JP7752603B2 - Alignment and conveyance device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an alignment conveying device, and more specifically to an alignment conveying device that conveys solid preparations such as tablets and capsules in an aligned state.

A known conventional aligning and conveying device is the one disclosed in Patent Document 1. As shown in Figure 13, this aligning and conveying device 50 includes a rotating disk 51, a first ring 52, and a second ring 53, each of which is driven to rotate independently in the direction of the arrow. As a result, solid articles P supplied onto the rotating disk 51 are subjected to centrifugal force and move past the upper peripheral wall of the first ring 52 to the upper peripheral wall of the second ring 53. The solid articles P conveyed by the second ring 53 are attracted to the outer peripheral surface of a suction roller 54 and conveyed upward.

Patent No. 6503525

In the above-mentioned conventional alignment and conveying device 50, the solid preparations P conveyed by the suction roller 54 move in an arc along the rotational direction of the suction roller 54, making it difficult to perform printing or visual inspections on the solid preparations P from both axial sides of the suction roller 54, for example, and there was room for improvement in terms of improving the handleability of the conveyed solid preparations P.

Therefore, the present invention aims to provide an alignment and conveying device that aligns and conveys solid dosage forms so that they are easy to handle.

The object of the present invention is to provide a solid preparation conveying device comprising: a first conveying device which is provided with a rotating ring having a rotating shaft extending in the vertical direction and a conveying section at its upper part, aligning solid preparations in the conveying section and conveying them in the direction of rotation of the rotating ring; and a second conveying device which sequentially picks up the solid preparations conveyed by the first conveying device from above and conveys them in an aligned state, the second conveying device comprising a first pulley and a second pulley, an endless belt body which is wound around the first pulley and the second pulley and conveys the solid preparations, and a guide member which is arranged along the conveying direction of the belt body, the belt body having openings formed continuously or intermittently along its longitudinal direction, and the guide member comprising a suction section which sucks the solid preparations through the openings to adsorb them onto the belt body. The suction unit is provided so that the solid preparation is adsorbed to the bottom of the belt near the bottom of the first pulley, rises , and is transported linearly while remaining adsorbed , and the linear portion of the belt located between the first pulley and the second pulley is inclined obliquely upward from the first pulley toward the second pulley below the first pulley and the second pulley, and further includes a cover unit interposed between the solid preparation transported by the first transport device and the belt, and the cover unit is achieved by an alignment transport device arranged to cover the solid preparation transported by the first transport device so that the solid preparation transported by the first transport device is not adsorbed to the belt before reaching the bottom of the belt .

In this alignment and conveying device, it is preferable that the diameter of the second pulley is smaller than the diameter of the first pulley.

It is also preferable that the speed at which the solid formulation is transported by the second transport device is faster than the speed at which the solid formulation is transported by the first transport device.

The present invention provides an alignment and conveying device that aligns and conveys solid preparations so that they are easy to handle.

1 is a schematic front view of an aligning and conveying device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part of the aligning and conveying device shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 10 is a schematic front view of an aligning and conveying device according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a side view of a main part of the aligning and conveying device shown in FIG. 4 . FIG. 10 is a schematic front view of an aligning and conveying device according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a plan view of a main part of the aligning and conveying device shown in FIG. 6 . FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 6. FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 7 . FIG. 10 is a schematic front view of an aligning and conveying device according to still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a schematic front view of an aligning and conveying device according to still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a schematic front view of an aligning and conveying device according to still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional alignment and conveyance device.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is a schematic front view of an alignment and conveyance device according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, the alignment and conveyance device 1 includes a first conveyance device 10 and a second conveyance device 20.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in Figure 1, and Figure 3 is a plan view of the main parts of the aligning and conveying device 1 shown in Figure 1. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the first conveying device 10 has a configuration similar to that of the aligning and conveying device disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, and includes a hat-shaped disk 11, an intermediate ring 12 that houses the disk 11, and a rotating ring 13 that houses the intermediate ring 12.

