JP5588191B2 - Supply device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a supply device that drops and supplies a material.

  In the manufacturing process of pharmaceuticals and the like, there is a supply device that supplies manufactured drugs such as tablets, capsules, and granules by dropping them through a supply chute. In the supply device that freely drops without adjusting the drop speed of the medicine, there is a problem that the tablet or the capsule may be damaged due to the impact of the drop, or the granules may be separated in the dropping process.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a supply device that includes an elastic film body that can be expanded and contracted on the inner periphery of a cylindrical supply chute, and that gradually drops the material by adjusting the expansion state of the elastic film body.

JP 2002-128250 A

  However, in the supply device described in Patent Document 1, the material dropping speed at the supply chute is slow, but the material discharged from the outlet of the supply chute falls freely on the receiver, so the material dropped on the receiver There may be defects in the

  Then, this invention is made | formed in view of said problem, and it aims at providing the supply apparatus which can suppress the defect | deletion etc. of the material supplied to a receiver.

The present invention relates to a supply device for supplying material by dropping from a hopper disposed at an upper portion to a receiver disposed at a lower portion, a supply passage for guiding the material stored in the hopper to the receiver, and an inside of the supply passage. A first expansion / contraction portion that is provided and changes the diameter of the supply passage by expanding and contracting; a first fluid chamber defined by the supply passage and the first expansion / contraction portion; and a receiver from the lower portion of the supply passage The inner passage is disposed so as to hang down in the interior, and has an inner cylindrical portion that forms an inner passage for allowing the material that has passed through the supply passage to flow down, and an outer cylindrical portion that is provided outside the inner cylindrical portion. A second expansion / contraction portion that changes the passage diameter of the second fluid chamber, a second fluid chamber defined by the inner cylinder portion and the outer cylinder portion, and supply / discharge of fluid in the first fluid chamber and the second fluid chamber, Fluid supply / exhaust section for expanding and contracting the first expansion / contraction section and the second expansion / contraction section , Comprising a. In the supply device, the fluid in the first flow body chamber gradually discharged, by contracting the first deflated portion inflated so as to close the supply passage, it is dropped along the material from the hopper to the supply passage, second flow body fluids gradually discharged in the chamber, by shrinking the second deflated portion inflated so as to close the internal passage, receptacle is dropped along the material from the supply passage to the inner passage To supply. Further, the lower end portion of the second expansion / contraction portion is positioned such that when the material from the hopper reaches the bottom of the receiver through the internal passage, the internal passage is blocked by the bottom of the receiver .

  According to the present invention, the material stored in the hopper is gently dropped along the supply passage by gradually discharging the fluid from the first fluid chamber and contracting the first expansion / contraction portion, and the second fluid chamber By gradually discharging the fluid and contracting the second expansion / contraction part, the material from the supply passage is gently dropped to the receiver along the internal passage, so that the occurrence of material loss due to a drop impact is suppressed. Can do.

It is a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view of the supply apparatus by embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the cylinder member which forms the 2nd expansion / contraction part of a supply apparatus. (A)-(C) is a figure showing the state where the medicine stored in the hopper falls along the supply chute. (A) And (B) is a figure which shows the state in which a chemical | medical agent falls along an internal channel | path. (A)-(C) are figures which show the state with which a chemical | medical agent is filled in a receptor.

  With reference to FIG. 1, the structure of the supply apparatus 100 by embodiment of this invention is demonstrated. FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view of the supply device 100.

  The supply device 100 is a device that drops drugs such as tablets, capsules, and granules manufactured by the drug manufacturing apparatus from the hopper 1 and supplies them to the receiver 2.

  The hopper 1 is a mortar-shaped container and is provided on the upper part of the supply device 100. The hopper 1 temporarily stores the drug manufactured by the drug manufacturing apparatus. An opening 1 </ b> A is formed at the bottom of the hopper 1.

  The receiver 2 is a substantially rectangular container that receives the material falling from the hopper 1. An opening 2 </ b> A is formed in the upper part of the receiver 2. In the supply device 100, when the receptor 2 is filled with the medicine, it is replaced with an empty receptor 2.

