JP4837952B2 - Liquid medicine dispensing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a liquid medicine dispensing device in particular dispensing a plurality of types of liquid medicine.

  Conventionally, in dispensing operations, dispensing is performed manually by a pharmacist. In this case, a dispensing support system and a dispensing audit for preventing a drug bottle picking error are known. In these systems, when taking out a medicine from a medicine shelf, the barcode attached to the medicine bottle is read with a handy terminal to prevent an error in taking out the medicine.

In recent years, there has been an example of trying to automate as a liquid medicine dispensing device. For example, in a liquid medicine automatic dispensing machine described in Patent Document 1, a medicine bottle is set on a rotary table, a medicine bottle is selected by a rotation angle, and an actuator is moved in a horizontal direction, and connected to each medicine bottle. A chemical solution is fed into the prescription bottle by connecting a tube pump.
Patent Document 2 or Patent Document 3 discloses a liquid medicine dispensing unit or a liquid amount reading device.

JP 2003-325639 A JP 2000-140071 A JP 2000-199719 A

  Although there are some examples as in the above-mentioned patent document, the actual situation is that automatic dispensing apparatuses are not widely used at the present time. Although there is a request for automation, there is a point to be noted as a premise because it is a dispensing act. The first is the problem of contamination of the medicine, the second is the fear of germs and the remaining washing liquid, the third is the complexity when setting the medicine bottle, the fourth is the influence of temperature changes, the weight of the medicine (specific gravity) The amount of liquid cannot be calculated from the above, and fifthly, since the pharmacist performs an audit, there is a problem that this audit is practically impossible with a closed apparatus.

  In particular, in the apparatus described in Patent Document 1 and the like described above, the apparatus structure is complicated, and the maintenance of the apparatus has to be troublesome. That is, when cleaning the apparatus, it is necessary to remove complicatedly installed pipes and pumps and to clean a large number of parts, which requires a lot of labor and time for cleaning.

In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid medicine dispensing apparatus that guarantees an appropriate dispensing process and that is particularly excellent in simplification of the apparatus and excellent maintainability.

The liquid medicine dispensing device of the present invention is a liquid medicine dispensing apparatus that dispenses one or more kinds of liquid medicine from a medicine bottle provided with a nozzle into a prescription bottle, and contains different kinds of liquid medicine. A medicine bottle moving mechanism for mounting a plurality of medicine bottles so as to be positioned at the dispensing position, a medicine bottle identifying means for identifying the medicine bottle positioned at the dispensing position, and the medicine bottle identified by the medicine bottle identifying means A tipping mechanism for tipping over, an opening / closing mechanism for opening and closing the nozzle of the medicine bottle overturned by the tipping mechanism, and a liquid for detecting the amount of liquid medicine dispensed from the overturned medicine bottle into the prescription bottle And a quantity detecting means .

In the liquid medicine dispensing device of the present invention, the liquid medicine dispensing device of the present invention has a stirring function of stirring the liquid medicine in the medicine bottle by driving the tipping mechanism and causing the medicine bottle to fall a predetermined number of times.

Moreover, the liquid medicine dispensing device of the present invention is characterized in that the liquid medicine in the medicine bottle is stirred for the liquid medicine that requires stirring.

Further, the liquid medicine dispensing method of the present invention is characterized by further comprising a step of stirring the liquid medicine in the medicine bottle by tumbling the medicine bottle a predetermined number of times as necessary before discharging the liquid medicine. To do.

  According to the present invention, the dispensing process is performed substantially automatically to perform the dispensing process extremely appropriately and accurately, and to achieve an efficient and smooth dispensing process. In particular, there is no need for complicated piping, and it is not necessary to have pumps for flowing liquid medicine through these pipes and a large number of valves for opening and closing those flow paths. Can be greatly simplified.

  In addition, since the apparatus is simplified, the maintainability is improved, the cleaning operation is greatly facilitated, and there are advantages such as less labor. In addition, the cleaning work is greatly simplified, and the failure rate is kept low by simplifying the device and reducing the number of parts. In this respect as well, it is excellent in maintainability and, as a result, improves the operating rate of the device. be able to. Moreover, even if it is a suspension etc. by having an overturning mechanism of a medicine bottle, this can be stirred appropriately, and it is advantageous for ensuring and stabilizing quality. Furthermore, by reading and confirming the barcode label of the medicine bottle with a barcode reader, it is possible to reliably prevent misidentification of the liquid medicine type and improve the reliability of the dispensing process.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a liquid medicine dispensing device and a dispensing method according to the present invention will be described based on the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of the device of the present invention in this embodiment. In this embodiment, typically, a plurality of types of liquid medicines are dispensed, and a predetermined amount of liquid medicine is injected into each prescription bottle from a medicine bottle containing different types of liquid medicines for dispensing.

