such a configuration, the conventional medicine cassette can discharge the medicine held in the notch from the discharge port by controlling the rotation angle of the rotor.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, such a conventional drug cassette does not intend to use a half tablet obtained by cutting a tablet in half (see FIG. 7). However, there is a problem that the notch is simultaneously held in the notch or a half tablet is not effectively held in the notch.
An object of the present invention is to provide a medicine cassette having a simple structure capable of accurately discharging a required number of half tablets according to the rotation of a rotor.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a medicine cassette configured to be able to discharge a predetermined amount of semi-tablets having a semicircular shape in a plan view and a rectangular shape in a side view, A housing portion having a reference bottom surface and a side surface forming a medicine housing space in cooperation with the reference bottom surface, and such that the rotation axis is orthogonal to the reference bottom surface of the housing portion, and is rotatable with respect to the reference bottom surface. The rotor has a notch of a size through which the medicine to be stored can be inserted, and the reference bottom surface of the storage portion has a rotation locus of the notch provided in the rotor. A discharge port is provided in a corresponding area, and a cutout of the rotor provides a medicine cassette having a shape obtained by combining a semicircular shape and a rectangular shape of the half tablet.
[0006]
Preferably, the reference bottom surface is inclined, and the discharge port is provided above a lowermost region located at a lowermost position among regions corresponding to the rotation locus of the notch in the rotor, The reference bottom surface may be provided with a protrusion protruding toward the rotor between the lowermost region and the discharge port with reference to the rotation direction of the rotor.
[0007]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a medicine cassette according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a partial side view showing a state where the medicine cassette 1 according to the present embodiment is mounted on a base 200 such as a drum while the medicine cassette 1 is mounted on a base member 100.
[0008]
The base member 100 is preferably configured to be screw-connected to the support base 200, and the medicine cassette 1 is detachably attached to the base member 100 via elastic engagement or magnetic force engagement. You.
[0009]
The cassette 1 includes a storage section 10 having a medicine storage space, and a rotor 20 disposed in the medicine storage space.
The storage section 10 has a reference bottom surface 11 and a side surface 12 that forms the medicine storage space in cooperation with the reference bottom surface 11.
Preferably, the reference bottom surface 11 is inclined at a predetermined angle (for example, 40 to 50 degrees) with respect to a horizontal plane. In this manner, by making the reference bottom surface 11 an inclined surface, the half tablets to be housed are concentrated in the lower region of the medicine housing space, and the half tablets can be easily dropped into the notch described later.
[0010]
More preferably, the reference bottom surface 11 can be formed in a circular shape in a plan view, and the side surface 12 can extend from the periphery of the reference plane 11 so as to be orthogonal to the reference plane. The space can be substantially cylindrical.
[0011]
FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow II in FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.
The rotor 20, the disk portion 21 located on the reference bottom surface 11, such that the rotation axis X is orthogonal to the reference bottom surface 11, and extends from the center of the disk portion 21 to the opposite side to the medicine storage space, And a support portion 25 rotatably inserted into a support hole provided in the reference bottom surface 11.
[0012]
More specifically, a driven shaft 26 provided with a driven bevel gear 27 at one end is fixed to the support portion 25, and the driven bevel gear 27 is connected to a motor (not shown) housed in the base member 100. ) Is in mesh with the drive-side bevel gear 110 operatively connected to the drive bevel gear 110.
In addition, as a matter of course, the transmission mechanism between the motor and the rotor may be configured using a belt or a universal joint in addition to a mechanism using gears as in the illustrated embodiment.
[0013]
A notch 22 is provided in the disk portion 21 of the rotor 20.
FIG. 4 shows an enlarged plan view of the notch. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the notch 22 has a semicircular shape in a plan view (see FIG. 6A) of a half tablet to be housed and a rectangular shape in a side view of the half tablet (see FIG. 6B). ), Thereby effectively preventing the half tablets from being simultaneously held in the notches while efficiently dropping the half tablets into the notches. I have.
[0014]
In other words, according to the notch in the present embodiment, it is possible to efficiently hold only one tablet in both the case where the half tablet to be housed has the bottom face down and the posture where the cross section is face down. Can be. Accordingly, it is possible to effectively prevent a state in which a plurality of half tablets are simultaneously held in the notch as in the conventional medicine cassette, or a half tablet is not held in the notch.
[0015]
Preferably, the notch 22 is formed so as to open to the periphery of the disk portion 21 in a state where the arc portion in the semicircular shape in plan view faces the rotation center of the disk portion. With this configuration, the half tablets collected in the lower region in the medicine container can be efficiently inserted into the notch 22.
More preferably, a plurality of the notches 22 can be provided at equal intervals along the circumferential direction of the disk portion 21.
[0016]
Preferably, as shown in FIG. 3, the disk portion 21 of the rotor 20 is separated from the reference bottom surface 11 with a gap 50 at least in the notch 22. The gap 50 is, for example, 0.5 to 1.5 mm.
More preferably, the disk portion 21 has a contact portion 23 that contacts the reference bottom surface 11 in a region other than a region corresponding to the rotation locus of the notch 22. By providing such a contact portion 23, the disk portion 21 can be stably rotated with respect to the reference bottom surface 11.
