JP2022155248A - Projection-bearing body manufacturing method and projection-bearing body manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a projection-bearing body manufacturing method and a projection-bearing body manufacturing device capable of smoothly drawing out projections from recesses.SOLUTION: Provided is a projection-bearing body manufacturing device EA for manufacturing projection-bearing bodies CB having projections CV formed thereon, comprising: material supporting means 20 for executing a material supporting step of supporting a base material BM by using a supporting member 22 having a supporting surface 22A in which recesses 22B corresponding to projections CV are formed; and pressing means 30 for executing a pressing step of forming the projections CV for forming a projection-bearing body from the plastic material PM by pressing the base material BM in a direction of facing the supporting surface 22A to fill the recesses 22B with a plastic material PM. At least a portion of the supporting member 22, where the recesses 22B are formed, is composed of a swelling member. The device further includes swelling means 90 for executing a step of swelling the supporting member 22.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a projection holder manufacturing method and a projection holder manufacturing apparatus.

A technique for manufacturing a projection holder having needle-like projections is known (see Patent Document 1, for example).

JP 2019-170795 A

In the technology for manufacturing a projection-retaining body disclosed in Patent Document 1, a thermoplastic resin 3 (plastic material) is pressed against an intaglio 2 (supporting member) to form microneedles (projection-retaining body), and then projections are formed from the supporting member. When the holder is separated, if the projection 11 (projection) cannot be smoothly pulled out from the concave portion of the support member, the projection may be broken or damaged, resulting in the formation of the desired shape of the projection holder. This causes the inconvenience of not being able to

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a protrusion holder and an apparatus for manufacturing a protrusion holder that can smoothly extract a protrusion from a recess.

The present invention employs the configurations described in the claims.

According to the present invention, since the support member having swelling properties is swollen, the protrusion can be smoothly removed from the recess.

(A) to (E) are an explanatory diagram of a projection holding body manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and an explanatory diagram of the operation of the same apparatus. (F) to (H) are explanatory diagrams of modifications.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
Note that the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis in this embodiment are orthogonal to each other, and the X-axis and Y-axis are axes within a predetermined plane, and the Z-axis is an axis orthogonal to the predetermined plane. do. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, when viewed from the front in FIG. 1 parallel to the Y-axis, when the direction is indicated without designating the drawing, "up" is the direction of the arrow of the Z-axis and "down". is the opposite direction, "left" is the arrow direction of the X axis, "right" is the opposite direction, "front" is the direction parallel to the Y axis in FIG. 1, and "rear" is the opposite direction. Note that FIGS. 1B to 1H, which do not include arrows indicating directions, are views viewed from the same direction as FIG. 1A.

A projection holder manufacturing apparatus (hereinafter also simply referred to as "manufacturing apparatus") EA of the present invention is an apparatus for carrying out a method for manufacturing a projection holder CB having projections CV formed thereon, and includes a plastic material PM. A material supporting process for supporting the base material BM with a material conveying means 10 for carrying out a material conveying process for conveying the base material BM and a supporting member 22 having a supporting surface 22A formed with recesses 22B corresponding to the protrusions CV. and the base material BM is pressed in the direction toward the support surface 22A to fill the recesses 22B with the plastic material PM, and the protrusions CV are formed from the plastic material PM to form the protrusion holders CB. pressing means 30 for performing a pressing step for forming; heating means 40 for performing a heating step for heating the plastic material PM; positioning means 50 for performing a positioning step for positioning the support sheet BS with respect to the support surface 22A; Separating means 60 for performing a separating step of separating the holder CB from the support member 22, cooling means 70 for performing a cooling step of cooling the plastic material PM, and immersing the plastic material PM in water WT as a leaching medium. , a base material supply step for supplying the base material BM, comprising a leaching means 80 for performing a leaching step of making the plastic material PM into a porous body, and a swelling means 90 for performing a swelling step for swelling the support member 22. It is arranged in the vicinity of the base material supply means PS to be carried out.
The base material BM is formed by laminating a plastic material PM on one surface of the support sheet BS. Further, the support sheet BS of this embodiment is made of paper as a permeable member having permeability through which at least one of liquid and gas can pass. Furthermore, the plastic material PM has thermoplasticity due to its main component being polylactic acid (PLA), and polyethylene glycol PG (see the enlarged view of FIG. 1(D)) as a leaching material that leaches into the water WT. contains. The plastic material PM of this embodiment is a mixture of two components, polylactic acid and polyethylene glycol PG, in a weight ratio of 5:5.