  The dispensing device 10 according to the present invention includes a medicine bottle moving mechanism that mounts a plurality of medicine bottles so that the medicine bottles can be moved, an overturn mechanism that inverts each medicine bottle at a dispensing position where a medicine bottle is set, and moves to the dispensing position. The medicine bottle identifying means for identifying the positioned medicine bottle, and the liquid amount detecting means for detecting the amount of liquid medicine dispensed to the medication bottle are provided.

  The prescription bottle 100 is set at a predetermined position on the mounting table 11, and this position is set as a dispensing position. In this example, the medicine bottle moving mechanism has a conveyor 12 (arrow X) that travels in the vicinity of the upper part of the dispensing position. For example, the conveyor 12 is driven to drive using a stepping motor 13 as a drive source. A plurality of medicine bottles 101 (five medicine bottles 101A to 101E in the illustrated example) containing different kinds of liquid medicines are placed on the conveyor 12 via holders 14 and a mounting board (not shown in FIG. 1), respectively. Mounted). Each medicine bottle 101 mounted on the conveyor 12 moves to the dispensing position, but the conveyor 12 has a sufficient length necessary for such movement.

  Each medicine bottle 101 transported and moved by the conveyor 12 is positioned so as to be stationary at the dispensing position by controlling the operation of the stepping motor 13. In this case, by setting in advance a relative relationship between the number of pulses as a drive signal sent to the stepping motor 13 and the position of each medicine bottle 101 on the conveyor 12, each medicine bottle 101 is placed at the dispensing position. It can be accurately stopped and held in the dispensing position.

  2 and 3 show a configuration example of the overturning mechanism of the medicine bottle 101. FIG. Each holder 14 that accommodates and holds the medicine bottle 101 is horizontally supported on the mounting substrate 16, and is mounted on the conveyor 12 in such a unitized form. The mounting substrate 16 is fixed at a predetermined position on the conveyor 12, but is removable. The holder 14 that accommodates and holds the medicine bottle 101 rotates around the fulcrum shaft 15 so that the medicine bottle 101 is overturned. In this case, even if the holder 14 rotates around the fulcrum shaft 15 and falls as shown in FIG. 3B, the medicine bottle fixing means for stably holding the medicine bottle 101 in the holder 14 without rattling. (Not shown).

  The fulcrum shaft 15 is supported and fixed on one side of the holder 14 by a support bracket 17 so as to be parallel to the conveyor 12 (arrow X). The fulcrum shaft 15 is rotatably supported at both ends by bearings 18 provided on the mounting substrate 16. A gear 19 (which may be a spur gear or the like) is attached to a substantially central portion in the longitudinal direction of the fulcrum shaft 15. The holder 14, the fulcrum shaft 15, and the gear 19 are integrally coupled. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the bottom surface of the holder 14 is provided with a stopper 20 that comes into contact with a proper end portion of the mounting substrate 16, and the holder 14 comes into contact with the upper surface of the mounting substrate 16. Is mounted horizontally.

  On the other hand, a gear 21 that can mesh with the gear 19 of each holder 14 is disposed at a predetermined position near the conveyor 12 side corresponding to the dispensing position. The gear 21 is attached to a drive shaft 22, and the drive shaft 22 is rotationally driven by a stepping motor 24 via a power transmission means 23 such as a timing belt. In addition, the drive side member which comprises the fall mechanism of the medicine bottle 101, such as the drive shaft 22 and the power transmission means 23, is disposed and configured at an appropriate position in the apparatus frame (not shown). The gear 21 is configured to automatically engage with the gear 19 of the holder 14 that has moved to the dispensing position.

  Each medicine bottle 101 is normally supported horizontally on the conveyor 12, but is urged to rotate around the fulcrum shaft 15 via the holder 14 by the overturning mechanism at the dispensing position. The falling angle of each medicine bottle 101 can be freely set by controlling the stepping motor 24.

  In this embodiment, as a medicine bottle identifying means for identifying the medicine bottle 101, for example, a barcode reader (BCR) 25 mounted on the apparatus frame at a dispensing position is provided. On the other hand, a barcode label (not shown) is attached to, for example, the vicinity of the shoulder of each medicine bottle 101A to 101E. The barcode reader 25 is arranged so as to be located obliquely above the medicine bottle 101 at the dispensing position, and reads the barcode label of the medicine bottle 101 that has moved to the dispensing position from obliquely above. Yes. In FIG. 1, the barcode reader 25 is illustrated diagonally to the upper left of the medicine bottle 101B for drawing. However, from the track of the conveyor 12 so as not to interfere with the medicine bottles 101A to 101E moved by the conveyor 12. Arranged moderately.

