JP3267665B2 - Automatic powder processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic powder and particle processing technology, and more particularly to a technology which is effective for automatically applying a coating to pharmaceuticals and foods.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Coating apparatuses for applying sugar coating, film coating, etc. to tablets, granules, etc. have been around for a long time, but are gradually improved, have a horizontal rotation axis, and have a structure in which gas flows through a particle accumulation layer. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 50-87713
No. (trade name: High Coater), JP-A-2-56232 (trade name: Aqua Coater), and JP-B-51-18397.
No. (trade name: Axela Coater), Tokiko Sho 62-191
No. 34 (trade name: Doria Coater), Tokushou 58-50
No. 0748 (trade name: Glatt Coater) is widely used as a coating apparatus.

[0003] These coating apparatuses are not automated, and they require skill to perform good coating and rely on manual labor.

In order to automate the control of a single process of coating, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-70857 discloses an automatic coating technique by storing the amount of coating liquid by a microcomputer and controlling various conditions. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-56233 discloses a technique for controlling a liquid spray amount, a supply / exhaust amount, and a supply air temperature by installing a temperature sensor. Further, JP-A-62-2345
Japanese Patent Publication No. 38 discloses a technique for calculating and controlling the drying capacity from various air supply conditions.

As a technique for automatically controlling the entire coating process, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-78430 discloses a technique.
A technology is disclosed in which a target value for a sensor is set for a ventilation rotary plate type device, and the process is configured to end the process when the measured value reaches the target value, and further, for a high coater type device. The automatic coating technique is disclosed in "Chemical Equipment", May 1989, P105 to P110.

[0006]

However, in the automation of granulation coating, in the conventional apparatus, various conditions for automatic operation often need to be set as desired each time. When operating, if the operation is performed under other conditions before the operation, it is necessary to input the same conditions again, and the operating conditions for operating the control device of the powder and particle processing apparatus are required. Since it is not easy to change, add, etc., it is troublesome to input these operating conditions, and there is a risk of erroneous input.

[0007] In addition, the conventional automatic particle processing apparatus has a problem that a high cost is required for a control device and the like.

[0008] One object of the present invention is to produce a desired formulation as required among several types of formulations using the same apparatus at a pharmaceutical factory or the like, and to produce the same formulation as the one previously produced. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic powder / particle processing technology that can be easily manufactured under the above conditions.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic powder and particle processing technique that can easily change and add operating conditions.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method capable of setting the manufacturing conditions quickly and accurately while avoiding the risk of erroneous input accompanying manual input.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic powder material processing technique which can easily follow a change in processing conditions.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of performing automatic powder processing at low cost.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, the outline of a representative one will be briefly described.
It is as follows.

That is, in the automatic powder and particle processing apparatus according to the present invention, the operating conditions are as follows: exhaust temperature, pan rotation speed, amount of spray liquid used, spray time, spray liquid flow rate, spray air pressure, pause 1 hour, pause 2 hours. , Dry time, and cycle number, and sets a target value, an upper limit value, and a lower limit value of the operation condition to perform automatic operation, and at least one detected value of the operation condition is the upper limit value. When the value or the lower limit value is exceeded, a program set to shift to a predetermined abnormal operation is stored in the external storage means, and the control means of the granular material processing apparatus is controlled by an output from the external storage means. It is configured to operate, the predetermined abnormal operation, spray stop, air supply stop,
The operation steps include closing the exhaust damper, opening the exhaust damper, opening the exhaust damper to discharge the internal moisture, stopping the exhaust, performing the intermittent operation by reducing the pan rotation speed, and ending after a predetermined time.

[0016]

According to the above-described automatic particle processing apparatus of the present invention, a target value, an upper limit value, and a lower limit value of various operating conditions are set in advance, and the automatic operation is performed. When the upper limit value or the lower limit value is exceeded, the operation of the device is stopped according to the situation, or by an output from an external storage means storing a program set to shift to a predetermined abnormal operation. By activating the control means, standard operating conditions for manufacturing a specific preparation can be set quickly and without errors simply by inputting the code to be processed. Even if an addition occurs, it can be easily dealt with by correcting only that part, and even if the processing target is changed or added, it can be automatically operated by simply entering the code of the processing target. It can be set in the matter.