The material conveying means 10 is composed of a plurality of arms, and within its working range, a so-called multi-joint driving device capable of displacing what is supported by the tip arm 11A, which is the working part, to any position and any angle. It comprises a robot 11 and a holding plate 12 having a holding surface 12A supported by a distal arm 11A and capable of being held by suction by a decompression means (holding means) (not shown) such as a decompression pump or a vacuum ejector. 22A, and the base material BM is placed on the support member 22. As shown in FIG.

The material support means 20 includes a base 21 having a stepped portion 21A formed thereon, and a support member 22 which is fitted and supported in the stepped portion 21A and has a support surface 22A formed with a recessed portion 22B. The support member 22 is made of a member having swelling property at least in the portion where the concave portion 22B is formed. It has swelling properties.

The pressing means 30 includes a direct-acting motor 31 as a driving device, and a pressing member 32 supported by its output shaft 31A. In this embodiment, the pressing member 32 is made of a transparent material.

The heating means 40 includes a heating device 41 such as a coil heater and a heating side of a heat pipe arranged inside the base 21 .

The positioning means 50 includes imaging means such as a camera and a projector, various sensors such as an optical sensor and an ultrasonic sensor, and the like. and a rotating motor 53 as a driving device that is supported by an output table 52A of the XY table 52 and supports the base 21 with an output shaft 53A, and linearly moves the support member 22 within the XY plane. Alternatively, the support member 22 is rotated in the XY plane while being curved.

The separating means 60 is composed of a plurality of arms, and is a so-called articulated robot as a driving device capable of displacing an object supported by the tip arm 61A, which is a working part, to any position and any angle within its working range. 61, a bracket 62 supported by the tip arm 61A, a direct-acting motor 63 as a driving device supported by the bracket 62, and a decompression means (not shown) such as a decompression pump and a vacuum ejector supported by the output shaft 63A. and a holding plate 64 having a holding surface 64A that can be held by suction by a holding means).

The cooling means 70 comprises water WT as a cooling medium and a container 71 for receiving the water WT.

The leaching means 80 comprises water WT as a leaching medium shared with the cooling means 70 and a container 71 .

The swelling means 90 is supported by the multi-joint robot 61 and the bracket 62 shared with the spacing means 60, and by the bracket 62 via the arm 91A, and is adsorbed and held by decompression means (holding means) (not shown) such as a decompression pump and a vacuum ejector. It comprises a possible adsorption pad 91 , water WT as a swelling medium shared with cooling means 70 and leaching means 80 , and a container 71 .

The operation of the projection holding body manufacturing apparatus EA will be described.
First, a user of the manufacturing apparatus EA (hereinafter simply referred to as a "user"), an articulated robot, or a belt conveyor is assigned to the manufacturing apparatus EA in which each member is arranged at the initial position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 1(A). After feeding the base material BM onto the base material supply means PS as shown in FIG. Enter Then, the material conveying means 10 drives the articulated robot 11 and the decompression means (not shown) to move the holding plate 12 to bring the holding surface 12A into contact with the support sheet BS, and the holding surface 12A adsorbs and holds the base material BM. 1(A), after the base material BM is placed on the support surface 22A of the support member 22, the depressurizing means (not shown) is stopped to move the holding plate 12 to the initial position. return to Next, the pressing means 30 drives the direct-acting motor 31 to lower the pressing member 32, and as shown in FIG. The recess 22B is filled with a plastic material PM. At this time, the heating means 40 drives the heating device 41 to heat and soften the plastic material PM, thereby facilitating the filling of the recess 22B with the plastic material PM. After that, the positioning means 50 drives the detection device 51 to detect the position of the support sheet BS. The support member 22 is moved so that the concave portion 22B (projection portion CV) is arranged at the position of . As a result, the protrusions CV and the base FD for supporting the protrusions CV are formed from the plastic material PM, and the protrusion holders CB in which the protrusions CV are formed on the support sheet BS are formed. Next, after the pressing means 30 drives the direct-acting motor 31 and returns the pressing member 32 to the initial position, the heating means 40 stops driving the heating device 41 .

