JPWO2015041112A1 - Tablet alignment and supply device and visual inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

The randomly supplied tablet (t) is placed on the upper surface, and the supply conveyor (11) that conveys the tablet (t) at a predetermined speed along a linear track, and the belt surface obliquely blocks the tablet conveyance track on the supply conveyor. A guide belt (111) that is arranged in the transport direction and rotates in the forward direction and that is randomly placed on the supply conveyor and transported to the one end in the width direction on the supply conveyor by the guide belt. By aligning, an alignment supply track (t1) in which the tablets are aligned and conveyed in a row at a predetermined position in the width direction on the supply conveyor is formed, and the tablets are conveyed along the alignment supply track and transferred to the next process in a row. There is provided a tablet alignment supply device (1) configured to be continuously supplied.

Description

  The present invention relates to a tablet aligning and supplying apparatus that continuously and stably supplies tablets formed as pharmaceuticals and foods, and a tablet appearance inspection apparatus configured using the aligning and supplying apparatus.

  Conventionally, automation of a series of production processes from molding to packing has been promoted in order to further increase the efficiency of production of solid articles such as tablets. In recent years, the production system has been changing from the conventional mass production system to the multi-product small-lot production system with diversification of market needs. In such multi-product small-lot production, compared to the conventional mass production method, the production line switching operation is frequently performed on the production line, and the frequency of line stoppage increases, so the production line operation rate decreases. To do. Therefore, in order to further improve the productivity, not only reviewing the production plan so that the line can be operated more efficiently, but also improving the workability when switching the production type, It is important to reduce the downtime as much as possible and improve the operating rate.

  Further, in the above production process, processing such as printing, appearance inspection, and packaging is usually performed on all tablets passing through the production line. In order to perform these processes efficiently, in synchronization with the processes of each of the above-mentioned devices, they are conveyed while being aligned so as not to give a large impact or load to a large number of randomly supplied tablets. Therefore, it is required to supply to each processing step. Usually, it is necessary to increase the conveyance speed in order to increase the processing capacity. However, as the conveyance speed is increased, the posture of the tablet is likely to be unstable and fall apart, which may affect the processing accuracy. .

  Various devices for transporting such tablets have been proposed so far. For example, JP 2006-131355 A (Patent Document 1) and JP 2007-55739 A (Patent Document 2). And JP 2010-285229 A (Patent Document 3), etc., so that the tablets are conveyed by the drive belt of the conveying path for alignment and are aligned while being guided inward by the side walls that are obliquely blocked with respect to the conveying direction. There has been proposed a supply / alignment conveying apparatus for small articles, characterized in that it is configured as described above. However, since the tablet being transported rotates due to friction with the side wall, the behavior is not stable, and the higher the transport speed, the more difficult it is to supply it stably to the imaging / inspection unit.

  On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-39645 (Patent Document 4) discloses a plurality of inspection drums that rotate while being held on the outer peripheral surface of a drum that conveys a small article such as a tablet, and image photographing that photographs the front and back surfaces of the small article. There has been proposed an appearance inspection apparatus that is equipped with a device and is capable of inspecting the appearance defect of the front and back surfaces of small articles. A high dimensional system and synchronicity are required for delivery, and the control mechanism is complicated.

  Therefore, from the viewpoint of improving productivity, the tablets supplied at random can be transported continuously and stably while being aligned, and can be reliably supplied to the next process. New measures are required to improve workability in fine adjustments and troubleshooting.

JP 2006-131355 A JP 2007-55739 A JP 2010-285229 A JP 2008-39645 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and can provide a tablet alignment and supply device that can align randomly supplied tablets and continuously and stably supply them to the next process, and has excellent workability. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is a tablet alignment and supply device for aligning and conveying randomly supplied tablets and continuously supplying them to the next process, wherein the randomly supplied tablets are arranged on the upper surface. And a guide belt that is disposed on the supply conveyor so that the belt surface obliquely blocks the transport path of the tablet and rotates in the transport direction and the forward direction. The tablets that are randomly placed and transported on the supply conveyor are shifted to one end in the width direction on the supply conveyor by the guide belt, whereby a predetermined width direction on the supply conveyor is established. A tablet aligning / feeding device characterized in that an aligning / feeding trajectory in which tablets are aligned and transported in a row at a position is formed, and the tablets are transported along the aligning / feeding trajectory and continuously fed in a row to the next process. Subjected to.

  According to this aligning and supplying apparatus, when the tablets conveyed on the supply conveyor are aligned to a predetermined position in the width direction and aligned in a row, the tablets are rotated using the guide belt that rotates in the conveying direction and the forward direction. Since the rotation of the tablets is effectively suppressed, the feeding direction can be stably regulated and the tablets can be shifted to the alignment supply track, thereby aligning the tablets in a more stable posture. It will be possible to flow downstream. Thereby, a tablet can be continuously supplied stably to the next process, and a more stable process can be performed in the next process such as an appearance inspection.

  In the aligned supply apparatus, from the viewpoint of more stably shifting the tablets conveyed on the supply conveyor, the rotation speed of the guide belt is preferably set to 50 to 150% of the conveyance speed of the supply conveyor. . Moreover, it is preferable that the installation angle of the said guide belt is set to 30-45 degrees with respect to a conveyance direction.

  In the aligning and supplying apparatus, a guide wall for bringing the tablets toward the other end in the width direction of the supply conveyor is installed at a position upstream of the guide belt on the supply conveyor in the transport direction, and the guide belt is connected to the supply conveyor. The tablets that are transported on the supply conveyor are shifted to the other end in the width direction of the supply conveyor by the guide wall, and this is one end in the width direction of the supply conveyor by the guide belt. The tablets are aligned on the alignment and supply track by shifting to the side, and the guide belt is moved to the other end in the width direction of the supply conveyor, and the guide belt moves toward one end in the width direction of the supply conveyor. By flowing the tablets that are brought together one by one downstream before the above-mentioned alignment supply track, a tablet recovery track is formed at a predetermined position in the width direction on the supply conveyor, and the tablet is processed next. It is possible to adopt a configuration of recovering from the tablet recovered track without supplying to.

  By attaching the collection mechanism in this way, it is possible to quickly collect the tablets from the alignment supply device without passing through the next process such as appearance inspection. Can be done more quickly. Thereby, the stop time of a line can be shortened and productivity can be improved.

  Furthermore, in the alignment and supply apparatus, a reverse conveyor that conveys tablets in a direction opposite to the supply conveyor is arranged adjacent to one side in the width direction of the supply conveyor, and downstream of the reverse conveyor in the conveyance direction. Provided at the end with a supply communication part communicating with the upstream side of the supply conveyor, tablets are randomly supplied on the reverse conveyor and once transported in the direction opposite to the supply conveyor, from the downstream side of the reverse conveyor It can comprise so that it may flow to a supply conveyor upstream via a supply connection part. In this case, a contact guide is installed at the downstream end in the transport direction of the reverse conveyor so as to obliquely block the tablet transport path, and the tablets on the reverse conveyor are shifted toward the supply conveyor side by the contact guide and It can be directed to the supply liaison.

  In this way, by supplying tablets on a reverse conveyor that conveys in the reverse direction, and configured to deliver the tablets to the supply conveyor that conveys the tablets once in the reverse direction and then in the forward direction, Since the tablet conveyance path can be made long in a small space, the tablets can be aligned more stably without substantially increasing the installation area. That is, tablets put on a conveyor from a hopper or the like via a feeder or the like may be dropped on the conveyor in a collective state in which many are gathered. A certain amount of transport length (path) is required to align the rows, but the transport length can be increased with little increase in the installation area by the reverse conveyor.

  In the aligning and feeding apparatus including the reverse conveyor, a circulation communication portion communicating with the supply conveyor is provided on the upstream side in the transport direction of the reverse conveyor corresponding to the arrangement position of the guide belt, and the guide belt Is set to be movable in the width direction of the supply conveyor, the guide belt is moved to one end side in the width direction of the supply conveyor, and the tablets that are brought together to one end side in the width direction of the supply conveyor by the guide belt are aligned. By moving further beyond the supply trajectory, the tablets conveyed from the downstream side of the supply conveyor to the upstream side of the reverse conveyor via the circulation connecting portion are transferred to the downstream side of the reverse conveyor. To the upstream side of the supply conveyor through the supply communication unit, the tablets are not supplied to the next process, and the reverse conveyor and the supply controller are supplied. It can be configured to circulate on the circulation path formed by the A.

  In this way, by providing a mechanism for forming a circulation path, it is possible to temporarily enter a standby state in which tablets are not supplied to the next process, and during that time, operations such as fine adjustment of the next process and troubleshooting can be performed, and It will be possible to quickly return to the normal state. Thereby, the stop time of a line can be shortened and productivity can be improved.

