JPH10192369A - Chemical containing and discharging casette - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a preparation chemical containing container with a discharge function by which the first-in and first-out of chemicals is executed and also the chemicals are orderly and smoothly discharged by action from an external part. SOLUTION: An inner box part 61 contains multiple discharge object amples in a mutually superimposed state. When a mobile base plate 63 is slid, the amples are discharged from the discharge hole of a base part one by one. Thus, the chemicals are discharged by a first-in and first-out system. Besides, the amples inside the inner box part 61 are respectively and slightly rotated by the sliding of the mobile base plate 63 so that 'preparation' is automatically executed. Thus, unstableness in the superimposition of the contained amples is cancelled and smooth and continuous dischange is enabled.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a medicine containing and dispensing cassette used for dispensing a medicine for dispensing in a dispensing business of a hospital pharmacy or the like, for example, a medicine containing for dispensing a medicine in a container such as an ampoule injection solution. It relates to a dispensing cassette.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various types of medicine packaging machines have been used in hospital pharmacies and the like for packaging medicines to be administered to patients one by one. A type of medicine packaging machine is used to save labor. Here, there are a wide variety of drugs such as tablets, powders, solutions, injection solutions and capsules, PTP of tablets, and external medicines. Of these, naked tablets (naked tablets) It is relatively easy to handle it automatically, so it is relatively easy to automatically dispense and package it, but ampoule-type or vial-type injections, sheet-pack type tablets (PTP tablets), eye drops For external medicines such as ointments and ointments, as well as medicines such as infusion packs used for infusion, etc., it is not easy to handle to avoid damage due to the special shape and material of the container, and to automatically dispens them Conventionally, various devices and improvements have been made.

FIG. 20 shows an ampoule-type injection (hereinafter, referred to as an ampoule).
Simply called an ampule. 1) shows the appearance of a conventional medicine dispensing device for dispensing. This apparatus is configured as a Japanese chest rack 1000 having a large number of drawers 1001 that can be freely pulled out. Each drawer shelf 1001
Is designed to be able to detachably store a plurality of medicine cassettes 1001a. Each drawer shelf 1001 also has a dispensing drive unit 100 for dispensing (dispensing) an ampule contained in each medicine cassette 1001a one by one.
1b. The dispensing drive unit 1001b has a dispensing mechanism (not shown in the figure but described later) corresponding to each medicine cassette 1001a. By operating these dispensing mechanisms independently, an ampule in each medicine cassette 1001a is dispensed from a discharge port 1001c on the front right side of the drawer shelf 1001.

FIG. 21 shows a sectional configuration of the drawer shelf 1001 as viewed from the front side. As shown in this figure,
The medicine cassettes 1001a can be stacked in two rows for each row, and one dispensing rotor 1001d is arranged for one row of the two rows. The payout rotor 1001d has a cylindrical shape, and a deep groove-shaped concave portion 1001e is formed on the peripheral surface along the cylindrical axis direction. The dispensing rotor 1001d is rotationally driven by a drive motor (not shown) in the direction of the arrow in the figure, whereby ampules are taken out of the medicine cassette 1001a one by one and conveyed to the discharge port 1001c. As shown in the figure, each of the upper and lower medicine cassettes 1001a contains an ampule in one stage. Then, first, the ampules of the lower medicine cassette 1001a are sequentially dispensed, and after the ampules have disappeared, the ampules of the upper medicine cassette 1001a are sequentially dispensed. Then, the ampoule dispensed from the discharge port 1001c by the dispensing drive unit 1001b reaches the setting unit 1003 at the lowermost part of the housing via the relay conveyance mechanism in the relay unit 1002, as shown in FIG. , Conveyor 1
004 is supplied to the medicine tray 1005 conveyed on the top. The configuration and operation of the drawer shelves in other stages are the same.

[0005]

In general, drugs need to be used early because of their nature. Therefore, it is necessary to manage drugs by a first-in first-out method (that is, to use old ones first). is there. However, as described above, conventionally, the medicine cassettes accommodated in each drawer shelf 1001 are arranged in two vertically stacked layers, and as long as the ampule is present in the lower medicine cassette, it is paid out first. Therefore, if the ampule in the lower drug cassette is exhausted and the ampule is additionally refilled in the lower row, the ampule just refilled will be paid out first, and the first-in first-out will not be performed. Also, if ampules in the upper drug cassette are replenished to both the upper and lower cartridges when the ampoule in the lower drug cassette runs out and the ampule in the upper drug cassette runs out halfway, the dispensing of the ampule remaining in the upper cartridge before refilling will be postponed. It is inconvenient. On the other hand, replenishment after all the ampoules in the upper and lower stages have been exhausted means that the device is stopped due to the ampule being exhausted, which is also disadvantageous.

