JP3940969B2 - Syringe stopper device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial application fields]
The present invention relates to a syringe stopper device, and more particularly to a stopper device in which an upper opening of a syringe after being filled with a chemical solution is closed with a seal member.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a stopper device that closes an upper opening of a syringe with a sealing member after filling with a chemical solution is known (for example, US Pat. No. 5,519,984).
The apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,984 has the following configuration. That is, a support member having a pocket for holding a syringe, a holding means for holding a substantially cylindrical seal member at a position above the syringe held by the support member, and a cylindrical shape whose upper side is enlarged in diameter are formed. And a sleeve disposed between the support member and the holding means, and a push-in means that is provided above the holding means and pushes the seal member held by the holding means into the sleeve. I have.
Then, after inserting the lower end of the sleeve into the syringe with the seal member pushed into the sleeve by the lower end of the pushing means, the sleeve is raised relative to the syringe and the pushing means, thereby The member is fitted to the syringe. As a result, the seal member remains in the syringe and is in close contact with the syringe by its own elasticity, so that the upper opening of the syringe is closed by the seal member.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in the conventional apparatus mentioned above, the sealing member is substantially cylindrical, and the outer diameter of the sealing member in the natural state is set larger than the inner diameter of the syringe. On the other hand, the outer diameter of the lower end portion of the pushing means is set to about half the outer diameter of the seal member.
Therefore, when trying to fit the seal member into a syringe having a small inner diameter, the ratio of the outer diameter of the seal member in a compressed state inserted into the sleeve with respect to the outer diameter of the seal member in a natural state Becomes larger. That is, the ratio of compression of the seal member is increased, and the seal member is pushed down in the sleeve by the lower end portion of the pushing means having a small diameter in that state, so that the sliding resistance between the seal member and the inner peripheral portion of the sleeve is reduced. It was something that was getting bigger.
Therefore, conventionally, the drawback that the sealing member is easily damaged has been pointed out.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In view of such circumstances, the present invention described in claim 1 includes a support member having a pocket for holding a syringe, and a seal member having a substantially cylindrical shape at a position above the syringe held by the support member. A holding means for holding, a cylindrical shape whose upper side is enlarged in diameter, a sleeve disposed between the support member and the holding means, and a holding means provided above the holding means are held by the holding means. A pushing means for pushing down the sealing member to be pushed into the sleeve, and the lower end of the pushing means is inserted into the sleeve while the sealing member is pushed into the sleeve. In the stoppering device of the syringe adapted to be fitted to the syringe by raising the relative to the pushing means,
The pushing means is composed of a pipe connected to the housing and a lifting member movably fitted in the pipe,
A lower end portion of the elevating member is configured to be able to project and retract from a lower end portion of the pipe, and a drive source for moving the elevating member back and forth in the axial direction with respect to the pipe is provided.
When the seal member is pushed into the sleeve, the lower end portion of the elevating member protrudes from the lower end portion of the pipe to push in the seal member, and when the sleeve is raised, the lower end portion of the elevating member is The lower end of the pipe is brought into contact with the upper surface of the seal member by retracting from the lower end of the pipe.
[0005]
[Action]
According to the above invention, when the seal member is pushed into the sleeve , the lower end portion of the elevating member in the pushing means is protruded downward from the lower end portion of the pipe, and the lower end portion of the protruded elevating member contacts the seal member. Then, the seal member is pushed to the lower end in the sleeve. Thereafter, the lower end of the elevating member is retracted from the same position as the lower end of the pipe. Thereby, the lower end part of the pipe of the pushing means comes into contact with the seal member, and in this state, the sleeve is raised relative to the pushing means and the syringe. At that time, since the lower end of the pipe of the pushing means and the seal member are in contact with each other, the seal member and the sleeve are compared with the case where the sleeve is relatively raised while the lower end of the elevating member is in contact with the seal member. It is possible to suppress damage to the seal member due to the relative sliding of and.
