WO2006046647A1

WO2006046647A1 - Liquid storing container and method for manufacturing liquid storing container

Info

Publication number: WO2006046647A1
Application number: PCT/JP2005/019791
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yukio Kusu; Tsuyoshi Kakiuchi
Original assignee: Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2004-10-27
Filing date: 2005-10-27
Publication date: 2006-05-04

Abstract

A liquid storing container is provided with a liquid applying hole (6a) for guiding a liquid to the external. A nozzle (8) having an inner wall (7) for controlling a liquid flowing out quantity is embedded and firmly fixed in an inserted status, at a leading edge part of a liquid supplying cylinder part (6) provided on a container main body (A), which is formed of a thermoplastic material in a hermetically sealed status.

Description

Specification

Liquid container and method for producing liquid container

Technical field

[0001] The present invention relates to a liquid container used mainly as an eye dropper for administering medical eye drops to a patient.

Background art

[0002] For medical ophthalmic solutions, it is necessary to control the amount of a medicinal solution to be administered to a constant amount to avoid excessive administration.

As an eye drop container capable of controlling the amount of the chemical solution in this manner, for example, Patent Document 1 includes an inner plug member (a discharge nozzle 4 in Patent Document 1) as a liquid injection portion in a cylindrical mouth portion of a molded container body. What is fitted and fixed is known. The inner plug member has a conical recess whose inner diameter increases toward the tip, and a liquid injection hole that penetrates inward and outward at the bottom of the recess to control the amount of liquid that is extruded from the container body. It is. Thus, when the patient performs an eye drop operation, the drug solution is transferred to the conical recess formed at the tip of the inner plug member, so that the drug solution with a set amount of the injection pore force can be administered.

[0003] As another ophthalmic container capable of controlling the amount of a chemical solution, Patent Document 2 discloses a nozzle-like liquid injection section that extends from the container body and has an inner wall formed in a conical shape (the expansion section in Patent Document 2). 14) is disclosed as being integrally formed with the container body. A cylindrical insert that connects the inside and the outside of the container main body is fitted in a pilot hole provided in the bottom surface of the liquid injection part. The insertion body has a lumen diameter designed so that when a container body is pushed with a predetermined pressing force, a predetermined flow rate of a chemical solution passes.

As a result, when the patient performs an eye drop operation, the medicinal solution that has passed through the lumen of the inserted body is transferred to the injecting portion, and a medicinal solution with a set amount of injecting pore force at the end of the injecting portion is administered.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-137259 (see paragraph 0014, FIG. 3, etc.)

Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-139347 (refer to Sections 3 to 5 and Fig. 1)

Disclosure of the invention

Problems to be solved by the invention [0004] In the eye drop container described in Patent Document 1, the container main body and the inner stopper member that is the liquid injection part must be molded separately. The inner plug member requires a step of forming a conical recess or a liquid injection hole in order to control the liquid outflow amount. At this time, it is necessary to use a plurality of molds having the shape of conical recesses or injection holes. For this reason, there is a problem that the production of the mold is complicated and the manufacturing cost is high.

In addition, after forming the liquid injection hole in the inner plug member, it is necessary to insert the inner plug member into the container main body, resulting in a problem of poor productivity. Furthermore, if the fitting dimensions of both are not accurate due to manufacturing errors, etc., there is a risk that the chemical solution will leak.

[0005] On the other hand, the liquid injection part of the eye drop container described in Patent Document 2 also requires a process of forming a conical recess and a pilot hole into which the insert is fitted. Therefore, in this case as well, it is necessary to use molds of respective shapes, so that it was complicated and inefficient to form the liquid injection hole for controlling the liquid outflow amount.

Moreover, the force which needs to insert the insertion body of another member in the bottom face of a liquid injection part The position which inserts this insertion body is a small pilot hole of the bottom face of a nozzle-like liquid injection part. Therefore, this operation is complicated and has a problem of poor productivity.

