JP2752181B2 - Drug packaging machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Industrial application field The present invention relates to a medicine packaging machine for automatically selecting and packing one or several kinds of medicines based on a different prescription for each patient in a hospital or a pharmacy. About.

(B) Conventional technology Currently, there are thousands of types of tablets prescribed in hospitals and pharmacies, but the number of tablets actually used is limited to about 800. Conventionally, there is one tablet packing machine that can store approximately 250 types of tablets per unit, and can automatically pack tablets as prescribed by simply inputting desired prescription data using a controller such as a personal computer. Or a plurality are used. The structure of such a tablet packaging machine is described in, for example,
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6962, a medicine container containing a plurality of rectangular parallelepiped tablet cases is provided at an upper part, and a casing containing a packaging machine part is provided at a lower part via a funnel-shaped hopper or shutter. In the storage unit, several steps of a rectangular parallelepiped tablet case are stacked in the vertical direction according to the type of tablet, and the tablet case is driven by inputting a predetermined extraction signal to a controller to extract the tablet,
After being introduced into the hopper through the falling passage, one packet is discharged to the packaging machine via the shutter.
In addition, the wrapping machine section is a heat-sealable roller wound with pre-folded wrapping paper, a tension roller, a vertical heat-sealing mechanism for forming a continuous pouch by vertically heat-sealing the wrapping paper, and It is composed of a horizontal heat sealing mechanism for sealing the upper opening of the small bag into which the tablets are loaded, and a feed roller. Then, the feed roller is intermittently driven to convey the wrapping paper, and when the conveyance is stopped, a small bag is formed by the vertical heat sealing mechanism, tablets are opened by opening the shutter, and the small bag is sealed by the horizontal heat sealing mechanism.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, according to the above structure, a plurality of rectangular tablet cases are vertically stacked in the medicine storage section, so that the height dimension of the medicine packaging machine is increased, and It is very difficult for short people to handle tablets when refilling tablets in a tablet case. In addition, when the tablet is dropped from the tablet case placed at a high position to the hopper through the dropping path due to the height of the medicine packaging machine, the tablet receives a large impact when dropped. However, there is a problem that the tablet is broken. Furthermore,
Since the tablets extracted from the tablet case fall to the hopper through the common falling path,
If the tablets are pulled out, there is a risk that the tablets will jump out of the empty space, and there is a problem that the tablets cannot be supplied to the tablet case during the operation of the tablet packing machine.

In addition, the conventional hopper has a structure in which four sides are integrally formed in an inverted quadrangular pyramid shape by bending a sheet metal or the like. Since the structure is fixed to the upper surface of the mounting piece, when removing the hopper such as removing the chemical powder attached to the hopper, cleaning, etc., the large hopper must be removed as it is, which is not only a large work. There has been a problem that the work of attaching and detaching screws and the like becomes complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of such a point, while improving the usability of the user by reducing the height dimension of the medicine packaging machine, improving the quality by preventing damage to the medicine due to falling from the tablet case, It is still another object of the present invention to provide a highly practical drug packaging machine which can supply a medicine even during the operation of the packaging machine and can easily clean the hopper.

(D) Means for Solving the Problems A medicine packaging machine according to the present invention has a casing containing a medicine container at an upper part and a packing machine part at a lower part, and is formed in the medicine container so as to be elongated in the vertical direction. A plurality of tablet cases, and a hopper disposed below the tablet case, for collecting the medicine discharged from the lower part of the case at the center in the front-rear direction of the casing, and disposed below the hopper, A guide plate having a plurality of inclined plates for guiding the medicine dropped from the hopper to the center in the left-right direction of the casing, and a pair of conveyors disposed below the guide plate and collecting the dropped medicine to the center in the left-right direction of the casing. And a charging mechanism disposed below the conveyor, and a predetermined number of medicines discharged from a selected one of the tablet cases are transferred to the packaging bag by the charging mechanism. It is obtained by adapted to be introduced.

Further, the hopper of the medicine packaging machine has a structure in which only two surfaces opposed to each other in the front-rear direction of the casing have an inclined cross-sectional shape, and at least a front plate is detachable from the casing.