Therefore, damage to the seal member can be suppressed as compared with the conventional case.
[0006]
【Example】
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the illustrated embodiments. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a syringe stopper device. The stopper device 1 is a rotating body 2 that is rotated intermittently at a predetermined angle in a counterclockwise direction. It has.
A pocket 2 </ b> A for holding the syringe 3 is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the rotating body 2 at equally spaced positions in the circumferential direction. The pocket 2A is formed of a semicircular recess formed in the outer peripheral portion of the rotating body 2, and a negative pressure can be introduced into the recess from a negative pressure source (not shown) via the negative pressure passage 2B and the conduit 4. . Note that negative pressure is not introduced into each pocket 2A at the discharge position D where the syringe 3 is discharged from the pocket 2A and the regions before and after the discharge position D. On the other hand, in the rotation regions of the other rotating bodies 2, the pocket 2A Negative pressure is introduced. Thus, by applying a negative pressure in the pocket 2A, the syringe 3 is reliably held in the pocket 2A.
As shown in FIG. 3, the cylindrical syringe 3 has one end with a small diameter, which is used as a tip end portion 3a, and a collar portion 3b provided on the outer peripheral portion on the opening side of the other end.
As shown in FIG. 1, another plugging device indicated by an imaginary line is provided at a position adjacent to the rotating body 2 of the plugging device 1. Each syringe 3 can attach the sealing means 5 (FIG. 3) to the front-end | tip opening | mouth part 3a by the stopper device of this adjacent position. In this way, the syringe 3 whose tip end 3a is closed by the sealing means 5 by the stopper device at the adjacent position is sequentially supplied into the pocket 2A of the rotating body 2 stopped at the delivery position A. . The syringe 3 supplied to each pocket 2A at the delivery position A is held in each pocket 2A at a predetermined height so that the front end 3a is located below and the collar 3b is located on the upper side (see FIG. 2). ).
A predetermined area downstream of the delivery position A is a filling zone B, and a filling nozzle (not shown) is disposed above the stop position of each pocket 2A located in the filling zone B. The filling nozzle is conventionally known and is supported and moved up and down above the pockets 2A. When the rotating body 2 is intermittently rotated at a predetermined angle and temporarily stopped, the syringe 3 located in the filling zone B is filled with a predetermined amount of the filling liquid by the filling nozzle.
A position where each pocket 2A temporarily stops on the downstream side in the rotational direction from the filling zone B is defined as a stopper position C. A supply wheel 7 for supplying the seal member 6 to the plugging position C is disposed adjacent to the plugging position C.
As shown in FIG. 3, the seal member 6 is made of a substantially cylindrical rubber, and the outer diameter in the natural state is set to be slightly larger than the inner diameter of the syringe 3. The seal member 6 is formed with a circular recess 6a at a predetermined depth on the upper surface thereof. A female screw is threaded on the peripheral surface of the recess 6a. The seal member 6 is fitted from above into the syringe 3 stopped at the stoppering position C by a sleeve 12 and push-in means 13 which will be described later, and the upper opening of the syringe 3 is closed.
The supply wheel 7 is configured to be intermittently rotated in the direction of the arrow in synchronization with the rotating body 2. The supply wheel 7 is provided with through holes 7a at equal circumferential circumferential positions. When the supply wheel 7 is intermittently rotated and temporarily stopped, an arm 8 provided at a position adjacent to the supply wheel 7 is provided. Thus, the seal member 6 on the chute 11 is sequentially fitted into each through hole 7a of the supply wheel 7. And the sealing member 6 hold | maintained at the through-hole 7a of the supply wheel 7 is located in the plugging position C by the supply wheel 7 being intermittently rotated. Therefore, at the stopper position C, the syringe 3 is temporarily stopped on the lower side, and the seal member 6 on the supply wheel 7 side is temporarily stopped above the syringe 3.
In the stopper position C, a cylindrical sleeve 12 is disposed between the supply wheel 7 and the syringe 3 held in the pocket 2A. Further, the pushing means 13 is disposed above the supply wheel 7 at the plugging position C.
