JP2686430B2 - Powder divider of medicine packing machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a powder divider of a medicine packaging machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a powder divider of a medicine packaging machine,
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-37301 is known. FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a schematic structure of the powder medicine divider, and FIG. 12 is a schematic side view schematically showing the whole structure.

As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, this powdery drug divider has a powdery mass 2 in which a plurality of drug storage portions 1 each having an upper end opening for introducing a drug and a lower end opening for discharging a drug are arranged in a row.
A bottom cover 3 provided for each drug storage part 1 to open and close a lower end opening of each drug storage part 1; and a guide rail 4 for movably supporting the powder mass 2 along the row direction of the drug storage part 1.
And The guide rail 4 constitutes a moving path of the powder mass 2.

On the moving path of the powder mass 2, a drug input position T and a drug discharge position P are set. Drug discharge position P
Is set at a central point through which all the drug storage parts 1 pass when the powder mass 2 is moved from the right side to the left side in FIG. A hopper 5 is arranged. The medicine injection position T is set on the right side of the movement path excluding the medicine discharge position P. With the powder mass 2 positioned at the medicine injection position T, the medicine injection position T is located above the entire medicine storage section 1. The medicine can be supplied at once from the V cell (input cell) 6. Further, in this powdered medicine divider, the bottom lid 3 is closed while each medicine container 1 moves from the medicine input position T to the medicine discharge position P, and when the medicine discharge position P is reached, the bottom lid 3 is opened. A bottom lid opening / closing mechanism (not shown) is provided.

In this powder divider, when the powder mass 2 is positioned at the medicine injection position T, the bottom cover 3 is closed by the action of the bottom cover opening / closing mechanism. In this state, the medicine is supplied from the V-mass 6 to fill all the medicine storage units 1 with the medicine. Next, the powder mass 2 is fed to the left in FIG. 12 by a belt drive, so that the medicine storage portion 1 is sequentially positioned at the medicine discharge position P, and as the medicine storage portion 1 is positioned, the bottom lid opening / closing mechanism acts so that the bottom lid is opened. When 3 is opened, one package of medicine in the medicine storage unit 1 is discharged into the receiving hopper 5. Then, the last one package of medicine is discharged from the last medicine storage unit 1 into the receiving hopper 5, and the powdered mass 2 is removed as shown in FIG.
By reaching the position shown by the two-dot chain line, one powder mass 2
Is completed, and the powder mass 2 is returned to the medicine charging position again.

Incidentally, in this type of powder divider, the number of packages is determined by the number of medicine storage sections 1 of the powder mass 2. For example, in the case of 21 packets, a powdered mass having 21 drug storage units is used, and in the case of 42 packets, a powdered mass having 42 drug storage units is used. Therefore, in the powder divider in which the medicine storage units 1 are linearly arranged in a line as shown in FIG. 8, the length L2 of the moving path of the powder mass 2 is at least the total length L of the powder mass.
It has to be set to twice as long as the lateral dimension becomes longer.

FIG. 13 shows another conventional example. In this powder medicine divider, a large number of the separated medicine storage portions 1 are attached to the belt 8 without using a powder medicine mass in which the medicine storage portions are arranged in a line, and the medicine storage portions 1 are arranged in a line in the section from the medicine input to the discharge. After the medicine is discharged, the medicine storage unit 1 is guided while being wound rearward along the circulation path.
In this device, the lateral dimension length does not increase, but the depth dimension increases.

[0008]

As described above, conventionally, when the number of medicine storage units increases according to the increase in the number of packages,
As a result, the horizontal dimension or the depth dimension of the divider must be increased, resulting in an increase in occupied space, and restrictions on installation locations and conditions such as transportation have become severe.

