JPH04269196A - Medicine preparation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the cut residue of a tablet sheet at the intersection of a punch part in the longitudinal direction and that in the cross direction by cutting a tablet sheet so that the punch part in the longitudinal direction punched by a longitudinal blade and that in the cross direction punched by a cross blade are crossed at the intersection of the respective punch part. CONSTITUTION:A longitudinal blade run along the longitudinal direction of a tablet sheet A, B, C, a cross blade orthogonal with the longitudinal direction of the tablet sheet A, B, C and a driving mechanism for punch driving the longitudinal and cross blades are provided. Then, the tablet sheet A, B, C are cut so that the punch part 7 in the longitudinal direction punched by the longitudinal blade and the punch part 8 in the cross direction punched by the cross blade are crossed at the intersection of the respective punch part.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a dispensing device, and particularly to a dispensing device.
This invention relates to a dispensing device that automatically dispenses a predetermined number of predetermined tablets, including a fraction of the tablet sheet, based on a preset program from a blister-packed tablet sheet called a TP (pass-through package) tablet sheet.

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, dispensing work in pharmacies such as hospitals has been carried out manually by pharmacists and the like, and the frequency of dispensing various tablets containing inner capsules of these drugs is increasing. This tablet is called a PTP tablet sheet, and it is a packaging format in which the tablet side is pressed to break the aluminum sheet at the bottom and take out the tablet. Generally, 10 or more tablets are packed in one sheet. Supplied in sheet form.

[0003] Pharmacists dispense this PTP tablet sheet to patients based on a doctor's prescription, but especially in general hospitals with a wide range of medical fields, there are many types of tablets that can be taken out at any time. There are more than 600 types, and not only do they require storage space, but the task of dispensing drugs based on prescriptions is extremely taxing both mentally and physically.

[0004] Therefore, one of the co-applicants of the present application has filed an application for a ``blister package removal device'' to provide a proposal for automating dispensing. If this proposal is organized in accordance with the language of the present application, it will consist of a case shelf partitioned into multiple stages vertically and horizontally, and a tablet case that is accommodated in the case shelf and has a remainder storage section that accommodates fractions of tablet sheets. , a discharge box disposed on the side surface of the case shelf, an XY carriage for moving vertically and horizontally on the front surface of the case shelf, and a head device installed on the XY carriage; a) the head device is connected to the case; a positioning mechanism for positioning with respect to the shelf;
b) a cutter device having vertical and horizontal blades for cutting off fractions of the tablet sheet; c) a vacuum pump holding device to prevent the tablet sheet from moving during cutting; and d) a gripping device for gripping the edges of the tablet sheet. and e) a Z-shape for gripping the tablet sheet with a gripping device and moving it in the Z direction to take out the tablet sheet from the tablet case and return it to the remaining number storage section after cutting the tablet sheet into fractions.
A dispensing device comprising a carriage and f) a box portion having an opening/closing mechanism for dropping or holding the taken-out tablet sheet, which is mounted on a head device, and which opens a tablet case based on a command from a control device. Take out the tablet sheet from the tablet, cut off the fractions using the cutter device of the head device, return the tablets to the remaining number storage section after cutting the fractions, temporarily store them in the box section of the head device, and place the head device on the side of the case shelf. This dispensing device moves onto a dispensing box disposed in the dispensing box and operates an opening/closing mechanism to drop the dispensed tablet sheet into the discharging box.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-mentioned dispensing device, as shown in FIG. 27, the cutting blade 801 for cutting the tablet sheet is L-shaped. The tablet sheet was cut by being moved in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper. Then, the cutting blade 801 rotates 180 degrees around the rotation center 801a, moves to the position shown by the two-dot chain line, and is moved again in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper, thereby making a crank-shaped cut as shown in the drawing. I was treated like that. Therefore, there is a problem in that it is difficult to cut tablet sheets having different tablet pitches P in the longitudinal direction, and many types of tablet sheets cannot be cut.

[0006] One method for solving this problem is, for example, to provide a cutter device for cutting fractions of tablets with a vertical blade that runs along the longitudinal direction of the tablet sheet and a horizontal blade that runs perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tablet sheet. It is conceivable that the vertical blade and the horizontal blade can be used to independently cut in the vertical direction and cut in the horizontal direction. Specifically, the tablet sheet is first moved by the X-direction and Z-direction carriages to a position where the vertical cutting line is directly below the vertical blade, punched out by the vertical blade, and then,
It is moved by the X direction and Z direction carriages to a position where the horizontal cutting line is directly below the horizontal blade, and punched out by the horizontal blade.

However, in the above-mentioned cutting operation, the punching operations of the vertical blade and the horizontal blade are completely independent, so the end of the vertical punching part and the end of the horizontal punching part are connected to the vertical and horizontal cutting lines. If you set it so that it touches the intersection of
Due to slight errors in direction and Z direction carriage movement,
It is possible that uncut portions of the tablet sheet may be left behind, making it impossible to reliably cut the tablet sheet.

Therefore, the dispensing device of the present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a dispensing device that can reliably cut tablet sheets without leaving any uncut portions. There is a particular thing.

[0009]

[Means to solve the problem] and

[Operation] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the purpose, the dispensing device of the present invention includes a case shelf provided in a frame body and partitioned into multiple vertical and horizontal stages; A tablet case base, a storage part that is detachably attached to the tablet case base, a case part that is provided in the storage part and can be adjusted according to the dimensions of the tablet sheet, and a case part that stores a fraction of the tablet sheet. a tablet case comprising a remaining number storage section and a take-out mechanism section for taking out the tablet sheet to the outside; an X carriage device provided in the frame housing; a Y carriage device provided in the X carriage device; a head device that is provided to be driven in the vertical and longitudinal directions of the carriage device and is moved along the front side of the case shelf; a press that is mounted on the head device and presses the take-out mechanism; a mechanism; a gripping device for gripping the edge of the tablet sheet taken out by the pressing mechanism; and a gripping device for gripping by the gripping device and moving in the Z direction to take out the tablet sheet from the tablet case. a Z carriage device mounted thereon; a first drop lid having an opening/closing mechanism for dropping or holding the tablet sheet moved in the Z direction; and a first drop lid having an opening/closing mechanism for dropping or holding the tablet sheet moved in the Z direction; a box for temporarily storing a tablet sheet; a second drop-lid having an opening/closing mechanism provided at the bottom of the box; a punching mechanism part provided in the frame housing body for cutting out fractions of the tablet sheet; a cutter device comprising a holding mechanism that holds the tablet sheet so that it does not move during punching; and a sweeper mechanism that sweeps away the fractions after cutting and drops them to the lower part; located below the cutter device; and a discharge box located below the second drop-off lid after the head device is moved; a third drop-off lid that can be opened and closed at the bottom of the discharge box; A dispensing device comprising: a conveyor device in which a box is disposed and has a conveyance mechanism; and a drive control device connected to each of the devices and mechanisms, wherein the cutter device extends along the longitudinal direction of the tablet sheet. The tablet sheet is provided with a vertical blade, a horizontal blade that runs perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tablet sheet, and a drive mechanism for driving the vertical blade and the horizontal blade to punch, and the tablet sheet is punched in the vertical direction by the vertical blade. and the horizontal punched portion punched out by the horizontal blade are cut so as to intersect at the intersection of the respective punched portions, so that the vertical punched portion and the horizontal punched portion are It works to ensure that there is no uncut portion of the tablet sheet at the intersection of the two.

0010

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the dispensing device will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. (Overall Configuration) FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a dispensing device according to an embodiment, and the front left side of the device is partially cut away due to space constraints.

In FIG. 1, the entire dispensing device has a substantially U-shaped planar projection shape, and each component described below is constructed by welding and screwing angle members etc. By attaching a cover member (not shown) to the frame 100 in a removable manner from the outside, the external dimensions can be reduced to 1.8 m in height and 1 m in width.
．． It is 8m long and 1.2m deep, reducing the occupied floor space.

A total of 140 tablet cases 200 are placed on case shelves 105 provided on opposite sides of the U-shaped frame 100 as shown in the figure.
However, in the case of standard specifications) is provided in a detachable manner. A large number of the above-mentioned PTP tablets are stored in these tablet cases 200 in a vertically stacked manner. As shown in the figure, the case shelves 105 are arranged in five levels vertically, and on these case shelves 105 there are binaries for inserting and setting the pill cases 200 in predetermined positions to prevent incorrect insertion. A pin that constitutes a value is provided, and by matching with a groove provided in the tablet case 200, it is possible to reliably prevent incorrect insertion.

[0013]Although these tablet cases 200 are inserted and fixed into predetermined positions on the case shelf 105 from the outside of the device, only the case portion described below that can be attached to and detached from the tablet case 200 after being fixed is attached. By making it possible to remove a predetermined PTP tablet sheet, it is possible to replenish a predetermined PTP tablet sheet. The configuration of this tablet case 200 will be described later.

The tablet case 200 configured as described above allows the user to attach and detach all the tablet cases 200 by opening and closing the sliding door 101 that can be opened laterally on the outside of the frame 100. As shown in the figure, the tablets are arranged adjacent to each other without any gaps, making it possible to accommodate the maximum number of tablets. Further, a door switch 119 is provided at the lower edge of the sliding door 101, and monitors the opening/closing state of the sliding door to prevent operation of the device in the open state.

Next, heads 400 are provided on the mutually opposing side surfaces of the case shelf 105, which are driven along the side surfaces in the X and Y arrow directions in the figure. In order to make the head 400 movable vertically and horizontally, the head 400 is made vertically movable along the Y rail 303 provided below the XY carriage 300, while the XY carriage 300 is moved from the ceiling of the frame 100. It is guided by an X rail 302 provided in the section.

Therefore, the Y carriage motor 301 that drives the head 400 in the vertical direction is replaced by the XY carriage 30.
The X-carriage motor 305 that drives the XY-carriage 300 in the direction of the X arrow is mounted on the frame 10.
It is fixed to the right end of 0. Case shelf 1 like this
05, the head 400 is moved vertically and horizontally.
A chucking claw, which will be described later, is provided, and after the head 400 moves to a position facing a predetermined tablet case 200, the claw inside the head 400 moves in the direction of the Z arrow in the figure to move the tablet from the tablet case 200 as described above. The PTP tablet prepared is taken out and stored in a storage section provided below the head 400.

While maintaining this state, the head 400 is moved directly above the discharge box 601 located on the right side of the figure, and the PTP tablet is dropped into the discharge box 601. A third drop lid 602, which will be described later, is provided at the bottom of the discharge box 601, and the PTP tablets are dropped onto the conveyor 300 by sliding the third drop lid 602. This conveyor 300 is capable of conveying PTP tablets in the front-rear direction in the figure, and conveys the PTP tablets to a first tablet take-out box 603 in the front or a second tablet take-out box 605 in the rear, and drops them.

