JP7074336B2 - Stirring and mixing granulator - Google Patents

Description

Patent Law Article 30 Paragraph 2 Applicable Exhibition Date June 27-29, 2018 Exhibition Name 31st Interphex Japan Venue Tokyo Big Sight (3-11-1 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo)

The present invention relates to a stirring and mixing granulation apparatus that binds and granulates powders and granules of pharmaceuticals, foods, pesticides and the like.

A stirring and mixing granulator is used to combine and granulate powders, particles, and similar substances such as pharmaceuticals, foods, and pesticides (hereinafter, these are collectively referred to as powders and granules) (hereinafter, these are collectively referred to as powders and granules). For example, see Patent Documents 1 to 3). This stirring and mixing granulator usually includes a processing container for accommodating powders and granules to be processed inside, and a stirring blade arranged on the bottom surface of the processing container, and the processing container has an opening at the upper end. It has a container body having a portion and a lid portion for opening and closing the opening.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-245415 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-8782 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-115766

By the way, in this stirring and mixing granulation apparatus, after the processing (granulation) of the powder or granular material, the processed product of the powder or granular material is often adhered to the inside of the container main body of the processing container. Conventionally, in order to improve the production amount of the processed product, the worker manually scrapes the adhered processed product with a jig and adds it to the normal processed product. However, from the viewpoint of production efficiency, automation of this scraping work has been required.

In view of the above circumstances, it is a technical subject of the present invention to automate the scraping operation of the processed product adhering to the inside of the container body of the processing container in the stirring and mixing granulation apparatus.

The stirring and mixing granulation apparatus according to the present invention, which was devised to solve the above problems, includes a processing container for accommodating powders and granules to be processed inside, and a stirring blade arranged on the bottom surface of the processing container. The processing container comprises a joint robot arranged outside the processing container in a stirring and mixing granulator having a container body having an opening at the upper end and a lid portion for opening and closing the opening. The joint robot has a robot arm that can move in an arbitrary direction in a three-dimensional space and a scraping jig held by the robot arm, and after processing the powder or granular material, the joint robot uses the robot. By operating the arm, the scraping jig held by the robot arm is allowed to enter through the opened opening, and is moved in the container body, the scraping jig is used to enter the container body. It is characterized in that the processed product of the adhered powder or granular material is scraped off.

With this configuration, the processed product of the powder or granular material adhering to the inside of the container body can be scraped off by the scraping jig held by the robot arm of the joint robot. Therefore, in the stirring and mixing granulation apparatus, it is possible to automate the scraping work of the processed product adhering to the inside of the container body of the processing container.

According to the present invention, in the stirring and mixing granulation apparatus, it is possible to automate the scraping operation of the processed product adhering to the inside of the container body of the processing container.

It is a schematic perspective view of the stirring mixture granulation apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is an enlarged side view of the main part of a stirring mixture granulation apparatus. It is a figure which shows the handle of the lid part of a stirring mixture granulation apparatus, (A) is a side view, (B) is a plan view. It is a figure which shows the clamp mechanism of the lid part of a stirring mixture granulation apparatus, (A) is a side view, (B) is a front view. It is a figure which shows the clamp mechanism of the lid part of a stirring mixture granulation apparatus, (A) is a side view, (B) is a front view. It is a figure which shows the clamp mechanism of the lid part of a stirring mixture granulation apparatus, (A) is a side view, (B) is a front view. It is a figure of the lid part fixing mechanism part of a stirring mixture granulation apparatus, (A) is a side view, (B) is a plan view, (C) is the A arrow view of (A). It is a side view of a scraping jig. It is a figure of a lid opening / closing jig, (A) is a side view, (B) is a bottom view. It is a side view of a joint robot wearing a jacket. It is a schematic perspective view of the stirring mixture granulation apparatus which concerns on the modification of this invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the stirring and mixing granulation apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of a main part of the stirring and mixing granulation apparatus. The stirring and mixing granulation device 1 is arranged on the side surface of the processing container 2, the stirring blade 3 arranged on the bottom surface of the processing container 2, and the side surface of the processing container 2 for accommodating the powder or granular material to be processed. A crushing blade (cross screw 4), a discharge portion 5 arranged on the side of the processing container 2, a joint robot 6 arranged outside the processing container 2, and a powder / granular material processing and joint robot 6 are provided. A control unit 7 for controlling is provided as a main component.

