JPH0394999A - Apparatus for manufacturing tablet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the working efficiency of an apparatus by scrubbing circumferential surface in inner hole with a brush fittable/removable and rotating the brush. CONSTITUTION:An upper stamp 32 and lower stamp 34 are fitted in a mortar 30. These are held to rotary disk 26 rotated with a driving device. The upper and lower stamps 32, 34 are vertically driven with stamp driving mechanism. Raw material is compressed between the upper stamp 32 and lower stamp 34 in the inner part of inner hole in the mortar 30 to form tablet. Then, the circumferential surface in the inner hole is scrubbed with the brush fittable/ removable. The brush is rotated with a mortar 56 and brush fitting shaft 58 in a cleaning device 52. By using this apparatus, the tablet for medicine, medical article except medicine, chemical substance, food, powder metallurgical industry, etc., is manufactured. By this method, the cleaning operation for stamps and mortar at the time of changing over the raw material powder can be continuously automated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing tablets in pharmaceuticals, quasi-drugs, chemicals, foods, powder metallurgy, and the like. Specifically, the present invention relates to a tablet manufacturing apparatus equipped with a cleaning device for removing raw material powder and the like adhering to a mortar and a punch.

[Prior Art] A mortar having a penetrating inner hole, an upper punch and a lower punch that fit into the mortar, and a rotary disk or the like for holding the mortar and the pestle, and the upper and lower punches are connected inside the inner hole. Tablet manufacturing devices that compress raw materials with a punch to form tablets have been widely used in the past (for example, Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 41-11273 and 47-318).
No. 27, No. 48-20103, etc.). By the way, when manufacturing tablets using a tablet machine and switching raw material powder A to a different type of powder B, cleaning the mortar and punch and removing the adhering raw material A is a good way to transfer raw material powder to raw material B. This is necessary to prevent mixing of raw material A.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Conventionally, when switching raw materials, the mortar, upper punch, and lower punch were removed from the rotary disk, scrubbed with a brush, etc. to remove deposits, and then reinstalled into the rotary disk. However, it takes a considerable amount of time and effort to attach, detach, and clean the mortar and pestle.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention includes a mortar having a penetrating inner hole, and an upper punch and a lower punch that fit into the mortar, and these mortar, upper punch, and lower punch are rotated by a drive device. A tablet manufacturing device that is held on a rotary disk and moves the punch up and down by a punch drive mechanism, compresses the raw material between the upper punch and the lower punch inside the inner hole of the mortar to form a tablet. It is about improvement. The first invention is characterized in that a cleaning device is provided, which includes a brush that can be inserted into and removed from the inner hole and scrubs the peripheral surface of the inner hole, and a rotating device for the brush.

In the second aspect of the invention, the punch drive mechanism is capable of protruding the tip of the lower pestle from the upper surface of the mortar, and the tablet manufacturing apparatus includes a brush for rubbing the side surface of the tip of the lower pestle protruding from the upper surface of the mortar; A cleaning device with a rotating device is provided.

[Operations] According to the first aspect of the present invention, for example, the upper surface of the mortar and lower pestle can be cleaned by simply removing the upper pestle from the tablet manufacturing apparatus. That is, for example, the inner hole of the mortar can be cleaned by removing the tablet from the tablet manufacturing device, then inserting a brush attached to a rotating device into the mouth and rotating it. Furthermore, by placing the tip of this brush against the upper surface of the lower pestle, the tip surface of the lower pestle can be cleaned.

According to the second invention, the lower pestle is made to protrude from the upper surface of the mortar, and the side surface of the upper end of the lower pestle can be cleaned by rubbing with a brush. As described above, according to the present invention, cleaning can be performed extremely easily and quickly.

[Example] Examples will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a tablet manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view showing the tablet manufacturing apparatus expanded in the direction of the side circumferential surface.

In FIG. 1, a main shaft 10 is installed to be rotatable about a vertical axis, and the lower part of the main shaft 10 is pivotally supported by a machine frame 14 via a bearing 12. A column 16 surrounding the main shaft 10 is fixed to the machine frame 14, and the upper and middle parts of the main shaft 10 are pivotally supported to the column 16 by bearings 18 and 20. A worm wheel 22 is fixed to the lower part of the main shaft 10, and a worm 24 meshes with the worm wheel 22. By rotating the worm 24, the main shaft 10 is rotated around the vertical axis. A rotary disk 26 is fixed to the upper part of the main shaft 10. The rotary disk 26 is provided with a number of mortar mounting holes 28 vertically extending through them so as to be equiradial to the axis of the main shaft 10, and are fitted into the mortar mounting holes 28. A mortar 30 is provided.

