JP2019072497A - Tablet printing apparatus and tablet printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a technique for periodically and simply performing quality management on a product in a tablet printing apparatus for performing printing on a surface of a tablet.SOLUTION: A tablet printing apparatus 1A includes: a conveying mechanism for making a negative pressure act on a plurality of absorption parts to convey tablets 9 while adsorbing and holding the tablets; a second printing unit 42 for discharging an ink droplet on a surface of the tablet; a second printing inspection camera 55 disposed on the downstream side of the second printing unit; a defective determination unit for determining a target tablet to be collected on the basis of an imaged picture; a printing defective collection blow mechanism 611 and an appearance defective collection blow mechanism 621 for making a positive pressure act on the absorption part holding the target tablet to release adsorption of the tablet; and a posterior collection blow mechanism 641 disposed on the downstream side. The posterior collection blow mechanism periodically makes a positive pressure act on the absorption part holding a tablet that is not the target tablet to release adsorption of the tablet. Thereby, a sample tablet for product management can be collected periodically.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 10

Description

  The present invention relates to a tablet printing apparatus and a tablet printing method for printing on the surface of a tablet.

  Letters and codes for identifying products are printed on the surface of tablets, which are pharmaceutical products. Such characters and codes may be printed by marking, but there is a problem that the marking has low visibility. In particular, in recent years, the types of tablets have diversified with the spread of generic drugs. For this reason, in order to identify a tablet reliably, the technique which performs clear printing by the inkjet system on the surface of a tablet attracts attention.

  The conventional ink jet type tablet printing apparatus is described, for example, in Patent Document 1. In the tablet manufacturing process including this type of printing apparatus, in addition to printing defects, shape defects such as cracking and chipping may occur. In the tablet printing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, printing on a tablet is performed, and a defective product is recovered from the tablet after printing. In this way, it is possible to suppress the entry of defective products into the product.

JP, 2016-10437, A

  Even in the case of having a mechanism for recovering defective products as in the tablet printing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, quality control may be insufficient. For this reason, it is more desirable to inspect product quality periodically and easily.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to periodically and conveniently perform quality control of products in a tablet printing apparatus that performs printing on the surface of tablets that are pharmaceuticals.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned subject, the 1st invention of this application is a tablet printing device which performs printing on the surface of a tablet, and it makes negative pressure act on a plurality of adsorption parts, and conveys a mechanism which carries out adsorption holding holding a tablet A head that discharges ink droplets toward the surface of the tablet transported by the transport mechanism; a camera disposed on the downstream side of the head for capturing an image of the tablet; and an image captured by the camera. Among the tablets, a defective product determination unit that determines a target tablet to be collected, and a positive pressure applied to the adsorption unit disposed on the downstream side of the camera and holding the target tablet, the tablet in the adsorption unit A first blow mechanism for releasing the adsorption of the water, and a suction pressure which is disposed on the downstream side of the first blow mechanism and which regularly holds the tablet which is not the target tablet, to exert a positive pressure, Said lock in department A second blow mechanism for releasing the adsorption of the.

  2nd invention of this application is the tablet printing apparatus of 1st invention, Comprising: The said adsorption | suction part aligns at equal intervals in the width direction perpendicular | vertical to a conveyance direction, makes rows, and said 1st blow mechanism is At a predetermined position in the transport direction, a positive pressure is applied to the adsorption portion to which the target tablet is adsorbed to release the adsorption of the target tablet, and the second blow mechanism is downstream of the first blow mechanism. The positive pressure is applied to the adsorbing portion to which the tablet which is not the target tablet is adsorbed to release the adsorption of the tablet.

  A third invention of the present application is the tablet printing apparatus according to the second invention, wherein the second blow mechanism is for one of the adsorption units where the tablets are held for each predetermined number of rows of the adsorption units. Positive pressure is applied to release adsorption of one of the tablets held by the adsorption unit.

  A fourth invention of the present application is the tablet printing apparatus according to any of the first invention to the third invention, wherein the transport mechanism transports the tablet while exposing the first surface of the tablet; And a second transport unit that transports the tablet while exposing the second surface of the tablet, and the head discharges an ink droplet toward the first surface of the tablet transported by the first transport unit. A first head, and a second head that discharges ink droplets toward the second surface of the tablet transported by the second transport unit, and the camera is located downstream of the first head A first camera arranged and imaging the first surface of the tablet transported by the first transport unit, and a tablet disposed downstream of the second head and transported by the second transport unit A second camera for imaging the second surface of the Parts, the image captured in the first camera, based on both the image captured in the second camera, to determine the subject tablets.

  The fifth invention of the present application is a tablet printing method for performing printing on the surface of a tablet which is carried by causing a negative pressure to act on a plurality of adsorbing parts by suction and holding the plurality of suction portions by the conveyance mechanism, A step of discharging ink droplets toward the surface of the tablet to perform printing, and b) after the step a), an inspection is performed based on an image obtained by imaging the tablet, and a target to be recovered among the tablets And c) releasing the adsorption of the target tablet in the adsorption unit by applying a positive pressure to the adsorption unit where the target tablet determined in the step b) is held. d) after the step c), periodically applying a positive pressure to the adsorption portion where the tablet which is not the target tablet is held, thereby releasing adsorption of the tablet in the adsorption portion; Have.

  A sixth aspect of the present invention is the tablet printing method according to the fifth aspect, wherein the adsorption portions are arranged at equal intervals in the width direction perpendicular to the transport direction to form rows, and in the step d), A positive pressure is applied to one of the adsorption units in which the tablets are held for each predetermined number of rows of adsorption units to release adsorption of one of the tablets held in the adsorption units.

  According to the first to sixth aspects of the present invention, it is possible to periodically collect non-defective sample tablets by the second blow mechanism after the first blow mechanism collects the defective products. Therefore, the quality control of the tablet can be easily performed.

It is a figure showing composition of a tablet printing device concerning a 1st embodiment. It is a perspective view of conveyance drum vicinity of the tablet printing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is the figure which showed the structure of 2nd conveyance conveyor vicinity of the tablet printing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a bottom view of the head of the tablet printing device concerning a 1st embodiment. It is the block diagram which showed the connection with each part in the tablet printing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment, and a control part. The tablet printing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment WHEREIN: It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the control part in connection with a printing process. It is the flowchart which showed the flow of the printing process in the tablet printing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is the flowchart which showed the flow of the printing process in the tablet printing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure showing composition of a tablet printing device concerning a 3rd embodiment. It is the figure which showed the structure of 2nd conveyance conveyor vicinity of the tablet printing apparatus which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. The tablet printing apparatus which concerns on 3rd Embodiment WHEREIN: It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the control part in connection with a printing process. It is the flow chart which showed the flow of the printing process in the tablet printing device concerning a 3rd embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the direction in which a plurality of tablets are transported is referred to as “transport direction”, and the direction perpendicular to and horizontal to the transport direction is referred to as “width direction”.