In addition, in the conventional structure, unless the upper drug cassette 1001a is once removed, the lower drug cassette 1001a cannot be refilled with an ampule, resulting in poor workability.

Further, conventionally, in each medicine cassette, the ampules are housed in a single row without overlapping each other, and the ampules are rolled under their own weight along the inclination of the bottom plate of the medicine cassette 1001a. It was designed to advance to the outlet 1001c. However, since the ampule is generally thin on the tip side and thick on the bottom side, and a label such as a drug name is attached to the peripheral surface, the radius of rotation and the coefficient of friction vary depending on the location on the peripheral surface of the ampule. For this reason, as a result of the ampule advancing in an inclined manner without rolling smoothly on the bottom slope of the medicine cassette 1001a, one end of the ampoule
01a may be caught on the inner wall and may not move forward.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to facilitate first-in first-out management of drugs.
An object of the present invention is to provide a medicine containing and dispensing cassette capable of dispensing medicines orderly and smoothly by an external action.

[0009]

A medicine storing and dispensing cassette according to the present invention has a medicine storing section provided with a slidable movable bottom plate, and is accommodated in the medicine storing section by slidingly moving the movable bottom plate. The medicine can be discharged from the bottom of the medicine container while slightly moving the medicine.

In this medicine storing and dispensing cassette, since the medicine in the medicine storing section is discharged from the bottom by sliding the movable bottom plate, the medicine can be dispensed in a first-in first-out manner. In addition, the sliding of the movable bottom plate causes the medicine in the medicine container to move slightly, so that the so-called "leveling" is automatically performed, so that the instability due to the bridge phenomenon of the stacked medicines is automatically eliminated. In addition, smooth continuous payout becomes possible.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a simplified view of a dispensing medicine dispensing system constructed using the medicine containing and dispensing cassette according to one embodiment of the present invention, as viewed from the front. Here, it is assumed that the medicine to be dispensed is an injection such as an ampoule or a vial, and these are collectively referred to simply as “ampules”. This system is an empty tray stocker 1 that accommodates many empty drug trays.
0 and a dispensing unit 20a, which has a function of accommodating a large number of plural types of medicines, dispensing necessary medicines based on given prescription information, and setting the medicines in the medicine tray 11 supplied from the empty tray stocker 10. 20b
And a set tray stocker 30 for sequentially storing the medicine trays 11 in which the medicines are set in the dispensing units 20a and 20b.

The empty tray stocker 10 accommodates a large number of empty drug trays 11 and places the drug trays 11 one by one from the bottom on the lowermost tray transport conveyor 12 in response to a command from a control unit (not shown). , Payout unit 20
a and 20b.

The payout units 20a and 20b are interconnected. Of these, the payout unit 20a is also connected to the empty tray stocker 10 at the previous stage,
0b is also connected to the set tray stocker 30 in the subsequent stage. The dispensing unit 20a includes a plurality of drawer shelves 21 for accommodating a large number of different types of medicines, a dispensing transport mechanism (only the front and rear transport conveyers 22b are shown in this drawing) that can be moved up and down, and The apparatus includes a tray conveyor 23a provided, a display unit 24 for displaying an operation state, error information, and the like, an emergency stop switch 25, and an alarm buzzer 26 that sounds when an abnormality occurs.

The set tray stocker 30 has a function of storing and holding the medicine trays 11 on which the medicines have been set, which have been conveyed from the dispensing units 20a and 20b on the tray conveyance conveyor 31, in order from the bottom.

The structure of the payout unit 20b is the same as that of the payout unit 20a. In the system of FIG. 6, the payout units are configured as two connections, but may be single or three or more. Further, the empty tray stocker 10 and the set tray stocker 30 are each configured as a single unit, but may be configured as two or more connected units.

FIGS. 7 to 11 show the structure and operation of the payout unit 20a in FIG. 6 in more detail. Here, FIG. 7 is a front view, and FIG.
9 is a rear view, FIG. 10 is a view from the right side, and FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a main part of the payout unit 20a as viewed from the front left. As shown in these figures, the payout unit 20a is configured as a Japanese-style chest provided with a number of drawer shelves 21 that can be pulled out.
Each drawer shelf 21 can detachably store a plurality (eight in the illustrated example) of drug cassettes 21a.

