Automatic Chinese medicine dispensing mechanism

Abstract

An automatic Chinese medicine dispensing mechanism, which adopts an upper and lower multi-layer structure, and there can be several dispensing unit groups on each layer; each dispensing unit group includes a medicine storage drawer and a weighing and medicine discharging device; the two are independent of each other and are not connected together; the medicine storage drawer is connected to the rack by installing sliding rails and can slide horizontally. A small conveying device is installed at the inner bottom of the medicine storage drawer, and there is also a medicine discharging channel outside the front part of the medicine storage drawer; the weighing and medicine discharging device is located on the lower layer in front of the medicine storage drawer and can be installed on the rack; when the medicine storage drawer is not pulled out, the upper inlet of the weighing and medicine discharging device corresponds to the medicine dropping opening of the medicine discharging channel of the medicine storage drawer. There is also an embedded controller inside the dispensing unit group, and the controllers of each dispensing unit group are connected through an industrial network. Each controller receives the control instructions of the system and executes the weighing and medicine discharging task of this dispensing unit group; the weighing and medicine discharging device discharges medicine forward or downward; the front part of the automatic Chinese medicine dispensing mechanism also includes a medicine discharging and conveying channel.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present patent invention relates to an automatic dispensing system for bulk Chinese herbal pieces; an automatic dispensing system for bulk Chinese herbal pieces may include multiple groups of automatic Chinese medicine dispensing mechanisms, and the present patent invention specifically relates to an automatic Chinese medicine dispensing mechanism. Background Art

[0002] Due to the wide variety and different forms of ordinary bulk Chinese herbal pieces, it brings many difficulties to the design of automatic Chinese medicine dispensing; in addition to the low weighing accuracy in many existing technical solutions, there are also problems such as small drug storage capacity, inconvenient drug loading, poor drug material flow, etc. Especially when some Chinese medicines have a light specific gravity, a large dosage, and need to be frequently loaded with drugs, the practical problems of the existing solutions are more prominent. For example, in the patent "Quantitative Weighing Device for Chinese Medicinal Materials" with the patent number 2012203749494, the scheme of inclined placement of the medicine box is adopted. The drug storage space of each unit is limited, and the fluidity of the drug materials with a light specific gravity is still poor. Moreover, there are many problems such as complex structure and difficult installation. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of the common defects existing in the above-mentioned existing solutions; comprehensively considering key factors such as the size of the drug storage space, the convenience of drug loading, the fluidity of drug materials, and the weighing accuracy, an automatic Chinese medicine dispensing mechanism is provided, which has excellent comprehensive performance. In particular, it can be suitable for the automatic dispensing of some Chinese medicine varieties with large monomers, large dosages, frequent drug loading requirements, poor fluidity, and difficult to handle by other existing technical solutions.

[0004] Technical Solution

[0005] An automatic Chinese medicine dispensing mechanism adopts an upper and lower multi-layer structure, and each layer may have several dispensing unit groups; each dispensing unit group includes a drug storage drawer and a weighing and drug discharging device; the two are independent of each other and not connected together; the drug storage drawer is connected to the rack through an installed slide rail and can slide horizontally. A small conveyor belt device is installed at the inner bottom of the drug storage drawer; there is also a drug discharging channel on the outer front of the drug storage drawer; several stirrers are also provided in the drug storage drawer, which are driven by a motor to assist the conveyor belt device to evenly send the drug materials to the front drug discharging channel; the weighing and drug discharging device is located on the lower layer in front of the drug storage drawer, that is, on the front side of the lower drawer, and can be installed on the rack; when the drug storage drawer is not pulled out, the upper inlet of the weighing and drug discharging device corresponds to the drug dropping opening of the drug discharging channel of the drug storage drawer, and the shape and position of the weighing and drug discharging device do not conflict with the shape and position of the drug discharging channel of the lower drug storage drawer in space; there is also an embedded controller inside the dispensing unit group, and the controllers of each dispensing unit group are connected through an industrial network. Each controller receives the control instructions of the system and executes the weighing and drug discharging task of this dispensing unit group; the weighing and drug discharging device discharges the drug forward or downward; the front part of the automatic Chinese medicine dispensing mechanism also includes a drug discharging conveying channel.

[0006] Further, the medicine weighing and dispensing device includes a weighing hopper and a weighing sensor. One end of the weighing sensor is fixed on the structural frame of the medicine weighing and dispensing device, and the other end is connected to the weighing hopper. There is also an electric door on the weighing hopper. The electric door can be rotated to open, and the medicine material is output forward and downward from the medicine weighing and dispensing device. The medicine weighing and dispensing device further includes a blanking turntable or a vibrating plate, and the controller controls the motor of the turntable or the speed and start / stop of the vibrating plate according to whether the weighed weight of the medicine material meets the requirements.

