JP4964196B2 - Chemical cassette and dispensing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a chemical cassette and a dispensing device for supporting a dispensing operation in a hospital pharmacy or the like, and more particularly, to a chemical cassette and a chemical dispensing device that arrange and store chemicals and sequentially discharge them from the end. More specifically, the present invention relates to a medicine cassette and a medicine dispensing device that hold a large number of medicines that can be stacked one on the other and stack them up and down, and discharge them by laterally feeding them in the longitudinal direction of the medicines sequentially from the bottom.
The present invention is suitable for sequential discharge / automatic discharge / automatic delivery for a thick drug such as a box set medicine, and further, sequential discharge of a bundle of PTP packaging material (PTP bundle) by banding or the like. , It is also suitable for the sequential discharge of soft packaging chemicals (PTP bundle package) packed in a soft bag.

  A vibration discharge cassette in which alignment maintenance, alignment advancement, and sequential discharge of PTP packaging materials are performed by vibration has been put into practical use (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This cassette has an outer plate for aligning and storing drugs such as PTP packaging, an upper frame that interferes with the upper end of the top drug at the top of its release front, and a front end portion of the upper surface that stops the stored drug from falling forward. The remaining part is formed with a front rising inclination and the remaining part is formed with a front lowering inclination, and includes an inner plate on which the stored medicine is placed and moved forward during vibration, and a vibration member that vibrates the inner plate. Then, when the medicines are placed in the medicine storage space in the outer plate and are arranged upright on the inner plate, and the top medicine is leaned on the upper frame, a large number of medicines are stored in a horizontal row without falling down. Further, when the inner plate is vibrated, the stored medicines are sequentially discharged one by one from the top.

Also, a support means for holding a large number of such vibration discharge cassettes and modified PTP cassettes side by side, a drop guide member for guiding the PTP packaging material released from each cassette downward, and collecting these PTP packaging materials A PTP dispensing device that includes a collection mechanism and automatically dispenses a necessary PTP packaging material according to a prescription or a dispensing instruction from various PTP packaging materials has been put into practical use (for example, see Patent Document 2). ).
In addition, when looking at other chemical handling equipment, the main mechanism of the cassette is equally pitched or unequal in the longitudinal and non-inclined directions of the shelf relative to the shelf that is horizontal in the left and right longitudinal directions but is inclined forward and backward. A drug dispensing device that is fixedly installed side by side at a pitch has also been developed (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

On the other hand, when aligning and storing and sequentially discharging PTP packaging agents without using vibration, the drugs are stacked horizontally and stored vertically in a cassette and taken up sequentially from the top or bottom. It was supposed to feed horizontally in order. Examples of methods that are picked up from above include those using a method such as picking, and those that are adsorbed by a pad. The latter pad adsorbing method (see, for example, Patent Document 4) achieves both improved processing efficiency and simplification of the mechanism. A large number of drug cassettes stored in a rotatable storage container and taking out of the drug cassettes. And a take-out mechanism for sucking and taking out the medicine for dispensing from the position.
On the other hand, in the method of laterally feeding in order from the bottom (see, for example, Patent Document 5), a plurality of rotating wheels are arranged at a narrow pitch on the inner bottom of the cassette, and the bottom is obtained by rotating them. The medicine is transversally fed by frictional force.

JP 2006-109854 A JP 2006-223528 A JP 2007-020897 JP 2000-167023 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-75989 (FIG. 3)

[Patent Document 6] Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-119357 [Patent Document 7] Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-149073 [Patent Document 8] Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-31940 [Patent Document 9] Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-158558

Also, instead of handling thin PTP packaging as it is, it is possible to use soft packaging chemicals (PTP bundle packaging) in which multiple or many PTP packaging agents are usually bundled and then packed into a soft bag. A chemical cassette has also been developed that performs the sort storage and sequential discharge (for example, Patent Document 6). This cassette is a chemical cassette that sequentially discharges chemicals that are aligned and stored on an inclined sliding surface, and each sliding surface extends in the inclined direction of the sliding surface and is provided in a state in which they run side by side. The sliding surface is formed by an image forming member, and a discharge mechanism having a crawler mechanism in which an upper portion of the crawler belt is inclined opposite to the sliding surface is disposed near the falling end of the sliding surface. It is provided between the component members.
In this case, since the chemicals are maintained and moved forward on the sliding surface, the chemicals are not stacked vertically, and the chemicals are arranged side by side with a slight inclination.

  Furthermore, when returning to the sequential discharge of thin PTP packaging material, a vibration discharge cassette has been developed that can smoothly and smoothly discharge even the PTP packaging material without waist by combining vibration with the bottom medicine horizontal feed method. (See Patent Document 7). Specifically, each of the PTP packaging agents is a vibration discharge cassette that holds the PTP packaging agent in a horizontal direction, stacks it vertically and holds it in an aligned manner, and horizontally feeds it from the bottom to discharge it. An inner bottom member that is placed on and held on, a friction member that laterally feeds the lowermost PTP packaging material with a frictional force to the lower surface thereof, and a vibration member that vibrates the inner bottom member up and down. Is provided on the inner bottom member, and when the vibration member is operated, the vibration of the inner bottom member is transmitted to the friction member and also transmitted to the PTP packaging agent, and the lowest one of the PTP packaging agents and the one above it The frictional force between the two PTP packaging materials has been reduced to such an extent that the entanglement is avoided.

