JPH06277285A - Vacuum plug striking machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the structure of the device and decrease the production cost by lowering the degree of vacuum to be needed in a vacuum box than the conventional one at the time of the plug striking process. CONSTITUTION:In the plug striking process, a plug striking rod 15 is lowered in a vacuum box 1. In this case, a space needle 10 as well as the rod 15 is lowered and the space needle 10 is engaged with the plug 2 before the rod 15 presses up a plug 2 to deform the plug 2 in succession along the axis direction. The plug 2 keeps the connection state and is lowered near the liquid surface of a medicine liquid 3 in a syringe barrel 4 finally by the rod 15. Then, the vacuum box 1 is deaerated till the prescribed degree of vacuum can be obtained. When the deaeration is ended, the rod 15 and the needle 10 are pulled up and the air is again introduced in the vacuum box 1. Thus, the plug 2 reaches the liquid surface of chemical 3 after the extremely short process.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vacuum stoppering machine for stoppering a stopper into a syringe barrel and inserting the stopper up to the level of the liquid medicine filled in the syringe barrel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventionally known vacuum stoppering machine, for example, there is one disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 4-28386.
FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the main parts of this vacuum stoppering machine. In this case, the injection cylinder 02 filled with the drug solution 01 is held in the holding hole 04 of the upper plate 03 with the open end side facing upward in a vacuum box (not shown). At the position above the open end of the syringe barrel 02, the inner stopper 0 as a stopper to be stoppered
5 is held in advance by the inside plug holding hole 07 of the inside plug holding plate 06. An air cylinder 08 is hermetically fixed on the upper wall of the vacuum box.
The rod 09 of No. 8 penetrates the upper wall of the vacuum box and projects into the vacuum box. At the end of the rod 09, the inner plug 05 is pushed down and the open end of the syringe barrel 02 is hit with the inner plug 05. A tapping rod 010 for plugging is fixed.

The stoppering process of the vacuum stoppering machine having such a structure will be described below. First, as shown in FIG. 5A, the inner stopper gripping plate 06 into which the inner stopper 05 is inserted and the upper plate 03 holding the syringe barrel 02 are set at predetermined positions in the vacuum box. Next, after sealing the vacuum box, the air in the vacuum box is sucked and discharged by using an arbitrary vacuum device to make the internal space of the vacuum box a vacuum.

When the internal space of the vacuum box reaches a predetermined degree of vacuum, the air cylinder 08 is driven to lower the rod 09 and the stopper rod 010 as shown in FIG. 5 (b). The tapping rod 010 moving downward contacts the inner plug 05 inserted and gripped in the inner plug grip hole 07 of the inner plug grip plate 06, and then pushes the inner plug 05 downward to make the syringe barrel 0.
Press slightly into the open end of 2.

Next, the air cylinder 08 is driven in the opposite direction to raise the rod 09 and the tapping rod 010, and at the same time, the outside air is introduced into the vacuum box. 0 at this time
Due to the external atmospheric pressure acting on the upper surface of 5, the inner plug 05 is gradually sucked into the injection barrel 02, and eventually, as shown in FIG. 5C, the liquid of the drug solution 01 filled in the injection barrel 02. Reach the surface. In this way, the stoppering of the inner stopper 05 into the injection cylinder 02 is completed.

[0006]

According to such a conventional vacuum tapping machine, in the tapping step, the inside plug 05 is exposed from the atmospheric pressure to the liquid surface of the drug solution 01 from the opening end of the injection cylinder 02. It is possible to push and move a relatively long stroke. In other words, the inner plug 05 must compress the space of a relatively large volume which is closed even though the inside of the injection cylinder 02 is in a substantially vacuum state in the stoppering process. Therefore, in the case of stoppering using such a vacuum stoppering machine, in order to ensure that the inner stopper 05 can reach the liquid surface of the drug solution 01, in other words, after the stoppering, the drug solution in the syringe 02 is kept. In order to prevent air from remaining between the liquid surface of 01 and the front end surface of the inner stopper 05, the degree of vacuum in the internal space of the vacuum box, that is, the injection cylinder 02
It was necessary to considerably increase the degree of vacuum in the inner space.

