JP5836705B2 - Surplus article discharge device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a surplus article discharging apparatus that discharges excess tablets or the like that are excessively filled in a pocket portion of a PTP (Press Through Package) sheet during manufacture from the pocket portion.

  The PTP package is a packaging form in which the contents are pushed out from the container (pocket part) side to break the upper lid and the contents are taken out, and is often used for the packaging of tablets and capsules in medicine packaging. And the PTP packaging machine which manufactures such a PTP package body draws and conveys a resin container film continuously from a raw fabric roll, heats the container film in the middle of the conveyance, and then has a concave shape at a predetermined position of the container film. Forming a pocket (container), supplying a packaged object such as a tablet into the pocket, and then covering the container film with a lid film, then heat-sealing and sealing both films to cut in place According to this, a PTP package is manufactured.

  And the apparatus which supplies a packaged object to the pocket part of a container film is provided with the hopper arrange | positioned above the container film, and drops and supplies many packaged goods from the carrying-out port of the hopper. Then, the fallen to-be-packaged object fits in a pocket part. At this time, a plurality of articles to be packaged may enter one pocket portion. Since it will become a defective product if it covers and seals with a cover film in that state, the discharge device which discharges the surplus to-be-packaged goods is arranged in the upper stream side of the point which covers a cover film.

  As disclosed in Patent Document 1 and the like, this discharge device is configured by a cylindrical rotating body brush. That is, the brush bristles are arranged so as to extend radially from the rotating shaft, and the tip of the brush passes into the pocket portion or passes upward. Then, if two items to be packaged (tablets) are stored in the pocket portion, the upper tablet protrudes upward from the film surface of the container film, so that it comes into contact with the tip of the rotating brush. It is scraped out. On the other hand, when only one packaged item is supplied in the pocket portion, even if the tip of the brush does not contact the packaged item, or even if it is contacted, the entire packaged item is firmly in the pocket unit. It is so deep that it cannot be scraped with a resilient brush. As a result, only surplus items to be packaged are scraped out.

JP 2002-29516 A

  In a conventional discharging device using a brush, the brush hair may fall off. In such a case, the dropped hair may ride on the container film and be mixed into the PTP sheet as foreign matter. Therefore, development of a surplus article discharging apparatus having a new configuration that does not use a brush is desired.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is (1) an excess article discharge device that is installed above a container film in which a concave pocket portion is formed and carries out excess articles in the pocket portion, A rotating shaft that rotates in response to the rotational force of the drive unit, and a cylindrical body that is attached to the outer periphery of the rotating shaft, and the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical body is larger than the dimensional shape of the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft. The size and shape are increased so that the cylindrical body can move up and down with respect to the rotating shaft, and the rotation of the rotating shaft is received when the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical body contacts the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft. The cylindrical body rotates, and the rotation shaft rotates so that a rotation direction of a portion of the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body facing the container film faces backward with respect to the conveyance direction of the container film. and, the outer peripheral surface of the tubular body in contact with the article of the excess , It was configured to bias towards the rear.

  The article is stored in a PTP sheet such as a tablet or a tablet. The dimension and shape of the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft is that of the portion that protrudes to the outermost side in the portion that faces the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical body. For example, an O-ring is attached as in the embodiment or (8) below. In such a case, the dimensional shape of the O-ring is the dimensional shape of the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft. The rotation direction of the rotating shaft and the rotation direction of the cylindrical body are the same, but the rotation direction of the cylindrical body is the rear side with respect to the conveyance direction of the container film is directly behind the conveyance direction (the direction opposite to 180 degrees). It is not restricted to a thing, It is the back side (back) at the time of dividing into a front side and a rear side. When the rotation shaft and the cylindrical body are arranged obliquely with respect to the container film conveyance direction as in the embodiment and (2) below, the rotation direction is obliquely rearward.

If there are surplus articles in the pocket portion, the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body comes into contact with the surplus articles. The outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body comes into contact with an excessive article, receives the rotational force of the rotating shaft, and biases the excess article toward the rear. At this time, along with the conveyance of the container film, the excess articles in the pocket portion are also moved forward, and the excess articles are discharged out of the pocket portion. And since the cylindrical body can be moved up and down with respect to the rotation axis, if the article may sink between the container film (including the pocket portion) and the cylindrical body, the cylindrical body Is urged upward by the article that has entered, and moves up and escapes accordingly. Therefore, it can flow to the downstream side while keeping the shape of the article without crushing the article. And since the structure which discharges | emits articles | goods by the outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical body is taken, there is no possibility that the hair of a brush may fall out and enter into a pocket part as a foreign material like the past.

