JPH03618A - Article filling device for ptp pocket - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to perform feeding and filling smoothly and by a high speed by a method wherein articles to be packaged are divided by pin tips of a pinwheel, and the articles to be packaged are received and stored by a unit number in a large number of sectors at shoot arc parts, and are fed to PTP pockets, accompanying the rotation of the pinwheel. CONSTITUTION:Naturally dropping tablets T are fed to opened sectors 24 one by one by the function of stoppers 38/39 at a control area 16. Accompanying with the rotation of a pinwheel 20, the tablets T move along the outer peripheral wall of an arc-shaped tunnel, while receiving a dropping control by a pin 22 at the leading end of the sector 24. When the tablets T reach the vicinity of the terminal end of a shoot arc part 12, they come into contact with an arc shaped operating surface 52 of a position control piece 50, and are gathered to a rear end of the sector 24, by being pressed by the arc shaped operating surface 52. Since the pinwheel 20 is synchronously operated a carrying measure for a PTP sheet 40 so that the corner position of respective pin 22 coincides with the rear end of a pocket 42 on the PTP sheet 40, the tablets T are assuredly filled in the pockets 42.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates generally to PTP packaging machines, and more particularly to an apparatus for filling articles into PTP pockets of plastic film therein. Here, the "article" does not need to be particularly limited, but it can be applied to pharmaceutical tablets, capsules, etc. that require careful handling and can be expected to have the desired effect.

[Prior art and its problems] In a PTP packaging machine, in order to supply and fill the pockets with articles, there is a direct feeding method in which the articles fall naturally by gravity through a chute or feed tube, and a transfer between the chute and film. The so-called drum system is widely used in which a combination of a drum or roll, a so-called filling drum, and a guide shoe whose shape is adapted to the circumference of the drum is interposed.

The direct feeding method often leads to troubles such as: ■ Duplicate supply or omission of supplies into pockets, ■ Vertical insertion of items into pockets, and ■ Items getting caught between the chute and pocket and causing damage. We may not be able to supply it.

On the other hand, with the drum method, when the articles are fed into the pockets of the filling drum, ■ vertical entry (improper direction) may occur, and ■ damage to the articles may occur, making it impossible to increase the filling speed (limited). = 300 tablets/minute/row) Also, needless to say, we prepare a variety of drums with pockets sized to correspond to the various shapes and sizes of articles.
There is also the problem of having to replace it.

In this conventional method, the articles to be accommodated are accommodated one by one in each recess-shaped pocket carved on the circumferential side of the drum, and the drum allows the articles to fall out of the pockets along guide shoes in the accommodated state. It is common for the device to be rotated and serve to guide the articles to the pockets of the film and fill them in an orderly manner while preventing this.

This conventional filling drum is provided with a plurality of pockets at predetermined intervals on its circumferential surface, and the pockets are merely recesses of a size suitable for storing articles. Therefore, when supplying a flat circular tablet as an article, the bottom surface of the pocket and the tip of the tablet come into point contact, making the posture of the tablet stored in the pocket unstable. Therefore, there were disadvantages such as the tablets standing up in the pockets, and when filling the pockets of the film, the tablets came into point contact with the bottom of the pockets, resulting in damage to their tips.

In order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, a filling drum having a pocket having a bottom surface constituted by two types of planes has been proposed and disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 59-23684.

The filling drum disclosed in this publication as a sub-pocket, i.e. a pocket with a second bottom surface, is capable of transferring the tablet to the pocket on the film side in such a way that it is received in surface contact, effectively absorbing the impact during feeding. However, it cannot be said that it has been improved for all objects such as irregularly shaped tablets and capsules, and the feeding rate is also limited to a maximum of 300 tablets/tablet. It is difficult to increase the number further than this.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been proposed for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned drawbacks. It consists of a tunnel-type chute for supplying goods to the bottom and a transfer means for receiving the packaged articles from the chute and delivering them to the PTP pocket of the film. The gist of the present invention is an apparatus for filling articles into PTP pockets, which is characterized by including the following elements. Here, the element is; a) formed in the downstream part of the tunnel-type chute, the tangent at the lower end of the arc forming the outer circumferential side wall thereof is arranged parallel to and close to the upper surface of the PTP film, and the inner circumferential side wall thereof; b) A chute arc section split vertically by slits and having a curtain rail-like cross section; b) A chute arc section pivoted on a horizontal line passing through the drawing center of the arc, and provided with a large number of pins radially. C) a pin foil in which each of the pins has a thickness not exceeding the width of the slit, and the radius of the trajectory circle drawn by the tip thereof is slightly smaller than the radius of curvature of the inner surface of the outer peripheral side wall of the arc portion; d) A means for rotationally driving the pin foil at a speed synchronized with the conveyance speed of the PTP film; d) A means for supplying the packaged articles to the sector one by one, provided in a portion upstream of the arc portion of the chute. and e) a feed control means provided near the lower end of the tunnel chute at a position that does not interfere with the operation of the pin foil following the lower end, for guiding the packaged articles that have reached the lower end into the individual PTP pockets. This is a guide plate.