The sleeve 12 has a taper shape with the upper side enlarged in diameter, and the inner diameter of the upper end of the inner peripheral part of the enlarged diameter is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the seal member 6 in the natural state. On the other hand, the inner diameter below the tapered enlarged diameter portion is set to be smaller than the outer diameter of the seal member 6 in the natural state, and the outer diameter below the sleeve 12 is the syringe 3. The dimensions are set so that it can be inserted with a margin.
As shown in FIG. 4, a cylindrical guide 15 is erected on the frame 14, and a support shaft 16 is slidably passed through the cylindrical guide 15. A bracket 17 is connected to the upper end of the support shaft 16, and the sleeve 12 is connected to the tip of the bracket 17 so as to be in the vertical direction.
On the other hand, a nut member 18 is connected to the lower end portion of the support shaft 16. A screw shaft 21 is rotatably attached to the frame 14, and the nut member 18 is screwed onto the screw shaft 21. The screw shaft 21 is interlocked with the servo motor 22. Therefore, when the servo motor 22 is rotated in the forward and reverse directions, the sleeve 12 is moved up and down by a predetermined amount. In the present embodiment, the sleeve 12 is moved up and down to a raised end position indicated by a solid line in FIG. 4 and a lowered end position indicated by an imaginary line of the bracket 17. The sleeve 12 at the ascending end position has an upper end portion positioned in the vicinity below the seal member 6 on the supply wheel 7 side, and a lower end portion of the sleeve 12 is positioned in the vicinity above the syringe 3. On the other hand, when the sleeve 12 is lowered to the lower end position, the lower end portion of the sleeve 12 is inserted from the syringe 3 by a predetermined dimension.
Next, as shown in FIG. 4, another cylindrical guide 23 is erected on the frame 14, and a support shaft 24 is slidably passed through the cylindrical guide 23. And the bracket 25 is connected with the upper end part of the support shaft 24, and the pushing means 13 is connected with the front-end | tip part of this bracket 25 so that it may become a perpendicular direction.
A nut member 26 is connected to the lower end portion of the support shaft 24. A screw shaft 27 is rotatably attached to the frame 14, and the nut member 26 is screwed onto the screw shaft 27. The screw shaft 27 is interlocked with the servo motor 28. Therefore, when the servo motor 28 is rotated forward and backward, the pushing means 13 is moved up and down.
Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the pushing means 13 of the present embodiment includes a substantially cylindrical housing 31 connected to the support member 25, a pipe 32 fitted to the lower inner peripheral portion of the housing 31, and The pipe 32 and the round bar-like lifting member 33 slidably passed through the housing 31 are provided.
The outer diameter of the pipe 32 is set to a dimension slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the seal member 6 in the natural state and slightly smaller than the inner diameter on the lower side of the sleeve 12. That is, the pipe 32 can pass through the sleeve 12.
O-rings 34 and 35 are attached to the inner peripheral portion of the upper end and the lower inner peripheral portion of the housing 31, so that the space between the outer peripheral portion of the elevating member 33 and the inner peripheral portion of the upper and lower positions of the housing 31 is set. Keeps her airtight. A piston 36 is slidably fitted in the housing 31, and an upper portion of the elevating member 33 is passed through the shaft portion of the piston 36 and integrally connected.
In addition, the internal space of the housing 31 has a first pressure chamber 37 above the piston 36 and a second pressure chamber 38 below the piston 36. The first pressure chamber 37 communicates with a compressed air supply source (not shown) via an air passage 41 provided in the housing 31 and a conduit 42 connected thereto. The second pressure chamber 38 communicates with the compressed air supply source described above via an air passage 43 provided in the housing 31 and a conduit 44 connected thereto. And it is comprised so that compressed air can be alternately supplied to both the pressure chambers 37 and 38 from the supply source of compressed air.