An upper punch 32 and a lower punch 34, which are movable up and down, are mounted on the rotary disk 26 so as to fit into the mortar 30. Upper pestle 32
is held by an upper punch holder 36 so as to be movable up and down, and the lower punch 34 is held by a holder 38 so that its side peripheral surface can be freely moved. Expanded diameter part 3 formed at the lower part of the lower punch 34
4a is fitted into a lower punch guide 40, which extends so as to surround the main shaft 10 and to be equiradial to the axis of the main shaft 10. The guide 40 is attached to the column 16 by a bracket 41.

The raw material powder to be molded is filled into a mortar 30 in which a lower punch 34 is fitted to a predetermined depth, an upper punch 32 is fitted into this mortar 30, and a It is molded into tablets by compressing the raw material powder. code 42 in it diagram
indicates a cam for pressing the upper punch 32 downward. Further, reference numeral 44 indicates a cam that presses the lower punch 34 upward. Reference numeral 46 indicates a motor that moves the cam 44 up and down. A fixed column 48 is arranged in the upper part of the main shaft 10, and pivotally supports the upper part of the main shaft 10. The fixed column 48
A guide rail 50 of the upper punch 32 is fixed to the lower outer periphery of the upper punch 32. The upper end portion of the upper punch 32 is an umbrella-shaped enlarged diameter portion 32a.
The lower surface portion of this enlarged diameter portion 32a engages with the guide rail 50. By rotationally driving the main shaft 10, the upper punch 32 moves along the guide rail 50, and the upper punch 32 is moved up and down in accordance with changes in the installation height of the guide rail 50.

A first cleaning device 52 is installed in the upper right portion of FIG. The cleaning device 52 includes a guide biller 54 fixedly installed on the fixed column 48, a motor 56 that can move up and down along the guide biller 54, and a brush mounting shaft 58 connected to the rotating shaft of the motor 56. It is equipped with

Reference numeral 60 in FIG. 1 is a cover that covers the outer periphery of the tablet manufacturing apparatus, and prevents impurities from entering from the outside and scattering of raw material powder during tablet molding.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 2, cams 62 and 64 separate from the cams 42 and 44 are provided to press and bias the upper and lower punches 32 and 34. The raw material powder is filled into the mortar 30 at the part C in FIG.
4 is sandwiched between cams 42 and 44 and lightly pressed. Next, the upper punch 32 and the lower punch 34 are introduced between the cams 62 and 64, and are strongly compressed from above and below to form a tablet. cam 62,
As for the upper punch 32 and the lower punch 34 that have passed between the upper and lower punches 64, the upper punch 32 is first pulled out from the mortar 30 by the guide rail 50.

Further, the lower punch 34 is pushed up by the cam 66 so that the molded tablet is exposed on the upper surface of the mortar 30 so that it can be extracted from the mortar 30. The exposed tablet is taken out to the side of the rotary disk 26 by a tablet stopper 68.

Tablets are sequentially manufactured by repeating this series of steps.

Reference numeral 70 in FIG. 2 is a device for adjusting the amount of raw material powder charged into the mortar 30. That is, this filling amount adjusting device 7
0 is for adjusting the insertion depth into the mortar 30 of the lower punch 34 which has been rotated to the position shown by C in FIG.
The insertion depth of the lower punch 34 is adjusted by vertically moving the guide 72 of No. 4 (constituting a part of the guide 40). The device 70 includes a male screw 74 and a male screw 74.
It is equipped with a motor 76 etc. that rotates the male butterfly 74.
is screwed into a female screw 78 fixed to the lower surface of the guide 72. When the male screw 74 is rotated by the motor 76, the female screw 78 is screwed in the vertical direction, and one end is connected to the pin 72.
The vertical position of the guide 72 pivoted by a is adjusted.

Reference numeral 79 indicates a locking device for the guide 72. When changing the raw material powder, use the mortar 30 and upper punch holder 3.
6'gL of raw material powder adhering to the lower punch 34 is removed with a brush.

