JP2006151451A - Tablet feeder, and counting and filling machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a feeder resistant to breakage or cracks and capable of rapidly discharging tablets, capsules or the like, and a counting and filling machine including the feeder. <P>SOLUTION: The drum-like feeder 5 having tablet outlets 6 regularly arranged along the outer periphery and rotating vertically is provided. The counting and filling machine 1 includes: a feeder rotator 7 having the feeder 5 provided thereat; a means for supplying tablets to the feeder 5, for example hopper 2, a vibrating tablet feeder 3 and a chute 4; and a means for counting and filling the tablets, for example a counter 8 and a chute 9. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a feeder for supplying tablets (including capsules), and a counting filling machine including the feeder.

  As a method of supplying tablets with a rotary feeder, there are a method of supplying tablets by rotating the feeder in a parallel or nearly parallel state, and a method of supplying tablets by rotating in the vertical direction.

  As a method of rotating and supplying in a state of being parallel or nearly parallel, for example, a base having a tablet discharge port, and a base is provided rotatably via a driving means on the base, and a notch is provided along the outer periphery. An automatic high-speed counting device (for example, see Reference 1) composed of a formed separation feeder and a cylindrical tablet hopper connected to a base so as to surround the separation feeder. A rotor is rotatably incorporated in the inner bottom portion. A tablet storage case and a support base that supports the motor for driving the rotation of the rotor are detachably incorporated, and a plurality of pockets for storing tablets are provided at predetermined intervals between the outer periphery of the rotor and the inner bottom portion, When one of the pockets coincides with a discharge path provided at a predetermined position, a tablet feeder (for example, see Reference 2) that allows the tablet to be discharged freely, and rotationally driven, the tablet is sequentially placed in each pocket formed on the outer periphery. There is a rotating device at the center as in the method of supplying with a tablet aligning plate that is held and discharged at the discharging position (for example, see Reference 3). The rotating disk rotates in a supply rotating disk that is provided so as to rotate around an axis that is inclined with respect to the parallel, and in which a plurality of tablet measuring holes are formed in a circle around the rotation center. By doing so, there is a method of aligning the tablets and discharging them into the discharge holes on the outer periphery (for example, see Reference 4).

  In addition, as a method of supplying tablets by rotating in the vertical direction, a packaged article such as a tablet is sucked and held on the outer peripheral surface of the charging drum in a state protruding from the outer peripheral surface of the drum, and the suction holding state is released at the time of charging. There are a method of supplying a tablet (for example, see Reference 5), and a method of supplying a tablet having a pocket aligned on the drum surface and placing a tablet in the pocket (for example, see Reference 6).

The method of supplying tablets by rotating in a state of being parallel or nearly parallel is liable to be broken or chipped by being in contact with or around the rotating part of the tablets. Therefore, a means for preventing them is provided, but it is not sufficient. In addition, the amount of tablets that can be filled at a time depends on the area of the parallel surface, and cannot be increased so much in terms of installation. On the other hand, the conventional method of rotating tablets in the vertical direction and supplying tablets is less likely to break or chip, but is stored in a pocket, so even if a suction device is used, the rotation speed is slow and a suction device is installed. For this reason, there is a drawback that the whole apparatus becomes complicated and control is difficult.
JP 2001-204795 A JP 2000-203502 A JP-A-9-39910 JP 2000-203525 A JP 2001-294204 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-301601

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a feeder that is less likely to be broken or chipped and can discharge tablets or capsules at high speed, and a counting filling machine including the feeder.

  As a result of intensive studies, the present inventors have found that an inlet for inserting a tablet exists in the center of the side surface of the feeder, there is a groove in the inside parallel to the outer periphery, and the tablet discharge aligned along the groove and the outer periphery. It has been found that by using a feeder characterized by discharging tablets by using centrifugal force generated by rotating in the vertical direction with an outlet, it is difficult to cause cracking and chipping and can be filled at high speed. The present invention has been completed.

  That is, according to the present invention, the entrance for inserting tablets (including capsules) is present at the center of the feeder side surface, and there is a groove in the inside parallel to the outer periphery, and the outer periphery and the groove are regularly aligned. The present invention provides a feeder having a discharge port and discharging tablets using centrifugal force generated by rotating in a vertical direction.

  Further, the present invention is a count filling having means for continuously feeding tablets into the center of the side of the feeder, the feeder of the present invention, a counter for measuring the count of discharged tablets, and a means for filling a container. The machine is provided.

  Further, the present invention is characterized in that the tablet is fed from the center of the side surface of the feeder, utilizes the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the feeder during discharge, the drum rotates in the vertical direction, and is discharged from the discharge port. A supply method is provided.