The stirring and mixing granulation apparatus 1 processes the powder or granular material in the processing container 2 as follows. The powder or granular material is agitated by the stirring blade 3 and the cross screw 4 while supplying the binder into the processing container 2 from the binder supply unit (not shown), whereby the powder or granular material is bonded and granulated. More specifically, when the stirring blade 3 is rotated, the powder or granular material in the processing container 2 is stirred, and the stirred powder or granular material is appropriately aggregated by the supplied binder, while the cross screw 4 is used. It is appropriately sheared and gradually granulated to a desired particle size.

The processing container 2 is attached to the container body 8 having an opening 8a at the upper end and the opening 8a of the container body 8 via a rotation mechanism 9, and the opening 8a is formed by a vertical rotation operation with respect to the container body 8. It has a lid portion 10 that can be opened and closed. The rotation mechanism 9 is arranged on one end side of the lid portion 10, and is a kind of hinge in the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 3, the lid portion 10 is attached with a handle 11 that is gripped when the lid portion 10 is manually rotated. The handle 11 is made of a round bar member. More specifically, the handle 11 has a grip portion 11a for gripping that extends linearly in the lateral direction, and a pair of L-shaped portions 11b having an L-shape in a side view in which both ends of the grip portion 11a are attached to the lid portion 10. ..

As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, the container body 8 is provided with a plurality of clamp mechanisms 12 for preventing the closed lid portion 10 from opening. The clamp mechanism 12 engages with the engaging piece 13 fixed to the upper surface of the lid portion 10 to prevent the closed lid portion 10 from opening. The engaging piece 13 projects from the lid portion 10 on the outer diameter side along the radial direction of the lid portion 10, and a convex portion 13a is provided at the tip thereof.

The clamp mechanism 12 has a clamp portion 12a and a lever portion 12b as main components. The clamp portion 12a has a round bar-shaped engaging rod portion 12c for engaging with the engaging piece 13, and a pair of long plate portions 12d fixed to both ends thereof. The lever portion 12b has a main body portion 12e formed of a round bar-shaped member and a cap portion 12f attached to the tip of the main body portion 12e. Further, the main body portion 12e has a long portion 12g on the distal end side and a short portion 12h on the proximal end side. The short portion 12h of the lever portion 12b is fixed to the lever rotating portion 12i, and the lever rotating portion 12i is fixed to the clamp rotating portion 12j by the connecting portion 12k. The lever rotating portion 12i is rotatably attached to a pair of convex pieces 8b provided on the container body 8. The clamp rotating portion 12j is rotatably attached to a pair of long plate portions 12d of the clamp portion 12a.

In order to prevent the closed lid portion 10 from opening by the clamp mechanism 12, first, the lid portion 10 is closed (state in FIG. 6). Next, the engaging rod portion 12c of the clamp portion 12a of the clamp mechanism 12 is engaged with the engaging piece 13 (state in FIG. 5). Then, the tip end side of the lever portion 12b is pushed down. Then, the clamp portion 12a is fixed (locked) in a state where the engaging rod portion 12c of the clamp portion 12a is engaged with the engaging piece 13 (state in FIG. 4).

Further, as shown in FIGS. 7A to 7C, the stirring / mixing granulation apparatus 1 includes a lid fixing mechanism 14 for fixing the lid 10 in the open state. The lid portion fixing mechanism 14 is provided on the container body 8 via a mounting plate 14b and a fixing plate portion 14a provided on the lid portion rotating portion 10a that rotates by connecting to the rotation mechanism 9 on the lid portion 10. It has a fixed fixing pin 14c.

The fixing plate portion 14a is arranged along a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis of the rotation mechanism 9, and has an L-shape as a whole in FIG. 7A. The fixing plate portion 14a is provided with first and second insertion holes 14d and 14e into which the fixing pins 14c are inserted. As shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 7A, the fixing pin 14c is inserted into the first insertion hole 14d, so that the lid portion 10 is fixed with an opening degree of 45 °. Further, by inserting the fixing pin 14c into the second insertion hole 14e, the lid portion 10 is fixed with an opening degree of 90 °. The fixing plate portion 14a is provided with a manual insertion hole 14f used when the lid portion 10 is manually opened. By inserting the fixing pin 14c into the insertion hole 14f at the time of manual operation, the lid portion 10 is fixed with an opening degree of 80 °.