<1. First embodiment>
<1-1. Configuration of Tablet Printing Device>
FIG. 1 is a view showing the configuration of a tablet printing apparatus 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The tablet printing apparatus 1 is an apparatus for printing an image of a product name, a product code, a company name, a logo mark, and the like on the surface of each tablet 9 while transporting a plurality of tablets 9 which are pharmaceutical products.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the tablet printing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes a supply mechanism 20, a transport mechanism 30, a printing unit 40, an inspection mechanism 50, a collection unit 60, and a control unit 10.

  The feeding mechanism 20 has a hopper 21, a rectilinear feeder 22, a rotary feeder 23 and an inclined feeder 24. The supply mechanism 20 is a mechanism for delivering the tablet 9 introduced into the apparatus to the transport mechanism 30.

  The hopper 21 is an input unit for collectively receiving a large number of tablets 9 into the apparatus. The hopper 21 is disposed at the top of the housing 100 of the tablet printing apparatus 1. The hopper 21 has an opening 211 located on the upper surface of the housing 100 and a funnel-shaped inclined surface 212 which converges gradually as it goes downward. The plurality of tablets 9 loaded into the opening 211 flow into the rectilinear feeder 22 along the inclined surface 212.

  The rectilinear feeder 22, the rotary feeder 23 and the inclined feeder 24 are mechanisms for transporting the plurality of tablets 9 loaded into the hopper 21 to the transport mechanism 30. The rectilinear feeder 22 has a flat oscillating trough 221. The plurality of tablets 9 supplied from the hopper 21 to the vibrating trough 221 are conveyed to the rotary feeder 23 side by the vibration of the vibrating trough 221.

  The rotary feeder 23 has a disk-shaped rotary table 231. The plurality of tablets 9 dropped from the vibrating trough 221 onto the upper surface of the rotating table 231 are collected near the outer peripheral portion of the rotating table 231 by the centrifugal force caused by the rotation of the rotating table 231.

  The inclined feeder 24 has a plate-like slope 241 extending obliquely downward from the outer peripheral portion of the rotary table 231 to a transport drum 31 described later of the transport mechanism 30. FIG. 2 is a perspective view including a part of the inclined feeder 24, the conveyance drum 31 and a part of the first conveyance conveyor 32. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of (eight in the example of FIG. 2) conveyance grooves 242 are provided on the upper surface of the slope 241. The plurality of tablets 9 conveyed to the outer peripheral portion of the rotation table 231 are respectively supplied to any one of the plurality of conveyance grooves 242 and flow downward obliquely along the conveyance grooves 242. Thus, the plurality of tablets 9 are aligned in the plurality of transport rows by being distributed and supplied to the plurality of transport grooves 242. Then, the plurality of tablets 9 in each transport row are supplied to the transport drum 31 in order from the top one.

  The transport mechanism 30 has a transport drum 31, a first transport conveyor 32, a second transport conveyor 33, and an unloading conveyor 34.

  The transport drum 31 is a mechanism for delivering the plurality of tablets 9 from the inclined feeder 24 to the first transport conveyor 32. The transport drum 31 has an outer peripheral surface of a substantially cylindrical shape. The transport drum 31 rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIGS. 1 and 2 about a rotation axis extending in the width direction by power obtained from a motor (not shown). As shown in FIG. 2, on the outer peripheral surface of the conveyance drum 31, a plurality of suction units 310 disposed at substantially equal intervals in the conveyance direction and the width direction are provided. The plurality of suction portions 310 are arranged on the outer peripheral surface of the transport drum 31 at the widthwise position corresponding to each of the transport grooves 242 of the inclined feeder 24.

  The adsorbing portions 310 are through holes provided on the surface of the transport drum 31 respectively. FIG. 3 is a partial schematic view showing the configuration of the conveyance drum 31, a part of the first conveyance conveyor 32, and the second conveyance conveyor 33. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, a suction mechanism 311 is provided inside the conveyance drum 31. When the suction mechanism 311 is operated, negative pressure lower than atmospheric pressure is generated in each of the plurality of adsorption units 310. The adsorption unit 310 adsorbs and holds the tablets 9 supplied from the inclined feeder 24 one by one by the negative pressure.

  Further, a release blow mechanism 312 is provided inside the conveyance drum 31. The releasing blow mechanism 312 blows locally pressurized gas from the inside of the transfer drum 31 toward the first transfer conveyor 32 side. The releasing blow mechanism 312 applies a positive pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure to all of the adsorbing portions 310 disposed at a predetermined position facing the first conveyer 32, and adsorbs the tablets 9 in the adsorbing portions 310. Release

  Thereby, in the adsorption unit 310 disposed at a position not facing the first conveyor 32, the adsorption of the tablets 9 is performed only in the adsorption unit 310 facing the first conveyor 32 while maintaining the adsorption state of the tablets 9. Is released. Thus, the transport drum 31 rotates while adsorbing and holding the plurality of tablets 9 supplied from the inclined feeder 24, and delivers the tablets 9 to the first transport conveyor 32.

  Here, the surface adsorbed by the adsorption unit 310 while the tablet 9 is adsorbed and held by the transport drum 31 is referred to as a first surface. On the other hand, the surface opposite to the first surface is referred to as a second surface. That is, the surface exposed to the outside while the tablets 9 are adsorbed and held by the transport drum 31 is referred to as a second surface. When the tablet 9 is delivered from the transport drum 31 to the first transport conveyor 32, the second surface of the tablet 9 faces the first transport conveyor 32. Therefore, the second surface of the tablet 9 is adsorbed to the first conveyor 32. Therefore, while being held by suction by the first conveyor 32, the first surface of the tablet 9 is exposed to the outside. As described above, the front and back of the tablet 9 is reversed between the time when the transfer drum 31 is held by suction and the time when the first transfer conveyor 32 is held by suction.