In the above-mentioned apparatus, the packaged articles assigned to individual sectors and guided by the pins are always biased towards the groove ends within each sector, making it difficult to align them with the pocket positions of the PTP sheet. It is preferable to elastically press the articles to be packaged that have arrived nearby and to bias them towards the trailing ends of the individual sectors.

To deal with this, a slit is provided that vertically splits the vicinity of the lower end of the outer peripheral side wall of the chute arc, and the product passes through the slit and enters the vicinity of the lower end of the chute's arc, and the packaged articles that reach the vicinity are elastically This can be achieved by providing a position regulating piece having an arcuate working surface that can be pressed and biased towards the subordinate ends of the individual sectors.

This position regulating piece was filed by the present applicant in the Showa 6 period related to his/her application.
2nd Year Utility Model Registration Application No. 51.483 (Utility Model Application No. 51.483
58,804), and is useful for accurately guiding the packaged article to the PTP pocket during high-speed operation.

In addition, various configurations can be considered as the supply control means for supplying the packaged articles to the sector in units of units, and there is no need to limit it in particular. Here, the unit system usually refers to one item, but Exceptionally, there may be a plurality of 2-3. The supply control means includes two cams which are driven in a substantially horizontal arc in a circular arc and which penetrate the side wall of the chute and enter the chute by a cam that is rotated or vibrated in synchronization with the pin foil and/or the horizontal conveyance means. Preferably, the stopper is comprised of a stopper, and both stoppers are operated intermittently.

In addition, the supply control means includes a second arcuate tunnel formed upstream of the arcuate portion and having an opposite arcuate line smoothly connected to the arcuate portion, and arranged to fit the tunnel; A preferred example also includes a second pin foil for supplying the packaged articles unit by unit to the sector, and a supply chute for the packaged articles provided on the opposite side of the second pin foil.

On the other hand, even if a PTP sheet has pockets formed just before filling, if the material is easy to expand/shorten, the pocket position may not correspond to the sector position formed by the pin foil. Problems such as empty pockets and items getting caught were unavoidable.

In particular, many of the sheet materials that have been recently used as preferred materials with particularly excellent moisture resistance have a large amount of elongation/shortening. / Attempts to reduce the cumulative amount of shortening as a whole have been adopted to reduce the occurrence of this trouble to a certain extent.

However, recently, there has been a strong tendency to install attachments between the seal roller and the filling station, such as a device for detecting the presence or absence of contained items and a device for detecting cracks/missing, for quality assurance purposes, so this method has been adopted. It is becoming difficult to do so.

In order to solve the above problem, a powder brake, for example, is connected to the brake roller that is paired with the seal roller and transports the PTP sheet under suspension, and its capacity can be adjusted using the PT.
It is useful to use it to adjust the tension applied to the P sheet. To do this, a device that generates clock pulse signals for counting, such as an encoder, is installed on the pin foil or a member that rotates in relation to it. and compared with the value determined by the size,
The difference is derived as a control signal and used for this adjustment.

This reference time may start when the pocket bulge starting portion of the PTP sheet passes a specific point on the conveyance path, and may end at a specific angular position of the seal roller or a member that rotates in conjunction with it. To this end, a sensor is installed in the sheet conveyance path that detects the pocket by its bulging start point and generates a gate store number that determines the start time of clock pulse signal counting, while a gate signal that determines the end time of pulse signal counting. For example, an angle indicator may be provided on the seal roller or on a member that rotates in conjunction with the seal roller.

Although the Amagi invention has been described so far as being composed mainly of "vin foil"1, the "pin" in this 'vin foil' is not necessarily interpreted to be limited to a thin rod with a circular cross section. However, as long as the arc of the chute can be divided into sectors and the cross section can be oval, rectangular, or any other shape as long as it can pass along the slit without obstruction. Needless to say, the r slit j is not limited to a pore, and even if it is wide enough to be close to the full width of the chute, as long as it can prevent the conveyed article from deviating from the chute, it is possible to achieve the objective of the present invention. It is obvious that it is effective.