In view of the above circumstances, according to the present invention, even if the number of medicine storage sections increases according to the number of packages, the increase in the size in the horizontal and depth directions can be suppressed as much as possible, and the occupied space can be reduced. It is an object of the present invention to provide a powder divider of a medicine packaging machine which can be used.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a powdered mass in which a plurality of drug storage portions having an upper end opening for introducing a drug and a lower end opening for discharging a drug are arranged in a row, and each of the drug storage portions. And a bottom lid that opens and closes the lower end opening of each drug storage portion, and horizontally supports the powdered mass along the row direction of the drug storage portion, and moves the powdered mass from one side to the other side. In this case, one point through which all the medicine storing parts pass is set as the medicine discharging position, and the powdered mass moving path in which the medicine feeding positions for all the medicine storing parts are set on the one side excluding this medicine discharging position, In a powder divider of a medicine packaging machine, which comprises a bottom lid opening / closing mechanism that closes the bottom lid while the medicine storage section moves from the medicine input position to the medicine discharge position, and opens the bottom lid when the medicine storage position is reached. , The powdered mass in the moving direction The former half located on one side and the latter half located on one side are divided into two parts, and on the other side of the powder mass moving path, the former half of the powder mass after passing the drug discharge position is retracted upward from the powder mass moving path. It is characterized in that a moving space for the latter half of the powder mass is secured on the other side of the powder mass moving path, and a lift mechanism for returning the first half of the powder mass to the empty space is provided after use. .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a mass frame is movably provided in the powder mass moving path, and the former half of the powder mass and the latter half of the powder mass are both housed in the opening of the mass frame. At the same time, when the first half of the powder mass is retracted from the opening by the lift mechanism, the latter half of the powder mass is movable in the front-rear direction within the opening.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the lift mechanism has slide members which are arranged on the left and right sides of the powder mass movement path and can be moved up and down by a drive mechanism, and on both sides of the front half of the powder mass. An arm plate that engages with the slide member is provided.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an overall configuration of a powdered medicine divider 10 of the embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing details of a powdered medicine mass 30 and a mass frame 20, and FIG. 3 is a rear view of the powdered medicine divider 10. As shown in FIG. 1, the powder divider 10 is a long mass frame 1 which is horizontally arranged and has a U-shaped cross section.
One. A pair of guide rails 12 formed of concave grooves are formed on the upper outer surfaces of both side walls of the mass frame 11 along the longitudinal direction of the mass frame 12.

The left and right guide rails 12, 12 are shown in FIG.
As shown in, the left and right wheels 26 of the mass frame 20 accommodating the powder mass 30 are rotatably fitted, whereby the mass frame 20 and the powder mass 30 accommodated therein are guided along the guide rails 12. 1 is supported so as to be horizontally movable in the directions of arrows X and Y in FIG. Therefore, here, the guide rail 12 constitutes the powder mass passage (indicates the entire moving space of the powder mass 30 including the guide rail 12) 13.

As shown in FIG. 2, the mass frame 20 is provided with side plates 21 and 21, and a top plate 23 connecting the upper ends of the side plates 21 and 21. Both side plates 21, 21 are arranged along the guide rails 12, 12 (see FIG. 1), and have wheels 26 (see FIG. 3) fitted on the guide rails 12 on their inner surfaces. A groove 22 is formed on the outer surface of the upper portion of the side wall 21. A rectangular opening 24 is formed in the center of the top plate 23. Then, the powdered mass 3 is placed in the opening 24.
0 is detachably accommodated.

The powder mass 30 is divided into two parts in the moving direction of the mass frame 20, and the front side of the moving direction during the medicine discharging operation is the front half portion 30A, and the rear side is the rear half portion 30B. . Powder medicine mass first half 30A and powder medicine mass second half 3
In 0B, a large number of drug storage portions 31 are arranged in rows along the front-rear direction. The numbers are set to be approximately the same. The first half of the powder mass and the second half of the powder mass 30
In the state where B is accommodated in the opening 24 of the mass frame 20, the drug storage portion 3 of the powder medicine mass first half portion 30A and the powder medicine mass latter half portion 30B.
1s are lined up in a row without any gap.