At the position indicated by the symbol A in FIGS. 2 and 3 (an enlarged view of the main part in FIG. 2), the inner circumferential surface of the mortar 30 and the upper surface of the lower punch 34 are cleaned by the cleaning device 52 shown in FIG. Perform cleaning. In addition, at the position indicated by the symbol B,
The side peripheral surface of the upper end of the lower punch 34 is cleaned.

The structure of the first cleaning device 52 and the cleaning operation of the first cleaning device 52 will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. 4 as well. Note that FIG. 6 is a side view and a perspective view of the brush 82, which will be described next.

To perform cleaning using the first cleaning device 52, first the upper punch 32 is pulled out from the holder 36.

Further, the casing 80 surrounding the first cleaning device 52 is removed, and the brush 82 is attached to the chuck 58a at the lower end of the brush attachment shaft 58. Then, the air cylinder 84 provided at the position indicated by the symbol A is operated so as to pull out the lower punch 34 from the mortar 30 as shown in FIG. A short guide 86 is fixed to the tip of the piston rod of the air cylinder 84, and in the state shown in FIG. It is located in guide 86
is provided with a claw portion 86a that locks the enlarged diameter portion 34a at the lower end of the lower punch 34, and by retracting the rod of the air cylinder 84, the lower punch 34 is pulled out from the mortar 30 as shown in Fig. 3. be able to. In addition, the guides 86, 8
8 constitutes the first part of the guide 40.

With the lower punch 34 pulled out from the mortar 30 as shown in FIG. 3, the motor 56 is operated to rotate the brush 82,
This rotating brush 82 is inserted into the mortar 30 through the holder 36. (After inserting the brush 82 into the mortar 30,
It may be rotated. ) As shown in FIG. 4, the bristles 82a on the side of the brush 82 are
The size is such that it can slide on the inner peripheral surface of the brush 82.
Due to the rotation, the inner circumferential surface of the mortar 30 is sufficiently rubbed and cleaned. Further, in the upper part of the brush 82, another hair 8 is provided.
0b is provided, and this hair 80b is attached to the upper punch holder 36.
Clean the inner circumferential surface. Furthermore, the bristles 80c at the tip of the brush 82 clean the upper end surface (tablet forming surface) of the lower punch 34.

As is clear from FIG. 4, when performing this cleaning, a cover 90 is placed, and the upper part of the lower punch 34 and the mortar 30 are
Enclose the upper part of. This cover 90 has a duct 9
2 are connected in series, and an exhaust fan and a dust collector (not shown) are provided on the downstream side of the duct 92. Furthermore,
The cover 90 is provided with an air blowing nozzle 94 for blowing air toward the lower punch 34. By blowing out air from the nozzle 94, the cleaning efficiency of the lower punch 34 can be increased.

Furthermore, by sucking the air inside the cover 90 through the duct 92, powder scattered during cleaning can be collected without being dispersed to the surroundings. One mortar 30 and lower pestle 34
After the cleaning of the upper end surface is completed, the rotary disk 26 is rotated to send the cleaned mortar 30 and lower punch 34 toward position B, and receive the uncleaned mortar 30 and lower punch 34 in their place.

After cleaning the upper end surfaces of all dies 30 and lower punches 34 as shown in FIG. 4, the motor 56 is pulled up along the guide biller 54, and then the brush 82 is
Remove from 8a. After that, the cover 80 is attached, and the upper punch 3
By installing 2, new raw materials can be formed into tablets.

Next, a cleaning mechanism for the outer circumferential surface of the lower punch 34 at the position indicated by the symbol B will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 95 indicates an air cylinder for pushing up the lower punch 34. A busher 95a that comes into contact with the lower end of the lower punch 34 is fixed to the tip of the piston rod of the air cylinder 95. When the piston rod of the air cylinder 95 is projected, the lower punch 34 is pushed up via the button 95a.

Conversely, when the piston rod of the air cylinder 95 is moved backward, the busher 95a descends with the hook portion 95A of the busher 95a (see FIG. 2) hooking the enlarged diameter portion 34a of the lower punch 34. The lower pestle 34 is pulled down.

In FIG. 5, the second cleaning device 96 includes a casing 98, a bearing device 100 provided in the casing 98, a rotating shaft 102 pivotally supported by the bearing device 100,
It includes a downward dish-shaped brush holder 104 fixed to the lower end of the rotating shaft 102, a brush 106 attached to the inner peripheral surface of the brush holder 104, and the like. The rotating shaft 102
A sprocket wheel 108 is fixed to the sprocket wheel 108, and a chain 110 suspended from the wheel 108 is passed over to a drive side sprocket wheel 112. This drive side subrocket wheel 112 can be rotated by a motor 114.