While the rotation axes 11a, 13a of the disk 11 and the rotating ring 13 extend vertically, the rotation axis 12a of the intermediate ring 12 is positioned at a slight angle relative to the rotation axes 11a, 13a. The rotation axes 11a, 12a, and 13a are connected to individual drive sources such as motors (not shown) via reducers 11b, 12b, and 13b, respectively, allowing the disk 11, intermediate ring 12, and rotating ring 13 to be rotated independently.

Conveying sections 12c and 13c are formed circumferentially on the upper portions of the intermediate ring 12 and the rotating ring 13, respectively. The conveying section 13c of the rotating ring 13 is covered on its radially outer side by a ring-shaped protrusion 13d.

The second conveying device 20 comprises a first pulley 21 and a second pulley 22, each with a horizontally disposed rotation axis 21a, 22a, an endless belt 23 wound around the first pulley 21 and the second pulley 22, and a guide member 24 disposed along the conveying direction of the belt 23. The diameter of the second pulley 22 is smaller than the diameter of the first pulley 21. The straight portion of the belt 23 located between the first pulley 21 and the second pulley 22 is horizontal above the first pulley 21 and the second pulley 22 and is inclined below the first pulley 21 and the second pulley 22.

As shown in Figure 2, the first pulley 21 is composed of two disks 21b, 21c connected by a rotating shaft 21a with a gap between them. Similar to the first pulley 21, the second pulley 22 also has two disks connected by a rotating shaft 22a with a gap between them. In this embodiment, the first pulley 21 is a drive pulley connected to a drive motor (not shown), and the second pulley 22 is a driven pulley, but the first pulley 21 may also be a driven pulley and the second pulley 22 may also be a drive pulley.

The belt body 23 comprises two belt-shaped conveyor belts 23a and 23b, each wrapped around the discs 21b and 21c of the first pulley 21. Between the two conveyor belts 23a and 23b, an opening 23c consisting of a minute gap is formed around the entire circumference of the belt body 23. The conveyor belts 23a and 23b can be formed, for example, from flat belts made of a soft material such as silicone rubber, but V-belts, toothed belts, etc. can also be used.

1, the guide member 24 has a straight portion 24a located immediately below the belt 23 extending horizontally between the first pulley 21 and the second pulley 22, and arc portions 24b and 24c provided on both sides of the straight portion 24a in the conveying direction. Each arc portion 24b and 24c is inserted between two circular plates provided on the first pulley 21 and the second pulley 22, respectively, and is formed to curve in an arc along the belt 23 wound around the first pulley 21 and the second pulley 22.

2, the guide member 24 is formed in a hollow cylindrical shape, and a slit-shaped suction section 25 is formed along the opening 23c of the belt body 23 at the portion of the guide member 24 facing the opening 23c. The interior of the guide member 24 can be depressurized by operating a vacuum pump (not shown). By sucking the solid preparation P into the suction section 25 through the opening 23c of the belt body 23, the solid preparation P can be transported together with the belt body 23 while adsorbed to the belt body 23. In this embodiment, the opening 23c of the belt body 23 is formed continuously along the longitudinal direction between the two conveyor belts 23a, 23b. However, the belt body 23 may be a single belt-like belt, and circular, elliptical, slit-shaped, or other openings may be formed intermittently along the longitudinal direction of the belt-like belt.

With the above-described configuration of the aligning and conveying device 1, when the disk 11, intermediate ring 12, and rotating ring 13 of the first conveying device 10 are rotated in the same direction, multiple solid dosage forms P, such as tablets or capsules, are supplied onto the disk 11. The solid dosage forms P are subjected to centrifugal force and move to the conveying section 13c of the rotating ring 13 via the conveying section 12c of the intermediate ring 12. In this way, the solid dosage forms P can be aligned in a row in the conveying section 13c and conveyed in the direction of rotation of the rotating ring 13 (the direction of arrow B in Figure 3). The rotational speeds of the disk 11, intermediate ring 12, and rotating ring 13 are preferably set so that the disk 11 has the slowest rotational speed and the rotating ring 13 has the fastest rotational speed, thereby facilitating reliable aligned conveyance of the solid dosage forms P by the rotating ring 13.