  When the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body is provided with a convex portion as described in the embodiment and the following (3), (4), etc., the convex portion contacts the side surface of the article and moves backward. Although it can be urged, it is not always necessary to provide a convex portion. Even if there is no convex portion, for example, by providing a resin having a gripping force on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body, it is possible to discharge without the unevenness.

  (2) The said rotating shaft and the said cylindrical body are good to arrange | position diagonally with respect to the conveyance direction of the said container film. If it does in this way, the excess article carried out from the pocket part can be naturally guided along the cylindrical body arranged diagonally, can be led to the end of the container film, and does not accumulate on the container film. .

  (3) It is good to provide a convex part in the circumference | surroundings of the said cylindrical body, and the convex part should be comprised so that the side surface of the said excess article can contact. If there are surplus articles in the pocket portion, the projections provided on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body come into contact with the surplus articles. As the container film is transported, surplus articles in the pocket portion are moved forward, and the cylindrical body is rotated by the rotational force from the rotating shaft, so that the surplus articles are discharged out of the pocket section. Can do. Since the configuration is adopted in which the article is discharged by the convex portion provided on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body, there is no possibility that the brush hair falls off as in the conventional case and enters the pocket portion as a foreign object.

  (4) The said convex part is said to be a convex strip formed between the some groove | channels formed in the outer peripheral surface of the said cylindrical body. The groove may be a straight line parallel to the axial direction of the cylindrical body as in the embodiment, or may be spiral or bent at an appropriate position. By using continuous ridges, the protrusions (ridges) can reliably contact and discharge excess articles.

  (5) The front end of the convex portion in the rotational direction may be formed to be rounded. If the tip is sharp, the force applied to the article will be too great when it hits the article, causing the article to get stuck between the inner peripheral surface of the pocket and clog the article, or damage the article. Although there is a possibility, the problem that the force applied by rounding becomes small does not occur.

  (6) The rotating shaft and the cylindrical body may be detachably connected to the driving unit. If the article is a tablet or the like, it is necessary to periodically clean the cylindrical body and the like, but at this time, the cleaning operation can be easily performed by removing the cylindrical body and the like.

  (7) At least the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body may be made of resin. Of course, the whole may be made of resin. For example, if an engineering plastic (for example, Delrin (registered trademark)) of polyacetal resin made from formaldehyde is used as the resin, it can be discharged for a long period of time (function does not deteriorate) because of its abrasion resistance. Since there is good fatigue resistance and the like, there is no possibility that a part of the convex portion or the like is damaged and dropped during use, which is preferable. It is made of resin and can be easily cleaned. The above-mentioned polyacetal resin has chemical resistance and can be washed more appropriately.

  (8) The rotating shaft may be configured so that an O-ring is mounted on an outer peripheral surface and is in contact with an inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical body via the O-ring.

  Since the present invention does not use a brush, there is no fear that the hair of the brush will fall out, and contamination of foreign matters can be suppressed as much as possible. And since the cylindrical body is attached to the outer periphery of the rotating shaft so as to be movable up and down, the article is not crushed.

(A) is a top view which shows suitable one Embodiment of the surplus article discharge apparatus which concerns on this invention, (b) is the partial sectional view. It is an exploded view of the components which comprise a surplus article discharge apparatus. It is a figure explaining the effect | action. It is a figure explaining the effect | action. It is a figure explaining the effect | action.

  FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of a surplus article discharging apparatus mounted on a PTP packaging machine. The surplus article discharging apparatus 10 is installed at a predetermined position of the PTP packaging machine. That is, the PTP packaging machine is a molding device that molds a concave pocket portion at a predetermined position of a container film in the middle of transporting a resin-made container film, and a tablet supply that is arranged on the downstream side of the molding device and supplies tablets into the pocket portion An apparatus, a device that covers the container film on the downstream side of the device and the tablet supply device, and supplies the tablet in the pocket portion, a device that heat seals and cuts both films, and the like are disposed.

  The surplus article discharging apparatus 10 of the present invention is disposed between a tablet supply apparatus and a point where a cover film is put on the container film 1. That is, the container film 1 is formed with a layout in which a large number of concave pocket portions 1a projecting downward are arranged in a matrix. As shown in FIG. 1B, a tablet 2 is accommodated in the pocket portion 1a.