[Operation] The above configuration receives and stores the articles to be packaged in units of units in a large number of sectors formed in the chute arc section by dividing the articles by the tip end of the pin of the bin foil, and as the bin foil rotates. This is conveyed along the circular arc section, and the PT
It has the effect of supplying to the P pocket.

[Example] Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of one embodiment of the device of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a schematic side view thereof (however, the viewing direction is different from that in Fig. 1), both of which show a part of the device. This is a cutaway drawing. In these figures, 10 shows the vertical part of the tunnel type chute, 12 shows the arc part of the chute, 14 shows the slit, and 16 shows the control area provided in the vertical part. Also, 20 is a bottle foil, 22 is a pin, 2
4 is a sector (S,) of the circular arc portion 12 divided by inserting a pin, 30 is a cam, 32/33 is an arm, 3
1 is a spring suspended between both arms, 34/3
5 is a cam follower, and the cam 3 is moved by the action of a spring 31.
0, 36/s 7 is a buffer, 38/39 is a stopper.

In addition, 40 is a PTP sheet, 42 is a PTP pocket, 4
4 is a guide plate. Further, reference numeral 50 denotes an arc-shaped working surface 5 that enters into the chute near the end of the chute arc portion 12.
A spring 54 is attached to a lever that is pivoted behind the arc-shaped working surface 52 and is located on the opposite side of the working surface 52 with respect to the supporting shaft. In Figures 2 and 3, a rotational behavior (counterclockwise) is given.

As is clear from the above, the tablets T(tl) that naturally fall are sequentially released one by one by the action of the tablets 38/39 in the control area 16 and are supplied to each sector 24. The tablet T in the sector 24 is normally located at the groove end of the sector 24 and is controlled to fall by the pin 22, and moves inside this arcuate tunnel along the outer mu thereof as the pin foil 200 rotates.

When the tablet T reaches the vicinity of the end of the chute arcuate portion 12, it comes into contact with the arcuate action surface 52 of the position regulating piece 50 and receives its pressure, and is biased toward its subordinate end in the sector 24. In the pin foil 20, the corner position of each pin 22 is
The tablets T are reliably filled into the pockets 42 because they are driven in synchronization with the conveying means of the PTP sheet 40 so that they are always aligned with the subordinate ends of the pockets 42 of the PTP sheet 40.

Note that the guide plate 44 is a commonly used auxiliary means that has the function of guiding the tablet T placed on the pocket 42 to the pocket 42, and in this regard,
This is substantially similar to the commonly used packed drum system. The arrows attached to each member 20.30°32.33.4G and 50 indicate the direction of movement thereof. Note that the operation of the illustrated driving means for the pinwheel 20 and the cam 30 is self-explanatory just from the illustration, so the explanation is omitted.

Figures 3a-e illustrate the operations of the embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2, particularly supply control, delivery, position regulation and PT.
It is a schematic diagram seen from the side in order to sequentially explain the operation of each means for guiding to the P pocket.

At point a, the row of tablets waiting in the vertical part 10 of the chute reaches the control area 16, and the stopper 38 against the bottom is released by the vibration of the arm 32, but the pin 22 prevents the tablet from falling. Indicates a blocked state. The post-reading tablet t, is prevented from passing and held by the stopper 39, and the preceding tablet t,-1 has already been formed by each sector s1-'s formed by the chute arc portion 14 dividing into the pin 22. , and the arc part 1
Moving within 4. Of these, tablets t in sector S.

has already shifted from its groove end to its subordinate end in the sector 24 under the influence of the arcuate working surface 52 of the position regulating piece 50.

In the next step b, the blockage of the tablet t by the stopper 39 is released by the retreat of the stopper 39. However, since the stopper 38 instead returns from its most retracted position to its blocking position, the tablet t.

is prevented from falling together with the subsequent tablet t1. The tablet t, which was accommodated in the sector S, has already reached the end of the chute arc portion 12 and reaches the next C, and the tablet t,
is pushed down and guided to the position of the PTP pocket 42 directly below.

On the other hand, the tablet t accommodated in the sector S and conveyed through the chute arc portion 12 is
2 and its movement is beginning to be delayed. this is,
Sector S in the next C state.

biased towards the slave end of the.

It goes without saying that following state C, the configuration as a whole returns to state a.