With the above configuration operation, the tablet case 20
The PTP tablets selected within 0 are transported to the first tablet take-out box 603 and handed to the patient, while the PTP tablets transported to the second tablet take-out box 605 at the rear are not compatible with the prescription. This prevents accidents from being treated as defective and not being given to patients. Next, the PTP tablets to be taken out from the tablet case 200 are stored in a plurality of overlapping sheets each containing, for example, 10 tablets, and the PTP tablets are taken out with a nail as described above. However, for example, when dispensing 3 PTP tablets per day for one week, it is necessary to take out 3 x 7 = 21 tablets, which means that it is necessary to cut out 1 tablet from a sheet of 10 tablets. occurs.

In the figure, the cutter 500 provided at an intermediate height on the right side of the frame 100 is provided for cutting the above-mentioned required number of tablets from the PTP tablet sheet, and its configuration will be described later. As shown in the figure, one unit is disposed at each position along the side surface formed by the five case shelves 105. The above-mentioned discharge box 601 is located below the cutter 500, and the cutter 500
The tablets cut by 0 are dropped into the discharge box 601.

Further, the remaining portion of the PTP tablet sheet from which the fraction has been cut is returned to the remaining number storage section provided at the bottom of the dispensing case 200, and the remaining number is determined by the type of PTP tablet, placement position, It is stored together with information on the number of objects in a storage unit of a control terminal device, which will be described later. A drawer-type controller 700 is provided below the case shelf 105 of the frame 100, and controls the drive of each component described later based on a control command from a control terminal device.

Here, in the explanation of the above-mentioned dispensing device based on FIG.
Although we have described an example of a configuration in which two case shelves 105 are provided, in order to prevent the entire device from falling down,
There is no need to provide two rows of rows, and one row may be sufficient. By the way,
The configuration in which two rows of case shelves 105 are arranged in parallel follows the configuration of conventional prescription case shelves manually constructed by pharmacists, and can be used without any discomfort by pharmacists who are accustomed to conventional prescription case shelves. This takes into consideration the installation area. Here, the case shelves 105 are not limited to two rows,
Of course, by arranging more tablets in parallel and communicating with each other via the conveyor 600, more tablets can be handled. (Explanation of each type of PTP tablet sheet) Figure 2 is a plan view of each type of PTP tablet sheet.
A PTP tablet sheet A having a vertical perforation 4, a horizontal perforation 3, and an ear 2, and a PTP tablet sheet A having a vertical perforation 4, a horizontal perforation 3, and an ear 2; A PTP tablet sheet B having 21 tablets 5 and a PTP tablet sheet C having a vertical perforation 4 and a horizontal perforation 3 are respectively shown. .

These PTP tablet sheets A, B, and C are attached to the lower claw body 401, the upper right claw body 410, and the upper left claw body 4, which are chuck claws provided on the head 400 mentioned above.
12 respectively grasp the center position along the longitudinal direction. PTP tablet sheet A is convenient because the ears 2 can be gripped exactly, but PTP tablet sheet B does not have ears, so a small part of the edge of the sheet 1 can be gripped with a claw as shown in the figure. The handle must be gripped by the edges, but as shown in the figure, only a small amount of the edge is gripped.

In addition, as shown in the figure, the PTP tablet sheet C generally has a large ear 2, and in many cases the tablet name and manufacturing company name are printed on this portion. Similarly, the center portion of the PTP tablet sheet C is gripped by the claws. The PT gripped by the claw body in this way
If the P tablet sheet does not need to be cut into fractions, it is sent to the first tablet ejection box 603 via the ejection box 601 as described above.
transported to another location.

On the other hand, when cutting out, for example, only one tablet part 5 from the PTP tablet sheet A, after punching out the vertical cut part 7 along the vertical perforation part 4 as shown in the figure, a horizontal perforation machine is used. A transverse part 8 is punched out along the eye part 3. As shown in the figure, the vertical cut portion 7 and the transverse portion 8 are punched out in excess at their intersections to ensure that the punching is performed reliably.

In addition, when cutting out four tablet parts 5 from the PTP tablet sheet B, it is necessary to punch out the horizontal parts 8 at one time along the horizontal perforations 3 as shown in the figure. The cut portion 8 has a sufficient overall length. And P before punching
When cutting seven tablet parts 5 from the TP tablet sheet C as shown in the figure, after punching out the vertical cut parts 7 along the vertical perforations 4 as shown in the figure, cut out the horizontal perforations 3. The cross section 8 is punched out twice along the lines so that the gripping state can be maintained.

Furthermore, when cutting off the PTP tablet sheet C, leaving only one tablet part 5 as shown in the figure,
After gripping with the lower claw body 401, the upper right claw body 410, and the upper left claw body 412 as shown in the solid line diagram, and punching out the vertical cutting part 7 along the vertical perforation part 4 with a cutter described later,
A horizontal portion 8 is punched out along the horizontal perforation 3. After this, only the right upper claw body 410 is independently separated from the lower claw body 401 and is gripped only by the lower claw body 401 and the left upper claw body 412, and moved in the Z direction in the figure to remove one tablet part 5. While grasping only the tablet portion 5 remaining on the cutter, the tablet portion 5 remaining on the cutter is removed by a sweeper of the cutter, which will be described later. Next, the lower nail body 401
Then, the upper right claw body 410 and the upper left claw body 412 are moved to the positions shown by broken lines and gripped again.

As described above, the punching order is such that the tablet part 5 does not fall off from the PTP tablet sheet, and
Consideration has been taken to enable punching even when the number of tablet parts 5 remaining from the PTP tablet sheet becomes small and the claws are at a position where they interfere with the punching part of the cutter 500. (Structure of upper and lower claw bodies) (a) in Figure 3 shows the upper and lower claw bodies and PTP.
It is an external perspective view of a tablet sheet, and is the above-mentioned head 400.
The lower claw body 401, the upper right claw body 410, and the upper left claw body 412 for chucking are moved in the Z arrow direction in the figure to grasp the ear part 2 of the PTP tablet sheet A from above and below. I have to.

[0028] Here, since the PTP tablet sheet A tends to warp toward the tablet 5 side during heat packing,
For this correction, the lower claw parts 403 and 405 of the lower claw body 401
In the figure (
It is best to make it slightly inclined as shown in the side view of b). The upper right claw body 410 is driven independently with respect to the lower claw body 401, the claw portion 411 of the upper right claw body 410 which is the left upper claw body 412 and is the other side for gripping, and the claw portion of the upper left claw body 412. 413 is also formed with a slight inclination in the shape of a "V".

The lower claw portion 403 of the lower claw body 401 described above,
An opening 402 is formed between the openings 405 to allow the PTP tablet sheet to sufficiently penetrate into the cutter 500 when punching out the vertical cut portion 7 with the cutter 500.
It is also possible to sufficiently sneak into the tablet case 200 when returning the remaining portion to the tablet case 200. A hole 406 is bored in the lower claw portion 405 of the lower claw body 401 configured as described above, and a light receiving/emitting sensor 407 is built therein, making it possible to detect the grip state.

With the upper and lower claws configured as described above, the PTP tablet sheet which has a tendency to warp on the side of the tablet portion 5 can be flattened, the gripping state can be detected, and the upper claw can be driven independently. After punching out a fraction from the tablet sheet, it can be grasped if it is not possible to grasp it with both claws. (Structure of a tablet case) FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a tablet case, in which one of the many tablet cases 200 fixed to the case shelf 105 of the frame 100 is connected to the upper right claw body 410,
It is a diagram showing the upper left claw body 412 and the lower claw body 401 together so that the mutual positional relationship can be seen.

In this figure, a tablet case 200 is composed of a mounting base 201 fixed on a case shelf 105, and a case portion 202 that is slidable in the longitudinal direction of this mounting base 201 and is detachable. , PTP tablet sheets A, B, C, . . . explained in FIG. 2 are placed inside the case portion 202.
are stored one on top of the other. Further, inside the mounting base 201, a remaining number storage section 203 for storing the remaining number of PTP tablet sheets described above is provided with an opening toward the claw body as shown in the figure. ing.

As explained based on FIG. 1, since the tablet cases 200 are mounted on the case shelf 105 so as to be adjacent to each other without any gaps, the side surfaces of the mounting base 201 and the case portion 202, which are the side surfaces of the tablet case 200, are flush as shown. In addition, since they are mounted adjacent to each other without any gaps in this way, the stopper 106 having a circular flange portion provided for fixing one end of the mounting base 201 to the case shelf 105 can be mounted as shown in the figure. It is hung at the semicircular part so that each can be used for two cars. The other end of this mounting base 201 is the sliding door 101 described above.
A pair of knurled screws 209 are provided on the left and right in the part that can be operated by opening and closing.
Both ends of the mounting base 201 are fixed to the case shelf 105 by screwing them into the female screw portions 108 shown in broken lines of a fixing bar 107 which also serves as reinforcement and which is fixed to the case shelf 105.

The case shelves 105 for fixing the mounting base 201 in this way are arranged in five levels vertically as described above, and on these case shelves 105, there are no tablet cases 20.
A predetermined combination of the eight pins 106 shown by broken lines constituting a binary value for making it possible to mount 0 in a predetermined position is provided, and the bottom member 223 of the remaining number storage section 203 of the mounting base 201 is provided. By matching the groove 215 formed in the groove 215, it is possible to reliably prevent incorrect attachment.

[0034] Also, the bottom member 223 of the remaining number storage section 203
A pair of width regulating members 204 are provided on the top, which can be adjusted to match the width dimension of the PTP tablet sheet and then fixed, while pressing and holding the tablet part 5 of the PTP tablet sheet from above with a light force. An elastic spring 207 is provided from the ceiling of the remaining number storage section 203. Next, as explained in FIG. 2, the PTP tablet sheets A, B, C, ... each have different external dimensions including height, but the external dimensions of the tablet case 200 are all made the same and injection is performed. Since the PTP tablet sheet is manufactured in large quantities by molding, etc., the case portion 202, which accommodates the PTP tablet sheet from the upper part indicated by the arrow D2 in FIG. 4, can be adjusted to match the external dimensions of the PTP tablet sheet. , and is structured to be detachable from the mounting base 201 described above.

That is, as shown in FIG.
Grooves 230 are formed in the base member 210 of 02, and by matching with pins (not shown) fixed on the mounting base 201, the above-mentioned case shelf 105 and the mounting base 201 are matched. This method also prevents incorrect insertion. On the bottom surface of the base member 210 of the case portion 202, a latched portion that is latched to a sliding latching member (not shown) provided on the mounting base 201 is fixed, while the illustrated stopper portion 211 is fixed to the bottom surface of the base member 210 of the case portion 202. A lock 208 affixed to member 210 holds it in the position shown.