  The first conveyor 32 is a first conveyor having a pair of pulleys 321, a conveyor belt 322, and a suction mechanism 323. The transport belt 322 is looped around between the pair of pulleys 321. A portion of the conveyance belt 322 is disposed to be close to and opposed to the outer peripheral surface of the conveyance drum 31. One of the pair of pulleys 321 is rotated by power obtained from a motor (not shown). As a result, the transport belt 322 rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIGS. 1 and 2. At this time, the other of the pair of pulleys 321 is driven to rotate as the transport belt 322 rotates.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the conveyance belt 322 is provided with a plurality of suction units 320. Similar to the suction unit 310 of the conveyance drum 31, the plurality of suction units 320 are through holes provided on the surface of the conveyance belt 322. The plurality of suction units 320 are arranged in the transport direction at the widthwise position corresponding to each of the plurality of transport rows. The intervals in the conveyance direction and width direction of the plurality of suction units 320 in the conveyance belt 322 are equal to the intervals in the conveyance direction and width direction of the plurality of suction units 310 in the conveyance drum 31.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the first conveyor 32 has a suction mechanism 323. The suction mechanism 323 generates negative pressure in the space inside the pulley 321 and the conveyance belt 322. When the suction mechanism 323 is operated, a negative pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure is generated in each of the plurality of adsorption units 320. The adsorbing unit 320 adsorbs and holds the tablets 9 delivered from the transport drum 31 one by one by the negative pressure. As a result, the first conveyor 32 applies negative pressure to the plurality of adsorption units 320, and conveys the plurality of tablets 9 while adsorbing and holding them in a state of being aligned in the conveyance direction and the width direction.

  Further, the first transfer conveyor 32 is provided with a release blow mechanism 324 shown in FIG. The release blow mechanism 324 blows a locally pressurized gas from the inside of the transfer belt 322 toward the second transfer conveyor 33 side. The releasing blow mechanism 324 applies a positive pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure to all the adsorbing portions 320 disposed at a predetermined position facing the second conveyer 33 to adsorb the tablets 9 in the adsorbing portions 320. Release Thereby, the adsorption of the tablet 9 in the adsorption unit 320 is released, and the tablet 9 is delivered from the first conveyor 32 to the second conveyor 33.

  Here, while the tablet 9 is adsorbed and held by the first conveyor 32, the second surface of the tablet 9 is adsorbed by the adsorption unit 320, and the first surface of the tablet 9 is exposed to the outside. When the tablets 9 are delivered from the first conveyor 32 to the second conveyor 33, the first surface of the tablets 9 faces the second conveyor 33. Therefore, the first surface of the tablet 9 is adsorbed to the second conveyor 33. Therefore, while being held by suction by the second conveyor 33, the second surface of the tablet 9 is exposed to the outside. As described above, the front and back of the tablet 9 is reversed between the time when the first transfer conveyor 32 sucks and holds and the time when the second feed conveyor 33 suctions and holds.

  The second conveyer 33 is a second conveyer having a pair of pulleys 331, a conveyer belt 332 having a plurality of adsorbing portions 330, and a suction mechanism 333. The pair of pulleys 331, the transfer belt 332, and the suction mechanism 333 of the second transfer conveyor 33 have the same configuration as the pair of pulleys 321, the transfer belt 322, and the suction mechanism 323 of the first transfer conveyor 32. .

  As shown in FIG. 3, the second transfer conveyor 33 is provided with a discharge blow mechanism 334. Below the discharge blow mechanism 334, a chute 341 connecting the second transfer conveyor 33 and the discharge conveyor 34 is disposed. The discharge blow mechanism 334 blows a locally pressurized gas from the inside of the transport belt 332 toward the chute 341 side. The discharge blow mechanism 334 exerts a positive pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure on all the adsorption units 330 disposed at predetermined positions facing the chute 341 to release the adsorption of the tablets 9 in the adsorption units 330. . Thereby, the adsorption of the tablets 9 in the adsorption unit 330 is released, and the tablets 9 are delivered from the second conveyor 33 to the unloading conveyor 34.

  The delivery conveyor 34 is a mechanism for delivering the plurality of tablets 9 after printing out of the housing 100 of the tablet printing apparatus 1. The upstream end of the unloading conveyor 34 is located below the chute 341. The downstream end of the unloading conveyor 34 is located outside the housing 100. The downstream end of the unloading conveyor 34 is connected to, for example, a packaging device that packages the tablets 9 after the printing process. For example, a belt conveyance mechanism is used for the unloading conveyor 34. The plurality of tablets 9 transferred from the second conveyor 33 to the unloading conveyor 34 are unloaded by the unloading conveyor 34 to the outside of the housing 100.

  The printing unit 40 includes a first printing unit 41 and a second printing unit 42.

  The first printing unit 41 is a processing unit for printing an image on the first surface of the tablet 9. As shown in FIG. 1, the first print unit 41 is an inkjet head unit having four heads 411. The four heads 411 respectively eject ink droplets toward the first surface of the tablets 9 transported by the first transport conveyor 32. The four heads 411 eject ink droplets of different colors (for example, each color of cyan, magenta, yellow and black). A multi-color image is recorded on the surface of the tablet 9 by superposition of single-color images formed by these respective colors. In addition, as the ink discharged from each head 411, an edible ink manufactured using a material approved by the Food Sanitation Law is used.

  FIG. 4 is a bottom view of one head 411. In FIG. 4, the conveyance belt 322 and the plurality of tablets 9 held by the conveyance belt 322 are shown by a two-dot chain line. As shown in an enlarged manner in FIG. 4, a plurality of nozzles 410 capable of ejecting ink droplets are provided on the lower surface of the head 411. In the present embodiment, on the lower surface of the head 411, the plurality of nozzles 410 are two-dimensionally arrayed in the transport direction and the width direction. The nozzles 410 are arranged in a staggered manner in the width direction. Thus, if the plurality of nozzles 410 are two-dimensionally arranged, the positions in the width direction of the respective nozzles 410 can be made to approach each other. However, the plurality of nozzles 410 may be arranged in a line along the width direction.

  As a method of ejecting ink droplets from the nozzle 410, for example, a so-called piezo method is used in which the ink in the nozzle 410 is pressurized and ejected by applying a voltage to a piezoelectric element which is a piezoelectric element to deform it. The head 411 of this embodiment can switch the size of the ink droplet ejected from the nozzle 410 according to the magnitude of the voltage applied to the piezoelectric element. Specifically, it is possible to eject any ink droplet out of four types of ink droplets from “size 1” which is the finest ink droplet to “size 4” which is the largest ink droplet. However, the size of the ink droplet that can be ejected may be two to three, or five or more. Further, the ink droplet discharge method may be a so-called thermal method in which the heater is energized to heat and expand the ink in the nozzle 410.