What should be noted here is the important action of the position regulating piece 50 having the arcuate action surface 52, which biases the tablet toward its subordinate end in a sector near the end of the chute arc portion 12, allowing accurate guidance to the PTP pocket. Not only is it useful, but it also has the adaptability to accommodate tablets of different sizes without the need for replacing parts. Note that the pressing force of the arcuate action surface 52 against the tablet may be small as long as it is sufficient to perform the function of position regulation, and is slightly reduced by the spring 54 so as to protect the tablet.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the supply control to the chute arc portion 12 is performed by controlling the combination of the second chute arc portion 60 and the second pin foil 62 which rotates along the second chute arc portion 60 and is driven synchronously with the pin foil 20. This is done by alternative means with the main components. Instead of a pin, a paddle foil with a paddle can also be used in the same way as the pin foil 62.

In the configuration shown, a stopper 38/39 (the chain line indicates the retracted position) is also drawn on the chute 10 on the opposite side of the pinwheel 20 with respect to the second pinwheel 62, but this is not a means for ensuring reliability. be. The supply control function of such an alternative means is obvious from the drawings, and the operation of other parts is the same as that already described, so redundant explanation will be omitted.

Effect] By implementing the present invention, it is possible to supply and fill the PTP pocket with the packaged articles extremely smoothly and at high speed (approximately 500 tablets/minute/row), thereby achieving great industrial effects. I can do it. Furthermore, since the present invention can accommodate a wide variety of sizes of articles to be packaged, there is also the secondary effect that parts replacement and device adjustment work associated with size changes can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are a schematic perspective view and a schematic side view, respectively, of one embodiment of the device of the present invention, and each figure in FIG. It is a schematic diagram seen from the side for sequentially explaining the operation. Further, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a modified embodiment of the supply control means. 10-m-tunnel type chute vertical part, 12-m-chute arc part, 14-m-slit, 16--control area, 20-m-
pin foil, 22--pin, 24--sector S1- demarcated by eleven bins; 30-m-cam, 32/33---arm, 34/35
--1 cam follower, 36/37---buffer, 38/39---stopper, 4O---PTP sheet, 42---PTP pocket, 44-m-guide plate, 50-m-position regulation piece, 52-m-arc-shaped working surface, 60-
11-2nd chute arc part, 62-11-2nd bottle foil, 1% ti-D-tablet,

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A conveyance means for conveying the PTP film after pocket formation in a substantially horizontal direction, a tunnel-type chute for supplying the packaged articles under control, and a PTP pocket for receiving the packaged articles from the chute. A device for filling goods into a PTP pocket, comprising a transfer means for transferring goods to a PTP pocket, characterized in that it includes the following elements: a chute arc portion whose tangent at the lower end of the arc is arranged parallel to and close to the upper surface of the PTP film, and whose inner circumferential side wall is vertically split by slits and has a curtain rail-like cross section; b) the arc; is pivoted on a horizontal line passing through the center of depiction of the slit, and has a large number of pins arranged radially, each of the large number of pins having a thickness not exceeding the width of the slit,
a pin foil whose radius of a trajectory circle drawn by its tip is slightly smaller than the radius of curvature of the inner surface of the outer circumferential side wall of the arc portion; c) means for rotationally driving the pin foil at a speed synchronized with the conveying speed of the PTP film; d) a supply control means provided in a portion upstream of the arcuate portion of the chute and capable of supplying the articles to be packaged to the sector one by one; and e) near the lower end of the tunnel chute and continuing to the lower end thereof; , a guide plate that guides the packaged articles that have reached the lower end to the individual PTP pockets, the guide plate being provided at a position that does not interfere with the operation of the pin foil; 2) Providing a slit vertically splitting the vicinity of the lower end of the outer peripheral side wall of the chute arc portion, penetrating through the slit and entering the vicinity of the lower end of the chute arc, and elastically pressing the packaged articles that have reached the vicinity; 2. The apparatus for filling articles into a PTP pocket according to claim 1, further comprising a position regulating piece having an arcuate working surface that can bias the position regulating piece toward the subordinate end of each sector. 3) The supply control means is driven by a cam driven in synchronization with the pinwheel in a substantially horizontal direction in a circular arc, and is comprised of two stoppers that penetrate the side wall of the chute and enter the chute; 2. The device for filling articles into a PTP pocket according to claim 1, wherein the article to be packaged is supplied to the sector one by one by successive intermittent operations of the stopper. 4) the supply control means is formed upstream of the arcuate portion;
a second arc having an opposite arch wire smoothly connected to the arc portion;
a second pinfoil arranged to fit into the tunnel and driven in synchronization with the pinfoil capable of supplying the sector with packaged articles unit by unit; and the second pinfoil. 2. The apparatus for filling articles into a PTP pocket according to claim 1, further comprising a supply chute for supplying articles to be packaged provided on the opposite side of the first pin foil.