(E) Function With the above configuration, the medicine packaging machine of the present invention has a planar arrangement of tablet cases even when the number of tablet cases stored in the medicine storage section and the capacity of each tablet case are the same as those in the related art. As a result, the height of the packaging machine can be reduced and the size can be reduced, so that the convenience of the user can be improved and the space can be saved.
In addition, since all the medicines are discharged from the lower part of the vertically long tablet case, that is, from a considerably low position, breakage due to the fall of the medicines can be greatly reduced. Furthermore, since the tablet cases are arranged in a plane, there is no need to provide a common drop passage for the medicine to be discharged from each tablet case, and if the tablet case is pulled out during operation of the medicine packaging machine as in the related art. In addition, the medicine discharged from another tablet case does not jump out of the machine from the extracting portion, and the medicine can be easily supplied to the tablet case even during the operation of the tablet packaging machine. As a result, the work efficiency of the user can be improved.

Further, since the medicine dropped by the guide plate and the conveyor can be reliably guided to the loading mechanism, the inclination of the hopper can be reduced, and the height reduction effect of the medicine packaging machine described above can be promoted.

Furthermore, the hopper has a shape in which only two surfaces facing each other in the front-rear direction are inclined, and since the front plate is detachable, the medicine stops at the corners of the hopper by friction as in the conventional hopper. Such things are almost gone,
Also, in the case of removing or cleaning the chemical powder, the removal can be easily performed by removing only the front plate, and the cleaning operation can be easily performed.

(F) Example Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a tablet packaging machine. The packaging machine has a casing 4 having a medicine storage section 2 at an upper part and a packaging machine part 3 at a lower part, and is inserted into a lattice-shaped partition plate 5 of the medicine storage section 2 and arranged in a plane, and is elongated vertically. A plurality of tablet cases 6 formed, an input mechanism 7 for taking out a predetermined number of tablets from the lower part of a selected one of the tablet cases and collectively putting them into a packaging bag; And a control device 8 for controlling the tablet input operation 7 and the like, and hermetically packs the packaging bag into which the tablets have been input.

A sliding door 9 is mounted on the upper surface of the casing 4. The upper surface of the casing 4 is opened by sliding the door, and a grid-like partition plate 5 and an upper portion of a tablet case 6 arranged between the partition plates 5 are formed. It is exposed.
The partition plate has 12 columns in the depth direction, and is modularized with 10 rows as one unit. (However, this column / row may not be limited to this.) Therefore, one module can hold 120 tablets of 120 types, that is, 120 tablet cases 6, and it is necessary to connect a plurality of modules. Thus, a configuration for storing 120, 240, 360, and 480 types can be achieved. A stepped bottom plate 10 having a recessed center is provided below the lattice-shaped partition plate 5, and a connector 11 is attached to a portion of the bottom plate that contacts the tablet case 6. The tablet case 6 is connected to the electric connector 11.
Is electrically connected to the control device 8 to exchange drive signals and detection signals. Since the bottom plate 10 is formed in a step shape, it can accommodate two types of tablet cases 6A and 5B having different lengths as shown in FIG. Can be stored.

