JP2007204137A - Powder filling device and screen therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent powder pushed out under a rotation of a screw part from being accumulated within a metering part and from being irregularly dropped and then increase a metering precision to enable powder of predetermined amount to be positively filled. <P>SOLUTION: This filling device comprises a funnel (2) into which powder is stored, a cylindrical metering part (3) arranged at the lower end part of the funnel (2), an auger screw (4) arranged vertically and supporting means for rotatably supporting the auger screw (4). A screen (25) is arranged in the metering part (3) in a crossing manner. A screw part (13) at the lower end of the auger screw (4) is arranged just above the screen (25). A closing part (30) is formed on the center part of the screen (25) within a range where a core part (29) at the extremity end of the screw part (13) opposes the center part of the screen (25). A through-pass hole (24) is formed around the closing part (30). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a powder filling apparatus that fills a container such as a vial with a predetermined amount of powder such as a pharmaceutical with an auger screw and a screen used therefor, and more specifically, the powder pushed out by rotation of the screw part is retained in the measuring part. The present invention relates to a powder filling apparatus and a screen used therefor, which prevent falling off irregularly and increase the measurement accuracy to reliably fill a predetermined amount of powder.

Conventionally, there is an apparatus using an auger screw as a device for filling a predetermined amount of powdered medicine into a container such as a vial (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
That is, as shown in FIG. 5, this prior art powder filling device (51) includes a funnel (52) for storing powder, and a cylindrical weighing unit (53) provided at the lower end of the funnel (52). An auger screw (55) having a screw part (54) at the lower end, and the screw part (54) is disposed in the measuring part (53). A container (56) such as a vial is carried below the weighing unit (53), and the powder in the funnel (52) is sent out from the weighing unit (53) by a predetermined amount by the rotation of the auger screw (55). Thus, the container (56) is filled.

  The weighing unit (53) includes a screen (58) provided with a plurality of through holes (57) in the vertical direction as a resistor for preventing the natural fall of the powder to be weighed, and the screw unit (54). It is arranged so as to traverse the inside of the measuring part (53) immediately below The screen (58) has a plurality of through holes. The thickness of the partition wall partitioning the through holes in a plan view is, for example, 0.5 mm so that the powder can smoothly pass through the screen. It is formed in the following thin wall. Then, the screw part (54) presses the powder downward by the peripheral blades (59) by its rotation, but if it comes into contact with the screen (58), there is a possibility that the rotation may fluctuate due to friction or foreign matter is generated. There is a fear. Therefore, the screw part (54) and the screen (58) are arranged in the measuring part (53) with a slight gap so as not to contact each other.

JP-A 64-84801

  In general, when filling a medicine such as a vial with a pharmaceutical powder, a so-called coefficient of variation (CV value) obtained by dividing the standard deviation by an average value is, for example, 3% or less, more strictly 1%, in order to guarantee uniformity of content. High weighing accuracy is required, such as the following. However, the above prior art has the following problems because the screw part has a structure in which spiral blades are formed around the core part.

  That is, a downward pressing force due to rotation does not occur at the core portion where the blade is not formed at the tip of the screw portion. For this reason, since the powder that has entered between the core portion at the tip of the screw portion and the screen below the screw portion is not pressed downward, it tends to stay in the meantime. However, the through holes formed in the screen are also formed in a portion facing the core portion because the partition wall is thin. As a result, there is a possibility that the powder staying between the core portion and the screen may fall irregularly at once from the through-hole, and the filling amount into the container greatly varies due to the fall of the powder. Become. In particular, when the filling amount is a small amount such as 10 mg to several hundred mg, the filling amount into the container is greatly different from the predetermined amount due to the above-described dropping. For this reason, the above-described conventional technique has a problem that it is not easy to achieve high weighing accuracy.