  However, a PTP packaging material with a bowl-shaped deformed bag that cannot be handled well by such a PTP cassette or a PTP dispensing device appears, and it is difficult to determine and adjust an appropriate vibration state and friction state by the conventional feeding method using vibration and friction. Therefore, a PTP cassette and a PTP dispensing device having a new configuration have been developed. (Refer to Patent Documents 8 and 9) PTP-packed drugs or equivalent drugs are placed horizontally, stacked vertically and held in an aligned storage state on the inner bottom member, and horizontally fed in order from the bottom. On the premise that it is discharged forward, a hooking member that hooks the rear end of the lowermost drug held and a feed mechanism that forwards the hooking member along the inner bottom member When the medicines such as PTP packagings that are arranged and stored are discharged sequentially, the feeding mechanism is activated and the hooking member is forwarded along the inner bottom member. The end is hooked on the inner bottom member and pushed forward.

By the way, the vertical stacking method that stacks and stores vertically has the advantage that the storage amount can be seen at a glance, and the so-called brushing-off method that discharges in order from the bottom is easy to replenish by adding from the top. The advantage is that it can be done quickly.
For this reason, it seems that it is useful to apply the vertically stacked polishing method having these advantages to the discharge and discharge of chemicals other than the PTP packaging agent.
And it can apply simply to a thin chemical | medical agent like a PTP packaging agent, for example, a chemical | medical agent of a sheet-like packaging or a card-like packaging by following the above-mentioned hooking method.

However, when the above-mentioned hooking method is applied to the vertically stacked polishing method for individually thick chemicals, even though they can be stacked, such as PTP bundles, PTP bundles, and boxed set drugs If the chemicals are very thick, the stacking alignment state is disturbed at the time of sequential discharge due to the thickness, leading to an undesired situation in which the discharge operation cannot be performed smoothly.
In other words, if the bottom chemicals quickly come off due to the sand removal, the remaining stacked chemicals will fall free all at once, but because the drop is large, the impact on the bottom chemicals becomes extreme. This may lead to undesirable situations such as breakage of chemicals and disorder of alignment.

In addition, it takes some time even if scrubbing is done quickly, so when the scrubbing is performed, the next chemical is supported on one side and the other side is supported until the bottom chemical starts to come off. Since it is removed and dropped, the chemicals on one side of the bearing and the underlying chemicals immediately above it will oscillate and rotate, but there is a large drop when the stacked chemicals fall. And since the continuation time of the said rocking | swiveling is long, rocking | fluctuation of the lower chemicals also becomes large. Therefore, the occurrence of undesired situations such as breakage of chemicals and disorder of alignment cannot be ignored.
Therefore, it is a technical problem to improve the vertical pile polishing method so that it can be applied to the discharge / dispensing of thick chemicals, and to devise a simple embodiment to replace the hook method.

The chemical cassette and the dispensing device of the present invention (Solution 1) have been developed to solve such problems. The stackable chemicals are horizontally stacked and aligned vertically. It is held in the stored state, and is laterally fed in order from the bottom and discharged forward, and is further as follows.
That is, the chemical cassette (initial claim 1) is an inner bottom member that holds the chemicals on the upper surface, an extrusion member that pushes the rear end of the chemicals, and a successor to the extrusion member And a lowering member that is lowered as it moves away from the pusher member, and a feed mechanism that forwards the pusher member and the shock absorber member along the inner bottom member.

  The medicine dispensing device (initial claim 4), one or a plurality of shelves, a sequential discharge mechanism arranged in the shelves, and stackable medicines are horizontally stacked and aligned vertically. The storage unit is a box that is placed and held on the upper surface of the inner bottom member. The alignment storage unit is mounted on the sequential discharge mechanism one by one, and the sequential discharge mechanism discharges the alignment storage unit. A collecting / dispensing mechanism for collecting and dispensing the medicines, wherein the sequential discharging mechanism pushes the rear end of the bottom of the chemicals held in the alignment storage unit, and the pushing member A buffering member that is provided subsequent to the pusher member and is lowered as it moves away from the pusher member, and a feed mechanism that forwards the pusher member and the shock absorber member along the inner bottom member, To feed horizontally from the bottom and discharge forward You have me.

  Further, the chemical cassette and the dispensing device of the present invention are (Solution means 2), the chemical cassette and the dispensing device of the above-described solution means 1, wherein the inner bottom member is a pair of inner bottom plates arranged side by side separately. The feed mechanism includes an endless belt extending back and forth between or just below the inner bottom plate pair, and the buffer member includes a plurality of flexible members arranged in order of size. The flexible plate-like body is characterized in that both the front and rear sides are attached to the endless belt in a curved state.

  Furthermore, the chemical cassette and dispensing device of the present invention (Solution means 3) is the chemical cassette and dispensing device of the above-mentioned solving means 1 and 2, and is a part (chemicals dispensing) for holding the chemicals in an aligned storage state. The apparatus is characterized in that fixed plates are arranged on the front and left and right sides of the box of the alignment storage unit, and a movable plate is suspended on the back of the fixed plates.

  In such a chemical cassette and dispensing device of the present invention (Solution means 1), when the medicines such as the aligned and stored PTP bundles are sequentially discharged, the feeding mechanism is activated and the pushing member is moved to the inner bottom member. Along with this, the bottom medicine is pushed forward by the pushing member pushed by the pushing member, but the buffer member quickly enters the gap formed by pushing the bottom medicine. And when the remaining stacking alignment chemicals fall free at the same time, the drop is reduced by the buffer member and becomes smaller, so that the impact applied to the drugs in the lower stack is weakened. Further, since the impact is also reduced by the buffering action of the buffer member, the impact is further weakened. Thereby, the breakage of chemicals and the disorder of alignment are prevented.