As described above, the powdered mass 30 has the mass frame 2
It is movable along the powdered mass moving path 13 in a state of being housed in 0. As shown in FIG. 1, a drug discharge position P is set at the center of the powdered mass moving path 13 in the length direction. ing. At this medicine discharge position P, the powder mass 30 is shown in FIG.
It is set at one point in the center through which all the drug storage parts 31 pass when moving from the middle right side (one side) to the left side (other side). And, on the bottom wall of the mass frame 11 at this position,
An opening for discharging the medicine is provided, and a receiving hopper 5 is arranged below the opening. Also, the drug discharge position P
1, a drug injection position T for the powdered mass 30 is set on the right side in FIG. 1, and a V mass (charged mass) 6 is arranged at the drug injection position T.

Further, on the opposite side (the other side) of the medicine feeding position T with the medicine discharging position P interposed therebetween, the powder half mass 30A after passing through the medicine discharging position P is provided with the powder mass moving path 13
A lift mechanism that retreats from above to secure a moving space for the latter half portion 30B of the powder mass on the powder mass passage 13 and returns the first half portion 30A of the powder mass to the same space after use. 80 is provided.

As shown in FIG. 2, the powder medicine mass first half portion 30A
In the latter half portion 30B of the powdered mass, arm plates 32, 32 having a rectangular shape in a plan view, which horizontally extend to the left and right, are provided, and the first half portion 30A of the powdered mass is supported on the top plate 23 by the left and right arm plates 32. There is. Further, side plates 33 bent downward are integrally provided at the tips of the arm plates 32, 32 of the latter half portion 30B of the powder mass, and the wheels 34 provided on the inner surface of each side plate 33 are fitted into the concave grooves 22 of the mass frame 20. As a result, the latter half portion 30B of the powder mass is supported so as to be movable in the front-rear direction within the opening 24 of the mass frame 20. The concave groove 22 is the mass frame 2
Since it is located below the top plate 23 of No. 0, the top plate 23 is provided with a notch 25 for removing the wheel 34. Therefore, by aligning the wheels 34 with the cutouts 25, the latter half portion 30B of the powder mass can be attached to and detached from the mass frame 20.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, on the outer side of the arm plate 32 of the latter half portion 30B of the powder mass, an engaging piece 71 which engages with a belt 70 which is orbitally driven by a pulse motor (not shown).
Is provided so as to project, and by moving the belt 70, a moving force can be given to the latter half portion 30B of the powder mass. Further, since the engagement piece 71 is configured to be detachable with respect to the belt 70 in the vertical direction, the powder mass second half portion 30B is detachable from the mass frame 20.

Each medicine container 31 provided in the powder mass 30
Is formed as a vertically penetrating hole so that the medicine can be put in from the upper end opening and the medicine can be discharged from the lower end opening. At the lower end of each medicine container 31, as shown in FIG.
Bottom lids 40 for opening and closing the lower end openings are provided respectively.

FIG. 4 shows the construction of the bottom lid 40 and the bottom lid opening / closing mechanism 50. Although the latter half of the powdered mass 30B is shown in the figure, the same applies to the first half of the powdered mass 30A. The bottom lid 40 is made up of the powdered mass 30 (in the figure, the latter half 30 of the powdered mass is shown).
It is removably attached to both side plates 43 provided at the lower end of A), and is rotatably supported with a shaft 44 set as a fulcrum set in a direction orthogonal to the row direction of the drug storage units 31. The position of the shaft 44 is determined by the medicine storage section 31 and the medicine storage section 31.
On the border of. The operation pieces 45 are integrally formed on both ends of the bottom lid 40, and these operation pieces 45 are formed on the guide rail 1.
The magnet 41, which is arranged along the line 2, passes under the magnet 41 in a non-contact manner.

