JP5656701B2 - PTP cassette - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a PTP cassette for arranging and storing PTP-packed medicines (PTP packaging agents) or equivalent medicines (PTP packaging agents, etc.) and sequentially discharging them. Specifically, the PTP packaging agents are stacked and held in large numbers. The present invention relates to a PTP cassette that is laterally fed in the longitudinal direction from the bottom and discharged.

Targeting PTP packaging with flat pockets (protrusions) that contain medicines on the other side in the vertical and horizontal directions, each of them is placed in a horizontal orientation, stacked and held, and in the longitudinal direction from the bottom Several PTP cassettes that are laterally fed and sequentially discharged have been developed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 14).
Each PTP cassette is provided with a box-shaped alignment storage portion that defines a storage space, and a fixed or detachable sequential discharge mechanism underneath, and the alignment storage portion includes a PTP packaging agent and the like. It is placed horizontally and placed on the inner bottom (storage space bottom) member, stacked vertically and held in an aligned storage state, and the discharge mechanism is sequentially held in the alignment storage portion. A PTP packaging agent or the like is laterally fed in order from the bottom and discharged forward.

  The arrangement storage section is similar in configuration in any cassette, and the storage space on the inner bottom is surrounded by the front plate and the both side plates in order to maintain the alignment state. Has been released. In addition, although not essential, the rear rear surface is released for facilitating replenishment work, or the inner bottom member of the storage space is tilted slightly forward to stabilize the alignment state. Further, for lateral feed discharge, the front plate is cut out at the front end of the inner bottom to form a discharge port, and a discharge sensor is placed below the discharge port for discharge confirmation.

  The sequential discharge mechanism is provided with a movable member that contacts the lowest one of the PTP packaging materials and the like, and a drive mechanism that moves the movable member to advance the lowest PTP packaging material and the like. Although common to all cassettes, the movable member is a rotary wheel that frictionally acts on the flat surface of the PTP packaging material, and the drive mechanism is a rotary drive mechanism that rotates the rotary wheel on the inner bottom of the storage space. A flat surface friction type (see Patent Documents 1 and 2), a movable member is a hooking member or an extrusion member that abuts against the rear end of the PTP packaging material, and the drive mechanism moves the movable member along the inner bottom member. There are a rear end abutting type that is a mechanism for forward feeding (see Patent Documents 3 to 10), and a protruding portion abutting type in which the movable member abuts against the protruding portion of the PTP packaging material and forwards it. (See Patent Documents 11 to 13). Further, the flat surface friction type includes a type in which the front and rear rotating wheels are independently driven and the control is improved so as to individually rotate at an optimal timing (see Patent Document 14).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-75989 (FIG. 3) JP 2008-301870 A JP 2009-131560 A JP 2009-165675 A JP 2009-297466 A JP 2010-017372 A Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-037980 Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-037993 Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-198721 Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-214620 Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-214621 Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-225280 Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-249381 Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-006486

  In such a conventional PTP cassette, in order to accurately discharge a necessary number of PTP packaging agents, etc., the sheet is discharged one by one as many times as necessary. The hard sheet is improved so that it can be discharged even from a sheet that is easy to bend or a soft sheet, and it is also improved so that two sheets can be prevented from falling. Among these various improvements, the latter measure for strengthening the function of preventing two sheets from falling so far is to allow only the bottom PTP packaging agent or the like to be discharged alone from the outlet of the alignment storage unit. The main point is to keep the second sheet from the bottom and the PTP packaging agent etc. above it completely behind the discharge port, or even if the front end of the sheet comes out of the discharge port, keep it close to the discharge port, etc. As a result, most of the seats were kept in the storage compartment.

However, in such a two-sheet dropping prevention measure that prevents the two sheets from dropping by blocking the passage of two sheets at the discharge port, for example, some PTP packaging agents etc. In such a case, the automatic discharge operation must be temporarily suspended, and the automatic discharge operation must be resumed after waiting for human assistance, such as turning over the PTP packaging that has been blocked and realigning the stacked drugs. I must. In addition, an increase in burden such as the addition of a member for strengthening the function of dropping two sheets and an increase in material costs related to adjustment has become impossible to ignore.
Therefore, it is a technical problem to realize a PTP cassette that allows two sheets to pass through the discharge port and can prevent undesired dropping of two sheets.

  The PTP cassette of the present invention (Solution 1) was created to solve such a problem, and each of the drugs in the PTP package or an equivalent drug is placed horizontally and then stacked vertically. An alignment storage unit that holds the stored medicine in a stored state; and a sequential discharge mechanism that moves a movable member in contact with an inner bottom of the alignment storage part to the lowest one of the medicines. In a PTP cassette that is laterally fed in order and discharged forward from the discharge port of the alignment storage unit, when a plurality of the drugs overlap and come forward from the discharge port, a sorting member that divides the plurality of drugs vertically Is provided in front of the discharge port.