A thin rubber plate 45 is bonded to the stepped end surface of the housing 31 facing the upper end surface of the piston 36, and the thin plate is also formed on the stepped end surface of the housing 31 facing the lower end surface of the piston 36. The rubber 46 is bonded.
When compressed air is supplied into the first pressure chamber 37 from the compressed air supply source, the piston 36 and the elevating member 33 reach the lower end position where the lower end surface of the piston 36 contacts the rubber 46 and the housing 31 and The pipe 32 is lowered. At this time, the lower end portion 33b of the elevating member 33 projects downward from the lower end portion of the pipe 32 (see FIG. 6).
On the other hand, when compressed air is introduced into the second pressure chamber 38 from the compressed air supply source, the piston 36 and the elevating member 33 rise to the raised end position where the upper end surface of the piston 36 contacts the rubber 45. Is done. At this time, the lower end portion 33b of the elevating member 33 that has been projected downward from the lower end portion 32a of the pipe 32 is slightly retracted from the lower end portion of the pipe 32 (FIGS. 5 and 7). reference).
Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the lower diameter portion 33a is formed by reducing the outer diameter of the lower side of the elevating member 33 from the upper side. The lower end portion of the member 33 is formed in a hemispherical shape.
The outer diameter of the small-diameter portion 33a is set to about half the inner diameter of the recess 6a provided in the seal member 6. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the projecting dimension of the small diameter portion 33a when the lower end portion 33b of the elevating member 33 projects below the pipe 32a is 1 of the depth of the recess 6a of the seal member 6 in the natural state. .The size is adjusted to about 5 times.
(Description of operation)
The operation of the stopper device 1 at the stopper position C based on the above configuration will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 8, the sleeve 12 is positioned at the rising end, and the pushing means 13 is plugged by the supply wheel 7 so that the sealing member 6 is plugged while the lower end portion is supported above the supply wheel 7. Simultaneously with the position C, the syringe 3 held in the pocket 2A is located at the stoppering position C. As described above, the distal end 3a of the syringe 3 is closed by the sealing means 5 and the syringe 3 is filled with a filling liquid. In the state shown in FIG. 8, the axes of the syringe 3, the sleeve 12, the seal member 6, and the pushing means 13 are aligned.
At this time, the lower end portion 33b of the elevating member 33 of the pushing means 13 protrudes downward from the pipe 32. In this state, the entire pushing means 13 is lowered by rotating the servo motor 28.
As the pushing means 13 is lowered as described above, the lower end portion 33b of the elevating member 33, which is the lower end portion thereof, comes into contact with the bottom portion of the recess 6a of the seal member 6. It drops downward from the through hole 7a and is pushed into the upper inner periphery of the sleeve 12 (FIGS. 6 and 9). At this time, since the outer diameter of the lower end portion 33b of the elevating member 33 is smaller than the inner diameter of the recess 6a of the seal member 6, the seal member 6 pushed into the sleeve 12 is easily spindle-shaped as shown in FIG. It is elastically deformed to be reduced in diameter.
As the push-in means 13 is lowered, the spindle-shaped seal member 6 with which the projecting lower end 33 b of the elevating member 33 comes into contact is pushed to the lower end position in the sleeve 12. At this time, the lowering of the pushing means 13 is temporarily stopped. At this time, the lower end portion 33b of the elevating member 33 protruding so far is raised with respect to the pipe 32. The lower end portion 33b of the member 33 is retracted (FIG. 7).
Then, as shown in FIG. 10, the push-in means 13 and the sleeve 12 in this state are synchronously lowered by the same amount (FIGS. 10 and 11). As a result, the lower end portion of the sleeve 12 is inserted into the syringe 3, whereby the seal member 6 fitted in the sleeve 12 is also located in the syringe 3.