  And in the said alignment supply apparatus, while installing a pair of supply conveyors in parallel on the both sides of the said reverse feed conveyor and arranging the same mechanism which aligns a tablet in both supply conveyors, the conveyance direction downstream end part of this reverse feed conveyor A supply connecting portion that communicates with the upstream side of each of the supply conveyors is provided on both side edges, and the tablets to be conveyed are distributed to both ends of the reverse conveyor in the width direction at the downstream end in the conveyance direction. Distributing means are installed, and the tablets conveyed on the reverse conveyor are distributed to both ends in the width direction of the reverse conveyor by the distributing means, and the respective supply conveyors are provided from the downstream side of the reverse conveyor via the supply communication section. By flowing to the upstream side, it is possible to adopt a configuration in which the tablets supplied to the reverse conveyor are distributed almost evenly to the two rows of supply conveyors. In this case, as the distribution means, a distribution guide forming a substantially V-shaped guide wall in a plan view with the upstream side in the conveyance direction as a vertex is installed, and the tablets conveyed on the reverse conveyor are reversed by the distribution guide. It can distribute | distribute to the width direction both ends of a feed conveyor, and can be made to guide | induced to the said supply connection part.

  In this way, the supply conveyor can be installed on both sides of the reverse conveyor and the tablets can be aligned and supplied on each supply conveyor to achieve twice the supply capacity, and a high processing capacity is required for the next process. In some cases, it is possible to easily cope with applications requiring higher supply capability. Further, a total of two reverse conveyors may be installed between the two supply conveyors, one for each supply conveyor. A reverse conveyor may be provided for each supply conveyor. In this case, the supply conveyor 11 and the reverse conveyor 12 can constitute a pair of independent conveyor units, and the maintenance workability can be improved by making the units detachable.

  Furthermore, the delivery of the tablet to the next process is performed by sucking and holding the tablet on the supply conveyor to the transport mechanism of the next process arranged above the downstream end of the supply conveyor. The conveyance surface of the supply conveyor can be inclined so that the downstream side becomes higher, and the tablets to be conveyed can be delivered to the conveyance mechanism in the next step at the uppermost point of the downstream end of the supply conveyor.

  In this way, by delivering the tablets to be transported to the next process at the uppermost point of the downstream end of the supply conveyor, the tablets can be used for the work in the next process, as will be described in the second embodiment described later. Since delivery can be ensured in an optimum state, troubles during delivery and work in the next process can be prevented as much as possible, and productivity can be improved.

Moreover, this invention provides the external appearance inspection apparatus of the following tablet as an example of the usage condition of the said alignment supply apparatus.
(1) A supply unit that transports randomly supplied tablets while aligning them, and receives the tablets aligned by the supply unit, images the tablets while transporting them, and determines the quality of the appearance from the obtained images In a tablet appearance inspection apparatus comprising an inspection unit,
The tablet appearance inspection device, wherein the supply unit is configured by the tablet alignment supply device of the present invention, and (2) the upper surface of the tablet supplied from the tablet alignment supply device. A first conveying belt that sucks and conveys the tablets, and a second conveying belt that receives the tablets from the first conveying belt and sucks and conveys the lower surface of the tablets, a lower surface imaging device, an upper surface An imaging means comprising an imaging device and a side imaging device,
The external appearance of the tablet according to the above (1), wherein the tablet being transported by the transporting means is photographed by the imaging devices, the images of the upper surface, the lower surface, and the entire side surface of the tablet are taken in and the appearance inspection of the tablet is performed. Inspection device.

  The tablet alignment supply device and the appearance inspection device of the present invention can supply tablets continuously and stably in an aligned state, and therefore can stably perform the next process such as an appearance inspection. In addition, since it is excellent in workability such as switching between production types and dealing with troubles, it is possible to shorten the stop time and improve the productivity.

It is a schematic side view which shows the tablet alignment supply apparatus concerning 1st Example of this invention. It is a schematic plan view which shows the same alignment supply apparatus. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the principal part of the same alignment supply apparatus. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the principal part of the same alignment supply apparatus. It is a schematic plan view which shows the state which formed the tablet collection | recovery track | orbit in the same alignment supply apparatus. It is a schematic plan view which shows the state which formed the circulation path | route of the tablet in the alignment supply apparatus. It is a schematic side view which shows the external appearance inspection apparatus of the tablet concerning 1st Example of this invention using the alignment supply apparatus. It is the schematic side view which expanded the test | inspection part of the same external appearance inspection apparatus. It is a schematic plan view which shows the principal part of the said external appearance inspection apparatus. It is a schematic side view which shows the principal part of the tablet alignment supply apparatus concerning 2nd Example of this invention. It is a schematic plan view which shows the tablet alignment supply apparatus concerning 2nd Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the shape of the flattening change guide and presser guide of the alignment supply apparatus. It is a schematic side view which shows the principal part of the external appearance inspection apparatus of the tablet concerning 2nd Example of this invention using the alignment supply apparatus. It is the schematic side view which expanded the test | inspection part of the same external appearance inspection apparatus.

[First embodiment]
Hereinafter, a tablet alignment and supply apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
1 to 4 show a tablet aligning and supplying apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The aligning and supplying apparatus 1 includes an aligning and supplying apparatus main body 10, a hopper F1, and a feeder F2. In the aligned supply apparatus main body 10, three conveyors, that is, a pair of supply conveyors 11 and 11 and a reverse conveyor 12, are arranged side by side, and both supply conveyors 11 and 11 are provided on both sides of the reverse conveyor 12. 12 is installed. Both supply conveyors 11 and 11 carry tablets t on the upper surface and convey them at a predetermined speed along a linear track from the upstream side where the feeder F2 is disposed to the downstream side that continues to the next process, These supply conveyors 11 and 11 constitute a total of two rows of tablet conveyance paths, one on each side of the reverse conveyor 12. On the other hand, the reverse conveyor 12 conveys tablets along a linear track at the same speed or higher (usually the same speed) in the opposite direction to the supply conveyors 11 and 11.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the supply conveyors 11 and 11 are stretched by three pulleys and rotated in the above direction by a driving source (not shown), and the conveying surface is substantially horizontal. ing. The reverse conveyor 12 is also stretched by three pulleys as shown in FIG. 1 and rotated in the above direction by a drive source (not shown). The transport surface of the reverse conveyor 12 has an upstream side. It is inclined in a range of about 3 to 5 ° so that it is lower than the downstream side of the supply conveyor 11 and the downstream side is higher than the upstream side of the supply conveyor 11. Further, as in a second embodiment to be described later, the reverse conveyor may be horizontal and the supply conveyor may be inclined so that the downstream side becomes higher (see FIG. 10).

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, a guide belt 111 is disposed on each of the supply conveyors 11 so as to be slightly downstream in the transport direction, and the belt surface of the guide belt 111 is The guide belt 111 is disposed so as to be obliquely blocked from the transport trajectory of the tablets transported by the supply conveyor 11, and is rotated at a predetermined speed in the forward direction and the transport direction of the supply conveyor 11 by a drive source (not shown). It has become. (Although the guide belt 111 is stretched by a plurality of pulleys, only the pulleys at both ends are shown in the figure, and other pulleys such as tension adjustment are omitted. The same applies to the subsequent figures.) The guide belt 111 can be moved along the width direction of the supply conveyor 11 while maintaining an angle with respect to the supply conveyor 11 by a mechanism (not shown).

  2-4, the width direction one end side of the conveyance direction intermediate part on each supply conveyor 11 (The reverse feed conveyor 12 is arrange | positioned with respect to both the supply conveyors 11 in the width direction one end side. A substantially trapezoidal block-shaped guide wall 112 is disposed on the upstream side of the position where the guide belt 111 is disposed, and the guide wall 112 is provided on the supply conveyor 11. The tablet t transported is fed to the other end in the width direction of the supply conveyor 11 (the other end in the width direction of both supply conveyors 11 is the opposite side to the side on which the reverse conveyor 12 is disposed. The same applies hereinafter). It has come to be sent.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, a substantially triangular guide is present in the vicinity of the upstream side of the guide belt 111 at the other end in the width direction of the intermediate portion in the conveying direction on each supply conveyor 11. The block 114 is disposed so as to face the guide wall 112, and the tablet t flowing on the other edge in the width direction of the supply conveyor is pushed back slightly inward by the guide block 114 to ensure that the guide belt 111 It leads to the belt surface.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, between each supply conveyor 11 and the reverse conveyor 12, there is an attitude control block 113 that controls the attitude of the tablet t across the conveyors 11 and 12. is set up. This posture control block 113 is located in the vicinity of the downstream side of the guide belt 111 and is located at a position adjacent to the downstream side of the circulation connecting portion 122 described later. As shown in FIG. The side surface on the conveyor 11 side forms part of the side wall of the tablet conveyance path, and the upper edge portion on the downstream side partially protrudes toward the supply conveyor 11, and the protrusion is formed on the supply conveyor 11. It extends onto an alignment supply track (details will be described later) to form a ceiling wall. A space slightly higher than the thickness of the tablet t is formed between the ceiling wall and the conveyance surface of the supply conveyor 11, and the tablet t conveyed on the aligned supply track passes below the ceiling wall. Thus, the posture of the tablet t is reliably controlled in a stable flat state.