Then, the swelling means 90 drives the articulated robot 61 and decompression means (not shown) to move the suction pad 91, and as shown in FIG. After separating the support member 22 from the base 21, the support member 22 is immersed in water WT as shown in FIG. 1(D). As a result, the support member 22 swells and softens, so that the protrusion CV can be smoothly removed from the recess 22B. Further, the plastic material PM is cooled by the water WT and shrinks to form a gap CL between the recess 22B and the recess 22B as shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 1(D). Furthermore, the polyethylene glycol PG contained in the plastic material PM is leached into the water WT, and as shown in the enlarged view of FIG. , the plastic material PM becomes a porous body. Next, the separating means 60 drives the direct-acting motor 63 and the decompressing means (not shown) to move the holding plate 64 to suck and hold the projection holder CB on the holding surface 64A as shown in FIG. 1(D). The holding plate 64 is returned to the initial position, and the protrusion CV is removed from the recess 22B as shown in FIG. 1(E). After that, the swelling means 90 drives the articulated robot 61 to transport the swollen support member 22 to a recovery position (not shown), stop the decompression means (not shown), and separate the suction pad 91 from the support member 22 . Next, the separating means 60 drives the multi-joint robot 61 to transport the projection holding body CB with the hole HL formed thereon to the next process (not shown), stop the driving of the decompression means (not shown), and remove the projection holding body CB from the projection holding body CB. Cut off the retaining plate 64 . Then, the swelling means 90 drives the multi-joint robot 61 and the decompression means (not shown), sucks and holds a new support member 22 from a support member stocker (not shown) with the suction pad 91, and conveys the new support member 22 as a base. After being fitted into the stepped portion 21A of the base 21, the suction pad 91 is returned to its initial position, and the same operation as described above is repeated thereafter.

According to the embodiment as described above, since the support member 22 having swelling properties is swollen, the protrusion CV can be smoothly extracted from the recess 22B.

The means and steps in the present invention are not limited in any way as long as they can perform the operations, functions or steps described for those means and steps. The process is not limited at all. For example, the pressing step may be any process as long as it is a process of pressing the base material in the direction toward the support surface to fill the concave portions with the plastic material, and forming the protrusions from the plastic material to form the protrusion holders. , there is no limitation as long as it is within the technical scope in light of the common general knowledge at the time of filing (the same applies to other means and processes).

The material conveying means 10 may share the articulated robot 61 with the separating means 60 and the swelling means 90 without adopting the articulated robot 11 to convey the base material BM, instead of the holding plate 12 or In combination, a suction pad or the like may be employed, and may or may not be provided in the projection holding body manufacturing apparatus EA of the present invention. The base material BM may be transported manually.

In the material supporting means 20, the base 21 may not have the stepped portion 21A, or decompression means such as a decompression pump or a vacuum ejector for holding the support member 22, or support member holding means such as a chuck motor may be provided. For example, a support member 22 may be employed in which only the portion in which the recess 22B is formed is made of a member having swelling properties, or the portion in which the recess 22B is formed and its peripheral portion have swelling properties. The support member 22 formed of a member may be employed, or the support member 22 alone may be formed without the base 21 .
The support member 22 uses, for example, a liquid such as water or a mixed liquid, an organic solvent such as ethanol or acetone, or an oil such as mineral oil or synthetic oil as a swelling medium, and is swollen by the swelling medium to become a gel. It may be a superabsorbent polymer, such as sodium polyacrylate, polyaspartic acid, (starch-acrylic) graft copolymer, (acrylic acid-vinyl alcohol) copolymer, isobutyne-maleic anhydride. In addition to acid) copolymers, saponified products, polypropylene, etc., water-swelling clays, absorbent polymers, etc. may be used, and the number of concave portions 22B may be one or plural.

