JPH10258801A - Tablet feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perfectly prevent one or two superfluous tablets from scattering at abruptly stopping of a tablet feeder which is rotating at a high speed to deliver tablets. SOLUTION: A motor 8 of a tablet feeder for delivering tablets one by one from a tablet passage way between a rotor 5 and a tapered face by the rotor provided in a container body 2, is driven at a certain high speed until it comes two tablets before a preset number while detecting tablets by a sensor 18 and driven at a low speed thereafter while changing over the rotary drive 22 in a changeover controller 21. In this way, a delivered number of the tablets can be accurately kept even when the motor 8 is abruptly stopped to deliver a preset number of tablets.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tablet feeder for supplying a medicine such as a tablet to a tablet packaging apparatus in accordance with instructions of a prescription.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are two types of tablet packaging apparatuses: a type in which tablets are successively packaged in the form of one dose in a packaging bag, and a type in which tablets are packed in bottles for the number of days taken and handed to a patient. In any case, there are various types of tablet feeders for supplying tablets to the tablet packaging apparatus.

For example, in a square tablet feeder disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho 60-34620, a rotating body having a conical cross section is provided in a square tablet container, and tablets are aligned and rotated and fed in a groove on the outer periphery of the rotating body. Is a type in which tablets are taken out one by one by their own weight from an outlet corresponding to the groove.

In addition, Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-11253, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-183501, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-470
No. 41, or U.S. Pat.
No. 1,332, and the like. In the above examples, the common point is that the disk or the rotating body is driven to rotate and the tablet is fed to the discharge port using the rotating force.

[0005]

By the way, in a conventional tablet feeding apparatus of the type using the above-mentioned disk or rotating body (hereinafter referred to as a rotating body), if the rotation speed is increased, the number of tablets to be discharged from the outlet is increased accordingly. Increases the tablet supply speed, but if the tablet supply speed is excessively large, for example, a sensor detects that a predetermined number of tablets have been discharged to supply a predetermined number of tablets for one patient. At the moment when the rotation is stopped by the detection signal, if the rotating body is rotating at a high speed, the next tablet is dispensed until completely stopped by the inertia force of the rotating body, and one tablet or two tablets are dispensed. The phenomenon that many tablets are dispensed occurs.

Accordingly, the rotation speed of the rotating body or the like is generally determined by limiting the speed at which a predetermined number of tablets can be stably dispensed without overdispensing the tablet feeder. Ability.

[0007] However, when a large number of patients are concentrated at the pharmacy window, there is a demand to increase the supply speed of the tablet feeder as much as possible so that the processing can be performed promptly, and some measures are desired.

The present invention is designed to operate the rotary body of the tablet feeder at the maximum speed so as to supply the maximum amount of tablets while taking into account the above-mentioned problem of the supply speed of the conventional tablet feeder, and to provide an extra amount of the tablet during the stop control. It is an object of the present invention to provide a tablet feeder which can control the supply of tablets so as not to supply the tablets so as to supply an accurate number of tablets and increase the supply amount.

[0009]

According to the present invention, as a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, a tablet dispensing mechanism for dispensing tablets one by one from a tablet storage container by rotation of a rotating body in accordance with instructions of a prescription, and a dispensing path for the tablet dispensing mechanism. A tablet detector provided,
A control unit that counts the number of tablets based on the detection signal and continuously controls the rotation of the rotating body at a predetermined speed, and controls the operating speed of the rotating body to be reduced when the number of dispensed tablets reaches a predetermined number before the specified number of dispensed. Thus, a tablet feeder is provided.

In such a tablet feeder, the driving unit is controlled by the control unit to continuously drive the rotating body to rotate at a constant speed, and to continuously operate at a speed suitable for the tablet dispensing mechanism, thereby performing tablet dispensing. When the number of tablets to be dispensed detected by the tablet detector reaches a predetermined number before the specified number of dispensations, the drive unit is decelerated by a signal from the control unit, and the rotating body rotates at a low speed. For this reason, when the rotating body is stopped by the command signal immediately after the number of tablets reaches the specified number of tablets to be dispensed, the rotation is stopped immediately, and the dispensing of extra tablets is eliminated, so that a correct number of tablets can be dispensed.

In the rotation control of the rotating body, the stop control is reliably performed, so that the rotating speed of the rotating body is generally higher than the speed set for the tablet dispensing mechanism. If the speed is continuously operated at the maximum speed, the payout amount is naturally maximum, and the supply amount can be increased.