  A supply chute (supply passage) 3 is disposed between the hopper 1 and the receiver 2. The supply chute 3 is a cylindrical member extending in the vertical direction. The upper end 3 </ b> A of the supply chute 3 is connected to the opening 1 </ b> A of the hopper 1, and the lower end 3 </ b> B is arranged to face the opening 2 </ b> A of the receiver 2. Therefore, the medicine dropped from the hopper 1 is guided to the receiver 2 through the supply chute 3.

  A cylindrical first expansion / contraction portion 10 is provided inside the supply chute 3 along the supply chute 3. The first expansion / contraction part 10 is formed of a flexible sheet material such as polyurethane or rubber. The upper end portion 10A of the first expansion / contraction portion 10 is fixed between the bottom portion of the hopper 1 and the upper end portion 3A of the supply chute 3, and the lower end portion 10B of the first expansion / contraction portion 10 is folded back at the lower end portion 3B of the supply chute 3. And fixed to the outer periphery of the lower end 3B. A first air chamber (first fluid chamber) 11 is defined between the first expansion / contraction part 10 and the supply chute 3. The first expansion / contraction part 10 expands and contracts according to the pressure of the air (fluid) in the first air chamber 11 and changes the passage diameter of the supply chute 3.

  An accommodating portion 12 capable of accommodating a second expansion / contraction portion 20 described later is provided above the receiver 2 and around the supply chute 3. The accommodating part 12 is cylindrical, and the lower end part 12B of the accommodating part 12 is formed as an open end. A through hole 12C is formed in the upper end portion 12A of the housing portion 12, and the supply chute 3 is inserted through the through hole 12C.

  A second expansion / contraction part 20 is installed at the lower end 3 </ b> B of the supply chute 3. The second expansion / contraction part 20 is a double cylindrical member formed in a bag shape, and includes an inner cylinder part 21 having an internal passage 23 for allowing the medicine discharged from the supply chute 3 to flow down, and an outer side of the inner cylinder part. The outer cylinder part 22 provided is provided. The second expansion / contraction part 20 is disposed so as to hang down from the lower end part 3 </ b> B of the supply chute 3 into the receiver 2.

  The 2nd expansion / contraction part 20 is comprised by the truncated cone-shaped cylinder member formed with flexible sheet materials, such as a polyurethane and rubber | gum, as shown in FIG. Specifically, the second expansion / contraction portion 20 is formed by folding the small-diameter end portion 20A of the cylindrical member inward so that the small-diameter end portion 20A is positioned on the large-diameter end portion 20B side. As shown in FIG. 1, the small diameter end portion 20 </ b> A of the second expansion / contraction portion 20 is fixed to the outer periphery of the lower end portion 3 </ b> B of the supply chute 3, and the large diameter end portion 20 </ b> B is fixed to the lower end portion 12 </ b> B of the accommodating portion 12. A second air chamber (second fluid chamber) 13 is defined between the second expansion / contraction part 20, the accommodating part 12, and the supply chute 3. The second expansion / contraction part 20 expands and contracts according to the pressure of the air (fluid) in the second air chamber 13 and changes the passage diameter of the internal passage 23.

  The pressure of the air in the first air chamber 11 and the second air chamber 13 is adjusted by an air supply / discharge device (fluid supply / discharge portion) 30. The air supply / discharge device 30 includes a supply pump 40 that supplies air to the first air chamber 11 and the second air chamber 13, and a discharge pump 50 that discharges air from the second air chamber 13.

  The supply pump 40 supplies air to the first air chamber 11 via the first supply passage 41 and supplies air to the second air chamber 13 via the second supply passage 42 branched from the first supply passage 41. To do. The first supply path 41 and the second supply path 42 are provided with on-off valves 43 and 44 that open and close each passage. A first discharge path 45 for discharging the air in the first air chamber 11 to the outside is connected to the first supply path 41 downstream of the on-off valve 43. The first discharge path 45 is provided with an opening / closing valve 46 that opens and closes the first discharge path 45.