The fixing pin 14c is arranged so that its axis is parallel to the rotation axis of the rotation mechanism 9. The fixing pin 14c can be moved forward and backward along the axis by the cylinder mechanism in the cylinder box 14g provided on the mounting plate 14b.

Further, the mounting plate 14b is provided with first and second proximity switches 14h and 14i for detecting the opening degree of the lid portion 10. When only the first proximity switch 14h detects the fixing plate portion 14a, the opening degree of the lid portion 10 is determined to be 45 °, and both the first and second proximity switches 14h and 14i detect the fixing plate portion 14a. If so, the opening degree of the lid portion 10 is determined to be 90 °.

The articulated robot 6 is a 6-axis vertical articulated robot in the present embodiment, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The joint robot 6 includes a robot arm 6a in which the tip portion 6b can move in an arbitrary direction in a three-dimensional space, a scraping jig 15 held by the tip portion 6b of the robot arm 6a, and a lid opening / closing jig 16. Have. As shown in FIG. 1, the scraping jig 15 and the lid opening / closing jig 16 are arranged at predetermined positions before use.

As shown in FIG. 8A, the scraping jig 15 has a spatula portion 15a for scraping the processed product of the powder or granular material and a mounting portion for attaching the spatula portion 15a to the tip portion 6b of the robot arm 6a. It has 15b and. The spatula portion 15a is made of, for example, a resin such as polyethylene. The mounting portion 15b is connected to a bent plate portion 15c to which the spatula portion 15a is attached, a flat plate portion 15d to which the bent plate portion 15c is attached, a connection base portion 15e connected to the tip portion 6b of the robot arm 6a, and a flat plate portion 15d. It has a plurality of rod portions 15f connecting to the base portion 15e.

The spatula portion 15a has a wide portion 15g and a handle portion 15h. As shown in FIG. 8B, the spatula portion 15a can change the mounting direction by 90 ° with respect to the bending plate portion 15c. Further, the thickness of the wide portion 15g of the spatula portion 15a gradually decreases toward the tip.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 8C and 8E, the position of the bent plate portion 15c to be attached to the flat plate portion 15d can be changed. Further, as shown in FIG. 8D, the distance between the flat plate portion 15d and the connection base portion 15e can be changed by connecting the additional rod portion 15j to the rod portion 15f.

Further, in FIGS. 8A to 8E, the tip of the wide portion 15g of the spatula portion 15a is linear in the width direction in a plan view, but as shown in FIG. 8F, the spatula portion A notch 15i may be provided at the tip of the wide portion 15g of the 15a. For example, if the shape of the notch 15i in a plan view is matched with the shape of the boss portion 3a of the stirring blade 3 in a side view, it is easy to scrape off the processed product adhering to the boss portion 3a of the stirring blade 3. Become.

As shown in FIG. 9, the lid opening / closing jig 16 is arranged between a pair of side plate portions 16a used for opening / closing the lid portion 10 and these side plate portions 16a, and these side plate portions 16a are mutually arranged. It has a drive unit 16b that moves in the approaching and separating directions, and a connection base portion 16f that is fixed above the driving unit 16b and connected to the tip end portion 6b of the robot arm 6a. The left side of FIG. 9 is the front side of the lid opening / closing jig 16, and the right side is the rear side of the lid opening / closing jig 16.

Arc-shaped notches 16c are provided at the upper and lower ends of the front portion of the side plate portion 16a in a side view, and as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 9A, the notch portions 16c form a round bar. It is possible to engage and support the member W of the above. The cutout portion 16c does not have to be arcuate as long as it can be engaged with the round bar-shaped member W, and may be, for example, U-shaped or U-shaped when viewed from the side.

Further, a disk-shaped support member 16d is rotatably attached to the inside of the center of the front side portion of each side plate portion 16a in the vertical direction. The support surface 16e of the support member 16d is planar, and the support surface 16e of the support member 16d of the pair of side plate portions 16a is parallel. The support member 16d is made of, for example, rubber, metal, or the like. The lid opening / closing jig 16 can hold (chuck) the clamp portion 12a between the pair of support members 16d by approaching each other from the state where the pair of side plate portions 16a shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 9B are separated from each other. Is. In the normal state, the pair of side plate portions 16a of the lid portion opening / closing jig 16 are in a state of being close to each other.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the joint robot 6 can be fitted with a jacket 17 that covers the joint robot 6. By attaching the jacket 17, it is possible to prevent contamination of the processed product from the joint robot 6 and to protect the joint robot 6. The jacket 17 is formed of, for example, a base fabric made of a blend of polyester and polyurethane and laminated with polyurethane, but is not limited to this, of course.