Further, even in such a case, since the abrupt stop is performed through the low-speed rotation by the deceleration control, the rotating body is stopped at the stage of the predetermined number of payouts accurately by the stop control, and no extra tablet is paid out.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a tapered surface 4 is provided which is inclined with a downward slope toward the center of the upper cover 1 which can be opened and closed. A rotor 5 is provided above the bottom plate 3, and a shaft 6 provided on the lower surface of the rotor 5 is rotatably supported by being inserted into a cylindrical portion 7 provided at the center of the bottom plate 3. The rotor 5 is rotated in a direction indicated by an arrow in FIG. 2 by a motor 8 provided below the container body 2.

The upper surface of the rotor 5 has a flat top 5a and a tapered surface 9 whose outer periphery is inclined with a downward slope, and guides the tablet on the rotor 5 toward the outer periphery of the rotor. The lower surface of the rotor 5 is a tapered surface 10 that matches the tapered surface 4 of the bottom plate 3, and a radial groove 11 is provided in the middle of the tapered surface 10.

On the outer periphery of the tapered surface 10 with the groove 11 as a boundary, groove-shaped tablet entry paths 12 extending in the inclined direction of the tapered surface 10 are formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the rotor 5. A plurality of pockets 15 having a size that allows one of the tablets to penetrate are provided at positions extending from each of the tablet entry paths 12 on the inner peripheral portion of the tapered surface 10 with the groove 11 as a boundary.

On the other hand, one supply port 16 is formed in the bottom plate 3 of the container body 2 corresponding to the position where the pocket 15 is formed. The upper opening of the pocket 15 which coincides with the supply port 16 by the rotation of the rotor 5 is covered with a thin-walled tongue piece 17 by which two or more tablets are discharged to the supply port 16 through the pocket 15. Is prevented. In addition, the tongue piece 17 is screwed to a base supporting the container body 2, and a tip end of the tongue piece 17 enters the groove 11 on the lower surface of the rotor 5. Reference numeral 18 denotes a tablet sensor for detecting a tablet.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control circuit for controlling the rotation of the tablet feeder of the above embodiment. FIG.
As shown in (a), a tablet detection signal from the tablet sensor 18 is sent to the control unit 20, and the control signal from the control unit 20 controls the rotation of the motor 8. This rotation control is performed by a rotation driving unit 22 via a control switching unit 21 as described later.
Is continuously driven at a constant speed or switched to low-speed operation by pulse control.

Although only one set of tablet feeders is shown, a large number of tablet feeders are actually provided in one tablet supply unit, and the control unit 20 controls each set of tablet feeders. . FIG. 3B shows the control unit 2.
0 is an example of the configuration in the counter 23, the arithmetic control unit 2
4. The tablet number setting unit 25, which may be entirely processed by a software program in a computer.

The tablet feeder of this embodiment has the above-described structure. When tablets are supplied, the container A is filled with the tablets A, and the motor 8 is driven to rotate the rotor 5 in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. Let it.

When the rotor 5 is rotated in one direction while the tablet A is filled in the container body 2, the tablet A moves along the tapered surface 4 of the bottom plate 3 and enters the tablet entry path 12, It penetrates into the pocket 15 from the entrance path 12. When the pocket 15 coincides with the supply port 16, the pocket 1
The tablet A inside 5 is discharged from the supply port 16.

Since the pocket 15 is provided at the inner diameter of the rotor 5 having a low peripheral speed, the pocket 15
Passes through the position above the supply port 16 at a low speed. For this reason, the tablet A in the pocket 15 surely falls into the supply port 16 and the upper opening of the pocket 15 is covered by the tongue piece 17, so that the tablet A is not continuously discharged to the supply port 16, Tablets A can be reliably supplied one by one.

The above is the basic operation of tablet supply by the tablet feeder. The tablet feeder according to the present invention can supply tablets at a higher speed than the conventional rotation control by performing the following special rotation control of the rotor. It is characterized in that it is made as described above.

That is, in a structure similar to the above-described tablet feeder, the rotation speed of the rotor 5 is about 30 to 50 rpm, but in the tablet feeder of this embodiment, the rotor 5 is rotated at a constant high speed of about 2 to 3 times that of the rotor. 5 is driven to rotate continuously. For this reason, the feed rate of the tablet becomes 2-3 times in proportion thereto.

However, if the rotation of the rotor 5 is kept at a constant high speed operation, it is necessary to pack a different amount of tablets for each patient when detecting the drop of tablets and counting the number of tablets to be supplied. Even if the rotor 5 is stopped suddenly at the moment when the number of supplies specified in advance from the prescription is counted for each patient, it is inevitable that the rotor 5 will rotate to some extent due to the inertia of the motor 8 and the rotor 5.

