KR102508273B1 - Transport processing device and transport processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

(Problem) To provide a conveying processing apparatus and method capable of suppressing a dropped tablet from getting into a collection unit for collecting good quality tablets, even if the tablets are accidentally dropped during delivery.
(Solution) This tablet printing device (conveyance processing device) has a first transport mechanism, a second transport mechanism, a processing unit 60, a transfer mechanism, a judgment unit 120, and a good product discharging mechanism 110. The first conveying mechanism and the second conveying mechanism convey the tablets 9 in the conveying direction. The processing unit 60 performs a predetermined treatment on the tablet 9 . The transfer mechanism delivers the tablets 9 from the first transport mechanism to the second transport mechanism at the delivery position. The determination unit 120 judges whether the processing state of the tablet 9 is good or bad. The non-defective product discharging mechanism 110 cancels the adsorption of the adsorption holes in which the tablets 9 determined to be non-defective are adsorbed and held, and causes the tablets 9 to fall into the non-defective product discharge port. The delivery position is arranged at a position away from the upper side of the good product discharge port. Accordingly, even if the tablet 9 is accidentally dropped during delivery, it can be suppressed from getting into the good product discharging mechanism 110 .

Description

Transport processing device and transport processing method {TRANSPORT PROCESSING DEVICE AND TRANSPORT PROCESSING METHOD}

The present invention relates to a conveyance treatment device and a conveyance treatment method for conveying a tablet and subjecting the surface to a predetermined treatment.

A character or code for identifying the product is printed on the surface of the tablet, which is a pharmaceutical product. Such characters and codes may be printed by engraving, but there is a problem that visibility is low with engraving. Particularly in recent years, the types of tablets have been diversified due to the spread of late-breaking drugs. For this reason, in order to reliably identify the tablet, a technique of applying clear printing on the surface of the tablet by an inkjet method is attracting attention.

In this type of printing apparatus, predetermined processing such as printing, inspection, and drying is performed on the surface while conveying a plurality of tablets poured into the apparatus at predetermined intervals in the conveying direction one by one. In the tablet manufacturing process using this type of printing device, shape defects such as cracks and chipping may occur in addition to printing defects. Therefore, an apparatus for separating good products and defective products based on the results of inspection of tablets subjected to printing processing is disclosed, for example, in Patent Literature 1.

A tablet printing device 1 described in Patent Literature 1 includes a transport unit, printing units 61 and 62 , inspection cameras 71 and 72 , and a control unit 3 . The conveying unit conveys a plurality of tablets. The transport unit includes a transport drum 10, a first transport belt 20, a second transport belt 30, and a third transport belt 40. The printing units 61 and 62 perform printing processing on a plurality of conveyed tablets. The inspection cameras 71 and 72 image the result of the print processing. The control unit 3 confirms the print processing result for a plurality of tablets based on the image data acquired by the inspection cameras 71 and 72 . Tablets of non-defective products having no problem in the inspection result are put into the non-defective product duct 48 and collected in the non-defective product collection box 58 . On the other hand, the refinement of defective products having a problem in the inspection result is put into the defective product duct 46 and collected in the defective product box 56.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2015-223323

However, in the tablet printing apparatus 1 of Patent Literature 1, the tablet transfer point from the transport drum 10 to the first transport belt 20 and the tablet from the first transport belt 20 to the second transport belt 30 A delivery point for tablets and a delivery point for tablets from the second transport belt 30 to the third transport belt 40 are formed above the good product duct 48 and the good product collection box 58, respectively. For this reason, when a tablet is mistakenly dropped from these delivery points, there is a risk that the dropped tablet may get into the good product duct 48 or the good product collection box 58.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a device capable of suppressing a dropped tablet from getting into a collection unit that collects good quality tablets, even if the tablet is accidentally dropped when delivering while transporting the tablet. to be

In order to solve the above problems, the first invention of the present application is a conveying and processing apparatus for conveying tablets and subjecting the surface to a predetermined treatment, comprising: a first conveying mechanism for conveying tablets in the conveying direction while holding the tablets; A second conveyance mechanism for moving a plurality of adsorption holes adsorbed and held one by one in the conveyance direction, and a processing unit for performing the predetermined treatment on the surface of the tablet at a processing position on a conveyance path by the second conveyance mechanism; a transfer mechanism for transferring tablets from the first transport mechanism to the suction hole of the second transport mechanism at a delivery position upstream in the transport direction from the processing position; and At a judgment position on the downstream side of the judgment unit, a judgment unit that judges the quality of processing of tablets, and at a quality product discharging position downstream of the judgment position in the conveyance direction, the tablets judged to be good products by the judgment unit are A positive pressure is applied to the adsorption hole held in adsorption to release the adsorption of the tablet in the adsorption hole, and a good product discharging mechanism for dropping the tablet to a good product discharge port, wherein the delivery position is a position away from the upper side of the good product discharge port. is placed on

The second invention of the present application is a transport treatment method for transporting tablets and subjecting the surface to a predetermined treatment, comprising: a) a step of transporting tablets in the transport direction while holding the tablets in a first transport mechanism; b) a second transport In the process of moving a plurality of adsorption holes for adsorbing and holding tablets one by one in the mechanism in the conveying direction, and c) in the middle of step b), at a treatment position on the conveyance route, the surface of the tablet is subjected to the predetermined treatment d) a step of transferring tablets from the first transport mechanism to the suction hole of the second transport mechanism at a transfer position upstream from the processing position in the transport direction; e) the processing position a step of determining the quality of processing of tablets at a determination position more downstream in the transport direction; wherein a positive pressure is applied to the adsorption hole where the tablet determined to be a good product is adsorbed and held to release the adsorption of the tablet in the adsorption hole, and the tablet is dropped to a good product discharge port, wherein the delivery position is the good product It is arranged at a position away from the upper side of the discharge port.

According to the first and second inventions of the present application, the delivery position for transferring the tablets from the first transport mechanism to the second transport mechanism while transporting the tablets is disposed at a position away from the upper side of the good product discharge port through which the tablets judged to be good products are discharged. there is. In this way, even if the tablets are accidentally dropped when delivering the tablets, it is possible to suppress the fallen tablets from getting into the good product dispensing port. As a result, it is possible to prevent erroneous mixing of other tablets into tablets judged to be good products.

1 is a side view of a tablet printing device.
Fig. 2 is a top view of the tablet printing device.
3 is a bottom view of the tablet printing device.
4 : is a partial perspective view of a suction conveyor.
5 is a bottom view of the head.
FIG. 6 is a view of the suction conveyor and the inversion mechanism as seen from the direction of the hollow arrow V1 in FIG. 1 .
FIG. 7 is a view of the adsorption conveyor, the defective product collecting mechanism, and the good product discharging mechanism as viewed from the direction of the hollow arrow V2 in FIG. 2 .
Fig. 8 is an exploded side view of a quality chute.
Fig. 9 is a block diagram showing connections between a control unit and each unit.
10 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the tablet printing device.
11 is a perspective view of a tablet.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiment of this invention is described, referring drawings. In the following description, a direction in which a plurality of tablets are transported is referred to as a "transport direction", and a direction perpendicular and horizontal to the transport direction is referred to as a "width direction".

<1. Overall configuration of tablet printing device>

1 is a side view of a tablet printing device 1 that is an example of a transport processing device according to the present invention. 2 is a top view of the tablet printing device 1 . 3 is a bottom view of the tablet printing device 1 .