However, in order to achieve the required very high degree of vacuum, it is necessary to correspondingly increase the strength and the sealing capacity of the vacuum box and the capacity of the vacuum device, and hence the vacuum. Increasing the complexity of the structure and the manufacturing cost of the stoppering machine are unavoidable.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and the vacuum degree required in the vacuum box during the stoppering process is made lower than before, and the structure of the vacuum stoppering machine is improved. It simplifies and reduces manufacturing costs.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the vacuum stoppering machine of the present invention has a syringe barrel holder for holding the syringe barrel with the open end of the syringe barrel facing upward. A stopper holder for holding the stopper at a position above the open end of the syringe barrel;
A sealable vacuum box capable of accommodating the syringe barrel holder and the stopper holder inside, and the syringe barrel holder and the stopper holder held by the stopper holder when the syringe holder is accommodated in the vacuum box. A stoppering cap that is movable up and down for stoppering the stopper body into the syringe barrel held in the syringe barrel holder immediately below the stopper body. Gap needles are provided adjacent to each other, and the gap needles are used to continuously deform the plug body along the axial direction during the capping process, and the space inside the syringe barrel is limited by the front end face of the plug body. And the space inside the vacuum box are communicated with each other.

[0010]

According to the vacuum tapping machine configured as described above,
In the stoppering process, the stoppering bar is first lowered in the vacuum box under atmospheric pressure. At this time, the gap needle is also descending together with the tapping rod, and before the tapping bar pushes down the plug body, the gap needle has already engaged with the plug body and continuously deforms the plug body along the axial direction. ing. Therefore, even if the stopper rod pushes down the stopper body afterwards and inserts the stopper body into the open end of the syringe barrel, the space defined by the front end face of the stopper body and the space inside the vacuum box are not separated from each other. They are in communication with each other through the passage formed by the deformation of the plug body by the needle. While maintaining the communication state, the stopper is finally lowered by the stopper rod to near the liquid surface of the drug solution in the syringe barrel.
After that, the vacuum box is evacuated to a predetermined degree of vacuum. When the deaeration is completed, the stopper rod and the clearance needle are pulled up, and the clearance formed on the outer peripheral surface of the stopper is closed by the elastic restoring action of the stopper. When the space in the injection cylinder is sealed by the stopper in this way, air is introduced again into the vacuum box. The stopper can receive the pressure of the air introduced into the vacuum box and can reach the liquid surface of the chemical liquid after traveling an extremely short stroke.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows the state of the vacuum stoppering machine immediately before the start of the stoppering step. In this case, the vacuum box 1 of the vacuum stoppering machine accommodates an injection barrel 4 previously filled with an elastic stopper 2 and a drug solution 3. The syringe barrel 4 is held by a syringe barrel holder 5 with its open end facing upward, and the plug body 2 is held by the plug barrel holder 6 at a position above the open end of the syringe barrel 4. A cap 7 is attached to the small-diameter end of the injection cylinder 4 opposite to the open end so that the drug solution 3 in the injection cylinder 4 does not leak.

The syringe barrel holder 5 has a stepped syringe barrel holding hole 8 that substantially conforms to the outer shape of the syringe barrel 4, and the syringe barrel 4 inserted in the syringe barrel holding hole 8 is inserted into the syringe barrel 4. It is supported from below at the step inside the holding hole 8. Stopper holder 6
Has a plug holding hole 9 having an inner diameter substantially the same as the inner diameter of the injection cylinder 4. Therefore, the elastic plug body 2 inserted into the plug body holding hole 9 is elastically compressed similarly to when it is inserted into the injection barrel 4, and is held based on the frictional force. Further, the stopper holder 6 has a gap needle guide that is curved upward slightly to guide a gap needle 10 described later between the outer peripheral surface of the stopper body and the inner peripheral surface of the stopper body holding hole 9. A surface 11 is provided.

