JPH0385202A - Medicine packaging machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To lower and miniaturize the height dimension of a packaging machine and the side of the packaging machine respectively and improve the easiness in handling for a worker, and reduce the damage of medicine by dropping by arranging tablet cases planarly. CONSTITUTION:For this tablet packaging machine 1, tablet cases 6 are formed to be narrow in the vertical direction and are arranged planarly in a medicine storage part 2. Even when the number of the tablet cases 6 and the capacity of respective tablet cases are kept approximately the same as a conventional tablet case, the height dimension of the said packaging machine can be made lower, and the size of the packaging machine can be made smaller. Also, the easiness in handling for a worker can be improved, and the installation area can be drastically reduced. And, since all the tablets are discharged from the lower part of the tablet case 6 which is formed to be narrow in the vertical direction, i.e., from a discharge port of the case 6, which is provided at a fairly low position, an impact which the tablets receive when the tablets drop in a hopper 35 can be eased, and the damage of the tablets due to dropping can greatlybe reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Industrial Application Field The present invention is a drug packaging machine that automatically selects and packages one or more types of drugs based on prescriptions that differ for each patient, in hospitals, pharmacies, etc. Regarding.

(Ko) Conventional technology Currently, there are thousands of types of tablets prescribed in hospitals and pharmacies, but the number of tablets actually used is limited to about 800. One or more tablet packaging machines are used that can accommodate 250 types of tablets and can automatically package tablets according to the prescription simply by inputting the desired prescription data into a controller such as a computer. .

The structure of such a tablet packaging machine is, for example,
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 6962, a drug storage section that stores a plurality of rectangular parallelepiped tablet cases in the upper part,
The lower part has a casing that houses the packaging machine section via a funnel-shaped hopper and shutter, and the drug storage section has several rectangular parallelepiped tablet cases stacked vertically depending on the type of tablet. The case is configured to be driven by inputting a predetermined extraction signal to the controller to extract the tablets, introduce them into the hopper via the drop passage, and then discharge one package to the packaging machine section via the shutter. ing. In addition, the packaging machine section includes a roller that can be thermally welded and that wraps wrapping paper that has been folded in half in advance, a tension roller, a vertical heat sealing mechanism that vertically heat seals the wrapping paper to form continuous pouches, and It consists of a horizontal heat-sealing mechanism that seals the upper opening of the pouch into which tablets are placed, and a feed roller. The feed roller is driven intermittently to convey the wrapping paper, and when the conveyance is stopped, the vertical heat-sealing mechanism forms a pouch, the shutter is opened to insert tablets, and the horizontal heat-sealing mechanism seals the pouch.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, according to the above structure, since multiple rectangular parallelepiped tablet cases are stacked vertically in the drug storage section, the height of the drug packaging machine increases, and It was very difficult for short people to handle it, such as when replenishing tablets in a tablet case. In addition, due to the high height of the drug packaging machine, tablets are subject to a large impact when dropped, especially when dropping tablets from a tablet case placed at a high position into a hopper via a drop passage. ,
There was a problem that the tablets were damaged. Furthermore, since the tablets extracted from the tablet cases fall into the hopper through a common falling path, there is a danger that if one of the tablet cases is removed, the tablets will fall out from the empty space, and the tablet packaging machine There was a problem in that it was not possible to replenish tablets into the tablet case while the tablet was in operation.

In addition, conventional hoppers have a structure in which the four sides are integrally formed into an inverted square pyramid shape by bending sheet metal, etc. Moreover, the outer edge of the hopper is covered with a casing to prevent dropped medicine from spilling out of the hopper. Since the hopper is fixed to the top surface of the mounting piece, when removing the hopper for cleaning or removing powder adhering to the hopper, the large hopper must be removed, which is not only a big job. However, there is a problem in that the work of attaching and detaching screws, etc. becomes complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and reduces the height dimension of a drug packaging machine to improve usability for the user.
This is a highly practical drug packaging machine that improves quality by preventing drug damage from falling from the tablet case, and also enables replenishment of drugs even while the packaging machine is in operation, as well as the ability to easily clean the hopper. The purpose is to provide

(2) Means for Solving the Problems The drug packaging machine of the present invention includes a casing that houses a drug accommodating section in the upper part and a packaging machine section in the lower part, and a casing that is arranged in a plane and elongated in the vertical direction in the drug accommodating section. and multiple tablet cases, arranged on the underside of this tablet case,
A hopper that collects the medicine discharged from the lower part of the casing to the center in the longitudinal direction of the casing, and a plurality of inclined plates arranged below the hopper to guide the medicine falling from the hopper to the center in the left-right direction of the casing. a pair of conveyors disposed below the guide plate to collect the fallen medicine to the center in the left-right direction of the casing; and a feeding mechanism disposed below between the conveyors; The tablet case is configured such that a predetermined number of medicines discharged from a selected one of the tablet cases are collectively deposited into a packaging bag by the dispensing mechanism.