  The second printing unit 42 is a processing unit for printing an image on the second surface of the tablet 9. The second printing unit 42 is an inkjet head unit having four heads 421. The configuration of the second printing unit 42 is the same as that of the first printing unit 41, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  As illustrated in FIG. 1, the inspection mechanism 50 includes a first appearance inspection camera 51, a second appearance inspection camera 52, a first print inspection camera 53, a third appearance inspection camera 54, and a second print inspection camera 55. And.

  The first appearance inspection camera 51 is a camera for photographing the second surface of the tablet 9 conveyed by the conveyance drum 31.

  The second appearance inspection camera 52 is a camera for photographing the first surface of the tablet 9 conveyed by the first conveyance conveyor 32 on the upstream side of the first printing unit 41. The first print inspection camera 53 is a camera for photographing the first surface of the tablet 9 transported by the first transport conveyor 32 on the downstream side of the first printing unit 41.

  The third appearance inspection camera 54 is a camera for photographing the second surface of the tablet 9 conveyed by the second conveyance conveyor 33 on the upstream side of the second printing unit 42. The second printing inspection camera 55 is a camera for photographing the second surface of the tablet 9 transported by the second transport conveyor 33 on the downstream side of the second printing unit 42.

  The collection unit 60 includes a print defect product collection unit 61, an appearance defect product collection unit 62, a discharge sensor 63, and a rear collection unit 64.

  The print defect product collection unit 61 includes a print defect product collection blow mechanism 611 and a print defect product collection box 612. The defective print product recovery blow mechanism 611 is disposed downstream of the second print inspection camera 55. A print defect collection box 612 is disposed below the print defect collection blow mechanism 611. The defective printing product recovery blow mechanism 611 blows a locally pressurized gas from the inside of the conveyance belt 332 toward the defective printing product recovery box 612. The defective printing product recovery blow mechanism 611 applies a positive pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure to only a portion of the adsorption unit 330 that holds the target tablet specified by the control unit 10, and causes the adsorption unit 330 to Release the adsorption of the held target tablet. As a result, the target tablet is collected into the non-printing defect product collection box 612.

  The defective appearance product collection unit 62 has a defective appearance product collection blow mechanism 621 and a defective appearance product collection box 622. The defective appearance product recovery blow mechanism 621 is disposed downstream of the print defect product recovery unit 61. Below the appearance defect product recovery blow mechanism 621, an appearance defect product recovery box 622 is disposed. The defective appearance product recovery blow mechanism 621 sprays a locally pressurized gas from the inside of the conveyance belt 332 toward the appearance defective product recovery box 622. The defective appearance product recovery blow mechanism 621 applies a positive pressure higher than atmospheric pressure to only a portion of the adsorption unit 330 that holds the target tablet specified by the control unit 10, and causes the adsorption unit 330 to operate. Release the adsorption of the held target tablet. As a result, the target tablet is recovered to the defective appearance recovery box 622.

  The defective printing product recovery blow mechanism 611 and the defective appearance product recovery blowing mechanism 621 exert a positive pressure on the adsorption section 330 holding the target tablet at a predetermined position in the transport direction, The first blow mechanism is configured to release the adsorption of the target tablet.

  In the present embodiment, the print defect product collection unit 61 is disposed upstream of the appearance defect product collection unit 62, but the present invention is not limited to this. The defective appearance product collection unit 62 may be disposed upstream of the print failure product collection section 61.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the tablet printing apparatus 1 has the two first blow mechanisms of the poor printing product recovery blow mechanism 611 and the poor appearance product recovery blow mechanism 621, but the present invention is limited to this. Absent. The tablet printing apparatus of the present invention may have a single first blow mechanism for collecting defective products at one time, or three other blow mechanisms for collecting other types of defective products. You may have the above 1st blow mechanism.

  The discharge sensor 63 is disposed on the downstream side of the nonconforming product recovery unit 61 and the nonconforming product recovery unit 62. The discharge sensor 63 is a sensor that irradiates a laser to the suction unit 330 and detects the reflected light to detect the distance to the object. The discharge sensor 63 can detect whether or not the tablet 9 is held by each suction unit 330 by detecting the reflection distance.

  The post recovery unit 64 has a post recovery blow mechanism 641 and a post recovery box 642. The post recovery blow mechanism 641 is disposed downstream of the discharge sensor 63. A post recovery box 642 is disposed below the post recovery blow mechanism 641. The post recovery blow mechanism 641 blows a locally pressurized gas from the inside of the transport belt 332 toward the back recovery box 642. The post recovery blow mechanism applies a positive pressure higher than atmospheric pressure to only the predetermined adsorption unit 330 holding the residual tablet designated from the control unit 10, and the suction unit 330 holds the predetermined tablet. The adsorption of the tablet 9 is released. Thus, the tablet 9 is collected into the post collection box 642.

  The post recovery blow mechanism 641 constitutes a second blow mechanism that cancels the adsorption of the remaining tablets on the downstream side of the print blowout product recovery blow mechanism 611 and the appearance defect product recovery blow mechanism 621, which are the first blow mechanism. Do.

  The control unit 10 is means for controlling the operation of each unit in the tablet printing apparatus 1. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the connection between the control unit 10 and each unit in the tablet printing apparatus 1. As conceptually shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 10 is configured by a computer having an arithmetic processing unit 101 such as a CPU, a memory 102 such as a RAM, and a storage unit 103 such as a hard disk drive. In the storage unit 103, a computer program P for executing print processing is installed.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the control unit 10 includes a rectilinear feeder 22, a rotary feeder 23, a transport drum 31 (including a motor, a suction mechanism 311, and a release blow mechanism 312), a first transport conveyor 32 (a motor, a suction mechanism 323). , The second transfer conveyor 33 (including the motor, the suction mechanism 333 and the discharge blow mechanism 334), the unloading conveyor 34, the four heads 411 of the first printing unit 41, the second printing unit 42 four heads 421, a first appearance inspection camera 51, a second appearance inspection camera 52, a first printing inspection camera 53, a third appearance inspection camera 54, a second printing inspection camera 55, a print defect recovery blow mechanism 611 The defective appearance product recovery blow mechanism 621, the discharge sensor 63, and the post recovery blow mechanism 641 are communicably connected.