Above the stopper holder 6, a lifting rod 12 is provided.
Is provided with a drive device 13. The drive device 13 is attached to the outer wall of the vacuum box 1, and the elevating rod 12 penetrates the outer wall of the vacuum box 1 by a seal ring 14 in an airtight manner. At the end of the elevating rod 12 inside the vacuum box 1, a stopper rod 15 for pushing down the stopper body 2 for stoppering.
Is attached. Of course, the axis of this stopper rod 15 is
It is substantially aligned with the axes of the stopper 2 and the syringe barrel 4 located below. A gap needle 10 for continuously deforming the plug body 2 along the axial direction is attached to the stopper rod 15 so as to be adjacent thereto. The clearance needle 10 projects downward beyond the tip of the tapping rod 15 and has a predetermined radius with respect to the tapping rod 15 so as to come into sliding contact with the inner peripheral surfaces of the plug holding hole 9 and the injection barrel 4. Occupies a directional position.

The vacuum box 1 is constructed so that it can be opened and closed so that the syringe barrel holder 5 and the stopper holder 6 can be housed and taken out. In addition, the vacuum box 1 has a switching valve 1
6 is connected to a conduit 17, and this switching valve 16
Are used to selectively connect the vacuum generator 18 and the outside air to the internal space 19 of the vacuum box 1.

Next, a stoppering process using the vacuum stoppering machine of the above embodiment will be described. The internal space 19 of the vacuum box 1 at the start of the stoppering process shown in FIG. 1 is connected to the outside air by a switching valve 16. In this state, the elevating rod 12, the tapping rod 15, and the clearance needle 10 are moved down by the drive of the drive device 13. At this time, the clearance needle 10 descends while being guided along the clearance needle guide surface 11, and then is interrupted between the outer peripheral surface of the plug body and the inner peripheral surface of the plug body holding hole 9 to extend axially to the outer peripheral surface of the plug body. Produces elastic deformation extending to. By this elastic deformation of the outer peripheral surface of the stopper, the outer peripheral surface of the stopper and the stopper holding hole 9
A gap is formed between the inner peripheral surface and the inner peripheral surface. When the clearance needle 10 completely passes through the stopper body 2 in the axial direction, the tapping rod 15 contacts the upper end surface of the stopper body 2 to start pushing down the stopper body 2.

When the stopper 2 is continuously pushed down by the stopper rod 15, the stopper 2 is eventually pushed out of the stopper holder 6 and pushed into the syringe barrel 4. At this point, the gap needle 10 is located between the outer peripheral surface of the plug body and the inner peripheral surface of the injection cylinder 4 as shown in FIG. 3, and still allows the outer peripheral surface of the plug body to be continuously deformed along the axial direction. ing. As a result, a gap 20 is formed between the outer peripheral surface of the plug body and the inner peripheral surface of the injection cylinder 4. Therefore, the space 21 in the syringe barrel 4 defined by the front end surface of the stopper 2 and the internal space 19 of the vacuum box 1 are in communication with each other through this gap 20. Since the space 21 in the syringe barrel 4 is not sealed by the stopper body 2 as described above, the stopper body 2 can be easily pushed to the vicinity of the liquid level of the drug solution 3 in the syringe barrel 4 by the stopper rod 15 as shown in FIG. Can be lowered.