In addition, the buffer member provided after the push-out member becomes lower as it moves away from the push-out member, but the inclination of the buffer member matches the swing direction of the falling chemicals to be dropped. The impact caused by the movement is also alleviated and the impact is further weakened.
In addition, even when the cushioning member is pulled out from under the loaded chemicals in preparation for the next discharging operation, the buffering members can be smoothly removed, so that no undesired impact is applied to the chemicals at the time of discharging and at other times.
Therefore, according to the present invention, a chemical cassette and a chemical dispensing device that can accurately perform sequential discharge and automatic dispensing by the vertically stacked polishing method even when the chemical is thick are realized. Therefore, it is possible to enjoy the advantage that the storage amount can be recognized at a glance and the advantage that the replenishment can be performed easily and quickly.

In the medicine cassette and the dispensing device of the present invention (solution means 2), the discharge mechanism including the buffer member is sequentially embodied with a simple structure. Moreover, even if the buffer member is longer than the extruded member by adopting a flexible plate-like body in order of size as the buffer member, and curving each plate-like body and attaching the two front and rear sides to the endless belt. Thus, the endless belt can be deformed without difficulty even if it goes straight, and the extruded member can be accurately followed. In addition, if the plate-like body is pinched with a finger, for example, and bent strongly, the plate-like body will be plastically deformed beyond the elastic limit. Can be done.
Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a chemical cassette and a chemical dispensing apparatus that can accurately perform sequential discharge / automatic dispensing by the vertical stacking and polishing method even when the chemical is thick, and can be easily adjusted. Can do.

  Furthermore, in the chemical cassette and the dispensing device of the present invention (Solution means 3), the movable plate is suspended from the rear surface of the aligning and storing unit, so that it is simply caused by the swinging of the lower stacked chemicals at the time of polishing removal. Disturbances in the alignment of chemicals can be suppressed. Moreover, since the suspended movable plate can be easily moved with the hand, replenishment of chemicals is not troublesome.

Several preferred embodiments for implementing such a chemical cassette and dispensing apparatus of the present invention will be described.
Embodiment 1 of the chemical cassette and dispensing device of the present invention is the chemical cassette and dispensing device of the above-described solution, wherein the pushing member has a base end portion that is hard, a tip portion that is soft, and an overall height that is the buffer. It is characterized by being higher than the member.
In this case, even thicker chemicals can be accurately extruded while avoiding an increase in impact of the extruded member.

Further, the second embodiment of the chemical cassette and dispensing device of the present invention is the chemical cassette and dispensing device of the above-described solution means or embodiment, and the distal end portion of the pushing member is composed of a number of linear members, The lower end portion of the flexible clip attached to the medicine discharge position is also composed of a large number of linear members, and the front end portion of the push member and the flexible clip are being forwarded during the forward feed of the push member by the feed mechanism. The lower end of the tool is rubbed against the other.
In this case, extending the flexible clasp to strengthen the ability to prevent the chemicals from slipping freely, and extending the push-out member to enhance the pushing force for discharging the chemicals. It is possible to increase simultaneously, exceeding the limitation due to interference with the.

Furthermore, Embodiment 3 of the chemical cassette and dispensing device of the present invention is the chemical cassette and dispensing device of the above-described solution means or embodiment, and when stopping the forward feeding of the pushing member by the feeding mechanism, The shock absorber is stopped in a state where the chemicals are placed on the buffer member.
In this case, the extruding member prevents the chemicals from slipping down from the front, and the inclination of the buffer member alleviates the forward downward inclination of the inner bottom member, thereby preventing the chemicals from sliding down. Furthermore, at the time of discharge, the buffer member is pulled out prior to the extrusion of the lowest chemicals by the extruding member. This delays the start of rearward downward swing after the extrusion of chemicals and reduces the total amount of rearward downward swing, thereby preventing damage to chemicals and disorder of alignment more accurately.

About the chemical | medical agent cassette and chemical | medical agent delivery apparatus of such this invention, the specific form for implementing this is demonstrated by the following Examples 1-3.
The first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 embodies the above-described medicine cassettes of the solving means 1 to 3 (claims 1 to 3 at the beginning of the application), and the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 embodies the medicine dispensing apparatus (claims 4 to 6 at the beginning of the application) of the above-described solving means 1 to 3.
In the illustration, for the sake of simplicity, fasteners such as bolts, coupling tools such as hinges, electric circuits such as motor drivers, electronic circuits such as controllers, etc. are omitted from the illustration. The illustrations focus on what is needed and what is relevant.

  About the Example 1 which concerns on the chemical | medical agent cassette of this invention, the specific structure is demonstrated with reference to drawing. 1A is a perspective view of a chemical cassette 10, FIG. 1B is a perspective view of an extrusion member 20 and a buffer member 30, and FIGS. 1C to 1D are side views of the extrusion member 20 and the buffer member 30. (E) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the empty chemical | medical agent cassette 10. FIG.

  The chemical cassette 10 includes a box 11 (alignment storage unit) for holding stackable chemicals such as a PTP bundle and a PTP bundle package in a state where they are stacked horizontally and stored in an aligned manner. , And a sequential discharge mechanism 16 to 30 which sequentially feeds the chemicals therein from the bottom and discharges them to the front.

