JP2005231649A - Medicine dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a medicine dispenser having an annular distribution tray capable of reliably removing remaining medicine on the annular distribution tray. <P>SOLUTION: The medicine dispenser can take a standard cleaning mode in which an annular distribution tray 10 is turned in the forward direction to operate a suction mechanism 47 and a cleaning driving mechanism 48 while a housing 41 of a cleaner mechanism 40 is located at the suction position, and a counter cleaning mode in which the annular distribution tray is turned in the reverse direction opposite to the forward direction to operate the suction mechanism 47 and the cleaner driving mechanism 48 while the housing 41 is located at the suction position after the standard cleaning mode. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a drug dispensing device having an annular dispensing tray.

It has been conventionally known that a cleaner mechanism is provided in a medicine dispensing device that dispenses medicine such as powder every predetermined amount using an annular dispensing tray (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Specifically, in Patent Document 1, an annular distribution tray that rotates around a first rotation axis, and an annular distribution tray that is provided with an arc-shaped concave portion that opens upward at a peripheral edge portion, and the annular distribution tray are first described. By rotating the annular distribution tray around the first rotation axis and the drug supply mechanism for supplying the drug to the arc-shaped recess while rotating at a substantially constant speed around the rotation axis, the drug is deposited on the arc-shaped recess. In a medicine dispensing apparatus comprising a scraping mechanism for scraping the collected medicines by a predetermined angle around the first rotation axis and remaining on the annular dispensing tray after being scraped by the scraping mechanism. Disclosed is a drug dispensing device having a cleaner mechanism for removing the drug to be performed.

The cleaner device includes a suction pipe disposed above the distribution tray so as to be movable up and down, a rotating brush mounted in the suction pipe, and a rear side in the rotation direction of the distribution tray in the suction pipe. And a closing plate connected to the side surface.
The closing plate is configured to be fitted into the arc-shaped recess when the suction tube is located at the lowered position (that is, the suction position for sucking the residual medicine on the annular distribution tray). The medicine scraped off by the rotating brush can be prevented to some extent from moving to the downstream side in the rotation direction of the annular distribution tray.

As described above, the conventional medicine dispensing device described in Patent Document 1 has an advantage that the remaining medicine on the dispensing dish can be removed relatively efficiently by providing the above-described configuration. There are also disadvantages.
That is, in the conventional medicine dispensing device, in the cleaning mode, the rotating brush is rotated and the suction device is operated while the annular dispensing tray is rotated while the cleaner device is in the lowered position. However, no consideration is given to the residual drug that has entered between the closing plate and the annular distribution dish.

Specifically, among the residual drugs present at the position where the closing plate abuts when the suction device is positioned at the lowered position, and the residual drugs scraped off by the rotating brush, residual drugs that could not be sucked, Although it will enter between the closing plate and the annular distributor, such a drug cannot be removed.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-39789

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a medicine dispensing apparatus having an annular dispensing tray that can more reliably remove the residual medicine on the annular dispensing dish. To do.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an annular distribution tray that rotates around a first rotation axis, the annular distribution tray provided with a recess that opens upward at a peripheral edge, and the annular distribution tray as a first. A drug supply mechanism that supplies a drug to the recess and the annular distribution tray are rotated about the first rotation axis in a state where the drug is rotated at a substantially constant speed around the rotation axis, and the drug accumulated in the recess is And a scraping mechanism for scraping the accumulated medicine and a cleaner mechanism for removing the medicine remaining on the annular distribution dish after being scraped by the scraping mechanism. A drug dispensing device is provided.
The cleaner mechanism includes a first wall and a second wall located on the upstream side in the forward direction and the downstream side in the forward direction, respectively, with reference to the forward direction to the one side around the first rotation axis of the annular distribution plate, A housing having a peripheral wall connecting the upper end portions of the first wall and the second wall, the lower opening being an opening, wherein the lower opening defines the recess in the annular distribution tray around a first rotation axis. Suction connected to an internal space of the housing defined by a housing that can take a suction position that covers over an angle and a retracted position that is separated from the annular distribution tray, and the first wall, the second wall, and the peripheral wall A rotary cleaner member rotatably mounted around a second rotation axis substantially parallel to the plane direction of the annular distribution tray in the internal space of the mechanism and the housing when the housing is located at the suction position The outer peripheral edge is the concave A rotary cleaner member configured to contact the rotary cleaner, a cleaner drive mechanism for rotating the rotary cleaner member about the second rotary shaft, and a second wall of the housing when the housing is positioned at the suction position; And a sealing member that closes a gap between the recesses.
The cleaner mechanism having such a configuration includes a standard cleaning mode in which the suction mechanism and the cleaner driving mechanism are operated by rotating the annular distribution tray in a normal rotation direction with the housing positioned at the suction position, and the standard cleaning mode. After the cleaning mode, in the state where the housing is positioned at the suction position, the reversing cleaning mode in which the suction mechanism and the cleaner driving mechanism are operated by rotating the annular distribution tray in the reversing direction opposite to the normal rotating direction. It is comprised so that it can take.