This tablet printing device 1 prints images such as product name, product code, company name, logotype, etc. on both the front and back surfaces of each tablet 9 while conveying a plurality of tablets 9 that are medicines. It is a device. The tablet 9 may be a plain tablet (uncoated tablet) or a coated tablet such as a dragee tablet or a film-coated tablet (FC tablet). In addition, the tablet 9 may be a capsule containing a hard capsule and a soft capsule. In addition, the tablet 9 may be a tablet as a health food other than a tablet as a medicine, or a tablet such as soda-candy. 11 is a perspective view of the tablet 9. As shown in Fig. 11, the tablet 9 has circular front and rear surfaces and annular side surfaces. However, the shape of the tablet 9 is not limited to this.

1 to 3, the tablet printing device 1 of the present embodiment includes a feeder 10, a conveyor 20, a suction drum 30, a suction conveyor 40, and a first camera 50 ), a printing unit 60, a second camera 70, a drying mechanism 80, an inverting mechanism 90, a defective product collection mechanism 100, a good product discharging mechanism 110, and a control unit 120. .

The feeder 10 is a mechanism for carrying a plurality of tablets 9 loaded into the tablet printing device 1 onto the conveyor 20 . The feeder 10 is constituted by, for example, an input hopper, a rotary feeder, a vibrating feeder, or the like. The plurality of tablets 9 put into the tablet printing device 1 are conveyed to the conveyor 20 while being arranged in a plurality of rows by these mechanisms. Specifically, a plurality of rows of tablets 9 lined up in the conveyance direction are formed in a plurality of rows in the width direction. Here, "width direction" is a horizontal direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction. Further, in the present embodiment, the rows of tablets 9 lined up in the transport direction are formed in three rows in the width direction. Then, the plurality of tablets 9 after alignment are supplied to the conveyor 20 . Also in FIG. 1 , only one row of tablets 9 is shown.

The transport conveyor 20 is a mechanism that transports the tablets 9 horizontally while holding them between the feeder 10 and the suction drum 30 . The transport conveyor 20 has a pair of pulleys 21 and an annular transport belt 22 spanned between the pair of pulleys 21 . One of the pair of pulleys 21 is rotated by the power obtained from the motor M1. Thereby, the transport belt 22 rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1 . The other of the pair of pulleys 21 rotates in accordance with the rotation of the transport belt 22 .

A plurality of tablets 9 supplied from the feeder 10 are placed on the upper surface of the conveying belt 22 and move along with the conveying belt 22 in the conveying direction. At this time, the tablets 9 are in a state of being aligned in a plurality of rows in the width direction by the feeder 10 described above, but the spacing of the tablets 9 in the transport direction in each row is not uniform. A plurality of tablets 9 are conveyed in close contact with each other in the conveying direction or at minute intervals.

The suction drum 30 is a transfer mechanism for transferring the tablets 9 from the transfer conveyor 20 to the suction conveyor 40 . The suction drum 30 has a substantially cylindrical outer peripheral surface centered on a rotating shaft O extending horizontally in the width direction. Moreover, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 1, the motor M2 is connected to the suction drum 30. When the motor M2 is driven, the adsorption drum 30 rotates around the rotating shaft O. At the outer periphery of the adsorption drum 30, a plurality of drum adsorption holes 301 are formed at regular intervals in the circumferential direction. Each drum adsorption hole 301 opens horizontally toward the width direction.

When the adsorption drum 30 rotates, the plurality of drum adsorption holes 301 move to a first transmission position P1 close to the upper surface of the transport belt 22 and a second location close to the surface of the adsorption belt 42 described later. It moves along an annular path including the transfer location P2. In this embodiment, the 1st delivery position P1 is located right below the rotating shaft O of the suction drum 30. And the 2nd delivery position P2 is formed in the position higher than the rotating shaft O of the suction drum 30.

As shown in FIG. 1 , a first suction mechanism 302 is connected to the suction drum 30 . When the first suction mechanism 302 is operated, gas is sucked out from the inner space S of the suction drum 30 located in the angular range between the first transfer position P1 and the second transfer position P2. (吸出) becomes. Thereby, the said internal space S becomes negative pressure lower than atmospheric pressure. The tablets 9 transported by the transport conveyor 20 and reaching the first delivery position P1 are adsorbed and held by the drum adsorption hole 301 of the adsorption drum 30 by this negative pressure. The plurality of tablets 9 are adsorbed and held by each drum adsorption hole 301 one at a time. Thereby, the distance between the plurality of tablets 9 in the transport direction becomes a predetermined distance according to the distance between the drum adsorption holes 301 .

The tablets 9 are moved in the conveyance direction from the first transfer position P1 to the second transfer position P2 by the rotation of the adsorption drum 30 while being adsorbed and held by the drum adsorption hole 301 . Then, when the tablet 9 passes through the second delivery position P2, adsorption of the tablet 9 is canceled by moving out of the angular range of the inner space S maintained at the negative pressure described above. Thereby, the tablet 9 is conveyed from the adsorption drum 30 to the adsorption conveyor 40. Moreover, in this embodiment, the delivery angle of the tablet 9 from the adsorption drum 30 to the adsorption conveyor 40 is 90 degrees or more and 180 degrees or less. That is, the suction drum 30 is placed at a transfer position (including the first transfer position P1 and the second transfer position P2) on the upstream side in the conveyance direction from the printing position by the printing unit 60 described later. , the tablet 9 is lifted from the transport conveyor 20 to the suction conveyor 40 and delivered.

The adsorption conveyor 40 is a mechanism that transports a plurality of tablets 9 along an annular transport path while adsorbing and holding them. The suction conveyor 40 has a pair of pulleys 41 and an annular suction belt 42 spanned between the pair of pulleys 41 . One of the pair of pulleys 41 is rotated by the power obtained from the motor M3. As a result, the suction belt 42 rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1 . The other of the pair of pulleys 41 rotates in accordance with the rotation of the adsorption belt 42 .

4 is a partial perspective view of the suction conveyor 40 . As shown in FIG. 4 , a plurality of adsorption holes 421 are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the adsorption belt 42 . The plurality of adsorption holes 421 are arranged at equal intervals in the transport direction and the width direction. In addition, as shown in FIG. 1 , the suction conveyor 40 has a second suction mechanism 43 that sucks gas from the inner space of the suction belt 42 . When the second suction mechanism 43 is operated, the inner space of the suction belt 42 becomes negative pressure lower than atmospheric pressure. The plurality of tablets 9 are adsorbed and held one by one in the adsorption hole 421 by the said negative pressure. Each adsorption hole 421 adsorbs and holds the back surface of the tablet 9 .

In this way, the plurality of tablets 9 are held aligned on the surface of the suction belt 42 in the transport direction and the width direction. Then, the suction conveyor 40 conveys the plurality of tablets 9 along an annular conveyance path by rotating the suction belt 42 . In addition, a horizontal surface 422 is included in a part of the annular conveyance path by the suction belt 42 . Below four heads 61 described later, and below a second blowing mechanism B2 and a third blowing mechanism B3 described later, a plurality of tablets 9 are conveyed in a horizontal direction.

As shown in FIG. 1, the adsorption conveyor 40 further has three 1st blowing mechanisms B1, one 2nd blowing mechanism B2, and one 3rd blowing mechanism B3.