[0017]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an automatic powder processing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a control system according to the present invention.

In the automatic powder and grain processing apparatus of the present embodiment,
The powder-particle processing machine 1 has a substantially horizontal rotation axis rotated by a motor M, and has a structure in which gas flows through the particle accumulation layer 2.
And a spraying device 4 for spraying a coating liquid onto the particle accumulation layer 2 of the rotating container 3.

The system for supplying the coating liquid to the spray device 4 has a dissolution tank 5 and a liquid pump 6.

The spraying device 4 is supplied with air for spraying through a spray air supply path 7.

A system for supplying gas such as hot air or cold air to the rotary container 3 includes an air supply filter 8, an air supply fan 9,
Heat exchanger 10, air supply filter 11, air supply damper 12
And a bypass damper 13.

On the other hand, the system for exhausting the air from the rotating container 3 includes an exhaust damper 14, a dust collector 15, and an exhaust fan 16.

Next, a control system (control means) for controlling the automatic powder processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

This control system employs a sequence control method, and includes a sequencer 17 for giving commands to the control system, a display device 18 of a touch panel type, a keyboard 19, a printer 20, and an analog control for performing analog signal processing. And a distributed controller 22 composed of a total of 21.

In this control system, the control unit 45
An external storage medium 46 (external storage means) made of, for example, a floppy disk or a magnetic tape can be inserted into the control unit 45, and an internal storage medium 47 such as a semiconductor memory is incorporated in the control unit 45 and / or the sequencer 17. Have been.

When the detected value of at least one of the operating conditions of the automatic particulate processing device exceeds a predetermined upper limit or lower limit, the external storage medium 46 stores the automatic particulate material according to the situation. A program set to stop the operation of the processing device or to shift to a predetermined abnormal operation (see FIG. 10) is stored.

The control system is operated based on the output from the external storage medium 46, that is, the stored contents.

The external storage medium 46 can store a program stored in the internal storage medium 47 of the control system, and can control the subsequent operation using the storage.

Moreover, the contents stored in the external storage medium 46 can be easily corrected using the keyboard 19. In other words, the output from the external storage medium 46 can be arbitrarily modified according to a change or addition of a processing condition such as a correction or fine adjustment of a prescription, which is extremely simple.

In the control system shown in FIG.
Is a thermometer for measuring the supply air temperature, 24 is an MV / I converter, 2
5 is a temperature measuring element for measuring exhaust gas temperature, 26 is an MV / I converter,
27 is a supply air flow meter, 28 is a ΔP / I converter, and 31 is a flow meter for sugar coating liquid or film liquid.

Further, reference numeral 32 in FIG. 2 denotes a pressure sensor in the pan for detecting the pressure in the rotating container 3, 33 denotes a P / I converter,
4 is a pan rotation sensor, 35 is supply air temperature adjusting means, 36 is a supply air volume adjustment motor, 37 is an inverter, 38 is a switch, 39 is a pan pressure and exhaust air volume adjustment motor, 40 is an inverter, 41 is a motor for adjusting the pan rotation; 42 is an inverter; 43 is a motor for driving the liquid pump 6 to spray the sugar coating liquid or the film liquid;
4 is an inverter.

Next, the operation of performing the coating operation using the automatic powdery substance processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described.

First, as an example, the case of sugar-coating a tablet will be described. The flow (general flow) of all the steps is performed in the order shown in FIGS.

That is, from the start in FIG. 3, through operation preparations 1, 2, and 3, the tablet is put into the rotary container 3, and the selection of the lower and upper racks is performed. In the case of the upper rack, the process proceeds to FIG. ,
In the case of an undercarriage, the process proceeds to the tablet preheating, undercarriage, and middleware via the automatic operation start shown in FIG.