Then, the magnet 41 attracts the operation piece 45 to close the bottom lid 40, and the attraction force of the magnet 41 is not exerted and the bottom lid 40 hangs down by its own weight to open the bottom lid 40. The magnet 41 is a bracket 42
1 and is located above the operation piece 45, and continuously exists between the medicine input position T and the medicine discharge position P shown in FIG. The bottom cover 40 is provided while the medicine container 31 moves from the medicine input position T to the medicine discharge position P.
Is closed, and the bottom lid 40 is opened when the medicine discharge position P is reached.

In addition, at a portion of the powder mass moving path 13 adjacent to the drug discharge position P, an operation piece 45 hanging downwardly.
A guide piece 47 for lifting the powdered medicine mass 30 with the movement of the powdered medicine mass 30 is provided. Here, the operation piece 45, the magnet 41, and the guide piece 47 form the bottom lid opening / closing mechanism 50.

The opening / closing mechanism 50 for opening and closing the bottom lid 40 opens and closes the bottom lid 40 as follows by the movement of the powder mass. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of the action of the bottom lid opening / closing mechanism 50 of the powder mass 30. As shown in FIG. 7A, when the powder mass 30 is at the drug insertion position T, the bottom lid 40 is attracted by the magnet 41 and is closed. From that state, as shown in FIG. (B), when the powder mass moves in the X direction, the bottom lid 40 opens at the time when the drug storage portion 31 is positioned at the drug discharge position P, and the drug is discharged from the powder mass 30. Is discharged. When the last bottom lid 40 is opened as shown in FIG. 7C and the discharge of the medicine is completed, the powder mass moves in the Y direction. When the operation piece 45 (see FIG. 4) of the bottom lid 40 hits the guide piece 47 disposed adjacent to the medicine discharge position P as shown in FIG.
Is lifted by the guide piece 47, and when it is lifted to a certain extent, the bottom lid 40 is attracted by the magnet 41 to close the lower end opening of the medicine container.

Next, the lift mechanism 80 will be described. The lift mechanism 80 has a U-shaped lifting frame 81 arranged outside the mass frame 11. The lifting frame 81 has
A pair of slide plates that slide up and down (slide members)
82 are provided, and engaging grooves 83 facing each other are formed at the upper ends of the slide plates 82. Each engaging groove 83
Extend in parallel with the moving direction of the powder mass 30 and the tip edges of the left and right arm plates 32 of the powder mass front half portion 30A are slidably engaged with the engaging grooves 83.

A guide member 84 is provided on the base frame 85 to which the mass frame 11 is fixed, and the slide plate 82 is supported by these guide members 84 so as to be vertically slidable at a fixed position. A rectangular opening 86 is provided at the bottom of each slide plate 82, and pinions 88 provided at both ends of the drive shaft 89 are meshed with each rack 87 formed at the longitudinal edge of each opening 86. The slide plate 82 is moved up and down by the rotation of the drive shaft 89.

Positioning projections 90 are provided on the inner surfaces of both slide plates 82. Positioning convex portion 90
When the slide plate 82 moves upward, the alignment guide 2 is projected on the outer surface of the side plate 21 of the mass frame 20 shown in FIG.
The mass frame 20 is aligned with the slide plate 82 by inserting the mass frame 20 between the slide plates 82.

Next, a series of operations of the powder medicine divider 10 of the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, FIG.
As shown in (a), the mass frame 20 is positioned at the drug insertion position T in a state where both the powder mass front half 30A and the powder mass rear half 30B are accommodated in the mass frame 20, and the bottom of all the drug storage parts 31 is positioned. With the lid 40 closed, the medicine 100 is charged from the V mass (charged mass) 6 into all the drug storage portions 31 of the powder medicine mass first half 30A and the powder medicine mass latter half 30B.