  On the other hand, a triangular block-shaped distribution guide (contact guide) 121 that forms a substantially V-shaped guide wall in plan view with the upstream side in the conveyance direction as the apex is installed at the downstream end of the reverse conveyor 12 in the conveyance direction. ing. Further, supply communication portions 115 and 115 communicating with the upstream sides of the respective supply conveyors 11 and 11 are provided at both side edges of the downstream end portion in the conveyance direction of the reverse conveyor 12. Circulating communication portions 122 and 122 communicating with the supply conveyors 11 and 11 are provided at both side edges on the upstream side in the direction corresponding to the positions where the guide belts 111 and 111 are disposed.

  Here, as described above, the transport surface of the reverse conveyor 12 is inclined so as to become higher from the upstream side toward the downstream side in the transport direction of the reverse conveyor 12, and transports the tablets t horizontally. It is set to be lower on the upstream side in the transport direction of the reverse conveyor 12 and higher on the downstream side than the transport surface of the supply conveyors 11 and 11. The supply communication unit 115 is provided with an inclined plate that is higher on the reverse conveyor 12 side and lower on the supply conveyor 11 side, and prevents the tablet t from dropping from the gap between the supply conveyor 11 and the reverse conveyor 12. At the same time, the tablets t that are offset to the supply communication unit 115 by the distribution guide (distribution means) 121 smoothly move from the downstream side of the reverse conveyor 12 to the upstream side of the supply conveyor 11 due to the inclination. It has become. In addition, the circulation communication unit 122 is provided with an inclined plate having a high supply conveyor 11 side and a low reverse conveyor 12 side, and similarly prevents the tablet t from dropping and the circulation belt communication unit 122 by the guide belt 111. The tablet t that has been shifted to 122 is smoothly moved from the downstream side of the supply conveyor 11 to the upstream side of the reverse conveyor 12.

  Tablets t are randomly supplied to the apparatus body 10 by the hopper F1 and the feeder F2. In this case, a large amount of tablets t charged into the hopper F1 is quantitatively released from the feeder F2. It is randomly supplied to the intermediate part in the transport direction on the reverse conveyor 12 and slightly downstream. In addition, what is necessary is just to select a well-known thing suitably for the said hopper F1 and the feeder F2 according to the scale of the apparatus, a processing capability, etc., and it does not restrict | limit in particular.

Next, the operation | movement at the time of supplying a tablet with this example supply apparatus is demonstrated.
The tablet t stored in the hopper F1 is quantitatively discharged by the feeder F2, and is randomly supplied to the predetermined position on the reverse conveyor 12 as shown in FIG. The supplied tablets t are once transported on the reverse conveyor 12 along a straight track at a predetermined speed in a direction opposite to the supply conveyors 11, 11, and at the downstream end in the transport direction of the reverse conveyor 12. The distribution guide (contact guide) 121 distributes substantially evenly to both ends of the reverse conveyor 12 in the width direction. The distributed tablets t are flowed from the downstream side of the reverse conveyor 12 to the upstream side of the supply conveyors 11 and 11 via the supply communication portions 115 and 115, and continuously to the downstream side of the supply conveyors 11. Be transported.

  Here, in the apparatus of the present example, the transport path of the tablet t is made long in a small space by adopting a configuration in which the transport path of the tablet t is once transported in the direction opposite to the normal transport direction and then folded. be able to. As a result, even when a large number of tablets are in a collective state, it is possible to realize a transport length sufficient in a small space so that they can be separated and reliably aligned in one row.

  The tablets t moved from the reverse conveyor 12 to the supply conveyor 11 are transported on the supply conveyor 11 along a linear track at a predetermined speed. The belt is shifted to the end side and further flowed downstream, then contacts the belt surface of the guide belt 111 and is conveyed further downstream while being shifted toward one end in the width direction on the supply conveyor 11, When the sheet passes through the downstream end of 111 and returns to the linear conveyance track of the supply conveyor 11 again, it is aligned in a line. The aligned tablets t are conveyed downstream along the side wall (the side surface of the attitude control block 113) on one end side in the width direction of the supply conveyor 11, and the aligned supply trajectory t1 in which the tablets t are aligned and conveyed in a row here. Is formed (see FIG. 2).

  In this way, the tablets t are once shifted toward the other end in the width direction of the supply conveyor 11 by the guide wall 112, thereby effectively reducing the overlapping of the tablets when the tablets t are shifted by the guide belt 111. It is possible to align the tablets t more stably.

  Further, as described above, the belt surface of the guide belt 111 rotates at a predetermined speed in the forward direction with respect to the conveying direction of the tablets t by the supply conveyor 11, and thereby the tablets t being conveyed are separated from the tablets. It is possible to suppress as much as possible rotation due to friction with a regulating wall (in this example, the belt surface of the guide belt 111), and the tablets t can be aligned and aligned in a more stable posture. . In this case, the rotation speed of the guide belt 111 is not particularly limited, but according to the conveyance speed of the supply conveyor 11 from the viewpoint of stably shifting the tablets conveyed on the supply conveyor 11. It is preferable to adjust so that the tablet does not roll on the belt surface as much as possible. Specifically, it is preferable to adjust appropriately within the range of 50 to 150% of the conveyance speed of the supply conveyor 11, more preferably 70 to 130%, and still more preferably 100 to 120%. .

  Here, the optimal position and angle of the guide belt 111 with respect to the supply conveyor 11 are adjusted to an appropriate angle according to the shape and size of the tablet t, the conveyance speed, and the like. In this case, the installation angle of the guide belt 111 (the angle formed by the belt surface on the side where the tablet t of the guide belt 111 is in contact with the conveyance direction of the supply conveyor 11) is not particularly limited. 11, from the viewpoint of stably shifting the tablets conveyed on top, it is preferable to adjust appropriately within the range of 30 to 45 °, more preferably 35 to 45 °, more preferably with respect to the conveying direction of the supply conveyor 11. Preferably it can set to the range of 40-45 degrees.

  In this way, the tablets t aligned in a line on the alignment supply track t1 by the guide belt 111 are conveyed along the alignment supply track t1 and below the ceiling wall formed on the side surface of the posture control block 113. The posture is reliably controlled in a flat state by passing through, and further conveyed downstream, and transferred to the conveyance belt 21 of the next process at the downstream end of the supply conveyor 11 in the conveyance direction, to the next process such as appearance inspection. Supplied continuously in a row.

  Here, the rear end surface of the posture control block 113 (the end surface on the upstream side of the supply conveyor 11) is such that the supply conveyor 11 side guides the extra tablets t to the reverse conveyor 12 as shown in FIG. 2. For example, the tablet t that has been curved and has not been allowed to flow from the guide belt 111 onto the alignment supply trajectory t1 due to an excessive supply amount of the tablet t is fed back from the circulation communication unit 122 by the rear end surface of the posture control block 113. It is guided to the conveyor 12 and returned to the upstream of the supply conveyor 11 again. Thereby, one row of tablets is surely formed on the alignment supply track t1.

  In the alignment and supply device 1 of this example, as shown in FIG. 5, the guide belt 111 is moved to the other end in the width direction of the supply conveyor 11 (the outer side of the device main body 10 in FIGS. 2 and 5). The tablet collection track t2 is placed at a predetermined position in the width direction on the supply conveyor 11 by causing the guide t to flow toward the downstream side just before the alignment supply track t1. Can be collected without supplying the tablet t to the next step.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 5, at the time of collecting the tablets, the guide belt 111 moves to the other end in the width direction of the supply conveyor 11, and in this state, the tablets t that are offset by the guide belt 111. Is flowed downstream before the alignment supply trajectory t1, and a tablet recovery trajectory t2 is formed there. The tablets t flowing on the tablet recovery track t2 are not received by the transport belt 21 of the next process installed on the alignment supply track t1, and fall by their own weight from the downstream end of the supply conveyor 11, and the tablet recovery chute It is recovered into a tablet recovery box (not shown) via 116 (see FIG. 1). Thereby, it is possible to directly collect the tablet t from the alignment supply apparatus 1 without supplying it to the next process.

  In this case, in the alignment supply device 1 of this example, the posture control block 113 is also set so as to be movable in the width direction of the supply conveyor 11, and as shown in FIG. By moving the control block 113 to the other end in the width direction of the supply conveyor 11 to block the alignment supply track t1, the tablet t is reliably prevented from entering the alignment supply track t1. As a result, it is possible to completely prevent the tablet t from being transported to the next process and to more reliably recover the tablet.