  Preferably, in the reverse cleaning mode, the annular distribution tray is rotated in the reverse direction greater than the circumferential distance of the contact width between the seal member and the recess.

In one mode, in the standard cleaning mode, the annular distribution tray is rotated at least 360 degrees in the normal rotation direction, and then is shifted to the reverse cleaning mode.
Instead, in the standard cleaning mode, the annular distributor is rotated in the normal rotation direction at an angle smaller than 360 degrees, and the standard cleaning mode and the reverse cleaning mode are repeated a plurality of times. Can be configured.

For example, the seal member is a plate member connected to the housing so as to be located downstream of the second wall in the forward rotation direction.
The plate member is shaped so that its lower end engages with the recess.

According to the present invention, since the reverse cleaning mode is performed after the standard cleaning mode, the residual medicine that has entered between the seal member and the annular distribution tray can also be effectively removed by suction.
Therefore, in the next distribution operation, it is possible to reliably prevent the medicine in the previous distribution operation from being mixed.

Hereinafter, a medicine dispensing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
1 and 2 are a front view and a plan view, respectively, of a medicine packaging device 100 to which the medicine dispensing device 1 according to the present embodiment is applied.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the medicine dispensing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is incorporated in the medicine packaging apparatus 100 as a powder dispensing apparatus.
That is, the medicine packaging apparatus 100 includes the medicine dispensing apparatus 1 used for powder medicine, the second medicine dispensing apparatus 200 used for tablets, and below the medicine dispensing apparatus 1 and the second medicine dispensing apparatus 200. And a medicine packaging device 300 disposed in the box.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the medicine dispensing apparatus 1 includes an annular dispensing tray 10, a medicine supply mechanism 20 that supplies a medicine onto the annular dispensing dish 10, and a medicine on the annular dispensing dish 10 for each predetermined amount. And a cleaner mechanism 40 that removes the drug remaining on the annular distribution tray 10 after being scraped by the scraping mechanism 30.

The annular distribution tray 10 is rotated around the first rotation axis A1 by a distribution tray drive mechanism (not shown) based on an external signal.
As shown in FIG. 2, the annular distribution tray 10 is positioned radially outward of the central portion 11 with respect to the central portion 11 driven by the distribution tray drive mechanism and the first rotation axis A1. And a concave portion 12 to be formed. The recess 12 is preferably arcuate.
The recess 12 is open upward, and is configured to hold the medicine supplied from the medicine supply mechanism 20.

The medicine supply mechanism 20 is configured to supply medicine to the recess 12 of the annular distribution tray 10 at an equal pace.
That is, by operating the medicine supply mechanism 20 with the annular distribution tray 10 rotated at a constant speed around the first rotation axis A1, the concave portion 12 of the annular distribution tray 10 extends in the circumferential direction. A uniform amount of drug is deposited.

  The scraping mechanism 30 rotates the annular distribution tray 10 around the first rotation axis A1, thereby accumulating the medicine accumulated in the recess 12 by a predetermined angle per first rotation axis A1, The accumulated medicine is scraped downward.

The scraping mechanism 30 is based on an external signal, and a scraping position for scraping the medicine deposited on the annular distribution tray 12 by a scraping mechanism drive mechanism (not shown) and a retreat position spaced from the annular distribution tray 10. It is comprised so that it can take.
Specifically, when the scraping mechanism 30 is located at the scraping position, the scraping plate 31 that comes into contact with the recess 12 and the scraping member that scrapes off the medicine blocked by the blocking plate 31 from the annular distribution tray 10. 32 and a scraping member drive mechanism 33 for driving the scraping member 32.

The dispensing of a predetermined amount of drug operates as follows.
That is, in the state where the scraping mechanism drive mechanism is operated and the scraping mechanism 30 is positioned at the scraping position, the distribution tray drive mechanism is operated to move the distribution tray 10 about the first rotation axis A1 by a predetermined angle. The amount of the medicine corresponding to the predetermined angle is accumulated by the retaining plate 31 by rotating only the predetermined angle.
Then, by operating the scraping member 32 by the scraping member driving mechanism 33, the accumulated medicine can be moved from the distribution tray 10 to the hopper 310 (see FIG. 2) positioned below. .