Further, even if the rotor 5 is suddenly stopped, there is a certain distance between the pocket 15 of the rotor 5 and the tablet sensor 18 provided, so that the tablets already dispensed during this time are located before the tablet sensor 18. There is a possibility that a predetermined number of tablets are counted by detecting the tablets that have passed through the tablet sensor 18 and a quick stop signal is issued, and then the tablet is paid out.

For this reason, one or two extra tablets held in the pockets 15 of the rotor 5 are dispensed. Therefore, in this embodiment, the tablets are predetermined for each patient by the arithmetic control of the control unit 20. One or two tablets supplied
The rotation of the rotor 5 is reduced to a low speed, for example, a fraction of the speed during high-speed operation, at the stage when the tablets supplied immediately before are supplied, so that the rotor 5 can be suddenly stopped. FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the rotation control.

When the control operation is started, first, step S ₁
To check if the tablet count number P is greater than 2. Since the count number P is zero are reset in advance at startup, always P is 2 or less in which a determination result is NO, the process proceeds to step S ₂ where again set number of tablets n,
The setting constants A = n and B = n−2 are determined, and the initial value i of the variable i is determined.
= 0.

[0029] Then, causing the payout of tablets is continuously operated in a conventional 3 times faster as operation is started above the motor 8 proceeds to step S _3. The dropped tablets detected by the tablet sensor 18 in step S _4, adds the count value of the step S ₅ in counter 23 by the detection signal. Until the variable i becomes two before the set constant B, that is, the set number n of tablets, the tablets are dispensed by continuous operation at high speed.

Then, the number i of dropped tablets is i = B (= n
-2) when it comes to proceeds by the determination result to step S _7, the rotational driving of the motor 8 via the control switching section 21 switches to a pulse rotation driving control, thereby fraction during high-speed driving rotation speed of the motor 8 Set to 1 (1/3 or less) for low-speed operation.

The continuing detection of the tablet dropping in step S ₈ in this low speed operation, and adds the count number i at step _{S 9, i = A (=} n) and until to tablets dropped in step S _10. Since this case the difference between A and B is 2, the two tablets is suddenly stop the motor 8 proceeds to step S ₁₁ when falling at low speed. In this case, since the rotation speed of the motor 8 is low, the rotation of the motor 8 is immediately stopped by the stop signal, and the surplus tablets do not drop.

In the above description, the count of the variable i has been described based on the addition method. However, the same result can be obtained by performing the subtraction method. In that case, step S in the figure
_{2, S 4, S 6,} S 9, variables shown outside the frame of the S _10, it able to re placed constant.

In the above embodiment, the tablet feeder of the type shown in FIG. 1 has been described as an example. However, the structure of the tablet feeder itself is not limited to the illustrated example. Good.

[0034]

As described in detail above, the tablet (feeder is provided with a tablet detector in the tablet dispensing mechanism, continuously controls the rotation of the rotating body at a predetermined speed, and controls the rotation of the rotating body at a predetermined number before the specified number of dispenses. The control unit controls the deceleration when the number of tablets to be dispensed reaches, so that the rotating body is rotated at a higher speed than before to increase the number of tablets to be supplied, and the number of dispensed tablets reaches the predetermined number before the specified number of dispensed. Then, the switching operation is performed at a low speed, and then the operation is suddenly stopped, so that an extra tablet is prevented from being dispensed after the operation is stopped, and an advantage is obtained in that an accurate number of tablets can be supplied.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a main sectional view of a tablet feeder.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a tablet feeder.

FIG. 3 (a) is a control circuit block diagram of a tablet feeder.
(B) Partial circuit diagram

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Top cover 2 Container main body 3 Bottom plate 4 Tapered surface 5 Rotor 6 Shaft 7 Cylindrical part 8 Motor 9, 10 Tapered surface 11 Groove 12 Tablet entry path 13 Ridge 14 Upper end surface 15 Pocket 16 Supply port 17 Tongue piece 18 Tablet sensor 19 Host computer Reference Signs List 20 control unit 21 control switching unit 22 rotation drive unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A tablet dispensing mechanism for dispensing tablets one by one from a tablet storage container by rotation of a rotating body according to instructions of a prescription, a tablet detector provided on the dispensing path, and counting the number of tablets by the detection signal. And a control unit for controlling the rotating body to rotate continuously at a predetermined speed and controlling the operating speed of the rotating body to be reduced when the number of tablets to be dispensed reaches a predetermined number before the specified number of dispensed tablets. 2. The control unit controls the driving unit of the rotating body to continuously operate at a constant maximum speed possible by the tablet dispensing mechanism, and when the number of tablets to be dispensed reaches a predetermined number before the specified number of dispensing, the rotating body is suddenly stopped. 2. A control switching unit for switching so as to reduce the speed to a low speed at which no extra payout is performed.
A tablet feeder according to claim 1.