  Further, the PTP cassette of the present invention (Solution means 2) is the PTP cassette of the above solution means 1, which is provided above the sorting member and is divided on the sorting member of the medicine. An upper fall delay member for releasing the medicine after it has been temporarily retained, and a lower delay for releasing the medicine that has been provided below the sorting member and has been divided under the sorting member and then released. One or both of the dropping members are provided.

  Further, the PTP cassette of the present invention (Solution means 3) is the PTP cassette of the above solution means 1 and 2, wherein the sorting member is provided for one or both of the alignment storage part and the sequential discharge mechanism. It can be attached and detached.

  The PTP cassette of the present invention is (Solution means 4), which is the PTP cassette of the above solution means 1 to 3, wherein the medicine comes out from the outlet and passes under the sorting member among the medicines. A lower detection member for detecting a drug, and an upper detection member for detecting a drug that comes forward from the discharge port of the drug and passes the upper side of the sorting member, and discharges the drug based on the lower detection member When both the detection result and the detection result of the medicine discharge based on the upper detection member indicate that the medicine has been discharged, the sequential discharge mechanism completes the forward feeding operation, but based on the lower detection member When one or both of the detection result of the medicine discharge and the detection result of the medicine discharge based on the upper detection member does not indicate that the medicine has been discharged, the sequential discharge mechanism stops the forward feeding operation. Characterized in that it adapted to perform abnormality processing such as alarm with.

In such a PTP cassette of the present invention (Solution means 1), when the medicines to be sequentially discharged, that is, the PTP packaging agent, etc. come out from the discharge port one by one, there is no inconvenience as usual. Drug sequential discharge is performed. In addition, when two PTP packaging agents and the like come out from the outlet together with overlapping each other, the plurality of PTP packaging agents and the like are divided into upper and lower parts by a sorting member, for example, each PTP packaging agent etc. Can be easily conducted sequentially or the equivalent number of discharged sheets can be managed simply by guiding the flow path to individual drop paths or shifting the drop timing. Therefore, it is not necessary to strictly prevent the two sheets from being dropped at the discharge port, and it is even necessary to align the top and bottom of the PTP packaging agent etc. when stacking and storing the PTP packaging agent in the storage space of the alignment storage unit. It will be cheap and convenient.
Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a PTP cassette that allows two sheets to pass through the discharge port while preventing undesired dropping of two sheets.

Further, in the PTP cassette of the present invention (Solution means 2), when two PTP packaging agents etc. come out from the outlet together with overlapping, the plurality of PTP packaging agents etc. are sorted. Since the fall timing can be delayed by the fall delay member for at least one of the PTP packaging agents after being divided into upper and lower parts by the members, the fall timing of the upper and lower PTP packaging agents is shifted by doing so, so it is convenient. Two drops are avoided.
Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a PTP cassette that allows two sheets to pass through the discharge port while preventing undesired two sheets from dropping and maintaining sequential discharge.

  Furthermore, in the PTP cassette of the present invention (Solution means 3), since the newly introduced sorting member is detachable, it can be equipped only when necessary and the cost can be reduced. Additional equipment to the PTP cassette can be easily and quickly performed with slight modifications.

In the PTP cassette of the present invention (Solution means 4), the PTP packaging agent or the like replenished in the PTP cassette forms a sheet pair with two protruding portion forming surfaces facing each other. It is presupposed that a plurality of sheets are supplied in a stacked state and stored in the cassette storing portion manually while maintaining such a stacked state.
If the PTP packaging agent and the like are correctly and properly aligned and stored, the PTP packaging agent and the like that are sequentially fed by the discharge mechanism will always come out from the discharge port one by one and be separated one above the other on the sorting member. The automatic discharge process is continued.

On the other hand, if the front and back directions of the aligned storage state of the PTP packaging agent are different or the posture is greatly disturbed, the drug discharge state becomes abnormal, and the PTP packaging agent that is sequentially forwarded by the discharge mechanism is Since it does not come out from the discharge port at all or only to one of the upper and lower sides of the sorting member, it is possible to prevent damage to the PTP packaging etc. by stopping the forward movement operation of the discharge mechanism sequentially. Manual assistance is urged in the processing of abnormalities such as information.
In this way, by adding the sorting member and the detection means corresponding to the supply mode of the PTP packaging agent or the like to the discharge mechanism, it is possible to simplify the alignment and storage work, but the alignment and storage disturbance that is warned to increase due to the ease of work. It is possible to promptly and accurately detect problems such as these and promote countermeasures.