After the medicine has been charged into the powder half mass 30A and the powder half half 30B, the mass frame 20 is pitch-fed in the X direction as shown in FIG. 7 (b). At this time, the force from the drive belt is transmitted from the latter half portion 30B of the powdered mass to the first half portion 30A of the powdered mass, is transmitted from the first half portion 30A of the powdered mass to the mass frame 20, and the mass frame 20 moves. When the mass frame 20 is pitch-fed, the drug storage portion 31 of the powder medicine mass first half portion 30A sequentially passes through the drug discharge position P, and the bottom lid 40 opens at the time of passage, and one package placed in each drug storage portion 31. The medicine is discharged into the receiving hopper 5.

When all the first half of the powder mass 30A has passed the drug discharge position P, the tip edges of both arm plates 32 of the first half of the powder mass 30A are moved as shown in (a) of FIG. 8, FIG. 9 and FIG. , And slide-engages with the engaging groove 83 of the slide plate 82 of the lift mechanism 80. Therefore, in this state, the lift mechanism 80 is operated to raise the slide plate 82. Then,
As shown in (b) of FIG. 8, FIG. 9, and FIG. 10, only the powder mass front half portion 30 </ b> A comes out of the mass frame 20 and is lifted upward (retracted upward), and the front portion of the opening 24 of the mass frame 20. There is a movable space in the latter half 30B of the powder mass.

FIG. 7C shows this state. Therefore,
Then, the belt is driven to advance the latter half portion 30B of the powder mass as shown in FIG. 7 (d). At this time, the square frame 2
0 is stationary and the latter half of the powdered mass 30B is
It advances in the opening 24 of the mass frame 20. As a result, the medicine stored in the medicine storage portion 31 of the latter half portion 30B of the powder mass is discharged into the receiving hopper 5 one by one. And
When the discharge of all the medicines is completed, the operation is reversed to the above operation. When the latter half portion 30B of the powder mass moves to the rear side within the mass frame 20 and a space is formed on the front side, the lift mechanism 80 is operated in reverse to lower the first half portion 30A of the powder mass to lower the mass frame 2
Return to 0. Then, by driving the belt, the mass frame 20 is returned to the medicine feeding position T, and the above operation is repeated.

In the case of the powder medicine divider 10, the powder medicine mass 30
Is divided into a first half portion 30A and a second half portion 30B, and the first half portion 30A of the powder mass and the second half portion 30B of the powder mass are vertically stacked and held after the drug is discharged, so that even if the number of the drug storage portions 31 is large. The length of the powder mass passage 13 can be shortened, that is, the length of the mass frame 11 can be shortened. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, on the medicine inputting side, the length L3 of the powder mass moving path 13 in which all the drug storage portions 31 are lined up in a line is required at the minimum in order to enable one-time injection. However, the length of the powdered mass moving path 13 after the drug is discharged is sufficient if the lengths of the powdered mass first half 30A and the powdered mass latter half 30B are the same. As a result, it is sufficient to set the total length L4 of the moving path 13 to about 1.5 times the length L3 when the medicine storage units 31 are arranged in a line, and the total length L4 can be shortened. Further, when not in use, the powder half mass 30A and the powder half half 30B can be removed from the mass frame 20, so that cleaning and the like can be facilitated.

In the above embodiment, the lift mechanism 80 is of a type in which the pair of slide plates 82, 82 are moved up and down. However, an arm that rotates in a vertical plane is provided, and the tip of this arm provides the first half of the powder mass. The part 30A may be lifted. Further, the structure of the opening / closing mechanism 50 of the bottom lid 40 is
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but any structure may be used as long as the bottom cover 40 is closed between the medicine input position T and the medicine discharge position P and opened when reaching the medicine discharge position P. You may use the thing of a structure.