Next, although the PTP tablet sheets A, B, C, etc. explained in FIG. A pair of width regulating members 213 are provided inside the illustrated outer wall body 212 having the body 210 as a base. These width regulating members 213 are fixed by screws 216 inserted into elongated holes drilled in the front wall body 214. After loosening these screws 216, the width regulating members 212 are inserted into the PTP tablet shell. By providing a gap in the width of the sheet and fixing it, the width direction of all PTP tablet sheets can be regulated. In addition, in order to regulate the longitudinal direction of the PTP tablet sheet, the front wall 214 regulates the front end portion of the PTP tablet sheet including the ears 2, while the rear end is placed on the base member 210 in the longitudinal direction. It is regulated by an integrated rod body 224 and a rod base 225 that are movable in the direction.

This integrated body can be adjusted by tightening a screw 216 in the figure, so that the longitudinal direction of all PTP tablet sheets can be regulated. Further, at the center of the rod base 225, a take-out portion 2 of a take-out member 205, which will be described later, is provided.
A recess 233 into which PTP tablet sheet 06 is inserted is formed so that the PTP tablet sheet placed on the lowest stage can be taken out from an opening 220 opened below the front wall body 214. On the other hand, a tongue body 218 is provided above the opening 220 of the front wall body 214 so as to be freely adjustable in the vertical direction with a screw 216, and once the height of the tablet portion 5 of the PTP tablet sheet is regulated. The two PTP tablet sheets are prevented from being ejected at the same time.

A rear wall 226 is integrally hung on the side of the base member 210 opposite to the front wall 214 as shown in the figure, and a handle 22 fixed to the rear wall 226 is attached to the rear wall 226.
7 in the direction of arrow D1, the lock 208 is released and the case portion 202 is taken out. after that,
A predetermined number of PTP tablet sheets are stored in the case portion 202 from the direction of arrow D2.

Next, in order to push out the PTP tablet sheet located at the lowest stage from the opening 220 toward the upper and lower claw bodies, the ejecting member 205 is provided with a portion protruding from the remaining number storage section 203. The ejecting member 205 is pressed by a pin 436 of a pusher 435 provided on the above-mentioned head 400.

[0040] This take-out member 205 is attached to the remaining number storage section 20.
The return spring 22 is movable in the longitudinal direction of 3.
9, the remaining number storage section 2 is placed in the position shown in the figure.
A portion protrudes from 03, and its position is regulated by a stopper (not shown). This take-out member 20
A take-out part 206 integrally formed at the rear end of the take-out member 205 is adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the take-out member 205.
It is possible to adjust the longitudinal direction of the PTP tablet sheet.

When the ejecting member 205 described above is pressed by the pusher 435 mounted on the head 400, the ejecting portion 206 retreats into the recess 233, and as a result, the PTP tablet cylinder located at the lowest stage is removed. - The tray falls under its own weight, and its rear end catches the take-out portion 206. After this, when the pusher 435 is retracted from the take-out member 205, the take-out member 205 returns to its original position due to the action of the return spring 229 provided on the take-out member 205. Since the rear end of the PTP tablet sheet is hooked, the above-mentioned ear portion 2 of the PTP tablet sheet will now come out from the opening 220.

[0042] As described above, the PTP tablet sheets located at the lowest stage are sequentially fed out from the opening 220, so the upper and lower claws grasp the ears 2, etc., and proceed to the next process. . Above the front wall 214 is a square marker 22.
2 and a right-angled triangular marker 221 are painted or printed, and these are detected by a position detection sensor mounted on the head 400 to determine the relative position of the head 400 with respect to the tablet case 200. (Configuration of XY Carriage) Next, FIG. 5 is a side view of the XY carriage 310 schematically explained in FIG. It is a diagram.

In FIG. 5, an X-rail 302 is provided on the ceiling of the frame 100 described above, while the frame 1
A rail 360 is provided at the bottom of 00. These rails allow the XY carriage 3 to be
An arm 350 is fixed from below the XY carriage 310 for slidingly guiding the XY carriage 310, and a Y rail 303, which is shown in broken lines, is provided in the longitudinal direction of the arm 350.

A rotatable roller 352 is provided at the lower end of the arm 350, and as a result of this roller 352 being guided to the rail 360, the XY carriage 3
10 and the arm 350 are guided in the front and back directions of the page. Next, the head 400 is guided in the vertical direction by a rail 303, and one belt 320 is stretched as shown in the figure.
1. For this reason
A pulley 306 is fixed to the output shaft of the carriage motor 301, and a belt 30 is connected between the pulley 306 and the pulley 311.
7 is installed.

A pulley 311 is integrally fixed to the pulley 312, and a belt 308 is stretched between the pulley 311 and the pulley 313.
On the other hand, after the driving belt 320 of the head 400 is fixed at both ends by stoppers 321 as shown in the figure, its direction is changed by pulleys 315 and 316 which are rotatable on the sides of the head 400. It is stretched by a tension pulley 323 to prevent it from sagging.

Sensors 330 and 333 are provided at the upper and lower portions of the arm 350, and a sensor 332 is also provided at the intermediate portion, and the actuator 331 provided at the head 400 detects the vertical position of the head 400. It has a configuration that performs the following. The sensor 330 and sensor 333 detect the upper and lower limit positions, and the sensor 332 detects the initialization position of the head 400.

[0047] Furthermore, the tablet case 200 is disposed vertically as shown in the figure, and a PTP tablet sheet A is placed inside the tablet case 200.
, B, C, . . . are placed thereon, and the PTP tablet sheets A, B, C, . For these tablet cases 200, the upper and lower claws 401, 410 of the head 400,
412 moves to perform the gripping in FIG.

As can be seen from the above explanation, since the tablet case 200 is not provided with any sensors, there is no electrical connection between the tablet case 200 and a control section to be described later. FIG. 6 is a front view of the XY carriage 310 of FIG. 5, and also shows sensors. In this figure, an X rail 302 is provided on the ceiling of the frame 100, and an XY carriage 310 is slidably guided in the left-right direction. The above-mentioned arm 350 is fixed to this XY carriage 310, and the head 400 is attached to the rail 303.
It is guided in the vertical direction by and is driven vertically. As shown in the figure, a belt 376 is stretched around the XY carriage 310 and is driven by an X carriage motor 305 provided on the frame 100. For this purpose, the XY carriage 310 is provided with rotatable pulleys 377 and 378, but since the method of tensioning the belt 376 is substantially the same as the method shown in FIG. 5, it is only shown in the drawings and will not be described.

Next, in order to detect the position of the XY carriage 310, a sensor 391, a sensor 393, and a sensor 392 are provided on the left and right parts of the frame, and the actuator 390 provided on the XY carriage 310 detects the left and right position. It has a configuration that performs the following. The left and right limit positions are detected by the sensor 391 and the sensor 393, and the initialization position of the head 400 is detected by the sensor 392. (Structure of Head) FIG. 7 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the head. In this figure, the lower claw body 401 of the upper and lower claw bodies for gripping the PTP tablet sheet is located at the position indicated by the broken line in the figure. It is moved back and forth through the position shown by the solid line. On both sides of the lower claw body 401, a first right drop cover 468 and a first left drop cover 469 are rotatably driven around the shaft 465 to prevent the once gripped PTP tablet sheet from falling and to cut off the fraction. It is set up so that

[0050] The lower claw body 401 temporarily removes the first right-hand lid 4.
68 and the first left drop-off lid 469 when the PTP tablet sheet is drawn from the tablet case 200 and there is no need for the above-mentioned fractional punching in FIG.
68 and the first left drop lid 469 open downward to release the grip of the claws and drop the PTP tablet sheet into the box 477.

The first right drop lid 468 and the first left drop lid 4
69 is rotated approximately 90 degrees to drop the sheet.A bevel gear 463 is simultaneously meshed with a bevel gear 464 fixed to one end of each shaft 465. A lever 462 is fixed to a shaft that integrally connects these bevel gears 463, and transmits the driving force of a lever 461 of a rotary solenoid provided below the head 400 to the lever 462, and the shaft 465 A lock 467 is fixed to one side of the lock 467 for positioning the first right drop cover 468 and the first left drop cover 469.

[0052] At the bottom of the box 477, a second drop lid 470, indicated by broken lines and solid lines in the figure, is disposed with one end rotatably supported, and a bracket 473 is integrally provided with the second drop lid 470. A spring 471 tensioned between the box 477 and the head 400 holds the box 477 in the position shown in solid lines, and normally forms the bottom cover of the box 477. This second drop lid 470 is connected to the arm 4 of a rotary solenoid 475 provided below the cutter 500 in FIG.
The rotational movement of the bracket 79 is transmitted to the bracket 473 and moved to the position shown by the broken line. As a result, the PTP tablet sheets A, B, and C dropped into the box 477 are dropped downward as shown in the figure.

Next, the carriage mechanism for driving the upper and lower pawl bodies in the Z arrow direction between the solid line and the broken line in the figure is such that the Z carriage 456 is guided in the longitudinal direction of the Z rail 457, while the Z rail A pulley 455 and a pulley 453 are provided above both ends of the belt 457, and an endless belt 454 is stretched between them. A portion of the endless belt 454 is fixed to the Z carriage 456, while the pulley 453 has a pulley 453 at one end.
A shaft 452 to which 51 is fixed is fixed.

On the other hand, a Z-carriage motor 448 such as a stepping motor is provided at the bottom of the head 400, and by tensioning a belt 450 between a pulley 449 and a pulley 451 fixed to the output shaft of the Z-carriage motor 448, Z
The rotational driving force of the carriage motor 448 is transferred to the Z carriage 4.
56. In the head 400 described above, the above-mentioned Y rail 303 and belt 320 are provided on one side as shown in the figure, but by configuring it in this way, there are no obstructive members and each part can be easily approached. I'm trying to make it possible.

FIG. 8 is an external perspective view of the head, showing a configuration in which the upper claw body is driven independently with respect to the lower claw body 401. In FIGS. 8 and 3, the upper right claw body 410 and the upper left claw body 412, which are driven independently with respect to the lower claw body 401, are fixed to the lower end of a plunger 428 that is guided vertically independently by a plunger guide 429. has been done.

These plunger guides 429 are mounted and fixed on the above-mentioned Z carriage 456, and a right solenoid 420 and a left solenoid 421, which are arranged in parallel with these and drive the plunger 428 downward, are installed as shown in the figure. Further loading has been fixed. A coil spring 423 is fixed to the upper end of the plunger 421 of these solenoids, while the other end of the coil spring 423 is connected to an arm 424 whose one end is rotatably supported by a bracket 425 fixed on the Z-carriage. It's attached to a pin. A pin 426 is fixed to the rotating tip of this arm 424, and this pin 426 is connected to the plunger 42 mentioned above.
8, the bracket 427 is pressed downward.

With the above configuration, the upper right claw 410 and the upper left claw 412 are appropriately driven independently of the lower claw 401 to grip a PTP tablet sheet. Next, the tablet case 20
In order to take out the PTP tablet sheet from the opening 220 of
It has a configuration that is moved in the longitudinal direction of 0. For this purpose, a shaft 437 is provided vertically at both ends of the pusher 435, and these are slidably guided by a guide 438, and a hook member 434 is fixed in the middle of the shaft 437.