Further, the hopper of the drug packaging machine has a dogleg-shaped cross section with only two faces facing each other in the front-rear direction of the casing being inclined, and at least the front plate is detachable from the casing.

(*) Effect The drug packaging machine of the present invention has the above-described configuration, so that even if the number of tablet cases stored in the drug storage section and the capacity of each tablet case are the same as conventional ones, the tablet cases are arranged in a flat manner. As a result, the height of the packaging machine can be reduced and the packaging machine can be made smaller, improving usability for the user and contributing to space saving. Moreover, since all the medicines are discharged from the bottom of the tablet case, which is elongated in the vertical direction, that is, from a considerably low position, damage caused by falling medicines can be significantly reduced. Furthermore, since the tablet cases are arranged in a two-dimensional manner, there is no need to provide a common fall path for the medicine discharged from each tablet case, and unlike conventional medicine packaging machines, when the tablet case is taken out during operation, The medicines discharged from other tablet cases do not fly out of the machine from the extraction section, and the tablet cases can be easily replenished with medicines even when the tablet packaging machine is in operation. As a result, the user's work efficiency can be improved.

Furthermore, since the fallen medicine can be reliably guided to the input mechanism by the guide plate and the conveyor, the degree of inclination of the hopper can be alleviated, and the above-mentioned height reduction effect of the medicine packaging machine can be reduced.

Furthermore, because the hopper has only two sides facing each other in the front and back directions that are inclined, and the front plate is removable, the medicine stops at the corners of the hopper due to friction, unlike in conventional hoppers. This will almost never happen, and even if you need to remove the chemical powder or clean it, you can simply remove the front plate, making the cleaning work easier.

(to) Examples Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

1 is a tablet packaging machine. This packaging machine consists of a casing 4 having a drug storage section 2 at the top and a packaging machine section 3 at the bottom, and a casing 4 that is inserted into a grid-like partition plate 5 of the drug storage section 2 and arranged in a plane, elongated in the vertical direction. A plurality of formed tablet cases 6, a loading mechanism 7 for taking out a predetermined number of tablets from the lower part of a selected one of the tablet cases and putting them all at once into a packaging bag, and a tablet taking out operation and loading of the tablet case 6. It is equipped with a control device 8 that controls the tablet loading operation of the mechanism 7, and seals and packages the packaging bag into which the tablets are loaded.

A sliding door 9 is attached to the top surface of the casing 4, and by sliding this door, the top surface is opened, and the lattice-shaped partition plates 5 and the tops of the tablet cases 6 arranged between the partition plates are opened. It is meant to be exposed. The partition plate has 12 columns in the depth direction, and is modularized with 10 rows as F units. (However, this column/row does not have to be limited to this.) Therefore, 1 module has 12
0 and can accommodate 120 types of tablets, that is, 120 tablet cases 6. By connecting multiple modules, 120,240,360,480 tablets can be stored.
It can be configured to store types, etc. A stepped bottom plate 10 with a concave center is disposed below the grid-like partition plate 5.
A connector 11 is attached to a portion of the bottom plate that contacts the tablet case 6. The tablet case 6 is electrically connected to the control device 8 by being inserted into the electrical connector 11, and receives and receives drive signals and detection signals.The bottom plate 10 is formed in a stepped shape. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, two types of tablet cases 6A and 8B with different lengths can be accommodated, and an appropriate number of tablets of different sizes can be accommodated.

As mentioned above, the tablet case 6 is formed into a vertically elongated prismatic shape C4, 5 m square, length 3 o onn), and the tablet case 12 for storing tablets is in the upper part of the rectangular cylindrical case 14, and the tablet case 12 in the lower part is 0 where the mechanism part 13 is formed
The mechanism part 13 has a funnel-shaped concave surface 15 on the upper surface, defines a hole 16 in the center of this concave surface, and has a semi-cylindrical body 17 and 18 divided into two in the axial direction, and both semi-cylindrical bodies. It is composed of two support shafts 19 and 20 that support the body, and a DC motor 22 that rotationally drives these support shafts via a gear reduction gear 21. A cam mechanism comprising a helical groove (not shown) formed on the circumferential surface of the support shaft 19.20 and a movable plate 23 attached to the semi-cylindrical body 17.18 and matching the helical groove. , supra.