Note that a partition 116 is provided to cover the drive portion consisting of the subrocket wheels 108, 112, chain 110, etc., and a duct 118 for discharging air from the lower surface of the partition 116 is connected to the casing 98. ing. An exhaust fan and a dust collector (not shown) are also installed on the downstream side of this duct 118.

After the lower punch 34 has been moved to position B, the air cylinder 95 is operated to cause the tip of the lower punch 34 to protrude from the upper surface of the mortar 30. A second cleaning device is placed in advance at position B, and the tip of the lower punch 34 is inserted between the brushes 106.

In this state, the motor 114 of the second cleaning device 96
When activated, the rotating shaft 102 rotates and the brush 106
rotates. The bristles 120 of the brush 106 are planted in the horizontal radial direction, and the tips of the bristles 120 are configured to rub against the outer peripheral surface of the upper end of the lower punch 34. Therefore, by rotating the brush 106, the outer peripheral surface of the upper end of the lower punch 34 can be cleaned.

Dust generated by this cleaning is sucked and discharged from the duct 118. After the cleaning at position B is completed as described above, the piston rod of the air cylinder 95 is moved back, and the lower punch 34 is lowered. Next, the rotary disk 36 is rotated, the cleaned lower punch 34 is sent out, and the uncleaned lower punch 34 is received.

After the cleaning by the cleaning device 96 shown in FIG. 5 is completed, the cleaning device 96 can be taken out of the tablet molding apparatus to carry out the next step of tablet molding the raw material.

In the above embodiment, a total of 33 upper punches 32, lower punches 34, and dies 30 are provided on the rotary disk 26, and for all the upper punch holders 36, lower punches 34, and dies 30, Cleaning is performed by the second cleaning devices 52 and 96. After this cleaning is completed, the tablet molding process using the next raw material is started.

Brushes 82, 106 used in the above embodiments
is an example of a brush that can be used in the present invention, and brushes other than those described above can also be used in the present invention. 7 and 8 are a side view and a perspective view showing an example of such a brush 82.

In FIGS. 6 to 8, (a) is a side view, and (b) is a perspective view of the tip of the brush. Of course, it is clear that the present invention can also be used with brushes other than these.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above embodiments, according to the tablet molding device of the present invention, the cleaning operation of the punch and die when changing the raw material powder can be continuously automated to a considerable extent, and the cleaning operation when changing the raw material powder can be continuously automated. It is possible to improve the operating efficiency of the device by shortening the working time, and also to reduce the labor cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a tablet forming device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side development view of the same device, Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the main part of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the operation of the cleaning device, FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the second cleaning device, and FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 are configuration diagrams of the brush. 10...Main shaft, 26...Rotary disk, 30...
- Mortar, 32...upper pestle, 34...lower pestle, 52...
- First cleaning device, 82... Brush, 96... Second cleaning device, 106... Brush.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) It has a mortar having an inner hole passing through it, and an upper punch and a lower punch that fit into the mortar, and these mortar, upper punch, and lower punch are held on a rotary disk that is rotated by a drive device. , a tablet manufacturing device that moves a punch up and down by a punch drive mechanism and compresses raw material between an upper punch and a lower punch inside the inner hole of the die to form a tablet, wherein the tablet is freely inserted into and withdrawn from the inner hole; A tablet manufacturing device comprising a cleaning device including a brush for rubbing the circumferential surface of the holes and a rotating device for the brush. (2) It has a mortar having a penetrating inner hole, and an upper punch and a lower punch that fit into the mortar, and these mortar, upper punch, and lower punch are held on a rotary disk that is rotated by a drive device. , a tablet manufacturing device that moves the punch up and down by a punch drive mechanism and compresses the raw material between an upper punch and a lower punch inside the inner hole of the die to form a tablet, the punch drive mechanism is a tip of the lower punch; can be protruded from the upper surface of the mortar, and the tablet manufacturing device is equipped with a brush for rubbing the side surface of the tip of the lower pestle protruding from the upper surface of the mortar, and a cleaning device equipped with a rotating device for the brush. Manufacturing equipment.