[0006] In addition, in order to administer a predetermined amount of drug solution, it is necessary to consider the diameter of the lumen of the insert of another member, the volume of the space surrounded by the conical inner wall of the nozzle-like liquid injection part, and the like There is. That is, a factor for controlling the liquid amount exists over a plurality of members. Therefore, if the dimensions of these multiple parts are not accurate due to manufacturing errors, etc., it is not possible to accurately administer the set amount of drug solution. In addition, when setting the amount of drug solution to be administered, it is necessary to design a plurality of members. Therefore, it was difficult and difficult to set the dose amount of the administered drug / glaze solution.

[0007] Furthermore, it is desired that the liquid injection hole of the eye drop container can administer various amounts of liquid medicine depending on the intended use, just by controlling the amount of the liquid medicine to be administered to a constant amount. For this reason, it is necessary to change the inner diameter and shape of the injection hole in consideration of properties such as the viscosity and surface tension of the drug solution to be administered. However, every time the shape of the liquid injection hole is changed, it is inefficient to produce a mold corresponding to the shape of the liquid injection hole.

Therefore, if only the nozzle for forming the liquid injection hole can be formed separately, an eye drop container having a liquid injection hole corresponding to the properties such as the viscosity and surface tension of the chemical liquid can be easily obtained. [0008] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid container that can easily form a liquid injection hole for controlling the amount of liquid flow and is excellent in productivity.

Means for solving the problem

[0009] In order to achieve the above object, a first characteristic configuration of a liquid container according to the present invention is provided at a distal end portion of a liquid injection cylinder portion provided in a container body made of a thermoplastic material molded in a sealed state. In addition, a liquid injection hole for guiding the liquid to the outside is provided by burying and fixing the nozzle formed with the inner wall for controlling the liquid outflow amount so as to be in a through state.

[0010] In this configuration, an integrated liquid storage container is used instead of a configuration in which an inner stopper member having a liquid injection hole is provided in the container body. In this container, for example, a container made of a thermoplastic material in which a liquid is filled and enclosed simultaneously with blow molding or vacuum molding is used.

[0011] In this configuration, the nozzle is fixed to the tip of the liquid injection cylinder. That is, the nozzle is not simply fitted into a predetermined prepared hole, but is simply fixed by being buried in the tip so as to break through the tip of the heated liquid injection cylinder. Therefore, since it is not necessary to aim and fit the nozzle into the pilot hole, the nozzle can be fixed easily.In other words, any nozzle can be applied and the nozzle can be easily fixed to the tip. A liquid injection hole for controlling the body outflow amount can be easily formed.

[0012] In addition, since the inner stopper member provided with the liquid injection hole is not necessary, a step of fitting the inner stopper member into the container body is unnecessary, and the liquid storage container is excellent in productivity.

[0013] Further, the injection hole for administering the chemical solution has only a nozzle as a factor for controlling the force / liquid amount, which is constituted by a nozzle that is a separate member from the container body. For this reason, it becomes easy to accurately set the amount of drug solution to be administered.

[0014] A second characteristic configuration of the liquid container according to the present invention is that a protrusion is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the nozzle.

[0015] According to the second characteristic configuration, since the nozzle is buried and fixed so as to be inserted into the distal end portion of the liquid injection cylinder portion, the degree of locking of the nozzle with respect to the liquid injection cylinder portion is increased. Can be reliably prevented from falling off from the liquid injection cylinder.

[0016] A third characteristic configuration of the liquid container according to the present invention is that the inner wall of the nozzle is closer to the tip side. It is in the point formed in the cone shape with which an internal diameter becomes large.

[0017] According to the third characteristic configuration, it is easy to form a droplet having a size suitable for eye drops by increasing the inner diameter toward the tip. Furthermore, by appropriately changing the shape of the conical shape, it is possible to set various amounts of the drug solution without changing the length and diameter of the nozzle.

[0018] According to a fourth characteristic configuration of the liquid container according to the present invention, the nozzle is made of hard resin.

[0019] According to the fourth characteristic configuration, the nozzle can be easily manufactured. Therefore, when such a nozzle is applied, the inner diameter and shape of the liquid injection hole can be easily changed. That is, since the liquid injection hole having various inner diameters and shapes can be provided according to the intended use, the liquid container can easily cope with properties such as the viscosity and surface tension of the chemical solution.