  The box body 11 includes a vertical front plate (front fixing plate), vertical both side plates (fixed plates on both left and right sides), and a horizontal outer bottom plate for alignment storage. In order to achieve both replenishment ease and suppression of disorder of chemicals alignment, the rear rear surface is temporarily released, but the movable plate 19 is suspended on the rear surface. The upper end of the movable plate 19 is locked to the upper edges of both side plates of the box 11 so that the lower end can swing back and forth. Moreover, the hanging position of the movable plate 19, that is, the position where the movable plate 19 is locked to the upper edge of the both side plates of the box 11 is, for example, locked by selecting a predetermined pitch hole or notch or at an arbitrary position. It can be variably adjusted back and forth by gripping or locking with a clamp.

  A label 12 printed on the front surface of the box 11 is printed with the name and identification code of the chemicals to be stored in the chemical cassette 10 so that the object can be confirmed and the barcode input operation can be performed easily and accurately when the chemicals are replenished. Is pasted. A discharge port 13 through which chemicals are sequentially discharged is formed in the lower portion of the front surface of the box 11, and a flexible clip 14 is formed in the upper portion of the discharge port 13 over the entire width. A pair of inner bottom plates 15 and 15 (inner bottom members) with their front ends positioned near the tip and lower ends of the flexible fastener 14 are separated from each other and juxtaposed. The flexible fastener 14 is composed of a large number of linear members from the upper end portion to the lower end portion or at least the lower end portion, and the flexible linear members are arranged in a hook shape and a comb shape. Yes.

  The inner bottom plate pair 15, 15 extends between the front and rear sides of the box body 11 with the gap between them, the left inner bottom plate 15 is attached to the inside of the left side plate of the box body 11, and the right inner bottom plate 15 is the box It is attached to the inner side of the right side plate of the body 11 and maintains the forwardly lowered state and the backwardly raised state of the inclination angle θ1. Therefore, when the chemicals are placed on the upper surface of the inner bottom plate 15 and stacked and stored, the chemicals are slightly urged forward by the component force of their own weight, and the front end is brought into contact with the front plate of the box 11. By adopting the state, the posture during alignment and storage is stabilized. Further, the lowermost chemicals and the chemicals immediately above the chemicals are prevented from slipping out by themselves because the front ends thereof abut against the flexible fasteners 14 at the discharge port 13. Since the upper end of the flexible fastener 14 is fixed and the lower end is not fixed, the bottom chemicals can be pushed out with a weak force, but the chemicals on the top are stopped by the flexible fastener 14 and the front plate. Is not discharged.

The sequential discharge mechanisms 16 to 30 include an endless belt 16, a discharge sensor 17, an electric motor 18, a pushing member 20, and a buffer member 30, and are provided on the outer bottom plate of the box 11.
The endless belt 16 is supported by rollers at both ends and extends in the front-rear direction. The endless belt 16 is located between the inner bottom plate pair 15 and 15 in a plan view, and the upper side portion is slightly lower than the inner bottom plate 15 in a side view. In the state of being located at, the front side is inclined downward at the same inclination angle θ1 along the inner bottom plate 15, and the upper side is advanced by driving of the electric motor 18. The electric motor 18 operates intermittently when only one medicine is discharged according to the operation control of a control circuit (not shown), and continuously operates when a plurality of medicines are sequentially discharged.

  An extrusion member 20 and a buffer member 30 are mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the endless belt 16. In the illustrated example, only one set of the pushing member 20 and the buffer member 30 is mounted, but a plurality of sets may be mounted. In the case of multiple mounting, each set is dispersed so that the mutual distance of the extruded members 20 measured along the endless belt 16 is larger than the length of the chemicals. When the electric motor 18 is operated, the endless belt 16 circulates, and accordingly, the pusher member 20 and the buffer member 30 rise from between the inner bottom plate pair 15, 15 to the tip portion 22 and the flexible plate-like body. The pushing member 20 and the buffer member 30 that have finished moving forward return to the rear through the bottom of the inner bottom plate 15 and the endless belt 16 and further advance to the stop position. Such an endless belt 16 is a feed mechanism that feeds the pushing member 20 and the buffer member 30 along the inner bottom plate 15.

  The extruding member 20 pushes the rear end of the lowest one of the chemicals stacked and stored in the box 11. The pusher member 20 is tall enough to reliably push thick chemicals and at high speed operation. In order to reduce the impact, the base end portion 21 is hard, the tip end portion 22 is soft, and the overall height is higher than that of the buffer member 30. The base end portion 21 has substantially the same width as that of the endless belt 16, and the bottom surface is widened in the front and rear directions so that it does not fall backward due to the reaction force. The distal end portion 22 is composed of a large number of flexible linear members, and the linear members are arranged in a hook shape and a comb shape. At the discharge port 13, the pushing member 20 is positioned on the upper outer peripheral surface of the endless belt 16, and the linear member of the tip end portion 22 extends upward. Since the linear member is always facing downward and the upper end position of the distal end portion 22 is higher than the lower end position of the flexible clasp 14, the pushing member 20 is being fed forward by the endless belt 16. The front end portion 22 and the lower end portion of the flexible fastener 14 are rubbed against each other without being caught while interfering with each other.

  The buffer member 30 is for elastically deforming to alleviate the impact of dropping chemicals, and is attached to the endless belt 16 and follows the push member 20. As the distance from the pushing member 20 increases, the height decreases. Specifically, the pusher 20 includes a plurality of flexible plate-like bodies 31 to 34 such as four illustrated. The flexible plate-like bodies 31 to 34 are each made of a flexible plate-like body such as a plastic tape, except for the size, and the width is substantially the same as that of the endless belt 16 and is Ω-shaped. The two front and rear sides are attached to the endless belt 16 with screws or eyelets. The flexible plate-like bodies 31 to 34 are closer to the extrusion member 20 as being larger, being farther away from the extrusion member 20 as being smaller, and are arranged in a line in order of magnitude. The inclination angle θ2 is the inclination angle θ1 of the endless belt 16. It is getting smaller.