  As described above, in the aligning and supplying apparatus 1 of the present example, the tablets in the hopper F1 and the feeder F2 and the tablets t after being inserted into the aligning and supplying apparatus main body 10 from the simple operation of moving the guide belt 111 are externally displayed. It can be easily and quickly collected without being supplied to the next process such as inspection. Thereby, for example, it is possible to easily perform the collection operation when changing the type of the tablet t, and it is also possible to perform maintenance of the next process while collecting the tablet t remaining in the hopper F1, It is also possible to shorten the line stop time effectively by shortening the time for switching the production type.

  Furthermore, in the alignment supply apparatus 1 of this example, as shown in FIG. 6, the guide belt 111 is moved to one end in the width direction of the supply conveyor 11 (in FIG. 2 and FIG. 6, the inner side of the apparatus main body 10). A circulation path constituted by the reverse conveyor 12 and the supply conveyor 11 without moving the tablets t to the reverse conveyor 12 before the posture control block 113 and supplying the tablets t to the next process. The top can be circulated.

  That is, the supply of tablets from the feeder F2 is stopped, and as shown in FIG. 6, the guide belt 111 is moved to one end in the width direction of the supply conveyor 11 to block the alignment supply track t1. In this state, the tablets t that are offset by the guide belt 111 are further offset toward the reverse conveyor 12 side beyond the alignment supply trajectory t1, and from the downstream side of the supply conveyor 11 via the circulation connecting portion 122. It flows to the upstream side of the reverse conveyor 12. Then, the tablets t moved to the reverse conveyor 12 are conveyed on the reverse conveyor 12 in the opposite direction to the supply conveyor 11 and are moved to the supply conveyor 11 side by the distribution guide (contact guide) 121. The tablet t is fed again to the upstream side of the supply conveyor 11 through the supply communication unit 115, and all the tablets t on the alignment supply device main body 10 circulate on the circulation path constituted by the supply conveyor 11 and the reverse conveyor 12. It becomes a state to do.

  In this case, as described above, the rear end surface of the posture control block 113 (the end surface on the upstream side of the supply conveyor 11) is curved so as to guide the tablet t to the reverse feed conveyor 12. It functions as a guide for smoothly feeding the collected tablets t to the upstream side of the reverse feed conveyor 12 via the circulation connecting part 122.

  As described above, in the alignment supply device 1 of this example, a simple operation of moving the guide belt 111 can constitute a circulation path constituted by the supply conveyor 11 and the reverse conveyor 12, and the tablet t By circulating on the circulation path, the supply of the tablet t to the next process can be temporarily stopped, and a standby state where the supply can be started at any time can be obtained. As a result, when the necessity for fine adjustment of the apparatus, troubleshooting, or the like occurs in the next process, the processing can be temporarily stopped, and necessary maintenance can be performed during that time. Moreover, since it is in the state which can supply the tablet t at any time, the return after a maintenance operation | work is completed can be performed rapidly and the time until it returns to a normal state can be shortened.

  As described above, according to the aligning and supplying apparatus 1 of the present example, the tablet to be processed can be continuously and stably supplied to the next process for performing the appearance inspection and the printing process of the tablet, and can be easily performed by a simple operation. Tablet collection and supply standby can be performed, and production types can be switched and temporary maintenance of the next process can be easily and quickly performed. Therefore, workability is excellent.

Next, an appearance inspection apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 7 shows an example of an appearance inspection apparatus for tablets using the alignment supply apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment. The appearance inspection apparatus A conveys tablets t supplied at random while being aligned. A supply unit 1 and an inspection unit 2 that receives the tablets t supplied in an aligned state from the supply unit 1 and shoots the tablets t while being conveyed and determines the quality of the appearance from the obtained image are provided. Is. And the said supply part 1 is the alignment supply apparatus 1 comprised by the alignment supply apparatus main body 10 which forms the hopper F1 and feeder F2 which were demonstrated above, and two rows of tablet conveyance paths. The tablets to be inspected are put into the hopper F1 and, as described above, supplied from the feeder F2 to a predetermined position on the reverse feed conveyor 12 of the aligning and feeding apparatus body 10 and flowed to the supply conveyor 11. After that, while being conveyed on the supply conveyor 11, they are aligned in a row and continuously supplied to the inspection unit 2.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the inspection unit 2 uses a suction means (not shown) to suck and convey the upper surface of the tablet t continuously supplied from the supply unit 1 in an aligned state. A conveying means comprising a second conveying belt 22 that receives the tablet t from the first conveying belt 21 and sucks and conveys the lower surface of the tablet t by using an aspirating means (not shown); a lower surface imaging device 211; An imaging means comprising a top imaging device 221 and two side imaging devices 222, 223, and taking images of the tablets t being conveyed by the conveying means with the imaging devices (cameras), It is configured to take an image of the entire circumference of the lower surface and the side surface and to inspect the appearance of the tablet. Although not particularly shown here, in the appearance inspection apparatus A, two rows of inspection paths having the above-described configuration are formed corresponding to the formation positions of the alignment supply tracks of the supply unit 1, and inspection is performed simultaneously on both inspection paths. Processing can be performed.

  The first conveying belt 21 and the second conveying belt 22 constituting the conveying means are stretched by a plurality of pulleys (only pulleys at both ends are shown in FIG. 8 and other pulleys such as tension adjustment are omitted). Driven by a drive source (not shown), the first conveyor belt 21 rotates at a predetermined speed counterclockwise in FIG. 8, and the second conveyor belt 22 rotates clockwise in FIG. Each of the conveyor belts 21 and 22 is a belt in which a pair of rubber rings are stretched in parallel with a predetermined distance from each other, and the tablet t is sucked and held between the two rubber rings in a state of straddling the two rubber rings. It has become so. The first transport belt 21 and the second transport belt 22 are not limited to those composed of two (one pair) rubber rings, and may be capable of transporting the tablets while adsorbing and holding them well. For example, other known devices such as a flat timing belt can be employed as in a second embodiment described later.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the first conveyor belt 21 is horizontally arranged such that the lower surface of one end thereof overlaps the aligned supply track t <b> 1 formed on the downstream side of the supply conveyor 11 of the supply unit 1. An appropriate gap corresponding to the thickness of the tablet t is formed between the lower surface of the first conveyor belt 21 and the conveyor surface of the supply conveyor 11. The second conveyor belt 22 is horizontally disposed such that the upper surface of one end thereof overlaps the lower surface of the lower surface of the other end (downstream end) of the first conveyor belt 21, and the upper surface of the second conveyor belt 22. An appropriate gap corresponding to the thickness of the tablet t is also formed between the first conveying belt 21 and the lower surface of the first conveying belt 21.

  The lower surface imaging device 211 is arranged below the first transport belt 21 and photographs the tablet t adsorbed and held on the lower surface of the first transport belt 21. Also, the upper surface imaging device 221 is used. Is arranged on the upper upstream side of the second conveyor belt 22 and photographs the tablet t adsorbed and held on the upper surface of the second conveyor belt 22. Further, the first side imaging device 222 and the second side imaging device 223 are sequentially arranged above the intermediate portion of the second conveying belt 22 and are respectively connected via the first imaging optical system 224 and the second imaging optical system 225. Thus, a predetermined angle range of the side surface of the tablet t held by suction on the upper surface of the second transport belt 22 is photographed.

  Here, the first and second imaging optical systems 224 and 225 are capable of photographing the side surface of the tablet t in a flat state from above using a prism. In this case, the first and second imaging optical systems 224 and 225 are configured to photograph a range exceeding 180 ° of the entire side surface of the tablet t by the first and second side imaging devices 222 and 223, respectively. In addition, it is set so that portions exceeding 180 ° of the respective photographing ranges are overlapped, and an image of the entire circumference of the side surface of the tablet t is captured. Normally, the first and second imaging optical systems 224 and 225 are set so as to capture a range of about 240 °. Further, as in a second embodiment to be described later, one each of the first and second side imaging devices 222 and 223 and the first and second imaging optical systems 224 and 225 corresponding to the side imaging device are collected. It is also possible to constitute the side image pickup apparatus and one image pickup optical system (see FIG. 13).

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a defective product discharge nozzle 23 is disposed on one side of the other end portion (downstream end portion) of the second conveying belt 22, and this defective product is provided. The compressed air is appropriately ejected from the discharge nozzle 23, and the tablets t on the second conveyor belt 22 are blown off to the defective product collecting chute 24 disposed to face the tablet t. In this case, the suction holding of the tablet t is released at the place where the defective product collecting chute 24 is disposed, and the tablet t is transported while being placed on the upper surface of the second transport belt 22.

