JPH0673629B2 - Extruder for seamless capsule forming material - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention In general, the present invention provides a composite jet stream consisting of a flow of a coating material and a flow of a filling material inside each of which has fluidity, in a liquid stream of a cooling liquid by a composite nozzle. In a device for producing a seamless capsule (seamless capsule) that is continuously formed and granulates the composite jet stream while cutting it into a predetermined size from the tip, the seamless jet forming material is the seamless jet forming material. And, more particularly, to an extrusion device characterized by a composite nozzle that is the extrusion portion of the forming material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A typical conventional apparatus for producing a seamless capsule is disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 36-3700. In the device disclosed in the above publication, a concentric double cylindrical composite nozzle in which a small-diameter nozzle is inserted into a large-diameter nozzle with a constant gap, is directed downward into the flow of cooling liquid in a capsule forming tank. The large-diameter nozzles are supplied with a fluid coating material, and the small-diameter nozzles are supplied with a fluid filling material at a predetermined pressure from the respective tanks through the supply pipes. The coating substance and the filling substance are continuously extruded into the cooling liquid in the capsule forming tank as a composite jet flow, and the extruded product as the composite jet flow is cut into a predetermined size from the tip, which is then cut. The internal cooling liquid is guided to a capsule recovery pipe that flows in a fixed direction, and is sequentially cooled and recovered.

Then, the cut pieces are in a state in which the coating substance wraps the filling substance due to the surface tension thereof, and the coating substance is rounded in the liquid flow of the cooling liquid while the fluidity of the coating substance is maintained. The coating material is molded into a capsule, and the coating material is cooled to form a coating, which is then formed into a capsule. The formed capsule is sequentially recovered by an appropriate means.

[0004]

In the above-described conventional seamless capsule manufacturing apparatus, the gap between the large diameter nozzle and the small diameter nozzle constituting the compound nozzle, which is the extrusion device, is constant during operation. A metering pump is used to constantly extrude a quantity of coating material from this constant gap. However, since the extrusion rate of the coating substance varies depending on the fluidity of the coating substance and other conditions even when the extrusion gap and the extrusion pressure are constant, the conventional apparatus causes variations in the size of the seamless capsule, which is a product. There was a drawback that it tended to grow. Also, it is not uncommon for the amount of coating material to be extruded to differ depending on the type of filling material or coating material,
If the gap between the large-diameter nozzle and the small-diameter nozzle is immovable and constant as in the conventional apparatus, several kinds of seamless capsules having different film thicknesses cannot be manufactured by the manufacturing apparatus having the same composite nozzle. .

The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to allow the extrusion rate of the coating material to be adjusted at any time during operation and when the type of the seamless capsule to be produced changes. An object of the present invention is to provide an extrusion device for a seamless capsule-forming substance, which can reduce variations in size of capsules as products and can produce seamless capsules having different film thicknesses in the same device. .

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an apparatus for extruding a seamless capsule-forming material according to the present invention comprises an extruding vessel for continuously extruding a fluid coating material at a predetermined pressure, An extruding pipe whose tip faces the extruding side of the extruding container from the inside of the extruding container and continuously extrudes a fluid material having a predetermined pressure at a predetermined pressure, and a large diameter nozzle provided on the extruding side of the extruding container. A small diameter nozzle provided at the tip of the extruding pipe is provided with a compound nozzle inserted substantially concentrically through a predetermined gap, and the extruding container is provided on the rear end side in the extruding direction of the large diameter nozzle. A conical inner surface that gradually expands inward is formed, and a conical outer surface that substantially matches the conical inner surface is formed on the rear end side of the small diameter nozzle in the extrusion direction, and the small diameter nozzle reciprocates along the extrusion direction. Yes It is characterized in that was installed in.
It is preferable that the extruding pipe is screwed into the extruding container from a nut-shaped screw portion provided in the extruding container.