The medicine cassette 21a is prepared in a plurality of sizes (in the case of three heights and three widths, a total of nine sizes) depending on the combination of height and width.
Usually, each drawer shelf 21 has the same type of medicine cassette 21a.
, But as long as the height and width of the drawer 21 allow,
If necessary, different types of medicine cassettes 21a can be mixed and stored in the same drawer shelf 21.

The payout unit 20a is, as described above,
A dispensing and conveying mechanism 22 is provided for discharging ampules one by one from the medicine cassette 21a and conveying the discharged ampules to the medicine tray 11 on the tray conveyance conveyor 23a. This payout transport mechanism 22
Horizontal conveyor 22a for conveying the ampoule discharged from the medicine cassette 21a to the back side of the unit in the right direction in the figure.
And the front and rear conveyor 22 for conveying the ampoule conveyed on the horizontal conveyor 22a to the front side of the unit.
b, a pin driving unit 22c that drives a driving pin 51 that performs a reciprocating operation to discharge ampules one by one from the medicine cassette 21a, and a horizontal conveyance conveyor 22a, a front-rear conveyance conveyor 22b, and a pin driving unit 22c. It has a base 22d that is integrally connected, and ball screw portions 22e and 22f that are screwed into the screw portions of the base 22d. When the ball screw portions 22e and 22f rotate, the entire pay-out transport mechanism 22 moves up and down. In the initial state (that is, the non-operation state), the pay-out transport mechanism 22 is waiting at the position of the lowermost drawer shelf 21 (position of arrow A) as shown in FIG.

The horizontal conveyor 22a, the front and rear conveyor 22b, and the ball screw portions 22e and 22f are each driven by a drive motor (not shown). The pin driving section 22c is disposed above the horizontal conveyor 22a. And each medicine cassette 21a
When the drive pin 51 at the position corresponding to the selected position reciprocates and pushes the pushing plate 62 (FIG. 9) at the rear of the medicine cassette 21a, the designated medicine cassette 2 at the designated stage is pressed.
Ampules are discharged one by one from 1a.

FIGS. 12 and 13 show in detail the structure of the pin driving section 22c shown in FIG. Here, FIG. 12 shows a state viewed from the side, and FIG. 13 shows a state viewed obliquely from the lower left. As shown in these figures,
The pin driving unit 22c has a prismatic housing 50, a driving pin 51 slidably inserted into a bearing hole (not shown) of the housing 50, and a U-shaped cross section. Drive pin 5
And a cam member 53 slidable while rolling inside the cam receiving member 52.
And a drive motor 54 that rotationally drives the cam member 53, and is fixed to the base 22 d (FIGS. 8 to 10) by a mounting portion 56 formed integrally with the housing 50. An end of the cam member 53 and a rotating shaft 55 of the drive motor 54 are connected by a crank 56. Then, the drive motor 54 is driven to rotate, and the cam member 53 is moved to the cam receiving member 5.
2 while rolling inside the cam receiving member 52,
Is pushed in the direction of arrow Y in the figure, so that the driving pin 51 integrated therewith is guided by the bearing hole of the housing 50 and reciprocates linearly in the direction of arrow Y. The pin driving section 22c includes eight sets of pin driving mechanisms having such a structure at equal intervals.

Next, the features of the present invention will be described.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the structure of the medicine cassette 21a. FIG. 1 shows the dispensing unit 20a.
2A and 2B show states viewed from the directions of arrows Z1 and Z2 in FIG. 1, respectively. As shown in these figures, the dispensing unit 20a includes an elongated outer box section 60, and an elongated inner box section 61 fixed inside the outer box section 60 and accommodating a large number of ampules 1. ing.
The inner box part 61 is fixed to the outer box part 60 by being inclined in two directions. The first direction is the direction of arrow Z3 (FIG. 1), and the front side is high and the back side is low when attached to the payout unit 20a. The second direction is the direction of arrow Z4 (FIG. 1) in the figure, and the right side is higher and the left side is lower when viewed from the direction of arrow Z2. Ampoule 1
As shown in FIG. 1, each notch (smaller one)
Is set to face the higher slope. In this manner, the inner box 61 is inclined with respect to the outer box 60 and the ampule 1 is set with the notch (smaller one) facing upward, as described in the related art. Since the outer diameter of the normal ampule or the like is different between the tip side and the bottom side, it is for enabling a large number of ampoules 1 housed in the inner box 61 to be orderly fed to the discharge port.