Next, the opening / closing operation of the lid portion 10 in the stirring / mixing granulation apparatus 1 will be described by taking the case where the angle (opening) of the lid portion 10 when the lid portion 10 is opened is 45 ° as an example. In advance, the joint robot 6 automatically holds the lid opening / closing jig 16 on the tip portion 6b of the robot arm 6a.

First, the operation of opening the lid portion 10 from the state where the clamp portion 12a is locked will be described.

First, the joint robot 6 engages the notch 16c on the upper side of one side plate 16a in the lid opening / closing jig 16 with the long portion 12g of the lever portion 12b, as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. Let me. Then, by moving the lid opening / closing jig 16 in this state, the lever portion 12b is rotated upward to unlock the clamp portion 12a.

Next, the pair of side plate portions 16a in the lid portion opening / closing jig 16 are separated from each other and then brought close to each other, and as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 5B, the pair of long plate portions 12d in the clamp portion 12a are engaged. The end portion on the side of the rod portion 12c is chucked by the pair of support members 16d. Then, by moving the lid opening / closing jig 16 in this state, the clamp portion 12a is rotated downward to the state shown in FIG. 6 (see the two-dot chain line in FIG. 6B).

When the state shown in FIG. 6 is reached, the pair of side plate portions 16a in the lid portion opening / closing jig 16 are separated from each other, and the chuck of the clamp portion 12a by the pair of support members 16d is released. Then, after moving the lid opening / closing jig 16, the pair of side plate portions 16a of the lid opening / closing jig 16 are brought into close contact with each other.

The above operation is performed for all the clamp mechanisms 12.

After that, as shown in FIG. 3, the notch portion 16c of the pair of side plate portions 16a is engaged with the grip portion 11a of the handle 11. Then, the joint robot 6 moves the lid opening / closing jig 16 in this state to rotate the lid 10 upward.

When the opening degree of the lid portion 10 reaches 45 °, the fixing pin 14c is advanced by the cylinder mechanism in the cylinder box 14g and inserted into the first insertion hole 14d of the fixing plate portion 14a. As a result, the lid portion 10 is fixed at an opening degree of 45 °.

Next, an operation of closing the lid portion 10 in a state of being fixed by the lid portion fixing mechanism 14 will be described.

First, the opening degree of the lid portion 10 is determined based on the detection results of the first and second proximity switches 14h and 14i. For example, if the opening degree of the lid portion 10 is 45 ° (only the first proximity switch 14h detects the fixing plate portion 14a), the joint robot 6 moves the lid portion opening / closing jig 16 to open the lid portion 10 °. The notch portion 16c of the pair of side plate portions 16a is engaged with and supported by the grip portion 11a of the handle 11 of the lid portion 10 fixed in.

After the grip portion 11a is supported by the notch portion 16c, the fixing pin 14c is retracted from the first insertion hole 14d of the fixing plate portion 14a by the cylinder mechanism in the cylinder box 14g. This releases the fixing of the lid 10 by the fixing pin 14c.

Then, the joint robot 6 moves the lid opening / closing jig 16 to rotate the lid 10 downward. When the lid portion 10 is closed, the notch portion 16c is disengaged from the grip portion 11a.

Next, the following operations are performed for all the clamp mechanisms 12.

The pair of side plate portions 16a in the lid opening / closing jig 16 are separated from each other and then brought close to each other, and as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 6B, the engaging rod portion of the pair of long plate portions 12d in the clamp portion 12a. The end on the 12c side is chucked by a pair of support members 16d. Then, by moving the lid opening / closing jig 16 in this state, the clamp portion 12a is rotated upward to bring about the state shown in FIG.

When the state shown in FIG. 5 is reached, the pair of side plate portions 16a in the lid portion opening / closing jig 16 are separated from each other, and the chuck of the clamp portion 12a by the pair of support members 16d is released.

After that, the pair of side plate portions 16a of the lid portion opening / closing jig 16 are brought close to each other, and the notch portion 16c on the lower side of one side plate portion 16a in the lid portion opening / closing jig 16 is made into a long portion 12g of the lever portion 12b. Engage in. Then, by moving the lid opening / closing jig 16 in this state, the lever portion 12b is rotated downward to lock the clamp portion 12a (the state shown in FIG. 4).