[0007] Further, to ensure that the medicine material does not leak from the opening of the medicine dispensing channel when the medicine storage drawer is pulled out, a partition board is provided between the layers of the medicine storage drawer.

[0008] Beneficial effects

[0009] 1. Separating the medicine storage drawer from the medicine weighing and dispensing device has achieved outstanding effects: After separation, on the one hand, the medicine storage drawer can slide in and out more freely, making it very convenient to replenish the medicine material; on the other hand, the medicine weighing and dispensing device is fixed on the machine frame, and the core mechanism, control module, and cables are easier to set up, connect, maintain, and operate more reliably. 2. Moving the medicine weighing and dispensing device corresponding to the upper-layer medicine storage drawer to the lower layer at the same height as the medicine storage drawer and not conflicting with its medicine dispensing channel makes clever use of the space, making the overall structure compact and the medicine material flow smoothly inside the device. 3. Using a small conveying device and a stirrer can make the medicine material move forward smoothly, so that the medicine storage container can be placed horizontally, avoiding the weakness of poor flow in many existing technical solutions. Further, through the coordinated control of the conveying device and the blanking turntable by the controller, the dispensing accuracy and reliability can be improved. 4. Due to the use of a horizontal drawer and internal auxiliary power, and the flexible design of the structural dimensions of the drawer and the turntable, etc., the dispensing mechanism can be suitable for various types of traditional Chinese medicines, especially for traditional Chinese medicine varieties with large volume or large dosage and poor fluidity. 5. The medicine weighing and dispensing device discharges medicine forward and downward and is connected to the medicine dispensing channel of the dispensing mechanism. Here, each layer and each adjacent dispensing unit can share the same channel, and the discharging side of the weighing device is on the same vertical plane, so that the medicine material is not interfered by the lower-layer unit group when falling, making it both simple in structure and highly efficient and reliable. Summarizing the above design, remarkable technical effects such as convenient medicine loading, smooth flow, accurate weighing, and compact space can be achieved. Description of the drawings

[0010] Figure 1 , Schematic diagram of the automatic traditional Chinese medicine dispensing mechanism. Detailed implementation manners

[0011] The following further elaborates the invention of this patent with reference to the drawings through specific embodiments.

[0012] Embodiment 1: The automatic dispensing mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine adopts a multi-layer arrangement of upper and lower layers, and each layer may have several dispensing unit groups; each dispensing unit group includes a medicine storage drawer 1 and a weighing and dispensing device 2; the two are not connected together; the medicine storage drawer (one or more combinations) is connected to the frame 4 through a slide rail 3 and can slide horizontally; a small conveyor belt device 5 is installed at the bottom of the inner side of the medicine storage drawer, and sloped retaining edges can be provided on both sides of the conveyor belt device; a plurality of stirrers 8 can also be provided in the medicine storage drawer, which are driven by a motor to rotate and dispense medicine, which is conducive to better driving different types of medicines to be evenly and unblocked to the front medicine dispensing channel 6; the bottom of the medicine dispensing channel is open; in order to ensure that the medicine does not leak out when the medicine storage drawer is pulled out, the upper and lower An isolation plate 7 is provided between the two layers of medicine storage drawers (or an isolation door is provided at the opening of the medicine dispensing channel); the medicine weighing and dispensing device is located on the lower layer in front of the medicine storage drawer, that is, the front side of the lower drawer, and can be installed on the frame; its upper inlet corresponds to the opening of the medicine dispensing channel of the medicine storage drawer, that is, the two can communicate with each other; when adding medicine, the medicine storage drawer is pulled out, which is very convenient for adding medicine, and although there is an opening in the front medicine dispensing channel, due to the partition or isolation door of the medicine dispensing channel between the upper and lower layers, the medicine at the opening will not flow to the lower medicine storage drawer, and a seal can be pasted around the opening to further isolate the gap; in addition, there is an embedded controller inside the dispensing unit to monitor the automatic weighing and dispensing of the dispensing unit and communicate with the system controller Network communication; the control cable in the medicine storage drawer can be connected to the embedded controller through a telescopic cable (or a drag chain or a longer cable reserved); after the medicine is applied, the medicine storage drawer is reset, and the opening of the medicine dispensing channel of the medicine storage drawer can ensure that the medicine can enter the weighing and dispensing device; the weighing and dispensing device and the medicine dispensing channel of the lower medicine storage ensure that there is no conflict between each other, for example: the side shape of the weighing and dispensing device can be selected as a trapezoid, and the side shape of the medicine dispensing channel of the lower medicine storage can be selected as a triangle. At this time, the spatial shapes and positions of the two are just approximately complementary, so that the overall structure of the dispensing mechanism is very compact; the weighing and dispensing device includes a weighing bucket 10 and a weighing sensor 11, one end of which is fixed on the weighing The other end of the medicine discharging device is connected to a weighing bucket on the structural frame; an electric door 12 is also installed on the weighing bucket, and a driving motor 13 of the electric door can be fixed on the weighing bucket, or fixed on the structural frame of the weighing and discharging device (only when the electric door needs to be opened, the driving motor dial contacts and drives the electric door to move); the weighing and discharging device can also include a plurality of unloading wheels 9 (such as rollers, impellers, pulleys, discs, etc., which can be arranged horizontally, vertically, or inclined), and different sizes of bumps or blades can be processed thereon according to the characteristics of the medicine. The wheel is driven by a motor to pull and control the falling of the medicine; or, the weighing and discharging device includes a vibration plate, which is composed of an inclined plate and a vibrator installed thereon.At the beginning of the work, the electric door of the weighing hopper is in the closed state. The embedded controller in the dosing unit receives the control instructions from the system layer. According to the instruction requirements and the satisfaction of the actual weight requirements of the medicaments being fed, the embedded controller controls the start / stop and speed of the driving motors of the conveyor belt and the dosing wheel disc or vibrating plate. The two cooperate in a coordinated manner to ensure both stable and reliable dosing and weighing accuracy, so that a certain amount of medicaments enter the weighing hopper. Then, when the embedded controller receives the medicine discharging instruction issued by the system, it rotates to open the electric door, and the medicaments are output forward and downward from the weighing and discharging device; the discharging sides of each weighing and discharging device are designed to be on the same vertical plane, so that the falling medicaments from the upper layer will not fall on the structure of the lower layer device. The front part of the automatic traditional Chinese medicine dosing mechanism also includes an overall medicine discharging channel 15, which can be surrounded by a metal guard plate or simplified, as long as it is ensured that the medicaments will not splash to other places; a buffer or guiding plate 16 can also be provided at the lower part of the medicine discharging channel to further reduce the splashing of the medicaments and achieve stable output. There is also a conveyor belt 14 of the system device below them to further converge the medicaments output by each dosing mechanism. It should be noted that the weighing and discharging device is not limited to the specific structure of this embodiment, and other schemes or structures in the prior art can be adopted as long as its shape and other features meet the feature limitations of the independent claims of this patent invention.