As shown in FIG. 2, the bottom of the inner box 61 is composed of a movable bottom plate 63 and a discharge guide bottom plate 65. The movable bottom plate 63 is formed integrally with the thrust plate 62 and is configured to be able to slide on a support plate (not shown) while directly contacting the housed ampule. The movable bottom plate 63 is urged rearward by a spring member (not shown), and moves to the front side when the drive pin 51 of the pin drive unit 22c (FIGS. 8 to 13) is advanced and the push plate 62 is pushed. On the other hand, when the drive pin 51 is retracted, it returns to the back side. The inner box portion 61 also includes a stopper 66 for regulating the foremost portion (backward direction) of the ampoule group to be fed forward. A discharge guide bottom plate 65 is disposed below the movable bottom plate 63 at a predetermined distance.

The movable bottom plate 63 is provided with a discharge hole 63a large enough to allow one ampule 1 to pass through, and before and after the discharge hole 63a, the ampule 1 discharged from the discharge hole 63a passes on the slope of the discharge guide bottom plate 65. Ribs 63b and 63c are provided for regulating free rolling and falling. The discharge hole 63a is in a normal state (when the pushing plate 62 is not pressed and the movable bottom plate 63 is located on the rearmost side (back side direction)).
Is located on the back side of the stopper 66. Although the discharge guide bottom plate 65 and the movable bottom plate 63 are substantially parallel to each other, the discharge guide bottom plate 65 has a stepped shape in which the distance from the movable bottom plate 63 is small in front of the stopper 66 and large behind the stopper 66. It is configured as follows.

Next, the operation of the medicine cassette 21a will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, the discharge hole 63 of the movable bottom plate 63 is normally (non-operating).
Since a is located on the back side of the stopper 66, the ampule 1 is not discharged. Here, when the push plate 62 is pushed by the drive pin 51 of the pin drive unit 22c, the movable bottom plate 63 moves in the front direction as shown in FIG. The entire discharge hole 63a of the movable bottom plate 63 is
When the ampoule 1 is moved to the front side than 6, the ampoule 1 falls through the discharge hole 63a. At this point, ampoule 1
Rolling is restricted by the ribs 63b and 63c and the discharge guide bottom plate 65, and is not discharged.

At this time, the lowermost ampoule directly in contact with the movable bottom plate 63 slightly rotates in the moving direction of the movable bottom plate 63 due to the frictional force with the movable bottom plate 63 as shown in FIG. Then, the ampules overlapping and in contact with the ampules rotate in the direction opposite to the rotation direction of the lowermost ampule. Similarly, the ampoule in the upper layer rotates in the opposite direction to the ampoule in the lower layer. As a result, all the ampoules contained in the medicine cassette 21a rotate individually, so that the so-called "leveling" of the group of ampoules stacked in an unstable manner is automatically performed, and the instability is eliminated. Acts in the direction. This is an important feature of the present invention.

After the ampoule falls, the pushing plate 62 continues to be pushed by the drive pin 51 of the pin drive unit 22c, and the discharge hole 63a of the movable bottom plate 63 is located at a position lower than the step of the discharge guide bottom plate 65, as shown in FIG. Move until you are well ahead. Thereafter, when the drive pin 51 of the pin drive unit 22c returns to the original position, the movable bottom plate 63 moves in the original direction (back side direction) by the restoring force of a spring member (not shown), and returns to the position shown in FIG. As a result, the ampule 1 is no longer regulated by the discharge guide bottom plate 65, is rolled on the inclined discharge guide bottom plate 65, is discharged from the medicine cassette 21a, and is placed on the horizontal conveyor 22a (FIGS. 7 to 11). Thus, the discharging operation (one action) of one ampule is completed.

In this way, the movement of the movable bottom plate 63 is
(The position where the discharge hole 63a of the movable bottom plate 63 exceeds the stopper 66) is moved to the position shown in FIG. 4 without terminating for the following reason. That is, in FIG. 3, after one ampoule 1 is discharged, the remaining ampoule group is in an unstable stacking state, and if the next ampoule discharge is continued in this state, the unstable operation of the ampoule group will occur. The stacking state may not be sufficiently eliminated or may become more and more unstable, which may eventually hinder the discharging operation. Therefore, even after one ampule 1 is discharged, the movable bottom plate 63 is further moved to the front side, so that the so-called "ground leveling" of the ampule group is surely performed. Thereby, localization of the ampule in the inner box portion 61 can be avoided, and a stable ampule discharging operation can be continued.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the movable bottom plate 63 is slid so that the ampules in the medicine cassette 21a are discharged and, at the same time, the instability of stacking of the ampule group is eliminated. It is possible to continuously perform a proper ampule discharging operation.

