Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61J—CONTAINERS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR MEDICAL OR PHARMACEUTICAL PURPOSES; DEVICES OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR BRINGING PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS INTO PARTICULAR PHYSICAL OR ADMINISTERING FORMS; DEVICES FOR ADMINISTERING FOOD OR MEDICINES ORALLY; BABY COMFORTERS; DEVICES FOR RECEIVING SPITTLE
  • A61J3/00—Devices or methods specially adapted for bringing pharmaceutical products into particular physical or administering forms
  • A61J3/07—Devices or methods specially adapted for bringing pharmaceutical products into particular physical or administering forms into the form of capsules or similar small containers for oral use
  • A61J3/071—Devices or methods specially adapted for bringing pharmaceutical products into particular physical or administering forms into the form of capsules or similar small containers for oral use into the form of telescopically engaged two-piece capsules
  • A61J3/074—Filling capsules; Related operations

Definitions

• Machine and method for filling and closing capsules in particular made of hard-gelatin
• the invention relates to a machine and to a method for filling and closing capsules, in particular consisting of hard gelatin, according to the preambles of the independent claims.
• Such a machine is known from DE 10 2004 048 007 A1.
• processing stations are arranged on the circulation path of a cyclically rotating in one direction conveyor wheel at uniform angular intervals, which are approached by the respective one particular angle step exporting conveyor wheel gradually.
• a device is required within the processing station in order to carry out a specific processing step.
• the conveying wheel moves only in one direction, it is necessary to arrange the processing stations according to the timing of filling and closing the capsules.
• a disadvantage is that these processing stations have a certain space requirement, so that at successive processing stations, each with relatively high space requirement, the conveyor wheel as a whole builds relatively large or a complex design or lower performance at the processing stations must be taken into account (if the latter is smaller have to be canceled).
• the machine concept with a conveyor wheel rotating cyclically in one direction is relatively flexible with respect to changes in the processing stations. inflexible. This is particularly disadvantageous in research, where the performance of the machine plays a minor role.
• the present invention seeks to further develop a machine and a method for filling and closing of capsules, in particular made of hard gelatin such that an almost arbitrary arrangement of processing stations on the circulation path of the feed wheel can be made possible.
• This object is achieved in a machine for filling and closing of existing in particular of hard gelatin capsules having the features of claim 1.
• the invention is based on the idea, by a drive in which the conveying path or the angular step (at a cyclic operation) and the direction of rotation of the feed wheel is variably adjustable to allow the individual processing stations by the variable drive ultimately independent of their Arrangement can be approached on the feed wheel. This allows, for example, a space-optimized arrangement of processing stations or a high degree of flexibility with regard to the individual processing or process steps. Also, thus continuous movements of the feed wheel can be achieved.
• the drive of the feed wheel additionally takes place continuously and that at least one station is arranged on the circulation path of the feed wheel, which requires a continuous movement of the receiving segment.
• the capsules must be guided past a line scan camera or the like, wherein, for example, the state of the capsules with respect to damage or the like is detected when passing the capsules on the line scan camera. This is relatively easy with a variably designed drive, while otherwise, for example, consuming designed testing equipment would be required.
• At least one processing station a plurality of similar processing devices or processing devices are arranged with the same type of process steps, which are all controlled by a capsule. So it is conceivable, for example, that capsules from a receiving segment gradually get into the area of individual stuffing dies in a processing station, without requiring a change of the processing station is required. Thereby, e.g. the costs for the drives are reduced at the processing station, since otherwise several processing stations, each with separate drives would be required.
• the receiving segments for the capsules are arranged exchangeably on the delivery wheel.
• the receiving segments for the capsules are arranged exchangeably on the delivery wheel.
• a variety of recording segments for a variety of capsules with possibly a different number of receiving holes can be used, as is usually required in the processing of different capsules, for example in research.