An arm 434 of a rotary solenoid 440 is hooked to this hook member 434, and when the rotary solenoid 440 is energized, the arm 439 is rotated in the direction of arrow D3 in the figure, and the pusher 435 is rotated. The pin 436 fixed at the center is moved to the position shown by the broken line. Further, a nail protection plate 432 is provided on the upper part of the pusher 435, which has a notch into which the upper nail body penetrates, and prevents fingers from getting into the nail protection plate 432.

Next, a sensor 444 for detecting the marks 221 and 222 on the tablet case 200 described above and a sensor 442 are provided on the upper surface of the head 400 to position the head 400 relative to the tablet case 200. That's what I do. FIG. 9 is a layout diagram of the sensors of the head 400. In this figure, an actuator 480 is fixed to the Z carriage 456. Further, sensors 482, 481, 487, and 483 are provided on the head side as shown, and the position of the Z carriage 456 is detected by an actuator 480.

The above-mentioned sensors 482 and 483 detect the movement limit position, while the sensor 487 detects the movement of the Z carriage 456 at the time of initialization to start deceleration, and the sensor 481 stops it. On the other hand, an actuator 484 and a sensor 485 detect the rotational state of the first right drop lid 468, and an actuator 488 and a sensor 487 detect the open/close state of the second drop lid 470.
are also provided as shown.

Further, a presence/absence sensor 486 for detecting whether or not a PTP tablet sheet is present in the box 477 is provided on the wall of the box 477. Also, box 4
A sensor 476 that is activated when the number of PTP tablet sheets dropped into the PTP tablet sheet 77 becomes full is provided above the presence/absence sensor 486. Next, FIG. 10 is a layout diagram of the sensors of the head 400, and explains the sensors of the portion explained in FIG. 8. In this figure, Z carriage 45
An actuator 494 is attached to the plunger integrally provided with a pawl to control the drive of the solenoids 420 and 421 of No. 6.
, 496 are fixed. A light emitting section 489 and a light receiving element 490 such as a CCD are built into the sensor 444 to enable distance detection. Further, the sensor 442 also has a built-in light emitting section 491 to detect the marker on the tablet case 200. (Configuration of cutter) Next, based on Fig. 11, cutter 5
The configuration of 00 will be explained. FIG. 11 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the cutter, which is fixed to the frame 100 in FIG. It has three functions: a function to punch out the cross section 8 (FIG. 2), a function to hold it so that it does not move during punching, and a function to drop the fraction after punching into a discharge box via the shutter 535.

[0062] In order to provide these functions, the cutter 5
00 is formed in a square shape at each edge of the base plate 533 and the upper plate with a horizontal plate 527 interposed therebetween, as shown in the figure. On this upper plate 509, there is a cutter motor 515 which is a drive source for punching, and a belt 517 transmits the rotational force of the cutter motor 515 to a belt tensioner 5.
A flywheel 516, which is rotated in one direction at all times while the apparatus is in operation, is rotatably supported by a bearing body 520 fixed above to the upper plate 509.

A dog clutch 519 is provided on the rotating shaft of the flywheel 516, and the flywheel 51
A solenoid 521 is provided on the side surface of the bearing body 520 and is adapted to engage the dog clutch 519 during one rotation of the bearing body 520. On the other hand, as shown in the figure, an eccentric body 512 is fixed to the opposite side of the pivot shaft of the flywheel 516 from the dog clutch 519, and the amount of vertical and reciprocating movement corresponds to one rotation of the pivot shaft of the flywheel 516. is being converted to .

A shaft bracket 514 is fixed to this eccentric body 512 via a bracket 513. Since this shaft bracket 514 is fixed to a movable base 507 which is supported so as to be vertically movable via a pair of shafts 511 to a shaft bush 508 fixed to an upper plate 509, one of the flywheels 516 It constitutes a mechanism that converts the amount of rotation so that the movable base 507 moves in the direction of arrow D5 in the figure.

On the bottom surface of the movable base 507, there are a vertical blade 501 for punching out the vertical cutting part 7 in FIG. They are attached at a slight angle and can be detached from each other. The relative positioning is set accurately below the vertical blade 501 and the horizontal blade 503, so that the vertical blade 501 can penetrate into the vertical die hole 502, and the horizontal blade 503 can penetrate into the horizontal die hole 504. Dice 5 that can be played
05 is adjusted and fixed on a base plate 533 that serves as the base of the cutter.

[0066] In the space between the movable base 507 and the die 505, a retainer 506 is installed in the direction of arrow D5 in the figure in the same way as the movable base 507 to hold it so that it does not move when punching out fractions of the PTP tablet sheet. It is made movable and provided by a mechanism described later. Also, dice 50
The second head 400 of the head 400 described in FIG.
A rotary solenoid 475 that drives the drop lid 470 to open is provided to the frame 100 via a bracket, and the arm 479 acts as described above to open the second drop lid 470, thereby creating a PTP that does not require punching.
Drop the tablet sheet into the lower discharge box.

On the other hand, the movable base 507 and the dice 50 in the figure
Die 5 is placed on the left end of the space between 5 and 5 after punching.
A sweeper 510 is provided to move the fractional number of tablets remaining on the die 505 to the front right in the figure and drop them onto the shooter 535. Upper plate 5
A sweeper motor 525 is fixed to the right end of the sweeper 510 for driving the sweeper 510, and is capable of forward and reverse rotation and is decelerated via a gear head. Pulley 5 fixed to the output shaft of this sweeper motor 525
A belt 539 is stretched between the pulley 536 shown in broken lines and rotatably provided by a horizontal plate 527, and the driving force of the sweeper motor 525 is transferred to the pulley 536.
Power is transmitted to 36.

Next, FIG. 12 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the cutter 500, showing the drive structure of the retainer 506 and sweeper 510 of FIG. 11. In FIG. 12, a pair of shafts 531 are provided so as to span between the left and right horizontal plates 527, and these support the sweeper carriage 550 so as to be slidable in the longitudinal direction of arrow D7 in the figure. has been done. Sweeper carriage 550
Since a part of the belt 548 stretched between the pulley 536 and the pulley 547 is fixed between the left and right horizontal plates 527, the belt 548 can be driven back and forth by the sweeper motor 525. .

An L-shaped bracket 523 is fixed to the sweeper carriage 550 as shown in the figure, and the tablets on the die 505 are configured to fall into the shooter 535 as the sweeper carriage 550 moves. On the other hand, a retainer 506 holds the tablet against the die 505 side.
The guide shaft 55 is connected to the guide shaft 55 via a pair of bushes 546.
3 is fixed, and is supported by being inserted into a hole drilled in the upper plate 509 so as to obtain an upwardly movable biasing force by a return spring 554.

A rotary solenoid 5 is located on the back surface of the upper plate 509 at a portion sandwiched between the guide shafts 553.
52 is fixed, and this rotary solenoid 552
The illustrated arm 551 fixed to the retainer 5
06 is pressed to move the retainer 506 downward. This block 555 is supported by a pair of shafts fixed on the retainer 506 so as to be able to move up and down, and is provided via the illustrated return spring 556, so that the rotational driving force of the rotary solenoid 552 is Return spring 55
6 to the retainer 506 through the compressive force of arrow D8 in the figure.
Since the force is transmitted in the direction, the tablet can be held down while absorbing variations in the height dimension of the tablet.

This retainer 506 has the above-mentioned dice 5.
Openings 542 and 543 are formed at positions facing the vertical die hole 502 and the horizontal die hole 504 of 05 as shown in the figure, and the retainer 5 is formed when punching the tablet sheet.
06 is kept out of the way. Next, Figure 13
1 is an external perspective view of the cutter, and shows an installation diagram related to the sensor. In FIG. 13, the vertical blade 501 and the horizontal blade 503
The actuator 5 is located at the rear end of the movable base 507.
37 is provided, and the movement position of the movable base 507 is detected by detecting the actuator 537 by the sensor 538 provided on the above-mentioned upper plate 509.

On the other hand, below the vertical die hole 502 and the horizontal die hole 504 of the die 505, there is a trash can 540 for storing vertical waste 4a and horizontal waste 3a, which become sheet waste after punching, as indicated by the broken line in the figure. It is provided so that it can be freely removed after being moved to the desired position, so that sheet debris can be disposed of at regular intervals. Figure 14 shows the cutter 5
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing how the retainer 506 and the sensors for detecting the positions of the sweeper carriage 550 and other sensors installed in the vehicle 00 are installed. In this figure, an actuator 563 is provided on a block 555 for vertically driving the retainer 506, and a sensor 564 provided on the upper plate 509 is provided with an actuator 563.
, 565 to detect the passing state of the actuator 563, thereby detecting the vertical drive position of the retainer 506.

On the other hand, an actuator 567 is provided as shown in the figure to detect the moving position of the sweeper carriage 550, and the sensor 567 provided on the upper plate 509
The moving position of the sweeper carriage 550 is detected by detecting the passing state of the actuator 567 using the actuator 567 and the actuator 569. In addition to the above sensors, position sensors 560 and 561 such as optical position detectors whose detection light reaches a portion near the vertical die hole 502 of the die 505 are fixed to the upper plate 509 and the frame.

PTP gripped by the above-mentioned upper and lower claws
The position sensor 560 detects the side edges of the tablet sheets A and B, and the inserted tip of the PTP tablet sheet A is detected by the position sensor 561. By locating the origin, it is possible to punch out fractions of PTP tablet sheets of various different shapes. (Structure of Conveyor) Next, FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the conveyor 600 described in FIG. 1. For the constituent parts that have already been explained, only numbers will be given and the explanation will be omitted, and the detailed constituent parts will be explained. Between the first tablet takeout box 603 and the second tablet takeout box 605, rollers 611 and 6 are provided at both ends.
A belt 610 consisting of an endless belt whose inner ends are movably supported by 12 as shown in the figure.
is installed.

This belt 610 receives power from a belt motor 613 shown by a broken line in the figure, which is a reversible motor, and has side walls 618, 608 fixed to the frame 100 on both sides of the upper surface of the belt 610. The tablet sheet is designed to prevent it from falling during transportation. At predetermined positions further above these side walls 618, 608, the shutter 53 of the cutter 500 described above
5 and the illustrated discharge box 601 are provided below the second drop lid 470 of the above-mentioned head 400, respectively. As shown in the figure, this discharge box 601 has only four sides with open top and bottom surfaces, and tablets are dropped into the discharge box 601 through the top surface.

