JPH04277070A - Apparatus for sorting inferior hard capsule agent - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sort and remote an inferior hard capsule agent from a mass production process by detecting the inferior hard capsule agent generating the leakage of a powder among the hard capsule agents mass-produced in the mass production process. CONSTITUTION:When there is inferiority such as a crack in a hard capsule agent 50, the content (chemical agent) in the hard capsule agent is allowed to fall on a belt 3 and the falling of the content (drug) is detected on the basis of the difference between the reflectivity of the content (drug) and that of the belt 3 by a photoelectric element 4 and, immediately, a damper (valve device) 5 is changed to remove the hard capsule agents of one group containing an inferior hard capsule agent in a hard capsule agent holding container 1 from a mass production process. The visual inspection due to a worker becomes unnecessary and the unmanned operation of a hard capsule agent mass production apparatus becomes possible.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] This invention detects defective hard capsules that have caused powder leakage among the hard capsules mass-produced in a mass production process, and selects and removes the defective hard capsules from the mass production process. This invention relates to a defective hard capsule sorting device.

0002

[Prior Art] Generally, in the mass production process of hard capsules, if the hard capsules have a defective appearance or an excess or deficiency in the weight of the contents, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-50411 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 47-41492 disclose It was detected by the inspection equipment described in the publication and removed from the mass production process.

However, inspection for powder leakage caused by poor bonding between the body and cap of a hard capsule or cracks in the body or cap has been carried out by visual inspection.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, visual powder leakage inspection of hard capsules may miss defective hard capsules, and may also cause worker fatigue and require unattended operation in the mass production process of hard capsules. The problem was that it could not be done.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and provides a defective hard capsule sorting device that detects defective hard capsules that have caused powder leakage and removes them from the mass production process. The purpose is to

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The defective hard capsule sorting device according to the present invention provides hard capsules having a wire mesh at the bottom for temporarily holding continuously fed hard capsules. an excitation means for vibrating the hard capsule holding means; and an excitation means provided at the bottom of the hard capsule holding means to catch the contents of the hard capsule that have fallen from the hard capsule holding means. a receiving means, a detecting means for detecting the contents of the hard capsule that has fallen onto the receiving means using a difference in reflectance between the color of the receiving means, and a next step from the hard capsule holding means. A group of hard capsules containing defective hard capsules that have leaked when the detection means detects leakage of the contents of the hard capsules. The apparatus is equipped with a feeding path switching means for removing the agent outside the process.

[0007]

[Operation] The hard capsule holding means is, for example, a container whose bottom is made of wire mesh, and the hard capsule is continuously fed from the top of the container by compressed air or the like. The wire mesh at the bottom of the container has a stepped shape, for example, so that the hard capsule can only move in one direction, and at the same time, this difference can be used to actively remove the contents that adhere to the surface of the hard capsule. let it fall. A feeding pipe or the like for feeding the hard capsule to the next process is connected to the lower end of the container.

[0008] The excitation means is, for example, a vibration generator,
The container serving as the means for holding the hard capsule is vibrated. This vibration is performed, for example, in order to make it easier for the contents, such as powdered medicine, to leak out from a hard capsule with cracks or poor bonding. At the same time, this vibration serves as a driving source for moving the hard capsule from the higher part of the bottom to the lower part within the hard capsule holding means.

[0009] The receiving means is, for example, a black belt,
It is driven in the same direction as the movement direction of the hard capsule inside the hard capsule holding means. The detection means is, for example, a photoelectric element (such as a photointerrupter) in which a light emitting element and a light receiving element are integrated, and projects light onto a black belt, which is a receiving means, and detects reflected light from the belt. When there is nothing on the belt, almost no light is reflected, so the output of the detection means is extremely small (can be considered almost zero).

On the other hand, the contents (drugs, etc.) leaked from the defective hard capsule pass through the wire gauze at the bottom of the hard capsule holding means and fall onto the belt, which is the receiving means. In general, even if drugs are white or colored, they are brighter (higher brightness) than black, so if they fall onto a black belt, they will reflect more light. The detection means, particularly its light receiving element, receives the reflected light and outputs a detection signal (voltage, etc.) in accordance with the reflected light.