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the cleaner mechanism 40, showing a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.
The cleaner mechanism 40 includes a housing 41 that can be moved toward and away from the annular distribution tray 10, a housing drive mechanism 42 that moves the housing 41, and a suction mechanism 47 that sucks the inside of the housing 41 (FIG. 2). And a rotary cleaner member 43 rotatably mounted inside the housing, and a cleaner driving mechanism 48 (see FIG. 2) for driving the rotary cleaner member 43 to rotate.

The housing 41 has a suction position (see FIG. 3 (a)) that covers a predetermined area of the recess 12 of the annular distribution tray 10 by the housing drive mechanism 42, and a retracted position (see FIG. 3) that is separated from the annular distribution tray 10. 3 (b)).
Specifically, the housing 41 is located on the upstream side in the forward direction and on the downstream side in the forward direction with reference to the forward direction (direction of arrow F in FIG. 2) of the annular distribution tray 10 in the rotational direction. It has the 1st wall 41a and the 2nd wall 41b which were each located, and the surrounding wall 41c which connects the upper end part of this 1st wall 41a and the 2nd wall 41b, and the downward direction is made into the opening 41d.
When the housing 41 is positioned at the suction position, the lower opening 41d covers the recess 12 over a predetermined angle around the first rotation axis A1, and the first wall 41a The second wall 41b, the peripheral wall 41c, and the corresponding region of the recess 12 define an internal space.

  The suction mechanism 47 includes a suction device (not shown), and a suction pipe 47a that communicates a suction port of the suction device with the internal space of the housing 41. By operating the suction device, the housing It is configured so that the residual drug in the internal space 41 can be removed by suction.

The rotary cleaner member 43 is located in the inner space of the housing 41 and is rotatable around the second rotation axis A2 that is substantially parallel to the planar direction of the annular distribution tray 10. It is supported.
More specifically, the rotary cleaner member 43 is configured such that the outer peripheral edge portion is in contact with the concave portion 12 when the housing 41 is positioned at the suction position.
By having such a configuration, the drug attached to the surface of the recess 12 can be separated from the recess 12 by rotating the rotary cleaner member 43 around the second rotation axis A2 by the cleaner driving mechanism 48. It has become.
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the cleaner member 43 includes a cylindrical portion 43a that is supported on the second rotation axis A2 so as not to be relatively rotatable, and a radially outward portion from the cylindrical portion 43a. The brush portion 43b extends to the surface, and when the housing 41 is positioned at the suction position, the radially outer end of the brush portion 43b contacts the surface of the recess 12.

The cleaner mechanism 40 further includes a seal member 45 that closes a gap between the second wall 41b of the housing 41 and the annular distribution tray 10 when the housing 41 is positioned at the suction position.
In the present embodiment, the seal member 45 is connected to the housing 41 so as to be located downstream of the second wall 41b in the normal rotation direction with respect to the normal rotation direction F of the annular distribution tray 10. Plate member.
The plate member is preferably a silicon packing.

The medicine dispensing apparatus 1 having the cleaner mechanism 40 having such a configuration is configured to be able to take a standard cleaning mode and a reverse cleaning mode started automatically or based on an external signal after the standard cleaning mode is finished. Has been.
In the standard cleaning mode, the medicine remaining on the surface of the annular dispensing tray 10 is removed automatically upon completion of the medicine dispensing step or by forcible operation by an operation panel or the like.
Specifically, in the standard cleaning mode, the annular distribution tray 10 is rotated in the normal rotation direction F with the housing 41 positioned at the suction position. In parallel with or after the rotation, the cleaner driving mechanism 48 and the suction mechanism 47 are operated.
Accordingly, the residual medicine adhering to the concave portion 12 is separated from the annular distribution dish 10 by the rotary cleaner member 43 and sucked and removed by the suction mechanism 47.

The rotation of the annular distribution tray 10 in the forward rotation direction F and the operation of the cleaner driving mechanism 48 and the suction mechanism 47 may be performed in parallel or in time series. is there.
That is, the cleaner driving mechanism 48 and the suction mechanism 47 can be operated while rotating the annular distribution tray 10 in the forward rotation direction F, or the annular distribution tray 10 is moved in the forward rotation direction F by a predetermined angle. After the rotation, the rotation of the annular distribution tray 10 can be stopped and then the cleaner driving mechanism 48 and the suction mechanism 47 can be operated repeatedly.

  As described above, since the seal member 45 closes the gap between the second wall 41b of the housing 41 and the recess 12, the medicine separated from the annular distribution tray 10 by the rotary cleaner member 43. However, movement from the second wall 41b of the housing 41 to the downstream side in the rotational direction is effectively prevented.