The pressing means 30 moves the supporting member 22 without moving the pressing member 32 or while moving the pressing member 32, and presses the base material BM in the direction toward the supporting surface 22A to form the projections CV. Alternatively, the pressing member 32 may be translucent or non-transparent, and the articulated robot 11 and the holding plate 12 may be combined with the material conveying means 10 without adopting the direct-acting motor 31 and the pressing member 32. By sharing the multi-joint robot 61, the holding plate 62, the linear motion motor 63 and the holding plate 64 with the separating means 60, the base material BM is moved to the support surface 22A via the holding plate 12 and the holding plate 64. The protrusion CV may be formed by pressing in the facing direction, the articulated robot 11 may be shared with the material conveying means 10 without adopting the linear motion motor 31, or the articulated robot 61 may be used as the separating means 60 or the swelling means. The base material BM may be pressed in the direction toward the support surface 22A via the pressing member 32 to form the protrusions CV.

The heating means 40 may be arranged outside the base 21, inside the support member 22, or inside the pressing member 32, and heat the plastic material PM before being pressed by the pressing means 30. Alternatively, the plastic material PM may be heated while being pressed by the pressing means 30, or the plastic material PM may be heated after being pressed by the pressing means 30. It may or may not be provided in the manufacturing apparatus EA.

The positioning means 50 may move at least one of the support member 22 and the pressing member 32 linearly, curvilinearly, or rotationally within the XY plane. ), the pressing member 32 may be moved linearly or curvedly in the Y direction (X direction), or the support member 22 and the pressing member 32 may be linearly moved in the X direction or in directions other than the Y direction. Alternatively, the support member 22 and the pressing member 32 may be moved in a curved line, or the support member 22 and the pressing member 32 may be simply moved linearly or curvedly within the XY plane, or the support member 22 and the pressing member 32 may be rotationally moved within the XY plane. .
The detection device 51 may be one or two or more, and may detect the position of the support sheet BS with respect to the support surface 22A from the side of the pressing member 32. Alternatively, the support sheet BS may be configured with a translucent material, and the position of the support sheet BS with respect to the support surface 22A may be detected by seeing through the base 21 and the support member 22, or the support sheet BS may not be supported by the pressing member 32.
The positioning means 50 may position the plastic material PM with respect to the support surface 22A, may position both the support sheet BS and the plastic material PM with respect to the support surface 22A, or may position the projection holder of the present invention. It may or may not be provided in the manufacturing apparatus EA.

The separating means 60 is configured to separate the protrusion holder CB from the supporting member 22 by moving the holding plate 64 by a driving device or the like independent from the swelling means 90 without sharing the articulated robot 61 or the like with the swelling means 90. Alternatively, the multi-joint robot 11 may be shared with the material conveying means 10 without adopting the multi-joint robot 61, and the projection holder CB may be separated from the support member 22. It may be attached to the body CB, and tension may be applied to the peeling tape to separate the projection holding body CB from the support member 22. Alternatively, a vibrating means such as a vibrator or an ultrasonic vibration device may be used to remove the projection holding body CB. may be easily separated from the support member 22 by applying vibration to the projection holding body CB, the projection holding body CB may be centrifuged, or when the projection holding body CB is immersed in water WT, the The protrusion holder CB may be moved or vibrated to facilitate the leaching of the polyethylene glycol PG into the water WT. If it is not provided, the projection holder CB may be separated from the support member 22 by another device or manually.