[0017]
FIG. 5 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow II with the rotor removed. FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, a discharge port 15 is provided in the reference bottom surface 11 of the storage unit 10 in a region corresponding to the rotation locus 22 a of the notch 22 in the rotor 20, and through the discharge port 15. The half tablet held in the notch 22 and conveyed in the circumferential direction in accordance with the rotation of the rotor 20 is discharged from the cassette 1.
The half-tablet discharged from the discharge port 15 is connected to a transfer path 120 (see FIG. 1) formed in the base member 100 so as to communicate with the discharge port 15 and a hopper provided below the transfer path 120 (see FIG. 1). (Not shown), and supplied to a packaging device (not shown).
[0018]
In the present embodiment, as described above, the reference bottom surface 11 is inclined, and therefore, the outlet 15 is the most out of the regions corresponding to the rotation trajectory 22 a of the notch 22 in the rotor 20. It is provided above a region located below (hereinafter, referred to as a lowermost region). Preferably, the discharge port 15 is formed in an uppermost area (hereinafter, referred to as an uppermost area) among the areas corresponding to the rotation locus 22a of the notch 22.
[0019]
More preferably, in the reference bottom surface 11 of the accommodating portion 10, among the regions corresponding to the rotation trajectory 22 a of the notch 22, the lowermost region is defined based on the rotation direction of the rotor 20 (the arrow direction in FIG. 5). A protrusion 18 protruding toward the rotor can be provided between the discharge port 15 and the discharge port 15. The protrusion 18 has a height of, for example, 0.3 to 1.3 mm.
Preferably, the convex portion 18 is formed in a region located above the rotation axis X of the rotor in a region corresponding to the rotation trajectory 22a of the notch 22.
[0020]
By providing such a convex portion 18, when a plurality of half tablets are held in the notch 22, it is possible to effectively prevent unnecessary half tablets from being discharged from the outlet 15, contrary to intention. .
That is, depending on the posture of the half tablet, two or more tablets may be simultaneously held in the notch 22. For example, there is a case where two or more tablets are transported in a state in which another half tablet is placed on one half tablet that has entered the cutout due to friction between medicines or the like. In such a case, two tablets, one half tablet and the other half tablet, are discharged from the outlet 15 at the same time.
[0021]
On the other hand, if the convex portion 18 is provided, one drug that has entered the notch 22 is lifted upward when passing through the convex portion 18, and as a result, The other medicine loaded slides down along the inclination of the disk portion 20.
By providing the convex portion 18 in this manner, a plurality of half tablets can be effectively prevented from being discharged from the discharge port 15.
[0022]
In the present embodiment, the case where the reference bottom surface 11 is inclined has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to such a case, and various cases such as a case where the reference bottom surface is horizontal are provided. The form is included.
Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the reference bottom surface 11 is formed integrally with the medicine container 10 has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. That is, the member forming the reference bottom surface 11 may be separate from the main body of the medicine container, and the member may be attached to the main body of the medicine container.
[0023]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the medicine cassette according to the present invention, since the notch of the rotor has a shape obtained by combining the semicircle shape in a plan view and the rectangular shape in a side view of the half tablet, the cutout of the half tablet is inserted into the notch. It is possible to effectively prevent a plurality of half tablets from being held in the notches while efficiently performing the dropping.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a partial vertical sectional side view of a medicine cassette according to one embodiment of the present invention, showing a state where the medicine cassette is attached to a support base via a base member.
FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow II in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is an enlarged plan view of a cutout formed in a rotor of the medicine cassette shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a view taken in the direction of arrow II in FIG. 1, and shows a state in which a rotor is removed.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 5;
FIGS. 7A and 7B are a plan view and a front view of a half tablet.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Drug cassette 10 Drug container 11 Reference bottom surface 12 Side surface 15 Drug outlet 18 Convex portion 20 Rotor 21 Disk portion 22 Notch

Claims (2)

A medicine cassette configured to be capable of discharging a predetermined amount of semi-tablets having a semicircular shape in a plan view and a rectangular shape in a side view,
A reference portion and a storage portion having a side surface that forms a drug storage space in cooperation with the reference bottom surface,
A rotor rotatable with respect to the reference bottom surface, such that the rotation axis is orthogonal to the reference bottom surface of the housing portion,
The rotor has a notch of a size that allows the contained medicine to pass therethrough,
On the reference bottom surface of the housing portion, a discharge port is provided in a region corresponding to the rotation locus of the notch provided in the rotor,
The cutout of the rotor has a shape obtained by combining a semicircular shape and a rectangular shape of the half tablet. The reference bottom surface is inclined, and the discharge port is provided above a lowermost region located at a lowermost position among regions corresponding to the rotation locus of the notch in the rotor,
Further, the reference bottom surface is provided with a projection protruding toward the rotor between the lowermost region and the discharge port with reference to the rotation direction of the rotor. Item 4. The drug cassette according to Item 1.

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