Next, the scraping operation in the container body 8 in the stirring and mixing granulation apparatus 1 will be described.

After the treatment of the powder or granular material, the lid portion 10 is opened and fixed by the lid portion fixing mechanism 14 as described above. After that, the joint robot 6 automatically removes the lid opening / closing jig 16 from the tip portion 6b of the robot arm 6a, and holds the scraping jig 15 in the tip portion 6b of the robot arm 6a.

The joint robot 6 operates the robot arm 6a to allow the scraping jig 15 held by the robot arm 6a to enter through the opening 8a of the opened container body 8.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 2, the joint robot 6 operates the robot arm 6a and moves the scraping jig 15 held by the robot arm 6a in the container body 8, thereby scraping the jig. The processed product of the powder or granular material adhering to the inside of the container main body 8 is scraped off by 15.

Then, the processed product scraped by the scraping jig 15 falls on the normal processed product existing below.

After that, the scraped processed product is discharged to the outside of the stirring and mixing granulation device 1 via the discharge unit 5 together with the normal processed product.

In the stirring and mixing granulator 1 configured as described above, the processed product of the powder or granular material adhering to the inside of the container body 8 is scraped off by the scraping jig 15 held by the robot arm 6a of the joint robot 6. Can be done. Therefore, in the stirring and mixing granulation apparatus 1, it is possible to automate the scraping operation of the processed product adhering to the inside of the container main body 8 of the processing container 2.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea thereof. For example, when treating powders and granules such as highly pharmacologically active drugs and chemical substances harmful to the human body, in order to protect workers and prevent contamination of the external environment, as shown in FIG. 11, agitated mixed granulation is performed. The device 1 may include a work room R that is airtightly isolated from the external environment. In this case, the processing container 2, the discharge portion 5, the joint robot 6, the scraping jig 15, the lid portion opening / closing jig 16, and the like are arranged inside the work room R. Then, the stirring and mixing granulator 1 performs all the work in the work room R, including the charging of the powder or granular material into the processing container 2 and the movement of the processed product discharged from the discharge unit 5. It is configured so that it can be done by.

1 Stirring and mixing granulator 2 Processing container 3 Stirring blade 6 Joint robot 6a Robot arm 7 Control part 8 Container body 8a Opening 10 Lid part 15 Scraping jig

Claims (3)

The processing container includes a processing container for accommodating powders and granules to be processed inside, and a stirring blade arranged on the bottom surface of the processing container. The processing container has a container body having an opening at the upper end and the container body. In a stirring and mixing granulator having a lid portion that opens and closes the opening by a vertical rotation operation with respect to
A joint robot arranged outside the processing container and a lid fixing mechanism for fixing the open lid are provided.
The joint robot has a robot arm that can move in an arbitrary direction in a three-dimensional space, and a scraping jig and a lid opening / closing jig held by the robot arm.
After processing the powder or granular material, the joint robot operates the robot arm, causes the scraping jig held by the robot arm to enter through the opened opening, and moves in the container body. By doing so, the processed product of the powder or granular material adhering to the inside of the container body is scraped off by the scraping jig .
The articulated robot operates the robot arm and moves the lid opening / closing jig held by the robot arm, so that the lid can be opened / closed by the lid opening / closing jig.
The lid portion fixing mechanism is provided on the lid portion along a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis of the rotation operation, and a fixing plate portion provided with a plurality of insertion holes and the axis thereof are the rotation axis. It is arranged in the container body so as to be parallel to the container body, and has a fixing pin that can be inserted into the insertion hole of the fixing plate portion.
A stirring and mixing granulation apparatus, characterized in that the lid portion can be fixed at a plurality of openings by inserting the fixing pin into any of the insertion holes . A plurality of proximity switches installed on the container body and capable of detecting the fixing plate portion are provided.
The stirring and mixing granulation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the opening degree of the lid portion is determined based on the detection result of the fixing plate portion by the proximity switch. The joint robot is based on the opening degree of the lid determined based on the detection result of the fixing plate by the proximity switch at the start of the operation of closing the lid fixed to the lid fixing mechanism. However, the stirring and mixing granulation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the lid portion is supported by the lid portion opening / closing jig.

Images