  The discharge pump 50 forcibly discharges the air in the second air chamber 13 through the second discharge path 51. The second discharge path 51 is provided with an on-off valve 52 that opens and closes the second discharge path 51. A third discharge path 53 for discharging the air in the second air chamber 13 to the outside is connected to the second discharge path 51 upstream of the on-off valve 52. The third discharge path 53 is provided with an on-off valve 54 that opens and closes the third discharge path 53.

  The air supply / discharge device 30 is controlled by a controller 60. The controller 60 is configured by a microcomputer including a central processing unit (CPU), a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), and an input / output interface (I / O interface).

  Detection data from the upper limit sensor 61 installed at the upper part of the hopper 1 and the lower limit sensor 62 installed at the lower end 3B of the supply chute 3 are input to the controller 60 as signals. The upper limit sensor 61 detects whether or not the medicine loading surface has reached the upper limit of the hopper 1, and the lower limit sensor 62 detects whether or not the medicine loading surface has reached the lower end 3B (lower limit) of the supply chute 3. To do. The controller 60 controls the operation of the supply pump 40 and the discharge pump 50 based on these input signals and the like, and drives the on-off valves 43, 44, 46, 52, and 54 to open and close.

  Next, with reference to FIGS. 3-5, operation | movement of the supply apparatus 100 when supplying the chemical | medical agent stored in the hopper 1 to the receiver 2 is demonstrated.

  FIGS. 3A to 3C are views showing a state where the medicine in the hopper 1 falls along the supply chute 3. FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are views showing a state in which the medicine falls along the internal passage 23. FIG. 5A to FIG. 5C are views showing a state in which the medicine is filled in the receptor 2.

  In the initial state before the medicine supply, the on-off valves 43, 44 are opened, and the on-off valves 46, 52, 54 are closed. Thereby, air is introduced into the first air chamber 11 and the second air chamber 13 via the supply pump 40, and the first expansion / contraction part 10 and the second expansion / contraction part 20 are as shown in FIG. Inflates to. The first expansion / contraction part 10 expands so as to close the supply chute 3, and the second expansion / contraction part 20 expands so as to close the internal passage 23. Since the supply chute 3 is closed by the first expansion / contraction part 10, the drug manufactured by the drug manufacturing device (not shown) cannot pass through the supply chute 3 and is stored in the hopper 1.

  When the medicine loading surface reaches the upper limit of the hopper 1, as shown in FIG. 3 (B), the on-off valve 43 is closed to stop the supply of air to the first air chamber 11 and the on-off valve 46. Is opened, and the air in the first air chamber 11 is gradually discharged to the outside. The amount of air discharged from the first air chamber 11 is controlled by adjusting the opening degree of the on-off valve 46.

  Thus, when the air in the first air chamber 11 is extracted, the first expansion / contraction part 10 contracts, and the medicine stored in the hopper 1 pushes and expands the first expansion / contraction part 10 by its weight. 3 falls gently.

  And as shown in FIG.3 (C), when the air in the 1st air chamber 11 is almost discharged | emitted and the inside of the 1st air chamber 11 becomes substantially atmospheric pressure, the swelling of the 1st expansion / contraction part 10 will lose | eliminate, Passes through the supply chute 3 and is guided to the upper part of the internal passage 23 of the second expansion / contraction part 20. At this time, since the internal passage 23 is closed by the second expansion / contraction part 20, the medicine cannot pass through the internal passage 23 and does not fall.

  When the inside of the first air chamber 11 becomes substantially atmospheric pressure, as shown in FIG. 4A, the on-off valve 44 is closed, the supply of air to the second air chamber 13 is stopped, and the on-off valve 54 is opened. It is valved and the air in the second air chamber 13 is gradually discharged to the outside. The amount of air discharged from the second air chamber 13 is controlled by adjusting the opening degree of the on-off valve 54.

  Thus, when the air in the second air chamber 13 is evacuated, the second expansion / contraction part 20 contracts, and the medicine stored above the second expansion / contraction part 20 expands the internal passage 23 by its weight. It falls gently. In the state shown in FIG. 4A, the on-off valves 43, 46, and 52 are closed.