[0011] The feeding path switching means is a damper (valve device) provided in the middle of a feeding pipe that feeds the hard capsule from the hard capsule holding means to the next process using, for example, compressed air. and a pipe line for removing defective hard capsules. The damper is normally open to the pipe connected to the next process. When the detection means detects leakage of contents from the hard capsule, i.e. detects the presence of a defective hard capsule, the damper is immediately cut open towards the pipe feed path for removing the defective hard capsule. Change. The damper is controlled so that it is switched to the conduit for removing defective hard capsules only for an appropriate time determined by actual measurements or the like. As a result, a group of hard capsules containing defective hard capsules are removed from the mass production process.

0012

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The defective hard capsule sorting device according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. 1, which shows a preferred embodiment thereof. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a defective hard capsule sorting device according to the present invention.

The defective hard capsule sorting device according to the present invention is used for inspection at almost the final stage in the mass production process of hard capsules, and the inside of the hard capsules is filled with drugs, etc. It is assumed that the body and cap are combined.

In FIG. 1, a hard capsule holding container 1 contains hard capsules 50 that have been continuously fed from the previous process.
It is for holding (pooling) for a certain period of time.
A connecting pipe 1b for connecting to the pipe line 20 is provided at the upper part thereof. The hard capsule 50 that has been fed through the pipe line 20 by compressed air or the like falls onto the hard capsule holding container 1 from the connecting pipe 1b. A stepped wire mesh 30 is provided at the bottom of the hard capsule holding container 1. The connecting pipe 1b is configured to be located directly above the uppermost part 30a of the wire mesh 30 so that the hard capsule 50 falls onto the uppermost part 30a of the wire mesh 30. Lowermost part 30b of wire mesh 30
is adjacent to the bottom opening 1a. Furthermore, the bottom opening 1a
One end of the conduit 21 is connected to.

The hard capsule holding container 1 is connected to an excitation device 2, and is constantly vibrated. One of the reasons why this vibration is applied is to cause the contents such as medicine to leak from hard capsules that have cracks or poor connection between the body and the cap. Another reason is that the hard capsules on the wire mesh 30 are gradually removed from the top layer 30.
This is to move the hard capsule from a to the lowermost part 30b and finally drop it into the conduit 21 from the bottom opening 1a of the hard capsule holding container 1. The reason why the wire mesh 30 is formed in a step-like manner is to allow the hard capsule to move in only one direction by vibration and prevent it from moving in the opposite direction, and at the same time to use this difference to adhere to the surface of the hard capsule. This is to actively cause objects to fall.

The other end of the pipe line 21 is a damper (valve device) 5
It is connected to the. A pipe line 22 for feeding good hard capsules to the next process and a pipe line 23 for removing defective hard capsules are connected to the damper 5 (the connections of pipes 22 and 23 are reversed). ). The damper 5 is
As shown in the figure, it has a valve body 5a that selectively opens one of the two conduits 22 and 23 and simultaneously closes the other, and a drive device 5b that drives the valve body 5a. As the drive device 5b, for example, an electromagnet, an electric motor, an air cylinder, etc. are used. The drive device 5 is connected to a control device 10.

Directly below the hard capsule holding container 1, a black belt 3 having a width slightly wider than the width of the hard capsule holding container 1 is provided. The direction of movement of the belt 3 is
This is the same direction as the direction from the uppermost section 30a to the lowermost section 30b of the wire mesh 30 of the hard capsule holding container 1, that is, the direction in which the hard capsule 50 moves as a whole in the hard capsule holding container 1. Belt 3
Multiple pieces (5 or 6 pieces) in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of
A plurality of stages (two stages) of photoelectric elements 4 are arranged (the mounting structure is omitted as it is well known). The photoelectric element 4 is a combination of a light emitting element and a light receiving element. Since the light receiving range (detectable range) of each photoelectric element 4 is not so wide, in order to avoid missing detection, for example, 6 elements are shifted to the front stage and 5 elements to the rear stage, as shown in the figure. (The number of photoelectric elements 4 to be arranged is selected according to the width of the belt 3 actually used and the light receiving range of the photoelectric elements 4.) The output of each photoelectric element 4 is input to a control device 10, respectively. A cleaner 6 for cleaning the surface of the belt 3 is provided at the bottom of the belt 3.