The three first blowing mechanisms B1 are formed inside the adsorption belt 42, respectively. In addition, the three first blowing mechanisms B1 oppose the first inclined drum 91, the third inclined drum 93, and the fifth inclined drum 95 described later via the adsorption belt 42, respectively. In the position to do, it is formed. The three first blowing mechanisms B1 are composed of the first inclined drum 91, the third inclined drum 93, and the fifth inclined drum 95 among the plurality of suction holes 421 of the suction belt 42. Gas is injected only to the adsorption hole 421 which opposes. In doing so, the suction hole 421 becomes a positive pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure. As a result, adsorption of the tablet 9 in the adsorption hole 421 is released, and the first inclined drum 91, the third inclined drum 93, and the fifth inclined drum 95 are removed from the suction belt 42. ), the tablet (9) is delivered.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 , on the holding surface 420 of the suction belt 42 of the present embodiment, a first area A1 holding the tablets 9 before being inverted by an inversion mechanism 90 described later ) and a second area A2 holding the tablet 9 after inversion. The first area A1 and the second area A2 are adjacent to each other in the width direction. In this embodiment, a plurality of suction holes 421 are formed in three rows each in the width direction in the first area A1 and the second area A2. The tablet 9 conveyed from the above-mentioned adsorption drum 30 is adsorbed and held by the adsorption hole 421 of the 1st area|region A1. In addition, the plurality of tablets 9 printed on both sides are transferred from the adsorption holes 421 in the second area A2 to the defective product collection mechanism 100 or the good product discharge mechanism 110 described later.

The second blowing mechanism B2 is formed inside the suction belt 42 . Moreover, the 2nd blowing mechanism B2 is formed in the position which opposes the inferior goods collection port 102 mentioned later, and the suction belt 42 interposed therebetween. The 2nd blowing mechanism B2 injects gas vertically downward only to the adsorption hole 421 which opposes the defective product recovery port 102 among several adsorption holes 421 of the adsorption belt 42. In doing so, the suction hole 421 becomes a positive pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure. As a result, adsorption of the tablets 9 in the adsorption holes 421 is released, and the tablets 9 fall from the adsorption belt 42 to the defective product collection port 102 .

The third blowing mechanism B3 is formed inside the suction belt 42 . Moreover, the 3rd blowing mechanism B3 is formed in the position which opposes the good product discharge port 114 mentioned later, and the adsorption belt 42 interposed therebetween. The 3rd blowing mechanism B3 injects gas vertically downward only to the adsorption hole 421 which opposes the good product discharge port 114 among several adsorption holes 421 of the adsorption belt 42. In doing so, the suction hole 421 becomes a positive pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure. As a result, adsorption of the tablet 9 in the adsorption hole 421 is released, and the tablet 9 is dropped from the adsorption belt 42 to the good product outlet 114 .

The first camera 50 is a processing unit for photographing the tablet 9 before printing. The 1st camera 50 is located on the downstream side of a conveyance route from the above-mentioned 2nd delivery position P2, and also the upstream side of a conveyance route from the printing part 60. Moreover, the 1st camera 50 spans both the 1st area|region A1 and the 2nd area A2, and extends in the width direction. The line sensor in which imaging elements, such as CCD and CMOS, were arranged in the width direction is used for the 1st camera 50, for example. The first camera 50 photographs the plurality of tablets 9 conveyed by the suction belt 42 . An image obtained by shooting is transmitted from the first camera 50 to a control unit 120 described later. The control unit 120 detects the presence or absence of the tablet 9 in each suction hole 421, the position of the tablet 9, and the posture of the tablet 9, based on the image obtained from the first camera 50. do. In addition, the control unit 120 also inspects whether or not there is no defect such as chipping in each tablet 9 based on the image obtained from the first camera 50 .

The printing unit 60 is a processing unit that prints on the surface of the tablet 9 by an inkjet method at a printing position on a conveyance path by the suction conveyor 40 . As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , the printing unit 60 of this embodiment has four heads 61 . The four heads 61 are located above the suction belt 42 and are arranged in a line along the transport direction of the tablets 9 . Each head 61 spans both the first area A1 and the second area A2 of the suction belt 42 and extends in the width direction. The four heads 61 eject ink droplets of different colors from each other toward the tablet 9 . The four heads 61 eject ink droplets of each color of, for example, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Then, a multi-color image is recorded on the surface of the tablet 9 by superposition of monochromatic images formed by these colors. In addition, for the ink ejected from each head 61, edible ink produced from raw materials approved by the Japanese Pharmacopoeia, the Food Sanitation Law, and the like is used.

5 is a bottom view of one head 61 . In FIG. 5 , an adsorption belt 42 and a plurality of tablets 9 held on the adsorption belt 42 are indicated by two-dot chain lines. As shown enlarged in Fig. 5, a plurality of nozzles 611 capable of ejecting ink droplets are formed on the lower surface of the head 61. In this embodiment, on the lower surface of the head 61, the some nozzle 611 is two-dimensionally arranged in the conveyance direction and the width direction. Each nozzle 611 is arranged with its position staggered in the width direction. In this way, when the plurality of nozzles 611 are arranged two-dimensionally, the positions of the respective nozzles 611 in the width direction can be brought closer to each other. However, the plurality of nozzles 611 may be arranged in a row along the width direction.

As a method of ejecting ink droplets from the nozzle 611, a so-called piezo method is used in which ink in the nozzle 611 is ejected by pressurizing the ink by applying a voltage to and deforming the piezo element, for example. However, the ink droplet ejection method may be a so-called thermal method in which a heater is energized to heat and expand ink in the nozzle 611 to eject the ink.

The second camera 70 is a processing unit for photographing the tablet 9 after printing. The second camera 70 is located downstream of the conveyance route from the printing unit 60 and upstream of the conveyance route from the drying mechanism 80 . Moreover, the 2nd camera 70 spans both the 1st area|region A1 and the 2nd area A2, and extends in the width direction. For the second camera 70, a line sensor in which imaging elements such as CCD and CMOS are arranged in the width direction is used, for example. The second camera 70 photographs the plurality of tablets 9 conveyed by the suction belt 42 at a determination position on the downstream side in the conveyance direction from the above-described printing position. An image obtained by shooting is transmitted from the second camera 70 to a control unit 120 described later. The control unit 120 inspects the printing state of the tablet 9 based on the image obtained from the second camera 70 .

The drying mechanism 80 is a mechanism for drying the ink adhering to the surface of the tablet 9 . The drying mechanism 80 is on the downstream side of the conveyance path from the second camera 70 and upstream of the conveyance path from the reversing mechanism 90, the defective product collection mechanism 100, and the good product discharging mechanism 110 described later. located in Further, the drying mechanism 80 spans both the first area A1 and the second area A2 and extends in the width direction. The drying mechanism 80 uses, for example, a hot air supply mechanism that blows a heated gas (hot air) toward the tablets 9 conveyed by the adsorption belt 42 . The ink adhering to the tablet 9 is dried by hot air and fixed to the surface of the tablet 9 .

The reversing mechanism 90 reverses the front and back sides of the tablets 9 conveyed by the suction belt 42, and transfers the tablets 9 from the first area A1 to the second area A2. It is an instrument. The reversing mechanism 90 is downstream of the conveyance path from the defective product collection mechanism 100 and the good product discharge mechanism 110 described later, and the adsorption drum 30 delivers the tablets 9 to the adsorption conveyor 40 It is located upstream of the conveyance route from the second delivery position P2.

FIG. 6 is a view of the suction conveyor 40 and the inversion mechanism 90 viewed from the direction of the hollow arrow V1 in FIG. 1 . 1, 3, and 6, the reversing mechanism 90 of the present embodiment includes a first inclined drum 91, a second inclined drum 92, a third inclined drum 93, It has four gradient drums (94), a fifth gradient drum (95) and a sixth gradient drum (96).