Next, an example of the arrangement of the drawer shelves in the payout unit and the relationship between the initial position of the payout transport mechanism and the drawer shelves will be described.

FIG. 14 shows an example of the arrangement of the drawer shelves 21 in the payout unit 20a and the relationship between the initial position of the payout transport mechanism 22 and the drawer shelves 21. As shown in this drawing, drawer shelves 21 of three different heights L, M and S can be stored in the payout unit 20a. Among them, the L-size drawer shelf 21 has the highest height, and three stages L _{1 to} L ₃ are arranged. Drawer shelves 21 of size M then the height is high, the eight-step M ₁ ~M ₈ is arranged. Drawer shelves 21 of S size less tallest, six stages of S ₁ to S ₆ are disposed. The bottom row is L ₁ and the top row is L _1
2 , L ₃ , M ₁ , M ₂ , M ₃ ... Here, the drawer shelf 21 (L ₁ ) stores the medicine cassette 21 a containing the most frequently dispensed ampule, and the drawer shelf 21 (L ₂ ) stores the medicine cassette containing the next most frequently dispensed ampule. The cassette 21a is stored.
Similarly, the medicine cassette 21a accommodating an ampule with a lower dispensing frequency is stored in an upper stage. Usually, the drawer shelf 21 (L ₁ ) contains the tallest medicine cassette 21a, but it is also possible to house a medicine cassette 21a with a lower height.

As described above, the drawer shelves 21 having an L-size height are arranged at the lowermost position and two positions above the lower ones, and the drawer shelves 21 having a smaller size are arranged at higher positions. For the following reasons. That is, as described above, considering that the initial position of the pay-out transport mechanism 22 is the position of the lowermost drawer shelf 21, it is necessary to store an ampoule with a higher payout frequency in the lowermost position and in the vicinity thereof. In order to shorten the time required for the ampoule in the drawer shelf 21 to run out, the drawer shelf 21 having the largest possible capacity (capacity) is arranged at the lowest stage and in the vicinity thereof. This is because it is preferable to do so.

On the other hand, the drawer shelves 21 from the uppermost stage to the fourth stage
(S ₆ , S ₅ , M ₇ , M ₈ ) contains a medicine cassette 21 a containing an ampule whose dispensing frequency is relatively low. This is for the following reason. That is, a pharmacist or the like normally replenishes an ampoule to the dispensing unit 20a, but the height of a person (for example, a woman) is set to, for example, 160 cm.
Then, the height of the eyes becomes about 140 cm. Therefore, when an ampoule is replenished to the drawer shelf 21 at a position higher than this height, a step ladder, a stepladder or the like is required, and workability is extremely deteriorated. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14, the drawer 21 at a position lower than the human eye height H accommodates an ampule with a relatively high payout frequency, while the drawer 21 at a position higher than the eye height H is stored. Accommodates ampules with relatively low payout frequency.

Next, a description will be given of a point that medicine cassettes of different sizes can be stored in the same drawer shelf.

FIG. 15 shows the medicine cassette 2 in the drawer shelf 21.
1A is a simplified illustration of one storage example. As shown in this figure, the drawer shelf 21 has the smallest width of the medicine cassette 21.
8 can be stored. The medicine cassette 21a having the minimum width is referred to as type A. In this case, the drive pin 51 of the pin drive unit 22c (each here _P 1 ~
Represented by P _8. ) To drive the corresponding drug cassette 2
The ampule is discharged by striking the approximate center of the pushing plate 1a.

FIGS. 16 to 19 show other examples of storing the medicine cassette 21a in the drawer shelf 21 in a simplified manner. In these figures, the drive pin 51 is shown for simplicity.
(P ₁ ~P ₈₎ is represented by arrows and the mere bars.
Here, arrows indicate pins to be driven, and bar lines indicate pins not to be driven.