  As shown in FIG. 4 (B), when the medicine dropped from the hopper 1 reaches the bottom of the receiver 2 through the internal passage 23, the lower end 20C of the second expansion / contraction part 20 is placed on the bottom of the receiver 2. To position. Since the outlet of the internal passage 23 is blocked by the bottom of the receiver 2, the supply of the medicine in the supply chute 3 and the internal passage 23 to the receiver 2 is temporarily stopped. Thereafter, when the loading surface of the medicine supplied to the hopper 1 by the medicine manufacturing apparatus reaches the upper limit of the hopper 1, the medicine supply to the receiver 2 is resumed as shown in FIG.

  When the medicine is filled in the receiver 2, the on-off valve 52 is opened until the medicine loading surface reaches the lower end 3B (lower limit) of the supply chute 3, and the air in the second air chamber 13 is discharged from the discharge pump. 50 is gradually discharged.

  Since the air in the second air chamber 13 is forcibly discharged by the discharge pump 50, the second air chamber 13 has a negative pressure. When the inside of the second air chamber 13 becomes negative pressure, as shown in FIG. 5A, a part of the second expansion / contraction part 20 starts to be accommodated in the accommodation part 12, and the lower end part of the second expansion / contraction part 20 20C is raised. As a result, the outlet of the internal passage 23 is separated from the bottom of the receiver 2, so that the medicine stored in the internal passage 23 is supplied into the receiver 2.

  When the negative pressure in the second air chamber 13 is further increased, about half of the second expansion / contraction part 20 is accommodated in the accommodation part 12 as shown in FIG. Since the lower end portion 20C of the second expansion / contraction portion 20 is positioned higher than the state shown in FIG. 5A, the medicine is continuously supplied to the receiver 2.

  Since the supply speed of the drug to the receptor 2 correlates with the pulling speed of the second expansion / contraction part 20, the pulling speed of the second expansion / contraction part 20 is set to a pulling speed that avoids a rapid flow of the drug. Has been. The pulling speed of the second expansion / contraction part 20 is adjusted by the opening degree of the on-off valve 52.

  Further, the lower end portion 20C of the second expansion / contraction portion 20 is indicated by a solid line and a broken line in FIGS. Then, it turns with respect to the axis of the supply chute 3. In this manner, the lower end portion 20C of the second expansion / contraction portion 20 turns, so that the medicine supplied from the internal passage 23 to the receiver 2 is leveled.

  When the negative pressure in the second air chamber 13 becomes higher than the state of FIG. 5B, most of the second expansion / contraction part 20 is accommodated in the accommodation part 12 as shown in FIG. As a result, the lower end portion 20C of the second expansion / contraction portion 20 reaches the highest position, all the medicine is supplied to the receiver 2, and the medicine supply operation is completed. When the medicine supply operation is completed, the receiver 2 filled with the medicine is replaced with an empty receiver 2, and the supply device 100 returns to the initial state.

  According to the supply device 100 described above, the following effects can be obtained.

  In the supply device 100, the air stored in the hopper 1 is gently dropped along the supply chute 3 by gradually discharging air from the first air chamber 11 and contracting the first expansion / contraction part 10, and the second By gradually discharging air from the air chamber 13 and contracting the second expansion / contraction part 20, the medicine from the supply chute 3 is gently dropped onto the receiver 2 along the internal passage 23. As described above, since the drug is gently dropped using the first expansion / contraction part 10 and the second expansion / contraction part 20, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of tablet or capsule loss due to a drop impact, and granule particles during the dropping process. The occurrence of separation can be suppressed.

  The supply device 100 includes a storage portion 12 that can store the second expansion / contraction portion 20, and stores the second expansion / contraction portion 20 in the storage portion 12 by gradually reducing the pressure in the second air chamber 13. Since the lower end 20C of the second expansion / contraction part 20 is gradually lifted away from the bottom of the receiver 2, the medicine in the supply chute 3 and the internal passage 23 can be slowly supplied to the receiver 2. Thereby, generation | occurrence | production of the defect | deletion etc. of the chemical | medical agent at the time of supply can be suppressed.