[0076] The bottom of the discharge box 601 is marked with a broken line arrow D in the figure.
A third drop lid 602 that is slidably driven in 10 directions is slidably driven, and an opening 60 of the third drop lid 602 is slidably driven.
6 moves to the bottom position of the discharge box 601, thereby causing the tablets in the discharge box 601 to fall onto the belt 610 through the opening 606. The structure for sliding the third drop-off lid 602 is such that the third drop-off lid 602 is made movable by a guide (not shown) provided along the longitudinal direction of the belt 310, and the side surface of the third drop-off lid 602 is belt 6
A part of the belt 616 is fixed, one end of the belt 616 is supported by a roller 617, and the other end is supported and stretched by a pulley of a motor 615.

With the above configuration, the tablets in the discharge box 601 are dropped into either the first tablet take-out box 603 or the second tablet take-out box 605. Next, FIG. 16 is an installation diagram of the sensors of the conveyor 600. Sensors 631 that detect whether the first tablet take-out box 603 and the second tablet take-out box 605 are set normally are located on both sides of the belt. It is provided on a corresponding frame 100.

On the other hand, actuators 622 are provided on the side surfaces of the third drop lid 602, and the actuators 622 are detected by sensors 624 and 625 to detect the movement position of the third drop lid 602. ing. Next, presence/absence sensors 630 for detecting the presence or absence of an article are provided at the top of both ends of the belt to detect the tablet just before falling, while a presence/absence sensor 630 for detecting the presence or absence of an article is also provided in the discharge box 601. It is being (Description of Control Device) FIG. 17 is a block diagram of the dispensing device of FIG. 1, and shows the connection state of the above-mentioned sensors and others connected to the CPU device 710 built in the controller 700 of FIG. .

In FIG. 17, a control terminal device 800 indicated by a broken line is configured separately from the dispensing device in FIG. By operating the tablet case 200, the tablets stored in the tablet case 200 are registered, dispensed, etc. This control terminal device 800 has an input keyboard 801
A display 802 and a storage unit 803 are built-in, and a personal computer or the like may be used, or a dedicated design may be provided and provided in the space shown in FIG.

The above-mentioned position sensors 560 and 561 are connected to this CPU device 710 as shown in the figure.
Drive control for positioning the cut is performed. Also,
The CPU device 710 is further connected to the sensor 109 for detecting the above-described limit detection and the like. Also connected are a presence/absence sensor 630 for detecting the presence or absence of an article.

Next, as shown in the figure, a motor driver 730 is connected to the output section of the CPU device 710 for amplifying the power from the power supply section 720 in order to drive the above-mentioned Y carriage motor 301 and other motors. Also, a motor driver 7 that performs power amplification from a power supply section 720 in order to drive the above-mentioned rotary solenoid 420 and others.
30 is connected to the output section of the CPU device 710 as shown. Furthermore, an alarm lamp 701 is connected to the output section of the CPU device 710 to notify of abnormal operation.

Next, regarding the operation of the dispensing device of the embodiment,
This will be explained with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 18 to 23. First, the overall operation will be explained, and then each subroutine will be explained. (Overall operation) FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the dispensing device of the embodiment.

First, the flowchart in the figure is roughly divided into the first half, which is a start-up preparation part, and the second half, which is an automatic operation part. For example, in a hospital, etc., when dispensing work is finished for the day, the dispensing device is stopped, and the dispensing device is turned on again in the morning of the next day to start operation. At the time of starting
It is necessary to perform operations such as once resetting the device to its initial state or warming up each part of the device. Steps S100 to S114 in the first half are the start-up preparation part, in which the dispensing device is reset to its initial state and each part of the device is warmed up. Further, the second half from step S116 to step S124 is a part of automatic operation, and is a part where actual automatic dispensing operation is performed after the dispensing device is reset to the initial state.

First, to explain the start-up preparation part, in step S100 of the same figure, the external shape of each tablet sheet, the number of tablets in the vertical and horizontal directions, the number of tablets in one sheet as a whole, The pitch dimension of each tablet, whether the ears are attached to the front, back, left, or right, which tablet case 200 the tablet sheet is stored in, and where the tablet case 200 is placed on the case shelf 105 are determined. Sheet data such as whether the dolphin is present is input into the control terminal device 800 by an operator. These sheet data are stored in each area DM1001 to DM1019 of the storage section of the control terminal device 800 in a correspondence relationship as shown in FIG. 25. In step S102, initial settings (data processing) are performed to convert the input sheet data into data necessary to control the movements of each part of the dispensing device. Details of this initial setting subroutine will be described later.

Next, in step S104, the operator moves the upper and lower claws mounted on the head 400 for gripping the tablet sheet to the initial position in the XYZ directions (the reference position when picking up the tablet sheet). ) from the control terminal device 800. Step S106
Now, positioning to this initialization position is performed, but as a procedure, first, the Z carriage 456 is
Positioning is executed to the initial position in the Z direction. Here, Z
The reason why initialization positioning in the axial direction is performed first is that if the dispensing device has stopped in the middle of cutting the tablet sheet due to a power outage, for example, the upper and lower claws protruding in the direction of the cutter 500 can be This is to pull it into the head 400 so that it will not collide with surrounding members and be damaged.

Next, the head 400 is positioned in the XY directions by the movement of the XY carriage. In subsequent operations, the head 400 is moved based on the initialization position in the XY direction, and the Z carriage 456 on which the upper and lower claw bodies are supported moves the initialization position in the Z direction with respect to the head 400. Moved to the standard. Here, referring to FIG. 9, the method of positioning to the initial position in the XYZ directions will be explained. First, in the Z direction, the Z carriage 45
6 is once driven in a direction to draw the tablet sheet into the head 400. When the actuator 480 attached to the Z carriage 456 is located between the sensors 487 and 483, the actuator 480
First, it is detected by sensor 487, and at this point the speed of Z carriage motor 448 is reduced, and actuator 480 approaches sensor 481 at this reduced speed. Then, the moment the actuator 480 passes the sensor 481, the Z carriage motor 448 is stopped, and the Z carriage 456 is positioned at the initialization position in the Z direction. Furthermore, when the actuator 480 is located closer to the sensor 482 than the sensor 487, the Z carriage 456
Once moves to the position of the sensor 482, it is driven in the opposite direction and returns to the position of the sensor 487. and,
The sensor 481 is driven again at a reduced speed in the opposite direction.
It will stop at the position.

Next, regarding the X direction, in FIG.
The head 400 is once moved to the right along the X rail. If the arm 350 is at an intermediate position between the sensors 391 and 392 as shown, the actuator 390 will pass the position of the sensor 392 during its movement, and the actuator 390 and the sensor 392
The movement in the X direction is stopped at the position where they match, and this position becomes the initialization position in the X direction. Furthermore, if the arm 350 is at an intermediate position between the sensor 392 and the sensor 393,
The actuator 390 is first detected by a sensor 393, which is a limit switch, and is then moved in the opposite direction.
At the position where the sensor 392 and actuator 390 coincide,
will be stopped. Then, that position becomes the initialization position in the X direction. In the Y direction, the head 40 is
0, as shown in FIG. 5, the actuator 331 and the sensor 332 are stopped at a coincident position, and that position becomes the initialization position in the Y direction.

Next, in step S108, the operator instructs a dispensing operation, and in step S110, the dispensing operation is executed. And a tablet case 200 in the dispensing device
other parts (for example, the inside of the head 400, the cutter 5
00) is removed from the first tablet take-out box 6.
03 or delivered to the second tablet take-out box 605. The details of this dispensing operation will be described later, but in this dispensing operation, even if the dispensing device is forcibly stopped during dispensing operation due to a power outage, etc., the dispensing device will be automatically refilled when the dispensing device is started next time. This is done in order to once remove all the remaining tablets and clear the dispensing device to its initial state. Furthermore, as mentioned above, it also serves as a warm-up for the device.

Next, in S112, step S10
6 and step S110, it is checked whether there is an error in the operation of each part of the dispensing device. If there is no error, the process advances to step S114, and when performing a subsequent automatic dispensing operation, either the tablets are taken out only from the case shelf 105A on the right side, or the tablets are removed from the case shelf 105A on the left side.
Select whether to take out tablets only from 05B or from both.

Here, for example, case shelves 10 on both sides are always
When setting to take out tablets from 5A and 105B,
If the XY carriage or the cutter on one side is out of order and cannot be used, an error will occur and the entire dispensing device will become unusable. In step S114, even in the case of the above-mentioned failure, if only one case shelf (105A or 105B) can make do with it, by selecting that case shelf,
The device can be used even if the opposite side is out of order, and the above-mentioned inconveniences can be prevented from occurring.

On the other hand, if there is an error in step S112, the process advances to step S113, where the operator inputs an instruction to switch to manual operation from the control terminal device 800. According to this instruction, the control system of the dispensing device is connected to a manual operation box (not shown), and in step S115,
The manual operation button inside this manual operation box, or
The dispensing device is driven by the reset button, etc., and error handling is performed. Thereafter, the process returns to step S104, where the search for the initialization position is again instructed, and the subsequent operations are continued.

[0092] When the case shelf selection is completed in step S114, the automatic operation part starts from step S116. First, in step S116, the operator writes prescription instructions for each patient into the control terminal device 800. Next, in step S118,
In step S116, it is determined whether a prescription command has been written, and if a prescription command has been written, the process advances to step S119, where automatic dispensing is performed (details of which will be described later), and the process returns to step S116, where the next prescription command is Wait until it is written. If the control terminal device 800 returns in step S116 with no prescription command written, it is determined in step S118 that there is no prescription command, and the process advances to step S120, where preparations for stopping the dispensing device are made. be exposed. When this stop preparation is completed, a stop preparation completion signal is output in step S122, and upon seeing this output, the operator can proceed to step S124 as necessary.
A command to stop the dispensing device is input to the control terminal device 800. Then, the dispensing device is stopped in step S126.

The above is the overall operation of the dispensing device. (Subroutine) Next, the subroutine in the flowchart of the overall operation shown in FIG. 18 will be explained in detail. FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the initial setting subroutine. First, in step S100 of FIG. 18, the operator writes sheet data to the control terminal device 800, and then, in step S202, inputs an instruction for decomposition calculation of the sheet data. With this instruction, CP
The U device 710 performs decomposition calculations of these data from the sheet data described above, and creates data such as the number of steps of each drive motor in the XYZ directions to specifically drive the upper and lower claw bodies in the XYZ directions. . Next, step S206
Then, the operator instructs the calculation of the cut point from the control terminal device 800, and in step S208, the CPU
The device 710 calculates the XZ coordinates of the cut points corresponding to each tablet sheet and stores them in the storage unit. Here, the cut point refers to the intersection of the horizontal perforation 3 and the vertical perforation 4 of each tablet sheet shown in FIG. Next, in step S210, the operator inputs an instruction from the control terminal device 800 to create individual information such as whether tablet sensing is required, which will be described later, and whether the direction of tablet sensing is the X direction or the Z direction. However, the CPU device 710 creates individual information and stores this individual information in the storage section of the control terminal device 800 as well. This completes the initial settings (sheet data processing).