  The control unit 10 temporarily reads the computer program P and data stored in the storage unit 103 into the memory 102, and the arithmetic processing unit 101 performs arithmetic processing based on the computer program P, thereby performing the above-described respective units. Control the operation. Thus, the printing process on the plurality of tablets 9 proceeds.

<1-2. Flow of printing process>
Next, the flow of the printing process using this tablet printing apparatus 1 will be described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram conceptually showing the configuration of the control unit 10 involved in the printing process. FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the flow of the printing process in the tablet printing apparatus 1. Below, the flow of the printing process of the tablet printing apparatus 1 is demonstrated, referring FIG. 6 and FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 10 according to the present embodiment includes an appearance determination unit 11, a print processing unit 12, a print quality determination unit 13, a first discharge processing unit 14, a remaining determination unit 15, and And 2 discharge processing unit 16. The above-described functions in the control unit 10 are realized by the operation of a computer as the control unit 10 in accordance with the computer program P described above.

  As shown in FIG. 7, in the printing step, first, the first appearance inspection camera 51 captures an image of the second surface of the tablet 9 transported by the transport drum 31. Then, the image data D <b> 51 acquired by the first appearance inspection camera 51 is input to the appearance determination unit 11.

  The appearance determination unit 11 has the tablet 9 in each of the suction units 330 based on the image data D51, D52, and D54 acquired by the first appearance inspection camera 51, the second appearance inspection camera 52, and the third appearance inspection camera 54. It has a function of determining whether or not each tablet 9 has an appearance defect such as a shape defect such as a crack or a chip or a stain. When the tablet 9 to be processed by the tablet printing apparatus 1 has a dividing line on the surface thereof, the appearance determining unit 11 simultaneously determines the angle of the dividing line provided on each tablet 9.

  Here, the dividing line provided on the tablet 9 will be described. A dividing line is a groove cut on one side of the tablet, provided to divide the tablet in half. The tablet 9 of this embodiment is, for example, a disc-shaped or oval disc-shaped tablet having a dividing line on one side.

  When the image data D51 is input to the appearance determination unit 11, the appearance determination unit 11 determines, based on the image data D51, whether or not the tablet 9 has a defect in appearance as viewed from the second surface side. At the same time, the appearance determination unit 11 determines whether or not each tablet 9 has a dividing line on the second surface side, and the angle of the dividing line provided on the second surface. Thus, the appearance determination unit 11 performs an appearance inspection of the second surface for each tablet 9 (step S101).

  Next, the second appearance inspection camera 52 captures an image of the first surface of the tablet 9 transferred from the transfer drum 31 to the first transfer conveyor 32. Then, the image data D 52 acquired by the second appearance inspection camera 52 is input to the appearance determination unit 11.

  When the image data D52 is input to the appearance determination unit 11, the appearance determination unit 11 determines, based on the image data D52, whether or not the tablet 9 has an appearance defect as viewed from the first surface side. At the same time, the appearance determination unit 11 determines whether or not each tablet 9 has a dividing line on the first surface side, and the angle of the dividing line provided on the first surface. Thus, the appearance determination unit 11 performs an appearance inspection of the first surface for each tablet 9 (step S102).

  The appearance determination unit 11 generates first appearance data D111 including the determination result of presence / absence of appearance defect of each tablet 9 based on the image data D51 and D52, and the determination result of the surface on which the dividing line is formed and the dividing line angle. Do. Then, the appearance determination unit 11 delivers the first appearance data D111 to the print processing unit 12 and the first discharge processing unit 14.

  The print processing unit 12 has a function of causing the head 411 of the first print unit 41 and the head 421 of the second print unit 42 to perform print processing based on the first appearance data D111 generated by the appearance determination unit 11.

  The print processing unit 12 causes the first printing unit 41 to perform the printing process on the first surface of the tablet 9 based on the first appearance data D111 input from the appearance determination unit 11 following step S102 (step S103).

  Specifically, in step S103, the print processing unit 12 first specifies the tablet 9 to be subjected to the printing process in the first printing unit 41 based on the first appearance data D111. As a result, the first printing unit 41 does not perform the printing process on the adsorption unit 330 to which the tablet 9 is not adsorbed or on the tablet 9 having an appearance defect.

  The print processing unit 12 also determines, based on the first appearance data D111, which surface of each tablet 9 to be printed has a dividing line, and the angle of the dividing line of each tablet 9. Then, based on the determination result, the head 411 of the first printing unit 41 performs the printing process on the first surface of each tablet 9. Thereby, the first printing unit 41 performs the printing process on the tablet 9 having a dividing line on the first surface in accordance with the dividing line angle determined based on the image data D52. In addition, the first printing unit 41 performs the printing process on the tablet 9 having a secant on the second surface in accordance with the secant angle determined based on the image data D51.

  After completion of printing on the first side, the first printing inspection camera 53 captures an image of the first side of the tablet 9 for which the printing process by the first printing unit 41 has been completed. Then, the image data D 53 acquired by the first print inspection camera 53 is input to the print quality determination unit 13.

  The print quality determination unit 13 has a function of determining whether the printing process on the surface of the tablet 9 is good or not based on the image data D53, D55 acquired by the first print inspection camera 53 and the second print inspection camera 55. .

  When the image data D53 is input to the print quality determination unit 13, the print quality determination unit 13 determines, based on the image data D53, whether or not there is a defect in the image printed on the first side. That is, the print quality determination unit 13 performs the printing inspection of the first surface for each tablet 9 (step S104). Then, the print quality determination unit 13 delivers the first print quality data D <b> 131 including the determination result to the first discharge processing unit 14.

  Thereafter, the third appearance inspection camera 54 captures an image of the second surface of the tablet 9 delivered from the first conveyor 32 to the second conveyor 33. Then, the image data D 54 acquired by the third appearance inspection camera 54 is input to the appearance determination unit 11.

  When the image data D54 is input to the appearance determination unit 11, the appearance determination unit 11 determines again whether or not the tablet 9 has an appearance defect as viewed from the second surface side based on the image data D54. . At the same time, the appearance determination unit 11 determines again the angle of the dividing line provided on the second surface of each tablet 9. Thus, the appearance determination unit 11 performs an appearance inspection of the second surface for each tablet 9 (step S105).