The first gradient drum 91 and the second gradient drum 92 are disposed adjacent to each other in the width direction. The third gradient drum 93 and the fourth gradient drum 94 are disposed adjacent to each other in the width direction on the downstream side of the transport path from the first gradient drum 91 and the second gradient drum 92 . The 5th gradient drum 95 and the 6th gradient drum 96 are arrange|positioned adjacent to the 3rd gradient drum 93 and the 4th gradient drum 94 in the width direction on the downstream side of a conveyance route. Below, the position on the conveyance path of the adsorption conveyor 40 where the 1st inclined drum 91 and the 2nd inclined drum 92 are formed is called "3rd transmission (reversal) position P3". Moreover, the position on the conveyance path of the adsorption conveyor 40 where the 3rd inclined drum 93 and the 4th inclined drum 94 are formed is called "fourth transmission (reversal) position P4". Moreover, the position on the conveyance path of the adsorption conveyor 40 where the 5th inclined drum 95 and the 6th inclined drum 96 are formed is called "5th transmission (reversal) position P5".

The first inclined drum 91 has a conical first side surface 910 centered on a first axis C1 inclined with respect to the width direction. A part of the first side surface 910 faces the first area A1 of the suction belt 42 with a small gap therebetween. Also, the first inclined drum 91 is fixed to the output shaft of the motor 91M. When the motor 91M is driven, the first inclined drum 91 rotates about the first axis C1.

The second inclined drum 92 has a conical second side surface 920 centered on a second axis C2 inclined with respect to the width direction. The first gradient drum 91 and the second gradient drum 92 are disposed adjacent to each other in the width direction so that their tops face each other. A part of the second side surface 920 opposes the second area A2 of the suction belt 42 with a small gap therebetween. Another part of the second side surface 920 opposes the first side surface 910 with a small gap therebetween. Also, the second inclined drum 92 is fixed to the output shaft of the motor 92M. When the motor 92M is driven, the second inclined drum 92 rotates about the second axis C2.

In this embodiment, both the vertical angle of the first inclined drum 91 and the vertical angle of the second inclined drum 92 when viewed in the conveying direction of the suction conveyor 40 are 90°. In addition, the inclination angle of the first axis C1 with respect to the holding surface 420 is 45°. In addition, the inclination angle of the second axis C2 with respect to the holding surface 420 is 45°. Therefore, the first side surface 910 and the second side surface 920 face each other at a position of 90° with respect to the holding surface 420 . In addition, the first inclined drum 91 and the second inclined drum 92 have the same shape, structure and size as each other. For this reason, the 1st gradient drum 91 and the 2nd gradient drum 92 can be common as a component. Thereby, the manufacturing cost of the tablet printing apparatus 1 can be reduced.

A plurality of suction holes 911 are formed in the first side surface 910 . The plurality of suction holes 911 are formed in an annular shape with the first axis C1 as the center at regular intervals. Similarly, a plurality of suction holes 921 are formed on the second side surface 920 as well. The plurality of adsorption holes 921 are formed in an annular shape with the second axis C2 as the center at equal angular intervals.

The pressure in the inner space of the first inclined drum 91 is maintained at a negative pressure lower than atmospheric pressure by a suction mechanism not shown. The first inclined drum 91 holds the plurality of tablets 9 one by one in the plurality of adsorption holes 911 by this negative pressure. Similarly, the pressure in the inner space of the second inclined drum 92 is maintained at a negative pressure lower than atmospheric pressure by a suction mechanism not shown. The second inclined drum 92 holds the plurality of tablets 9 one by one in the plurality of adsorption holes 921 by this negative pressure.

As shown by the broken line in FIG. 6 , a fourth blowing mechanism B4 is formed inside the first inclined drum 91 . The fourth blowing mechanism B4 injects gas only to the suction holes 911 facing the second inclined drum 92 among the plurality of suction holes 911 of the first inclined drum 91 . In doing so, the said adsorption hole 911 becomes a positive pressure higher than atmospheric pressure. As a result, adsorption of the tablet 9 in the adsorption hole 911 is released, and the adsorption hole 911 of the first inclined drum 91 is moved to the adsorption hole 921 of the second inclined drum 92. , tablets (9) are delivered.

Moreover, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 6, the inside of the 2nd inclined drum 92 is provided with the 5th blowing mechanism B5. The fifth blowing mechanism B5 blows gas into only the suction holes 921 facing the second area A2 of the suction belt 42 among the plurality of suction holes 921 of the second inclined drum 92. spray In doing so, the suction hole 921 becomes a positive pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure. As a result, the adsorption of the tablet 9 in the adsorption hole 921 is released, and the adsorption of the second area A2 of the adsorption belt 42 from the adsorption hole 921 of the second inclined drum 92 is released. With the ball 421 the tablet 9 is conveyed.

The third gradient drum 93 and the fourth gradient drum 94 have structures equivalent to those of the first gradient drum 91 and the second gradient drum 92 . Also, the third gradient drum 93 and the fourth gradient drum 94 are disposed adjacent to each other similarly to the first gradient drum 91 and the second gradient drum 92 . However, the third gradient drum 93 and the fourth gradient drum 94 are on the downstream side of the conveyance path from the third transfer position P3 where the first gradient drum 91 and the second gradient drum 92 are disposed. It is arranged in the fourth delivery position (P4) of . In addition, the third inclined drum 93 and the fourth inclined drum 94 are longer than the first inclined drum 91 and the second inclined drum 92 by one portion of the arrangement interval of the tablets 9 in the width direction. It is arranged at a position deviated from the width direction by as much as possible. The third inclined drum 93 is fixed to the output shaft of the motor 93M. The fourth inclined drum 94 is fixed to the output shaft of the motor 94M.

The fifth gradient drum 95 and the sixth gradient drum 96 also have structures equivalent to those of the first gradient drum 91 and the second gradient drum 92 . In addition, the fifth gradient drum 95 and the sixth gradient drum 96 are arranged adjacent to each other similarly to the first gradient drum 91 and the second gradient drum 92 . However, the fifth gradient drum 95 and the sixth gradient drum 96 are on the downstream side of the conveyance path from the fourth transfer position P4 where the third gradient drum 93 and the fourth gradient drum 94 are disposed. is disposed at the fifth transfer position (P5) of In addition, the fifth inclined drum 95 and the sixth inclined drum 96 are longer than the third inclined drum 93 and the fourth inclined drum 94 by one portion of the arrangement interval of the tablets 9 in the width direction. It is arranged at a position deviated from the width direction by as much as possible. The fifth inclined drum 95 is fixed to the output shaft of the motor 95M. The sixth inclined drum 96 is fixed to the output shaft of the motor 96M.

As shown in Fig. 3, the tablet 9 held in the adsorption hole 421 at the first position W1 in the width direction of the adsorption belt 42 and conveyed to the third transfer position P3 in the conveying direction is , is transmitted to the first inclined drum 91. The first inclined drum 91 adsorbs and holds the tablets 9 received from the suction belt 42 to the suction hole 911 of the first side surface 910 while rotating and conveying them to the second inclined drum 92. do. After that, the second inclined drum 92 rotates while adsorbing and holding the tablets 9 received from the first inclined drum 91 to the suction hole 921 of the second side surface 920, and the suction belt 42 ) to the adsorption hole 421 at the second position W2 in the width direction. As a result, the position of the tablet 9 in the width direction is moved from the first position W1 belonging to the first area A1 to the second position W2 belonging to the second area A2. Along with this, the front and back of the tablet (9) are reversed.

Similarly, the third gradient drum 93 and the fourth gradient drum 94, at the fourth transfer position P4 in the conveying direction, from the third position W3 belonging to the first area A1, To the fourth position (W4) belonging to the area (A2), the position of the tablet (9) in the width direction in the conveyance route is moved, and the front and back of the tablet (9) is reversed. Similarly, the fifth inclined drum 95 and the sixth inclined drum 96 are moved from the fifth position W5 belonging to the first region A1 at the fifth delivery position P5 in the conveying direction, To the sixth position (W6) belonging to the second area (A2), the position of the tablet (9) in the width direction in the conveyance path is moved, and the front and back of the tablet (9) is reversed.

