Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B35/00—Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
  • B65B35/02—Supply magazines
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B11/00—Wrapping, e.g. partially or wholly enclosing, articles or quantities of material, in strips, sheets or blanks, of flexible material
  • B65B11/48—Enclosing articles, or quantities of material, by folding a wrapper, e.g. a pocketed wrapper, and securing its opposed free margins to enclose contents
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B11/00—Wrapping, e.g. partially or wholly enclosing, articles or quantities of material, in strips, sheets or blanks, of flexible material
  • B65B11/50—Enclosing articles, or quantities of material, by disposing contents between two sheets, e.g. pocketed sheets, and securing their opposed free margins
  • B65B11/52—Enclosing articles, or quantities of material, by disposing contents between two sheets, e.g. pocketed sheets, and securing their opposed free margins one sheet being rendered plastic, e.g. by heating, and forced by fluid pressure, e.g. vacuum, into engagement with the other sheet and contents, e.g. skin-, blister-, or bubble- packaging
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B5/00—Packaging individual articles in containers or receptacles, e.g. bags, sacks, boxes, cartons, cans, jars
  • B65B5/10—Filling containers or receptacles progressively or in stages by introducing successive articles, or layers of articles
  • B65B5/101—Filling containers or receptacles progressively or in stages by introducing successive articles, or layers of articles by gravity
  • B65B5/103—Filling containers or receptacles progressively or in stages by introducing successive articles, or layers of articles by gravity for packaging pills or tablets
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B69/00—Unpacking of articles or materials, not otherwise provided for
  • B65B69/005—Unpacking of articles or materials, not otherwise provided for by expelling contents, e.g. by squeezing the container
  • B65B69/0058—Solid contents