  The appearance determination unit 11 generates, based on the image data D54, second appearance data D112 including the determination result of the presence or absence of the appearance defect of the tablet 9, the determination surface of the dividing line and the dividing line angle. Then, the appearance determination unit 11 transfers the second appearance data D112 to the print processing unit 12 and the first discharge processing unit 14.

  The print processing unit 12 causes the second printing unit 42 to print the second surface of the tablet 9 based on the first appearance data D111 and the second appearance data D112 subsequent to step S105 (step S106). .

  Specifically, in step S106, the print processing unit 12 first specifies the tablet 9 to be subjected to the printing process in the second printing unit 42 based on the first appearance data D111 and the second appearance data D12. As a result, the second printing unit 42 does not perform the printing process on the adsorption unit 330 to which the tablet 9 is not adsorbed or on the tablet 9 having the appearance defect.

  Further, the print processing unit 12 determines which side of each tablet 9 to be subjected to the printing process has a dividing line and the angle of the dividing line of each tablet 9 based on the first appearance data D111 and the second appearance data D112. Do. Then, based on the determination result, the head 421 of the second printing unit 42 performs the printing process on the second surface of each tablet 9. Thereby, the second printing unit 42 performs the printing process on the tablet 9 having a secant on the second surface in accordance with the secant angle determined based on the image data D54. The second printing unit 42 performs the printing process on the tablet 9 having a dividing line on the first surface in accordance with the dividing line angle determined based on the image data D52.

  After completion of printing on the second side, the second printing inspection camera 55 captures an image of the second side of the tablet 9 for which the printing process by the second printing unit 42 is completed. Then, the image data D 55 acquired by the second print inspection camera 55 is input to the print quality determination unit 13.

  When the image data D55 is input to the print quality determination unit 13, the print quality determination unit 13 determines, based on the image data D55, whether or not there is a defect in the image printed on the second side. That is, the print quality determination unit 13 performs the printing inspection of the second surface for each tablet 9 (step S107). Then, the print quality determination unit 13 delivers the second print quality data D 132 including the determination result to the first discharge processing unit 14.

  As described above, the appearance determination unit 11 and the print quality determination unit 13 constitute a defective item determination unit that determines a target tablet to be recovered among the tablets 9 based on the images captured by the cameras 51 to 55.

  The first discharge processing unit 14 has a function of releasing the suction of the tablet 9 having an appearance defect in the print defective product recovery blow mechanism 611 based on the first print quality data D131 and the second print quality data D132. In addition, the first discharge processing unit 14 has a function of releasing the suction of the tablet 9 having a printing defect to the blowout mechanism 621 for collecting an appearance defect based on the first appearance data D111 and the second appearance data D112.

  Subsequent to step S107, the first discharge processing unit 14 holds the print defect to be collected based on the first print quality data D131 and the second print quality data D132 input from the print quality determination unit 13. The section 330 is identified. Then, the first discharge processing unit 14 causes the blow mechanism 611 for recovering the print defect product to release the adsorption of the tablet 9 that is the print defect product. Thus, the defective print product is collected into the defective print product collection box 612 (step S108).

  Thereafter, based on the first appearance data D111 and the second appearance data D112 input from the appearance determination unit 11, the first discharge processing unit 14 specifies the suction unit 330 that holds the appearance defect to be collected. Then, the first discharge processing unit 14 causes the blow mechanism 621 for recovering the defective appearance product to release the adsorption of the tablet 9 which is the defective appearance product. Thus, the defective appearance product is collected into the defective appearance product collection box 622 (step S109).

  Subsequent to step S109, the discharge sensor 63 detects whether or not the tablets 9 are held by the respective adsorbing units 330 on the downstream side of the print defect product collection unit 61 and the appearance defect product collection unit 62. Among the target tablets (print defective product and defective product) among the target tablets (print defective product and defective product) to be collected by the defective product collection module 61 and the defective product collection module 62 based on the detection result detected by the discharge sensor 63. The residual tablet remaining in the adsorption unit 330 is determined. As a result, it is checked whether or not discharge by the print defect product collection unit 61 and the appearance defect product collection unit 62 has been performed normally (step S110).

  The second discharge processing unit 16 cancels the adsorption of the tablet 9 in a part of the adsorption units 330 including the adsorption unit 330 that holds the residual tablets in the post recovery blow mechanism 641 based on the determination result of the residual determination unit 15 Let Thus, the remaining tablets are collected into the post collection box 642 (step S111).

  As described above, since the tablet printing apparatus 1 includes the discharge sensor 63 and the rear collecting unit 64, the collection efficiency of defective products can be further improved. Therefore, the reliability of the quality of the tablet 9 which is a medicine can be further improved.

  In the present embodiment, the post-recovery blow mechanism 641 applies a positive pressure to all of the suction units 330 having the same position in the transport direction as the suction unit 330 for holding the residual tablets, and cancels the suction of the tablets 9. That is, the post-collection unit 64 cancels the adsorption of the tablet 9 with respect to the entire row including the adsorption unit 330 that holds the residual tablet among the plurality of adsorption units 330.

  As described above, when discharge is not normally performed in the defective printing product recovery unit 61 and the defective appearance product collecting unit 62, defective products are recovered by recovering not only residual tablets but also the entire row including residual tablets. Can further improve the collection efficiency of Therefore, the reliability of the quality of the tablet 9 can be further enhanced.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the pressure of the positive pressure that the second recovery blow mechanism 641 serving as the second blow mechanism causes the suction unit 330 to exert is the first blow mechanism the print failure recovery blow mechanism 611 and the appearance defect The pressure is higher than the positive pressure that the recovery blow mechanism 621 applies to the adsorption unit 330.

  In the case where discharge failure occurs in the defective printing product recovery blow mechanism 611 and the defective appearance product recovery blow mechanism 621, it is conceivable that the shape of the residual tablet and the state of the adsorption unit 330 where the residual tablet is held are different from normal. Therefore, in order to more reliably discharge and recover the residual tablets in the post recovery blow mechanism 641, the pressure value of the positive pressure generated in the suction portion by the second blow mechanism is thus determined by the first blow mechanism. It is preferable that the pressure value of positive pressure generated in the adsorption portion be larger.

  The pressure of the positive pressure exerted on the suction unit 330 by the second recovery blow mechanism 641 is the first blow mechanism, such as the poor print recovery blow mechanism 611 and the poor appearance recovery blow mechanism 621. May be the same as the positive pressure applied to the adsorption unit 330.