The defective product collection mechanism 100 is a mechanism for recovering tablets 9 determined to be defective products from the suction conveyor 40 . FIG. 7 is a view of the suction conveyor 40, the defective product collection mechanism 100 (partially not shown), and the good product discharging mechanism 110 as viewed from the direction of the hollow arrow V2 in FIG. 2 . As shown in FIG. 7 , the defective product collection mechanism 100 has a defective product chute 101 and a collection box not shown. The defective product chute 101 is located on the downstream side of the conveyance path from the drying mechanism 80 and upstream of the conveyance path from the good product discharging mechanism 110 described later. The defective product chute 101 is formed in a cylindrical shape.

The defective product recovery port 102, which is an opening at the upper end of the defective product chute 101, faces the second area A2 of the horizontal surface 422 of the suction conveyor 40 in the vertical direction with the gap D1 therebetween. . When the tablet 9 determined to be a defective product reaches a position opposite the defective product chute 101 on the downstream side in the conveying direction from the above-described determination position, the second blowing mechanism B2 removes the tablet 9 adsorption is released. Hereinafter, the "position facing the defective product chute 101" is referred to as a "defective product discharge position P6". As a result, the tablets 9 are dropped from the adsorption hole 421 of the adsorption belt 42 through the defective product collection port 102 and the inside of the defective product chute 101 into the above-described collection box. Then, the tablets 9 that have fallen into the collection box are collected by an operator or the like and discarded to the outside of the tablet printing device 1 .

The non-defective product discharging mechanism 110 is a mechanism for carrying out the tablets 9 determined to be non-defective products from the adsorption conveyor 40 . As shown in FIG. 7 , the good product discharging mechanism 110 includes a good product chute 111 , a good product discharge conveyor 112 , and a cover 113 . A chute main body 131 of the good product chute 111, which will be described later, is fixed to the casing of the tablet printing device 1. In addition, the good product chute 111 has a structure that is partially bent while having a cylindrical shape.

The good product outlet 114, which is an opening at the upper end of the good product chute 111, faces the second area A2 of the horizontal surface 422 of the suction conveyor 40 in the vertical direction with the gap D2 therebetween. When the tablet 9 determined to be a good product reaches a position opposite the good product chute 111 on the downstream side in the conveyance direction from the above-described judgment position, the third blowing mechanism B3 adsorption is released. Hereinafter, the "position facing the good product chute 111" is referred to as a "good product discharge position P7". As a result, the tablets 9 fall from the adsorption holes 421 of the adsorption belt 42 to the good product discharge conveyor 112 through the good product discharge port 114 and the inside of the good product chute 111 . The non-defective product discharge conveyor 112 has a configuration equivalent to that of the conveyor 20 described above. When the pulley 115 of the good product discharge conveyor 112 rotates with the power obtained from the motor M4, the transport belt 116 rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 7 . The plurality of tablets 9 that have fallen onto the good product discharge conveyor 112 are carried out of the tablet printing device 1 while being placed on the transport belt 116 .

Here, as shown in FIG. 1 , the adsorption drum 30 adsorbs and holds the tablet 9 from the transport conveyor 20 at the first transfer position P1, and the adsorption drum 30 is adsorbed on the adsorption conveyor 40. (9) to the second delivery position (P2), and the reversing mechanism (90) transfers the tablets (9) from the first area (A1) to the second area (A2) of the adsorption belt (42) while inverting them. The 3rd delivery position P3, the 4th delivery position P4, and the 5th delivery position P5 are arrange|positioned at the position away from the upper direction of the good product discharge port 114. In addition, the outer peripheral portion of the pulley 41, which is a point where the inclination of the tablet 9 adsorbed and held by the adsorption conveyor 40 changes greatly, is also disposed at a position away from the upper side of the good product discharge port 114. As a result, even if the tablet 9 is accidentally dropped when the tablet 9 is delivered or when the tilt of the tablet 9 changes greatly at these points, the dropped tablet 9 is sent to the good product outlet 114. You can suppress the creeping in. As a result, it is possible to prevent other tablets 9 from mistakenly mixing with the tablet 9 judged to be good.

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 7, the good product outlet 114 is horizontal and faces the horizontal surface 422 of the suction conveyor 40 in the vertical direction with the gap D2 interposed therebetween. Further, the distance in the vertical direction of the gap D2 between the horizontal surface 422 and the good product outlet 114 is greater than the thickness d of the tablet 9 (see FIG. 11 ), and the thickness d of the tablet 9 are placed in close proximity, to an extent less than twice the size of Thus, even if the tablet 9 accidentally flies from the side or obliquely upward with respect to the good product discharge port 114, it is possible to prevent the flying tablet 9 from falling into the good product discharge port 114.

Also, as described above, the defective product discharging position P6 is located upstream of the good product discharging position P7 in the conveying direction. In this way, before the tablets 9 determined to be defective products reach the upper side of the good product outlet 114, the tablets 9 can be recovered. Also, as shown in FIG. 7 , the good product outlet 114 is located above the defective product collection port 102 . As a result, even if the tablet 9 determined to be a defective product collides with the defective product recovery port 102 and bounces when adsorption from the adsorption hole 421 is released at the defective product discharge position P6, It is possible to further prevent the good product from accidentally falling into the discharge port 114.

Further, in the non-defective product discharging mechanism 110 of the present embodiment, a cover 113 covering a part of the upper surface of the non-defective product discharge conveyor 112 (outer side of the non-defective product chute 111) without a gap is provided. In this way, when the tablet 9 judged to be a good product is taken out, it is possible to further prevent other tablets 9 from being mistakenly mixed.

8 is an exploded side view of the good product chute 111. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 8 , the good product chute 111 has a chute main body 131, a thickness adjusting member 132, a pressing member 133, and a plurality of screws 134. In this embodiment, the good product chute 111 has two screws 134. Inside each of the chute main body 131, the thickness adjusting member 132, and the pressing member 133, through-holes 135b, 135m, and 135u allowing the passage of the tablet 9 are formed.

A plurality of screw holes 136 are formed on the upper surface of the flange portion of the upper end of the chute main body 131 . In this embodiment, two screw holes 136 are formed. A plurality of through holes 137 are formed in the periphery of the thickness adjusting member 132 . In this embodiment, two through holes 137 are formed. The through hole 137 penetrates the thickness adjustment member 132 in the vertical direction. A plurality of through holes 138 are formed in the flange portion of the lower end of the pressing member 133 . In this embodiment, two through holes 138 are formed. The through hole 138 penetrates the flange portion of the pressing member 133 in the vertical direction.

The two screws 134 are screwed into the screw hole 136 of the chute main body 131 while passing through the through hole 138 of the pressing member 133 and the through hole 137 of the thickness adjustment member 132, respectively. It is fixed. Thereby, the thickness adjusting member 132 is fixed while being clamped between the chute main body 131 and the pressing member 133. In short, the thickness adjustment member 132 is detachable with respect to the suit main body 131 . In addition, in the present embodiment, as the thickness adjusting member 132, besides those already used in the good suit 111, a plurality of thickness adjusting members 132 having different thicknesses and interchangeable with each other are prepared. there is.

As a result, even when the tablet 9 to be processed is changed to another type of tablet 9 having a different thickness or diameter, the optimal thickness adjustment member 132 suitable for the thickness and diameter of the tablet 9 after change ) is selected and attached to the chute main body 131, the distance in the vertical direction of the gap D2 between the horizontal surface 422 of the suction conveyor 40 and the good product outlet 114 can be easily adjusted to an appropriate size. That is, the good product chute 111 of the present embodiment has a height adjuster for easily adjusting the height of the good product outlet 114 . However, the structure of the height adjustment part is not limited to this.