  The surplus article discharging apparatus 10 has a configuration in which a cylindrical tubular body 12 having both ends opened is mounted on the outer periphery of a substantially rod-shaped rotating shaft 11 that rotates by receiving the rotational force of the drive unit 13. First, the drive unit 13 may have a configuration in which a drive motor is built in a rectangular case and is directly connected to the rotary shaft 11. The drive motor is disposed below and the drive motor 13 is disposed on the rotary shaft 11 by power transmission means such as a gear. A driving force may be applied.

  A flange-like stopper portion 11 a that protrudes outward is formed at the tip of the rotating shaft 11. The outer diameter of the stopper portion 11 a is set to be larger than the inner diameter of the cylindrical body 12. Thereby, the cylindrical body 12 attached to the rotating shaft 11 is not detached from the tip side because the stopper portion 11a prevents further movement toward the tip side.

  The rotating shaft 11 and the cylindrical body 12 are disposed so as to extend in the horizontal direction at a predetermined position above the container film 1. More specifically, the rotating shaft 11 and the cylindrical body 12 cross the container film 1, and the axial direction of the rotating shaft 11 and the cylindrical body 12 obliquely intersects the transport direction of the container film 1. Deploy. In the present embodiment, the distal end side (side not connected to the drive unit 13) is positioned on the front side in the traveling direction. Further, the inclination angle can be changed. That is, it can turn within a predetermined angle range around the case portion of the drive unit 13 and is set to an appropriate angle according to the dimensional shape and the like of the tablet 2 and the pocket portion 1a. The rotational speed of the rotating shaft 11 and the cylindrical body 12 can also be changed and adjusted as appropriate according to the size and shape of the tablet 2 and the pocket portion 1a.

  The rotating shaft 11 and the cylindrical body 12 are formed using an engineering plastic made of polyacetal resin made of formaldehyde such as Delrin (registered trademark). This resin has properties such as strength, rigidity, hardness, dimensional stability, toughness, fatigue resistance, resistance to solvents and fuels, wear resistance, and low friction. In particular, since the cylindrical body 12 is in direct contact with the tablet 2, it needs to be highly safe. Further, if it wears out at the time of contact or if a part thereof is chipped, there is a possibility that the detached part may be mixed into the pocket portion 1a or the like as a foreign substance, but it is preferable because it has wear resistance and fatigue resistance.

  The inner diameter of the cylindrical body 12 is set larger than the outer diameter of the rotating shaft 11. Thereby, a clearance is provided between the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 11 and the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical body 12, and the cylindrical body 12 has a clearance range in a direction intersecting the axial direction with respect to the rotating shaft 11. You can move freely within. Further, O-rings 16 are mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 11 at a predetermined interval. The O-ring 16 is made of silicon. As a result, the cylindrical body 12 normally tries to move downward due to its own weight, and therefore, as shown in FIG. 1B, the upper side of the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical body 12 and the outer periphery of the rotating shaft 11 (O-ring 16). The cylindrical body 12 is supported in a suspended state (steady state) in contact with the upper side of the surface. Therefore, since the O-ring 16 integrated with the rotation of the rotating shaft 11 also rotates, the rotational force is transmitted to the cylindrical body 12 and rotates. In a steady state where the cylindrical body 12 is suspended, the lower side of the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body 12 is close to the upper surface of the container film 1. And the rotating shaft 11 which rotates in response to the rotational force of the drive unit 13 is arranged so that the rotation direction of the portion facing the container film 1 on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body 12 faces backward with respect to the transport direction of the container film 1. Configured to rotate.

  As shown in FIG. 2D, a groove 12 a extending in the axial direction is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body 12. Accordingly, the ridge 12b is formed between the circumferential groove 12a and the groove 12a. As will be described later, surplus articles are discharged by the ridges 12b. That is, when two tablets 2 are filled in the pocket portion 1 a, the tablet on the top protrudes above the upper surface of the container film 1. Therefore, the excess tablet on the upper side comes into contact with the ridge 12b on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body 12 adjacent to the upper surface of the container film 1 and is discharged from the pocket portion 1a.

  The depth of the groove 12a (the height of the ridge 12b) was 0.5 mm. This is because if the length is too long, the tablet 2 is firmly sandwiched between the side surface of the ridge 12b and the inner peripheral surface of the pocket portion 1a, and the excess tablet may not be smoothly ejected. On the other hand, if the length is too short, the ridges 12b may not be scraped (swept out) without being caught by the tablets 2.