1 shows the structure of a PTP cassette according to Example 1 of the present invention, where (a) is a perspective view of an empty basic part, and (b) is a PTP cassette in which an extended part is mounted on a basic part in which PTP packaging materials are stacked and stored. (C) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the principal part of an empty PTP cassette. The operation | movement at the time of PTP packaging agent discharge | emission is shown, (a)-(c) all are the longitudinal cross-sectional views of the principal part of a PTP cassette. The operation | movement at the time of PTP packaging agent discharge | emission is shown, (a)-(c) all are the longitudinal cross-sectional views of the principal part of a PTP cassette. The operation | movement at the time of PTP packaging agent discharge | emission is shown, (a)-(c) all are the longitudinal cross-sectional views of the principal part of a PTP cassette. About Example 2 of this invention, the structure and operation | movement of a PTP cassette are shown, (a)-(b) are all the longitudinal cross-sectional views of the principal part of a PTP cassette.

About the PTP cassette of such this invention, the specific form for implementing this is demonstrated by the following Examples 1-2.
The embodiment 1 shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 embodies the above-described solving means 1 to 3 (claims 1 to 3 as originally filed), and the embodiment 2 shown in FIG. Means 4 (claim 4 as originally filed) is embodied.
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.

  A specific configuration of the PTP cassette according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1A is a perspective view of an empty basic portion 10, FIG. 1B is a perspective view of a PTP cassette 10 + 20 in which an extended portion 20 is mounted on a basic portion 10 in which PTP packaging materials 8 are stacked and stored in an aligned manner; ) Is a longitudinal sectional view of the main part of an empty PTP cassette 10 + 20.

In this PTP cassette 10 + 20, a detachable expansion part 20 is mounted on the basic part 10 (see FIG. 1 (a)) that can sequentially discharge the PTP packaging material 8 (medicine) alone or as a single part (FIG. 1 (b). ), (C)). Among them, the basic unit 10 is the conventional PTP cassette itself described above or an improved version thereof, and includes a lower sequential discharge mechanism 16 to 19 and a detachable box 11 (aligned storage) mounted on the lower discharge mechanism 16-19. Part).
The extension portion 20 is sequentially attached to the discharge mechanisms 16 to 19 with an engagement member (not shown) such as a hook or a screw, and further fixed with an appropriate lock member or the like if necessary. It is located in front of the discharge port 13 formed in the lower end portion of the front surface.

First, the basic part 10 of the PTP cassette 10 + 20 will be described. Although the rear end contact type is illustrated here (see Patent Document 5), another configuration of the same type may be used (see Patent Documents 3 to 10), flat surface friction type (Patent Documents 1, 2, and 14). Other types such as a protrusion contact type (see Patent Documents 11 to 13) may be used, and many of them are publicly known, so an outline configuration will be described here.
As described in the Background Art section, the basic unit 10 includes a box body 11 (alignment storage unit) that holds the PTP packaging material 8 in a state of being horizontally stacked and aligned and stored, Sequential discharge mechanisms 16 to 19 are provided for sequentially feeding the PTP packaging material 8 from the bottom to the front and discharging it forward.

  The box 11 (see FIG. 1 (a)) has a vertical front plate, left and right vertical side plates, and a horizontal outer bottom plate for alignment storage, but the top surface and rear back surface are released for easy refilling. Has been. On the front surface of the box 11, for example, a label 12 on which a product name or an identification code of the PTP packaging material 8 is attached is attached so that the medicine check at the time of replenishment and the barcode input operation can be easily and accurately performed. A discharge port 13 through which the PTP packaging material 8 is sequentially discharged is formed in the lower portion of the front surface of the box body 11, and the upper portion of the discharge port 13 is arranged in a row across the entire width. A hook-shaped flexible fastener 14 hangs down, and a pair of inner bottom plates 15 and 15 (inner bottom members) whose front ends are positioned near the distal end and lower end of the flexible fastener 14 are separated from each other and are juxtaposed. Has been.

  The inner bottom plate pairs 15 and 15 extend between the front and rear sides of the box 11 with a gap between them, and are attached to the inner sides of the left and right side plates, respectively, so that the front lowering state and the rear rising state are maintained. When the packaging material 8 is placed on the upper surface of the inner bottom plate 15 and stacked and stored, the PTP packaging material 8 is slightly urged forward by the component force of its own weight to bring the front end into contact with the front plate of the box 11. By adopting this state, the posture during alignment and storage is stabilized. Further, the lowermost PTP packaging material 8 and the PTP packaging material 8 immediately above the PTP packaging material 8 are prevented from slipping on their own by the front end of the PTP packaging material 8 coming into contact with the flexible fastener 14 at the discharge port 13. Yes.

