JP2022155251A - Microneedle manufacturing method and microneedle manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a projection-bearing body manufacturing method and a projection-bearing body manufacturing device capable of filling the deepest parts of recesses with a plastic material to the extent possible.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 containing a plastic material PM by using a supporting member 22 having a supporting surface 22A in which recesses 22B corresponding to projections CV are formed; 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; and pressure reducing means 90 for executing a pressure reduction step that performs compression by the pressing means 30 under reduced-pressure atmosphere.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 the protrusion holder disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the thermoplastic resin 3 (plastic material) is pressed to fill the recesses of the intaglio 2 (supporting member) with the plastic material, air pockets are formed in the recesses. As a result, the plastic material cannot be filled up to the deepest part of the recess, resulting in the inconvenience that a desired shape of the projection holding body cannot be formed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a projection holder and an apparatus for manufacturing a projection holder that can fill the deepest part of the recess with a plastic material as much as possible.

The present invention employs the configurations described in the claims.

According to the present invention, since the pressing in the pressing step is performed in a reduced pressure atmosphere, it is possible to reduce the formation of air pockets in the recesses and fill the deepest part of the recesses with the plastic material as much as possible.

(A) to (D) 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. (E) to (G) 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 1G, 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. is equipped with a leaching means 80 for performing a leaching step of making the plastic material PM into a porous body, and a depressurizing means 90 for performing pressing by the pressing means 30 in a decompressed atmosphere, and performing a base material supplying step for supplying the BM. It is arranged in the vicinity of the base material supplying means PS.
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 the present embodiment is made of paper as a permeable member that is permeable to at least one of liquid and gas. 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 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 configured to be rotated in the XY plane while being curvedly moved.

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, and a holding plate 62 having a holding surface 62A which is supported by the tip arm 61A and can be held by suction by a decompression means (holding means) (not shown) such as a decompression pump or a vacuum ejector.

The cooling means 70 includes a cooling device 71 including a Peltier element provided inside the holding plate 62, a cooling side of a heat pipe, and the like.

The brewing means 80 comprises water WT and a container 81 for receiving the water WT.

The decompression means 90 includes a linear motion motor 91 as a driving device, an upper lid 92 supported by an output shaft 91A of the linear motion motor 91 and supporting the linear motion motor 31 on an upper surface 92A, and an upper lid 92 supporting an XY table 52 on a bottom surface 93A. and a decompression device 94 such as a decompression pump and a vacuum ejector for decompressing the hermetically sealed space SP.

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. Then, after the base material BM is placed on the support surface 22A of the support member 22, the drive of the decompression means (not shown) is stopped to return the holding plate 12 to the initial position. Next, the decompression means 90 drives the direct-acting motor 91 to lower the upper lid 92 to form the closed space SP together with the lower lid 93, and then drives the decompression device 94 to reduce the pressure in the enclosed space SP. After that, 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. Next, 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 recess 22B (projection CV) is arranged at a predetermined position. 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. Then, after the decompressing means 90 reduces the pressure in the sealed space SP to the atmospheric pressure, the pressing means 30 and the decompressing means 90 drive the direct-acting motors 31 and 91 to return the pressing member 32 and the upper lid 92 to their initial positions, respectively, and heat the air. The means 40 stop driving the heating device 41 .

Next, the separating means 60 and the cooling means 70 drive the articulated robot 61 and the cooling device 71, and as shown in FIG. do. As a result, as shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 1(C), the plastic material PM shrinks to form a gap CL between it and the recess 22B, making it easier to remove the protrusion CV from the recess 22B. At this time, the cooling means 70 cools the plastic material PM while the separating means 60 presses the plastic material PM with the holding plate 62, so that the adhesion between the plastic material PM and the support sheet BS can be improved. After that, when the cooling means 70 stops driving the cooling device 71 and finishes cooling the plastic material PM, the separating means 60 drives the articulated robot 61 and the decompression means (not shown), and the holding surface 62A of the holding plate 62 protrudes from the holding surface 62A. After holding the holding bodies CB by suction and separating the projection holding bodies CB from the supporting member 22, the projection holding bodies CB are immersed in water WT as shown in FIG. 1(D). As a result, 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. , and the plastic material PM becomes a porous body. 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. The holding plate 62 is separated, the separated holding plate 62 is returned to the initial position, and the same operation as described above is repeated thereafter.