[0007]

According to the above-mentioned extrusion apparatus for the seamless capsule forming material according to the present invention, the composite nozzle is exposed to the flow of the cooling liquid in the capsule forming tank, and the small diameter nozzle is moved in the extrusion direction or the reverse direction. When operating by setting the gap between the conical inner surface of the large-diameter nozzle and the conical outer surface of the small-diameter nozzle to operate properly, the conical inner surface and the conical shape around the jet flow of the filler substance extruded from the small-diameter nozzle. A composite jet stream surrounded by a jet stream of coating material having a thickness corresponding to the gap with the outer surface is continuously formed in the coolant stream. When this composite jet flow is cut from its tip into a predetermined size by, for example, a pulsating flow of a cooling liquid, the cut pieces are in a state in which the coating substance wraps the filling substance due to the surface tension of the cutting substance. Is formed into a rounded shape in a liquid flow of a cooling liquid while maintaining fluidity, and the film substance is cooled to form a film, thereby forming a capsule.

While monitoring the state of the capsules formed in the capsule forming tank with, for example, an eye or a camera, the small diameter nozzle is moved in the extrusion direction or in the reverse direction, so that the conical inner surface of the large diameter nozzle and the small diameter nozzle are moved. By adjusting the extrusion gap from the outer surface of the conical shape, it is possible to reduce the variation in the size of the capsule as a product. Also, by changing the gap between the conical inner surface and the conical outer surface as described above, it is possible to manufacture a seamless capsule having a different film thickness with the same device.

When the extruding pipe is screwed into the inside of the extruding container from a nut-shaped screw part provided in the extruding container, the small diameter nozzle is extruded by turning the screw part or the extruding pipe. It can be moved in either direction or vice versa.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A sheet according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
A preferred embodiment of the extrusion device for the mules capsule forming material will be described. FIG. 1 shows a sheet using the extruder of this example.
FIG. 2 is an overall system diagram showing an example of an apparatus for producing a mules capsule, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of an extrusion apparatus in the embodiment of FIG.
2 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of the extrusion device of FIG. 2 with the extrusion gap closed, and FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of the extrusion device of FIG. 2 with the extrusion gap.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a tank for a coating substance a made of, for example, an aqueous gelatin solution, 2 is a tank for a filling substance containing a drug and other components, and each of the tanks 1 and 2 is equipped with a heating jacket (not shown). Coating material a,
It is configured so that the filling substance b can be heated to adjust their fluidity, and further, the coating substance a and the filling substance b in the tanks 1 and 2 are replenished from others at any time so as to keep almost constant amounts. It has become so.

The coating substance a is heated in the tank 1 to about 45 ° C. to 50 ° C., and normally, due to the pressure from the pressurizing pipe 11, the feeding pipe 31 in which the intermediate heater 3 is provided is provided.
Is continuously fed to the extrusion container 4 through the extrusion container 4, and the temperature is appropriately adjusted in the extrusion container 4, and a large-diameter nozzle 51 (FIG. 2) of a composite nozzle 5 (described later) provided on the extrusion side of the extrusion container 4 is provided.
Is extruded from. In this embodiment, the coating material a is heated by the intermediate heater 3 on the way to an appropriate temperature within the range of 70 ° C to 80 ° C.
When the pressurizing pipe 11 is not used, the coating substance a in the tank 1 is extruded by the metering pump 33 of the bypass pipe 32 in the middle of the feed pipe 31 through the above-mentioned route.
Send to.

On the other hand, the filling material b in the tank 2 is extruded vertically by a pump 22 provided in the middle of the feed pipe 21 while being inserted into the feed pipe 21 and the extrusion container 4 from above. After passing through the pipe 23, it is extruded from a small diameter nozzle (FIG. 2) 52 provided at the tip of the extruding pipe 23. The feeding pipe 21 and the extruding pipe 23 are shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, a T-shaped pipe joint 27 is connected, and an accumulator 24 is attached to the opposite side of the pipe joint 27 to which the extruding pipe 23 is connected. The accumulator 24 acts to pump the pump. The minute pulsating flow of the filling substance b due to 22 is alleviated, and the internal pressure in the small diameter nozzle 52 for pushing the filling substance is kept substantially constant. Reference numeral 25 in FIG. 1 is a pressure gauge.

As shown in FIG. 2, the extrusion container 4 includes a heating jacket 41 having a heating means (not shown), and a feed pipe 3.
1 is provided with a socket 43 for connection, the temperature of the coating substance inside is constantly detected by the temperature detector 42 inserted in the extrusion container 4, and by controlling the heating means based on the detected value, The temperature of the coating material is adjusted to a temperature suitable for extrusion. Reference numeral 45 is an air separator attached to the extrusion container 4.