Next, FIGS. 20-1 and 20-2 show the subroutine of the dispensing operation in step S110 in FIG. 18. When the operator instructs the dispensing operation in step S108 of FIG. 18, first, in step S302, if a malfunction occurs in a part of the dispensing device during the dispensing operation and the operation stops, In preparation, a payout timer is started. If the dispensing operation is not completed even after the dispensing operation has started and the set time of the dispensing timer has elapsed, an error is output. Next, in step S304, the conveyor 6
00 in the forward direction in FIG.
0 is delivered to the first tablet take-out box 603. In step S306, in step S304, the conveyor 60
0, when a tablet is dispensed, it is necessary for the operator to take it out and prevent unnecessary tablets from being mixed in during automatic dispensing operation after the dispensing operation. An instruction to check the contents of the box is output from the dispensing device. This instruction is communicated to the operator by blinking a lamp, buzzer, or the like.

Next, assuming that the dispensing device stops due to a power outage while cutting tablets, cutter 50
0 and the tablet inside the head 400 is dispensed. First, in step S308, it is determined whether the vertical blade 501 and the horizontal blade 503 are in the upper retracted position. This determination is made by detecting the actuator 537 attached to the aforementioned moving base 507 with the sensor 538, and by the CPU device 710 based on the detection signal. If in step S308, the vertical blade 501, the horizontal blade 503, or both are not in the retracted position, step S30
The dispensing device is stopped at step 9, and the operator or service person checks the dispensing device.

[0096] In step S308, the vertical blade 501 and the horizontal blade 5
03 are both in the retracted position, the process advances to step S310, and it is determined whether the retainer 506 is in the upper retracted position, that is, whether it is not holding down the tablet sheet. This judgment is made by the sensor 5 mentioned above.
According to the detection signals 64 and 565, the CPU device 710
This is done by If the retainer is not in the retracted position in step S310, the rotary solenoid 552 is turned off and the retainer 552 is turned off in step S311.
06 is retracted upward. If it is determined in step S310 that the retainer 506 is in the retracted position, the Z carriage 456 is returned to the initialization position in the Z direction in step S312. Therefore, in this state, the upper and lower claw bodies are retracted into the head 400, and when the sweeper carriage 550 is driven or the head 40
Even when 0 is moved and driven in the XY direction, the upper and lower claw bodies are
It will not collide with other parts of the dispensing device and cause damage. Further, for example, when the upper and lower claws are gripping a tablet sheet, the tablet sheet is pulled into the head 400.

Next, in step S314, the first right drop lid 468 and the first left drop lid 469 are opened. Then, in step S316, when the upper and lower claw bodies are opened and closed, if the tablet sheet is sandwiched between the upper and lower claw bodies, the tablet sheet is stored in the box 477. After that, in step S318, the first right drop lid 468, the first left drop lid 46
9 is closed.

Next, in step S320, when the sweeper carriage 550 is driven, the cut tablets are
It is delivered to the shooter 535 and stored in the discharge box 601. After that, in step S322, the XY carriage 30
0, the head 400 is moved in the X direction and the discharge box 6 is moved.
It stops at the payout position above 01. And step S
At 324, the second drop lid 470 provided at the bottom of the box 477 is opened, and the tablets stored in the box 477 fall into the discharge box 601. In step S326, the third dropper lid is opened and closed, and the tablets dispensed into the discharge box 601 in steps S320 and S324 fall onto the belt 610 of the conveyor 600. Then, in step S328, the head 400 is returned to the initialization position.

Next, in step S330, the conveyor 60
0 is driven, the belt 610 is moved in the opposite direction to step S304, that is, backward in FIG. 1, and the tablets are dispensed into the second tablet dispensing box 605. Then, in step S332, in order to remove the dispensed tablets, the second tablet dispensing box 60, which is a dispensing box from which defective products are disposed of, is removed.
An instruction to confirm the contents of 5 is output. Similar to step S306, this instruction is communicated to the operator by blinking a lamp, buzzer, or the like. Then, this instruction is to once pull out the second tablet removal box 605,
By closing it again, it is released, and in step S334, it is determined whether or not the second tablet removal box 605 has been opened or closed.

[0100] In step S334, the second tablet removal box 60
5 is not opened or closed, the second tablet removal box 605
Confirmation instructions continue to be given. Then, step S302
If the set time of the payout timer started at has elapsed, the CPU device 710 outputs an error. If it is determined in step S334 that the second tablet take-out box 605 has been opened and closed, the process advances to step S336, and as in the case of the second tablet take-out box 605, the first tablet take-out box 605
A determination is made as to whether or not the opening/closing has been performed. Step S
If it is determined at 336 that the first tablet dispensing box 603 has been opened and closed, the dispensing operation ends. Further, in step S336, if the first tablet take-out box 603 is not opened or closed, the confirmation instruction for the first tablet take-out box 603 continues to be issued, and when the set time of the dispensing timer has elapsed, the CPU device 710 Output an error.

The above is the operation of the dispensing operation subroutine. Next, the automatic dispensing subroutine of step S119 in the automatic operation part of FIG. 18 will be explained. FIG. 21 shows the entire automatic dispensing subroutine. First, the prescription command read in step S116 of FIG. 18 is converted into dispensing data in step S402. Here, the prescription command only indicates the type of tablet and the number of tablets, so when the dispensing device is operated to actually dispense, the shelf where the tablet is placed,
In addition, dispensing data regarding the position of the tablet case 200 in which the tablet is stored, and if multiple tablets are required, the process of picking up each tablet in what order, etc. is required. Become. In step S402, the CPU device 710 creates prescription data from sheet data stored in advance in the storage section of the control terminal device 800.

[0102] When the preparation of the dispensing data is completed, the operator issues an instruction to execute dispensing from the control terminal device 800 in step S404. In step S408, dispensing is actually performed, and details of this subroutine will be described later. Then, in step S410, step S40
It is determined whether or not there was an error in the dispensing operation in step 8. If there is no error in the dispensing operation, step S41
Proceeding to step 2, the number of finished dispensings indicating which type of dispensing of the prescription command has been completed is stored in the storage section. here,
When it is necessary to take out multiple types of tablets for one prescription, the number of finished dispensing is updated every time one type of tablet is taken out, and this is used as one of the criteria for error detection in step S410. used. Then, in step S414, it is determined whether there is a next dispensing number. If there is a next dispensing number, the process returns to step S404, and the operator instructs from the control terminal device 800 to take out the next tablet. The loop from step S404 to step S414 is repeated until all tablets for one prescription have been taken out.

[0103] When all the tablets for one prescription have been taken out, the process advances to step S416, and the operator issues an instruction to perform delivery management from the control terminal device 800. Then, in step S418, shipping management is performed. Here, in this delivery management step, the C
The PU device 710 opens and closes the third drop lid 602 and
Controls the operation of conveyor 600.

On the other hand, if an error is detected in step S410, the process advances to step S430, the error number corresponding to the error is written in the storage section, and the process proceeds to step S430.
At 432, the type of error is determined. If the error is minor, the operator investigates the cause of the error and confirms the error in step S440. At this time, if there seems to be no particular problem with the dispensing device, in step S442, the operator uses the control terminal device 800 to
A dispensing operation is instructed, and in step S444, the dispensing operation described above is executed. When the dispensing operation is completed, the operator clears the error in step S446, ends the dispensing operation, and returns to step S1 in FIG.
Return to writing prescription instructions in step 16. Also, step S4
If it is determined in step S432 that the error is serious, the process advances to step S434, where a service person or the like repairs the dispensing device.

The above is the entire operation of the automatic dispensing subroutine. Next, the subroutines in the routine of the overall automatic dispensing operation described above will be further explained. Figure 22-
1 to FIG. 22-3 are subroutines of the dispensing operation in step S408. First, in step S404 of FIG.
When the operator instructs dispensing, step S
In 502, information such as the sheet data of the target tablet to be delivered and how many tablets are left in the remaining number storage section 203 of the tablet case 200 in which the tablet is stored is provided.
Read from the storage unit. In step S504, the operator determines, from the control terminal device 800, the number of new tablet sheets to be delivered and the number of new tablet sheets or the number of tablets once cut and remaining in the storage unit 203 based on the above data and the required number of tablets in the prescription command. A command is issued to execute a data set that creates data such as the number of tablets to be cut out from the remaining portion stored in the machine. Then, in step S506, the data set is executed. FIG. 26 shows details of the data created by this data set and details of the storage areas in which each data is stored.

Next, in step S508, the position (X
A determination is made as to whether sensing (coordinates from the initialization position in the Y direction) is necessary. Here, the approximate distance from the initialization position in the XY direction to each tablet case (column) 200 is
Determined in advance (Area DM1011, DM1
012), and by counting the number of pulses of the X carriage motor 305 and Y carriage motor 301, which are AC servo motors that drive the XY carriage 300, the head 400 and its internal It is possible to bring the upper and lower claw bodies housed in the tablet case (column) 200 to the position of each tablet case (column) 200. However, for example, tablet case (column) 200
If the position of the tablet case (column) 200 changes slightly due to the deflection of the case shelves 105A, 105B due to the weight of the case shelves 105A, 105B or the deformation of the frame 100 due to temperature changes, the head 400 cannot be brought to the position of the tablet case (column) 200 accurately. Therefore, for each tablet case (column) 200, the tablet case (column)
When 200 is accessed for the first time after the dispensing device is started, its exact position is measured and stored in the storage unit as column origin data. The column origin here refers to the position where the marker origin of the marker 221 shown in FIG. 4 and the sense point of the sensor 442 shown in FIG. 8 match. The marker origin will be described later in the explanation of the column sense subroutine.

Step S508 is a step for determining whether or not to perform this measurement. This judgment is based on Area D
Whether the data stored in M1101 is “1” or “
If this data is "0", it means that column sensing is not performed.
If it is "1", it means that column sensing has already been performed. When starting up the dispensing device, this area DM1101
data is cleared to "0" for all tablet cases (columns) 200.

[0108] And already the tablet case (column) 20
If the XY position of 0 is being measured and column sensing is not necessary, the head 400 is moved to the column origin in step S510, and the process advances to step S512. Also, if column sense is required, step S
At 514, the operator inputs a command to execute column sense from the control terminal device 800. And step S5
16, column sense is executed. Details of this column sense will be described later. After that, step S518
In step S520, the area DM1101 is set to "1", and in step S520 the column sense data is set to the column origin, and the process advances to step S512.

In step S512, the first right drop cover 468 and first left drop cover 469 of the head 400 are opened. In step S522, based on the data stored in area DM1105 in the data set of step S506, a new tablet sheet should be pulled out first, or the remaining number storage section 2
A determination is made as to whether to draw out the remaining number of tablet sheets stored in 03 first.