As described above, the tablet case 6 is formed in a vertically elongated rectangular column shape (4.5 mm square, 300 mm length)
Tablet case 12 for storing tablets in the upper part of a rectangular cylindrical case 14
However, a mechanism section 13 is formed at a lower portion. The mechanism unit 13 has a concave surface 15 that is concave in a funnel shape on the upper surface, defines a hole 16 in the center of the concave surface, and is a semi-cylindrical body divided into two in the axial direction
17,18, and two spindles 19,20 that support both semi-cylindrical bodies
And a DC motor 22 for rotating the support shaft via a gear reduction device 21. And the support shaft 19,2
Spiral groove (not shown) formed on the peripheral surface of
The semi-cylindrical bodies 17, 18 are alternately moved up and down by a cam mechanism constituted by a movable plate 23 mounted on the spiral grooves 7, 7 and fitted to the spiral grooves. On the semi-cylindrical bodies 17, 18, nail pieces 24, 25 for separating tablets that have fallen through the holes 16 and detection arms 26, 27 for detecting the presence or absence of tablets are attached, respectively. Convex portions 28 and 29 are formed to adjust the amount of protrusion of the claw pieces 24 and 25 into the hole 16 by moving the body up and down. And the fifth
As shown in the figure, the claw pieces 24, 25 and the detection arms 26, 27 appear and disappear in the holes 16 as the two semi-cylindrical bodies 17, 18 move up and down, and the tablets are separated one by one while aligning the tablets. When the lower end of the detection arm 27 hits the projection 30 and the arm 27 retreats, tablets are discharged one by one from the lower discharge port 31. Here, a shield plate 32 is attached to an end of one of the detection arms 26, and a reed switch 33 and a magnet 34 are provided on both sides of the shield plate. Then, when the tablet pressed by the claw piece 25 during the downward movement pushes down the detection arm 26 during the upward movement, that is, when the tablet is in the state shown in FIG.
The shielding plate 32 is moved to make the reed switch 33 conductive, and a signal for taking out the tablet is obtained. The detection arm
When there is no tablet on 26, the arm is not pushed down by the tablet, so that the shielding plate 32 does not move. Reference numeral 35 designates a front plate 50 and a rear plate 51 which are opposed to each other in the front-rear direction of the casing 4.
This is a hopper formed in a rectangular cross-section with a rectangular cross section that also serves as 52 and 53. The hopper 35 is disposed below the tablet case 6 and functions to collect the tablets discharged from the discharge port 31 at the lower part of the case 6 at the center of the casing 4 in the front-rear direction. The front plate 50 and the rear plate 51 of the hopper 35
Locking pieces 54, 55 and 56, 57 are fixed to the upper and lower ends, respectively, and handle pieces 58, 59 are fixed to the center of the outer surfaces of the plates 50, 51, respectively. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the hopper 35 has locking pieces 54, 56 at the upper ends of the front plate 50 and the rear plate 51 on the folded plates 52, 53 of the casing 4, and locking pieces at the lower ends. Five
5 and 57 are attached to the casing 4 by being inserted into protruding pieces 62 and 63 of a case 61 of a guide device 60 described later. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, the front plate 50 and the rear plate 51 are first lifted up by holding the handles 58, 59 to lift the plates 50, 51 so that the locking pieces 55, 57 at their lower ends are connected to the guide plate 60. After removing from the protruding pieces 62, 63 and pushing the lower part of the plate inward, the plates 50, 51
The locking pieces 54, 56 at the upper ends by folding the plates 52, 53
, And attached in the reverse order. That is, the hopper 35 has the locking pieces 54, 55, 56, 57
Therefore, the casing 4 can be easily removed from the front opening 64 of the casing 4 as shown in FIG. 6 without using any tools or the like. The rear plate 51 is removed by opening the rear surface of the casing 4 (not shown).

Reference numeral 60 denotes a guide device having both ends fixed to the side wall of the casing 4 and disposed below the hopper 35. As shown in FIG. 9, the guide device includes a plurality of inclined plates 65, 69 inclined toward the center, a pair of conveyors 36, 37, and a partition net 66 suspended at the center in a case 61. Is built in. Then, the guide device 60 allows the tablets falling from the hopper 35 to move the tablets 4
After being dropped on the conveyors 36 and 37 while being guided to the center in the left-right direction, the conveyors 36 and 37 which are rotated in opposite directions by the motors 67 and 68, are conveyed to the center loading mechanism 7. In addition, the partition net 66 prevents the tablets that have hit one inclined plate 65 from falling on the other conveyor 37 when the tablets fall.

The loading mechanism 7 is movable in the front-rear direction, and furthermore, has a movable container 39 whose bottom plate 38 is opened when it is moved forward, and a paper opening device for widening the entrance before the container is inserted into the medicine packaging paper.
When the tablets collected in the movable container 39 by the conveyors 36 and 37 are collected by one package, the container horizontally moves forward, the bottom plate 38 is opened, and the tablets are put into the medicine packaging paper. .

The packaging machine unit 3 includes a roller 42 wrapped around a pre-folded packaging sheet 14 that can be thermally welded, and a tension arm 43.
A T-shaped heat sealing mechanism 44 for heat-sealing the packaging sheet in a T-shape to form a continuous small bag; and a printer device 45 for printing predetermined items such as prescription data on each sachet.
And a feed roller 46 for intermittently sending a sheet-shaped sachet.
And a conveyor 48 for sending the sheet-shaped sachet to the medicine package outlet 47. Then, the feed roller 46 is intermittently driven by a drive motor (not shown) to send out the packaging sheet 41, and when the sending is stopped, the heat seal mechanism 44 is stopped.
By heat-sealing the divided portion of each sachet and the lower half of the opening side to form a sachet with the upper half of the opening side opened, and opening the sachet with the paper opening device 40. The movable container 39 containing one packet of tablets is inserted from the opening in a state of being spread, the bottom plate 38 of the container is opened, and one packet of tablets is put into the sachet. Thereafter, the opening of the upper half of the sachet is heat-sealed by the operation of the heat sealing mechanism 44 following the forming operation of the sachet, and the sachet containing the tablets is sealed. At this time, the prescription data is printed on the sachet by the printer device 45 at the same time as the operation of feeding the tablets into the sachet by the feeding mechanism 7 described above. Finally, the conveyer 48 sends out the sachets in a continuous sheet state to the upper medicine bag outlet 47. The packaging sheet 41 passing through the charging mechanism 7 is the first
As shown in the figure, the paper is sent vertically downward with the fold facing forward.