The control unit 120 controls the operation of each unit in the tablet printing device 1 . 9 is a block diagram showing the connection between the control unit 120 and each unit in the tablet printing apparatus 1. As shown in FIG. As conceptually shown in FIG. 9 , the control unit 120 is constituted by a computer having a processor 121 such as a CPU, a memory 122 such as RAM, and a storage unit 123 such as a hard disk drive. In the storage unit 123, a computer program (CP) for executing print processing is installed.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 9 , the control unit 120 includes the above-described feeder 10, the conveyor 20 (including the motor M1), the suction drum 30 (the motor M2 and the second 1 suction mechanism 302), suction conveyor 40 (including motor M3, second suction mechanism 43, and blowing mechanisms B1, B2, B3), first camera 50 ), printing unit 60 (including head 61), second camera 70, drying mechanism 80, reversing mechanism 90 (motor 91M to motor 96M, blowing mechanism B4 , B5) and the suction mechanism), and the good product discharging mechanism 110 (including the motor M4) are connected to each other by wire or wireless so that communication is possible. The control unit 120 temporarily reads out the computer program (CP) and data stored in the storage unit 123 to the memory 122, and based on the computer program (CP), the processor 121 performs arithmetic processing. By performing the operation control of each unit described above. Thereby, conveyance of the plurality of tablets 9 and printing processing for each tablet 9 proceed.

<2. About the processing flow>

Next, the flow of conveying processing and printing processing using the above-described tablet printing device 1 will be described. Hereinafter, the processing performed on any one tablet (9) will be described in order. However, this tablet printing device 1 performs predetermined processing while sequentially transporting a plurality of tablets 9 along the transport path. Therefore, inside the tablet printing device 1, a plurality of tablets 9 exist at the same time.

10 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing in the tablet printing device 1. When a plurality of tablets 9 are loaded into the tablet printing device 1 (step S1), first, the feeder 10 supplies the plurality of tablets 9 to the conveyor 20. A plurality of tablets 9 supplied to the transport conveyor 20 are placed on the upper surface of the transport belt 22, and along with the rotation of the transport belt 22, approximately in the transport direction to the first delivery position P1. Move horizontally (step S2).

Next, the tablet 9 is adsorbed and held by the drum adsorption hole 301 of the adsorption drum 30 in the first transfer position P1, and the second transfer upward by rotation of the adsorption drum 30. It moves in the conveying direction to the position (P2). At this time, the distance between the plurality of tablets 9 in the conveying direction is aligned so as to be a predetermined distance according to the distance between the drum adsorption holes 301. When the tablet 9 arrives at the second transfer position P2, the adsorption of the tablet 9 on the drum adsorption hole 301 is released. Thereby, the tablet 9 is conveyed from the adsorption drum 30 to the adsorption conveyor 40 (step S3).

Subsequently, the tablets 9 are adsorbed and held by the adsorption holes 421 of the first area A1 of the adsorption belt 42 . Then, along with the rotation of the suction belt 42, the tablets 9 are conveyed along the annular conveyance path. Hereinafter, in the state held by the adsorption holes 421 in the first area A1, the surface of the tablet 9 facing the outside is referred to as the "first surface". In this state, the surface adsorbed to the adsorption hole 421 is referred to as a "second surface". In Figures 2 and 3, a diagonal line is added to the first side of the tablet 9 in order to distinguish the first side from the second side. However, the "first surface" and the "second surface" have nothing to do with the original front and back surfaces of the tablet 9. For example, when the tablet 9 is a tablet with cleavage line having a cleavage line 130 (see Fig. 11) on only one side, a plurality of tablets held in the first area A1 ( In 9), the tablet 9 in which the side with the split line 130 is the first side and the tablet 9 in which the side without the split line 130 is the first side may be mixed.

When the tablet 9 reaches below the first camera 50, the first camera 50 photographs the first surface of the tablet 9. In this way, the image data of the first side of the tablet 9 is acquired. Acquired image data is transmitted from the first camera 50 to the control unit 120 . Based on the image data received from the first camera 50, the control unit 120 performs a pre-printing inspection of the first side (step S4). Specifically, the presence or absence of the tablet 9 in the adsorption hole 421, the front and back of the tablet 9, the rotational posture of the tablet 9 around the vertical axis, the position of the tablet 9 relative to the adsorption hole 421 Discrepancies and the presence or absence of defects in the shape of the tablet 9 are inspected.

Next, when the tablet 9 reaches the printing position below the printing unit 60, the four heads 61 eject ink droplets toward the first surface of the tablet 9. In this way, the first side of the tablet 9 is subjected to a printing process. As a result, an image is printed on the first side of the tablet 9 (step S5). At this time, the control unit 120 adjusts the image to be printed on each tablet 9 based on the inspection result of step S4 described above. For example, an appropriate image is selected depending on whether it is a surface having the secant line 130 or a surface on the opposite side thereof, and the selected image is rotated according to the rotation posture of each tablet 9 . Then, a print signal is input to the head 61 based on the image after adjustment. As a result, on the first side of each tablet 9, an appropriate image is printed in an appropriate orientation.

Subsequently, when the tablet 9 reaches the judgment position below the second camera 70, the second camera 70 photographs the first surface of the tablet 9. In this way, the image data of the first side of the tablet 9 is acquired. Acquired image data is transmitted from the second camera 70 to the control unit 120 . Further, the control unit 120 performs a post-printing inspection of the first side based on the image data received from the second camera 70 (step S6). Specifically, the control unit 120 compares the image data received from the second camera 70 with data of a normal image prepared in advance, for example, to determine the printing state of the first side of each tablet 9. judge good or bad

Subsequently, when the tablet 9 reaches a position below the drying mechanism 80, the drying mechanism 80 blows hot air toward the first surface of the tablet 9. In this way, the ink adhering to the first surface of the tablet 9 is dried, and the ink is fixed to the first surface (step S7).

Then, when the tablet 9 reaches the third transfer position (P3), the fourth transfer position (P4), or the fifth transfer position (P5), which is an inverted position on the conveyance path, the reversing mechanism 90 While reversing the front and back of (9), the tablet 9 is transferred from the 1st area|region A1 to the 2nd area|region A2 (step S8). By this step S8, the 1st surface of the tablet 9 is adsorbed by the adsorption hole 421 of 2nd area|region A2, and a state with the 2nd surface facing the outside is put into a state.

Subsequently, when the tablet 9 reaches the lower side of the first camera 50, the first camera 50 photographs the second surface of the tablet 9. In this way, the image data of the second side of the tablet 9 is acquired. Acquired image data is transmitted from the first camera 50 to the control unit 120 . Further, the control unit 120 performs a pre-printing inspection of the second side based on the image data received from the first camera 50 (step S9). Specifically, the presence or absence of the tablet 9 in the adsorption hole 421, the front and back of the tablet 9, the rotational posture of the tablet 9 around the vertical axis, the position of the tablet 9 relative to the adsorption hole 421 Discrepancies and the presence or absence of defects in the shape of the tablet 9 are inspected.

Next, when the tablet 9 reaches the printing position below the printing unit 60, the four heads 61 eject ink droplets toward the second surface of the tablet 9. In this way, the second side of the tablet 9 is subjected to the printing process. As a result, an image is printed on the second side of the tablet 9 (step S10). At this time, the control unit 120 adjusts the image to be printed on each tablet 9 based on the inspection result of step S9 described above. For example, an appropriate image is selected depending on whether it is a surface having the secant line 130 or a surface on the opposite side thereof, and the selected image is rotated according to the rotation posture of each tablet 9 . Then, a print signal is input to the head 61 based on the image after adjustment. As a result, on the second side of each tablet 9, an appropriate image is printed in an appropriate orientation.