  In this example appearance inspection apparatus A, the supply unit (alignment supply apparatus) 1 continuously supplies the tablets t from the supply conveyor 11 to the inspection unit 2 in an aligned state. An inspection for detecting abnormalities in appearance is performed on the entire surface of the front surface, the back surface, and the side surface, and the operation during the inspection will be described below. In this case, there is no difference between normal tablets such as flat tablets, but here, the surface imaged from below while moving in a flat state in the inspection section 2 is “bottom surface” and imaged from above. The surface to be referred to as the “upper surface” and the outer peripheral surface of the tablet as the “side surface”. Further, the term “flat tablet” includes not only those whose upper and lower surfaces are formed into curved surfaces, but also flat plate tablets whose upper and lower surfaces are formed into flat surfaces, and the outer peripheral shape thereof, unless otherwise specified. In addition to the circular shape, an elliptical shape or other irregular shaped tablets are also included.

  As shown in FIG. 8, in the inspection unit 2, first, the tablet t flowing on the alignment supply track t <b> 1 formed on the supply conveyor 11 of the supply unit 1 is negatively applied to the lower surface of the first conveyance belt 21. By being sucked and held by pressure, it is transferred from the supply conveyor 11 to the first conveying belt 21, sucked and held on the lower surface of the first conveying belt 21, and conveyed. Then, when the tablet t passes the lower surface inspection (lower surface imaging) position, the lower surface of the tablet t is photographed by the lower surface imaging device 211, and the lower surface image is taken into an image processing unit (not shown). Then, it is further transported downstream and delivered to the second transport belt 22.

  When the tablet t is transferred from the first conveyor belt 21 to the second conveyor belt 22, the negative pressure suction of the first conveyor belt 21 is released at the overlapping portion of the belts 21 and 22, and the self-weight and the second conveyor belt 22 are transferred. The tablet t is moved smoothly to the upper surface of the second conveying belt 22 by the negative pressure suction, and thus is smoothly performed. In this case, although not particularly shown in FIG. 8, as shown in FIG. 7, a tablet collection chute 212 is disposed on the upstream side in the transport direction of the second transport belt 22, and the delivery operation is performed. The tablet t that has fallen without being successfully completed is collected into the tablet collection box 213 (see FIG. 7) via the tablet collection chute 212. The tablet collection box 213 also stores tablets that are collected via the tablet collection chute 116 when the alignment supply device 1 that constitutes the supply unit 1 performs the above-described collection operation.

  The tablets t delivered from the first conveyor belt 21 to the second conveyor belt 22 are held and conveyed on the upper surface of the second conveyor belt 22 by negative pressure suction. The top surface and the side surface of the tablet t are imaged on the top surface of the tablet t when passing through the top surface inspection (top surface imaging) position and the side surface inspection (side surface imaging) position. Images are taken by the device 221, the first side imaging device 222, and the second side imaging device 223, respectively, and the upper surface image and the entire image of the side surface are captured by an image processing unit (not shown). And it is conveyed further downstream and passes the defective product discharge part in which the said defective product discharge nozzle 23 was arrange | positioned.

  The lower surface image, the upper surface image, and the side surface image captured by each of the imaging devices 211, 221, 222, and 223 are each subjected to image processing by an image processing unit (not shown) or four images collectively, and the image processing unit Alternatively, the presence / absence of an appearance abnormality is determined by a quality determination unit (not shown) provided separately. Then, compressed air is jetted from the defective product discharge nozzle 23 when passing through the defective product discharge section to the tablet t that is detected as a defective tablet and the defective tablet t is transferred to the defective product collection chute 24. And is collected in the defective product collection box 241. On the other hand, the non-defective tablet t in which no appearance defect is detected passes through the location where the defective product discharge nozzle 23 is disposed, falls by its own weight from the downstream end in the transport direction of the second transport belt 22, and passes through the non-defective product recovery chute 25. Or collected and sent to the next process such as a packaging process.

  Since this appearance inspection apparatus uses the alignment supply device 1 in the supply unit, the tablets t to be inspected are continuously and stably supplied in an aligned state, and a stable inspection process is ensured in the inspection unit. Is something that can be done. Further, when the production type is switched or the inspection section is temporarily maintained, it can be easily and quickly performed by executing the collection operation and the circulation operation described above in the alignment supply apparatus 1 of the supply section. It is also excellent in properties.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, an alignment supply apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIGS. 10 to 12 show a tablet aligning and supplying apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and this aligning and supplying apparatus 1 includes an aligning and supplying apparatus main body 10, a hopper F1 and a feeder F2, as in the first embodiment. Has been. In the aligned supply apparatus main body 10, two supply conveyors 11, 11 are arranged in parallel in a state of being spaced apart by a predetermined distance, and two reverse feed conveyors 12 are provided between the two supply conveyors 11, 11. , 12 are arranged in parallel with the outer supply conveyors 11, 11 in close proximity to each other. Both supply conveyors 11 and 11 have a predetermined speed along a linear track from the upstream side where the tablet t is placed on the upper surface and the feeder F2 is disposed to the downstream side that continues to the next step, as in the first embodiment. These supply conveyors 11 and 11 constitute a total of two rows of tablet conveyance paths, one on each of the outer sides of both reverse feed conveyors 12 and 12. On the other hand, the reverse conveying conveyors 12 and 12 are configured to convey tablets along a linear track at the same speed or higher (usually the same speed) in the opposite direction to the supply conveyors 11 and 11.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the supply conveyors 11 and 11 are stretched by three pulleys and rotated in the above direction by a drive source (not shown). The transport surface is inclined at a predetermined angle so that the downstream side is higher. Further, the reverse conveyor 12 is also stretched by three pulleys as shown in FIG. 10, and is rotated in the above direction by a driving source (not shown). The transport surface of the reverse conveyor 12 is substantially horizontal while the transport surface of the supply conveyor 11 is inclined. For this reason, the upstream side of the supply conveyors 11, 11 is lower than the downstream side of the reverse conveyor 12, and the downstream side of the supply conveyors 11, 11 is higher than the upstream side of the reverse conveyor 12. The inclination angle of the supply conveyor is not particularly limited, but can be about 3 to 5 °.

  As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, a guide belt 111 is disposed on each of the supply conveyors 11 so as to be slightly downstream in the transport direction, and the belt surface of the guide belt 111 is The guide belt 111 is disposed so as to be obliquely blocked from the transport trajectory of the tablets transported by the supply conveyor 11, and is rotated at a predetermined speed in the forward direction and the transport direction of the supply conveyor 11 by a drive source (not shown). It has become. Further, the guide belt 111 can move along the width direction of the supply conveyor 11 while maintaining an angle with respect to the supply conveyor 11 by a mechanism (not shown).

  As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, one end in the width direction of the intermediate portion in the conveying direction on each supply conveyor 11 (the one in the width direction with respect to both supply conveyors 11 is provided with a reverse conveyor 12. A substantially semi-arrow-shaped block-shaped guide wall 112 is disposed on the upstream side of the position where the guide belt 111 is disposed, and this guide wall 112 provides a supply conveyor. 11 is the other end in the width direction of the supply conveyor 11 (the other end in the width direction of both supply conveyors 11 is the opposite side to the side where the reverse conveyor 12 is disposed. The same applies hereinafter). It is designed to be put together.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 10 to 12, between the guide belt 111 and the guide wall 112, there are two flexible plate-like flattening guides 131 in parallel at a predetermined interval, It arrange | positions so that the tablet conveyance path may be crossed diagonally. A gap slightly larger than the thickness of the tablet t is provided between the lower end of the flattening guide 131 and the transport surface of the supply conveyor 11, and the tablet t transported in the flattened state passes through as it is. The tablets t transported on the supply conveyor 11 in a state where a plurality of layers overlap or stand are converted to a flat state.

  As shown in FIGS. 10 to 12, a holding guide 132 having an L-shaped cross section is disposed further downstream of the flattening changeover guide 131 on the downstream side. The bottom surface portion of the pressing guide 132 forms a top wall so as to cover the conveying surface of the supply conveyor 11 from the downstream side of the flattening conversion guide 131 to the belt surface of the guide belt 111. A space slightly higher than the thickness of the tablet t is formed between the ceiling wall and the conveyance surface of the supply conveyor 11, and the tablet t conveyed on the supply conveyor 11 passes under the ceiling wall. By doing so, the posture of the tablet t that is offset by the guide belt 111 is reliably controlled in a stable flat state.

  Although not particularly shown here, the flattening change guide 131 and the pressing guide 132 are fixed by means capable of adjusting the arrangement position and angle, and the size of the gap can be adjusted according to the thickness of the tablet t, The angle with respect to the transport path can be adjusted according to conditions such as the transport speed.