The first conveying device 10 may be configured to align solid preparations P on the conveying section 13c of the rotating ring 13 and convey them in the rotational direction of the rotating ring 13. For example, it may be configured without an intermediate ring 12, with the rotation axes of the disk 11 and the rotating ring 13 tilted relative to each other, so that solid preparations P supplied onto the disk 11 are moved directly to the conveying section 13c of the rotating ring 13. While the rotation axis 13a of the rotating ring 13 is preferably arranged along the vertical direction as in this embodiment, it may also be arranged to extend in the up-down direction. For example, the rotation axis 13a may be slightly tilted relative to the vertical direction.

The solid preparations P aligned and conveyed by the first conveying device 10 toward the second conveying device 20 are successively attracted to the belt body 23 near the bottom of the first pulley 21 by the suction of the suction section 25, and rise, and are conveyed linearly above the first pulley 21 and the second pulley 22 in the direction of arrow C in Figure 3 while still in the attracted state. In this way, the solid preparations P aligned by the first conveying device 10 can be conveyed linearly by the second conveying device 20 while maintaining their alignment, thereby improving the handleability of the conveyed solid preparations P.

In addition, in this embodiment, by making the diameter of the second pulley 22 smaller than the diameter of the first pulley 21, the belt body 23 located below the first pulley 21 and the second pulley 22 is inclined diagonally upward from the first pulley 21 toward the second pulley 22, thereby easily avoiding interference between the solid preparations P aligned in the conveying section 13c of the rotating ring 13 and the belt body 23.

At the transfer position of the solid dosage form P from the rotating ring 13 to the belt body 23, as in this embodiment, it is preferable that the conveying direction by the rotating ring 13 and the conveying direction by the belt body 23 coincide, thereby ensuring the transfer of the solid dosage form P. Furthermore, by making the conveying speed of the solid dosage form P by the belt body 23 faster than the conveying speed of the solid dosage form P by the rotating ring 13, the alignment pitch of the solid dosage forms P conveyed in an aligned manner by the belt body 23 can be increased, thereby further improving the handleability of the solid dosage forms P conveyed in a linear manner.

While the linear transport of solid dosage forms P is not particularly limited, the alignment and transport device 1 of this embodiment includes an appearance inspection device 30 that performs an appearance inspection of solid dosage forms P linearly transported by the second transport device 20. The appearance inspection device 30 includes a sensor 31 that detects the approach of solid dosage forms P transported by the second transport device 20, and imaging devices 32 and 33 that capture images of both horizontal sides of the solid dosage forms P detected by the sensor 31. By maintaining the solid dosage forms P in a state where they are adsorbed to the belt body 23 until the imaging positions of the imaging devices 32 and 33, accurate side inspection of the solid dosage forms P can be performed. Alternatively, by placing a printing device in place of the imaging devices 32 and 33, printing can be performed on the sides, etc., of solid dosage forms P. Printing on solid dosage forms P transported in an arc distorts the printed design along the arc, requiring complex correction processing. On the other hand, printing using the linear transport of this embodiment eliminates such correction processing, thereby improving the handleability of the solid dosage forms P. The method of printing on the sides, etc., is not limited to that described in the above embodiment. For example, by providing the imaging devices 32 and 33 and arranging printing devices on both sides of the solid article P in the horizontal direction, it is possible to print on the side surfaces of the solid article P, etc.

The suction section 25 need only extend from the position where the solid dosage form P is suctioned to the belt 23 on the arcuate section 24b of the guide member 24 to a necessary portion of the straight section 24a (for example, the portion where visual inspection or printing of the solid dosage form P is completed), and does not necessarily have to extend along the entire longitudinal direction of the guide member 24. After visual inspection, the solid dosage form P falls from the belt 23 and is discharged from the discharge chute 100 shown in Figure 1 and sent to the next process.

The alignment and conveying device 1 shown in Figure 1 can also be configured to utilize linear conveyance of solid articles P by adding a clamping and conveying device 40, as shown in Figure 4. The clamping and conveying device 40 includes a third pulley 41, a fourth pulley 42, and a clamping belt 43 that is wound around the third pulley 41 and the fourth pulley 42 to clamp the solid articles P. Driving the third pulley 41 or the fourth pulley 42 causes the clamping belt 43 to travel in the direction indicated by the arrow. Furthermore, in addition to the sensor 31 and imaging devices 32 and 33 shown in Figure 1, the visual inspection device 30 includes imaging devices 34 and 35 that capture images of the solid articles P clamped by the clamping belt 43 from both above and below.

As shown in the side view of Figure 5, the clamping belt 43 consists of two endless belts 43a and 43b, with a gap 44 formed between the endless belts 43a and 43b. The third pulley 41 is equipped with a gap adjustment member 45 that is interposed in the gap 44 of the clamping belt 43. The gap adjustment member 45 consists of a pair of gap-up rollers that are supported for free rotation on a bracket (not shown), and is positioned to widen the gap 44. A gap adjustment member 45 is also provided on the fourth pulley 42, and the gap 44 of the clamping belt 43 is larger near the third pulley 41 and the fourth pulley 42 and gradually narrows from both sides toward the center between them.

The clamping and conveying device 40 configured as described above can clamp the solid dosage form P conveyed linearly by the second conveying device 20 in the gap 44 of the clamping belts 43 and convey the solid dosage form P with both the top and bottom surfaces exposed. This allows for visual inspection of both sides of the solid dosage form P using the imaging devices 32 and 33, as well as visual inspection of the front and back surfaces of the solid dosage form P using the imaging devices 34 and 35. The solid dosage form P captured by the imaging devices 34 and 35 falls as the gap 44 of the clamping belts 43 widens during conveyance, and is discharged from the discharge chute 100. To accurately inspect the front and back surfaces of the solid dosage form P, a guide device such as that disclosed in International Publication No. 2018/100980 may be provided between the third pulley 41 and the fourth pulley 42. A printing device may also be provided in place of the imaging devices 34 and 35.

Figure 6 is a schematic front view of an aligning and conveying device according to another embodiment of the present invention. The aligning and conveying device 1' shown in Figure 6 is the aligning and conveying device 1 shown in Figure 1, with a transfer guide 110 provided between the first conveying device 10 and the second conveying device 20. Other than the transfer guide 110, the configuration is the same as that of the aligning and conveying device 1 shown in Figure 1. Therefore, in the aligning and conveying device 1' shown in Figure 6, components that are the same as those in Figure 1 are given the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptions will be omitted.

As shown in Figure 6, the transfer guide 110 includes a fixed guide member 111 supported by a bracket (not shown). As shown in the plan view of Figure 7, the fixed guide member 111 is formed in the shape of a hollow disk so that its inner periphery follows the conveying path 13c of the first conveying device 10, and has a notched shape near the suction position by the second conveying device. In Figure 7, the second conveying device is not shown, and only the first pulley 21 included in the second conveying device is indicated by a two-dot chain line.

6 and 7, a cover portion 112 and an inner guide portion 113 are fixed to the cutout portion of the fixed guide member 111. The cover portion 112 is made of a sheet-like material that is resistant to bending and deformation, and is interposed between the solid preparations P being transported along the transport path 13c of the first transport device 10 and the belt body 23 of the second transport device 20. The inner guide portion 113 is disposed below the cover portion 112 and has a guide surface 113a that follows the inner periphery of the transport path 13c of the first transport device 10.

8 and 9 are enlarged views of the main parts of FIGS. 6 and 7, respectively. As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the cover portion 112 extends to near the bottom of the belt 23 of the second conveying device 20 and is positioned to cover the solid preparations P conveyed along the conveying path 13c of the first conveying device 10. With this configuration, there is no risk that the solid preparations P conveyed along the conveying path 13c will be adsorbed onto the belt 23 by reduced pressure suction before reaching the bottom of the belt 23. Therefore, the solid preparations P can be reliably adsorbed at the bottom of the belt 23, where they are closest to each other, thereby suppressing the upward movement of the solid preparations P between the first conveying device 10 and the second conveying device 20 and enabling the solid preparations P to be transferred with appropriate timing and posture.

9, the inner guide portion 113 extends from the inner circumferential side of the fixed guide member 111 to the adsorption position of the solid preparation P at the bottom of the belt body 23, and the solid preparation P transported along the transport path 13c of the first transport device 10 is transported to the adsorption position while sliding along the guide surface 113a. The gap S formed between the ring-shaped protrusion 13d covering the radially outer side of the transport path 13c and the guide surface 113a is preferably greater than the transverse length of the solid preparation P, which may have various shapes such as soft capsules or irregularly shaped tablets, but smaller than the longitudinal length of the solid preparation P. With this configuration, the solid preparation P can be adsorbed onto the second transport device 20 with its longitudinal direction aligned along the transport direction, thereby stabilizing the posture of the solid preparation P transported by the transport device 20.

The configuration in which the straight portion of the belt body 23 of the second conveying device 20 is inclined below the first pulley 21 and the second pulley 22 is not limited to the configuration shown in Figures 1 and 6. For example, as shown in Figure 10, the second pulley 22 may be arranged diagonally above the first pulley 21. Alternatively, as shown in Figure 11, the second conveying device 20 shown in Figure 10 may be further arranged with an additional pulley 121 so that the straight portion of the belt body 23 is horizontal above the additional pulley 121 and the second pulley 22. Multiple additional pulleys 121 may be arranged. As another configuration, as shown in Figure 12, the second conveying device 20 may be configured so that the solid preparations P are conveyed linearly in the vertical direction by arranging the second pulley 22 vertically above the first pulley 21. The first pulley 21 and the second pulley 22 shown in FIGS. 10 to 12 may have the same diameter as each other, or may have different diameters from each other.

1 Alignment conveying device 10 First conveying device 13 Rotating ring 13c Conveying section 20 Second conveying device 21 First pulley 22 Second pulley 23 Belt body 23c Opening 24 Guide member 25 Suction section

Claims (5)

a first conveying device including a rotating ring having a conveying section at an upper portion thereof and having a rotation axis extending in a vertical direction, the first conveying device aligning solid preparations in the conveying section and conveying the solid preparations in the rotation direction of the rotating ring;
a second conveying device that sequentially picks up the solid preparations conveyed by the first conveying device from above and conveys them in an aligned state,
the second conveying device includes a first pulley and a second pulley, an endless belt wound around the first pulley and the second pulley to convey the solid preparation, and a guide member disposed along the conveying direction of the belt;
The belt body has openings formed continuously or intermittently along the longitudinal direction,
the guide member includes a suction section that sucks the solid preparation through the opening to cause the solid preparation to be adsorbed onto the belt body,
the suction unit is provided so that the solid preparation is attracted to the lowest part of the belt body in the vicinity of a lower part of the first pulley, rises, and is transported linearly while being attracted to the belt body ;
the straight portion of the belt body located between the first pulley and the second pulley is inclined obliquely upward from the first pulley toward the second pulley below the first pulley and the second pulley,
a cover interposed between the solid preparation transported by the first transport device and the belt body,
The cover portion is arranged to cover above the solid preparations transported by the first transport device so that the solid preparations transported by the first transport device are not adsorbed onto the belt body before reaching the bottom of the belt body . The diameter of the second pulley is smaller than the diameter of the first pulley,
2. The aligning and conveying device according to claim 1 , wherein the straight portion of the belt member located between the first pulley and the second pulley is horizontal above the first pulley and the second pulley. 3. The aligning and conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the conveying speed of the solid preparations by the second conveying device is faster than the conveying speed of the solid preparations by the first conveying device. 4. The aligning and conveying device according to claim 1 , further comprising an appearance inspection device that inspects the appearance of the solid preparations linearly conveyed by the second conveying device. The aligning and conveying device according to claim 1 , further comprising a printing device that prints on the solid preparations linearly conveyed by the second conveying device.