The cooling means 70 cools the plastic material PM by immersing the plastic material PM in a cooling medium such as a liquid such as water or a mixed liquid, an organic solvent such as ethanol or acetone, or an oil such as mineral oil or synthetic oil. Alternatively, the cooling medium may be different from the leaching medium used in the leaching means 80, or the cooling medium may be different from the swelling medium used in the swelling means 90. Alternatively, a cooling medium composed of a Peltier element, a cooling side of a heat pipe, or the like is adopted as the cooling medium, and the cooling medium is at least one of the base 21, the support member 22, the pressing member 32, and the holding plate 64. It may be provided inside one, or may be provided outside thereof, or may be configured to cool the plastic material PM by applying air, cold air, or the like to the plastic material PM. It may or may not be provided in the projection holder manufacturing apparatus EA.

The leaching means 80 leaches a leaching material contained in the base material BM, such as a liquid such as water or a mixed liquid, an organic solvent such as ethanol or acetone, or an oil such as mineral oil or chemically synthesized oil, as a leaching medium. Any material may be used as long as it can be used, and the leaching medium may be different from the cooling medium used in the cooling means 70, and the swelling medium in the swelling means 90 may be The infusion medium may comprise other than that employed, or may be moved, circulated, vibrated, or agitated to facilitate infusion of the infusion material into the infusion medium or the present invention. It may or may not be provided in the projection holder manufacturing apparatus EA.

The swelling means 90 may employ a configuration in which the support member 22 is held by a chuck motor, a chuck cylinder, or the like, instead of or in combination with the suction pad 91. The swelling medium may be a liquid such as water or a mixed liquid. Organic solvents such as ethanol and acetone, oils such as mineral oil and chemically synthesized oil, etc., may be employed as long as they can swell the member having a swelling property adopted for the support member 22. The swelling medium may be different from the cooling medium used in the cooling means 70, or the swelling medium may be different from the oozing medium used in the oozing means 80. Alternatively, the suction pad 91 may be moved by a driving device or the like independent of the spacing means 60 without sharing the articulated robot 61 and the bracket 62 with the spacing means 60 .

The base material supply means PS may be a simple stand, a belt conveyor, a self-propelled carriage, or the like, and may or may not be provided in the projection holding body manufacturing apparatus EA of the present invention. It doesn't have to be.

The projection holding body manufacturing apparatus EA is, for example, a gas such as a single gas or a composite gas, a liquid such as water or a mixed liquid, an organic solvent such as ethanol or acetone, or a fluid atmosphere such as oil such as mineral oil or chemically synthesized oil. Among them, the projections CV may be formed by pressing the base material BM in the direction toward the support surface 22A.
In the above-described embodiment, the three steps of the cooling step of cooling the plastic material PM, the leaching step of making the plastic material PM into a porous body, and the swelling step of swelling the support member 22 are carried out. Although they were carried out simultaneously by immersion in water WT, these three steps may be carried out separately, or any two of these three steps may be carried out at the same time and the other one carried out separately. good.

The support sheet BS can be made of, for example, cloth, non-woven fabric, resin, mesh material, wood, metal having through holes formed therein, resin, silicone material, rubber material, wood, paper, pottery, etc., liquid and Any material can be used as long as at least one of the gases can be permeable. For example, metals, resins, silicone materials, rubber materials, wood, paper, pottery, etc. Impossible ones (those that are not transmissive members) may be employed.