The sequential discharge mechanisms 16 to 19 include an endless belt 16, a discharge sensor 17, an electric motor 18, and a hook member 19, 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 this state, it is inclined along the inner bottom plate 15, and is moved forward by driving the electric motor 18, thereby providing a feed mechanism that forwards the hooking member 19 along the inner bottom plate 15. The electric motor 18 operates intermittently when discharging only one sheet of PTP packaging material 8 according to the operation control of a control circuit (not shown), and continuously operates when discharging a plurality of sheets of PTP packaging material 8 successively. .

  The hooking member 19 is an example of a movable member that contacts the lowermost PTP packaging material 8 at the inner bottom of the box 11 and advances the PTP packaging material 8, and does not damage the PTP packaging material 8. It is made of, for example, engineering plastic so as to exhibit flexibility, and the working part is separated from the endless belt 16 in an unloaded state, but when it interferes with the PTP packaging material 8, it approaches the endless belt 16 side by reaction force. However, only one piece may be attached to the endless belt 16, but a plurality of pieces (two pieces in the illustrated example) are attached in order to sequentially discharge. When the electric motor 18 operates, the endless belt 16 circulates, and accordingly, the hooking member 19 moves forward from the inner bottom plate pair 15, 15 while pushing up the action portion and the tip portion, and advances. The finished hooking member 19 returns to the rear through the inner bottom plate 15 and the endless belt 16.

  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 obliquely below the front end of the discharge port 13 and the endless belt 16, with the detection direction facing upward. Yes. An ON / OFF signal is output depending on whether there is PTP packaging material 8 above and reflected light is detected, or there is no PTP packaging material 8 above and no reflected light is detected. Based on this signal, the above-described control circuit (not shown) starts the discharge of the lowermost PTP packaging material 8 when the lowermost PTP packaging material 8 is laterally fed forward and comes out of the discharge port 13. When the detection is made and the PTP packaging material 8 falls out of the discharge port 13 and leaves from the upper side to the front side, the completion of the discharge is detected.

The control circuit also controls the expansion unit 20 when the expansion unit 20 is attached to the basic unit 10 and a power supply line or a signal line is connected by a connector fitting or the like associated therewith. This will be described in the following description of the extension unit 20.
The extended portion 20 (see FIGS. 1B and 1C) is a plate frame 21 provided with an engagement member (not shown) for sequentially attaching to and detaching from the discharge mechanisms 16 to 19, and left and right ends fixed to the plate frame 21. The horizontal support beam 22, the indwelling sensor 23 mounted on the upper surface of the support beam 22 and positioned in front of the discharge port 13, and the sorting member 24 mounted in the center of the support beam 22 and positioned in front of the discharge port 13. And an upper fall delay member 25 mainly composed of a rotating wheel provided above the sorting member 24, and an electric motor 26 for rotating the upper fall delay member 25.

  The sorting member 24 has a wedge-shaped rear end at an acute angle at least in the longitudinal section so that when a plurality of PTP packaging agents 8 overlap each other and come out from the discharge port 13, the plurality of PTP packaging agents 8 are divided into upper and lower parts. The sharp rear end is directed to the discharge port 13. Although the illustrated sorting member 24 is a fixed type, in the case of a movable type in which the sorting position, that is, the height of the rear end of the sorting member 24 is adjusted according to the thickness of the PTP packaging material 8, A support that can move up and down or swing at the rear end may be used. The left and right widths of the sorting member 24 are narrower than the gaps between the rows of protrusions in the PTP packaging material 8 in order to avoid interference with the protrusions of the PTP packaging material 8. Although the illustrated sorting member 24 is only one in the center, a plurality of sorting members 24 may be disposed at the left and right sides of the projections or between the other rows as long as there are spaces between them.

  The upper fall delay member 25 compares the friction coefficient in order to further feed forward the PTP packaging material 8 discharged forward from the discharge port 13 on the sorting member 24 by rotational movement. It consists of a rotating wheel made of a large soft plastic or the like, and such a member is mounted on the outer peripheral surface, but according to the operation control of the control circuit, the PTP packaging material 8 is sent forward and released. The rotation continues until the PTP packaging material 8 is transferred onto the sorting member 24, and the rotation is stopped when the PTP packaging material 8 is temporarily retained on the sorting member 24, and then the necessity arises. The operation of resuming the rotation and feeding the PTP packaging material 8 forward and releasing it is selectively performed.