According to the embodiment as described above, since the pressing in the pressing step is performed in a reduced pressure atmosphere, the formation of air pockets in the recess 22B is reduced, and the plastic material PM can be filled to the deepest part of the recess 22B as much as possible. .

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 material supporting process may be any process as long as it is a process 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, and it is the common general knowledge at the time of filing. There is no limitation as long as it is within the technical scope in comparison (other means and processes are the same).

The material conveying means 10 may share the articulated robot 61 with the separating means 60 without adopting the articulated robot 11 to convey the base material BM. A suction pad or the like may be employed, and the apparatus EA for manufacturing a protrusion holder of the present invention may or may not be provided with the base material. The BM should be transported.

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. , the base 21 may be eliminated and only the support member 22 may be provided.
The support member 22 may be made of any material such as metal, resin, silicone material, rubber material, wood, paper, ceramics, etc. The number of the recesses 22B may be one or more, and the projection holding bodies CB may be provided. In order to facilitate the separation from the support member 22, the support surface 22A and the concave portion 22B may be coated, applied, or laminated with a peelability improving member such as fluorine or silicone.

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 and the holding plate 62 with the separating means 60, the base material BM is pressed in the direction toward the support surface 22A via the holding plate 12 and the holding plate 62 to press the protrusion CV. may be formed, 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 shared with the separating means 60, and the pressing member 32 The protrusions CV may be formed by pressing the base material BM in the direction toward the support surface 22A.

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 may share the multi-joint robot 11 with the material conveying means 10 without adopting the multi-joint robot 61, and may be configured to separate the protrusion holder CB 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 may be provided with a cooling device 71 inside or near the pressing member 32, and the plastic material PM may be cooled while the base material BM is pressed by the pressing member 32, or the base material BM may be pressed. The plastic material PM may be cooled without cooling, may be provided outside the holding plate 62, may be provided inside the base 21 or the support member 22, or may be provided in a liquid such as water or a mixed liquid. Alternatively, the plastic material PM may be cooled by immersing it in a cooling medium such as an organic solvent such as ethanol or acetone or an oil such as mineral oil or synthetic oil. The water WT may be shared with the leaching means 80 without adopting the cooling device 71 to cool the plastic material PM, or the protrusion holder of the present invention may or may not be provided in the 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. Anything can be adopted as long as it can be used, and the leaching medium may be moved, circulated, vibrated, or agitated to facilitate leaching of the leaching material into the leaching medium. It may or may not be provided in the manufacturing apparatus EA.

The decompression means 90, for example, creates a decompressed atmosphere in a region including the material conveying means 10, the material supporting means 20 and the pressing means 30, or creates a region containing the material conveying means 10, the pressing means 30, the positioning means 50 and the spacing means 60. may be set to a reduced pressure atmosphere, or an area including all of the projection holding body manufacturing apparatus EA may be set to a reduced pressure atmosphere. Alternatively, for example, without using the upper lid 92 and the lower lid 93, the closed space SP may be formed by a case having an opening on the upper surface and a case lid supported by the case via a hinge. , the degree of pressure reduction in the closed space SP can be arbitrarily determined by the user, and may be a vacuum.

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.

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(E), the protrusion holding body CB may be formed by forming only the protrusions CV from the plastic material PM, and the protrusions CV may be directly supported by the support sheet BS. ), the protrusion CV and the base FD may be 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(G). 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 adopted.

EA...Protrusion holding body manufacturing apparatus 20...Material supporting means 22...Supporting member 22A...Support surface 22B...Recessed part 30...Pressing means 80...Exuding means 90...Decompressing means BM...Base material CB...Protrusion holding body CV...Protrusion part PG …polyethylene glycol (leaching material)
PM: plastic material WT: water (leaching medium)

The present invention relates to a microneedle manufacturing method and a microneedle manufacturing apparatus (hereinbelow, a microneedle is referred to as a "projection holder" in this specification) .

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;
A method for manufacturing a protrusion holder, characterized in that a depressurizing step is performed in which the pressing in the pressing step is performed in a depressurized atmosphere. 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;
An apparatus for manufacturing a protrusion holding body, comprising depressurizing means for performing pressing by the pressing means in a depressurized atmosphere.

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