  As shown in FIG. 4, each medicine bottle 101 is covered with a cap 26 for preventing foreign matter from entering. A nozzle 27 extends into the cap 26, and a straw 28 for venting air is inserted. The nozzle 27 is formed in a tapered shape and is appropriately curved in the illustrated example, but may be a straight tapered shape without being curved. When the nozzle 27 is bent, a straw 28 is preferably provided on the side opposite to the bending direction.

  In the present invention, the nozzle 27 of each medicine bottle 101 is selected according to the properties of the internal liquid medicine. This is to make the flow rate of the liquid medicine discharged from the nozzle 27 of each medicine bottle 101 substantially constant. In particular, the viscosity of the liquid medicine varies depending on the type, and this viscosity affects the flow rate when the liquid medicine is discharged from the nozzle 27. In any case of liquid medicine in terms of the operation efficiency of the apparatus, it is necessary to make the flow rate at the time of liquid medicine discharge from the nozzle 27 constant. Set according to the viscosity of. For example, in the case of a syrupy liquid medicine having a high viscosity, the tip diameter is set larger than that of water having a lower viscosity. As a result, the flow rate can be kept constant regardless of the properties of the liquid medicine such as viscosity.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a plug 29 for plugging the liquid medicine discharge port of each nozzle 27 is attached, and a plug opening / closing mechanism for opening and closing the plug 29 is provided. The rubber stopper 29 described above is attached to the tip of the nozzle 27. In this illustrated example, a fulcrum 31 is provided on the mounting bracket 30 fixed to the nozzle 27, and the stopper 29 is supported by the support arm 32 so as to be rotatable around the fulcrum 31. The support arm 32 is urged in the closing direction of the plug 29 by the elasticity of the spring 33, so that the plug 29 normally closes the liquid medicine discharge port of the nozzle 27.

  In this example, the stopper 29 has a solenoid (not shown) arranged at a dispensing position as a stopper opening / closing mechanism, and a push rod (not shown) operated by the solenoid is advanced and retracted with respect to the stopper 29. It has become. For example, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), the stopper 29 is provided with a protruding piece 34 against which the push rod can come into contact. The protruding piece 34 is offset from the longitudinal axis of the nozzle 27, that is, offset. Projecting. The push rod itself is also offset from the nozzle 27 in the same manner as the protruding piece 34. The plug 29 can be opened by the push rod coming into contact with the projecting piece 34 by the operation of the solenoid. In addition, by disposing the push rod as offset as described above, the liquid medicine discharged from the nozzle 27 by opening the stopper 29 is not applied to the push rod or the like, and is appropriate to prevent the liquid medicine from being scattered. Can be discharged.

  In addition, liquid amount detection means for detecting the amount of liquid medicine dispensed to the prescription bottle 100 is provided. As the liquid amount detecting means, as shown in FIG. 1, an imaging device 35 such as a CCD camera, for example, is disposed at a position close to the prescription bottle 100 on the mounting table 11. The imaging device 35 is mounted on an elevating device 36 and can move up and down in accordance with the liquid level of the liquid medicine in the prescription bottle 100. In addition, a backlight panel 37 is installed on the side opposite to the imaging device 35 of the prescription bottle 100, and back illumination is performed when the imaging device 35 images the liquid level.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the funnel 38 is attached to the medicine bottle 101 when the liquid medicine is dispensed from the medicine bottle 101 to the medicine bottle 100 at the dispensing position. By using the funnel 38, the liquid medicine can be appropriately and efficiently dispensed without being scattered.

  In the above case, a control device for controlling the operation of the device or performing an input operation or data processing necessary for the device operation may be provided, and a printer or the like capable of printing out various data as appropriate may be provided. . In addition, a display unit for displaying information necessary for the operation of the device is provided, and information can be displayed on the display unit by a command from the control device.

  Next, an example of the operation of the device of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 shows an operation example in this embodiment. First, the pharmacist places predetermined medicine bottles 101 (101A to 101E) in the holder 14 in accordance with a prescription and loads them on the conveyor 12, and sets the prescription bottle 100 on the mounting table 11.