Subsequently, when the tablet 9 reaches the judgment position below the second camera 70, the second camera 70 photographs the second surface of the tablet 9. In this way, the image data of the second side of the tablet 9 is acquired. Acquired image data is transmitted from the second camera 70 to the control unit 120 . Further, the control unit 120 performs a post-printing inspection of the second side based on the image data received from the second camera 70 (step S11). Specifically, the control unit 120 compares image data received from the second camera 70 with data of a normal image prepared in advance, for example, to determine the printing state of the second side of each tablet 9. judge good or bad

Subsequently, when the tablet 9 reaches a position below the drying mechanism 80, the drying mechanism 80 blows hot air toward the second surface of the tablet 9. In this way, the ink adhering to the second surface of the tablet 9 is dried, and the ink is fixed to the second surface (step S12).

As described above, the control unit 120, based on the image data received from the first camera 50 and the second camera 70, determines the quality of the tablet 9 in a printed state or shape defects such as chipping. determine the presence or absence of That is, the control unit 120 functions as a determination unit that determines whether the printing state or shape of the tablet 9 is good or bad at a determination position on the downstream side in the transport direction from the printing position. Then, the judging unit determines whether each tablet 9 is a good product in good printing condition and free from shape defects such as chipping, or a defective product with poor printing or shape defects (Step S13).

When the tablet 9 is determined to be defective by the judging unit (step S13 = NO), the tablet 9 judged to be defective then reaches the defective product discharging position (P6) downstream of the judgment position in the conveying direction. Then, a positive pressure is applied to the adsorption hole 421 of the adsorption conveyor 40 in which the tablet 9 is adsorbed and held, and the adsorption of the tablet 9 in the adsorption hole 421 is released. In this way, the tablets 9 determined to be defective are discharged to the defective product collection port 102 (step S14).

When the tablet 9 is judged to be a non-defective product by the judging unit (step S13 = YES), then the tablet 9 determined to be a non-defective product reaches the non-defective product discharge position (P7) on the downstream side of the conveyance direction from the judgment position. Then, a positive pressure is applied to the adsorption hole 421 of the adsorption conveyor 40 in which the tablet 9 is adsorbed and held, and the adsorption of the tablet 9 in the adsorption hole 421 is released. As a result, the tablets 9 judged to be good products are discharged to the good product discharge port 114 (step S15). The plurality of tablets 9 that have fallen from the good product discharge port 114 to the good product discharge conveyor 112 are carried out of the tablet printing device 1 while being placed on the transport belt 116 .

As described above, the first transfer position P1 where the adsorption drum 30 adsorbs and holds the tablet 9 from the conveyor 20, the adsorption drum 30 moves the tablet 9 to the adsorption conveyor 40 and a third transfer where the reversing mechanism 90 transfers the tablets 9 while reversing them from the first area A1 to the second area A2 of the adsorption belt 42. The position P3, the fourth delivery position P4, and the fifth delivery position P5 are disposed at positions away from the upper side of the good product discharge port 114. In addition, the outer peripheral portion of the pulley 41, which is a point where the inclination of the tablet 9 adsorbed and held by the adsorption conveyor 40 changes greatly, is also disposed at a position away from the upper side of the good product discharge port 114. As a result, even if the tablet 9 is accidentally dropped when the tablet 9 is delivered or when the tilt of the tablet 9 changes greatly at these points, the dropped tablet 9 is sent to the good product outlet 114. You can suppress the creeping in. As a result, it is possible to prevent other tablets 9 from mistakenly mixing with the tablet 9 judged to be good.

Also, as described above, the defective product discharging position P6 is located upstream of the good product discharging position P7 in the conveying direction. In this way, before the tablets 9 determined to be defective products reach the upper side of the good product outlet 114, the tablets 9 can be recovered. In addition, the good product outlet 114 is located above the defective product collection port 102 . As a result, it is possible to further prevent the tablet 9 determined to be defective from accidentally falling to the good product discharge port 114 when adsorption from the adsorption hole 421 is released at the defective product discharge position P6. .

<3. Variation>

As mentioned above, although one embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment.

Each inclined drum of the above-described embodiment has suction holes that are a plurality of small holes. However, each inclined drum may have an annular adsorption slit (not shown) on the outer circumferential side surface. For example, the first inclined drum 91 may have an annular suction slit centered on the first axis C1 on the first side surface 910 . In addition, the second inclined drum 92 may have an annular suction slit centered on the second axis C2 on the second side surface 920 . Then, you may adsorb and hold a plurality of tablets 9 in these adsorption slits. In this way, the tablet 9 can be adsorbed and held at an arbitrary position of the adsorption slit. Therefore, even when the tablet 9 is slightly displaced during delivery, the tablet 9 can be adsorbed and held.

In the embodiment described above, the first inclined drum 91 to the sixth inclined drum 96 all had conical side surfaces. However, the shape of the side surface of the 1st inclined drum 91 - the 6th inclined drum 96 may be a polygonal pyramid shape, such as a quadrangular pyramid, a hexagonal pyramid, or an octagonal pyramid.

Moreover, in the said embodiment, the four heads 61 were formed in the printing part 60. However, the number of heads 61 included in the printing unit 60 may be 1 to 3, or may be 5 or more.

In addition, the tablet printing device 1 of the above-described embodiment is a processing unit that performs a predetermined process on the tablet 9 at the processing position on the conveyance path by the suction conveyor 40, and the tablet at the printing position ( 9) was provided with a printing unit 60 that performs printing processing. However, the tablet printing device 1 may include other processing units such as a packaging device for packaging the tablets 9 .

That is, the conveying and processing apparatus of the present invention is a device for conveying tablets and subjecting the surface to a predetermined treatment, comprising: a first conveying mechanism that conveys tablets in the conveying direction while holding them; A second conveying mechanism for moving the ball in the conveying direction, a processing unit for performing a predetermined treatment on the surface of the tablet at a processing position on a conveying path by the second conveying mechanism, and delivery upstream of the treatment position in the conveying direction. A transfer mechanism that transfers tablets from the first transport mechanism to the adsorption hole of the second transport mechanism, and a determination unit that determines whether or not the processed state of the tablets is good or bad at a judgment position downstream of the processing position in the transport direction; , At a non-defective product discharging position downstream of the judgment position in the conveying direction, a positive pressure is applied to the adsorption hole in which the tablet judged to be a non-defective product is adsorbed and held by the judgment unit to release the adsorption of the tablet in the adsorption hole, and the good product discharge port It is only necessary to have a good product discharging mechanism for dropping tablets into the furnace, and the delivery position should just be arranged at a position away from the upper side of the good product discharge port. Here, the transport path by the first transport mechanism and the second transport mechanism and the transfer mechanism are the transport path by the transport conveyor 20 and the suction conveyor 40 and the suction drum 30 or the suction conveyor 40 Corresponds to the conveyance path by the 1st area|region A1 in , and the 2nd area|region A2 in the suction conveyor 40, and the reversal mechanism 90.

In addition, the conveyance treatment method of the present invention is a method of conveying tablets and subjecting the surface to a predetermined treatment, comprising: a) a step of conveying tablets in the conveying direction while holding them in a first conveying mechanism; b) a second conveyance A process of moving a plurality of adsorption holes for adsorbing and holding tablets one by one in the mechanism in the transport direction, and c) in the middle of step b), at a treatment position on the transport route, a process of applying a predetermined treatment to the surface of the tablet and d) a step of transferring the tablets from the first transport mechanism to the suction hole of the second transport mechanism at a transfer position upstream from the processing position in the transport direction, and e) determination of a downstream side from the processing position in the transport direction. In the position, a step of determining whether the processing state of the tablet is good or bad, and f) in a good product discharging position on the downstream side in the conveyance direction from the judgment position, adsorption in which the tablet judged to be good in the judgment of step e) is adsorbed and held A positive pressure is applied to the ball to cancel adsorption of the tablet in the adsorption hole, and the tablet is dropped to the good product discharge port.