<2. Second embodiment>
Then, the flow of the printing process using the tablet printing apparatus 1 which concerns on 2nd Embodiment is demonstrated. The device configuration of the tablet printing device 1 according to the second embodiment is the same as that of the tablet printing device 1 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the flow of the printing process of the tablet printing apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment.

  In the printing process of the second embodiment, the appearance inspection of the second surface of the tablet 9 (step S201), the appearance inspection of the first surface (step S202), the printing process on the first surface (step S203), and the first surface Printing inspection (step S204), appearance inspection of the second side (step S205), printing step on the second side (step S206), printing inspection of the second side (step S207), collection of print defects (step S208) And collection of appearance defects (step S209) is performed in order.

  Steps S201 to S209 of the printing process in the second embodiment are the same as steps S101 to S109 of the printing process in the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  After the defective products are collected in steps S208 and S209, the residual determination unit 15 selects the defective print product collection unit 61 and the defective appearance product collection unit 62 based on the detection result of the discharge sensor 63. Among the tablets (print defective product and appearance defective product), the residual tablet remaining in the suction unit 330 is determined. That is, it is determined whether or not discharge by the print defect product collection unit 61 and the appearance defect product collection unit 62 has been normally performed (step S210).

  If, in step S 210, the residual determination unit 15 determines that discharge in the nonconforming product recovery unit 61 and the nonconforming product recovery unit 62 is normally performed, the second discharge processing unit 16 determines the determination result of the residual determination unit 15. In step S211, the post recovery blow mechanism 641 recovers the sample tablets. Specifically, the second discharge processing unit 16 exerts a positive pressure on the adsorbing unit 330 that holds the nondefective tablet 9 at a predetermined interval (for example, an interval of one tablet per 10 rows of the adsorbing unit 330). Then, the adsorption of the tablet 9 in the adsorption unit 330 is released. As a result, the non-defective tablet 9 is collected as a sample tablet in the post-collection box 642.

  Thus, by collecting the sample tablet periodically, quality control of the tablet 9, which is a pharmaceutical product, can be easily performed.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S210 that the residue determination unit 15 does not properly discharge the print defect product collection unit 61 and the appearance defect product collection unit 62 and the residual tablet exists in the suction unit 330, the control unit 10 The conveyance of the tablets 9 in the conveyance mechanism 30 is stopped (step S212). Then, the control unit 10 notifies the operator that there is a remaining defective product by voice, display, or the like.

  Then, when the operator operates the control unit 10, the second discharge processing unit 16 causes the back recovery blow mechanism 641 to pill 9 in a portion of the adsorption unit 330 including the adsorption unit 330 that holds the residual tablet. Release the suction of Thus, the remaining tablets are collected into the post collection box 642 (step S213). Thereafter, the operator performs an operation on the control unit 10 to restart the transport of the tablets 9 in the transport mechanism 30, and restart the printing process.

  By stopping the printing process before recovery of the residual tablets in step S212 and interposing the operation by the operator, the operator can recover the sample tablets recovered in the post recovery box 642 before recovery of the residual tablets. Can be taken from In this way, the sample tablet and the tablet 9 recovered at the time of recovery of the residual tablet can be recovered separately.

  In addition, in step S213, by stopping the conveyance by the conveyance mechanism 30 when driving the post recovery blow mechanism 641, it is possible to extend the time for the post recovery blow mechanism 641 to apply a positive pressure to the adsorbing portion 330. The time for the post recovery recovery blow mechanism 641 to apply positive pressure to the adsorption part 330 is longer than the time for the print defect recovery blow mechanism 611 and appearance defect goods recovery blow mechanism 621 to apply positive pressure to the adsorption post 330. By doing this, the residual tablets can be more reliably discharged and collected in the post-recovery blow mechanism 641.

  In addition, after recovery of the residual tablet in step S213, by resuming transport by the transport mechanism 30 by operation of the operator, transport can be resumed after the operator confirms discharge of the residual tablet. Therefore, residual tablets can be more reliably discharged and collected in the rear collecting unit 64.

  Note that the transport speed of the transport mechanism 30 may be reduced when the post recovery blow mechanism 641 is driven. Even in such a case, it is possible to extend the time during which the post recovery blow mechanism 641 applies a positive pressure to the adsorption portion 330. Therefore, the residual tablets can be more reliably discharged and collected in the post-recovery blow mechanism 641.

<3. Third embodiment>
FIG. 9 is a view showing the configuration of a tablet printing apparatus 1A according to the third embodiment. FIG. 10 is a partial schematic view showing the configuration of the conveyance drum 31, a part of the first conveyance conveyor 32, and the second conveyance conveyor 33 in the third embodiment. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the connection between the control unit 10A and each unit in the tablet printing apparatus 1A in the third embodiment.

  In FIGS. 9 to 11, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. First, in the tablet printing apparatus 1A according to the third embodiment, differences from the tablet printing apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment will be described.

  As shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, in the tablet printing apparatus 1A, the collection unit 60A does not have a discharge sensor. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 11, the control unit 10A does not have the residual determination unit and the second discharge processing unit, but has the sample discharge processing unit 17A. The other configuration of the tablet printing apparatus 1A is the same as that of the tablet printing apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the flow of the printing process of the tablet printing apparatus 1 according to the third embodiment. The flow of the printing process using the tablet printing apparatus 1A according to the third embodiment will be described below.

  In the printing process of the third embodiment, the appearance inspection of the second surface of the tablet 9 (step S301), the appearance inspection of the first surface (step S302), the printing process on the first surface (step S303), and the first surface Printing inspection (step S304), appearance inspection of the second side (step S305), printing step on the second side (step S306), printing inspection of the second side (step S307), collection of print defects (step S308) And collection of appearance defects (step S309) is sequentially performed.

  Steps S301 to S309 in the printing process in the third embodiment are the same as steps S101 to S109 in the printing process in the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  After the defective products are collected in steps S308 and 309, the sample discharge processing unit 17A causes the post-collection blow mechanism 641 to collect the sample tablets (step S310). Specifically, the sample discharge processing unit 17A applies a positive pressure to the suction unit 330 holding the non-defective tablet 9 at predetermined intervals (for example, at intervals of one tablet per 10 rows of the suction unit 330). Thus, the adsorption of the tablet 9 in the adsorption unit 330 is released. As a result, the non-defective tablet 9 is collected as a sample tablet in the post-collection box 642.

  Thus, by collecting the sample tablet periodically, quality control of the tablet 9, which is a pharmaceutical product, can be easily performed.