  Here, the optimum position and angle of the flattening change guide 131 with respect to the supply conveyor 11 are adjusted to an appropriate angle according to the shape and size of the tablet t, the conveyance speed, and the like. In this case, the installation angle of the flattening conversion guide 131 is not particularly limited, but is preferably adjusted as appropriate within a range of 30 to 45 ° with respect to the conveyance direction of the supply conveyor 11, more preferably. It can be set in the range of 35 to 45 °, more preferably 40 to 45 °.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, between each supply conveyor 11 and the reverse conveyor 12, there is an attitude control block 113 that controls the attitude of the tablet t across the conveyors 11 and 12. is set up. As in the first embodiment, this posture control block 113 is located in the vicinity of the downstream side of the guide belt 111 and is located at a position adjacent to the downstream side of the circulation connecting portion 122 described later, as shown in FIG. As shown, the side surface on the supply conveyor 11 side constitutes a part of the side wall of the tablet conveyance path, and the upper edge portion on the downstream side partially protrudes toward the supply conveyor 11 side, and the protruding portion is supplied. A ceiling wall is formed by extending onto an alignment supply track t1 formed on the conveyor 11. A space slightly higher than the thickness of the tablet t is formed between the ceiling wall and the transport surface of the supply conveyor 11, and the tablet t transported on the aligned supply track t1 passes under the ceiling wall. By doing so, the posture of the tablet t is surely controlled in a stable flat state.

  Here, as described above, the conveying surfaces of the supply conveyors 11 and 11 are inclined so as to become higher from the upstream side toward the downstream side in the conveying direction of the supply conveyors 11 and 11, and the tablets t are horizontally disposed. It is set to be lower on the upstream side in the transport direction of the supply conveyors 11 and 11 and higher on the downstream side than the transport surface of the reverse conveyor 12 to be transported. The supply communication unit 115 is provided with an inclined plate that is higher on the reverse conveyor 12 side and lower on the supply conveyor 11 side, and prevents the tablet t from dropping from the gap between the supply conveyor 11 and the reverse conveyor 12. At the same time, the tablet t that has been offset to the supply communication unit 115 by the communication guide 121 smoothly moves from the downstream side of the reverse conveyor 12 to the upstream side of the supply conveyor 11 due to the inclination. In addition, the circulation connecting section 122 is provided with an inclined plate having a high supply conveyor 11 side and a low reverse conveyor 12 side, and similarly prevents the tablet t from falling, and the guide belt 111 and the flattening conversion guide. The tablet t that has been gathered to the circulation connecting part 122 by 131 smoothly moves from the downstream side of the supply conveyor 11 to the upstream side of the reverse conveyor 12.

  Tablets t are randomly supplied to the apparatus main body 10 by the hopper F1 and the feeder F2. In this case, a large amount of tablets t put into the hopper F1 are quantitatively distributed and released from the feeder F2. Then, it is randomly supplied to the intermediate part in the conveying direction on the reverse conveyors 12, 12 arranged side by side. The hopper F1 and the feeder F2 may be appropriately selected from known ones according to the scale and processing capacity of the apparatus, as in the first embodiment, and are not particularly limited.

The operation of the alignment supply device according to the second embodiment will be described.
The tablets t stored in the hopper F1 are quantitatively discharged by the feeder F2, and are randomly supplied to the predetermined positions on the reverse conveyors 12 and 12, as shown in FIGS. The In this case, as indicated by a broken line in FIG. 11, the tip of the feeder F2 is branched in a T-shape, and the tablet t is guided by the distribution guide F21 having a triangular shape in plan view installed at the center thereof. Almost the same amount is distributed to the left and right, and is supplied onto the reverse conveyors 12 and 12, respectively. The supplied tablets t are once transported on the reverse conveyors 12 and 12 along a linear track at a predetermined speed in a direction opposite to the supply conveyors 11 and 11, and downstream of the reverse conveyors 12 and 12 in the transport direction. At the end, the contact guides 121 and 121 are shifted to the supply conveyors 11 and 11 side. The tablets t that have been gathered are flowed from the downstream side of the reverse conveyors 12 and 12 to the upstream side of the supply conveyors 11 and 11 via the supply communication portions 115 and 115, and downstream of the supply conveyors 11 and 11. It is continuously conveyed to.

  Here, in the same manner as in the first embodiment, the apparatus of this example is configured such that the transport path of the tablet t is once transported in the direction opposite to the normal transport direction and then folded, whereby the tablet t The conveyance path can be long in a small space. As a result, even when a large number of tablets are in a collective state, it is possible to realize a transport length sufficient in a small space so that they can be separated and reliably aligned in one row. Furthermore, in the second embodiment, two supply conveyors 11 and two reverse conveyors 12 are provided, so that two rows of completely independent tablet conveyance paths are formed. Thereby, it becomes possible to constitute an independent conveyor unit by one supply conveyor 11 and one reverse conveyor 12, and it is possible to improve maintenance workability by making each unit detachable. it can.

  The tablets t moved from the reverse conveyor 12 to the supply conveyor 11 are transported on the supply conveyor 11 along a linear track at a predetermined speed. The sheet is shifted to the end side, further flowed downstream, and conveyed to the position where the first flattening guide 131 is installed. At this time, the tablets t transported in a flat state on the supply conveyor 11 pass through the flat conversion guide 131 as they are, while the tablets t transported in a state where a plurality of the tablets t overlap or stand up are flattened. After touching the ground and being flattened, it passes under it. Further, when the tablet t that has not been brought into the flat state or the collective state has not been completely eliminated when it comes into contact with the flattening conversion guide 131, the tablet t that cannot pass through the flattening conversion guide 131 is removed. Thus, it is shifted to the reverse conveyor 12 side and returned to the reverse conveyor 12 through the circulation connecting portion 113.

  Next, the tablet t that has passed under the flattening conversion guide 131 passes under the second flattening conversion guide 131 and the pressing guide 132 to be in a more stable flattened state. In this state, the belt contacts with the belt surface of the guide belt 111 and is transported further downstream while being shifted toward one end in the width direction on the supply conveyor 11, passes through the downstream end of the guide belt 111, and is again supplied. When returning to the 11 straight conveyance tracks, they are aligned in a line. The aligned tablets t are conveyed downstream along the side wall (the side surface of the attitude control block 113) on one end side in the width direction of the supply conveyor 11, and the aligned supply trajectory t1 in which the tablets t are aligned and conveyed in a row here. Is formed (see FIG. 11).

  In this way, the tablet t is once moved toward the other end in the width direction of the supply conveyor 11 by the guide wall 112 and is brought into a stable flat state by the flattening conversion guide 131 and the pressing guide 132, so that the tablet t becomes a guide belt. It is possible to effectively reduce the overlapping of the tablets when they are moved together by 111, and to align the tablets t more stably.

  Further, the rotational speed, installation position, and angle of the guide belt 111 can be set in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

  As described above, the tablets t aligned in a line on the alignment supply track t1 by the guide belt 111 are transported along the alignment supply track t1 and formed on the side surface of the posture control block 113 as in the first embodiment. The posture is reliably controlled in a flat state by passing under the ceiling wall, and further conveyed downstream to a conveying belt 21 constituting a conveying mechanism of the next process at the downstream end in the conveying direction of the supply conveyor 11. Delivered and supplied continuously to the next process such as visual inspection.

  Here, the rear end surface of the posture control block 113 (the end surface on the upstream side of the supply conveyor 11) is such that the supply conveyor 11 side guides the excess tablets t to the reverse conveyor 12 as shown in FIG. For example, the tablet t that has been curved and has not been allowed to flow from the guide belt 111 onto the alignment supply trajectory t1 due to an excessive supply amount of the tablet t is fed back from the circulation communication unit 122 by the rear end surface of the posture control block 113. It is guided to the conveyor 12 and returned to the upstream of the supply conveyor 11 again. As a result, as in the first embodiment, one tablet row is reliably formed on the alignment supply track t1.

  Although not specifically described here, in the second embodiment as well, in the same manner as in the first embodiment, the collection of collecting the tablets t without supplying them to the next process by the operation of the guide belt 111 and the posture control block 113. An operation and a circulation operation for circulating the tablet t in the apparatus can be performed. In this case, in this second embodiment, the flattening change guide 131 and the pressing guide 132 are also moved along the width direction of the supply conveyor 11 integrally with the operation of the guide belt 111.

  As described above, according to the alignment supply device 1 according to the second embodiment, the tablet to be processed can be more reliably and continuously supplied to the next process for performing the appearance inspection, the printing process, and the like of the tablet. Easily collect tablets and wait for supply with simple operations, and can easily and quickly change production types and perform temporary maintenance of the next process. It is. Further, as described above, when a conveyor unit is configured by the supply conveyor 11 and the reverse conveyor 12, maintenance can be performed more easily.

