JP2005194047A - Lifter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate necessity for provision of a scaffold erected provisionally or permanently as conventional and enable automatic connection of a vessel with a chemical treatment device. <P>SOLUTION: A lifter is equipped with a column installed vertically and a vessel placing part to admit placing of the vessel fitted in the lower part with an exhaust part capable of being opened and closed by a butterfly valve, wherein the vessel placing part is moved in the vertical direction along the column or rotated round the column and is furnished with an automatic opening/closing mechanism to open and close the butterfly valve. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a lifter used in a factory that handles chemicals.

  The pharmaceutical factory has a plurality of work spaces separated by partitions. Containers filled with chemicals are delivered to each work space with a cart or the like. The containers delivered to each work space are respectively mounted on the container mounting portion of the lifter and moved to a predetermined position. As for the container which has come to the predetermined position, the discharge part is aligned with the input port of the apparatus of the supply destination.

  By the way, in order to supply chemicals from a container to an apparatus as a supply destination, it is necessary to connect the aligned discharge part and input port and seal the connection part. Conventionally, this connection work has been performed manually. In addition, since the connection portion is generally located at a high place, it is necessary to install a permanent or temporary scaffold for connection work.

However, since each work space in the drug factory is relatively small, it is difficult to install such a scaffold, and connection work is also difficult. There was a similar problem when disconnecting.
JP-A-8-59195

  Therefore, the present invention has an object to provide a lifter that can automatically connect a container and a supply destination device without providing a temporary or permanent scaffold as in the prior art.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention of claim 1 includes a column installed upright, and a container mounting portion that mounts a container having a discharge portion that can be opened and closed by a butterfly valve at the bottom, the container mounting portion, An automatic opening / closing mechanism that opens and closes the butterfly valve is provided in the container mounting portion in a lifter that moves up and down along the column and rotates around the column.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a connection mechanism is provided for sealingly connecting the discharge portion and the receiving port of the supply destination of the container contents when they are in contact with each other. .
In the invention of claim 3, in the invention of claim 1, a manual handle is provided in the automatic opening / closing mechanism of the butterfly valve, and the butterfly valve can be opened and closed by the manual handle.

  In the lifter of the invention of claim 1, since the automatic opening / closing mechanism of the butterfly valve provided in the container is provided in the container mounting portion on the lifter side, the opening / closing mechanism is compared with the conventional container provided for each container. Thus, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  Conventionally, the connection portion (reception port) between the container and the supply destination apparatus is sealed manually by an operator covering and tying the container with a cylindrical cloth sleeve or the like. Since the connection mechanism for sealingly connecting the discharge part and the receiving port of the container contents supply destination is provided, dangerous manual work is unnecessary at such a high place, and the work efficiency can be drastically improved.

  In the invention of claim 3, since the automatic opening / closing mechanism of the butterfly valve is provided with a manual handle, even if the automatic opening / closing mechanism fails, it can be opened / closed by the manual handle, and the operation can be continued or interrupted arbitrarily. It can be carried out.

  By implementing the present invention, the operator does not need to work at a high place, and it is not necessary to provide a scaffold in a narrow work space. Since there is no manual process by the operator, safety can be improved especially when the chemical in the container is harmful when sucked.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic external view of a lifter 100 embodying the present invention. The lifter 100 is mounted on a support column 3 supported at both ends by a floor 50 and a ceiling (beam) 51, movable in the vertical direction along the support column 3, and rotatable (rotatable) around the support column 3. The control panel 30 is composed of an operation panel 30 in which switches for controlling the operation of the unit 40 and the mounting unit 40 are integrated.

  In the column 3, devices necessary for moving the mounting portion 40 in the vertical direction and rotating around the column 3 are built in. As the column 3, for example, in the application of the present applicant. A lifter support structure described in JP-A-8-59195 can be employed.

  The mounting portion 40 of the lifter 100 is driven in the vertical direction by a drive mechanism in the support column 3 and can be rotated (turned) around the support column 3. The mounting portion 40 is provided with a fork 4 that supports a container 11 described later.