  The discharge sensor 17 is composed of, for example, a reflective optical sensor. In this example, the discharge sensor 17 is provided on the upper surface of the outer bottom plate of the box body 11 diagonally below the front end of the discharge port 13 and the endless belt 16 and faces the detection direction upward. . Then, an on / off signal is output depending on whether there is chemicals above and reflected light is detected, or there is no chemicals above and no reflected light is detected. Based on this signal, the above-described control circuit (not shown) detects the start of discharge of the bottom chemicals when the bottom chemicals are laterally fed forward and come out of the discharge port 13, and the chemicals are detected. When it falls out of the discharge port 13 and leaves from the upper side to the front side, the completion of the discharge is detected.

  About the chemical | medical agent cassette 10 of this Example 1, the usage mode and operation | movement are demonstrated referring drawings. 2A is a perspective view of the PTP packaging material 6, FIG. 2B is a perspective view of the PTP bundle packaging body 8, and FIG. 2C is a perspective view of the chemical cassette 10 in which the PTP bundle packaging body 8 is stacked and stored. (D) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the chemical | medical agent cassette 10 which stacked and accommodated the PTP bundle packaging body 8. FIG. 3 (a) to 3 (c) and 4 (a) to 4 (c) are longitudinal sectional views of the main part of the chemical cassette 10, and the discharge operation of the PTP bundle package 8 is time-series. Is shown. Further, FIG. 5 shows an adjustment example by plastic deformation of the buffer member 30, and (a) to (b) are side views of the extrusion member 20 and the buffer member 30.

  A typical example of the chemicals aligned and stored in the cassette 10 is a PTP bundle package 8 in which the PTP packaging agent 6 is bundled and packaged. A plurality of PTP packaging agents 6 may be stacked without being bundled. A typical shape of the PTP packaging agent 6 is a square plate shape with one side being flat and a row of drug storage protrusions (pockets) arranged on one side (see FIG. 2A). The typical size of the PTP packaging material 6 is several tens of mm in width and hundreds of tens of mm in length, typical weight / mass is several tens mg to several tens of mg, and typical thickness is several mm. The PTP bundle package 8 (see FIG. 2 (b)) is formed by stacking a plurality of PTP packaging agents 6, for example, about 10 sheets, and then bundling them with a belt-like film or the like and packing them in a soft bag. The thickness is several tens of mm.

In the chemicals cassette 10 in the initial state (see FIGS. 2C and 2D), the forward feeding operation of the pushing member 20 by the endless belt 16 is stopped. At this time, the extruding member 20 has come to the place where the discharge port 13 is closed facing the flexible fastener 14, and when the PTP bundle packaging body 8 is replenished, the PTP bundle packaging body 8 is placed on the buffer member 30. The buffer member 30 has come to the place of the ride.
When the chemical cassette 10 is empty, the PTP bundle package 8 is manually replenished from the open upper surface. However, when the PTP bundle package 8 is desired to be replenished from behind the chemical cassette 10, the movable plate 19 is suspended. Therefore, the movable plate 19 is moved by hand, the back surface of the chemical cassette 10 is opened, and the PTP bundle package 8 is replenished therefrom.

  At the time of replenishment, after each PTP bundle package 8 is laid sideways, the thickness direction of many PTP bundle packages 8 is aligned in the same direction, and they are stacked on the buffer member 30 and the inner bottom plate 15. The PTP bundle package 8 is vertically stacked and stored in the box 11. Then, when it is desired to arrange the stored PTP bundle package 8, the rear end of the PTP bundle package 8 is lightly pressed with a finger or the like or lightly pressed with the movable plate 19 to align the PTP bundle package 8. And good. Thus, the aligned and stored PTP bundle wrapping body 8 is in a front-lowering state with an inclination angle (θ1-θ2) smaller than the inclination angle θ2 of the inner bottom plate 15 or a gentle inclination angle close thereto, and the front end of the box body 11 is The position is determined by hitting the front plate or the flexible clasp 14, and the preparation for the sequential discharge is completed.

  Thereafter, when the PTP bundle packaging 8 is discharged one by one, a discharge instruction or instruction is given to a control circuit (not shown), and the chemical cassette 10 is discharged. Specifically, the control circuit operates the electric motor 18 while confirming that the reflected light is not detected by the discharge sensor 17. If it does so, the endless belt 16 will circulate and the extrusion member 20 and the buffer member 30 will carry out a cyclical movement accompanying it. At that time, initially (see FIG. 3A), the pushing member 20 moves forward and leaves the discharge port 13, and then the buffer member 30 also advances, but the buffer member 30 includes the inner bottom plate 15 and the endless plate. Since the belt 16 falls at an inclination angle θ1, the belt 16 comes out from between the PTP bundle packaging body 8 and the endless belt 16 while leaving the PTP bundle packaging body 8 having a smaller inclination angle (θ1−θ2).