  The indwelling sensor 23 is composed of, for example, a reflective optical sensor like the discharge sensor 17 described above, and is a second discharge sensor that detects the PTP packaging material 8 discharged forward from the discharge port 13. While the sensor 17 is in charge of detecting the PTP packaging material 8 separated under the sorting member 24, the sensor 17 is for detecting the PTP packaging material 8 separated on the sorting member 24. An ON / OFF signal is output depending on whether the reflected light is detected because the PTP packaging material 8 is present on the member 24 or the reflected light is not detected due to the absence of the PTP packaging material 8 on the sorting member 24. It has become.

  Based on this signal, the above-described control circuit controls the rotation of the upper fall delay member 25, so that the PTP packaging material 8 on the sorting member 24 is released immediately or released after being temporarily placed. It is designed to be discharged forward. In this PTP cassette 10 + 20, since the fall delay member is only the upper fall delay member 25 and not below the sorting member 24, when the PTP packaging material 8 is discharged to both the upper and lower sides of the sorting member 24 in the sequential discharge mode. The lower PTP packaging agent 8 is immediately released, and the upper PTP packaging agent 8 is released after being temporarily placed. When the PTP packaging material 8 is discharged to only one of the upper and lower sides of the sorting member 24 or in the sequential discharge mode, only immediate release is performed.

The use mode and operation of the PTP cassette 10 + 20 of Example 1 will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIGS. 2A to 2C are all longitudinal sectional views of the cassette main part, and show the operation when only one PTP packaging material 8a is discharged.
3 (a) to 3 (c) and 4 (a) to (c) are longitudinal sectional views of the main part of the cassette, and two PTP packaging materials 8b and 8c are discharged together. When the operation is shown.

  When the PTP cassette 10 + 20 is empty, the PTP packaging material 8 is manually replenished from the release upper surface or the release rear surface. At that time, each PTP packaging material 8 is laid sideways, and this new cassette is not indispensable as will be described in detail later, but for the time being, the front and back of many PTP packaging materials 8 are aligned in the same direction as before. The PTP packaging material 8 is stored in the box 11 by stacking them on the upper surface of the inner bottom plate 15 with the pocket side (the side for forming the protrusion for storing medicine) facing up. Then, the rear end of the stored PTP packaging material 8 is lightly pressed with a finger or the like to arrange the PTP packaging material 8 (see FIG. 2A).

  In this way, the position of the PTP packaging material 8 stacked and stored in a stacked manner is determined by placing the front end against the front plate of the box 11 or the flexible clip 14, and preparations for sequential discharge are completed. Nonetheless, the bottom PTP packaging material 8a and the PTP packaging material 8 immediately above it have the pocket side up, but some PTP packaging materials 8c are upside down with the pocket side down. In addition, the protrusions are fitted into the gaps between the protrusions of the PTP packaging material 8b immediately below, and the protrusions of the two PTP packaging materials 8b and 8c are alternately arranged in a line in the front and rear direction. Yes. For this reason, the two PTP packaging materials 8b and 8c are completely contained within the thickness of one sheet, and it is the most difficult state to prevent the two sheets from dropping in the conventional PTP cassette described above or its improved product. It has become.

  In this state, when discharging the PTP packaging material 8 one by one, a discharge command or instruction is given to a control circuit (not shown) to cause the PTP cassette 10 + 20 to perform a discharge operation. Specifically, the control circuit operates the electric motor 18 and the electric motor 26 while confirming that the reflected light is not detected by the discharge sensor 17 and the indwelling sensor 23. Then, the endless belt 16 circulates, and the hooking member 19 circulates along with it, and the hooking member 19 that has become upward or rearward advances from the rear to the front, and the rear end is hooked on it. The lowermost PTP packaging material 8a moves forward, and the front half of the PTP packaging material 8a starts to come out forward from the discharge port 13 (see FIG. 2B).

  At that time, since the sheet position of the lowermost PTP packaging material 8 a is below the rear end position of the sorting member 24, the PTP packaging material 8 a advances so as to sink under the sorting member 24. In addition, the PTP packaging agent 8 that is second from the bottom and located above the lowermost PTP packaging agent 8a has a sheet front end and a protruding portion on the upper surface of the sheet on the box body 11 and a flexible plate. Since the advancing is prevented by abutting against the sex clasp 14, only one sheet of the PTP packaging material 8a is sent forward from the discharge port 13 and falls (see FIG. 2C).