[0020] A fifth characteristic configuration of the liquid container according to the present invention is a method for manufacturing a liquid container, and is a liquid injection cylinder provided in a container body made of a thermoplastic material that is molded in a sealed state. A heating process that heats and softens the tip of the liquid, and a liquid injection that guides the liquid to the outside by burying a nozzle in which the inner wall for controlling the liquid outflow amount is embedded in the soft tip. And a burying process for providing a hole.

[0021] According to the fifth characteristic configuration described above, when manufacturing a liquid storage container capable of controlling the amount of liquid to be administered to a constant amount, a container body made of a thermoplastic material that can be molded in a sealed state is used, and heating is simply performed. The nozzle is simply buried and fixed to the tip so as to break through the tip of the liquid injection cylinder. Therefore, it is possible to easily form a liquid injection hole for controlling the liquid outflow amount, and this is a method for manufacturing a liquid container having excellent productivity.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0022] The liquid container of the present invention is mainly used as an eye dropper for administering a medical eye drop to a patient.

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

[0023] (Liquid container)

FIG. 1 shows an eye drop container X of the present invention. This eye drop container X is detachably screwed to a container body A made of a thermoplastic material that is molded in a sealed state and a male thread part 5a formed on the outer peripheral surface of the screw cylinder part 5 of the container body A. And cap B. [0024] The container body A can be a flexible thermoplastic material container that is filled with a predetermined amount of a chemical solution simultaneously with blow molding or vacuum molding. Alternatively, the chemical liquid may not be filled at the time of molding, but may be simply a hermetically sealed container made of a thermoplastic material, and the container main body is filled with the chemical liquid in a later process.

[0025] The container body A includes a circular bottom 1 bent inward, a hollow cylindrical body 2 connected to the periphery thereof, and a cylindrical neck 3 continuous with a shoulder 2a of the body 2. The upper position force of the neck portion 3 An annular stepped portion 4 bulging outward in the diametrical direction, a screw cylinder portion 5 having a male screw portion 5a continuous to the upper side thereof, and a liquid injection continuous to the upper side It is made up of a cylindrical part 6.

[0026] A nozzle 8 formed with an inner wall 7 for controlling the liquid outflow amount is buried and fixed at the tip of the liquid injection cylinder 6 so as to be inserted, thereby introducing the chemical liquid to the outside. Liquid hole 6a is provided.

The nozzle 8 is, for example, cylindrical and closed at both ends, has a pipe shape, and is formed of a hard resin such as polypropylene, acrylic, or polycarbonate. That is, as will be described later, when the liquid injection cylinder portion 6 provided in the container main body A is heated and softened, when the nozzle 8 is inserted into the liquid injection cylinder portion 6 by being pierced, the nozzle 8 It is made of a material that does not deform due to heat.

Such a nozzle 8 can be easily obtained by injection molding using a simple mold capable of forming a pipe. Further, by cutting the long pipe into an appropriate length, the nozzle 8 can be easily obtained without using a mold.

Therefore, when such a nozzle 8 is applied, the inner diameter and shape of the liquid injection hole 6a can be easily changed. In other words, since the liquid injection hole 6a having various inner diameters and shapes can be provided according to the intended use, the liquid container can easily cope with properties such as the viscosity and surface tension of the chemical solution.

[0028] The length of the nozzle 8 is, for example, about 5 to 7 mm. The diameter of the liquid injection hole 6a provided in the nozzle 8 is designed in a range of, for example, about 0.3 to about Lmm according to the liquid properties such as the viscosity and surface tension of the chemical solution. The drop volume is adjusted within the range of 25 to 50 L per drop according to the purpose, and is kept constant.For liquids with high surface tension, the diameter of the injection hole 6a is reduced to reduce the surface For liquids with low tension, increase the diameter of the injection hole 6a. [0029] Thus, in this configuration, an integrally molded container that can maintain the function as an eye drop container is applied in the form in which the inner plug member provided with the liquid injection hole is attached to the container main body A. That is, it is not necessary to attach the inner plug member provided with the liquid injection hole 6a to the container body A. Therefore, the step of fitting the inner plug member into the container body A is not required, and the eye drop container is excellent in productivity.