As shown in FIG. 16, the drawer shelf 21 is a type C having twice the width of the type A medicine cassette 21a.
Of four medicine cassettes 21a can be stored. In this case, of the pin drive unit 22c of the drive pin 51, two adjacent (e.g. P ₁ and P _2, P ₃ and P _4, ..., etc.) simultaneously driven as one set, butting one drug cassettes 21a The ampule is discharged by pushing the plate 62 together with the two drive pins 51. Therefore, large volume type C
Even if the ampoule in the medicine cassette 21a has a large weight, the driving force required for the sliding movement of the movable bottom plate 63 can be provided.

Further, as shown in FIG.
Are the type C drug cassette 21a and the type A 1.
The medicine cassette 21a of the type B having a width of five times can be stored in a mixed state. In this case, the driving pin 51 of the pin driving unit 22c is used for the type C drug cassette 21a.
Are driven simultaneously (P ₁ and P ₂ ), but only one of the adjacent driving pins 51 (P ₃ and P 2 in this figure) for the type B drug cassette 21a.
₅ , P ₆ , P ₈ ). In this case, for type B, the drive pin 51 is
The end of the movable bottom plate 63 is slid slightly, but does not hinder the sliding movement of the movable bottom plate 63.

Further, as shown in FIG.
Are two types of drug cassettes 2 of type A and type B
It is also possible to mix and store 1a. In this case, for the type A drug cassette 21a, the corresponding drive pins 51 (here, P ₇ and P ₈ ) are driven, but for the type B drug cassette 21a, the case shown in FIG. Similarly, only one of the adjacent drive pins 51 (P ₁ , P ₃ , P ₄ , P _{6 in} this figure) is driven.

Further, as shown in FIG.
1 can also accommodate three types of medicine cassettes 21a of type A, type B and type C in a mixed manner. In this case, for the type A drug cassette 21a, the corresponding drive pins 51 (here, P ₆ ,
P ₇ , P ₈ ) to drive the type B drug cassette 21
17, only one of the adjacent drive pins 51 (P ₃ , P _{5 in} this figure) is driven as in the case of FIG. 17, and the type C drug cassette 21a is driven by the pin drive. Two of the drive pins 51 (here, P ₁ and P ₂ ) of the section 22c are driven simultaneously.

FIGS. 17 to 19 are examples in which different types of drug cassettes 21a are mixed, and other combinations are also possible. In this case, 1
It is also possible to interchange the arrangement between different drug cassettes in one combination. Usually, L, M,
In the drawer shelves of each height size of S, a medicine cassette having a depth corresponding to the height of each drawer shelf is stored, but as long as the height of the drawer shelf permits, a medicine cassette of a different height size is stored. It is also possible to store cassettes mixed in one drawer shelf. For example, an L-size medicine cassette can accommodate three kinds of medicine cassettes for drawer shelves (L, M, and S sizes) in a mixed manner.
Drug cassettes for drawer shelves of various types (M and S sizes) can be stored together.

As described above, in the present embodiment, a plurality of kinds of medicine cassettes 21a can be stored in the same drawer shelf 21, so that different kinds of medicines are mixed and stored in the same drawer shelf 21. can do. Therefore,
Irrespective of size or type, any medicine can be stored and arranged on the drawer shelf 21 at any position according to the dispensing frequency, and the degree of freedom in medicine arrangement is improved.

Next, the overall operation of the dispensing medicine dispensing system configured as described above will be described.

In FIG. 6, first, a control unit (not shown)
The empty tray stocker 10 supplies one empty medicine tray 11 onto the tray transport conveyor 12 based on the instruction from The medicine tray 11 is a tray transport conveyor 12
And delivered to the tray transport conveyor 23a of the payout unit 20a. The medicine tray 11 further transported rightward by the tray transport conveyor 23a reaches the right end position of the dispensing unit 20a, and temporarily stops there. Note that when the dispensing ampule specified by the control unit is not accommodated in the dispensing unit 20a but is accommodated in the dispensing unit 20b, the medicine tray 11 does not stop at the above-mentioned position and remains in the tray of the dispensing unit 20b. The delivery unit 2 is transferred to the conveyor 23b,
It stops once at the right end position of 0b.

Here, the control unit instructs the dispensing of the ampule based on the prescription information. Specifically, the drawer shelf 21 containing the ampoule to be paid out and the payout unit 2
Indicates the address of 0a. In response to this, the payout transport mechanism 22 moves upward from the initial position (the position of the lowest drawer shelf 21) to the target height position of the drawer shelf 21 by the rotational driving of the ball screw portions 22e and 22f. Then, of the medicine cassettes 21a stored in the drawer shelf 21,
The drive pin 51 corresponding to the medicine cassette 21a at the designated address is driven. The driving of the driving pin 51 is performed as described with reference to FIGS.