Next, an appearance inspection apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 13 shows an example of an appearance inspection apparatus for tablets using the alignment supply apparatus according to the second embodiment. The appearance inspection apparatus B supplies the tablets t that are randomly supplied while being aligned. Unit 1 and an inspection unit 2 that receives tablets t supplied in an aligned state from the supply unit 1, photographs the tablets t while being transported, and determines the quality of the appearance from the obtained image It is. And the said supply part 1 is the alignment supply apparatus 1 comprised by the alignment supply apparatus main body 10 which forms the hopper F1 and feeder F2 which were demonstrated above, and two rows of tablet conveyance paths. The tablets to be inspected are put into the hopper F1 and, as described above, supplied from the feeder F2 to a predetermined position on the reverse feed conveyor 12 of the aligning and feeding apparatus body 10 and flowed to the supply conveyor 11. After that, while being conveyed on the supply conveyor 11, they are aligned in a row and continuously supplied to the inspection unit 2.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the inspection unit 2 uses a suction means (not shown) to suck and convey the upper surface of the tablet t that is continuously supplied from the supply unit 1 in an aligned state. A conveying means comprising a second conveying belt 22 that receives the tablet t from the first conveying belt 21 and sucks and conveys the lower surface of the tablet t by using an aspirating means (not shown); a lower surface imaging device 211; An imaging means comprising a top imaging device 221 and one side imaging device 226, and images the tablets t being conveyed by the conveying means with the imaging devices (cameras). It is configured to take an image of the entire circumference of the side surface and inspect the appearance of the tablet. Although not particularly shown here, in the appearance inspection apparatus B, two rows of inspection paths having the above-described configuration are formed corresponding to the formation positions of the alignment supply tracks of the supply unit 1, and inspection is performed simultaneously on both inspection paths. Processing can be performed.

  The first conveying belt 21 and the second conveying belt 22 constituting the conveying means are stretched by a plurality of pulleys (only pulleys at both ends are shown in FIG. 13 and other pulleys such as tension adjustment are omitted). Driven by a drive source (not shown), the first transport belt 21 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 13 and the second transport belt 22 rotates at a predetermined speed clockwise in FIG. Each of the conveyor belts 21 and 22 is a pair of flat timing belts stretched in parallel with a predetermined distance from each other, and the tablet t is sucked and held between both timing belts in a state of straddling between the timing belts. It has become so. Although not particularly shown here, teeth (grooves) are formed on the back surface of the timing belt and the pulley surface so as to mesh with each other over the entire circumference so that their rotations are synchronized. By adopting the timing belt, the tablet t can be accurately positioned at the time of inspection, so that the inspection accuracy can be improved.

  As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the first conveyor belt 21 is horizontally arranged such that the lower surface of one end thereof overlaps the aligned supply track t <b> 1 formed on the downstream side of the supply conveyor 11 of the supply unit 1. On the other hand, the supply conveyor 11 is arranged in an inclined state so that the downstream side becomes higher. For this reason, the lower surface (upstream end) of the first conveyor belt 21 is closest to the uppermost point of the downstream end of the supply conveyor 11 (usually near the uppermost point of the pulley outer peripheral surface on the downstream end side). In this very narrow range, an appropriate gap corresponding to the thickness of the tablet t is formed, and the delivery of the tablet t is performed here. The second conveyor belt 22 is horizontally disposed such that the upper surface of one end thereof overlaps the lower surface of the lower surface of the other end (downstream end) of the first conveyor belt 21, and the upper surface of the second conveyor belt 22. An appropriate gap corresponding to the thickness of the tablet t is also formed between the first conveying belt 21 and the lower surface of the first conveying belt 21.

  The lower surface imaging device 211 is arranged below the first transport belt 21 and photographs the tablet t adsorbed and held on the lower surface of the first transport belt 21. Also, the upper surface imaging device 221 is used. Is arranged on the upper upstream side of the second conveyor belt 22 and photographs the tablet t adsorbed and held on the upper surface of the second conveyor belt 22. Further, the side surface imaging device 226 is disposed above the intermediate portion of the second conveyance belt 22 and the entire side surface of the tablet t adsorbed and held on the upper surface of the second conveyance belt 22 via the imaging optical system 227. Shooting over the lap.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, a defective product discharge nozzle 23 is disposed on one side of the other end portion (downstream end portion) of the second conveying belt 22, and this defective product is provided. The compressed air is appropriately ejected from the discharge nozzle 23, and the tablets t on the second conveyor belt 22 are blown off to the defective product collecting chute 24 disposed in opposition (see FIG. 9). In this case, the suction holding of the tablet t is released at the place where the defective product collecting chute 24 is disposed, and the tablet t is transported while being placed on the upper surface of the second transport belt 22.

  In this example appearance inspection apparatus B, the supply unit (alignment supply apparatus) 1 continuously supplies the tablets t from the supply conveyor 11 to the inspection unit 2 in an aligned state. An inspection for detecting abnormalities in appearance is performed on the entire surface of the front surface, the back surface, and the side surface, and the operation during the inspection will be described below. In this case, there is no difference between normal tablets such as flat tablets, but here, the surface imaged from below while moving in a flat state in the inspection section 2 is “bottom surface” and imaged from above. The surface to be referred to as the “upper surface” and the outer peripheral surface of the tablet as the “side surface”. Further, the term “flat tablet” includes not only those whose upper and lower surfaces are formed into curved surfaces, but also flat plate tablets whose upper and lower surfaces are formed into flat surfaces, and the outer peripheral shape thereof, unless otherwise specified. In addition to the circular shape, an elliptical shape or other irregular shaped tablets are also included.

  As shown in FIG. 14, in the inspection unit 2, first, the tablet t flowing on the alignment supply track t <b> 1 formed on the supply conveyor 11 of the supply unit 1 is negatively applied to the lower surface of the first conveyance belt 21. By being sucked and held by pressure, it is transferred from the supply conveyor 11 to the first conveying belt 21, sucked and held on the lower surface of the first conveying belt 21, and conveyed. Then, when the tablet t passes the lower surface inspection (lower surface imaging) position, the lower surface of the tablet t is photographed by the lower surface imaging device 211, and the lower surface image is taken into an image processing unit (not shown). Then, it is further transported downstream and delivered to the second transport belt 22.

  Here, the delivery of the tablet t from the upper surface of the inclined supply conveyor 11 to the horizontal lower surface of the first conveyor belt is performed in a very narrow range near the uppermost point of the downstream end of the supply conveyor 11 as described above. That is, the overlapping portion of the downstream end of the supply conveyor 11 where the tablets t are transferred and the lower surface of the first end of the first conveyor belt 21 is set to the minimum range in which one tablet can be transferred smoothly. Thus, it is possible to reliably prevent the plurality of tablets t connected to the alignment supply track t1 from being simultaneously adsorbed to the transport belt 21. Moreover, the speed | rate difference of the supply conveyor 11 and the 1st conveyance belt 21 can be set large, and the space | interval of the tablets t required for a test | inspection can be ensured more reliably. As a result, the tablets t transported on the supply conveyor 11 can be reliably delivered to the first transport belt 21 (next process) in an optimum state for inspection, and the accuracy and reliability of inspection can be further improved. .

  When the tablet t is transferred from the first conveyor belt 21 to the second conveyor belt 22, the negative pressure suction of the first conveyor belt 21 is released at the overlapping portion of the belts 21 and 22, and the self-weight and the second conveyor belt 22 are transferred. The tablet t is moved smoothly to the upper surface of the second conveying belt 22 by the negative pressure suction, and thus is smoothly performed. In this case, although not particularly shown in FIG. 14, as shown in FIG. 7, a tablet collection chute 212 is disposed on the upstream side of the second conveyance belt 22 in the conveyance direction, and the delivery operation is performed. The tablet t that has fallen without being completed well is collected into the tablet collection box 213 via the tablet collection chute 212. The tablet collection box 213 also stores tablets that are collected via the tablet collection chute 116 when the alignment supply device 1 that constitutes the supply unit 1 performs the above-described collection operation.

  The tablets t delivered from the first conveyor belt 21 to the second conveyor belt 22 are held and conveyed on the upper surface of the second conveyor belt 22 by negative pressure suction. The top surface and the side surface of the tablet t are imaged on the top surface of the tablet t when passing through the top surface inspection (top surface imaging) position and the side surface inspection (side surface imaging) position. The images are taken by the device 221 and the side image pickup device 226, respectively, and the upper surface image and the image of the entire circumference of the side surface are taken into an image processing unit (not shown). And it is conveyed further downstream and passes the defective product discharge part in which the said defective product discharge nozzle 23 was arrange | positioned.

  The lower surface image, the upper surface image, and the side image captured by each of the imaging devices 211, 221, and 226 are subjected to image processing each time or three images together in an image processing unit (not shown), and the image processing unit or separately. The presence / absence of an appearance abnormality is determined by a provided quality determination unit (not shown). Then, compressed air is jetted from the defective product discharge nozzle 23 when passing through the defective product discharge section to the tablet t that is detected as a defective tablet and the defective tablet t is transferred to the defective product collection chute 24. And is collected in the defective product collection box 241. On the other hand, although not particularly shown here, as shown in FIG. 9, the non-defective tablet t in which no defective appearance is detected passes through the location where the defective product discharge nozzle 23 is disposed, and is transported by the second transport belt 22. It falls by its own weight from the downstream end in the direction and is collected via the non-defective product collecting chute 25 or further sent to the next process such as a packaging process.