• the machine according to the invention can thus be flexibly adapted to a wide variety of machining processes and capsule formats in a simple manner.
• the invention also includes a calibration method for a testing device operating in particular with X-ray radiation, which is arranged on the circulation path of the machine.
• a testing device operating in particular with X-ray radiation
• various stations and the testing device bypassing other stations, specifically approached, so that only the necessary for calibration conveyor cycles are realized.
• Fig. 1 is a simplified representation of a machine according to the invention for filling and closing of particular existing hard gelatin capsules in plan view Fig. 2 to
• Fig. 4 shows the machine of FIG. 1 during various processing steps also in highly simplified plan views and
• FIG. 5 shows a modified machine with a working with X-ray inspection device.
• FIG. 1 shows a machine 100 for filling and closing capsules c, in particular consisting of hard gelatin.
• the capsules c can also be made of another suitable material.
• the capsules c each have a capsule lower part a and a cap b.
• the far known capsules c are filled by means of the machine 100 in particular by means of a pharmaceutical which, for example, in the form of powder, pellets, a liquid, tablets or the like. is present.
• the machine has a feed wheel 20, on whose outer circumference at regular angular intervals, for example, twelve receiving segments 21 are arranged interchangeably. Each of the receiving segments 21 has a certain number of in the exemplary embodiment five juxtaposed receiving bores 22 for each capsule c.
• the feed wheel 20 is rotatably mounted in a vertically arranged axis of rotation 24 and, for this purpose, according to the invention has a drive designed as a servomotor 25, which can be actuated by a control device 26 of the machine 100.
• the feed wheel 20 can be moved in arbitrarily small angular steps corresponding to the double arrow 27 both clockwise and counterclockwise, wherein both cyclic movements, as well as continuous movements by means of the servo motor 25 can be realized.
• twelve stations 1 to 12 are arranged by way of example, on which processing devices can be provided, wherein, depending on the application, not all stations 1 to 12 must be provided with a processing device. In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1, it is provided, for example, at the station 1 to supply, orient and separate the capsules c.
• receiving segments (not shown), which alone carry the caps b, are separated from the receiving segments 21 shown in FIG.
• the receiving segments 21 are checked for the presence of capsule subparts a or caps b on the receiving segments 21 (or on the receiving segments (not shown) for the caps b).
• the contents can be dispensed in the form of pellets or tablets at the station 3 in the capsule parts a.
• no processing facilities are provided at the stations 4 and 6 .
• 5 powders or pellets and at the station 7 pellets and tablets are each discharged into the capsule parts a at the station.
• a capsule ejection device is provided which ejects incorrectly filled capsules c by means of compressed air from the machine 100.
• the station 9 it is provided to bring the receiving segments 21 for the capsule lower parts a and the receiving segments (not shown) for the caps b into coincidence again in order to close the capsules c in the region of the subsequent station 10.
• the station 1 1 it is optionally provided to provide an additional test device having an additional ejection station for defective capsules c.
• the station 12 is provided as a cleaning station for cleaning the receiving segments 21.
• the servomotor 25 By means of the servomotor 25 is now a variable operation of the machine 100 is possible, which will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4. Here, the simplicity and the sake of clarity due to various stations or components of the machine 100 are no longer shown. Furthermore, in contrast to the receiving segments 21, the receiving segments 31 are provided with only two receiving bores 32, 33.
• a station which has two processing devices 35 and 36.
• the processing devices 35 and 36 are in particular similar processing devices, for example to dosing devices.
• a first process step Y is carried out by the first processing device 35
• a second process step X is carried out by the second processing device 36.
• the two receiving bores 32 and 33 are aligned with the corresponding processing devices 35 and 36 in a first step, so that the capsule c located in the receiving bore 32 is subjected to a process step Y, while those in the receiving bore 33 located capsule c through the second processing device 36 passes through a process step X.
• the feed wheel 20 is rotated counterclockwise by the distance between the two receiving bores 32 and 33, so that now the capsule c located in the receiving bore 33 is subjected to a process step Y by means of the first processing device 35, while those in the Receiving bore 32 located capsule c undergoes no processing.