  The second expansion / contraction part 20 is formed by folding a truncated cone-shaped cylinder member, and the lower end part 20C pivots when pulled up to the storage part 12, so that the loading surface of the medicine supplied to the receiver 2 Level. Thereby, the filling efficiency of the medicine in the receiver 2 can be increased.

  Since the first expansion / contraction part 10 and the second expansion / contraction part 20 are formed of an inexpensive flexible sheet material such as polyurethane, the first expansion / contraction part 10 and the second expansion / contraction part 20 can be disposable. Become. Therefore, when the first expansion / contraction part 10 and the second expansion / contraction part 20 are exchanged, it is not necessary to clean the first expansion / contraction part 10 and the second expansion / contraction part 20, and the number of cleaning steps can be reduced.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it is obvious that various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea.

  The supply device 100 is a device that supplies a medicine in the pharmaceutical field to the receiver 2, but may be a device that supplies a fragile material or a granular material in the chemical field or food field to the receiver 2. .

  In the supply device 100, the expansion of the first expansion / contraction part 10 and the second expansion / contraction part 20 is controlled using air, but when supplying a heavy material, the first expansion / contraction is performed using a liquid such as water. The swelling of the part 10 and the second expansion / contraction part 20 may be controlled.

  The present invention can be applied to a supply device that drops material and supplies it to a receiver.

100 Feeder 1 Hopper 2 Receptor 3 Feed chute (feed passage)
10 1st expansion / contraction part 11 1st air chamber (1st fluid chamber)
12 container 13 second air chamber (second fluid chamber)
20 Second expansion / contraction part 20C Lower end part 21 Inner cylinder part 22 Outer cylinder part 23 Internal passage 30 Air supply / discharge device (fluid supply / discharge part)
60 controller

Claims (4)

In a supply device that drops and supplies material from a hopper arranged at the top to a receiver arranged at the bottom,
A supply passage for guiding the material stored in the hopper to the receptacle;
A first expansion / contraction portion that is provided inside the supply passage and changes the diameter of the supply passage by expanding and contracting;
A first fluid chamber defined by the supply passage and the first expansion / contraction part;
An inner cylinder portion that is disposed so as to hang down from the lower portion of the supply passage into the receiver, and forms an internal passage through which the material that has passed through the supply passage flows down; and an outer cylinder portion that is provided outside the inner cylinder portion; A second expansion / contraction portion that changes the passage diameter of the internal passage by expanding and contracting,
A second fluid chamber defined by the inner cylinder part and the outer cylinder part;
A fluid supply / exhaust portion for expanding and contracting the first expansion / contraction portion and the second expansion / contraction portion by supplying and discharging fluid in the first fluid chamber and the second fluid chamber;
Wherein the gradually discharging the fluid-fluid chamber, the supply passage by shrinking the expanded said first deflating portion so as to close the, material from the hopper to fall along the supply passage ,
The fluid of the second flow material chamber gradually discharged, the inner passage by shrinking the expanded said second deflated portion so as to close the along the material from the supply passage into the inner passage Drop it into the receptacle ,
The lower end portion of the second expansion / contraction portion is positioned such that when the material from the hopper reaches the bottom of the receptacle through the internal passage, the internal passage is closed by the bottom of the receptacle. A supply device characterized by that. Further comprising an accommodating portion disposed above the receptacle and configured to accommodate the second expansion / contraction portion;
The second fluid chamber is defined by the inner cylinder part, the outer cylinder part, and the storage part,
2. The supply according to claim 1, wherein the second fluid chamber is gradually depressurized by the fluid supply / exhaust portion, whereby the second expansion / contraction portion is pulled up from the receptacle and accommodated in the accommodation portion. apparatus. The second expansion / contraction portion is formed by folding a truncated cone-shaped cylindrical member having a small-diameter end portion and a large-diameter end portion so that the small-diameter end portion is located on the large-diameter end portion side. The supply device according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein The supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the first expansion / contraction part and the second expansion / contraction part are formed of a flexible sheet material.

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