[0030] In addition, since the liquid injection hole for administering the chemical solution is configured by the nozzle 8 which is a member different from the container main body A, the only factor for controlling the liquid amount is the nozzle 8. Therefore, when setting the amount of drug solution to be administered, it is only necessary to design only the size 'shape of the nozzle 8.

In addition, once the setting of the nozzle 8 is determined, the variation in the nozzle shape is eliminated, so that the amount of liquid to be dropped is accurate.

[0031] As the thermoplastic material that is a constituent material of the container body A, polyethylene, polyethylene-polypropylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polycarbonate, or the like can be applied.

[0032] Further, the cap B is formed with a plug-like projection 9 which is fitted into the lumen 6b of the nozzle 8 and sealed when screwed into the male thread 5a of the container body A.

[0033] (Production method)

Below, the manufacturing method of the eye drop container X mentioned above is described.

The container body A in the eye drop container X is manufactured by blow molding or vacuum molding. In this example, a manufacturing method by blow molding will be described.

As shown in Fig. 2 (a), a pair of main molding dies 11 having a first cavity 10 for molding a portion of the container body A ranging from the annular step 4 to the bottom 1 and the container body Extruder head placed on top of a pair of sub-molding dies 13 having a second cavity 12 for forming the screw cylinder 5 and the liquid injection cylinder 6 of A, while being opened and operated. From 14, a predetermined length of Norison 15, which is an elongated hollow tube-like semi-molten thermoplastic material (for example, polyethylene), is extruded along the vertical direction through both molds 11 and 13.

[0034] Next, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), the main molding die 11 is closed and operated, and a baryson is formed along the molding surface 11a of the main molding die 11 by blowing air action or vacuum action. Mold 15 while expanding. In this state, as shown in FIG. 2 (c), a predetermined amount of drug solution is filled from the drug supply pipe 16. When this liquid filling step is completed, as shown in FIG. 2 (d), the sub-molding mold 13 is closed and operated along with the molding surface 13a of the sub-molding mold 13 by a compressed air blowing action or a vacuum action. Then, the ballison 15 is molded while being expanded, and the filled liquid is sealed (enclosed) simultaneously with the molding.

[0035] Next, a process of mounting the nozzle 8 on the liquid injection cylinder 6 which is the tip of the container body A blow-molded as described above will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3 (a), a heating step of heating and softening the tip end portion of the liquid injection cylinder portion 6 by a heating means (not shown) capable of supplying hot air is performed.

When the constituent material of the container body A is polyethylene, since the melting point is about 115 ° C, heating is performed by supplying hot air of about 120 to 200 ° C for about 1 to LO seconds. As a result, the tip of the liquid injection cylinder 6 is heated to about 80 to 100 ° C. and softened. In this state, heating of the tip of the liquid injection cylinder 6 does not melt and lose its shape! ,.

[0036] When the heating step is performed, a thinned tip portion of the liquid injection tube portion 6 as shown in Fig. 3 (b) may be used. Here, in the configuration in which the thickness is not reduced (FIG. 3 (a)), the wall pressure at the tip end portion of the liquid injection cylinder portion 6 and the periphery thereof is, for example, about 0.8 to 1.0 mm, whereas the thickness reduction configuration ( The wall pressure at the tip of the liquid injection cylinder 6 in FIG. 3 (b) is, for example, about 0.2 to 0.5 mm.

[0037] In this state, an embedding process is performed in which the nozzle 8 is embedded in the tip end portion of the liquid injection cylinder portion 6 so as to provide a liquid injection hole for guiding the liquid to the outside (FIGS. 3 (c) to 3). 3 As shown in (c) to (d), when the nozzle 8 is inserted into the tip of the liquid injection cylinder 6 by being inserted, the nozzle 8 held by an appropriate support (not shown) is At this time, in order to maintain the shape of the distal end portion of the liquid injection cylinder portion 6, it is performed with a concave member (not shown) pressed against the periphery of the distal end portion. The nozzle 8 should be inserted strongly because it is heated to such an extent that it does not collapse.