In this case, after the tablets are discharged from the rotary container 3 after the middle, the rotary container 3 is washed and dried, and then the operation is shifted to the operation preparation. It is possible that automatic operation start is performed and tablet preheating is performed.

Next, as shown in FIG.
Drying, polishing, and drying are sequentially performed.

It is to be noted that dehumidification may be performed between the covering and the drying.

Thereafter, the flow shifts to that shown in FIG.
The air supply fan 9 is stopped, the exhaust fan 16 is stopped, and the presence or absence of tablet storage is checked. If the tablet is stored, the tablet is stored. Next, the apparatus is completely stopped after washing and drying of the rotating container 3, and the entire operation is completed.

In the automatic particle processing apparatus of the present invention,
All steps of the general flow shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 can be automatically executed.
6) to FIG. 9 will be described as an example. Although the underhang process may be performed once, it is generally performed in two or more cycles.

The underlaying step in this embodiment includes spraying,
It consists of four unit operations: pose 1, pose 2, and dry.

Spraying operation (FIG. 6) First, as shown in FIG. 6 , the spraying operation is performed following the end of the tablet preheating operation in the preceding process. It can be executed by automatic transfer.

That is, this data setting is performed by the liquid pump 6
In addition to the setting of the flow rate of the sugar coating liquid to be pressure-fed to the spraying apparatus 4, the setting of the upper and lower limits of the flow rate is also included.

Further, the setting of the spray air pressure fed from the spray air supply path 7 to the spray device 4 and the setting of the upper and lower limits thereof are also performed.

Further, this data setting includes the setting of the pan rotation speed and its upper and lower limits, the setting of the supply air temperature and its upper and lower limits, the setting of the supply air flow and its upper and lower limits, the exhaust air flow and its upper and lower limits. Setting, the number of sprays and the operation time, and the setting of the amount of liquid used once.

In the data setting state, the air supply fan 9 is continuously operated for air supply, the air supply damper 12 is closed, and the air supply air volume and air supply temperature are maintained at the set values.

For exhaust, the exhaust fan 16 is continuously operated, the exhaust damper 14 is closed, and the exhaust air volume is maintained at a set value.

Further, for the supply of the sugar coating liquid, the liquid pump 6 is continuously operated to maintain the liquid flow rate at the set value.

The bypass damper 13 is opened.

The rotating container 3 is rotated by a motor M, and keeps the pan rotation speed at a set value.

For the spray, the spray air is adjusted, the spray cylinder is opened, and the spray liquid is ejected from the spray device 4.

When the spray time or the amount of liquid used reaches the set value, the spray cylinder is closed, the spray operation is completed, and the operation shifts to the next pause 1 operation.

Pose 1 Operation (FIG. 7) In the Pose 1 operation, the data is set by automatically transferring the data of the necessary items set in advance and operating.

Although this data setting is omitted in FIG. 7, it includes set values for supply air flow and temperature, exhaust air flow, liquid flow rate, pan rotation speed, upper and lower limits thereof, and operation time. .

In the pose 1 operation, the air supply, the exhaust, and the supply of the sugar coating liquid are the same as those in the spraying step.
The rotating container 3 is operated continuously, and the pan rotation speed is kept at a set value.

Then, when a predetermined set operation time comes, the operation is automatically stopped, and the operation shifts to the next pause 2 operation.

When it is necessary to keep the sugar coating liquid warm and to prevent precipitation in the case of a suspension, the liquid pump 6 can be operated to keep the liquid circulated.

Pause 2 Operation (FIG. 8) In the pause 2 operation, the data setting items and the operation of each device may be the same as the pause 1 operation, and thus redundant description and illustration are omitted.

The supply damper 12 is closed, the exhaust damper 14 is open, and the bypass damper 13 is closed.

Then, when the set operation time has been reached, the operation is terminated, and the operation proceeds to the next dry operation.