[0110] If the new tablet sheet is to be withdrawn later, the process proceeds to step S524, and the head 400 is moved to a position where the remaining number of tablet sheets can be taken out from the remaining number storage section 203 of the tablet case (column) 200. In step S526, the remaining number of tablet sheets are taken out from the remaining number storage section using the upper and lower claws. At this time, the marker 2 provided on the tablet case (column) 200 shown in FIG.
22 with the sensor 444 shown in FIG. 8, the distance between the head 400 and the tablet case 200 is measured. Based on this measurement data, the amount of protrusion of the upper and lower claws from the head 400 is controlled, so that the upper and lower claws can accurately grip the tablet sheet. In addition, whether the upper and lower claws were able to accurately grip the tablet sheet was determined by
It is detected by a light receiving and emitting sensor 407 provided on the lower claw body 401. Then, the remaining number of tablet sheets taken out are drawn into the head 400 and stored in the box 477, and then, in step S528, the head 400 is moved to the column origin. After that, the process advances to step S530.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S522 that a new tablet sheet is to be pulled out first, the process directly advances to step S530. In step S530, the upper and lower claws move the tablet case (column) 200 as explained in FIG.
One new tablet sheet is pulled out from the head 400.
It is stored in a box 477 inside. At this time as well, the amount of protrusion of the upper and lower claw bodies from the head 400 is controlled in the same manner as when taking out the remaining number of tablet sheets in step S526. Then, in step S532, it is determined whether or not the number of times the tablet sheet has been withdrawn has been completed. If the number of times the tablet sheet has been withdrawn has not yet been completed, the process returns to step S530 and steps S530 and S532 are repeated. In step S532, the number of withdrawals has ended, that is, the required number of new tablet sheets are all in the tablet case (column).
If it is determined that the data has been taken out from 200, the process advances to step S534.

Next, in step S534, step S534
In the data set 506, it is determined from the data stored in the area DM 1106 whether or not it is necessary to cut the tablet sheet. If cutting is not necessary, the process advances to step S535. Step S535
Then, the head 400 is driven in the X direction and the discharge box 6
It is moved directly above 01. Then, in step S536, the second drop lid 470 is opened and closed, and the tablet sheet stored in the box 477 falls into the discharge box 601. After that, the head 400 returns to the initialization position, and the process ends. If it is determined in step S534 that cutting is necessary, the process advances to step S538, and the first right drop lid 468 and first left drop lid 469 are closed. In step S539, it is determined from the data stored in area DM1108 in the data set of step S506 whether to cut out a fractional number of tablets from the remaining number of tablet sheets or from a new tablet sheet.

If a fractional number of tablets are to be cut out from the remaining number of tablet sheets, the process advances to step S562. In step S562, the upper and lower claw bodies are connected to the tablet case (column) 20.
The head 400 is moved so that the remaining number of tablet sheets can be taken out from the 0 remaining number storage section 203. Next, step S
At 564, it is determined whether there is a vertical cut. This determination is made based on the data stored in the area DM 1109 in the data set of step S506. If it is determined in step S564 that a vertical cut is necessary, the process proceeds to step S566, and it is determined whether the vertical cut is made in the lowest row, that is, the row closest to the upper and lower claw bodies.

[0114] If it is determined in step S566 that the vertical cut is at the bottom row, the process advances to step S567, and it is determined whether or not it is necessary to regrip the upper and lower claw bodies. Here, when the tablet sheet is usually gripped with the upper and lower claws, the grip is made so as to grip the center of the width of the tablet sheet on the left and right sides. Therefore, the positional relationship between the tablet sheet, the upper right claw body 410, and the upper left claw body 412 is as shown in FIG. The perforation 4 is located at the center of the upper right claw body 410 and the upper left claw body 412, but in the tablet sheet C, the vertical perforation 4 is not located at the center of the upper right claw body 410 and the upper left claw body 412. In the example shown in Figure 2, the upper right claw of the tablet sheet C is not in a position where it completely overlaps the vertical perforation 4, but some of the 600 types of tablets have upper and lower claws. If the center of the left and right widths is simply grabbed, the vertical perforation 4 may end up overlapping either the upper right claw body 410 or the upper left claw body 412. Furthermore, even if they do not overlap completely, it is conceivable that either the upper right claw body 410 or the upper left claw body 412 will interfere with the vertical blade 501 when making a vertical cut. Therefore, depending on the type of tablet sheet, only when making a vertical cut on the bottom row, the tablet sheet must be gripped again so that the vertical cut perforation 4 is in the center of the upper right claw body 410 and the upper left claw body 412. I have to. In step S567, it is determined from the data stored in area 1111 in the data set of step S506 whether this regrasping is necessary.

If it is determined in step S557 that re-grasping is necessary, the positions of the upper and lower claws are moved in the X direction in accordance with the dimensions of the tablet sheet in step S568. Then, in step S569, data on the moving distance of the upper and lower claw bodies in the X direction is stored in the storage section, and in step S57
Go to 0. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S566 that the vertical cut is not on the bottom row, then step S57
Go to 0. Furthermore, if it is determined in step S564 that there is no vertical cut, the process also proceeds to step S570.

In step S570, the remaining number of tablet sheets are actually gripped (grasped) by the upper and lower claws and taken out from the remaining number storage section 203 of the tablet case (column) 200. Then, the process advances to step S572. On the other hand, step S
If it is determined at 539 that the cut is to be made from a new tablet sheet, a new tablet sheet is removed at step S540, and the head 400 is moved and the removed tablet sheet is transported to the cutter 500 at step S542. and is positioned at the cutter origin. Here, being positioned at the cutter origin means that the center line of the left and right width of the tablet sheet is positioned directly below the vertical blade 501, and the edge of the tip of the tablet sheet in the Z direction is positioned directly below the horizontal blade 503. means.

Next, in step S544, it is determined whether tablet sense is necessary. Here, in FIG. 2, there is no problem with tablets without ears like tablet sheet B, but with tablet sheets with ears like tablet sheet A and tablet sheet C, there is It is conceivable that the direction or left/right direction may be reversed. Therefore, for tablet sheets with ears, the distance from the edge of the tablet sheet to the tablet portion 5 is measured in order to determine which side the ears are facing. In step S544, it is determined from the sheet data already stored in the storage unit whether or not this tablet sheet needs to be measured.

[0118] If it is determined in step S544 that tablet sense is not necessary, the process directly proceeds to step S57.
Proceed to step 2. If it is determined in step S544 that tablet sensing is necessary, then in step S546 it is determined whether the sensing direction is the X direction or the Z direction. As is clear from Fig. 2, sensing in the Z direction is required when there is an ear in the Z direction like tablet sheet A, and when there is an ear in the X direction like tablet sheet C. , sensing in the X direction is required. In step S546, the CPU
A device 710 determines the sense direction based on the sheet data of the tablet sheet.

[0119] In step S546, the sensing direction is set to Z.
If it is determined that the direction is the direction, the process advances to step S548;
As shown in FIG. 14, the sensor 561 measures the distance from the edge of the tablet sheet to the tablet part 5 in the Z direction, and if the edges of the tablet sheet are facing in the opposite direction, the step At S550, the longitudinal dimension data of the tablet sheet is replaced, and the process proceeds to step S554. Further, if it is determined in step S546 that the sensing direction is the X direction, the process advances to step S551, and the sensor 56
0, the distance from the edge of the tablet sheet to the tablet portion 5 is measured in the X direction. If the edges of the tablet sheet are facing in the opposite direction, step S5
In step S52, the horizontal dimension data of the tablet sheet is replaced, and the process proceeds to step S554.

[0120] In step S554, step S564
As described above, it is determined from the data in the area DM 1109 whether a vertical cut is necessary, and if a vertical cut is not necessary, the process advances to step S572. Step S554
If it is determined that vertical cutting is necessary, step S5
In step 56, it is determined whether the vertical cut is on the bottom row. If it is determined in step S556 that the vertical cut is not in the bottom row, the process advances to step S572.

[0121] If it is determined in step S556 that the vertical cut is on the bottom row, the process advances to step S558;
As explained in step S567, area DM1111
Based on this data, it is determined whether the tablet sheet needs to be gripped again. If it is determined that regripping is not necessary, the process directly advances to step S572. When it is determined that re-grasping is necessary, the tablet sheet is re-grasped in step S559, and in step S560, data on the distance traveled in the X direction for re-grasping is stored in the storage section, and the process advances to step S572.

[0122] In step S572, the tablet sheet is positioned at the cut origin described above. Next, step S
In step 574, it is determined whether a vertical cut is necessary, similar to steps S554 and S564. If it is determined that vertical cutting is not necessary, step S57
6, the horizontal cut portion 8 is punched out with the horizontal blade 503 as in the tablet sheet B of FIG. 2, and the process advances to step S584.

If it is determined in step S574 that a vertical cut is necessary, the process advances to step S577, where an upper vertical cut is first performed, then a lower vertical cut is performed in step S578, and the process proceeds to step S577. In S579, a left side horizontal cut is performed. Next, in step S580,
Similarly to step S566, it is determined whether the vertical cut is on the bottom row. If the vertical cut is not on the bottom row,
Proceeding to step S581, a horizontal cut on the right side is executed,
The process advances to step S584. Further, if it is determined in step S582 that the vertical cut is on the bottom row, step S58
2, the upper right claw body 412 is released from gripping, and the process proceeds to step S584.

[0124] Here, the cutting process from step S577 to step S582 will be specifically explained with reference to the tablet sheet C in FIG. In the tablet sheet C of FIG. 2, when cutting as shown by the solid line, first, in step S577, the area DM11 shown in FIG.
13. Based on the coordinates stored in DM1114,
The upper and lower claw bodies, ie, the tablet sheet, are moved in the Z direction, and the vertical cut portion 7A is punched out by the vertical blade 501 (upper vertical cut). Next, in step S578, the area DM 1115
Based on the data, the tablet sheet is moved in the Z direction and the vertical cut portion 7B is punched out by the vertical blade 501 (lower vertical cut). Furthermore, in step S579, the area DM 1116
, the tablet sheet is moved in the XZ direction based on the data of DM1117, and in FIG.
03 (left side horizontal cut).

Next, in step S580, since the vertical cut is not at the bottom row, the process proceeds to step S581, where the tablet sheet is moved in the XZ direction based on the data of areas DM1118 and DM1119, and the horizontal cut section 8 on the right side in the figure is moved. is punched out by the horizontal blade 503 (right side horizontal cut). Here, when performing the cuts from step S577 to step S581, the vertical cutting parts 7A, 7B and the horizontal cutting part 8 are
As shown in , the position of the tablet sheet is moved in the XZ direction so that it becomes slightly longer than the intersection of the horizontal perforation 3 and the vertical perforation 4. By slightly overlapping the vertical cutting parts 7A, 7B and the horizontal part 8 in a cross shape in this way, there is no uncut portion at the intersection of the vertical cutting parts 7A, 7B and the horizontal part 8, and the cutting is ensured. It will be done. Moreover, the reason why the cuts are performed in the order from step S577 to step S581 is that the vertical cut portion 7 having a short distance is cut first, and the horizontal cut portion 8 having a long distance is cut later. This is to leave as many connections as possible with the remaining portions held by the upper and lower claws until just before the fractional portions are completely separated. By leaving a large number of connecting parts between the fractional portion and the remaining portion, the fractional portion to be separated can be stably held without wobbling when the tablet sheet is moved in the XZ direction during cutting.