  In particular, when the delivery conveyor 34 to which the tablets 9 are delivered from the second transport conveyor 33 is directly connected to the packaging apparatus, the packaging process is applied to all the tablets 9 delivered to the delivery conveyor 34 and sample tablets It becomes difficult to recover the For this reason, it is preferable that the sample tablet can be recovered before the tablet 9 is delivered to the unloading conveyor 34 as described above.

<4. Modified example>
As mentioned above, although the main embodiment of the present invention was described, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment.

  The tablet printing apparatus described above is an apparatus that performs printing on both sides of a tablet by the first printing unit and the second printing unit. However, the tablet printing apparatus of the present invention may be an apparatus for printing on only one side of a tablet.

  Moreover, said tablet printing apparatus was a tablet printing apparatus which can print on the tablet which has a secant. Therefore, although two appearance inspection cameras are disposed upstream of the first printing unit, the present invention is not limited to this. When printing is performed on a tablet that does not have a dividing line, the appearance inspection camera disposed upstream of the first printing unit may be one.

  Further, in the tablet printing apparatus described above, due to the configuration of the supply mechanism, the tablets are not necessarily arranged at all the suction parts of the transport mechanism. For this reason, the appearance inspection camera disposed on the upstream side of the printing unit confirms whether or not the tablet is held in each of the adsorption units in order to avoid performing the printing process on the adsorption unit in which the tablet does not exist. Play a role.

  However, the tablet printing apparatus may not have the appearance inspection camera upstream of the printing unit. It is sufficient that the supply mechanism can arrange the tablets in all the suction parts of the transport mechanism. Further, the determination of the appearance defect product may be performed by the printing inspection camera provided on the downstream side of the printing unit.

  Further, in the tablet printing apparatus described above, the defective printing product and the defective appearance product are collected by different collection units. In this way, it is easy to determine whether a defect has occurred in the tablet supplied to the tablet printing apparatus or whether a defect has occurred in the tablet in the tablet printing apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The defective print product and the defective display product may be collected by a single collection unit.

  Moreover, about the structure of the detail of a tablet printing apparatus, you may differ from each figure of this application. In addition, each element appearing in the above-described embodiment and modification may be combined appropriately as long as no contradiction occurs.

1, 1A tablet printing device 9 tablet 10, 10A control unit 11 appearance determination unit 12 print processing unit 13 print quality determination unit 14 first discharge processing unit 15 residual determination unit 16 second discharge processing unit 17A sample discharge processing unit 30 transport mechanism 32 first conveyer conveyor 33 second conveyer conveyor 40 printing unit 41 first printing unit 42 second printing unit 50 inspection mechanism 51 first appearance inspection camera 52 second appearance inspection camera 53 first printing inspection camera 54 third appearance inspection camera 55 second printing inspection camera 60, 60A collection unit 61 print defect product collection unit 62 appearance defect product collection unit 63 discharge sensor 64 rear collection unit 310, 320, 330 suction unit 411, 421 head 611 blow mechanism 621 for print defect collection Blow mechanism for defective product recovery 641 Blow mechanism after recovery

Claims (6)

A tablet printing apparatus for printing on the surface of a tablet, comprising:
A transport mechanism that applies negative pressure to a plurality of adsorbing portions to adsorb and hold the tablet while transporting the tablet;
A head for discharging an ink droplet toward the surface of the tablet transported by the transport mechanism;
A camera disposed downstream of the head for imaging the tablet;
A defective product determination unit that determines a target tablet to be collected among the tablets based on an image captured by the camera;
A first blow mechanism disposed on the downstream side of the camera and causing positive pressure to act on the adsorption unit on which the target tablet is held, thereby releasing adsorption of the tablet in the adsorption unit;
A second pressure arranged on the downstream side of the first blow mechanism, periodically exerting a positive pressure on the adsorbing portion on which the tablet which is not the target tablet is held, to release the adsorption of the tablet in the adsorbing portion Blow mechanism,
And a tablet printing apparatus. The tablet printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The suction units are arranged in equal intervals in the width direction perpendicular to the transport direction to form rows,
The first blowing mechanism applies a positive pressure to the adsorbing portion to which the target tablet is adsorbed at a predetermined position in the transport direction to release the adsorption of the target tablet.
The second blowing mechanism is a tablet printing device which causes positive pressure to act on the adsorbing portion to which the tablet which is not the target tablet is adsorbed on the downstream side of the first blowing mechanism, thereby releasing the adsorption of the tablet. The tablet printing apparatus according to claim 2,
The second blowing mechanism applies a positive pressure to one of the adsorbing portions in which the tablet is held for each predetermined number of rows of the adsorbing portions, and one of the ones is retained in the adsorbing portion. Tablet printing device that releases adsorption of tablets. The tablet printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein
The transport mechanism
A first transport unit that transports the tablet while exposing the first surface of the tablet;
A second transport unit that transports the tablet while exposing the second surface of the tablet;
Including
The head is
A first head that discharges ink droplets toward the first surface of the tablet transported by the first transport unit;
A second head that discharges ink droplets toward the second surface of the tablet transported by the second transport unit;
Including
The camera is
A first camera disposed downstream of the first head and imaging the first surface of the tablet transported by the first transport unit;
A second camera disposed downstream of the second head and imaging the second surface of the tablet transported by the second transport unit;
Including
The defective product determination unit determines the target tablet based on both the image captured by the first camera and the image captured by the second camera. A tablet printing method in which printing is performed on the surface of a tablet conveyed by causing negative pressure to act on a plurality of adsorbing parts by a conveyance mechanism and adsorbing and holding it,
a) discharging ink droplets toward the surface of the tablet transported by the transport mechanism to perform printing;
b) performing a test based on an image obtained by imaging the tablet after the step a), and determining a target tablet to be recovered among the tablets;
c) releasing the adsorption of the target tablet in the adsorption section by applying a positive pressure to the adsorption section where the target tablet determined in the step b) is held;
d) after the step c), periodically applying a positive pressure to the adsorption portion where the tablet which is not the target tablet is held, thereby releasing the adsorption of the tablet in the adsorption portion;
And a tablet printing method. The tablet printing method according to claim 5, wherein
The suction units are arranged in equal intervals in the width direction perpendicular to the transport direction to form rows,
In the step d), for each predetermined number of rows of the adsorbing portion, a positive pressure is applied to one of the adsorbing portions in which the tablet is retained, and one of the tablets retained in the adsorbing portion The tablet printing method to release the adsorption of

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