  When the lowermost PTP packaging material 8a is discharged forward from the discharge port 13, the reflected light from the PTP packaging material 8a being discharged is detected by the discharge sensor 17, and the indwelling sensor 23 has a PTP package. Since the agent 8 is not detected, the operation of the electric motors 18 and 26 is stopped at an appropriate timing according to the detection result, so that the circulating operation of the endless belt 16 and the circular movement of the hooking member 19 are stopped. In parallel, the next PTP packaging material 8 becomes the lowest PTP packaging material 8 on the inner bottom plate 15 from which the lowermost PTP packaging material 8a is removed. Thus, in this PTP cassette 10 + 20, as long as the PTP packaging material 8 is aligned and stored as usual, the PTP packaging material 8 can be discharged one by one in the same manner as in the past.

  While repeating such sequential discharge, the two PTP wrapping materials 8b and 8c in which the protrusions are alternately fitted and overlapped with each other eventually come down to the inner bottom of the box 11 (FIG. 3 (a )reference). In this case, the combined thickness of the lowermost PTP packaging agent 8b and the second lowest PTP packaging agent 8c is only one PTP packaging agent, and the PTP packaging agents 8b and 8c are protrusions. Since the lowermost PTP packaging material 8b is fed forward and begins to move forward from the discharge port 13 (see FIG. 3 (b)), together with the lowermost PTP packaging material 8b The second PTP packaging material 8c from the bottom also begins to come forward from the discharge port 13.

  At that time, since the lowermost sheet of the PTP packaging agent 8b is located below the protrusion, the sheet leading end of the PTP packaging agent 8b is directed below the rear end of the sorting member 24, whereas from below Since the sheet of the second PTP packaging material 8 c is located above the protrusion, the sheet leading end of the PTP packaging material 8 c is directed above the rear end of the sorting member 24. Therefore, when both PTP packaging agents 8b and 8c are further forwarded (see FIG. 3C), the lowermost PTP packaging agent 8b is divided under the sorting member 24, and the second PTP packaging agent from the bottom. 8 c is divided on the sorting member 24. Until both PTP packaging materials 8b and 8c are completely fed forward from the discharge port 13, the forward feeding of the PTP packaging material 8b by the hooking member 19 is continued, and the accompanying forward feeding and the front falling by the upper fall delay member 25 are continued. The feeding is also continued for the PTP packaging material 8c.

  Then, both the PTP packaging materials 8b and 8c completely pass through the discharge port 13 and are sent forward (see FIG. 4A), and the reflected light from the PTP packaging material 8b separated under the sorting member 24 Is detected by the discharge sensor 17, and reflected light from the PTP packaging material 8c separated on the sorting member 24 is detected by the indwelling sensor 23, and the electric motor 18, at an appropriate timing according to the detection result. 26 is stopped. Then (see FIG. 4B), the lowest PTP packaging material 8 b is dropped and released downward, but the second PTP packaging material 8 c from the bottom is retained on the sorting member 24. Further, on the inner bottom plate 15 from which the PTP packaging agents 8b and 8c, which are the lowest and second, are removed, the next PTP packaging agent 8 becomes the lowest PTP packaging agent 8.

Then, when an instruction to discharge the next PTP packaging material 8 reaches the control circuit, the upper fall delay member 25 operates, and the PTP packaging material 8c temporarily placed on the sorting member 24 is dropped and released (FIG. 4 (c)). While the PTP packaging material 8 is on the sorting member 24, the forward feed from the inner bottom of the box 11 by the hooking member 19 is suppressed.
Thus, in this PTP cassette 10 + 20, even when the PTP packaging material 8 is stored in the box 11 of the basic part 10 in the inverted state, and two sheets are simultaneously discharged from the discharge port 13 of the box 11, The two PTP packaging agents 8 are divided into upper and lower parts by the extension part 20 and the fall and release of one of them is delayed, so that the PTP packaging agents 8 are discharged one by one without any inconvenience.

Although detailed explanation and illustration are omitted, as is clear from the above explanation, when discharging a plurality of PTP packaging materials 8 together, PTP packaging on the sorting member 24 by the upper fall delay member 25 is performed. The treatment can be performed quickly only by omitting the temporary detention of the agent 8.
Although detailed description and illustration are omitted, as is clear from the above description, when the PTP packaging material 8 is horizontally placed and stacked vertically and stored in the box 11, each PTP packaging is arranged. Since it is possible to arbitrarily select whether the front and back surfaces of the agent 8 are aligned in the same direction, inverted alternately, or mixed, the alignment and storage operation can be performed easily.

A specific configuration of the PTP cassette according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5A is a vertical cross-sectional view of the main part of the PTP cassette 10 + 20.
The PTP cassette 10 + 20 of the second embodiment is different from that of the first embodiment described above in that a function for checking the passage of two discharge ports is added to the control circuit.