  Thus, the buffer member 30 is smoothly removed from the bottom of the lower PTP bundle package 8, so that the extrusion member 20 and the buffer member 30 are promptly directed to extrusion discharge, and immediately (see FIG. 3B), the extrusion member 20. Then, the buffer member 30 rotates at the front end of the endless belt 16, shifts from the upper side to the lower side of the endless belt 16, and moves backward. Even if the buffer member 30 has a long length in the front-rear direction, the rolling operation is smoothly performed on the buffer member 30 as well as the relatively short extrusion member 20. That is, after the buffer member 30 is divided into the flexible plate-like bodies 31 to 34, the flexible plate-like bodies 31 to 34 are bent and the two front and rear sides are attached to the endless belt 16. However, even if it is longer than the pushing member 20, the endless belt 16 is easily deformed both in a straight line and in a turning direction, and the pushing member 20 is accurately followed.

  Further, the lowermost PTP bundle package 8 that has been pulled out by the buffer member 30 that supported the front side swings forward and downward (see FIG. 3B) and rides on the inner bottom plate 15 over the entire length ( 3 (c)), since the inclination is increased from the inclination angle (θ1−θ2) to the inclination angle θ1, the component force of the dead weight toward the discharge port 13 is increased, and the forward movement is facilitated. When the front end of the lowermost PTP bundle package 8 faces the discharge port 13, the pushing member 20 that turns upward at the rear end of the endless belt 16 and moves to the upper side of the endless belt 16 has an inner bottom plate. It progresses along the direction 15 from the back to the front. And when it advances to the rear end of the lowermost PTP bundle package 8 (see FIG. 3 (c)), the pushing member 20 pushes the rear end of the lowermost PTP bundle package 8, and PTP bundle packaging is performed. Advance body 8 forward.

  Then (see FIG. 4A), when the pushing member 20 is further forwarded by the endless belt 16, the lowermost PTP bundle package 8 is laterally fed by the pushing of the pushing member 20, and the flexible clip 14 is moved. The lowermost PTP bundle package 8 takes out the half body from the discharge port 13 while pushing away. On the other hand, the PTP bundle package 8 stacked on the lowermost PTP bundle package 8 includes the lower PTP bundle package 8 just above the lower PTP bundle package 8 and is attached to the front plate of the box 11. It abuts and is prevented from moving forward. Therefore, as the lowermost PTP bundle package 8 moves forward and comes out, the lower PTP bundle package 8 is not supported at the rear part, and thus the rearward downward swing is caused. If the lateral feed is made quickly while the inertia remains, the start of back-down swinging will be delayed.

  And (see FIG. 4 (b)), even when the lowermost PTP bundle package 8 is about to come out from the discharge port 13, the lower stack PTP bundle package 8 is less likely to increase the backward downward swing. Even if it is suppressed and the inclination angle becomes smaller than the inclination angle θ1 of the inner bottom plate 15 due to the backward downward swing, it falls while maintaining the front downward state. And before the fall, the buffer member 30 enters immediately after the extrusion member 20 in the gap formed by the lowermost PTP bundle package 8 being pushed out. Further (see FIG. 4C), when the pushing member 20 moves forward. The lowermost PTP bundle package 8 is laterally fed by pushing the pushing member 20 and goes out from the discharge port 13.

  When the lowermost PTP bundle package 8 is discharged forward from the discharge port 13, the reflected light from the PTP bundle package 8 being discharged is detected by the discharge sensor 17, and the electric motor at an appropriate timing according to this. Since the operation of 18 is stopped, the circulation operation of the endless belt 16 is stopped, and the circular movement of the pushing member 20 and the buffer member 30 is also stopped. Then, when the remaining stacked PTP bundle packaging bodies 8 freely fall all at once, the lowermost PTP bundle packaging body 8 gets on the buffer member 30 or puts the first half portion on the buffer member 30. At the same time, the rear end portion is placed on the inner bottom plate 15 and supported from below. In this case, since the drop at the time of dropping is reduced by the buffer member 30 and is reduced, the impact applied to the lower PTP bundle package 8 is weakened. Of course, the shock is also mitigated by the buffering action of the buffer member 30, so that the impact is further weakened, so that damage to the PTP bundle package 8 and disorder of the alignment can be accurately prevented.

Moreover, although the buffer member 30 provided subsequent to the extrusion member 20 becomes so low that it leaves | separates from the extrusion member 20, the inclination of this buffer member 30 is the direction of rocking | fluctuation of the lower piled PTP bundle package 8 which falls. Therefore, the impact caused by the rocking is also mitigated, and the impact is further weakened. That is, the tilt angle of the PTP bundle package 8 that swings backward and swings backward after the forward swing and falls in a gentle forward downward state, and the tilt angle from the horizontal of the buffer member 30 that receives the PTP bundle package 8 ( Since the difference from θ1−θ2) is small, the impact and disturbance at the time of polishing are also small.
Further, it is inevitable that the lower-stacked PTP bundle package 8 swings to some extent at the time of polishing, but the disturbance of alignment of the PTP bundle package 8 induced by the swing is considerably suppressed by the movable plate 19. The

Further, the timing at which the circulating operation of the endless belt 16 stops is the timing at which the pushing member 20 is positioned at a place where the tip 22 of the pushing member 20 interferes with the flexible fastener 14 or slightly deviates from the endless belt 16. When the forward feeding of the extruding member 20 and the buffer member 30 is stopped, the extruding member 20 and the buffer member 30 return to the initial positions, and the buffer member 30 is positioned where the PTP bundle package 8 is placed and supported. Since the member 20 is positioned so as to oppose the flexible clip 14 and close the discharge port 13, erroneous discharge of the PTP bundle package 8 is reliably prevented.
Thus, in the chemical cassette 10, even the PTP bundle package 8 thicker than the PTP packaging agent 6 can be discharged one by one stably and smoothly.