  Further, the corners of both ends 12b 'in the rotation direction of the ridge 12b are rounded so that the cross section is arcuate. This is because when the front end 12b 'is sharp, the tablet 2 is strongly caught, and the tablet 2 is strongly pressed against the inner peripheral surface of the pocket 1a, so that it cannot be smoothly discharged from the pocket 1a. This is because there is a fear. Accordingly, since the front end 12b 'in the rotational direction is particularly important among the ends 12b', the R-removal processing may be performed only on the front end 12b '. However, since the cylindrical body 12 is bilaterally symmetric, it is preferable to form the cylindrical body 12 at both ends 12b 'in the rotational direction because the attaching direction to the rotating shaft 11 can be reversed left and right, and the assembly work becomes easy.

  Moreover, the groove | channel 12a and the protruding item | line 12b are made into the linear form parallel to an axis | shaft. Of course, it is not necessary to make it linear like this embodiment, and it can take various forms such as a spiral shape, a bent shape like a crank shape / step shape, and the like. Furthermore, a pattern in which convex portions are arranged discretely without being continuous in the axial direction may be used.

  As described above, the cylindrical body 12 is in direct contact with the tablet and needs to be periodically cleaned. This is the same because the rotating shaft 11 is also exposed. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the rotary shaft 11 and the cylindrical body 12 are detachably attached to the drive unit 13 so that the cleaning operation can be easily performed.

  That is, first, the shaft 14 shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B is connected to and integrated with the drive shaft of the drive unit 13. The shaft 14 rotates integrally with the drive shaft. The shaft 14 has a cylindrical rod-shaped main body, and is provided with a pair of pins 14a projecting radially outward on the base end side (driving unit 13 side) of the main body, and slightly distal end than the pins 14a. A ball plunger 14b is provided at a position displaced to the side.

  A rotating shaft 22 is attached to the shaft 14. The rotating shaft 11 is hollow as shown in FIG. 2C, and is opened at the end surface opposite to the stopper portion 11a. The hollow internal space 11 has a cylindrical shape, and two notches 11b extending from the opening side toward the axially back side are formed on the inner peripheral surface thereof. Further, on the back side of the cut 11b, a concave groove 11c is formed that extends along the circumferential direction of the inner peripheral surface of the internal space 11.

  A shaft 14 is inserted into the internal space 11. When the tip end of the shaft 14 reaches the depth of the rotary shaft 11, the pin 14a of the shaft 14 enters the cut portion 11b of the rotary shaft 11 and is prevented from rotating. Therefore, the rotating shaft 11 also rotates with the rotation of the shaft 14. Further, the ball plunger 14b of the shaft 14 enters the concave groove 11c of the rotating shaft 11, and the shaft 14 and the rotating shaft 11 are connected to each other so that the relative movement in the thrust direction is suppressed. Prior to mounting the rotating shaft 11 on the shaft 14, the cylindrical body 12 is mounted on the rotating shaft 11.

  On the other hand, when the rotary shaft 11 and the cylindrical body 12 are removed from the drive unit 13 of the surplus article discharging apparatus 10, the tip of the rotary shaft 11 is held and pulled in the thrust direction in a direction away from the drive unit 13. Then, since the rotating shaft 11 and the shaft 14 are connected by the spring force of the ball plunger 14b, the ball plunger 14b is detached from the concave groove 11c by applying a pulling force of a certain level or more. 14 is released. Thereafter, the rotary shaft 11 can be detached from the shaft 14 by pulling the rotary shaft 11 in the thrust direction as it is. After removal, the rotating shaft 11 and the cylindrical body 12 can be separated and washed or the like.

  Next, the effect | action which discharges the surplus goods using this embodiment from the pocket part 1a is demonstrated. First, in FIGS. 3 to 5, the container film 1 is conveyed from the left to the right in the drawing, and the cylindrical body 12 rotates in the clockwise direction under the rotational force from the rotating shaft 11 (shaft 14). At this time, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), when the two tablets 2 are transported in the pocket portion 1a, the upper side which is excessive as shown in FIG. 3 (b) is used. The tip 12b 'of the ridge 12b contacts the side surface of the tablet 2.

  Since the cylindrical body 12 rotates in the clockwise direction in the figure and the container film 1 moves in the right direction in the figure, the excess tablet 2 receives a biasing force from the ridge 12b to the rear in the traveling direction or rearward and obliquely upward. The ridge 12b in contact with the tablet 2 moves so as to relatively pass over the pocket portion 1a. Therefore, the distance between the tip 12b 'of the ridge 12b and the wall surface on the rear side in the traveling direction of the pocket portion 1a also gradually decreases. Furthermore, since the cylindrical body 12 is also rotating, the position of the protruding item | line 12b also raises gradually. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3 (c), the tablet 2 rises and reverses while rotating, as shown in FIG. 3 (c), due to the rise of the ridge 12b and the shortening of the distance between the ridge 12b and the pocket portion 1a. Finally, it is discharged from the pocket portion 1a as shown in FIG.