When the drive pin 51 is driven, the pushing plate 62 of the medicine cassette 21a is pushed by this. As a result, one ampoule is discharged from the medicine cassette 21a in accordance with the movement described with reference to FIGS.
2 on the horizontal conveyor 22a (FIG. 11 and the like).
At this time, as described above, the “landing” of the ampule group stored in the medicine cassette 21a is automatically performed by the sliding of the movable bottom plate 63, and the smoothness of the continuous ampule discharging operation is ensured.

The ampoule placed and transported on the horizontal transport conveyor 22a is further transferred to the front and rear transport conveyor 22b, transported toward the front side, and put into the medicine tray 11.

As described above, necessary ampules are sequentially dispensed according to the prescription information and set in the medicine tray 11. Here, assuming that the prescription information is a unit for one patient, an ampule for one patient is set in one medicine tray 11.

As described with reference to FIG. 14, the more the payout frequency of the ampoule to be paid out,
It is housed in a lower drawer shelf 21. On the other hand, the standby position of the pay-out transport mechanism 22 is the position of the lowest drawer shelf 21 (L ₁ ). Therefore, in the present embodiment, the average time (average access time) required to reach the target drawer shelf 21 after receiving the prescription information is, for example, the case where the medicines are arranged and stored in alphabetical order from the upper row. In comparison, it is much smaller. For this reason, it is possible to reduce the required payout time for one piece of prescription information.

The medicine tray 11 thus set is conveyed from the tray conveyor 23a to the tray conveyor 31 of the set tray stocker 30 via the tray conveyor 23b of the dispensing unit 20b. Then, the set medicine trays 11 are stacked in order from the bottom of the set tray stocker 30 by a stack mechanism (not shown).

As described above, in the present embodiment, the pin driving section 22c is disposed in the pay-out transport mechanism 22 in which the horizontal transport conveyor 22a and the front-rear transport conveyor 22b can be moved up and down integrally, while each drawer shelf 21 has a drive. No pusher plate 62 of the medicine cassette 21a (FIG. 1, etc.) without any motor, electric wiring, etc.
Can be ejected with only one action of pushing by the drive pin 51 of the pin drive unit 22c.
The structure of the drawer shelf 21 can be simplified, and its weight can be reduced. Further, the higher the frequency of dispensing, the more ampules are stored in the lower drawer shelf 21 and the standby position of the dispensing / transporting mechanism 22 is shifted to the lowermost drawer shelf 21.
Since the position is (L ₁ ), the access time of the dispensing / transporting mechanism 22 to the target drawer shelf 21 is shortened, and the time required for dispensing medicine as a whole can be considerably reduced.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and can be variously modified within an equivalent range. For example, in the present embodiment, the medicine cassette 21a is applied to the dispensing unit 20a, which is a dispensing medicine dispensing device, and the movable bottom plate 63 is slid by mechanical force. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Instead, for example, in a medical setting, a doctor or the like manually (finger) pushes the veneer 62,
By sliding the movable bottom plate 63, it is also possible to pay out the ampule.

The sliding stroke of the movable bottom plate 63 is not limited to the degree shown in the above embodiment, but can be changed to be longer or shorter as necessary.

In the above embodiment, the width of the B and C type drug cassettes 21a is 1.5 times that of the A type.
Although the present invention is not limited to this, the present invention is not limited to this, as long as the ampule can be ejected by pushing the pushing plate 62 by the drive pin 51 and the medicine cassette can be disposed on one drawer shelf without waste. Other width sizes may be used.
Further, the type of the drug cassette 21a is not limited to three types, but can be applied to more types.
The type may be limited.

In the above embodiment, the drawer shelf 21
Are arranged in order from the bottom, L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ , M ₁ , M ₂ , M
₃ , etc., but other arrangements may be used if necessary. In the present embodiment, the drawer 21
Has been described as having three types of heights, for example, but it is also possible to prepare less or more types. In addition, the height size of the drawer shelf 21 can be variously changed according to the ampoule size to be accommodated, the number of ampules to be accommodated, and the like. In this case, the drawer shelves having different heights can be freely replaced with each other.