  Note that (see FIG. 5), if the flexible plate-like bodies 31 to 34 are picked with a finger and bent strongly, for example, the flexible plate-like bodies 31 to 34 are plastically deformed beyond the elastic limit, so that the buffer member 30. The fine adjustment related to the shape of the slab can be easily performed not only at the time of manufacture but also after the start of operation. For example, the curvature of the curved portion is made steep to make the buffer member 30 taller (see FIG. 5A), or the curved shape is made closer to a square to enhance the resilience without changing the height. (See Fig. 5 (b)), it can be done easily on site or without tools.

  About the Example 2 which concerns on the chemicals delivery apparatus of this invention, the specific structure is demonstrated referring drawings. 6A and 6B show the structure of the shelf portion of the medicine dispensing device 40, where FIG. 6A is a perspective view of the shelf portion with the alignment storage portion 41 separated, and FIG. 6B is the shelf with the alignment storage portion 41 mounted. It is a perspective view of a part. 7 shows the overall structure of the medicine dispensing device 40, where (a) is a front view (vertical cross-sectional view taken along arrow BB), and (b) is a side view (longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along arrow AA). .

In the medicine dispensing apparatus 40, the above-described medicine cassette 10 equivalents are arranged in a row on the inclined shelf 42 so that desired ones can be automatically dispensed from various PTP bundle packages 8.
The chemical cassette 10 equivalent is composed of an aligning and storing portion 41 at the detachable portion and a sequential discharge mechanism 43 at the fixed portion. The box 11, the label 12, the discharge port 13, the flexible fastener 14, the inner bottom plate 15 (inner bottom member), and the movable plate 19 are succeeded to the alignment storage portion 41, and are lower than the inner bottom plate 15. For example, the outer bottom plate is removed.

The endless belt 16 (feed mechanism), the discharge sensor 17, the electric motor 18, the pushing member 20, and the buffer member 30 are taken over by the sequential discharge mechanism 43. The sequential discharge mechanism 43 is not attached to the outer bottom plate but to the inclined shelf 42. It is attached.
The assembly of the seat frame 44 and the seat plate 45 is arranged in parallel on the left and right of the discharge mechanism 43. The seat frame 44 is erected on the inclined shelf 42, and the seat plate 45 branched from the seat frame 44 is provided inside. Since it is made to face, the alignment storage part 41 can be attached or detached by placing the lower end of the box 11 there.

  In addition to the inclined shelves 42, the collection / delivery mechanisms 46 to 48 are also provided, and the medicine dispensing device 40 is held horizontally in the left and right longitudinal directions and is tilted slightly forward and tilted slightly downward. In addition, a plurality of multiple discharge mechanisms 43 arranged in the longitudinal direction for each of the inclined shelves 42 and the inner bottom plate in a state where the PTP bundle packages 8 are stacked horizontally and aligned and housed in a horizontal position. 15 is a box 11 that is held on the upper surface of 15 and is sequentially mounted on the discharge mechanism 43 one by one, and a PTP bundle package that is sequentially discharged from the alignment storage 41 by the discharge mechanism 43. 8 are provided with collecting and paying mechanisms 46 to 48 for collecting and paying out 8.

Further, as described above, the sequential discharge mechanism 43 is provided subsequent to the pushing member 20 that pushes the rear end of the lowermost PTP bundle package 8 held in the alignment storage unit 41 and the pushing member 20. The cushioning member 30 that becomes lower as it gets away from the pushing member 20, and the endless belt 16 as a feed mechanism that feeds the pushing member 20 and the cushioning member 30 along the inner bottom plate 15 are provided. It is designed to feed horizontally and then forward.
Further, the collecting / dispensing mechanisms 46 to 48 are sequentially formed at a drop guide path 46 disposed in front of and at a discharge destination of the discharge mechanism 43, a transport mechanism 47 disposed below the drop guide path 46, and a discharge destination thereof. And a payout outlet 48.

In this case, the PTP bundle package 8 described above is aligned and stored in a certain alignment storage unit 41, and other chemicals are aligned and stored in the other alignment storage unit 41.
When a discharge command is issued to an appropriate sequential discharge mechanism 43 by a controller (not shown) based on the prescription data or the derived dispensing instruction sheet data, the alignment mounted on each sequential discharge mechanism 43 that has received it. As described above with respect to the chemical cassette 10 from the storage unit 41, chemicals such as the PTP bundle package 8 are sequentially discharged and sequentially discharged. The discharged chemicals go down the drop guide path 46 and fall onto the transport mechanism 47, and are transported by the transport mechanism 47 and discharged from the discharge outlet 48 to the outside of the apparatus.
In this way, desired items are automatically paid out from various PTP bundle packages 8 and the like.

[Others]
In the said Example, although the fixing plate of the right-and-left both surfaces of the box 11 extended back from the PTP bundle package 8, this is not essential. As long as the PTP bundle package 8 can be stacked and accommodated, the left and right fixing plates of the box 11 need not extend only partway through the PTP bundle package 8. The means for suspending the movable plate 19 may be secured separately by extending a horizontal bar or the like.
In the medicine dispensing apparatus 40 of the second embodiment, four shelves 42 are provided. However, the number of shelves 42 is arbitrary, and may be one or more.