  The tablet 2 discharged in this way is guided to the cylindrical body 12 that is inclined with respect to the conveying direction of the container film 1 and gradually moves to the side edge side of the container film 1. In addition, even if it may enter into the pocket part 1a again during this movement and it may become an excessive tablet, it will be discharged again.

  In the above example, the tablet 2 is inverted and discharged. However, depending on the position of the ridge 12b in contact with the tablet 2, FIG. 4 (b) → FIG. 4 (c) → FIG. 5 (a) → FIG. As shown in b), it is discharged from the pocket portion 1a without being inverted.

  Thus, in many cases, the excess tablets 2 are reversed or moved horizontally as they are and discharged from the pocket portion 1a. Therefore, on the downstream side of the excess article discharge device 10, one tablet is stored in each pocket portion 1a. It will be in the stowed state.

  By the way, due to the relative positional relationship when the ridge 12b contacts the excess tablet 2, the tablet 2 cannot be successfully carried out at the tip 12b 'of the ridge 12b, and the two tablets remain in the overlapped state. Trying to pass through the surplus article discharging apparatus 10 (in a surplus state). In this case, in this embodiment, since the cylindrical body 12 has a predetermined clearance with respect to the rotating shaft 11 and can move up and down, the cylindrical body 12 is pushed up by the tablet 2 via the ridges 12b and rises. It moves and takes the state which the space | interval of the cylindrical body 12 and the container film 1 spread as shown in FIG.5 (c).

  When the container film 1 is further conveyed in this state, the two overlapping tablets 2 pass through the surplus article discharging device 10 and move downstream. Then, since the tablet lifted upwards disappears, the cylindrical body 12 moves downward and returns to the state suspended from the rotating shaft 11.

  In this way, when the excess tablet cannot be discharged while being overlapped and tries to pass through the excess article discharging apparatus 10, the cylindrical body 12 can escape upward, so that the tablet may be bitten and crushed. Disappear. If there is no clearance between the cylindrical body 12 and the rotating shaft 11, there is a risk that the tablet may be broken without being able to escape upward in the above-described state. Scattering and entering the pocket as foreign matter, the PTP sheet becomes defective in a wide area, or maintenance when crushed pieces enter the PTP packaging machine (including surplus article discharge device) becomes complicated When the broken pieces are fine, various problems such as the possibility that foreign matter cannot be detected by the subsequent inspection apparatus occur. However, in this embodiment, there is no concern about the occurrence of such problems.

  As shown in FIG. 5 (c), if the cover film is covered and sealed with excess articles in place, sealing may be defective and the apparatus may be damaged. Therefore, before covering the cover film on the downstream side of the excess article discharge apparatus. Is provided with an inspection device, and the device is stopped when surplus articles are detected.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Excess article discharge apparatus 11 Rotating shaft 12 Cylindrical body 13 Drive part 14 Shaft 16 O-ring

Claims (8)

A surplus article discharging device that is installed above a container film in which a concave pocket portion is formed and carries out surplus articles in the pocket portion,
A rotating shaft that rotates in response to the rotational force of the drive unit;
A cylindrical body mounted on the outer periphery of the rotating shaft,
The dimensional shape of the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical body is made larger than the dimensional shape of the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft so that the cylindrical body can move up and down relative to the rotating shaft, and the inner periphery of the cylindrical body The cylindrical body rotates by receiving the rotation of the rotating shaft when the surface contacts the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft,
The rotation shaft rotates so that the rotation direction of the portion facing the container film on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body faces backward with respect to the transport direction of the container film,
The surplus article discharging apparatus, wherein an outer peripheral surface of the tubular body is in contact with the surplus article and is biased toward the rear.   The surplus article discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rotating shaft and the cylindrical body are disposed obliquely with respect to a transport direction of the container film.   The surplus article discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a convex portion is provided around the cylindrical body, and the convex portion is configured to be able to contact a side surface of the surplus article.   The surplus article discharging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the protrusion is a protrusion formed between a plurality of grooves formed on an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body.   The surplus article discharging apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein a tip of the convex portion on the front side in the rotation direction is formed to be rounded.   The surplus article discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rotating shaft and the cylindrical body are detachably connected to the drive unit.   The surplus article discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body is made of a resin. The rotating shaft has an O-ring attached to the outer peripheral surface,
The surplus article discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the surplus article discharging apparatus is configured to contact an inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical body via the O-ring.

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