• the feed wheel 20 is further rotated counterclockwise so far that the receiving bore 32 with the capsule c is in registration with the second processing device 36. In this processing step, the capsule c located in the receiving bore 32 is now subjected to a process step X.
• FIG. 5 shows a modified machine 100a.
• the machine 100a has twelve processing stations 1 to 12, of which, however, for the sake of clarity, only a few processing stations 1 to 12 shown in detail and are explained in more detail below.
• a weighing device 40 is arranged in the area next to the processing station 3, which serves to separate the caps b from the capsule bases a. By means of the weighing device 40, in particular random samples, individual capsules c can be removed from the receiving bores 22 of the receiving segments 21 and weighed.
• a filling device 41 is arranged by way of example, by means of which a certain amount of filling material is metered into the capsule parts a. Furthermore, an error capsule station 42 is arranged at the processing station 8, by means of which capsules c previously identified as defective or incorrectly filled are eliminated.
• a scholarein- direction 45 is still arranged.
• the test device 45 operates in the illustrated embodiment with an X-ray source 46 and serves in particular, but not restrictively, to check the filling weight of filled capsules c.
• an X-ray source 46 As an alternative to an X-ray source 46, however, another radiation source can also be provided. With regard to the exact design or characteristics of such a test device 45, reference is made to DE 10 2009 045 809 A1 of the Applicant, to which reference is made in this respect.
• the machine is 100a suitable by their trained as a servomotor 25 drive in a special way.
• calibrating the testing device 45 an empty capsule c is first inserted at the processing station 1 into a receiving bore 22 of a receiving segment 21.
• the servomotor 25 controls the processing station 3 with the capsule c. This is done by a rotation of the feed wheel 20 in a clockwise direction.
• the empty capsule c is removed from the receiving bore 22 of its receiving segment 21 and weighed by means of the weighing device 40.
• a net weight of the capsule c is determined, which is supplied to the control device 26 as an input variable.
• the empty capsule c is again inserted into the receiving bore 22 and fed by means of the feed wheel 20, in turn clockwise, the filling device 41. There, the empty capsule c is filled with a desired filling. Subsequently, the filled capsule c is fed back into the region of the processing station 3 in the counterclockwise direction, taken there and fed to the additional weighing device 40. This determines a gross weight of the filled capsule c, and passes the corresponding signal to the controller 26 as an input. The control device 26 can thus determine the filling quantity from the two weight weights by subtracting from the gross weight the net weight of the capsule c.
• the capsule c brought back into its receiving bore 22 is again transported by means of the conveying wheel 20 in the counterclockwise direction, bypassing the error capsule station 42, directly into the area of the testing device 45. There, the filling weight of the capsule c is determined by means of the test device 45.
• Such a calibration process can, as described, take place either by means of a single capsule c. However, it can also be provided that in each case several capsules c are weighed and tested accordingly. It is essential to the invention that the machine 100a for the calibration of the test device 45 conveys capsules c in the clockwise direction and counterclockwise, wherein only the processing stations 1 to 12 which are required for the calibration are approached. Thus, both different directions of movement, as well as different lengths of conveyor lines for approaching temporally successive processing stations 1 to 12 are realized.

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• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Medicinal Chemistry (AREA)
• Pharmacology & Pharmacy (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
• Medical Preparation Storing Or Oral Administration Devices (AREA)
• Basic Packing Technique (AREA)
• Analysing Materials By The Use Of Radiation (AREA)

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Publications (1)

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Citations (5)

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• 2010
  • 2010-09-09 DE DE102010040505A patent/DE102010040505A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2010-09-28 WO PCT/EP2010/064292 patent/WO2011047935A1/de not_active Ceased
  • 2010-09-28 IN IN1739DEN2012 patent/IN2012DN01739A/en unknown
  • 2010-09-28 CN CN201080047580.XA patent/CN102573757B/zh active Active
  • 2010-09-28 EP EP10759882.3A patent/EP2490649B1/de active Active

Patent Citations (5)

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