On the other hand, when cutting the tablet sheet A shown in FIG. 2 as shown by the solid line, the cutting is performed in exactly the same way as when cutting the tablet sheet C shown by the solid line. Next, a case will be described in which the tablet sheet C in FIG. 2 is cut as shown by the dashed line. Steps S577 to S579 are exactly the same as the cutting of the solid line portion described above. And step S
In 580, the vertical cut is on the bottom row, so step S582
Proceed to. Here, when the cutting up to step S579 is completed, the positional relationship between the tablet sheet and the claw body is as shown in the figure, and the left and right claw bodies are connected to the tablet sheet on the side to be dispensed by the sweeper 510 and the head 400. It is in a state where it straddles both of the tablet sheets on the side that are pulled in and returned to the tablet case (column) 200. Therefore, in this state, the upper and lower claw bodies cannot be pulled into the head 400. Therefore, in step S582, by releasing the grip of the upper right claw body 410, only the tablet sheet on the side to be returned to the tablet case 200 is held by the lower claw body 401.
and is held by the upper left claw body 412. In addition, when the vertical cut is on the bottom row, the vertical blade 501 and the upper right claw body 412 interfere, so the right side horizontal cut cannot be performed, and there is no need to perform it, so the right side horizontal cut is omitted. be done. Then, the process advances to step S584.

[0127] In step S584, the upper and lower claw bodies are retracted into the head 400, the retainer 506 is released, and the retainer 506 is released.
In step S585, the sweeper 510 is driven,
The cut tablet is delivered to the shooter 535. Then, in step S586, the head 400
1, and in step S588, the second drop lid 47
0 is opened and closed, the tablets in the box 477 are transferred to the ejection box 60.
Fall within 1. After that, in step S590, the remaining tablets held by the upper and lower claw bodies are removed from the tablet case (column) 20.
The head 400 is placed in a position where it can be stored in the remaining number storage section 203 of 0.
is moved.

[0128] Next, in step S591, it is determined whether or not the currently gripped tablet has been gripped again when being cut. If the remaining tablets are returned to the remaining number storage section 203 with the upper and lower claws at the center of the tablet case (column) 200 in the width direction, the position of the tablets will be This results in a shift in the X direction with respect to the tablet case 200. Therefore, step S592
Now, the head 400 is moved in the opposite direction of the X-axis by a distance corresponding to the amount of shift when it is re-grasped, and then returned to its original position. Then, the process advances to step S594. If it is determined in step S591 that the grip has not been re-grasped, the process directly advances to step S594.

[0129] Then, in step S594, the remaining tablets are returned to the remaining number storage unit 203, and in step S596, the head 400 is moved to the initialization position to end the dispensing operation. The above is the operation of the dispensing subroutine. next,
The column sense subroutine of step S531 in FIG. 22 will be explained. FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing this column sense subroutine. Also, Figure 2
4-1 is a marker 22 printed on the tablet case 200.
This figure shows the detailed shape of No. 1.

First, in step S702, the head 40
0 is moved to the temporary column origin. At the time when the marker is moved to the temporary column origin, the sensor 442 mounted on the head 400 is sensing a point near the marker origin 221a. Column sensing is performed so that the sense point of this sensor 442 exactly matches the marker origin 221a.
The purpose is to position the head 400. Here, the reflectance of the surface of the marker 221 is the tablet case (column) 2 on which this marker 221 is printed.
The reflectance of the back surface of sensor 442 is different from that of sensor 442.
determines whether the sense point of the sensor 442 is within the marker 221 based on changes in the amount of light reflected on the back surface of the tablet case 200 and the amount of light reflected on the surface of the marker 221.

Next, in step S704, the sense point of the sensor 442 near the column origin in FIG. 24 is moved to point C1 at the lower left in the figure by the movement of the head 400. From that position, the head 400 moves to Y
The shaft is jogged upward, and the sense point of the sensor 442 moves in the direction indicated by the dashed arrow in the figure. Then, the sense point of the sensor 442 is C2
The moment the point is passed, the output of the sensor 442 becomes "high".
to "low". Furthermore, the sensor 442
The sense point moves and changes from "low" to "high" again the moment it passes point C3. At the moment the output signal of this sensor 442 changes from "low" to "high", a stop signal is sent to the Y carriage motor 301, and the Y carriage motor 301 stops. However, at this time, after the stop signal is sent to the Y carriage motor until it stops,
Due to the inertial force of the head 400, the sense point of the sensor 442 overruns the point C3 by y2.

Next, in step S706, the output signal of the sensor 442 described above changes from "low" to "high".
It is determined whether the Y carriage motor 301 has stopped. If it is not stopped, step S70
Proceed to step 8 and the timer is started. Then, in step S710, it is determined whether or not the timer started in step S708 has timed out. If the timer has not timed up, the process returns to step S706. if,
If the time has elapsed in step S710, it is determined that the column sense is not operating normally, and a command to stop the Y carriage motor 301 is issued in step S712. Then, in step S714, a column sense error is output to the control terminal device 800.

On the other hand, if the Y carriage motor 301 is stopped in step S706, the process advances to step S716, and the number of drive pulses of the Y carriage motor 301 is determined until the sensing point of the sensor 442 moves from point C2 to point C3. The value of y1 is calculated from and stored in the storage unit. Next, in step S718, the values of x and y are calculated from the value of y1 using the formula shown in the figure, and in step S720, the head 400 is moved in the X and Y directions based on the calculated values of x and y. When the head 400 is moved, the sense point of the sensor 442 moves in the direction of the solid arrow in the figure, and when the movement is completed, the sense point of the sensor 442 exactly matches the marker origin 221a. It should be. If they do not match, marker origin 2
The sense point of the sensor 442 deviates from 21a, and the output of the sensor 442 becomes "high", so that the deviation of the sense point can be confirmed. Then, the coordinate information of this column origin 221a is stored in the storage section.

[0134] This completes the column sensing operation. The dispensing device of the embodiment operates according to the flowchart described above, and automatic dispensing of PTP tablets is performed. In addition,
The present invention can be applied to modifications or variations of the above embodiments without departing from the spirit thereof.

For example, in the embodiment, marker 22
1 has been described as having a shape as shown in FIG. 24-1, however, as in the modified example shown in FIG.
It is preferable to have a shape in which the sensor 442 is completely separated from the marker origin 221a because the shift between the sense point and the marker origin 221a can be detected even if the sense point of the sensor 442 is shifted in any direction in the XY direction.

[0136]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention,
The tablet sheet is cut so that the vertical punching part punched out by the vertical blade and the horizontal punching part punched out by the horizontal blade intersect at the intersection of the respective punching parts, so that the vertical punching part This has the advantage that there is no uncut portion of the tablet sheet at the intersection of the cross section and the horizontal punching section, and reliable cutting can be performed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall external perspective view of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of different types of tablets.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the upper and lower claw bodies and the tablet.

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view showing the relationship between the tablet case and the upper and lower claw bodies.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the XY carriage.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the XY carriage.

FIG. 7 is an external perspective view of the head.

FIG. 8 is an external perspective view of the head.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the external appearance of the head and a view of installing a sensor.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the external appearance of the head and a diagram showing how to install a sensor.

FIG. 11 is an external perspective view of the cutter.

FIG. 12 is a cutaway external perspective view of the main part of the cutter.

FIG. 13 is an external perspective view of the cutter and a sensor installation diagram.

FIG. 14 is a cutaway external perspective view of the main part of the cutter and a sensor installation diagram.

FIG. 15 is an external perspective view of the conveyor.

FIG. 16 is an external perspective view of the conveyor and a sensor installation diagram.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the dispensing device of the embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of an initialization subroutine.

FIG. 20-1 is a flowchart of a dispensing operation subroutine.

FIG. 20-2 is a flowchart of a subroutine for dispensing operation.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart of an automatic dispensing subroutine.

FIG. 22-1 is a flowchart of a dispensing subroutine.

FIG. 22-2 is a flowchart of a dispensing subroutine.

FIG. 22-3 is a flowchart of a dispensing subroutine.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart of a column sense subroutine.

FIG. 24-1 is a diagram showing the detailed shape of a marker.

FIG. 24-2 is a diagram showing a modified example of a marker.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing the correspondence between the contents of sheet data and areas.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing the correspondence between the contents of a data set and areas.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 frames 200 Tablet case 300 XY carriage 400 head

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A case shelf provided on a frame body and partitioned into multiple vertical and horizontal stages; a tablet case base attached to a predetermined position of the case shelf; and a housing detachably attached to the tablet case base. A case part that is provided in the storage part and can be adjusted according to the size of the tablet sheet, a remaining number storage part that stores a fraction of the tablet sheet, and a take-out mechanism part that takes out the tablet sheet to the outside. an X-carriage device provided in the frame housing; a Y-carriage device provided in the X-carriage device; and a tablet case provided to be driven in the vertical and longitudinal directions of the Y-carriage device; a head device that is moved along the front side of the shelf; a pressing mechanism that is mounted on the head device and presses the ejecting mechanism; and a grip that grips the edge of the tablet sheet taken out by the pressing mechanism. a Z-carriage device equipped with the gripping device for gripping the tablet sheet by the gripping device and moving in the Z direction to take out the tablet sheet from the tablet case; and dropping the tablet sheet moved in the Z direction. or a first drop-lid having an opening/closing mechanism for holding; the first drop-lid being opened;
and a box for temporarily storing the tablet sheet that is dropped when the gripping device releases the grip; a second drop lid provided at the bottom of the box and having an opening/closing mechanism; A cutter device comprising: a punching mechanism section for cutting off fractions of the tablet sheet; a holding mechanism section for holding the tablet sheet so that it does not move during the punching; and a sweeper mechanism for sweeping away the fractions after cutting the tablet sheet and causing them to fall to the bottom. ; a discharge box located below the cutter device and located below the second drop-cover after the head device is moved; a third drop-cover that can be opened and closed at the bottom of the discharge box; A dispensing device comprising: a conveyor device provided below, provided with tablet takeout boxes on both sides, and having a conveyance mechanism; and a drive control device connected to each of the devices and mechanisms, the dispensing device comprising: The device includes a vertical blade that runs along the longitudinal direction of the tablet sheet, a horizontal blade that runs perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tablet sheet, and a drive mechanism for punching and driving the vertical blade and the horizontal blade. a vertical punching portion punched out by the vertical blade;
A horizontal punching portion punched out by the horizontal blade,
A dispensing device characterized in that the punched portions are cut so as to intersect at the intersection points of the respective punched portions.