Dry Operation (FIG. 9) In this dry operation, the data setting items are the same as those in the poses 1 and 2 except that the supply air volume is added.

The operation of each device is the same as in the above-described poses 1 and 2.

After reaching the set operation time, the air supply damper 12 and the exhaust damper 14 are closed, the bypass damper 13 is opened, the dry operation is completed, and the operation returns to the spray operation.

When the number of cycles reaches the set value, the apparatus is stopped and the undercarriage process is terminated.

In the case where two or more steps are performed, the process proceeds to the two steps and the necessary operation is performed.

In the execution of each step and unit operation described above, in the present embodiment, control is performed using a sequence control method including the sequencer 17.

Each step and unit operation by the control system including such a sequence control are executed, and when the measured value of the operating condition exceeds the upper limit or the lower limit,
The operation of the device can be stopped or a predetermined response process can be taken.

For example, when the supply air flow exceeds the upper limit value or the lower limit value, the measurement value of the supply air flow meter 27 is sent to the sequencer 17 via the converter 28, and the sequencer 17
Air supply filter 8 and / or air supply damper 12,
The sequence control of the motor M of the rotary container 3, the supply air volume adjustment motor 36, the exhaust air volume adjustment motor 39, and the like is performed, and an operation program that is set in advance according to which abnormality occurred in which unit operation is executed. Perform sequence control.

Further, even when other operation abnormalities occur, the sequencer 17 may be operated in accordance with the location of the abnormalities and the situation.
The control system automatically stops the operation of the device or takes an appropriate countermeasure.

Furthermore, a single operation is not sufficient as a coping method, and it is preferable to adopt a sequence control in which a certain operation is performed for a required time and then the operation is shifted to another operation. By doing so, there is no waste of processing the defective product caused by the occurrence of an abnormality in the operating conditions to the final process as it is, and in some cases, it is also possible to rework and obtain a normal product. For example, it is preferable because a great advantage is obtained as compared with the control by the conventional method in which the target value is simply determined, but the program may be a program for taking a countermeasure for simply stopping the operation.

In this embodiment, since the control system is constituted by the distributed controller 22 comprising the analog controller 21 for analog signal processing, the cost of the apparatus can be reduced and the structure can be simplified.

Further, in this embodiment, since the control system is constituted by a touch panel type display device, the operation becomes easy, so that the cost of the device can be reduced and the structure can be simplified.

In this embodiment, when at least one detected value among the operating conditions of the automatic particulate processing apparatus exceeds a predetermined upper limit or lower limit, the external storage medium 46 stores the status. In accordance with the program, a program is stored which is set to stop the operation of the automatic particle processing apparatus or to shift to a predetermined abnormal operation.

Moreover, such a program can be created in accordance with the type of the granular material to be processed, the type of the product, the processing amount, and the like. By simply inputting the code number attached to the above, it is possible to very easily respond to the change.

Further, even when it is necessary to change (add) the contents of the program such as operating conditions, such as correcting or fine-tuning the processing conditions, the keyboard 19 is operated to store the data in the external storage medium 46. The content can be changed very easily.

The present invention can be applied to a case where film coating is performed, unlike the sugar coating of the above embodiment.

In the case of film coating, the concentration and viscosity of the spray liquid are lower than those in the case of sugar coating, and, for example, the unit operation in the undercoating process is a single operation of only the spray operation, and the spray operation is performed continuously. Although there are differences in the above, the basic system is the same except that the control program is simplified.

Although the invention made by the present inventors has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof. Needless to say.

For example, the overall configuration of the automatic powder processing apparatus and the configuration of the control system can be applied to other configurations.

Further, the measures to be taken when an abnormality occurs, operating conditions, and the like can be applied to those other than the above-described embodiment.

In this connection, the granular material processing apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the one in which the program for coping with the occurrence of an abnormality is built in the control means. Also include those input in advance.

By doing so, it is not necessary to input operating conditions for dealing with an abnormality each time the vehicle is driven.
Of course, it is also possible to manually change or set the operating conditions as desired.