  In step S1, the predetermined medicine bottle 101 is moved to the dispensing position and positioned. Next, in step S2, the barcode reader 25 reads the barcode label affixed to the medicine bottle 101, thereby confirming whether the liquid medicine is designated in step S3. If it is not the specified liquid medicine, error processing is performed, that is, the error content is displayed on the display unit, for example, and the operation is ended by the operation of the operator.

  After the liquid medicine is confirmed, it is determined whether or not the liquid medicine requires overturning stirring in step S4. If stirring is required, overturning stirring is performed in step S5. Depending on the type of liquid medicine, a precipitate may be formed at the bottom of the medicine bottle 101. For such liquid medicine, the medicine bottle 101 is overturned a predetermined number of times by the overturn mechanism, and the liquid medicine in the medicine bottle 101 is stirred. To do. In this case, by rotating the gear 21 by the operation of the stepping motor 24 in the overturning mechanism, the medicine bottle 101 is reciprocally rotated around the fulcrum shaft 15 via the gear 19 that meshes with the gear 212, thereby the medicine bottle 101. The liquid medicine inside can be stirred.

  After the liquid medicine in the medicine bottle 101 is stirred, the medicine bottle 101 is held in the overturned state (180 °) in step S6 (see FIG. 3B). Next, in step S7, the plug 29 is opened by the plug opening / closing mechanism. In this case, the push rod comes into contact with the projecting piece 34 of the stopper 29 by the operation of the solenoid described above, whereby the stopper 29 is opened and the discharge of the liquid medicine in the medicine bottle 101 is started. The liquid medicine discharged from the medicine bottle 101 is dispensed to the prescription bottle 100 through the funnel 38.

  Next, in step S8, the liquid level of the liquid medicine in the prescription bottle 100 is measured. In this case, it is possible to accurately detect the height of the liquid level by imaging the vicinity of the liquid level of the liquid medicine by the imaging device 35 and performing image processing on this. If there is a change in the liquid level before and after the liquid medicine is discharged by this liquid level measurement, the dispensing amount of the liquid medicine is calculated from the change in the liquid level in step S9. It is determined whether or not the target value has been reached (step S10). For example, with X = 90 to 95% as a guide, the liquid medicine is continuously discharged until this amount is reached. In the present invention, the amount of liquid medicine discharged from the nozzle 27 of the medicine bottle 101 is set to a relatively small amount (for example, about 1 ml / s), and this can be accurately controlled while confirming the dispensing amount. If there is no change in the liquid level of the liquid medicine, error processing is performed, that is, the error content is displayed on the display unit, for example, and the operation is ended by the operation of the operator.

  Next, the inclination angle of the medicine bottle 101 that has been overturned in step S11 is relaxed. The relaxation inclination angle is about 90 ° (substantially horizontal posture as the medicine bottle 101), and by relaxing the inclination angle in this way, the discharge flow rate from the medicine bottle 101 can be suppressed and the discharge amount can be easily controlled. it can.

  Next, in step S12, the liquid level of the liquid medicine in the prescription bottle 100 is measured again. If there is a change in the liquid level of the liquid medicine (step S13), the dispensing amount of the liquid medicine is calculated from the change in the liquid level, and the dispensing amount is an allowable error with respect to the target value. It is determined whether it is within the range (step S14). Then, the liquid medicine is continuously discharged until the allowable error range is reached. If there is no change in the liquid level of the liquid medicine, error processing is performed, that is, the error content is displayed on the display unit, and the operation is ended by the operator's operation.

  Next, in step S15, the stopper 29 is closed by the stopper opening / closing mechanism. In this case, the stopper 29 is closed by retracting the push rod by the operation of the solenoid, whereby the discharge of liquid medicine from the medicine bottle 101 is stopped. Furthermore, the stepping motor 24 is operated to rotate the medicine bottle 101 around the fulcrum shaft 15 to release the medicine bottle 101 from falling.

  Here, as described above, the stopper 29 provided at the tip of the medicine bottle 101 rotates along the arcuate orbit with respect to the fulcrum shaft 15 in accordance with the overturning operation of the medicine bottle 101 (particularly 180 ° to 90 ° in this example). Move. In this embodiment, the plug 29 is opened and closed at at least two different positions (180 ° and 90 °). Accordingly, the solenoid of the plug opening / closing mechanism and its push rod are configured to move along the arcuate orbit of the plug 29 while maintaining the relative position with respect to the plug 29, and the push rod is operated at a predetermined timing. It can also be made. In that case, the solenoid of the stopper opening / closing mechanism can be connected to, for example, the holder 14 of the medicine bottle 101 that has been moved to the dispensing position via a link mechanism, and the interlock mechanism that interlocks the solenoid with the movement of the stopper 29. Is provided.