  This two-pass check function for the discharge port is such that the PTP packaging material 8 that is replenished in the storage space of the box body 11 of the PTP cassette has two PTP packaging agents 8b with the protruding portion formation surfaces (pocket sides) facing each other. A pair of sheets 8b and 8c is formed with the PTP packaging material 8c, and such a pair of sheets 8b and 8c is horizontally placed and a plurality of pairs / multiple pairs are vertically stacked from a pharmaceutical manufacturer or the like. Since it is presupposed that it is supplied and stored in the storage space of the box 11 of the PTP cassette manually at the time of replenishment while maintaining and following such a stacked state, it is selectively selected depending on the operation mode setting of the control circuit, etc. To be executed.

Similar to the first embodiment described above, the PTP cassette 10 + 20 is also provided with a discharge sensor 17 at a position in front of the discharge port 13 and lower than the positions of the discharge port 13 and the sorting member. The discharge sensor 17 functions as a lower detection member that detects the PTP packaging agent 8 that comes out of the outlet 13 and passes below the sorting member 24 among the PTP packaging agents 8 that are aligned and stored in the storage space. It is like that.
Further, an indwelling sensor 23 is provided in front of the discharge port 13 and higher than the position of the discharge port 13 and the sorting member 24, and the PTP packaging material 8 aligned and stored in the storage space of the box 11 The indwelling sensor 23 functions as an upper detection member that detects the PTP packaging material 8 that comes forward from the discharge port 13 and passes the upper side of the sorting member 24.

  Further, the control circuit inputs the detection result of the discharge sensor 17 and the detection result of the indwelling sensor 23 every time the discharge mechanisms 16 to 19 sequentially start the forward feeding operation of discharging one sheet or a pair of PTP packaging materials 8. Then, based on the detection result of the discharge sensor 17, it is determined whether or not the PTP packaging material 8 passing below the sorting member 24 has been discharged, and based on the detection result of the indwelling sensor 23, the sorting member 24. It is also determined whether or not the PTP packaging material 8 passing through the upper side has been discharged. This is the same as described above.

  If the two-pass outlet check function is set to ON, the PTP packaging 8 discharge detection result based on the discharge sensor 17 and the PTP packaging 8 discharge detection result based on the indwelling sensor 23 are both PTP packed. When it is shown that the agent 8 has been discharged, the discharge mechanisms 16 to 19 are sequentially completed with the forward feeding operation. In other cases, that is, the discharge detection result of the PTP packaging agent 8 based on the discharge sensor 17 and the indwelling When one or both of the discharge detection results of the PTP packaging material 8 based on the sensor 23 do not indicate that the PTP packaging material 8 has been discharged, the forward movement operation is immediately stopped to the discharge mechanisms 16 to 19 in sequence. At the same time, processing is performed at the time of abnormalities such as notification. It should be noted that when the discharge port two-pass check function is set to OFF, the forward stop operation is not immediately stopped and the abnormal process is not performed.

  The usage mode and operation of the PTP cassette of Example 2 will be described with reference to the drawings. 5 (a) and 5 (b) are longitudinal sectional views of the main part of the PTP cassette 10 + 20, in which (a) shows the sheet pair 8b and 8c arranged and stored in the box 11, (b) Shows the operation when two sheet pairs 8b and 8c are discharged together.

The usage and operation when the two-passage check function is turned off are the same as described in the operation description of the first embodiment. The case where the function is turned on will be described.
This function is used when the PTP packaging agent 8 is supplied and replenished in a state where the sheet pairs 8b and 8c of the PTP packaging agent 8b and the PTP packaging agent 8c with the protruding portion forming surface (pocket side) facing each other are stacked. This is a case where the car is stacked and stored in the box body 11 (see FIG. 5A).

  When performing such alignment storage, the sheet pairs are stored side by side from the bottom to the top. Therefore, since the troublesome work of turning over the PTP packaging material 8 every other piece is unnecessary, the work becomes easy. And while confirming the agent type and sheet condition, etc., the so-called concavo-convex sabaki work that helps to eliminate the entanglement of the sheet and facilitate the lateral feed is also performed, and the PTP packaging agent 8 is accurately applied to the box 11. If aligned and stored, in the subsequent automatic discharge operation, the PTP packaging material 8 is discharged from the discharge port 13 in units of two in pairs, and is divided into upper and lower parts of the sorting member 24 (see FIG. 5B). ) If necessary, drop them one by one or two together.