In order to store in the external storage means, first, at the time of setting the operating conditions, the data is manually input to the granular material processing apparatus, stored in the internal storage means, and transferred to the external storage means for storage. It is convenient to use this in the next and subsequent times, but it is not limited to this.

The external storage means used in the present invention includes, but is not limited to, a floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, optical disk and the like.

Further, in addition to the aerated tablet coating apparatus, the present invention provides a fluidized bed granulated coating apparatus, a centrifugal fluidized type granulated coating apparatus, a fluidized bed granulated coating apparatus equipped with a rotating disk having a vent, and the like. It can be applied to various types of powder processing equipment.

In the above description, mainly the case where the invention made by the present inventors is applied to the coating of pharmaceuticals such as tablets and granules and foods such as sugar-coated confections, which are fields of application, has been described. Rather, it can be applied to the coating of other articles, for example chemicals.

[0086]

Advantageous effects obtained by typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described.
It is as follows.

(1) According to the present invention, the target value of the operating condition,
Automatic operation is performed by setting an upper limit value and a lower limit value, and when at least one detected value of the operating condition exceeds the upper limit value or the lower limit value, the operation is stopped according to the situation, or a predetermined abnormality is detected. The program set to shift to the hourly operation is stored in the external storage means, and the processing means is changed by activating the control means of the granular material processing apparatus by the output from the external storage means. Also, by simply inputting a code to be processed, predetermined operating conditions can be automatically set. Further, even if the operating conditions are changed or added, it is possible to easily cope with them.

(2) According to the above (1), operating conditions can be set quickly and accurately.

(3) According to the above (1), the storage in the external storage means can be easily corrected.

(4) According to the above (1), cost reduction and simplification of the structure of the apparatus can be further promoted.

[0091]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an automatic powdery material processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the front part of the general flow of automatic coating using the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of an intermediate part following FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the latter part of the flow following FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a spray operation in an underlaying step in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a pose 1 operation.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a pose 2 operation.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of a dry operation.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for coping with an abnormality according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Granule processing machine 2 Granule accumulation layer 3 Rotary container 4 Sprayer 5 Dissolution tank 6 Liquid pump 7 Spray air supply path 8 Air supply filter 9 Air supply fan 10 Heat exchanger 11 Air supply filter 12 Air supply damper 13 Bypass Damper 14 Exhaust damper 15 Dust collector 16 Exhaust fan 17 Sequencer 18 Touch panel display device 19 Keyboard 20 Printer 21 Analog controller 22 Distributed controller 23 Temperature sensor 24 MV / I converter 25 Temperature sensor 26 MV / I converter 27 Supply air flow meter 28 ΔP / I converter 29 Exhaust flow meter 30 ΔP / I converter 31 Flow meter 32 In-pan pressure sensor 33 P / I converter 34 Pan rotation sensor 35 Supply air temperature adjusting means 36 Motor 37 Inverter 38 Switch 39 Motor 40 Inverter 41 Motor 42 Inverter 43 Motor 44 inverter 45 control unit 46 an external storage medium (an external storage unit) 47 internal storage medium M motor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B01J 2/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. The operating conditions are selected from the group consisting of exhaust temperature, pan rotation speed, spray use liquid amount, spray time, spray liquid flow rate, spray air pressure, pause 1 hour, pause 2 hours, dry time, and cycle number. The automatic operation is performed by setting a target value, an upper limit value and a lower limit value of the operating condition, and when at least one detected value of the operating condition exceeds the upper limit value or the lower limit value , A program set to shift to the predetermined abnormal operation is stored in the external storage means, and the control means of the granular material processing apparatus is operated by an output from the external storage means, and the predetermined processing is performed. was abnormal operation, the operation of ending a predetermined time after the intermittent operation internal moisture dropped discharge exhaust stop panning rotational speed of opening the exhaust damper cook by steam close the spray stop air supply stop exhaust damper An automatic particle processing apparatus comprising steps .