  The technical problem of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, prevent powder pushed out by rotation of the screw part from staying in the measuring part and dropping off irregularly, and improve the measurement accuracy to obtain a predetermined amount of powder. It is an object of the present invention to provide a powder filling apparatus and a screen used therefor, which can surely be filled.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 showing an embodiment of the present invention. The powder filling apparatus is configured as follows.
That is, the present invention relates to a powder filling device, and relates to a funnel (2) for storing powder, a cylindrical measuring part (3) provided at the lower end of the funnel (2), and a screw at the lower end. An auger screw (4) having a portion (13), and a screen (25) provided with a plurality of through holes (24) is disposed in the measuring portion (3) in a transverse manner. 3) Place the above screw part (13) directly above the screen (25) in 3), and rotate the screw part (13) to feed a predetermined amount of powder from the above metering part (3) and place it below. A powder filling device for filling the container (7), wherein a closed portion (in a range where the core portion (29) at the tip of the screw portion (13) faces out of the central portion of the screen (25) ( 30), and the through hole (24) is formed around the closed portion (30).

  The present invention 2 relates to a screen for a powder filling device, a funnel (2) for storing powder, a cylindrical weighing unit (3) provided at a lower end portion of the funnel (2), and a vertically arranged lower end. An auger screw (4) having a screw part (13), the screw part (13) is inserted into the weighing part (3), and a predetermined amount of powder is rotated by the rotation of the screw part (13). In the powder filling device that feeds out from the weighing unit (3) and fills the container (7) disposed below, the powder is crossed into the weighing unit (3) immediately below the screw unit (13). Is a screen for a powder filling apparatus that is arranged in a vertical direction and has a plurality of through-holes (24) in the vertical direction, and is a closed part (9) at the central part facing the core part (29) at the tip of the screw part (13). 30), and the through hole (24) is formed around the closed portion (30).

  Since the powder that has entered between the core part at the tip of the screw part and the screen is held on the upper surface of the closing part, it is prevented that the powder falls irregularly at once. On the other hand, the powder pressed downward by the rotation of the screw part passes through the through hole around the closed part and is sent downward from the measuring part.

  In this case, the above-mentioned screw part is not limited to a specific shape, but if the taper part is formed to be tapered downward, the core part at the tip of the screw part is formed in a small area. This is preferable because the amount of powder retained between the tip of the screw part and the screen can be reduced.

  Here, if the area of the closed portion is too larger than the core portion at the front end of the facing screw portion, a part of the powder held in the closed portion is subjected to a pressing force by the blade of the screw portion and is undisturbed from the peripheral portion. On the other hand, there is a possibility of falling regularly, and on the other hand, if it is too small than the core part at the tip of the facing screw part, there is a possibility that the powder stays around the closed part. Therefore, the area of the blocking portion is set within the range of about 80 to 120%, more preferably about 90 to 110%, and still more preferably about 95 to 105% with respect to the core portion at the tip of the screw portion. Specifically, it is preferable to set the diameter of the closed portion in a circular conversion within a range of about +2 to -2 mm of the diameter of the core portion, more preferably set to a range of about +1 to -1 mm, and more preferably +0.0. The range is set to about 5 to -0.5 mm. Note that the width of the closed portion in plan view is set to be larger than the thickness of the partition wall partitioning the through holes, for example, twice or more the thickness of the partition wall, preferably three times or more, more preferably It is set to 4 times or more.

Since the present invention is configured and operates as described above, the following effects can be obtained.
In other words, since the powder that has entered the gap between the core part at the tip of the screw part and the screen is held on the upper surface of the closed part, it is possible to prevent this powder from dropping irregularly at one time, and the measurement accuracy And a predetermined amount of powder can be reliably filled into the lower container.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a longitudinal front view of a powder filling apparatus, FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view in the vicinity of a measuring unit, FIG. 3 shows a screen, and FIG. FIG. 3B is a plan view taken along the line BB in FIG. 3A.