[0035]

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1, the powdered mass is divided into the first half and the second half, and the first half of the powdered mass after the drug is discharged is lifted by the lift mechanism, whereby Since the first half of the mass and the latter half of the powder mass can be vertically stacked and held, the total length of the movement path of the powder mass can be set to be short even if the number of drug storage parts is large. For example, it becomes possible to set the total length of the powder mass movement path to about 1.5 times the total length of the powder mass, and it is possible to cope with packaging without increasing the lateral dimension and the depth dimension.

According to the second aspect of the invention, since the first half of the powder mass and the second half of the powder mass are housed together in the mass frame, it is possible to move the mass frame only by applying a driving force to the latter half of the powder mass. You can Further, since the mass frame is used, the first half of the powder mass and the second half of the powder mass can be easily attached and detached. Further, since the latter half of the powder mass is moved within the opening of the mass frame when the former half of the powder mass is retracted by the lift mechanism, the space for moving the mass frame can be minimized.

According to the invention of claim 3, since the first half of the powder mass can be lifted by the left and right slide plates, the first half of the powder mass can be lifted in a stable posture, and the latter half of the powder mass can be lifted at the time of lifting. No more worrying about interference.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing configurations of a mass frame and a powder mass in the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a view taken in the direction of arrows III-III in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a bottom lid opening / closing mechanism of the powder mass in the same embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of the operation of the bottom lid opening / closing mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a lift mechanism in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a process chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

8 is a perspective view showing a relationship among a mass frame, a powder mass, and a lift mechanism in a certain step of FIG. 7. FIG.

FIG. 9 is a front view showing the same relationship as in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a side view showing the same relationship as in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional example.

FIG. 12 is a side view schematically showing a schematic configuration of a conventional example.

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 powder divider 13 powder mass transfer path 20 mass frame 24 opening 30 powder mass 30A powder mass first half 30B powder mass latter half 31 drug storage part 40 bottom lid 50 bottom lid opening / closing mechanism 80 lift mechanism 82 slide plate (slide member) 100 Drug P Drug discharge position T Drug input position

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yoshitaka Ohno 741 Yamato, Tomisato-cho, Inba-gun, Chiba Ueda Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Narita factory (56) References: 58-41303 (JP, U) -44641 (JP, Y2)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A powdered medicine mass in which a plurality of drug storage portions having an upper end opening for introducing a drug and a lower end opening for discharging a drug are arranged in a row, and a lower end opening of each drug storage portion provided for each drug storage portion. A bottom lid that opens and closes, and the powder mass is horizontally movably supported along the direction in which the drug storage sections are arranged, and all the drug storage sections pass when the powder mass is moved from one side to the other side. The point is the drug discharge position, and on the one side excluding this drug discharge position,
The powder mass moving path in which the drug input positions are set for all drug storage parts, and the bottom lid is closed while each drug storage part moves from the drug input position to the drug discharge position, and the bottom is reached when the drug discharge position is reached. In a powder medicine divider of a medicine packing machine having a bottom lid opening / closing mechanism for opening a lid, the powder medicine mass is divided into a front half portion located on the other side in the moving direction and a rear half portion located on one side, and On the other side of the powder mass passage, the first half of the powder mass after passing the drug discharge position is evacuated upward from the powder mass movement path to secure a moving space for the latter half of the powder mass on the other side of the powder mass movement path. At the same time, after the use of the empty space, a lift mechanism for returning the first half of the powder mass to the empty space is provided. 2. A mass frame is movably provided in the powder mass moving path, the first half of the powder mass and the second half of the powder mass are both housed in an opening of the mass frame, and the first half of the powder mass is opened from the opening. 2. The powder medicine divider of the medicine packing machine according to claim 1, wherein the rear half portion of the powder medicine mass is movable in the front-rear direction within the opening when retracted by the lift mechanism. 3. The lift mechanism has slide members which are arranged on the right and left sides of the powder mass movement path and can be moved up and down by a drive mechanism, and arm plates which engage with the slide members on both sides of the front half of the powder mass. The powder medicine divider of the medicine packing machine according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: