JP7622949B2 - Packaging Equipment - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a packaging device for packaging medicines.

2. Description of the Related Art There is a widely known packaging device that encapsulates powder or solid matter in a long piece of wrapping paper that is divided into pieces of predetermined length and seals the wrapped material by heat (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In addition, configurations are also known in which a tablet discharge device for discharging the aforementioned medicines in predetermined quantities or a powdered medicine dispensing device are added to these packaging devices to operate them as a medicine packaging machine (see, for example, Patent Documents 2 to 4, etc.).
In such packaging devices, a typical configuration is that the packaging paper is wound around a number of rollers, and is transported under tension, and at a predetermined position, the medicine is poured in using a hopper or the like to seal the package.

Among these packaging devices, there are known types in which the hopper does not move up and down at all, but the tip of the hopper is always clamped into the wrapping paper, as in Patent Document 4, and types in which the medicine is dispensed by inserting and removing a hopper that can move up and down into the wrapping paper.
Of these, when a configuration is used in which a hopper is inserted and removed from the wrapping paper, this insertion and removal puts tension on the wrapping paper, which can cause the wrapping paper to twist or wrinkle when sealed, so a mechanism was needed to reduce such increases and decreases in tension.

JP 2014-51305 A JP 2014-188101 A JP 2004-168427 A Patent No. 3524680

The present invention is intended to solve these technical problems and aims to provide a packaging device that can maintain tension and transport the wrapping paper without placing excessive strain on it.

The packaging device of the present invention is a packaging device for packaging medicines input from an input hopper, which supplies the medicines to a two-fold packaging strip through an opening of the packaging strip and seals the opening to close the packaging strip, and the packaging device has a vertical sealing section having a heating element extending in the width direction of the packaging strip and heats and fuses the packaging strip, and a horizontal sealing section having a heating element extending along the longitudinal direction of the packaging strip and heats and fuses the opening of the packaging strip, and the input hopper is inserted into the opening of the packaging strip when the packaging strip has reached a predetermined position, The packaging device further comprises a clamping member for clamping the packaging strip located at the predetermined position between the vertical seal portion and the horizontal seal portion when the feeding hopper is inserted, the clamping member having a swinging mechanism for moving the clamping member in a direction to counteract the increase in tension of the packaging strip that occurs when the feeding hopper moves up and down, the swinging mechanism being a driven roller that can rotate along the conveying direction of the packaging strip, the driven roller forming a nip portion by clamping the packaging strip, and the driven roller rotating in response to the pulling of the packaging strip when the feeding hopper is inserted .

With this type of packaging device, problems such as overloading the packaging paper and causing damage or transport problems are less likely to occur.

1 is a diagram showing an external appearance of a medicine packaging device as an example of an embodiment of the present invention; 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the medicine packing device shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of the tablet processing unit shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the tablet processing unit shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a main part of the powder medicine dispensing device of FIG. 1 that dispenses powder medicine. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a drive source and a configuration of the vibrating feeder shown in FIG. 5 . 6 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of a transfer section of the vibrating feeder shown in FIG. 5 . 6A to 6C are diagrams illustrating an example of the operation of the vibrating feeder and the transport unit illustrated in FIG. 5 . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the positional relationship between a distribution disk and a vibrating feeder. This is an enlarged view of the scraping section for transporting powdered medicine downward. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an internal structure of a medicine packaging device. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of the packaging device shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of individually packaged medicines in the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a packaging device. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of a characteristic part of the vertical seal portion shown in FIG. 14 . FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a packaging paper sealed at a vertical seal portion. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the perforation blade holding portion shown in FIG. 15 . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a feeding hopper in the present embodiment. 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating an example of the operation of the input hopper during insertion in this embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of a rocking mechanism as a comparative example of the present embodiment. 21A and 21B are diagrams illustrating an example of the operation of the rocking mechanism illustrated in FIG. 20. 7A to 7C are diagrams illustrating an example of the operation of the rocking mechanism according to the present embodiment. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating an example of a configuration of a rocking mechanism according to the present embodiment. 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating an example of a configuration of a rocking mechanism according to another embodiment.

A specific embodiment of a powder medicine packaging device according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.
For the sake of simplicity, the drawings omit details of fasteners such as bolts, driving sources such as electric motors, transmission members such as gears, electric circuits such as motor drivers, and electronic circuits such as controllers, and instead focus on what is necessary or relevant to explain the invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, when viewed from the front side of the drug packaging device 100 where an operator P is standing, for convenience, the direction from left to right is indicated as the X direction, the direction from the front to the back is indicated as the Y direction, and the direction from bottom to top is indicated as the Z direction.

First, an external view and an internal configuration diagram of a medicine dispensing and packaging device 100 of the present invention are shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the drug packaging device 100 is a packaging device having: a tablet processing unit 110, which is a manual distribution unit located at the top of a housing 101 and into which an operator P manually inserts drugs such as tablets and prepares them for packaging; a conveying unit 12 for guiding the drugs placed in the manual distribution unit 10 to a packaging device 130 located at the bottom, which will be described later; a powdered drug processing unit 120, which is equipped with a distribution disk 20 into which the operator P inserts a weighed amount of drug such as powdered drug for one prescription and distributes it to a specified amount specified by the prescription; and a packaging device 130 for individually packaging the drugs, including tablets and powdered drug, sent from the tablet processing unit 110 or the powdered drug processing unit 120 in packaging paper, and the device also functions as a powdered drug packaging device or a tablet packaging device.

In this embodiment, a configuration is described that integrally includes the tablet processing unit 110, the powdered medicine processing unit 120, and the packaging device 130, however, the medicine packaging device 100 may also be configured to have a tablet cassette for storing tablets and sending them one by one to the tablet drop path 11, and similarly, may be configured to have a medicine cassette and storage shelf for storing powdered medicine.
In this embodiment, the medicine packaging device 100 also has a control unit 140 in which applications and the like for controlling the various functions of the control unit, which will be described later, are installed.

As shown in Figure 3, the tablet processing unit 110 is located at the top of the drug packaging device 100 and has a pull-out tray 111, a conveyor 112 below the tray 111 which transports tablets inserted into the tray 111 and transfers them to the lower part of the drug packaging device 100, and a tablet input port 114 which allows tablets to be input without passing through the tray 111.
The tray 111 can be pulled out from the housing 101 to the front side of the operator P, and by manually distributing tablets into each of the multiple divided compartments 111a and then reattaching the tray 111 inside, the floor of each compartment 111a opens up and the operator P can be guided to the conveying section 12 below.
The conveying section 12 may have any configuration, but is known as a conveying section having a structure including a plurality of drug containers 113 and a conveyor 112 composed of rollers and belts that move the drug containers 113, as shown in Figure 4, for example.

The tablets transported by the transport unit 12 in this way are merged with the powdered medicine at the tablet merging unit 60 (described later) and moved to the input hopper 70 (not shown) in the packaging device 130, where they are packaged.

As shown in FIG. 5, the powdered medicine processing unit 120 has a circular distribution disk 20, two hoppers 21 that are storage units attached to the operator side of the distribution disk 20, troughs 22 that are arranged below each hopper 21 and serve as transport units for the powdered medicine put into the hopper 21, and a feeder drive unit 40 that is adjacent to the hopper 21 and trough 22 and is arranged parallel to the transport direction of the trough 22.

The powdered medicine processing unit 120 also has a scraping unit 50 on the distribution disk 20 downstream in the rotation direction from the trough 22. Here, the distribution disk 20 is described as rotating counterclockwise when viewed from above, but is not limited to this configuration.
In this embodiment, a plurality of pairs of hoppers 21 and troughs 22 are arranged in parallel, and the scraping unit 50 is located at the most downstream side of the hoppers 21 and troughs 22. The scraping unit 50 operates to scrape the powdered medicine placed on the distribution disk 20 toward the tablet junction 60, as described below.

Powder medicine processor 120 is held inside housing 101 so as to be slidable and removable.
According to this configuration, by pulling out powder medicine processing section 120 from housing 101 of medicine packaging device 100, cleaning properties are improved.

The hopper 21 and trough 22 are vibrated by the feeder drive unit 40 as described below, and function as a vibrating feeder that transfers powdered medicine placed inside the hopper 21 to the distribution disk 20 via the trough 22.

5 and 6, the hopper 21 is supported by the hopper holding frame 41 from the feeder drive unit 40, and its side is tapered downward, so that the powdered medicine fed in is fed into the trough 22 from the lowest opening 23. The outer side of the hopper 21 is provided with a triangular protrusion 21a that protrudes outward, and the hopper is supported by being caught by the hopper holding frame 41 and the protrusion 21a.
As shown in Figures 6 and 7, the trough 22 is supported by a vibration unit 42 from the feeder drive unit 40, and gently slopes from the rear end toward the operator toward the front end toward the distribution disc 20, and at its tip has a powdered medicine cutting section 24 arranged so that the powdered medicine falls into the center of the distribution disc 20, and a sloped section 25 formed to taper toward the powdered medicine cutting section 24 and with a greater slope.

The vibration unit 42 is a vibration plate that can be vibrated by the feeder drive unit 40, and by vibrating finely according to a signal from the feeder drive unit 40, it vibrates the trough 22 placed above it and transfers the powdered medicine in the direction in which the trough 22 extends, that is, in the Y direction in this embodiment.

The hopper holding frame 41 is formed of a cylindrical pipe, is a rectangular frame body with an open front end side on the Y direction side of the hopper 21, and supports from below the protruding portion 21a of the hopper 21. As shown in Fig. 8, the hopper holding frame 41 rotates in the vertical direction around the rear end side, thereby allowing the hopper 21 to move up and down in an arc around the rotation axis O1.
As shown in Figure 8, when the hopper holding frame 41 operates to lift the hopper 21 upward, the gap between the opening 23 and the trough 22 increases, and the powdered medicine contained in the hopper 21 is efficiently discharged into the trough 22 below.
At the same time, the trough 22 is vibrated by the vibration section 42, so that the powdered medicine discharged onto the trough 22 falls along the wall surface, via the inclined section 25 and the powdered medicine cutting section 24, onto the distribution disk 20.

The powdered medicine cutting section 24 is a recess formed in the center of the width direction of the trough 22, and is a narrow portion in which both sides narrow as the powdered medicine converges toward the end of the transport direction. The powdered medicine cutting section 24 is arranged so as to be located directly above the recess recessed in the center of the ring of the distribution disk 20, most preferably the lowest part 20a of the recess shown by the broken line in Figure 5, and with this configuration, the powdered medicine transported through the trough 22 falls into the center of the ring of the distribution disk 20. At this time, the amount of powdered medicine falling from the powdered medicine cutting section 24 can be adjusted by controlling the vibration of the vibration section 42. Normally, the powdered medicine falls from the powdered medicine cutting section 24 in a predetermined amount at a time, as shown in Figure 9.
Therefore, by rotating the distribution disk 20 at a predetermined speed for one or more revolutions, a pile of powdered medicine is evenly distributed on the distribution disk 20.

Now, the powdered medicine that falls onto the lowest part 20a, which is the center part of the ring of the distribution disc 20 in this manner, is uniformly dispersed over the ring of the distribution disc 20 by the rotation of the distribution disc 20 and the vibration of the vibrating part 42.
When the powdered medicine is evenly distributed on the distribution disk 20, the control unit 140 rotates the distribution disk 20 at a predetermined angle. Specifically, when 360° is one prescription, if the medicine is to be divided into 10 packets, the distribution disk 20 is rotated at 36° so that an appropriate amount for one packet is collected near the scraping unit 50, and the scraping unit 50 puts the powdered medicine into the input hopper 70.

The scraping section 50 has a circular disk 51 arranged so that its peripheral edge abuts the distribution disk 20 as shown in Figure 10, and a scraper 52 attached to the disk 51 and rotates to scoop up and scrape out a packet of powdered medicine that is on the distribution disk 20 and is blocked by the disk 51.
The scraping unit 50 is also supported by a lever 53 so as to be movable up and down in the Z direction, and can be switched between a state in which the disk 51 abuts against the distribution disk 20 and a state in which it is separated from the distribution disk 20 and removed upward. By configuring it so as to be movable up and down, the operator P can easily clean the distribution disk 20 after packaging one prescription.

As shown in a schematic cross section in Figure 11, the tablet junction 60 is a junction for guiding tablets that have fallen from the tablet processing unit 110 via the conveying unit 12 and powdered medicine cut out in individual packets at the powdered medicine processing unit 120 from their respective separate paths to the input hopper 70, which serves as a common falling path.
The tablet merging section 60 has a tablet drop path 61 that extends obliquely towards the operator within the housing 101, and a closure member 62 which is a lid section arranged to close the drop opening of the tablet drop path 61 and which rotates around the rotation axis O2 to open and close the drop opening of the tablet drop path 61.
The tablet merging section 60 is formed integrally with the closure member 62 and has an arm portion 63 extending to the back side of the tablet drop path 61 so as to move the closure member 62 in the opening direction when pressed, a pressing portion 64 abutting against the arm portion 63 and pushing the arm portion 63 forward to rotate the closure member 62 and open the drop inlet of the tablet drop path 61, and a biasing member 69 located above the closure member 62 and biasing the closure member 62 in the direction of closing the drop inlet.

A driving source 65 that is a driving source for the pressing portion 64 serving as a driving portion is provided on the rear side of the housing 101 of the pressing portion 64. When the pressing portion 64 is driven forward by the driving source 65, the tip of the pressing portion 64 comes into contact with the arm portion 63, and operates to push out the closing member 62.
When this operation causes the force applied by the pressing portion 64 to exceed the biasing force applied by the biasing member 69, the closing member 62 opens, opening the drop port of the tablet drop path 61, and the tablets that were trapped at the lower end of the tablet drop path 61 fall into the input hopper 70.
On the other hand, since the pressing portion 64 is always biased so as to be pulled back toward the rear, when the signal to the drive source 65 is removed, the biasing member 69 causes the closing member 62 to return to a position blocking the drop opening of the tablet drop path 61.

Around the closing member 62 at the lower end of the tablet drop path 61 and the powdered medicine drop port, an enclosing member 80 as a scattering prevention member is formed so as to rise upward and surround the powdered medicine drop port. The enclosing member 80 has a function of preventing scattering of the powdered medicine scraped out by the scraper 52 when it falls into the input hopper 70 above the input hopper 70.
The shape of the enclosing member 80 is not limited to the configuration shown in the figure, but may take various shapes, and may be movable so as to be tilted to the left or right or forward, etc.

In its initial standby state, the tablet merging section 60 maintains the closure member 62 in a closed state, and when tablets are discharged from the tablet processing section 110, the discharged tablets are blocked by the closure member 62 at the end of the tablet drop path 61.
When the tablet confluence section 60 discharges the tablets, the driving source 65 is operated as already described to rotate the closing member 62 and drop the tablets into the input hopper 70 .
In addition, this ejection of tablets and the scraping out of powdered medicine by the scraper 52 as already mentioned are not generally performed at the same time; rather, when the closing member 62 is closed, the ejection of powdered medicine is performed, and when the closing member 62 is open, the ejection of tablets is performed.
Such control is performed, for example, by the control unit 140 controlling the driving source 65 to be driven after scraping out the powdered medicine by the scraper 52 is completed and the packaging device 130 has completed the required packaging. Alternatively, scraping out by the scraper 52 and tablet discharge may be performed alternately, but if the powdered medicine is scraped out during the opening operation of the closing member 62, there is a risk that the powdered medicine will adhere between the tablet drop path 61 and the closing member 62, and there is also a high concern of so-called contamination, which is not desirable.

The tablets or powdered medicine thus dropped into the input hopper 70 are packaged in packaging paper 131 by a packaging device 130 as shown in FIG.
The packaging device 130 is provided with a wrapping strip feeding section 132 which holds a roll of the packet paper 131 and applies appropriate tension to send it out in sequence from the tip along the feed path of the packet paper 131, a printer 133 which prints on the packet paper 131, a vertical sealing section 134 which has a heating element extending in the width direction of the packet paper 131, i.e., in the vertical direction in this embodiment, and heats and fuses the seal section 131a of the packet paper 131, an input hopper 70 which moves up and down to insert and remove the tip into the packet paper 131 which has been folded in half, a horizontal sealing section 135 which has a heating element extending laterally and heats and fuses the packet paper 131, a roller section 136 which pulls the packet paper 131, and a cutter 137 which perforates and cuts the packet paper 131.

With this configuration, as shown in Figure 13, the packet paper 131 is filled with medications such as tablets and powdered medicine in sections of a specified length, and is discharged in a continuous manner to the downstream discharge outlet 139 with the seal portions 131a shown in shaded areas fused by heat.
Packaging paper 131 is folded in half with its upper end open and is pulled out from packaging strip feeder 132. Here, packaging strip feeder 132 is a packaging strip holder that feeds out packaging paper 131 wound up in a roll, for example, in a reel shape.
The packet paper 131 sent out from the wrapping belt supply section 132 is printed by the printer 133, moves to the bottom of the input hopper 70, and is sealed at the front and rear in the conveying direction by the vertical seal section 134. After that, the input hopper 70 inputs the medicine, the top is sealed, and the paper is cut or perforated by the cutter 137 before being discharged.

As shown at the tablet junction 60, one packet's worth of either tablets or powdered medicine falls into the input hopper 70, so one packet's worth of medicine is enclosed inside each of the packaging papers 131. Note that while Figure 13 shows an example of tablets, powdered medicine and other powdered medicines are also enclosed in each heat-sealed compartment.

When the feeding hopper 70 detects that the medicine has been added to the packet paper 131, the horizontal seal section 135 seals the top of the packet paper 131, and the roller section 136 pulls the packet paper 131 in a predetermined amount, so that the packet paper 131 is transported the length of one packet.
By repeating this operation, the packaging paper 131 is transported to the discharge port 139 as a series of medicine bags, each of which contains one packet of medicine.

The medicine packaging device 100 is a packaging device capable of packaging medicines such as tablets or powdered medicine into individual packets in packaging paper 131 by using the configuration of each part as described above.
In this embodiment, the configuration of the packaging device 130 is described only as a type in which the packaging paper 131 is transported horizontally, but any other configuration is acceptable as long as the packaging machine is capable of dividing the packaging paper into sections of a specified width and sealing medicine in the divided chambers, and the configuration is not limited to this.

The configuration of such a packaging device will be described with reference to FIG.
In this embodiment, the packaging paper 131 is folded in half and held in a roll by the packaging paper feed section 132 .
The packaging paper 131 is wound around multiple rollers 159 from the wrapping band feeding section 132 and discharged to the discharge outlet 139 via the printer 133, vertical sealing section 134, input hopper 70, horizontal sealing section 135, and roller section 136 as already described.
When stationary, the packing paper 131 is maintained at a constant tension, and when the roller section 136 to which the drive source is attached rotates a predetermined distance, for example, the length of one packet, 80 mm, to pull out the packing paper 131, the roll-shaped portion of the packing paper 131 rotates and the same length is pulled out from the packaging strip feed section 132.

In order to counteract the tension that occurs when the roller section 136 is retracted, a tension adjustment mechanism 150 is provided near the exit of the wrapping strip feeding section 132 to reduce the load on the packaging paper 131 by shortening the conveying path.

The tension adjustment mechanism 150 may be structured so that, for example, when tension of a certain strength or more is applied, the roller around which it is wound moves to relieve the tension, or it may be structured so that, when the roller portion 136 is retracted, the wrapping band feeding portion 132 rotates to relieve the increase in tension.

The vertical seal portion 134 has a vertical seal heater 1341, which is a heating element that extends in the width direction of the packing paper 131, which in this embodiment is the Z direction, and a vertical seal heater opposing plate 1342 arranged opposite the vertical seal heater 1341 on the opposite side of the packing paper 131.
As shown in FIG. 15, a pressure applying portion 1343 is provided on the vertical seal heater 1341 side for pressing the vertical seal heater 1341 against a vertical seal heater opposing plate 1342 side.
The pressure applying section 1343 pushes the vertical seal heater 1341 against the vertical seal heater opposing plate 1342, whereby the packaging paper 131 passing therebetween is heated in a sandwiched state and melted, thereby closing and fusing the folded packaging paper 131.
When the roller unit 136 is retracted, the closed portion moves in the conveying direction by the length of one packet, so that when the pressure unit 1343 presses the vertical seal heater 1341, and the roller unit 136 retracts the sachet paper 131 after the pressure is released, the sachet paper 131 folded in half has a sealed portion 131a, which is a fused portion in the width direction for each packet length.

When the sheet passes through the vertical seal section 134, this fused portion is formed only in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. 16 as seal section 131a. Therefore, the upper end portion in the conveying direction, i.e., the end portion on the +Z direction side, is conveyed in an open state as opening 131b.

If necessary, a perforation blade holding portion 160 may be provided in the vertical seal portion 134, for example, on the vertical seal heater opposing plate 1342 side.
The perforation blade holding portion 160 is connected to the vertical seal heater opposing plate 1342 via a pressure spring 161, as shown in Figure 17, and holds a triangular blade 1344 as a protrusion that constitutes the cutting portion of the perforation blade via a center axis 162 of the pressure spring 161.
The triangular blades 1344 are provided so as to face the inside of the vertical seal heater facing plate 1342, and a plurality of them are provided intermittently in the longitudinal direction with a width that allows passage through an opening hole 1345 formed in a slit shape on the vertical seal heater facing plate 1342. Note that the spacing and size of the triangular blades 1344 shown in Fig. 17 are merely illustrative of such a configuration in an easy-to-understand manner, and in reality, the triangular blades 1344 are attached in such a manner that a large number of fine triangular blades 1344 are formed intermittently so as to be able to form perforations.
With this structure, by utilizing the fact that the vertical seal heater opposing plate 1342 retreats in the -Y direction when pressed by the pressure section 1343, holes can be made in the packing paper 131 while fusing it at the seal section 131a, so that perforations equal to the spacing of the triangular blades 1344 can be formed in the seal section 131a.
There are many known methods for forming the perforations in the seal portion 131a, and the method is not limited to the above configuration, and the perforations may be formed using other configurations.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, one of the triangular blades 1344 may be provided with a cross blade 1347 that has a blade in the width direction of the packing paper 131 as well as a blade in the longitudinal direction. By providing such a cross blade 1347, in addition to the perforations formed as shown in Figure 16, a seal portion 131a is formed with a slit made in the longitudinal direction of the packing paper 131 perpendicular to the perforations.
The slit formed in the longitudinal direction of the packet paper 131 makes it possible to easily open the packet in order to remove the individually packaged medicine by first cutting off the perforated portion and then tearing the slit portion by hand.
When providing such a cross blade 1347, it is more preferable to provide a circular opening 1346 as a bulge as shown in FIG. 17 at the position of the opening hole 1345 facing the cross blade 1347.

In this embodiment, the product is transported in the vertical direction with the vertical seal portion 134 fused in this manner. That is, the product is transported to the bottom of the input hopper 70 with the top open and the front and rear ends fused.
In such a case, if the input hopper 70 were always located in the same place, the tip 72 of the input hopper 70 would get caught on the sealed portion 131a when the packaging paper 131 moved laterally, preventing smooth transport.

Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in Figure 18, the roller portion 136 pulls in the packet paper 131 while the tip portion 72 of the input hopper 70 is raised in the +Z direction so that it does not overlap the sealed portion 131a, and when the compartment separated by the sealed portion 131a is positioned directly below the input hopper 70, the input hopper 70 is moved downward to discharge the medicine, as shown in Figure 19.
That is, in this embodiment, when the roller portion 136 pulls in the sachet paper 131 and a specified section with its front and rear ends welded reaches a specified position, the input hopper 70 is inserted into the opening 131b at the top of the folded sachet paper 131.

The feeding hopper 70 has a shape that expands upward in the Y direction from the tip 72, and feeds powdered medicine that has fallen from the powdered medicine feeding port 71 and medicines such as tablets dropped from the tablet junction 60 through this bulging portion into a compartment of the packaging paper 131.
Therefore, when the upper part of the feeding hopper 70 than the tip 72 is inserted into the opening 131b, the doubled portions of the packaging paper 131 act to spread apart in the Y direction as part of the feeding hopper 70 enters between them, increasing the tension on the packaging paper 131.
When the folded packaging paper 131 is spread out in the Y direction in this manner, even if the input hopper 70 is positioned neatly in the center of the thickness of the folded packaging paper 131, the spreading may cause the paper to bend, or the surface on the +Y side may become misaligned with the surface on the -Y side.

On the other hand, the amount of deflection and increased tension caused by the insertion of the feeding hopper 70 is at most the distance that the feeding hopper 70 bulges in the Y direction, and is therefore infinitesimal compared to the increase in tension caused by the retraction action of the roller portion 136.
However, even if the misalignment is minute, if it occurs at the opening 131b, the opening 131b may be welded with some bending or other defects when sealed by the horizontal seal portion 135 described below, which may lead to a decrease in the airtightness of the packet paper 131. Therefore, there is a demand for technology that minimizes misalignment during insertion.

In order to prevent bending or misalignment due to insertion of the feeding hopper 70, it is advisable to press down the packaging paper 131 on both sides of the feeding hopper 70 in the conveying direction, for example. However, simply pressing down the packaging paper 131 may result in damage to the packaging paper 131 due to overload caused by increased tension, which is the cause of bending.
Therefore, as shown in Figure 20, a method can be considered in which a clamping section 710 is provided so that when the feeding hopper 70 is inserted after clamping the packing paper 131, the clamping section 710 rotates on its axis in response to the pulling of the packing paper 131.
The clamping section 710 is arranged to rotate around the drive rotation axis O', and clamps both sides of the packet paper 131 between a clamping plate 711 that moves in the Y direction and a flat clamping opposing plate 712 arranged opposite the clamping plate 711.

The following describes the operation of the clamping unit 710. The clamping unit 710 moves from an initial state shown in Fig. 21(a) to a state where the clamping plate 711 clamps the packing paper 131 as shown in Fig. 21(b).
When the packet paper 131 is pulled in toward the +X direction by the insertion of the input hopper 70 from the clamped state shown in Figure 21 (b), the packet paper 131 is pushed open on both sides as shown in Figure 21 (c), and the drive rotation shaft O' rotates counterclockwise in the figure in response to the pulling force, so that the folded packet paper 131 moves in a following manner while minimizing the misalignment between the folded packet paper 131.

In this way, it is possible to provide a clamping portion 710 that also functions as a swinging mechanism by being configured to move in response to the packing paper 131 being pulled.
However, since the direction of movement is on an arc centered on the drive rotation axis O', the configuration tends to be complicated, such as by providing a regulating plate 713 extending in the ZY direction to limit the rotation range of the drive rotation axis O' to a certain extent, or by providing a biasing member to return to the initial position when the tension is released.

Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to realize such a rocking mechanism with a simpler configuration, as shown in Figure 22, a pair of clamping members, a first clamping roller 73 and a second clamping roller 74, are provided upstream of the input hopper 70 in the conveying direction of the packing paper 131 and are arranged to sandwich the packing paper 131 between them so that they can clamp the packing paper 131.
The first clamping roller 73 is a roller whose surface is covered with silicone rubber so as to be rotatable along an axis in the Z direction, and is installed so as to be movable in the ±Y directions. The first clamping roller 73 may be, for example, a stainless steel roller with silicone rubber attached to its surface.

The second clamping roller 74 is a stainless steel roller that can rotate along the axis in the Z direction, and its surface is knurled to increase friction with the packaging paper 131.

The first clamping roller 73 waits in a position spaced apart from the packet paper 131 before the roller unit 136 is retracted, and is controlled to move in the +Y direction at some point after the roller unit 136 has finished retracting and before the input hopper 70 is inserted, so as to clamp the packet paper 131 together with the second clamping roller 74.
In other words, when the feeding hopper 70 is inserted, the first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 are positioned in contact with both sides of the packet paper 131 in the ±Y direction so as to form a nip portion, and the feeding hopper 70 is inserted into the opening 131b in this clamped state.

At this time, as shown in Figures 22(b) and 22(c), the first clamping roller 73 covered with silicone rubber presses against the second clamping roller 74 made of metal to clamp the packet paper 131, and the nip portion created by these two rollers can both rotate in the conveying direction when the packet paper 131 moves in the conveying direction.
With this type of rotation, the first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 rotate so as to counteract the tensile force in the X direction of the packaging paper 131 generated by the insertion of the input hopper 70, causing the packaging paper 131 to move so as to counteract the increase in tension.

In other words, the first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 are clamping members for clamping the input hopper 70 when it is inserted, and also function as a rocking mechanism that operates as a pair to counteract the increase in tension caused by the insertion of the input hopper 70.
In addition, first clamping roller 73 and second clamping roller 74 are disposed opposite each other with packaging paper 131 sandwiched therebetween, forming a nip, so that the distance traveled by one of them due to rotation is equal to the distance traveled by the other. In other words, the distance traveled by one sheet of packaging paper 131 on the -Y side and the distance traveled by one sheet of packaging paper 131 on the +Y side of the two-ply packaging paper 131 are equal, which prevents the folded packaging paper 131 from shifting relative to one another, and therefore the packaging paper can be sealed in lateral seal section 135 downstream in the conveying direction without shifting due to twisting or bending.
The first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 described above can eliminate the increase in tension that occurs when the feeding hopper 70 is inserted into the folded packaging paper 131, so that the tension can be maintained and the packaging paper 131 can be transported without placing excessive strain on it.

Here, since the first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 are both rollers that rotate drivenly, if the packet paper 131 is clamped between the first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74, when the packet paper 131 is pulled in the -X direction, which is the conveying method, the first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 will be driven to rotate and the packet paper 131 will be sent out.
In this way, a simple configuration that does not require a drive shaft or a regulating plate like the clamping section 710 can prevent the packet paper 131 from shifting out of position when inserted into the input hopper 70.

With such first clamping roller 73 and second clamping roller 74, when the packaging paper 131 is clamped from both sides by the clamping members, the movement of the packaging paper 131 is restricted in the ±Z direction and ±Y direction, but the packaging paper 131 does not become fixed in the X direction, which is the conveying direction.
Therefore, with this configuration, even when the feeding hopper 70 is inserted into the packing paper 131, the packing paper 131 moves in the conveying direction as shown in Figure 22 (c), thereby suppressing the increase in tension due to the insertion of the feeding hopper 70, so that the tension is maintained and the packing paper 131 can be conveyed without placing excessive load on it.

When the feeding hopper 70 is inserted and the first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 rotate following by the rotation, the packet paper 131 spreads, and the medicine is fed into the vertically sealed section of the packet paper 131 through the upper opening 131b, the feeding hopper 70 rises again and the first clamping roller 73 also moves in the -Y direction so that the packet paper 131 is released from the clamped state, and then the roller section 136 rotates to pull the packet paper 131 downstream in the conveying direction.
When the input hopper 70 is removed from the packing paper 131 in this manner, the packing paper 131 becomes loose by the amount that has been removed; however, as already mentioned, the amount of retraction of the roller portion 136 is 80 mm, the length of one packet, which is greater than the slight bending caused by the insertion and removal of the input hopper 70, and as a result, the packing paper 131 is transported while maintaining its initial tension.

In addition, a compartment separated by the seal portion 131a is positioned below the input hopper 70 as a result of this inflow and outflow of one packet, and by repeating the same operation, drugs are successively input into the compartment while maintaining tension on the packet paper 131.

As a second embodiment of the clamping member of the present invention, FIG. 24 shows a configuration having a first clamping plate 75 and a second clamping plate 76.
Similar to the configuration described in the first embodiment, the first clamping plate 75 and the second clamping plate 76 are positioned upstream of the input hopper 70 in the conveying direction so as to clamp the packet paper 131 from both sides.
The first clamping plate 75 is a flat member arranged on the -Y direction side of the packaging paper 131, and a first clamping roller 73 similar to the configuration described in the first embodiment is arranged so that the cylindrical side of the roller is located in the middle of the plate.
The second clamping plate 76 is a flat member arranged on the +Y direction side of the packaging paper 131, and a second clamping roller 74 similar to the configuration described in the first embodiment is arranged in its middle so that the cylindrical side of the roller is positioned.

The first clamping plate 75 and the second clamping plate 76 are both arranged on both sides of the packaging paper 131, and when the input hopper 70 is inserted into the opening 131b, the first clamping plate 75 moves in the +Y direction to clamp the packaging paper 131.
In this way, the first clamping plate 75 and the second clamping plate 76 are clamping members for clamping the packet paper 131 located at a predetermined position between the vertical seal portion 134 and the horizontal seal portion 135 when the packet paper 131 is inserted into the input hopper 70.
In addition, in this embodiment, a first clamping roller 73 and a second clamping roller 74 are provided on both sides of the first clamping plate 75 and the second clamping plate 76, respectively, and are arranged to clamp the packet paper 131, and the first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 function as a swinging mechanism.

In this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 are arranged facing each other, sandwiching the packet paper 131 between them, and when the input hopper 70 is inserted, the first clamping plate 75 moves in the +Y direction to hold the packet paper 131 in a clamped state.
At this time, while the packet paper 131 is clamped between the first clamping plate 75 and the second clamping plate 76, the portion nipped by the protruding first clamping roller 73 and second clamping roller 74 rotates in response to the retraction of the roller portion 136. Therefore, when tension increases excessively, the first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 rotate so as to send the paper downstream in the conveying direction, which has the effect of suppressing overload of tension.
In this way, the first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 as described in the first embodiment may be configured to double as clamping members, or a configuration may be adopted in which a first clamping plate 75 and a second clamping plate 76, which are separate clamping members, are provided and a driven roller is provided on each of the clamping members.

＜1＞
In this embodiment, the packaging device 130 is a packaging device for packaging medicines inserted from the input hopper 70, and is a packaging device that supplies medicines to the folded packing paper 131 through an opening 131b of the packing paper 131, seals the opening, and closes the packing paper 131.
The packaging device 130 has a vertical seal section 134 having a vertical seal heater 1341 extending in the width direction of the packing paper 131 and heating and fusing the packing paper 131, and a horizontal seal section 135 having a horizontal seal heater extending along the longitudinal direction of the packing paper 131 and heating and fusing the opening 131b of the packing paper 131.
In addition, the input hopper 70 has a first clamping roller 73 and a second clamping roller 74 as clamping members for clamping the packet paper 131, which is inserted into the opening 131b of the packet paper 131 when the packet paper 131 has reached a predetermined position and is located between the vertical seal portion 134 and the horizontal seal portion 135 and at a predetermined position, when the input hopper 70 is inserted.
The first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 function as a swinging mechanism for enabling movement in a direction that counteracts the increase in tension of the packaging paper 131 that occurs when the input hopper 70 moves up and down.
With this configuration, tension can be maintained and the packaging paper 131 can be transported without placing an excessive load on the packaging paper 131.

＜2＞
In addition to the configuration described in <1>, in this embodiment, the first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 are driven rollers that can rotate in the transport direction of the packet paper 131.
According to this configuration, it is possible to maintain tension and transport the packaging paper 131 without placing an excessive load on it, without requiring a complex configuration for swinging.

＜3＞
In addition to the configuration described in <1> or <2>, in this embodiment, the first clamping roller 73 and the second clamping roller 74 are arranged on both sides of the packing paper 131 so as to clamp the packing paper 131.
According to this configuration, it is possible to maintain tension and transport the packaging paper 131 without placing an excessive load on it, without requiring a complex configuration for swinging.

＜4＞
In addition, in this embodiment, in addition to the configuration described in any one of <1> to <3>, the oscillating mechanism has a second clamping roller 74 on one side of the packing paper 131 which is a roller with a metal surface, and a first clamping roller 73 on the other side of the packing paper 131 which is a roller with a surface formed from an elastic material.
According to this configuration, a nip is formed by pressing the metallic second clamping roller 74 against the soft surface of the first clamping roller 73, so that it is possible to expect a stronger effect of pressing down the packaging paper 131.

＜5＞
In this embodiment, in addition to the configuration described in any one of <1> to <4>, the surface of the second clamping roller 74 is knurled.
With this configuration, the frictional force between the slippery metal surface and the packing paper 131 is improved by the knurling process, which is expected to have a stronger effect in holding down the packing paper 131. Furthermore, any excess tension can be released by the rotation of the second clamping roller 74, so that the packing paper 131 can be transported by inserting the input hopper 70 without placing excessive load on it.

20...Distribution disk 60...Tablet confluence section 61...Falling path (tablet falling path)
62: Closing member 70: Feeding hopper 71: Powdered medicine feeding port 73: First clamping roller (swinging mechanism)
74...Second clamping roller (swing mechanism)
75...First clamping plate (clamping member)
76...Second clamping plate (clamping member)
100... Medicine packaging device 102... Placement surface 110... Tablet processing unit 120... Powdered medicine processing unit 130... Packaging device 131... Packaging strip (packaging paper)
132...Wrapping band holding unit (wrapping band feeding unit)
134: Vertical seal portion 135: Horizontal seal portion 136: Roller portion

Claims (4)

A packaging device for packaging medicines input from an input hopper, comprising:
A packaging device that supplies the medicine to a packaging strip folded in half through an opening of the packaging strip and seals the opening to close the packaging strip,
A vertical seal section has a heating element extending in the width direction of the packaging strip and heats and seals the packaging strip, and a horizontal seal section has a heating element extending along the longitudinal direction of the packaging strip and heats and seals the opening of the packaging strip,
The input hopper is inserted into the opening of the packaging strip when the packaging strip reaches a predetermined position,
a clamping member for clamping the packaging strip located at the predetermined position between the vertical seal portion and the horizontal seal portion when the packaging strip is inserted into the input hopper;
The clamping member has a swing mechanism for moving in a direction to counteract an increase in tension of the wrapping band caused when the input hopper moves up and down,
The packaging device is characterized in that the oscillating mechanism is a driven roller that can rotate along the conveying direction of the packaging strip, the driven roller forms a nip portion by clamping the packaging strip, and the driven roller rotates in response to the pulling of the packaging strip when the packaging strip is inserted into the input hopper . 2. The packaging device according to claim 1,
A packaging device characterized in that the swinging mechanisms are provided on both sides of the clamping member and positioned so as to clamp the packaging strip . 3. The packaging device according to claim 2 ,
The rocking mechanism is a roller having a metal surface on one side of the wrapping strip,
A wrapping device characterized in that the other side of the wrapping band is a roller whose surface is made of an elastic material . 4. The packaging device according to claim 3,
A packaging device characterized in that the metallic rollers have a knurled surface .

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