The size (width and length) of the hard capsule holding container 1 and the width of the belt 3 are determined by the scale (production capacity) of the hard capsule mass production equipment in which the defective hard capsule sorting device according to the present invention is used. ) must be set accordingly. Generally, the production capacity of mass production equipment for hard capsules is 1000 pieces/minute, 1200 pieces/minute, and 2750 pieces/minute.
There are some things like that. The case of 1200 pieces/minute will be explained as an example. In this case, the hard capsules 50 are fed from the conduit 20 onto the hard capsule holding container 1 at a rate of 1200 pieces/minute, that is, 20 pieces/second. here,
If one hard capsule 50 remains on the hard capsule holding container 1 for several seconds, tens to hundreds of hard capsules 50 are always present inside the hard capsule holding container 1. Therefore, the size of the hard capsule holding device 1, especially the size of the wire mesh 30, is large enough to prevent tens to hundreds of hard capsules 50 from overlapping each other and to move freely around due to vibration. width). In the example manufactured by the present applicant, the wire mesh 30 has a length of about 23 cm and a width of about 10 cm. The width of the belt 3 is approximately 15 cm, which is slightly wider than the width of the wire mesh 30, taking into consideration that the contents of the hard capsule will spread when falling. Since the moving speed of the belt 3 must be faster than the speed at which the hard capsules move inside the hard capsule holding device 1, the moving speed of the belt 3 is approximately 9 m/min (15 cm/min).
seconds).

Next, the operation of the defective hard capsule sorting device according to the above embodiment will be explained. For example, hard capsules 5
Assume that some of the cracks were included in the sample. Due to the vibration of the hard capsule holding container 1, the contents (drug) leak from the cracked hard capsule. The leaked contents fall from the wire mesh 30 onto the belt 3. As the belt 3 moves, the contents falling onto the belt 3 enter the light receiving range (detectable range) of one of the photoelectric elements 4.

The photoelectric element 4 always projects light of a predetermined wavelength onto the belt 3 and receives reflected light from the belt 3. However, since the belt 3 is black in color, its reflectance is extremely low, and the output from the photoelectric element 4 due to the light reflected from the belt 3 is almost zero. However, when the contents (medicine) of the hard capsule leak and fall onto the belt 3, the output of the photoelectric element 4 increases because the reflectance of the contents (medicine) is generally higher than that of the belt 3.

The control device 10 detects that the output from any of the photoelectric elements 4 has increased and immediately switches the damper 5 on.
drive device 5b. The drive device 5b has a valve body 5a.
is switched so that the conduit 23 is closed and the conduit 22 is opened. As a result, the hard capsules fed thereafter are removed from the mass production process without being fed to the next process. The time period during which the valve body 5a of the damper 5 is switched is such that all of the hard capsules that were inside the hard capsule holding container 1 are removed at the time when the photoelectric element 4 detects leakage of contents from the hard capsules. This is the time needed to complete the process. That is, the time is the time during which one hard capsule 50 remains on the hard capsule holding container 1 as described above, plus the time to allow for a safety factor.

By this operation of the damper 5, a group of tens to hundreds of hard capsules containing defective hard capsules is removed from the mass production process. Each of the removed hard capsules is inspected one by one, and good hard capsules are returned to the original mass production process, while defective hard capsules are discarded.

[0023] In the above example, the case where the content (drug) of the hard capsule was relatively white was explained, but if the content is relatively black, the color of the belt should be white. Has a similar effect.

[0024]

As described above, according to the defective hard capsule sorting device according to the present invention, when the hard capsule 50 has defects such as cracks, the contents (medicine) of the hard capsule are transferred to the belt 3. drop the contents (medicine) and belt 3
The photoelectric element 4 detects the drop of the contents (medicine) by utilizing the difference in reflectance between the two, and immediately switches the damper (valve device) 5 to detect if the hard capsule holding container 1 contains defective hard capsules. Since this method eliminates a group of hard capsules from the mass production process, visual inspection by an operator is no longer necessary, and the mass production equipment for hard capsules can be operated unmanned.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a defective hard capsule sorting device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 Hard capsule holding container 2 Excitation device 3 Belt 4 Photoelectric element 5 Damper 6 Cleaner 10 Control device 20, 21, 22, 23 Pipeline 30 Wire mesh 50 Hard capsules

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A hard capsule holding means provided with a wire mesh at the bottom for temporarily holding continuously fed hard capsules, and a hard capsule holding means for vibrating the hard capsule holding means. an excitation means; a receiving means provided at the bottom of the hard capsule holding means for receiving the contents of the hard capsule falling from the hard capsule holding means;
a detection means for detecting the contents of the hard capsule that has fallen onto the receiving means by utilizing a difference in reflectance from the color of the receiving means; The detection means is provided in the middle of the pipe feeding route, and when the detection means detects leakage of the contents of the hard capsules, a group of hard capsules including defective hard capsules that have caused leakage are removed from the process. a feeding path switching means for removing the
Defective hard capsule sorting device equipped with