  Next, in step S16, the liquid level of the liquid medicine in the prescription bottle 100 is measured and finally confirmed. If the dispensed amount is within the target value allowable error range in step S16, the dispensing of the liquid medicine is completed. If the dispensed amount is outside the target allowable error range, error processing is performed, that is, the error content is displayed on the display unit, and the operation is terminated by the operator's operation.

  The above-described steps are sequentially performed for each medicine bottle 101, and a specified amount of liquid medicine is discharged and supplied to the prescription bottle 100 by a predetermined amount, thereby completing the dispensing process. After dispensing, the contents of the dispensing can be printed out as appropriate via the control device.

  As described above, this kind of dispensing operation can be performed substantially automatically, and dispensing processing is performed extremely appropriately and accurately, and efficient and smooth dispensing processing is realized. In this case, when dispensing the liquid medicine from each medicine bottle 101, the liquid medicine can be discharged by overturning the medicine bottle 101 by the overturning mechanism. This eliminates the need for complicated piping, and eliminates the need for pumps for flowing liquid medicine through these pipes and a large number of valves for opening and closing the flow paths. The configuration can be greatly simplified.

  In addition, since the apparatus is simplified in this manner, there are advantages such as improved maintainability, greatly facilitated cleaning work, and less labor. Incidentally, the main cleaning points are the nozzle 27 and, if necessary, the funnel 38, and the cleaning work is greatly simplified. Further, the failure rate can be kept low by simplifying the device and reducing the number of parts. In this respect as well, the maintainability is excellent, and as a result, the operating rate of the device can be improved.

  In addition, since the medicine bottle 101 has an overturning mechanism for overturning, even if the liquid medicine is a suspension, for example, it can be properly stirred, which is advantageous for ensuring and stabilizing the quality. Further, by reading and confirming the barcode label of the medicine bottle 101 with the barcode reader 25, it is possible to reliably prevent misperception of the kind of liquid medicine and to improve the reliability of the dispensing process. In addition, when the liquid medicine is dispensed, the liquid level of the liquid medicine is detected by the imaging device 35, and the discharge amount of the liquid medicine is measured while feeding back this, thereby improving the dispensing accuracy.

As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated with various embodiment, this invention is not limited only to these embodiment, A change etc. are possible within the scope of the present invention.
The illustrated apparatus configuration shows a specific example. For example, the number of medicine bottles and the like can be appropriately changed as necessary. Moreover, although the example which has the conveyor 12 as a medicine bottle moving mechanism was demonstrated, a medicine bottle may be moved to a turntable type other than this.

It is a front view which shows schematic structure of the dispensing apparatus in embodiment of this invention. It is each a perspective view which shows schematic structure of the periphery of a fall mechanism in embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic sectional side view which respectively shows the operation example of the fall mechanism in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example around the nozzle of the medicine bottle in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the stopper opening / closing mechanism of the nozzle in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the apparatus operation | movement sequence in embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Dispensing apparatus 11 Mounting stand 12 Conveyor 14 Holder 15 Supporting shaft 16 Mounting board 17 Support bracket 18 Bearing part 19, 21 Gear 24 Stepping motor 25 Bar code reader (BCR)
26 Cap 27 Nozzle 29 Plug 34 Projection piece 35 Imaging device 37 Backlight panel 38 Funnel 100 Medicine bottle 101 Medicine bottle

Claims (3)

A liquid medicine dispensing device that dispenses one or more kinds of liquid medicine from a medicine bottle provided with a nozzle into a prescription bottle,
A vial moving mechanism that mounts a plurality of vials containing different types of liquid medicines at the dispensing position,
A vial identifying means for identifying the vial positioned at the dispensing position;
A tipping mechanism for tipping over the medicine bottle identified by the medicine bottle identifying means;
An opening and closing mechanism for opening and closing the nozzle of the medicine bottle that has fallen by the tipping mechanism;
A liquid amount detecting means for detecting the amount of liquid medicine dispensed into the prescription bottle from the overturned medicine bottle;
A liquid medicine dispensing device comprising:   The liquid medicine dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein the liquid medicine dispensing device has a stirring function of stirring the liquid medicine in the medicine bottle by driving the tipping mechanism and causing the medicine bottle to fall over a predetermined number of times.   The liquid medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the liquid medicine in the medicine bottle is stirred with respect to the liquid medicine requiring stirring.

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