The semi-cylindrical bodies 17, 18 move up and down alternately. semi-cylindrical body 17
．． 18 includes claw pieces 24 and 25 for separating tablets that have fallen through the hole 16, and a detection arm 26 for detecting the presence or absence of tablets.
27 are attached respectively, and convex portions 28 and 29 are formed for adjusting the amount of protrusion of the claw pieces 24 and 25 into the hole 16 by vertical movement of the semi-cylindrical bodies. As shown in FIG. 5, the tabs 24, 25 and the detection arms 26, 27 move in and out of the holes 16 as the amphiphilic cylindrical body 17.18 moves up and down, thereby aligning the tablets one by one. The end of the detection arm 27 on the lowering side is separated from the protrusion 30 and sent downward.
When the arm 27 is moved back, the tablets are discharged one by one from the lower discharge port 31. Here, a shielding plate 32 is attached to the end of one detection arm 26, and a reed switch 33 and a magnet 34 are attached to both sides of this shielding plate.
is installed. Then, when the tablet pushed by the descending claw piece 25 pushes down the rising detection arm 26, that is, in the state shown in FIG. The device is designed to obtain a tablet ejection signal. Note that if there is no tablet on the detection arm 26, the arm will not be pushed down by the tablet, so the shielding plate 32 will not move. Reference numeral 35 denotes a front plate 50 and a rear plate which are inclined to face each other in the front-rear direction of the casing 4. The hopper consists of only a face plate 51, and the side plates serve also as folding plates 52 and 53 of the casing 4, and have a dogleg-shaped cross section and a triangular prism on its side. The hopper 35 is disposed below the tablet case 6 and functions to collect the tablets discharged from the discharge port 31 at the bottom of the case 6 to the center of the casing 4 in the longitudinal direction. Front plate 50 of this hopper 35
At the upper and lower ends of the rear plate 51 are locking pieces 54, 55 and 5, respectively.
6.57 are fixedly attached thereto, and handle pieces 58, 59 are fixedly attached to the center of the outer surface of each plate 50,51. This hopper 35 has a front plate 5 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.
0 and the locking pieces 54 and 56 at the upper ends of the rear plate 51 to the folding plates 52 and 53 of the casing 4, and the locking pieces 55 at the lower ends of each of the folding plates 52 and 53 of the casing 4.
, 57 of the case 61 of the guide device 60, which will be described later.
2 and 63, it is attached to the casing 4. As shown in FIG. 8, these front plate 50 and rear plate 51 are assembled by first lifting the plates 50, 51 upward by the handles 58, 59, and attaching the locking pieces 55, 51 at each lower end.
7 from the projecting pieces 62 and 63 of the guide plate 60, and after pushing the lower part of the plate inward, shift the plates 50 and 51 downward and fold the locking pieces 54 and 56 at the upper end of each plate 52 and 53. While it can be removed by removing it from the holder, it can be installed by reversing this procedure. That is, the hopper 35 is connected to the locking pieces 54, 55 .
56 and 57, and can be simply removed from the front opening 64 of the casing 4 without using any special tools, as shown in FIG. Note that when removing the rear plate 51, the rear surface of the casing 4 is opened, although not particularly shown.

A guide device 60 has both ends fixed to the side wall of the casing 4 and is disposed below the hopper 35. As shown in FIG. 9, this guide device includes, in a case 61, a plurality of inclined plates 65, 69 inclined toward the center, a pair of conveyors 36° 37, and a partition net 66 suspended in the center.
It is configured with a built-in. The guide device 60 moves the tablets falling from the hopper 35 onto an inclined plate 65.
．． At 69, the casing 4 is guided to the center in the left-right direction and dropped onto the conveyor 36.37, and then conveyed to the central input mechanism 7 by the conveyor 36.37, which is rotated in opposite directions by a motor 67.68. The partitioning net 66 prevents the tablets that hit one of the inclined plates 65 from being placed on the other conveyor 37 when the tablets fall.

The loading mechanism 7 is composed of a movable container 39 that is movable in the front and back direction and whose bottom plate 3B is opened when the container is moved forward, and a paper opening device 40 that widens the entrance before the container is inserted into the medicine package paper. When one package of tablets is collected in the movable container 39 by the conveyors 36 and 37,
The container is horizontally moved forward, the bottom hole 38 is opened, and the tablets are put into the medicine wrapper.

The packaging machine section 3 includes a roller 42 around which a packaging sheet 41 that can be thermally welded and has been folded in half in advance, a tension arm 43, and a T-shaped roller 42 that heat-seals the packaging sheet into a T-shaped shape to form a continuous pouch. a heat-sealing mechanism 44, a printer device 45 that prints predetermined items such as prescription data on each portion package, a feed roller 46 that intermittently sends out sheet-shaped portion packages, and a sheet-shaped portion package that transfers the sheet-shaped portion packages to medicine packages. Discharge port 47
It consists of a conveyor 48 that delivers the material up to the point where it is delivered. and,
The feed roller 46 is intermittently driven by a drive motor (not shown) to feed the packaging sheet 41, and when the feed is stopped, the heat sealing mechanism 44 heat-seals the compartment of each package and the lower half of the opening side. A portion package is formed with the upper half of the opening side open, and the opening of this portion package is opened by the paper separating device 4.
The movable container 39 containing one package of tablets is inserted through the opening in the expanded state at 0, the bottom opening 38 of the container is opened, and one package of tablets is put into the divided package. Thereafter, by the operation of the heat sealing mechanism 44 accompanying the operation of forming the next divided package, the opening of the upper half of the divided package is thermally welded, and the divided package containing the tablets is sealed. Here, the above-mentioned input mechanism 7
Simultaneously with the operation of inserting tablets into the divided packages, the printer device 45 prints prescription data on the divided packages. Finally, the conveyor 48 sends out the divided packages in a continuous sheet to the medicine package discharge port 47 above. It should be noted that the packaging sheet 41 passing through the feeding mechanism 7 is fed vertically downward with the fold line facing toward you, as shown in FIG.