Thus, when the pushing means 13 and the sleeve 12 are lowered to the lower end position shown in FIG. 11, the sleeve 12 is raised to the original upper end. As a result, the sleeve 12 is extracted from the syringe 3, and the seal member 6 in contact with the lower end portion 33 b of the pushing means 13 remains in the syringe 6 and is fitted to the remaining position. When the sleeve 12 is raised to the original ascending end, the lower end portion of the pipe 32 of the pushing means 13 comes into contact with the upper surface of the seal member 6, so that the lower end portion 33b of the elevating member 33 remains protruding. The damage of the seal member 6 can be suppressed as compared with the case where 12 is raised.
Then, as shown in FIG. 13, the pushing means 13 is raised to the original rising end position.
As a result, the plugging of the seal member 6 onto the syringe 3 is completed at the plugging position C.
As described above, the syringe 3 that has been stoppered is removed from the pocket 2A of the rotating pair 2 at the discharge position D along with the intermittent rotation of the rotating body 2 and discharged downstream.
In the above-described embodiment, the recess 6 a is formed on the upper surface of the seal member 6, and the lower end portion 33 b of the elevating member 33 of the pushing means 13 can be protruded and retracted from the lower end portion 32 a of the pipe 32. The frictional resistance between the inner peripheral portion of the sleeve 12 and the seal member 6 can be reduced. And thereby, while being able to fit the seal member 6 in the syringe 3 smoothly, it can suppress that the seal member 6 is damaged .
[0007]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an effect that damage to the seal member can be suppressed as compared with the conventional case.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a plugging device showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part taken along line II-II in FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a syringe 3 and the like to be processed in 1. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a main part taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of the constituent members shown in FIG. Process diagram when plugging the seal member 6 into the syringe 3 FIG. 7 Process diagram when plugging the seal member 6 into the syringe 3 FIG. 8 Process diagram when plugging the seal member 6 into the syringe 3 9 is a process diagram when the sealing member 6 is plugged into the syringe 3. FIG. 10 is a process chart when the sealing member 6 is plugged into the syringe 3. FIG. 11 is plugged into the syringe 3. FIG. 12 is a process diagram when the sealing member 6 is plugged into the syringe 3. FIG. 13 is a process where the seal member 6 is plugged into the syringe 3. Process diagram [Explanation of symbols]
1 Plugging device 2 Rotating body (support member)
2A Pocket 3 Syringe 6 Sealing member 6a Recess 12 Sleeve 13 Pushing means 31 Housing 32 Pipe 33 Lifting member C Capping position

Claims (4)

A support member having a pocket for holding a syringe, a holding means for holding a substantially cylindrical seal member at a position above the syringe held by the support member, and a cylindrical shape whose upper side is enlarged in diameter are formed. And a sleeve disposed between the support member and the holding means, and a push-in means that is provided above the holding means and pushes the seal member held by the holding means into the sleeve,
By inserting the lower end portion of the sleeve into the syringe in a state where the seal member is pushed into the sleeve by the lower end portion of the pushing means, the sleeve is raised relative to the syringe and the pushing means, so that the seal member is moved to the syringe. In the stoppering device of the syringe adapted to be fitted to
The pushing means is composed of a pipe connected to the housing and a lifting member movably fitted in the pipe,
A lower end portion of the elevating member is configured to be able to project and retract from a lower end portion of the pipe, and a drive source for moving the elevating member back and forth in the axial direction with respect to the pipe is provided.
When the seal member is pushed into the sleeve, the lower end portion of the elevating member protrudes from the lower end portion of the pipe to push in the seal member, and when the sleeve is raised, the lower end portion of the elevating member is A syringe plugging device, wherein the lower end portion of the pipe is brought into contact with the upper surface of the seal member by retracting from the lower end portion of the pipe. The syringe stopper device according to claim 1 , wherein a circular recess having an inner diameter larger than an outer diameter of a lower end portion of the elevating member is formed on an upper surface of the seal member. 3. The syringe stoppering device according to claim 1, wherein a female screw is formed on a peripheral surface of the recess in the seal member. The said support member consists of a rotary body rotated intermittently, The said pocket is provided in the circumferential direction equal interval position of this rotary body, The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Syringe stopper device.

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