  Since this appearance inspection apparatus uses the alignment supply apparatus according to the second embodiment in the supply section, the tablets t to be inspected are continuously and stably supplied in an aligned state, and stable in the inspection section. Inspection processing can be performed reliably. Further, when the production type is switched or the inspection section is temporarily maintained, it can be easily and quickly performed by executing the collection operation and the circulation operation described above in the alignment supply apparatus 1 of the supply section. It is also excellent in properties.

  As mentioned above, although the Example of the tablet alignment supply apparatus concerning this invention and the external appearance inspection apparatus using this alignment supply apparatus was shown, this invention is not limited to these Examples, The shape of each member, Combinations and the like may be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the first embodiment, an example is shown in which the alignment supply track t1 is formed along the side wall on one end side in the width direction of the supply conveyor 11. However, the formation position on the alignment supply track is to the next step. Can be set as appropriate according to the delivery position, etc., and the aligning and feeding apparatus 1 is provided with two supply conveyors 11 to form a two-row tablet conveyance path, but it is not always necessary to have two rows, It is also possible to provide an apparatus in which one row of tablet conveyance paths is formed by one supply conveyor according to the required processing capacity. When there is one supply conveyor, although not particularly shown, instead of the distribution guide (contact guide) 121 installed at the downstream end in the conveyance direction of the reverse conveyor, the conveyance path of the tablet t is obstructed obliquely. What is necessary is just to install the communication guide which arranges all the tablets t on this reverse feed conveyor 12 to the one side which installed the supply conveyor. Further, in the case of the second embodiment, it is only necessary to limit the supply path of the feeder F2 and supply the tablets t only to one of the reverse conveyors 12.

  Further, the tablet aligning and supplying apparatus of the present invention can be configured by only one supply conveyor 11 without installing the reverse feed conveyor 12, and in this case, the upstream end of the supply conveyor 12 from the feeder F <b> 2. What is necessary is just to comprise so that a tablet may be supplied to the predetermined location. Further, the flat tablet to be transported is not limited to the circular shape shown in the above embodiment, and an elliptical or other shaped deformed tablet can be transported.

1 Alignment supply device (supply unit)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Alignment supply apparatus main body 11 Supply conveyor 111 Guide belt 112 Guide wall 113 Attitude control block 114 Guide block 115 Supply connection part 116 Tablet collection chute 12 Reverse feed conveyor 121 Distribution guide (distribution means)
122 Circulation communication part 131 Flattening guide guide 132 Holding guide 2 Inspection part 21 1st conveyance belt 22 2nd conveyance belt 211 Lower surface imaging device 221 Upper surface imaging device 222,223 Side surface imaging device F1 Hopper F2 Feeder A Appearance inspection device t Tablet t1 Alignment Supply trajectory t2 Tablet recovery trajectory

Claims (11)

An apparatus for aligning and feeding tablets that are randomly fed and arranged and conveyed, and continuously fed to the next process,
A supply conveyor that places the randomly supplied tablets on the upper surface and conveys them at a predetermined speed along a linear track;
A belt surface is disposed on the supply conveyor so that the belt surface obliquely blocks the transport path of the tablets, and includes a guide belt that rotates in the transport direction and the forward direction, and is randomly placed on the supply conveyor. By aligning the tablets to be conveyed to the one end in the width direction on the supply conveyor with the guide belt, an aligned supply trajectory in which the tablets are aligned and conveyed in a row at a predetermined position in the width direction on the supply conveyor is formed. An apparatus for aligning and supplying tablets, wherein the tablets are transported along the alignment and supply trajectory and continuously supplied in a row to the next process.   The tablet aligning and supplying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rotation speed of the guide belt is set to 50 to 150% of the conveying speed of the supply conveyor.   The tablet aligning and supplying apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an installation angle of the guide belt is set to 30 to 45 ° with respect to a conveying direction of the supply conveyor.   The delivery of the tablet to the next process is performed by sucking and holding the tablet on the supply conveyor to the transport mechanism of the next process arranged above the downstream end of the supply conveyor. Any one of Claims 1-3 which comprised so that the conveyance surface of this may be inclined so that a downstream side might become high, and the tablet to be conveyed might be delivered to the said conveyance mechanism of the following process in the uppermost point of the said supply conveyor downstream part. An apparatus for aligning and supplying tablets according to Item.   A guide wall that moves the tablets toward the other end in the width direction on the supply conveyor is installed at a position upstream of the guide belt in the supply conveyor, and the guide belt can be moved in the width direction of the supply conveyor. Set, by displacing the tablets transported on the supply conveyor once to the other end in the width direction of the supply conveyor at the guide wall, and by shifting this to one end in the width direction of the supply conveyor by the guide belt, The tablets are aligned on the alignment and supply track, the guide belt is moved to the other end in the width direction of the supply conveyor, and the tablets that are shifted to one end in the width direction of the supply conveyor by the guide belt are aligned and supplied. By flowing downstream in front of the track, a tablet recovery track is formed at a predetermined position in the width direction on the supply conveyor, and this tablet rotation is performed without supplying the tablet to the next process. Aligning and supplying apparatus of a tablet according to any one of claims 1 to 4 which is configured to recover from the track.   Adjacent to one side in the width direction of the supply conveyor, a reverse conveyor that conveys tablets in a direction opposite to the supply conveyor is arranged in parallel, and upstream of the supply conveyor at the downstream end in the conveyance direction of the reverse conveyor. A supply communication unit communicating with the side is provided, the tablets are randomly supplied onto the reverse conveyor, and once transported in the direction opposite to the supply conveyor, the supply conveyor is provided from the downstream side of the reverse conveyor via the supply communication unit. The tablet aligning and feeding apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, which is configured to flow to the upstream side.   While providing a circulating communication part communicating with the supply conveyor corresponding to the arrangement position of the guide belt on the upstream side in the conveyance direction of the reverse conveyor, the guide belt is set to be movable in the width direction of the supply conveyor, The guide belt is moved to one end side in the width direction of the supply conveyor, and the tablets that are offset toward the one end side in the width direction of the supply conveyor by the guide belt are further offset toward the downstream side of the supply conveyor. While flowing from the side to the upstream side of the reverse conveyor via the circulation communication portion, the tablets conveyed on the reverse conveyor are transferred from the downstream side of the reverse conveyor to the upstream side of the supply conveyor via the supply communication portion. By flowing, it is configured to circulate on the circulation path composed of the reverse conveyor and the supply conveyor without supplying the tablets to the next process. Aligning and supplying apparatus tablet of claim 6 wherein.   A pair of supply conveyors are arranged side by side on both sides of the reverse conveyor, and a similar mechanism for aligning the tablets is installed on both supply conveyors, and the supply of each of the supply conveyors is performed on both side edges of the downstream end in the transport direction of the reverse conveyor. A supply communication unit communicating with the upstream side of the conveyor is provided, and a distribution means for distributing the tablets to be conveyed to both ends in the width direction of the reverse conveyor is installed at the downstream end in the transfer direction of the reverse conveyor. By distributing the tablets conveyed on the feed conveyor to both ends in the width direction of the reverse conveyor by the distribution means and flowing from the downstream side of the reverse conveyor to the upstream side of the respective supply conveyors via the supply communication unit, 8. The tablet aligning and supplying apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the tablets supplied to the reverse conveyor are configured to be distributed almost evenly to the two rows of supply conveyors.   Two supply conveyors are arranged in parallel to each other at a predetermined interval, and two reverse conveyors are arranged in parallel between the two supply conveyors in close proximity to the outer supply conveyor. In addition, a similar mechanism for aligning the tablets on both supply conveyors is installed, and a supply communication section that communicates with the upstream side of the outer supply conveyor is provided at the downstream end in the transport direction of both reverse transfer conveyors. Claims in which tablets are randomly supplied onto the conveyor, once transported in the direction opposite to each supply conveyor, and flowed from the downstream side of each reverse conveyor to the upstream side of each supply conveyor via the above-mentioned supply communication unit Item 8. An apparatus for aligning and supplying tablets according to Item 6 or 7. A supply unit that transports the randomly supplied tablets while aligning them, and an inspection unit that receives the tablets aligned by the supply unit, images the tablets while transporting, and determines the quality of the appearance from the obtained images; In a tablet appearance inspection apparatus comprising:
A tablet appearance inspection apparatus, wherein the supply unit is configured by the tablet alignment supply apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9. The inspection unit sucks and sucks and conveys the upper surface of the tablet supplied from the tablet alignment and supply device, receives the tablet from the first transport belt, sucks the lower surface of the tablet and sucks and conveys the tablet. A conveying means comprising a second conveying belt, and an imaging means comprising a bottom imaging device, a top imaging device and a side imaging device,
The tablet appearance inspection according to claim 10, wherein the tablet being transported by the transport means is photographed by each of the imaging devices, and images of the upper surface, the lower surface, and the entire side surface of the tablet are captured and the appearance inspection of the tablet is performed. apparatus.

Images