  On the other hand, the container 11 is mounted on the carriage 10 and is transported on the floor 50 to the vicinity of the lifter 100. The container 11 is provided with an inlet 11 a for filling powdered chemicals at the upper part, and a chemical discharge unit 12 for supplying the filled chemicals to the chemical treatment device 9 at the lower part. The medicine discharge unit 12 is provided with a butterfly valve 1 described later in detail. The base plate 10a on which the container of the cart 10 is mounted is U-shaped on the left side as viewed in FIG. 1 so that it does not interfere with the medicine discharge part 12 of the container 11.

  A holding portion 14 supported by the fork 4 of the mounting portion 40 is installed on the side surface of the container 11. FIG. 10 is a plan view of the container 11. As shown in FIG. 10, the holding portions 14 are installed on both side surfaces of the container 11. As the holding portion 14, for example, angle steel or groove steel can be adopted. The holding member 14 is fixed to the container 11 by bolting or welding.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the fork 4 of the mounting portion 40 is provided with a stopper 23 having an inclined portion 24, a straight portion 25, and a contact portion 26. The container 11 slides on the inclined portion 24 of the stopper 23, and when the corner of the container 11 passes the inclined portion 24, the container 11 moves along the straight portion 25 and comes into contact with the contact portion 26 and stops. At this time, the center line 28 of the container 11 is aligned with the center line 27 of the mounting portion 40.

  FIG. 5 is a front view of the butterfly valve 1 installed in the medicine discharge unit 12 provided in the lower part of the container 11. The butterfly valve 1 is fully closed when the valve body 21 is seated on the valve seat 22, the chemical passage of the chemical discharge section 12 (FIG. 1) is blocked, and the valve body 21 is perpendicular to the valve seat 22. When fixed in position, it is fully open.

  The valve body 21 is integrally fixed to the rod 8 that penetrates the valve seat 22 while being airtight. When the rod 8 is rotated, the valve body 21 is also rotated. The rod 8 has a T-shaped handle 6 with the axis 8a aligned with it.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the manual handle 2 is installed on the rod 8 obliquely with respect to the axis 8 a of the rod 8. The manual handle 2 is provided so that the butterfly valve 1 can be closed even if an opening / closing mechanism described later breaks down, and is not essential. The rod 8, the T-shaped handle 6, and the manual handle 2 operate integrally with the valve body 21.

  6 is a view taken in the direction of arrows VI-VI in FIG. In FIG. 6, when the manual handle 2 is in the position indicated by the solid line, the valve element 21 is in the fully open position, and when in the position indicated by the broken line (position rotated 90 degrees from the position indicated by the solid line), the valve element 21. Is in the fully closed position. Moreover, the T-shaped handle 6 can be rotated to bring the valve body 21 into the fully open position or the fully closed position. That is, every time either the manual handle 2 or the T-shaped handle 6 is rotated by 90 degrees, the butterfly valve 1 repeatedly opens and closes the chemical passage.

  Although not shown in the drawing, the rod 8 is provided with a ball member that is constantly pressed radially outward by the pressing force of the spring at intervals of 90 degrees. Further, an annular groove (not shown) provided with holes having a diameter smaller than that of the ball member at intervals of 90 degrees is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the valve body 22. When the ball member passes along the annular groove and the ball member fits into the hole, a resistance force is generated and the position of the rod 8 in the rotational direction with respect to the valve body 22 is easily fixed. If the interval between the holes is other than 90 degrees (for example, 45 degrees), the opening degree of the valve body 21 can be set to an intermediate position between fully open and fully closed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a handle engaging member 7 that engages with the T-shaped handle 6 and rotates the T-shaped handle 6 is provided on the mounting portion 40 of the lifter 100. The handle engaging member 7 can be rotated by a motor 5 (automatic opening / closing mechanism). The motor 5 can be controlled by the operation panel 30. A rotary actuator may be employed instead of the motor 5.