Examples of the plastic material PM include materials that are deformed by applying energy such as heat and pressure and do not return to their original shape afterward, such as metals, clays, and resins. In the case of resins, examples include PET, polypropylene, and polyethylene. , Polyvinyl chloride, poly (lactide-co-glycolide) copolymer (PLGA), etc., may be anything as long as it has plasticity, may consist of a single component, or may consist of a plurality of components. It may be composed only of materials with plasticity, may be composed of materials with plasticity and materials without plasticity, may not have thermoplasticity, and may be leached. It may contain no material, or a material containing a thermoplastic resin may be employed as a material having thermoplasticity.
The ratio of the plastic material PM to the leaching material may be any ratio other than 5:5, such as 8:2 or 1:9. Any standard such as mass ratio, volume ratio, molar ratio, etc. may be used.
The leaching material can be, for example, sodium chloride, potassium nitrate, alum, polyvinyl alcohol, etc., as long as it leaches into the leaching medium.
The base material BM may be composed only of the plastic material PM without the support sheet BS, or may be laminated with other materials in addition to the support sheet BS and the plastic material PM, or the amount of the plastic material PM may be may be the same amount as the capacity of the recess 22B, or may be greater than or equal to the capacity of the recess 22B.
The height of the protrusion CV may be 100 nm to 3 mm, 100 nm or less, or 3 mm or more. Especially when used as a so-called microneedle, the height of the projection CV is preferably 100 μm to 1.5 mm.
The tip of the protrusion CV may be sharp, not sharp, rounded, arrowhead-shaped, or bifurcated or trifurcated.
The shape of the protrusion CV may be a cone, a pyramid, a cylinder, a prism, or a combination thereof.

As shown in FIG. 1(F), the projection holder CB may be formed by forming only the projections CV from the plastic material PM, and the projections CV may be directly supported by the support sheet BS. ), the protrusions CV and the base FD are formed from the plastic material PM, and the base FD may be embedded (penetrated) in the support sheet BS, or as shown in FIG. 1(H). Thus, the projecting portion CV and the base FD may be formed from the plastic material PM and may not be supported by the support sheet BS.

The drive device in the above embodiment includes a rotating motor, a linear motor, a linear motor, a single-axis robot, an electric device such as a multi-joint robot having two or more joints, an air cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder, and a rodless robot. Actuators such as cylinders and rotary cylinders can be used, and combinations thereof directly or indirectly can also be used.
In the above embodiment, when a pressing means such as a pressing roller or a pressing head or a pressing member for pressing an object to be pressed is employed, a roller, a round bar, In addition to a blade material and a brush-like member, a material that blows gas such as air or gas may be adopted, and the pressing material may be made of a deformable member such as rubber, resin, sponge, etc. It may be composed of a non-deformable member such as metal or resin, or a support (holding) means or support (holding) member that supports (holds) a member to be supported (member to be held) is adopted. , gripping means such as mechanical chucks and chuck cylinders, Coulomb force, adhesives (adhesive sheets, adhesive tapes), adhesives (adhesive sheets, adhesive tapes), magnetic force, Bernoulli adsorption, suction adsorption, drive equipment, etc. A configuration for supporting (holding) may be employed.

EA...Protrusion holder manufacturing apparatus 20...Material support means 22...Support member 22A...Support surface 22B...Recessed part 30...Pressing means 80...Exudation means 90...Swelling means BM...Base material CB...Protrusion holder CV...Protrusion part PG …polyethylene glycol (leaching material)
PM: plastic material WT: water (leaching medium)

Claims (3)

A method for manufacturing a protrusion holder having a protrusion, comprising:
a material supporting step of supporting a base material containing a plastic material with a support member having a support surface on which recesses corresponding to the protrusions are formed;
a pressing step of pressing the base material in a direction toward the supporting surface to fill the recesses with the plastic material, and forming the protrusions from the plastic material to form the protrusion holders;
The support member is composed of a member having swelling properties at least in a portion where the recess is formed,
A method of manufacturing a protrusion holder, wherein a swelling step of swelling the support member is performed after the pressing step. the plastic material contains a leaching material that leaches into the leaching medium;
2. The method of manufacturing a protrusion holder according to claim 1, wherein the leaching step of making the plastic material porous is performed by immersing the plastic material in the leaching medium after the pressing step. An apparatus for manufacturing a projection holder having projections formed thereon,
material support means for supporting a base material containing a plastic material with a support member having a support surface on which recesses corresponding to the protrusions are formed;
pressing means for pressing the base material in a direction toward the support surface to fill the recesses with the plastic material, and forming the protrusions from the plastic material to form the protrusion holders;
The support member is composed of a member having swelling properties at least in a portion where the recess is formed,
An apparatus for manufacturing a projection holder, comprising swelling means for swelling the support member.

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