Incidentally, after揷通nozzle 8 is in a state of being tightly dressed on the side surface of the instilling tube portion ⁶ at the tip portion of the resin is rolled up nozzle ^8, the nozzle 8, the liquid by such榭脂outside The guiding lumen is not blocked! / Designed to be about ヽ in length.

[0038] After this burying step, the tip of the liquid injection cylinder 6 is cooled to fix the nozzle 8 to the tip. Make it. At this time, the nozzle 8 is in a state of being fitted to the distal end portion of the liquid injection cylinder portion 6 that has become hard to some extent, and the distal end portion force is difficult to fall off. In addition, since the tip portion is heated to such an extent that it does not collapse, the shape of the peripheral portion of the hole into which the nozzle 8 is inserted is maintained.

[0039] The ophthalmic container manufactured by the above-described manufacturing method uses a container body A made of a thermoplastic material that can be molded in a sealed state when manufacturing an ophthalmic container X in which the amount of liquid to be administered can be controlled to a constant amount. Then, the nozzle 8 is simply buried in and fixed to the tip portion so as to break through the tip portion of the heated liquid injection cylinder portion 6. Therefore, the injection hole 6a for controlling the liquid outflow amount can be easily manufactured, and the eye drop container X is manufactured with excellent productivity.

[Embodiment 1]

In addition to the embodiment of the present invention described above, a protrusion 81 may be provided on the outer peripheral surface of the nozzle 8 as shown in FIG. The protrusion 81 reliably prevents the nozzle 8 from dropping out from the liquid injection cylinder part 6 after it is buried and fixed so as to be inserted into the tip part of the liquid injection cylinder part 6. In addition, if the projection 81 is formed at a position where it is buried inside the tip of the liquid injection cylinder 6 when fixed, the displacement of the fixed nozzle 8 can be prevented, so the tip of the liquid injection cylinder 6 can be prevented. Nozzle 8 protrudes due to misalignment and can prevent contact with the patient's eyes and injury.

[Embodiment 2]

In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, the inner wall 7 of the nozzle 8 can be formed in a conical shape whose inner diameter increases toward the tip end side. When the inner wall 7 is formed in a conical shape in this way, it becomes easy to form a droplet having a size suitable for eye drops. Furthermore, by appropriately changing the shape of the conical shape, it is possible to set various amounts of drug solution to be administered without changing the length of the nozzle 8.

Industrial applicability

[0042] The liquid storage container of the present invention can be used for various liquid injection containers in addition to the power that can be used as an eye dropper that mainly administers medical eye drops to a patient.

Brief Description of Drawings

[0043] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a liquid container according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a method for producing a container body in the liquid container according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a method for producing a liquid container according to the present invention.

圆 4] Schematic diagram of another embodiment of the nozzle in the liquid container of the present invention 圆 5] Schematic diagram of another embodiment of the nozzle in the liquid container of the present invention

A Container body

6 Injection cylinder

6a Injection hole

8 nozzles

7 inner wall

Claims

The scope of the claims

[1] A nozzle in which an inner wall for controlling the liquid outflow amount is formed at the front end portion of a liquid injection cylinder portion provided in a container body made of a thermoplastic material that is molded in a sealed state so as to pass through. A liquid container provided with a liquid injection hole that guides the liquid to the outside by being buried in and fixed.

2. The liquid container according to claim 1, wherein a protrusion is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the nozzle.

[3] The liquid container according to [1] or [2], wherein the inner wall of the nozzle is formed in a conical shape whose inner diameter increases toward the tip side.

4. The liquid container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the nozzle is made of hard resin.

[5] A heating process for heating and softening the tip of a liquid injection cylinder provided in a container body made of a thermoplastic material that is molded in a sealed state, and a liquid outflow amount is controlled by the softened tip. A method for manufacturing a liquid container, comprising: a step of burying a nozzle having an inner wall to be controlled in a through state and providing a liquid injection hole for guiding the liquid to the outside.