In the above embodiment, the electric motor 18 is provided behind the box 11, but the installation location of the electric motor 18 may be another part, for example, stored below the inner bottom plate 15 or the endless belt 16. . Direct drive is not essential, for example, it may be driven via a belt or gear, and speed conversion such as deceleration may be performed along with transmission.
A tag reading method is effective in preventing the erroneous mounting of the chemical cassette 10 and the alignment storage unit 41. As the tag reading method, contact reading of an IC card or the like, RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) or the like is used. The distance wireless communication tag information reading is easy to use.

This invention is particularly useful for the sequential discharge of chemicals in thick flexible packaging, but this does not exclude the application to chemicals of other shapes and properties, but stacks up and down. It can be applied to the sequential discharge of any chemicals that can be removed from the bottom like a brush. For example, in addition to box-shaped drugs and bundled PTP packaging agents, injections in containers such as ampoules, vials, and contrast media, pharmaceuticals such as tablets, powders, ointments, and eye drops contained in square plastic bottles, etc. Auxiliary chemicals can also be handled.
In addition, the chemical cassette of the present invention can be used alone, or can be incorporated in a part or all of the medicine dispensing device in a removable manner (for example, see Patent Document 2).

Example 1 of the present invention shows the structure of a chemical cassette, (a) is a perspective view of the cassette, (b) is a perspective view of an extrusion member and a buffer member, and (c) to (d) are extrusion members and a buffer. The side view of a member, (e) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of an empty cassette. The usage mode and operation state of a chemical cassette are shown, (a) is a perspective view of a PTP packaging material, (b) is a perspective view of a PTP bundle packaging body, and (c) is a cassette containing a stack of PTP bundle packaging bodies. A perspective view and (d) are longitudinal section views of a cassette in which PTP bundle packages are stacked and stored. (A)-(c) all are the longitudinal cross-sectional views of the cassette at the time of discharge | emission operation | movement of a PTP bundle package. (A)-(c) all are the longitudinal cross-sectional views of the cassette at the time of discharge | emission operation | movement of a PTP bundle package. The adjustment example of a buffer member is shown, (a)-(b) all are side views of an extrusion member and a buffer member. 2 shows the structure of the shelf portion of the medicine dispensing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is a perspective view of the shelf portion in the aligned storage portion separation state, and (b) is a perspective view of the shelf portion in the alignment storage portion mounted state. FIG. The whole structure of a chemical | medical agent delivery apparatus is shown, (a) is a front view (vertical sectional view of BB arrow), (b) is a side view (vertical sectional view of AA arrow).

Explanation of symbols

6 ... PTP packaging agent, 8 ... PTP bundle package,
10 ... Chemicals cassette,
11 ... box, 12 ... label, 13 ... discharge port,
14 ... flexible fastener, 15 ... inner bottom plate, 16 ... endless belt,
17 ... discharge sensor, 18 ... electric motor, 19 ... movable plate,
20 ... extruded member, 21 ... proximal end, 22 ... distal end,
30 ... buffer member, 31-34 ... flexible plate,
40 ... Chemicals dispensing device,
41 ... Alignment storage part, 42 ... Inclined shelf,
43 ... Sequential discharge mechanism, 44 ... Seat frame, 45 ... Seat plate,
46 ... Drop guide path, 47 ... Transport mechanism, 48 ... Discharge outlet

Claims (6)

  Each of the stackable chemicals is horizontally placed, vertically stacked and held in an aligned and stored state, and is a chemical cassette that is laterally fed in order from the bottom and discharged forward. An inner bottom member to be placed and held; an extruding member that pushes a rear end of the bottom of the chemicals; a cushioning member that is provided following the extruding member and that becomes lower as the distance from the extruding member decreases; and the extruding member And a feeding mechanism for feeding the buffer member forward along the inner bottom member.   The inner bottom member includes a pair of inner bottom plates arranged side by side on the left and right sides, and the feed mechanism includes an endless belt extending back and forth between or just below the inner bottom plate pair. The buffer member is composed of a plurality of flexible plate-like bodies arranged in the order of size, and the flexible plate-like body is attached to the endless belt with two front and rear sides in a curved state. The medicine cassette according to claim 1, wherein the medicine cassette is provided.   3. A fixed plate is arranged on the front and left and right sides of a portion for holding the chemicals in an aligned storage state, and a movable plate is suspended on the back of the fixed plate. The listed chemical cassette. One or a plurality of shelves, a sequential discharge mechanism arranged in the shelves, and stackable chemicals are placed on the upper surface of the inner bottom member in a state of being stacked and aligned and stored vertically. An alignment storage unit that is mounted on the sequential discharge mechanism one by one, and a collection / dispensing mechanism that collects and discharges medicines discharged from the alignment storage unit by the sequential discharge mechanism. A chemical dispensing device comprising:
The sequential discharge mechanism includes an extruding member that pushes a rear end of the chemicals held in the alignment storage unit, and a buffer that is provided following the extruding member and decreases as the distance from the extruding member increases. A feed mechanism that feeds the member, the push-out member, and the buffer member along the inner bottom member in order to horizontally feed the chemicals from the bottom and discharge them forward. A chemical dispensing device characterized by   The inner bottom member includes a pair of inner bottom plates arranged side by side on the left and right sides, and the feed mechanism includes an endless belt extending back and forth between or just below the inner bottom plate pair. The buffer member is composed of a plurality of flexible plate-like bodies arranged in the order of size, and the flexible plate-like body is attached to the endless belt with two front and rear sides in a curved state. 5. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the medicine dispensing apparatus is provided.   The chemicals according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the box body of the aligning and storing unit includes a fixed plate on the front surface and both left and right surfaces, and a movable plate suspended on the back surface. Dispensing device.

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