In the above embodiment, the medicine to be dispensed has been described as an ampule. However, other than the above, a vial type injection solution, an external medicine such as eye drops or ointment, or an infusion pack used for infusion or the like may be used. It is also applicable for drugs. Further, the present invention can be applied to PTP type tablets and naked tablets.

In the above embodiment, the pin driving unit 2
Although the eight drive pins 51 are provided in 2c, the number is not limited to eight and can be changed as appropriate according to the number and width of the medicine cassettes 21a stored in one drawer shelf 21.

In the above-described embodiment, the ampules are discharged to the rear side, and the discharged ampules are conveyed to the medicine tray 11 on the front side by the horizontal conveyor 22a and the front and rear conveyors 22b. ,
Alternatively, for example, the ampule may be discharged to the side of the drawer shelf 21 and the discharged ampule may be transported to the medicine tray 11 on the front side by the front and rear transport conveyor 22b.

In the above embodiment, the pin driving section 2
Although the driving method of the driving pin 51 in 2c has been described as a method combining a cam and a crank (FIGS. 12 and 13), the present invention is not limited to this, and another method may be used. However, in the driving method of the present embodiment, the driving pin 5
Since the speed of the reciprocating motion 1 is slower at the end and faster at the center, the impact when the drive pin 51 strikes the pushing plate 62 can be reduced, which is preferable.

[0060]

As described above, according to the medicine storing and dispensing cassette of the present invention, the medicine stored in the medicine storing section is slightly moved by sliding the movable bottom plate of the medicine storing section. Since the medicine can be discharged from the bottom of the section, the medicine can be dispensed in a first-in first-out manner. For this reason, there is an effect that priority management of the medicine is facilitated. Also, the medicine in the medicine container is finely moved by sliding the movable bottom plate, so to say, "leveling" is automatically performed, so that instability due to the bridge phenomenon of stacked medicines can be eliminated and smooth There is also an effect that it is possible to make continuous payouts.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an external configuration of a medicine cassette as a medicine storing and dispensing cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view (A) and a front view (B) showing the configuration of the medicine cassette.

FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating an operation state of the medicine cassette.

FIG. 4 is a side view illustrating an operation state of the medicine cassette.

FIG. 5 is a side view illustrating an operation state of the medicine cassette.

6 is a front view illustrating a schematic configuration of a medicine dispensing system for dispensing to which the medicine cassette in FIG. 1 is applied.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the payout unit in FIG. 6;

8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a cross-sectional structure taken along line XX ′ of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a rear view of the payout unit in FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a right side view of the payout unit in FIG. 6;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a main part for explaining a mutual positional relationship between a medicine cassette, a conveyance mechanism, and a medicine tray, and a conveyance state of an ampule.

FIG. 12 is a side view illustrating a structure of a pin driving unit.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view illustrating a structure of a pin driving unit.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of arrangement of drawers in a payout unit and a relationship between an initial position of a payout transport mechanism and drawers.

FIG. 15 is a plan view schematically illustrating an example of storing a medicine cassette in a drawer shelf.

FIG. 16 is a plan view schematically illustrating another example of storing the medicine cassette in the drawer shelf.

FIG. 17 is a simplified plan view showing another example of storing the medicine cassette in the drawer shelf.

FIG. 18 is a simplified plan view showing another example of storing the medicine cassette in the drawer shelf.

FIG. 19 is a plan view schematically illustrating another example of storing the medicine cassette in the drawer shelf.

FIG. 20 is an external perspective view showing a main part structure of a conventional medicine dispensing device for dispensing.

21 is a side sectional view showing the structure of a medicine cassette and a dispensing drive unit in the drawer shelf shown in FIG. 20.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 Empty tray stocker 11 Drug tray 12, 23a, 23b Tray transport conveyor 20a, 20b Dispensing unit 21 Drawer shelf 21a Drug cassette 22 Dispensing transport mechanism 22a Horizontal transport conveyor 22b Front-rear transport conveyor 22c Pin drive unit 22d Base unit 22e, 22f Ball Screw portion 30 Set tray stocker 51 Drive pin 52 Cam receiving member 53 Cam member 54 Drive motor 60 Outer box 61 Inner box 62 Thrust plate 63 Movable bottom plate 63a Discharge holes 63b, 63c Rib 65 Discharge guide bottom plate 66 Stopper

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A medicine container having a slidable movable bottom plate, wherein the movable bottom plate is slid to move the medicine contained in the medicine container while finely moving the medicine. A medicine containing and dispensing cassette wherein a predetermined number of medicines can be discharged from a bottom portion.