  As shown in FIG. 1, this powder filling apparatus (1) includes a funnel (2) for storing powders of pharmaceuticals and the like, a cylindrical weighing unit (3) provided at the lower end of the funnel (2), An auger screw (4) extending in the vertical direction and a support means (5) for supporting the auger screw (4) so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis (4a) are provided. A placement table (6) is provided below the funnel (2), and the placement table (6) is placed so that a container (7) such as a vial is carried into a predetermined position directly below the weighing unit (3). A container guide (8) is attached to the upper surface of (6).

  A pulley (9) is attached to the upper end of the auger screw (4), and the pulley (9) and a motor (not shown) are arranged in the support means (5). It is connected via transmission. A support cylinder (11) extending vertically is suspended from the lower surface of the support means (5), and the funnel (2) is fixed to the lower end of the support cylinder (11). The auger screw (4) is inserted into the funnel (2) through the support tube (11). The upper end portion of the auger screw (4) is supported by the support means (5) via the upper end of the support tube (11), and the middle portion in the vertical direction is the lower portion of the support tube (11). Is supported.

  A stirring blade (12) is attached to the lower portion of the auger screw (4) in the vicinity of the inner peripheral surface of the funnel (2). And the screw part (13) is provided in the lower end of this auger screw (4), and this screw part (13) is arrange | positioned in said measurement part (3). At this time, the rotational axis (4a) of the auger screw (4) is substantially coincident with the central axis (3a) of the measuring portion (3).

  The funnel (2) includes a lid portion (14) and a housing portion (15), and the housing portion (15) includes a hopper-like upper funnel (16) and a lower funnel (17) below the hopper. The lid portion (14) has a central portion connected and fixed to the support cylinder (11), and a powder charging path (19) is connected to the charging port (18) opened in the lid portion (14). It is. The upper funnel (16) is detachably fixed to a predetermined position by a fastener (20) such as a ferrule clamp on the lower surface of the lid (14). The lower funnel (17) is fixed to the lower surface of the upper funnel (16) via an insulating member (21).

  The upper funnel (16) and the lower funnel (17) are electrically connected via contact detecting means (22). The upper funnel (16) is electrically connected to the auger screw (4) through the lid (14), the support tube (11) and the support means (5), and the lower funnel (17) is connected to the measuring unit ( 3) is electrically connected. Therefore, when the screw part (13) at the lower end of the auger screw (4) and the inner surface of the measuring part (3) come into contact with each other, the contact detection means (22) detects energization to detect the contact between them.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the flange (23) of the measuring part (3) is fixed to the lower surface of the lower funnel (17). In this measuring part (3), a screen (25) having a plurality of through holes (24) is arranged transversely. The screw part (13) is arranged so as not to contact the screen (25) and the inner surface of the measuring part (3) immediately above the screen (25).

  As shown in FIG. 2, the screw part (13) inserted into the measuring part (3) is formed such that the shape of the blade (28) at the lower end part is tapered downward. The screen (25) disposed with a gap immediately below the screw portion (13) is formed by a screw portion (of the central portion as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 (a) and 3 (b)). 13) A closed portion (30) is formed in a range where the core portion (29) at the tip faces, and the through hole (24) is formed around the closed portion (30).

  The area of the closing part (30) is set to be substantially equal to the area of the core part (29). Further, the width of the closed portion (30) in plan view is more than four times larger than the thickness of the partition wall (26) partitioning the through holes (24, 24) as shown in FIG. 3 (a). Specifically, for example, when the thickness of the partition wall (26) is about 0.4 to 0.5 mm, it is set to about 2 to 3 mm.

Next, the operation of the above powder filling apparatus will be described.
When the auger screw (4) is rotated in conjunction with a motor (not shown), the blade (28) of the screw part (13) at the lower end causes the powder in the funnel (2) and the weighing part (3) to move downward. Press. At this time, the blade (28) of the screw part (13) is contained in the powder that has entered the gap between the core part (29) at the tip of the screw part (13) and the closing part (30) of the screen (25). The pressing force by is not applied. However, the powder that has entered the gap is received on the upper surface of the closed portion (30) and is held so as not to fall at once irregularly.