In the reverse cleaning mode, the residual medicine sandwiched between the seal member 45 and the annular distribution tray 10 is removed by suction.
Specifically, in the reverse cleaning mode, the annular distribution tray 10 is in the reverse direction opposite to the normal rotation direction F (→ R in FIG. 2) with the housing 41 positioned at the suction position. Is rotated to. In parallel with or after the reversal, the cleaner driving mechanism 48 and the suction mechanism 47 are operated.

Preferably, the rotation of the annular distribution tray 10 in the reverse direction R is performed so as to exceed at least the circumferential distance of the contact width between the seal member 45 and the recess 12.
That is, the annular distribution tray 10 is inverted so that a predetermined portion of the recess 12 that is in contact with the seal member 45 before the annular distribution tray 10 is inverted is covered by the internal space of the housing 41 after the inversion. Rotated in direction R.

  Thus, since the medicine dispensing device 1 according to the present embodiment is configured to perform the reverse cleaning mode after the standard cleaning mode, the conventional medicine dispensing device could not be removed sufficiently. The residual drug between the seal member 45 and the annular distribution tray 10 can be reliably removed by suction.

There are various modes for switching from the standard cleaning mode to the reverse cleaning mode.
For example, in the standard cleaning mode, the annular distribution tray 10 can be configured to rotate 360 degrees in the normal rotation direction F and then shift to the reverse cleaning mode, or in the standard cleaning mode, It is also possible to repeat the rotation of the annular distribution tray 10 by a predetermined angle smaller than 360 degrees and shift to the reverse cleaning mode.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a medicine packaging apparatus to which a medicine dispensing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the medicine packaging device shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the cleaner mechanism in the medicine dispensing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) show a suction state and a retracted state, respectively.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Drug distribution apparatus 10 Annular distribution tray 12 Recess 20 Drug supply mechanism 30 Scraping mechanism 40 Cleaner mechanism 41 Housing 41a First wall 41b Second wall 41c Peripheral wall 41d Lower opening 43 Rotating cleaner member 45 Seal member 47 Suction mechanism 48 Cleaner drive mechanism

Claims (4)

An annular distribution tray that rotates around a first rotation axis, the annular distribution tray provided with a recess that opens upward at the peripheral edge, and the annular distribution tray rotated at a substantially constant speed around the first rotation axis The medicine supply mechanism for supplying the medicine to the recess and the annular distribution tray are rotated around the first rotation axis to accumulate the medicine accumulated in the recess by a predetermined angle around the first rotation axis. A medicine dispensing device comprising a scraping mechanism for scraping the accumulated medicine, and a cleaner mechanism for removing the medicine remaining on the annular dispensing tray after being scraped by the scraping mechanism,
The cleaner mechanism includes a first wall and a second wall located on the upstream side in the forward direction and the downstream side in the forward direction, respectively, with reference to the forward direction to the one side around the first rotation axis of the annular distribution plate, A housing having a peripheral wall connecting the upper end portions of the first wall and the second wall, the lower opening being an opening, wherein the lower opening defines the recess in the annular distribution tray around a first rotation axis. A housing capable of taking a suction position covering over an angle and a retracted position spaced apart from the annular distribution tray;
A suction mechanism communicated with the internal space of the housing defined by the first wall, the second wall, and the peripheral wall;
A rotary cleaner member mounted in the internal space of the housing so as to be rotatable about a second rotation axis substantially parallel to the planar direction of the annular distribution tray, and an outer peripheral edge portion when the housing is located at a suction position A rotary cleaner member configured to be in contact with the recess;
A cleaner drive mechanism for rotating the rotary cleaner member around the second rotation axis;
A seal member that closes a gap between the second wall of the housing and the recess when the housing is positioned at the suction position;
The cleaner mechanism is
A standard cleaning mode in which the annular distribution tray is rotated in the forward rotation direction to operate the suction mechanism and the cleaner driving mechanism in a state where the housing is located at the suction position;
After the standard cleaning mode, with the housing positioned at the suction position, the reversing mechanism that rotates the annular distribution tray in the reversing direction opposite to the normal rotating direction to operate the suction mechanism and the cleaner driving mechanism. A medicine dispensing device configured to be capable of taking a cleaning mode.   2. The medicine dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein, in the reverse cleaning mode, the annular distribution tray is rotated in a reverse direction larger than a circumferential distance of a contact width between the seal member and the concave portion. .   The medicine dispensing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein in the standard cleaning mode, the annular dispensing tray is rotated at least 360 degrees in the forward rotation direction. The seal member is a plate member connected to the housing so as to be located downstream of the second wall in the forward rotation direction,
The drug dispensing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the plate member has a shape such that a lower end engages with the recess.

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