In this state, the vacuum box 1 is communicated with the vacuum generator 18 via the conduit 17 and the switching valve 16 shown in FIG. 1, and the internal space 19 of the vacuum box 1 is driven by driving the vacuum generator 18. It is degassed to a predetermined vacuum degree. In this case, the space 21 in the injection cylinder 4 is also degassed via the gap 20. When the deaeration is completed, the stopper rod 15 and the gap needle 10 are pulled up as shown in FIG. 4, and the gap 20 formed on the outer peripheral surface of the plug body is closed by the elastic restoring action of the plug body 2. When the space 21 in the injection cylinder 4 is sealed by the plug body 2 in this manner, outside air is introduced again into the vacuum box 1 via the conduit 17 and the switching valve 16.
As a result, new atmospheric pressure (in most cases, atmospheric pressure) acts on the upper end surface of the stopper body 2, so that the stopper body 2 reliably reaches the liquid surface of the chemical liquid 3 after proceeding through an extremely short stroke.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, the plug body may be provided with a continuous cut in the axial direction in advance, and a gap needle may be inserted into this cut, whereby the plug body can be continuously elastically deformed along the axial direction. According to this, since the clearance needle only contacts the elastic plug body, the inner peripheral surface of the syringe barrel cannot be damaged by the clearance needle.

If necessary, the internal space of the vacuum box may be degassed by the vacuum generator from the beginning of the stoppering process (state shown in FIG. 1). In this case, the pushing down of the stopper in the syringe barrel will be performed more smoothly because there is no air resistance.

[0020]

According to the vacuum stoppering machine of the present invention, since the stopper is pushed down by the stoppering rod in advance to the vicinity of the liquid surface of the chemical solution, the distance by which the stopper is pushed and moved based on the external pressure. Is significantly shorter than the conventional vacuum stoppering machine. That is, the volume of the space in the syringe barrel in which the stopper should be compressed is significantly smaller than in the conventional case. Therefore, in the case of the present invention, the stopper can surely reach the liquid surface of the chemical liquid even if the degree of vacuum in the internal space of the vacuum box is no longer extremely high unlike the conventional case, and therefore, in the vacuum box. Since the required degree of vacuum is lower than before, the capacity required for the vacuum stopper machine becomes slower than before.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic overall view of an embodiment of a vacuum stoppering machine.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the inside of the vacuum box in a state where the stopper is pushed down into the syringe barrel by the stopper rod.

3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of the inside of the vacuum box with the stopper rod pulled up from within the injection cylinder.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a stoppering process in a conventional vacuum stoppering machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vacuum box 2 Plug body 3 Chemical liquid 4 Injection cylinder 5 Injection cylinder holder 6 Plug body retainer 7 Cap 8 Injection cylinder holding hole 9 Plug body holding hole 10 Gap needle 11 Gap needle guide surface 12 Elevating rod 13 Drive device 14 Seal ring 15 stopper rod 16 switching valve 17 conduit 18 vacuum generator 19 internal space 20 gap 21 space inside syringe barrel 4

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An injection barrel holder that holds the syringe barrel with the open end of the syringe barrel facing upward, and a stopper holder that holds a plug body at a position above the opened end of the held syringe barrel. A sealable vacuum box capable of accommodating the syringe barrel holder and the stopper holder inside, and the syringe barrel holder and the stopper holder held by the stopper holder when the syringe holder is accommodated in the vacuum box. A stopper cap that is movable up and down for capping the capped stopper into the syringe holder held in the syringe holder immediately below, in which a stopper needle is provided in the stopper cap. Are provided adjacent to each other, and the gap needle is configured to continuously deform the stopper body along the axial direction during the stoppering process, and the space and vacuum inside the syringe cylinder defined by the front end surface of the stopper body. A vacuum stoppering machine, which is configured to communicate with the space inside the box. 2. The vacuum stoppering machine according to claim 1, wherein the gap needle is arranged so as to be in sliding contact with the inner peripheral surface of the injection cylinder during the stoppering step. 3. The vacuum tapping machine according to claim 1, wherein the plug body is provided with a slit penetrating in the axial direction, and the gap needle penetrates the slit in the plugging step. . 4. The vacuum tapping machine according to claim 2, wherein an upper part of the stopper holder is provided with a clearance needle guide surface for guiding the clearance needle to a predetermined position of the stopper.