  According to the present invention, there are provided a feeder that is unlikely to be cracked or chipped and can supply tablets at a high speed, and a counting filling machine that uses the feeder.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of the counting and filling apparatus of the present invention. In the counting and filling machine 1, a drum-like feeder 5 having tablet discharge ports 6 regularly arranged along the outer periphery is installed in a feeder rotating device 7, and means for supplying tablets to the feeder 5, for example, a hopper 2 And a vibrating tablet feeder 3 and a chute 4. One of the chutes 4 extends to the hopper 2 and the other extends to the tablet supply port 12 in the center of the side surface of the feeder 5. The tablets discharged from the tablet discharge port 6 of the feeder 5 are filled into a container 10 supplied by a conveyor 11 through a counter 8 and a means for filling the container, for example, a chute 9.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the feeder 5 has tablet discharge ports 6 regularly arranged along the outer periphery and the groove. As shown in FIG. 3, the tablet 14 has a groove 15 existing along the outer periphery inside the feeder 5 to align the tablets. The depth of the groove 15 is a depth that facilitates tablet alignment, preferably between 0.3 and 2.0 when the height of the inserted tablet is 1, more preferably It is between 0.5 and 1.5. The width | variety of the groove | channel 15 should just be larger than the width | variety of the tablet 14, Preferably it is 1-1.5 with respect to the tablet 1, Preferably it is 1.1-1.3. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, it is preferable that the height of the partition of the groove is alternately combined so that the tablet 14 can easily enter the groove 15, as shown in FIG. 3. By aligning the tablets in this way, even if the feeder 5 rotates at a high speed, it is possible to reduce the cracking and chipping of the tablets. The part which comprises the groove | channel 15 may be the structure which cannot be isolate | separated like the part 16, and may be comprised by superimposing many ring-shaped structures like the part 13. FIG. The part 13 can be appropriately reassembled depending on the type of tablet.

  The tablet discharge ports 6 are regularly arranged along the outer periphery and the groove 15, and the size of the tablet discharge ports 6 may be such that the tablet 14 can be easily discharged. Further, the edge 18 may be rounded and the angle adjusted so that the tablet 14 can be easily discharged. As an example of alignment of the tablet discharge ports, it is shown in FIGS.

  The counter 8 can arrange | position the count sensor 19 in parallel, as shown in FIG. When the tablet 14 is detected by the counting sensor 19 and it is confirmed that the tablet 14 has reached a certain value, the feeder 5 stops and temporarily stops the supply of the tablet 14. Then, after the conveyor 11 operates and the new container 10 moves below the chute 9, the feeder 5 rotates again to supply the tablets 14.

  Moreover, the counter 8 can be arrange | positioned like FIG. 5 corresponding to the alignment state of the tablet discharge port 6. FIG. In the state perpendicular to the roll surface of the feeder, the counting sensor 19 is arranged corresponding to the tablet discharge port 6, and when the counting sensor 19 detects a certain numerical value, the damper 20 opens and the tablet 14 is supplied to the chute 9. To do.

  By using the feeder of the present invention, the tablets are discharged as shown in FIG. The tablet 14 entering the groove 15 is suppressed by the feeder cover 21 until it reaches the tablet entrance 17 of the counter 8, and the tablet discharge port 6 and the tablet entrance 17 overlap so that the tablet 14 can pass sufficiently. Tablet 14 is discharged to the counter 8. The tablet entry port 17 is larger than the tablet discharge port 6 and has a size sufficient to discharge the tablet 14 by only one tablet discharge port 6 aligned along the outer periphery and the groove.

  The position of the tablet entrance 17 can be represented by an angle a as shown in FIG. 2, where a is 10 ° to 90 °, preferably 30 ° to 60 °.

It is the figure which showed typically the tablet filling machine 1 by this invention. It is the figure which showed a part of sectional drawing of the feeder 5 by this invention. It is the figure which showed the structural example of the groove | channel 15 of the feeder 5 by this invention. It is the figure which showed the structural example of the means to fill the tablet discharge port 6, the counter 8, and tablet by this invention. It is the figure which showed the structural example of the means to fill the tablet discharge port 6, the counter 8, and tablet by this invention. It is the figure which showed the discharge process of the tablet 14 by the feeder 5 by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Count filling machine 2 Hopper 3 Vibrating tablet supply machine 4 Chute 5 Feeder 6 Tablet discharge port 7 Feeder rotating device 8 Counter 9 Chute 10 Container 11 Conveyor 12 Tablet supply port 13 Parts 14 Tablet 15 Groove 16 Parts 17 Tablet entrance 19 Counting sensor 20 Damper 21 Feeder cover

Claims (3)

  It is a drum-shaped feeder for discharging tablets, and an entrance for inserting tablets is present in the center of the side of the feeder, and there are grooves in the inside parallel to the outer periphery, and regularly along the outer periphery and the grooves. A feeder having aligned discharge ports and discharging tablets using centrifugal force generated by rotating in a vertical direction.   A feeder for feeding tablets continuously into the center of the side of the feeder, a feeder according to claim 1, a counter for measuring the count of discharged tablets, and a counting and filling machine having means for filling a container. A tablet supply method, wherein a tablet is introduced from a central portion of a side surface of a feeder, a centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the feeder is used for discharging, and the feeder is rotated in a vertical direction and discharged from a tablet discharge port.

Images