Next, the operation will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the container 11 mounted on the carriage 10 is transported to the vicinity of the lifter 100. In this state, the fork 4 and the holding portion 14 are not in contact with each other, the two sets of stoppers 23 and 24 shown in FIG. 10 are in contact with each other, and the inclined surface 25 and the inclined surface 26 slide on each other. The container 11 is aligned with the mounting portion 40.

  Next, the mounting portion 40 rises along the support column 3 to a predetermined height (a height corresponding to the chemical treatment apparatus 9) shown in FIG. At this time, the position in the height direction of the shaft core of the T-shaped handle 6 (the shaft core 8a of the rod 8 shown in FIG. 5) and the shaft core of the handle engaging member 7 is coincident with each other.

  In the state of FIG. 1, a slight clearance is provided so that the fork 4 does not collide with the holding part 14. When this clearance becomes zero, that is, the fork 4 as shown in FIG. The position of the axis of the T-shaped handle 6 and the position of the axis of the handle engaging member 7 in the height direction are set in advance when supporting.

  After the container 11 is lifted to a predetermined height shown in FIG. 2, the container 11 rotates (turns) around the support column 3 together with the mounting portion 40 as shown in FIG. In the state shown in FIG. 3, there is a clearance between the chemical charging unit 13 (receiving port) and the chemical discharging unit 12 of the chemical processing apparatus 9 so that they do not collide.

  After the medicine discharge section 12 is arranged immediately above the medicine input section 13, the container 11 is lowered by the clearance by the mounting section 40 as shown in FIG. Connected to the input unit 13. The connection method is described below.

  FIGS. 7A and 7B are front views showing an example of the form of the connecting portion between the medicine discharge section 12 and the medicine input section 13. FIG. 7A shows a state where both are separated from each other, and FIG. 7B shows a state where both are connected.

  A rubber flexible joint 15 is installed in the chemical charging unit 13, and a metal reducer 16 with a flange 16 a is installed in the chemical discharging unit 12. A rubber flange 15a is installed at the upper end of the flexible joint 15, and as shown in FIG. 7A, the flange 15a and the flange 16a come into contact with each other so that they are sealed (a connection mechanism for sealing connection). .

  FIGS. 8A and 8B are front views showing an example different from FIG. 7 in the form of a connection portion between the medicine discharge section 12 and the medicine input section 13. FIG. 8A shows a state where both are separated from each other, and FIG. 8B shows a state where both are connected.

  The medicine discharger 12 is not provided with the reducer 16 shown in FIG. 7A, and a flange 27 is provided at the lower end. In addition, the chemical charging section 13 is provided with a rubber nozzle 28 that expands upward. As shown in FIG. 8 (b), when the flange 27 and the nozzle 28 are pressure-bonded, the medicine discharging section 12 and the medicine feeding section 13 are connected while being kept airtight (connection mechanism for sealing connection). .

  FIGS. 9A and 9B are front views showing still another example of the connection portion between the medicine discharge section 12 and the medicine input section 13. FIG. 9A shows a state where both are separated from each other, and FIG. 9B shows a state where both are connected.

  The chemical charging part 13 is constituted by a chute tube 17, and a basket part 18 for receiving a rubber solid packing 19 and a sponge packing 20 is installed at the upper end. A flange 27 is provided on the medicine discharge section 12 side, and the flange 27 and the solid packing 19 are brought into close contact with each other so that the medicine discharge section 12 and the medicine input section 13 are connected while being kept airtight.

  By operating the operation panel 30, as shown in FIGS. 7 (b), 8 (b) and 9 (b), the medicine discharge section 12 and the medicine input section 13 are connected and then shown in FIG. The motor 5 is driven, the handle engaging member 7 rotates the T-shaped handle 90 degrees to open the butterfly valve 1, and supplies the chemical in the container 11 to the chemical treatment device 9.