In this way, in the tablet packaging machine 1 of the present invention, the tablet cases 6 are vertically elongated and arranged in a plane in the drug storage section 2, so that the number of tablet cases 6 and the capacity of each tablet case can be reduced compared to the conventional one. Even at the same level, the height of the packaging machine can be reduced and the packaging machine can be made smaller, improving usability for the user and significantly reducing the installation area. In addition, since all the tablets are discharged from the lower part of the tablet case 6 which is elongated in the vertical direction, that is, from the discharge port 31 of the case 6 which is located at a considerably low position, when the tablets fall into the hopper 35, It can reduce the impact that tablets receive, and significantly reduce tablet breakage due to falling.

Furthermore, as described above, the ejection ports 31 of each tablet case 6 are arranged in a plane, so there is no need to provide a common passage for tablets to fall as in the conventional case. No tablets will fly out of the machine. As a result, tablet packaging machine 1
Tablets can be replenished into the tablet case 6 even during operation, and the user's work efficiency can be improved.

Also, a plurality of inclined plates 65, 69 and a pair of conveyors 36.
The guide device 60 having the hopper 37 can reliably guide the tablets falling from the hopper 35 to the input mechanism 7, so there is no need to use a funnel-shaped hopper to drop the tablets into the center of the casing 4 as in the conventional case. 3
Since the tablet 5 only needs to be dropped into the center of the casing 4 in the longitudinal direction, the degree of inclination of the hopper 35 can be reduced, and the height and size of the tablet packaging machine can be reduced accordingly.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, the hopper 35 is composed of a front plate 50 and a rear plate 51 that face each other in the front and back direction, and since both plates 50 and 51 can be attached and detached without using any special tools, it is possible to easily remove the powder from the powder. Removal and cleaning operations can be easily performed.

In addition, since the hopper 35 only has a front plate 50 and a rear plate 51 that are inclined (the side plates also serve as the side plates of the casing and are vertical surfaces), the tablets are pushed into the hopper by friction, unlike in a conventional funnel-shaped hopper. Tablets are less likely to get stuck at the corners, improving the reliability of tablet feeding.

(G) Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the height and size of the drug packaging machine can be reduced and the usability for the user can be improved and the installation area can be significantly reduced. Also,
It is possible to provide a drug packaging machine that improves quality by reducing damage to drugs due to falling from a tablet case, and has good work efficiency in which drugs can be replenished even while the packaging machine is in operation.

In addition, the hopper can be easily removed and cleaning of powdered medicine, etc., and the reliability of medicine supply can also be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the tablet packaging machine of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of main parts, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the tablet case, Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the mechanical part of the tablet case, Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the tablet case, Figure 6 is a perspective view of the casing, Figure 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of the tablet packaging machine, Figure 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the procedure for attaching and detaching the hopper, and Figure 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the tablet case. The figure is a partially cutaway perspective view of the guide device. 1... Tablet packaging machine, 2... Drug storage section, 3...
- Packaging machine section, 4... Casing, 6... Tablet case, 7... Input mechanism, 35... Hopper, 36.37... Conveyor, 60... Guide device.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A casing that houses a drug storage section in the upper part and a packaging machine section in the lower part, a plurality of tablet cases that are arranged in a plane in the drug storage section and are elongated in the vertical direction, and A hopper arranged below the hopper to collect the medicine discharged from the lower part of the casing to the center in the front and back direction of the casing; a guide plate having an inclined plate; a pair of conveyors disposed below the guide plate to collect the fallen medicine to the center in the left-right direction of the casing; and a feeding mechanism disposed below between the conveyors. A drug packaging machine, comprising: a predetermined number of drugs discharged from a selected one of the tablet cases, and configured to charge a predetermined number of drugs discharged from a selected one of the tablet cases into a packaging bag at once by the charging mechanism. (2) Claim 1 characterized in that the hopper has a dogleg-shaped cross section with only two faces facing each other in the front-rear direction of the casing being inclined, and at least the front plate is removable from the casing.
The drug packaging machine described.