  On the other hand, if the alignment work becomes complicated due to looseness caused by the ease of work, for example, the stacking of the PTP packaging material 8 in units of the sheet pairs 8b and 8c may not be protected, If the bending or warping of the PTP packaging material 8 is severe, the PTP packaging material 8 has excessive bending or uneven engagement, or the surface processing is poor, the PTP packaging material 8 is not discharged forward from the discharge port 13. Or even if it is discharged, it will be only one. When this is detected by the control circuit based on the detection results of the discharge sensor 17 and the indwelling sensor 23, the operations of the discharge mechanisms 16 to 19 are immediately stopped, and a warning is issued in order to encourage human assistance. Abnormal processing is performed. As a specific example of abnormality processing, it is common to issue an alarm sound with a buzzer or display a message on the display, but in addition to or instead of this, a notification is sent to the host device via communication, etc. It may be recorded in a data logger or the like. At that time, it is also possible to display and record the name of the replenishment worker together.

In this way, by reducing the amount of work during manual alignment and storage while increasing the number of items to be automatically checked for alignment, the replenishment work is facilitated and the work time is shortened. Even if a mistake is detected accurately, the operator will focus on checking the state of the PTP packaging material without paying attention, so both work load reduction and work error reduction should be compatible. Can do.
Furthermore, as attention is paid to the confirmation of the state of the PTP packaging agent, it is possible to expect a ripple effect that the agent type and the expiration date are also accurately confirmed.

[Others]
In the above embodiment, the expansion unit 20 including the sorting member 24 and the upper drop delay member 25 is sequentially attached to and detached from the discharge mechanisms 16 to 19. However, the expansion unit 20 is sequentially connected to the discharge mechanism 16. May be attached to and detached from the box 11 instead of to 19, or may be attached to and detached from both the box 11 and the discharge mechanisms 16 to 19 sequentially.
Moreover, in the said Example, although only the upper fall delay member 25 was provided as a fall delay member which temporarily releases and discharge | releases the PTP packaging agent 8 divided | segmented into the upper and lower sides of the sorting member 24, it replaces with it or it. In addition, a lower delayed dropping member for releasing the PTP packaging material 8 that has been divided under the sorting member 24 and then releasing it may be provided below the sorting member 24.

The PTP cassette of the present invention can be applied to a drug equivalent to the PTP-packed drug, for example, a sheet-shaped package or a card-shaped package.
Moreover, the PTP cassette of the present invention can be used alone, or may be incorporated into a part or all of the medicine dispensing device (see, for example, Patent Documents 3 to 6).
Furthermore, by making the sorting member and the drop delay member plural and multi-staged, it is possible to realize a PTP cassette that allows the passage of a large number of three or more sheets at the discharge port while preventing undesired dropping of two sheets.

8, 8a, 8b, 8c ... PTP packaging agent (drug)
10 ... Basic part (PTP cassette),
11 ... box (alignment storage part),
12 ... label, 13 ... discharge port, 14 ... flexible fastener, 15 ... inner bottom plate (inner bottom member),
16 ... endless belt (feed mechanism), 17 ... discharge sensor (lower detection member),
18 ... Electric motor, 19 ... Hook member (movable member),
20 ... Expansion part (PTP cassette),
21 ... Plate frame, 22 ... Supporting beam, 23 ... Indwelling sensor (upper detection member),
24 ... Sorting member, 25 ... Upper drop delay member, 26 ... Electric motor

Claims (3)

An alignment storage unit that holds the drugs in the PTP package or the drugs equivalent to each other horizontally and vertically stacked and stored, and the inner bottom of the alignment storage unit at the bottom of the drugs A PTP cassette that sequentially feeds the medicines sequentially from the bottom and discharges them forward from the discharge port of the alignment storage unit, in front of the discharge port. is a sorting member to divide the plurality of agents vertically when said provided drug came forward from a plurality overlapping the outlet, said sorting member coming out forward from the outlet of the drug A lower detection member that detects a medicine that passes through the lower side of the medicine, and an upper detection member that detects a medicine that comes forward from the discharge port and passes the upper side of the sorting member. Side examination When the detection result of the medicine discharge based on the member and the detection result of the medicine discharge based on the upper detection member both indicate that the medicine has been discharged, the sequential discharge mechanism completes the forward feeding operation. When one or both of the detection result of medicine discharge based on the side detection member and the detection result of medicine discharge based on the upper detection member does not indicate that there has been medicine discharge, the forward movement operation to the sequential discharge mechanism The PTP cassette is characterized in that it is configured to stop the process and to perform an abnormal process such as an alarm.   An upper fall delay member that is disposed above the sorting member and is released from the medicine that has been divided on the sorting member, and is disposed below the sorting member, and the medicine that is provided below the sorting member. 2. The PTP according to claim 1, further comprising: one or both of a lower delayed dropping member that temporarily holds a part that has been divided under the sorting member and then discharges the one. cassette.   3. The PTP cassette according to claim 1, wherein the sorting member is detachable from one or both of the alignment storage unit and the sequential discharge mechanism. 4. .

Images