As described above, in the tablet packaging machine 1 of the present invention, since the tablet case 6 is formed to be elongated in the up-down direction and is arranged in the medicine storage section 2 in a plane, the number of the tablet cases 6 and the capacity of each tablet case are set to be the same as those of the conventional case. Even with the same degree, the height of the packaging machine can be reduced and made smaller,
The usability of the user can be improved, and the installation area can be significantly reduced. In addition, all the tablets are discharged from the lower part of the tablet case 6 which is elongated in the vertical direction, that is, from the discharge port 31 of the case 6 provided at a considerably low position. The impact on the tablet can be reduced, and the breakage of the tablet due to falling can be significantly reduced. Further, as described above, the discharge ports 31 of each tablet case 6 are also arranged in a plane, so that it is not necessary to particularly provide a common drop passage for tablets as in the related art, and the 1
Even when two tablet cases 6 are extracted, the tablets do not jump out of the machine from the extracted portion. As a result, tablets can be supplied to the tablet case 6 even during the operation of the tablet packaging machine 1, and the work efficiency of the user can be improved.

In addition, the guide device 60 having the plurality of inclined plates 65 and 69 and the pair of conveyors 36 and 37 can surely guide the tablets falling from the hopper 35 to the loading mechanism 7, so that a jogogo-shaped It is not necessary to drop the tablets to the center of the casing 4 by the hopper, and the hopper 35 only needs to drop the tablets to the center in the front-rear direction of the casing 4 for the time being. The height of the packaging machine can be reduced and the size can be reduced.

Further, the hopper 35 is composed of the front plate 50 and the rear plate 51 facing each other in the front-rear direction as described above.
Since 1 can be attached and detached without using a tool or the like, it is possible to easily perform the operation of removing and cleaning the chemical powder.

Further, since only the front plate 50 and the rear plate 51 of the hopper 35 are inclined (the side plate is also a vertical surface which also serves as the side plate of the casing), the tablets are rubbed by friction as in a conventional Jogo type hopper. Is less likely to stop at the corners, and the reliability of tablet supply can be improved.

(G) Effect of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the height of the medicine packaging machine can be reduced and the size thereof can be reduced, so that the usability of the user can be improved and the installation area can be significantly reduced. In addition, it is possible to provide a medicine packaging machine with high work efficiency, which can improve the quality by reducing damage to the medicine caused by dropping from the tablet case and can supply the medicine even during the operation of the packaging machine. Further, the removal of the hopper is easy, the cleaning operation of the medicine powder and the like is easy, and the reliability of the medicine supply can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a tablet packaging machine of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a tablet case, FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing the operation of the tablet case, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the casing seen through, FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of the tablet packaging machine, FIG. The figure is a partially cutaway perspective view of the guide device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Tablet packing machine, 2 ... Medicine storage part, 3 ... Packaging machine part, 4 ... Casing, 6 ... Tablet case, 7 ...
… Loading mechanism, 35… Hopper, 36,37… Conveyor, 60…
... Guide device.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A casing in which a medicine container is accommodated in an upper part and a packaging machine part is accommodated in a lower part, a plurality of tablet cases which are arranged in a plane in the medicine container and which are elongated in a vertical direction, and a lower part of the tablet case. And a hopper that collects the medicine discharged from the lower part of the case at the center in the front-rear direction of the casing, and the medicine that is disposed below the hopper and drops the medicine from the hopper to the center of the casing in the left-right direction. A guide plate having a plurality of inclined plates for guiding, a pair of conveyors disposed below the guide plate to collect dropped medicines in the center in the left-right direction of the casing, and a charging device disposed below the conveyors A medicine, wherein a predetermined number of medicines discharged from a selected one of the tablet cases are charged into the packaging bag at a time by the dosing mechanism. EARLY. 2. The medicine packaging machine according to claim 1, wherein the hopper has a rectangular shape in cross section in which only two surfaces facing the front and rear directions of the casing are inclined, and at least a front plate is detachable from the casing.