Definitions

• the purpose of the present invention patent application is to register a blister pack dispensing machine for the supply of tablets incorporating notable innovations and advantages.
• the invention refers to a dispensing machine of a pill blister pack, in which said blister includes a plurality of housings or cells to accommodate their corresponding pads, such that it allows to customize the contents of the inside of a blister pack. An efficient and effective way.
• European Patent No. EP 1 627 813 which describes an apparatus for placing at least two different products in a blister pack.
• This device has hoppers in which different types of tablets are stored in bulk.
• this device does not allow two different products to be placed in the same cell or exchanged with additional programs.
• this device is not viable to install, for example, in a pharmaceutical establishment since it is required by as many hoppers as different products, so that its possibilities of use they are limited to an industrial level by requiring a workspace of considerable dimensions.
• the present invention has been developed in order to provide a dispensing machine that resolves the aforementioned drawbacks, also providing additional advantages that will be apparent from the description that follows.
• a storage enclosure where a plurality of tablets of at least two different types are stored that includes at least one platform on which previously filled blister packs are deposited that include tablet selection means; means for extracting the tablets from said at least one platform to a blister pack to be filled; an unsealed and empty blister pack belt feeder that is associated with means of transporting 9 000082
• the platform could have any suitable arrangement, such as horizontal or vertical depending on the design of the internal components of the machine set forth in the first claim. Thanks to these characteristics, a novel dispensing machine is obtained that makes it possible to simplify and in particular, automate a process of filling blister packs in a simple and very practical way hitherto unknown.
• Said machine allows filling a blister pack in a personalized way, that is, filling a blister pack with two or more different types of pads in one or in the various cells of a blister pack, unlike the machines known in the technique which do not allow to supply said containers upon request.
• Another advantage is that said dispensing machine can be installed in pharmaceutical establishments in which the available space is limited, so it does not require a considerable space for its installation and operation.
• the storage enclosure comprises a plurality of horizontally arranged platforms 9 000082
• each platform includes means of extraction individually.
• each platform includes a template formed by a substantially laminar body provided with a plurality of housings in which the tablets to be supplied are deposited individually.
• said extraction means consist of an axially movable pusher mechanism in two X and Y axes in a sequential manner, supported by a gantry structure arranged on the at least one platform.
• the guiding means of the dosing machine comprise a dosing hopper that collects the pads coming from the at least one platform, movable on a coordinate axis located at the bottom of the at least one platform and above the means of transport of blister packs or blister bands.
• each platform has a transport element inferiorly, such as a slightly inclined ramp with respect to the horizontal plane or in an alternative embodiment of a conveyor belt associated with an evacuation channel, whose end of the evacuation channel is coupled to the dosing hopper.
• the transport means consist of a conveyor belt provided with at least two pulleys located at the ends arranged horizontally from the feeder to the collection point, the movement of movement of said conveyor belt being coordinated by the pusher mechanism.
• the blister pack comprises printing means for printing the blister pack, such as a laser, inkjet printer or any other known type that may be suitable for this purpose.
• the movable pusher mechanism consists of an axially movable support element in its upward / downward direction that supports a punch oriented towards the pad.
• the conveyor belt can include a plurality of support elements in order to individually support a blister pack.
• Figure 1. It is a schematic perspective view of the exterior appearance of a dispensing machine of a blister pack of pills according to the present invention.
• Figure 2. It is a plan view of the dispensing machine in which some parts thereof have been omitted for reasons of clarity;
• Figure 3. It is a schematic elevation view of the dispensing machine shown in the previous figure;
• Figure 4.- It is a schematic view of an embodiment of the pushing means
• Figure 5. It is a schematic elevation view of the interior of the storage enclosure of the dispensing machine; and Figure 6.- Shows a side elevation and plan view of a template embodiment housed inside the storage enclosure.
• an embodiment of the machine of the invention comprises a storage enclosure generally referenced with (1) intended to store a plurality of pads.
• pads come from blister-type containers previously manufactured or in bulk from at least two different types of pads, said storage enclosure (1) having in its exterior a housing in which there are a plurality of horizontal platforms (2) or substantially horizontal at different levels in height.
• blister band and "blister pack” can be considered as synonyms that refer to the same concept under reference (3).
• the dispensing machine is provided with means for extracting the tablets from said platforms (2) to a blister strip to be filled, a feeder (4) of unsealed and empty blister pack bands which is associated with means of transporting the blister bands from the feeder to a collection point and sealing means of the blister bands (3).
• sealing means consist of a roller (12) heated to a predetermined temperature sustained by a support (18) disposed at a point along the means of transporting the blister bands.
• the feeder has been schematically represented since a feeder (4) of known type can be used that has a housing for stacking a group of packages and mechanical means to deposit said band from the feeder to the transport means .
• the dispensing machine also includes control and data entry means (5) consisting of a computer with its screen, keyboard and database where work orders are stored. These control means (5) are associated with the tablet selection means so that a blister band (3) can be filled with two or more different types of tablets.
• the extraction means consist of a thrust mechanism (6) axially movable on two X and Y axes in a sequential manner, supported by a gantry structure (7) arranged on each platform (2).
• a thrust mechanism (6) axially movable on two X and Y axes in a sequential manner, supported by a gantry structure (7) arranged on each platform (2).
• each platform (2) has its corresponding pad pusher mechanism.
• Guiding means for the pads are provided from the at least one platform to the blister pack (3) to be filled, the guiding means comprising a dosing hopper (8) that collects the pads from each platform (2) movable in a coordinate axis located at the bottom of the platform (2) and above the means of transport of the blister bands.
• Each platform (2) has a lower conveyor belt (not shown) associated with an evacuation channel (not shown) located on one of the sides of the enclosure (1), whose end of the evacuation channel is coupled to said dosing hopper (8).
• This evacuation channel consists of a duct (19) located vertically so that the pads coming from the conveyor belt (20) fall by gravity towards said dosing hopper (8) in the direction indicated by arrows, as can be seen from Figure 5
• the means of transporting the blister packs consist of a conveyor belt (9) provided with two toothed pulleys (10, 11) located at the ends, which is arranged horizontally from the feeder ( 4) to the collection point, the movement of movement of said conveyor belt (9) being coordinated with the pushing mechanism.
• the conveyor belt (9) includes a plurality of support elements (17) fixed to the conveyor belt (9) in order to individually support a blister pack (3).
• the dispensing machine includes printing means, such as a laser type printer (16), located along the tape conveyor (9) and in particular at the bottom of the conveyor belt (9) that allow the printing of the blister pack (3) by one of its faces.
• printing means such as a laser type printer (16) located along the tape conveyor (9) and in particular at the bottom of the conveyor belt (9) that allow the printing of the blister pack (3) by one of its faces.
• An embodiment of the movable pusher mechanism (6) is shown in Figure 4 where it can be seen as consisting of a movable support element (13) axially in its upward / downward direction that holds a punch in the lower part
• Figure 6 shows a template indicated by (21) formed by a substantially laminar and rectangular shaped body with a hinged top cover (22) provided with a plurality of housings (23) in which the pads are individually deposited to be supplied, said plurality of housings (23) being distributed matrixally in rows and columns.
• the pads can remain inside a blister pack without the need to extract them since the positioning of the housings (21) coincides with the positioning of the individual cells of a standard type blister pack in the market.
• Such a template (21) can be supported through lateral guides They keep the template (21) in a horizontal position and can be removed with relative ease for a tablet refill operation once they have been used up.
• the pusher element of the corresponding platform moves until it is placed in the position where it finds the tablet to be placed in the blister, so that it then presses from top to bottom until the tablet (15) is released from the blister pack so that it falls down the conveyor belt to the dosing hopper (8).
• This action is repeated as many times as pills should be dispensed in the same blister pack, the movement of movement of the conveyor belt being synchronized with the extraction means.
• the dispensing machine allows a predetermined number of different tablets to be placed in a blister pack, either in the blister pack in general or in each of the cells of the blister pack itself in an automated way and with great reliability without any margin of error by operators.
• a dispensing machine of the invention may conveniently be replaced by others that are technically equivalent and do not depart from the essentiality of the invention or the scope defined by the claims set forth below.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
• Medical Preparation Storing Or Oral Administration Devices (AREA)
• Auxiliary Devices For And Details Of Packaging Control (AREA)
• Basic Packing Technique (AREA)

Priority Applications (7)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=41134863

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (8)

Cited By (2)

Families Citing this family (8)

Citations (7)

Family Cites Families (16)

• 2008
  • 2008-04-02 ES ES200800907A patent/ES2336880B1/es not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2009
  • 2009-02-12 EP EP09728412A patent/EP2272763B1/en not_active Not-in-force
  • 2009-02-12 JP JP2011502399A patent/JP5497000B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2009-02-12 WO PCT/ES2009/000082 patent/WO2009121983A1/es not_active Ceased
  • 2009-02-12 US US12/934,694 patent/US20110011880A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2009-02-12 CA CA2717919A patent/CA2717919C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2009-02-12 PL PL09728412T patent/PL2272763T3/pl unknown
  • 2009-02-12 ES ES09728412T patent/ES2397684T3/es active Active
  • 2009-02-12 DK DK09728412.9T patent/DK2272763T3/da active

Patent Citations (7)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events