In addition, the detailed configuration within the device may be different from each drawing in the present application. Moreover, you may combine each element which appeared in the said embodiment or modified example suitably within the range which does not generate a contradiction.

1: tablet printing device
9: Refining
10: Feeder
20: conveyor
21: pulley
22: transport belt
30: adsorption drum
40: adsorption conveyor
41: pulley
42: adsorption belt
43: second suction mechanism
50: first camera
60: printing unit
61: head
70: second camera
80: drying mechanism
90: inversion mechanism
100: defective product collection mechanism
101: defective suit
102: defective product recovery port
110: good product discharge mechanism
111: good suit
112: good product discharge conveyor
113: cover
114: good product outlet
115: pulley
116: transport belt
120: control unit
131: suit body
132: thickness adjustment member
133: pressing member
134: screw
301: drum suction hole
302: first suction mechanism
421: suction hole
422: horizontal plane
A1: first area
A2: Second area
P1: first delivery position
P2: Second delivery position
P6: Location of defective products
P7: good product discharge position

Claims (17)

A conveyance treatment device for conveying tablets and subjecting a surface to a predetermined treatment, comprising:
a first conveying mechanism for conveying the tablet in the conveying direction while holding the tablet;
a second conveying mechanism for moving a plurality of adsorption holes for adsorbing and holding tablets one by one in the conveying direction;
a processing unit that performs the predetermined processing on the surface of the tablet at a processing position on a transport path by the second transport mechanism;
a transfer mechanism that transfers tablets from the first transport mechanism to the suction hole of the second transport mechanism at a transfer position upstream of the transport location from the processing position;
a judging unit that judges the quality of processing of tablets at a judging position downstream of the processing position in the conveying direction;
At a non-defective product discharging position downstream of the judgment position in the transport direction, a positive pressure is applied to the adsorption hole in which the tablet determined to be a good product by the judgment unit is adsorbed and held, thereby releasing the adsorption of the tablet in the adsorption hole. and a good product discharge mechanism for dropping tablets into the good product discharge port;
The delivery position is located at a position away from the upper side of the good product outlet,
The conveyance processing device wherein the good product discharge port is horizontal. According to claim 1,
The transfer mechanism,
a suction drum rotating about an axis extending horizontally;
A plurality of drum adsorption holes for adsorbing and holding tablets one by one are formed on the outer periphery of the adsorption drum,
The plurality of drum adsorption holes are each opened in a horizontal direction,
The transport processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the adsorption drum rotates and moves the tablet transported by the first transport mechanism in the transport direction while adsorbing and holding the tablet transported by the drum adsorption hole, and delivers the tablet to the second transport mechanism. According to claim 2,
The transfer processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein a delivery angle of tablets from the adsorption drum to the second transfer mechanism is 90° or more and 180° or less. According to claim 1,
The transfer mechanism,
A first inclined drum having a conical or pyramidal first side surface centered on a first axis inclined with respect to the width direction of the conveying path;
a second gradient drum adjacent to the first gradient drum and having a conical or pyramidal second side surface centered on a second axis inclined with respect to the width direction;
The first inclined drum has, on the first side surface, a plurality of adsorption holes arranged in an annular shape around the first axis or an annular adsorption slit centered on the first axis,
The second inclined drum has, on the second side surface, a plurality of adsorption holes arranged in an annular shape around the second axis or an annular adsorption slit centered on the second axis,
The first inclined drum rotates while adsorbing and holding the tablets delivered from the first conveying mechanism to the first side surface, and conveys the tablets to the second inclined drum;
The second inclined drum rotates the tablets delivered from the first inclined drum while adsorbing and holding them on the second side surface, and transfers the tablets to the second conveying mechanism, thereby inverting the front and back sides of the tablets. . According to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The second transport mechanism,
A suction conveyor for transporting a plurality of tablets along the annular transport path including a horizontal surface while adsorbing and holding a plurality of tablets one by one in the suction hole;
The conveying and processing apparatus wherein the good product outlet faces the horizontal surface in a vertical direction with a gap therebetween. According to claim 5,
The tablet has a surface, a back surface, and an annular side surface,
Each of the plurality of adsorption holes adsorbs and holds the back side of the tablet,
The conveying and processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a distance in the vertical direction of the gap between the horizontal surface and the good product discharge port is greater than the thickness of the tablet and less than twice the thickness of the tablet. According to any one of claims 1 to 4,
At a defective product discharge position downstream of the judgment position in the transport direction, a positive pressure is applied to the adsorption hole in which the tablet judged to be defective by the judgment unit is adsorbed and held, thereby releasing the adsorption of the tablet in the adsorption hole. And further having a defective product collection mechanism for dropping into the defective product recovery port,
The conveyance processing device, wherein the good product discharge port is located above the defective product collection port. According to claim 7,
The conveying and processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the defective product discharging position is located upstream from the defective product discharging position in the conveying direction. According to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A good product discharge conveyor for transporting the plurality of tablets that have fallen through the good product outlet while carrying them to the outside;
The conveyance processing apparatus further comprising a cover covering a part of an upper surface of the good product discharge conveyor. According to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The conveyance processing apparatus further comprising a height adjusting unit for adjusting the height of the good product discharge port. A conveying treatment method for conveying a tablet and subjecting the surface to a predetermined treatment,
a) conveying in the conveying direction while holding the tablet in the first conveying mechanism;
b) moving a plurality of adsorption holes for adsorbing and holding tablets one by one in a second transport mechanism in the transport direction;
c) in the middle of step b), at a treatment position on the conveyance path, a step of subjecting the surface of the tablet to the predetermined treatment;
d) delivering tablets from the first conveying mechanism to the suction hole of the second conveying mechanism at a delivery position upstream of the conveying direction from the processing position;
e) a step of judging the quality of the processing state of tablets at a judgment position on the downstream side in the conveying direction from the processing position;
f) At a non-defective product discharging position on the downstream side of the conveyance direction from the judgment position, a positive pressure is applied to the adsorption hole in which the tablet judged to be a good product in the determination in step e) is adsorbed and held, and A step of releasing the adsorption of the tablet and dropping the tablet into the good product discharge port;
The delivery position is located at a position away from the upper side of the good product outlet,
The good product outlet is horizontal, the conveyance processing method. According to claim 11,
In step b), conveying a plurality of tablets along the annular conveyance path including a horizontal surface while adsorbing and holding the plurality of tablets one by one in the adsorption hole;
The conveyance processing method of claim 1, wherein the good product outlet faces the horizontal plane in a vertical direction with a gap therebetween. According to claim 12,
The tablet has a surface, a back surface, and an annular side surface,
In step b), each of the plurality of adsorption holes adsorbs and holds the back side of the tablet;
The conveyance processing method of claim 1, wherein the distance in the vertical direction of the gap between the horizontal plane and the good product discharge port is greater than the thickness of the tablet and less than twice the thickness of the tablet. According to claim 11,
g) At a defective product discharge position on the downstream side of the conveyance direction from the judgment position, a positive pressure is applied to the adsorption hole in which the tablet judged to be defective in the judgment in step e) is adsorbed and held, thereby Further comprising a step of releasing the adsorption of the tablet and dropping the tablet into a defective product collection port;
The conveyance processing method of claim 1, wherein the good product outlet is located above the defective product collection port. 15. The method of claim 14,
The conveying processing method of claim 1, wherein the defective product discharging position is located upstream of the good product discharging position in the conveying direction. delete delete

Images