An opening 44 is formed on the extruding side of the aforementioned extruding container 4 as shown in FIG. 2, and a large diameter nozzle 51 is provided at the lower part of the opening 44 by a socket member 46 screwed from below. The conical inner surface 53 is attached so as to face the inside of the capsule forming tank 6 and is located on the rear end side of the large diameter nozzle 51 in the extrusion direction so as to gradually spread inward of the extrusion container 4.
Are formed.

The extruding pipe 23, which is inserted into the extruding container 4 from above and has its tip facing the extruding side of the extruding container 4 from the inside, is inserted into the large diameter nozzle 51 through a predetermined gap. The small-diameter nozzle 52 in the opened state is attached, and a conical outer surface 54 that substantially matches the conical inner surface 53 of the large-diameter nozzle 51 is formed on the rear end side of the small-diameter nozzle 52 in the extrusion direction.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a nut-shaped screw portion 26 rotatably attached to the upper portion of the extrusion container 4.
With the structure in which the extrusion pipe 23 is screwed into the extrusion container 4, the small diameter nozzle 52 is configured to be movable in the extrusion direction or the opposite direction. That is, the small-diameter nozzle 52 is moved by rotating the screw portion 26 to move the extrusion pipe 23 up and down, so that the conical inner surface 53 of the large-diameter nozzle 51 and the conical outer surface 54 of the small-diameter nozzle 52 are moved as shown in FIG. It is possible to adjust the extrusion gap t of (1) and the extrusion amount (extrusion thickness) of the coating substance. In the extruder having such a structure, the extrusion gap between the conical inner surface 53 and the conical outer surface 54 is closed as shown in FIG. 3 until the coating substance is filled in the extrusion container 4, and then as shown in FIG. The device can be operated by forming a suitable extrusion gap t between the conical inner surface 53 and the conical outer surface 54.

In the compound nozzle 5 of the extrusion apparatus configured as described above, the filling substance having fluidity is extruded from the small diameter nozzle 52 and the coating substance having fluidity is extruded from the large diameter nozzle 51, whereby the filling substance is extruded. A composite jet stream including the jet stream in the jet stream of the coating material is continuously formed in the liquid stream of the cooling liquid c in the capsule forming tank 6.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the composite jet flow is regularly pulsated by the pulsating nozzle 60 in a state in which the composite jet flow is surrounded from the side circumference in the capsule forming tank 6. Is added, and by the impact of this pulsating flow,
The composite jet stream has indentations formed at predetermined intervals from the tip. The pulsating flow nozzle 60 has a lower adjusting screw 6
By turning 2 (FIG. 2), the opening gap can be adjusted appropriately.

The cooling liquid c is supplied from the cooling liquid tank 7 to the heat exchanger 71 and the feed pipe 72 by the pump 70 as shown in FIG.
And is sent to the capsule forming tank 6 via a funnel pipe 8 vertically movable in the capsule forming tank 6, a capsule collecting pipe 81, and a collecting popper 9, and is circulated to the cooling liquid tank 7. There is. Therefore, the composite jet flow extruded as described above is drawn toward the lower funnel tube 8 and sequentially cut from the recessed portion, and each piece cut in this way has a coating material whose fluidity is fluid. While being kept, the flow of the cooling liquid c in the funnel tube 8 causes the cooling and solidification while sequentially rounding to form a seamless capsule d.
It reaches the collection popper 9 through the capsule collection pipe 81, is supplied to a conveyor (not shown) on the side while being separated from the cooling liquid by the mesh 91, and is sent to the next drying step.

The thickness of the coating a'of the seamless capsule d formed as described above is the extrusion thickness of the coating material, that is, the conical inner surface 53 of the large diameter pipe 51 and the small diameter pipe 52.
It is adjusted by selecting the extrusion gap t with the conical outer surface 54 of the.

The cooling liquid for adding the pulsating flow to the composite jet flow reaches the pulsating flow generator 75 from the cooling liquid tank 7 through the feed pipe 74 by the pump 73, and the pulsating flow generator 75 is supplied.
As a result, a regular pulsating flow is generated, and the pulsating flow is further supplied to the pulsating flow nozzle 60 through the feed pipe 76, and circulates in the above-mentioned path together with the cooling liquid c in the capsule forming tank 6.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 77 is an accumulator for keeping the pressure of the cooling liquid against the pulsating flow generator 75 constant.
Reference numeral 61 is an overflow pipe leading from the capsule forming tank 6 to the cooling liquid tank 7.