  When all the chemicals in the container 11 are supplied to the chemical treatment device 9, the operation panel 30 is operated to drive the motor 5 and close the butterfly valve 1. Thereafter, the container 11 is swung around the support column 3 together with the mounting portion 40, and is lowered to the position of the carriage 10 (position where the fork 4 is separated from the holding portion 14). A cart 10 loaded with an empty container 11 is collected, and a cart loaded with a new container filled with chemicals is prepared instead.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the operation and operation of the lifter 100. The start of this flowchart is "container truck loading, fork section loading" in the upper left. In some cases, the terminology is shortened due to the size of the drawing. For example, the buttons of the lifter 100 are installed in the operation panel 30 shown in FIG. 1, the “operation panel” in FIG. 11 points to the operation panel 30 in FIG. 1, and the “valve” is the butterfly valve. Point to one.

  The container 11 is replaced when it is empty. However, if an opening / closing mechanism for opening and closing the butterfly valve 1 of the chemical discharge unit 12 is installed in the container 11, opening / closing mechanisms for the butterfly valve 1 are required as many as the number of containers 11. is there. However, as described above, if this opening / closing mechanism (automatic opening / closing mechanism) is provided in the mounting portion 40 of the lifter 100, the cost of installing the opening / closing mechanism in each individual container 11 is not incurred, which is economical.

In addition, the operator can operate all the steps from supplying the chemicals to the chemical treatment device 9 from the container 11 with the operation panel 30 and does not have to climb to a high place, so that the work efficiency is dramatically improved.
Depending on the workplace, unlike the above-described embodiment, the present invention can be implemented without any problem even if the rotation (turning) angle is other than 180 degrees (for example, about 90 degrees).

It is the external appearance schematic of the lifter which implemented this invention. The container to a predetermined level is an external schematic view of the state where the lift lifter. It is the external appearance schematic of the state which turned the container to the predetermined position. It is the external appearance schematic of the state which connected the container and the chemical treatment apparatus. It is a front view of the butterfly valve installed in the medicine supply part provided in the lower part of a container. It is an IV-IV arrow line view of FIG. It is a front view which shows an example of the form of the connection part of a chemical | medical agent supply part and a chemical | drug | medicine injection | throwing-in part. (A) shows a state where both are separated from each other, and (b) shows a state where both are connected. It is a front view which shows the form different from FIG. (A) shows a state where both are separated from each other, and (b) shows a state where both are connected. It is a front view which shows the form different from FIG. 7, FIG. (A) shows a state where both are separated from each other, and (b) shows a state where both are connected. It is a top view of a container. It is a flowchart at the time of implementing this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Butterfly valve 2 Manual handle 3 Post 4 Fork 5 Motor (automatic open / close mechanism)
6 T-shaped handle 7 Handle engaging member (automatic open / close mechanism)
8 Rod 9 Chemical treatment equipment (Drug supply destination equipment)
10 trolleys 11 containers 12 chemical discharge parts 13 chemical input parts (receiving port)
14 Holding part 15 Flexible joint (connection mechanism)
15a Flange (connection mechanism)
16 Reducer (connection mechanism)
16a Flange (connection mechanism)
21 Valve body 22 Valve seat 23 Stopper 24 Inclined part 25 Straight part 26 Abutting part 27 Flange (connection mechanism)
28 Nozzle (connection mechanism)
30 Operation panel 40 Mounting part (container mounting part)
100 lifter

Claims (3)

A column that is installed upright and a container mounting unit that mounts a container having a discharge unit that can be opened and closed by a butterfly valve at the bottom, and the container mounting unit is moved up and down along the column, In lifters that rotate around,
The lifter characterized in that an automatic opening / closing mechanism for opening and closing the butterfly valve is provided in the container mounting portion.   The lifter according to claim 1, further comprising a connection mechanism that seals and connects the discharge portion and the receiving port of the container contents supply destination when they are in contact with each other. The lifter according to claim 1, wherein a manual handle is provided in an automatic opening / closing mechanism of the butterfly valve, and the butterfly valve can be opened and closed by the manual handle.

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