  On the other hand, the powder pressed downward passes through the through hole (24) around the closed part (30) and falls in the measuring part (3). And the powder sent out from the lower end opening of this measurement part (3) is filled into the container (7) arrange | positioned below according to the predetermined amount according to the rotation angle of said screw part (13).

  The powder filling apparatus described in the above embodiment is exemplified for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the shape and structure of each member such as a funnel, a measuring unit, an auger screw, a screw unit, a screen, etc. The arrangement and the like are not limited to those of this embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the case where six through holes are formed in the screen has been described. However, in the present invention, the number, size, shape, and the like of the through holes are not limited to specific ones. For example, as in Modification 1 shown in FIG. 4 (a), eight through holes (24) are formed around the closed portion (30), or as in Modification 2 shown in FIG. 4 (b), Nine through-holes (24) may be arranged around the closing part (30) in an inner and outer double.
In the above embodiment, the case where the vial is filled with a powder such as a medicine has been described, but it goes without saying that the type of powder filled in the apparatus of the present invention, the shape of the container, and the like are not limited to these. Nor.

  The powder filling device of the present invention and the screen used therefor prevent the powder pushed out by the rotation of the screw part from staying in the measuring part and dropping off irregularly, improving the measuring accuracy and ensuring a predetermined amount of powder. However, it can be suitably used for filling various powders such as foods and industrial products.

It is a vertical front view of a powder filling device showing an embodiment of the present invention. It is an expanded sectional view of the measurement part vicinity of embodiment of this invention. FIG. 3A shows a screen according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3A is a plan view of the screen, and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. FIG. 4A is a plan view of a screen according to a first modification, and FIG. 4B is a plan view of a screen according to a second modification. It is a vertical side view of the powder filling apparatus which shows a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Powder filling apparatus 2 ... Funnel 3 ... Measuring part 4 ... Auger screw 7 ... Container
13 ... Screw part
24 ... Through hole
25 ... Screen
26 ... Division wall
29 ... Screw part (13) Core part at the tip
30: Blocking part

Claims (6)

An auger screw (4) having a funnel (2) for containing powder, a cylindrical measuring part (3) provided at the lower end of the funnel (2), and a screw part (13) at the lower end. ), And a screen (25) having a plurality of through holes (24) is disposed in the measuring part (3) in a transverse manner, and the screen (25) is directly above the measuring part (3). The above-mentioned screw part (13) is arranged in the container, and by rotating this screw part (13), a predetermined amount of powder is sent out from the above-mentioned measuring part (3) and filled into the container (7) arranged below A filling device,
Of the central portion of the screen (25), a closed portion (30) is formed in a range where the core portion (29) at the tip of the screw portion (13) faces, and the periphery of the closed portion (30) A powder filling apparatus, characterized in that a through hole (24) is formed.   The powder filling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the screw part (13) is formed in a tapered shape downward.   The powder filling device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an area of the closed portion (30) is 80% or more of the core portion (29). An auger screw (4) having a funnel (2) for containing powder, a cylindrical measuring part (3) provided at the lower end of the funnel (2), and a screw part (13) at the lower end. ), And the screw part (13) is inserted into the weighing part (3), and a predetermined amount of powder is sent out from the weighing part (3) by the rotation of the screw part (13). In the powder filling device for filling the container (7) disposed below, the powder filling device is disposed transversely into the measuring section (3) immediately below the screw section (13), and has a plurality of transparent parts in the vertical direction. A screen for a powder filling device with holes (24),
The closed portion (30) is formed in the central portion facing the core portion (29) at the tip of the screw portion (13), and the through hole (24) is formed around the closed portion (30). A screen for a powder filling device.   The screen for a powder filling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the width of the blocking portion (30) in plan view is larger than the thickness of the partition wall (26) partitioning the through holes (24).   The screen for a powder filling apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the width of the blocking portion (30) is larger than twice the thickness of the partition wall (26).

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