According to the extrusion apparatus of the above-mentioned embodiment, while monitoring the formed seamless capsule d, the conical inner surface 53 of the large diameter nozzle 51 and the conical outer surface of the small diameter nozzle, which are the extrusion gap of the coating material, are formed. By adjusting the extrusion gap t with respect to 54, it is possible to manufacture a seamless capsule having uniform particles with a small variation in size, and it is also possible to manufacture a seamless capsule having a different film thickness by the same apparatus. .

In this embodiment, in order to sequentially cut the composite jet stream into a predetermined size from the tip, instead of adding the pulsating flow of the cooling liquid from the side to the composite jet stream as described above, capsule formation is performed. The flow rate of the cooling liquid c in the tank 6 may be changed intermittently.

[0026]

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION According to the extruding device for the seamless capsule forming material of the present invention, the extruding gap between the conical inner surface of the large diameter nozzle and the conical outer surface of the small diameter nozzle constituting the composite nozzle is adjusted. In addition, it is possible to manufacture a product with good grain uniformity by reducing the variation in size of the seamless capsules, and to manufacture different seamless capsules having different film thicknesses with the same extruder.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an extrusion apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a whole system diagram which shows an example of the manufacturing apparatus of a Mures capsule.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the extrusion device in the embodiment of FIG.

3 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of the extrusion device of FIG. 2 in a state where an extrusion gap is closed.

4 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of the extrusion device of FIG. 2 in a state where an extrusion gap is opened.

[Explanation of symbols]

 a coating material a'coating b filling material c cooling liquid d seamless capsule t extrusion gap 1 coating material tank 11 pressurizing pipe 2 filling material tank 21 feed pipe 22 pump 23 extrusion pipe 24 accumulator 25 pressure gauge 26 Nut-shaped screw part 27 Pipe joint 3 Intermediate heater 31 Feed pipe 32 Bypass pipe 33 Metering pump 4 Extrusion container 41 Heating jacket 42 Temperature detector 43 Socket 44 Opening 45 Air separator 46 Socket member 5 Complex nozzle 51 Large Diameter nozzle 52 Small diameter nozzle 53 Conical inner surface 54 Conical outer surface 6 Capsule forming tank 60 Pulsating flow nozzle 61 Overflow pipe 62 Adjusting screw 7 Cooling liquid tank 70, 73 Pump 71 Heat exchanger 72, 74, 76 Supply Transmission pipe 75 Pulsation generator 77 Accumulator 8 Funnel tube 1 capsule recovery tube 9 collecting hopper 91 mesh

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tatsuo Hashimoto 3-24-1 Takada, Toshima-ku, Tokyo Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazuo Hayashi 3-24-1 Takada, Toshima-ku, Tokyo Taisho Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tomiya Hosoi, 3-24-1, Takada, Toshima-ku, Tokyo Taisho Manufacturing Pharmaceuticals (72) Inventor, Kenichi Ikuta 3-24-1, Takada, Toshima-ku, Tokyo Taisho Yaku Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An extruding vessel for continuously extruding a coating material having fluidity at a prescribed pressure, and a tip of the extruding vessel which faces the extruding side of the vessel from the inside of the extruding vessel and which has a prescribed filling material having fluidity. An extrusion pipe that continuously extrudes with pressure,
In the large diameter nozzle provided on the extrusion side of the extrusion container,
A small diameter nozzle provided at the tip of the extruding pipe is provided with a compound nozzle inserted substantially concentrically through a predetermined gap, and the large diameter nozzle is directed toward the inside of the extruding container at the rear end side in the extruding direction. A conical inner surface that gradually expands, and a conical outer surface that substantially matches the conical inner surface is formed at the rear end side of the small-diameter nozzle in the extrusion direction, and the small-diameter nozzle is reciprocally movable along the extrusion direction. An extrusion device for a seamless capsule-forming material, characterized in that 2. The sheath according to claim 1, wherein the extrusion pipe is screwed into the inside of the extrusion container from a nut-shaped screw portion provided in the extrusion container.
Extruder for murres capsule forming material.