[0013] The above is a specific description of the preferred embodiment of this patent invention. However, this patent invention is not limited to the described embodiment. Those skilled in the art, without departing from the purpose of this patent invention, can design structural forms and embodiments similar to this technical solution without creative efforts, and all should belong to the protection scope of this patent invention.

Claims

1. An automatic Chinese medicine dispensing mechanism, characterized in that: it adopts an upper and lower multi-layer structure, and each layer can have several dispensing unit groups; each dispensing unit group includes a medicine storage drawer and a weighing and dispensing device; the two are independent of each other and not connected together; the medicine storage drawer is connected to the machine frame through an installed slide rail and can slide horizontally. A small conveyor belt device is installed at the inner bottom of the medicine storage drawer; there is also a medicine discharging channel on the outer front of the medicine storage drawer; several stirrers are also provided in the medicine storage drawer, which are driven by a motor to assist the conveyor belt device to evenly send the medicine materials to the front medicine discharging channel; the weighing and dispensing device is located on the lower layer in front of the medicine storage drawer, that is, the front side of the lower drawer, and can be installed on the machine frame; when the medicine storage drawer is not pulled out, the upper inlet of the weighing and dispensing device corresponds to the medicine dropping opening of the medicine discharging channel of the medicine storage drawer, and the shape and position of the weighing and dispensing device do not conflict with the shape and position of the medicine discharging channel of the lower medicine storage drawer in space; there is also an embedded controller inside the dispensing unit group, and the controllers of each dispensing unit group are connected through an industrial network. Each controller receives the control instructions of the system and executes the weighing and dispensing task of this dispensing unit group; the weighing and dispensing device discharges medicine forward or downward; the front part of the automatic Chinese medicine dispensing mechanism also includes a medicine discharging conveying channel.

2. The automatic Chinese medicine dispensing mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: the weighing and dispensing device includes a weighing hopper and a weighing sensor. One end of the weighing sensor is fixed on the structural frame of the weighing and dispensing device, and the other end is connected to the weighing hopper; there is also an electric door on the weighing hopper, and the electric door can be rotated to open, and the medicine materials are output forward and downward from the weighing and dispensing device; the weighing and dispensing device also includes a blanking wheel disc or a vibrating plate, and the controller controls the motor of the wheel disc or the speed and start and stop of the vibrating plate according to the weighing weight of the medicine materials dropped to meet the requirements.

3. The automatic Chinese medicine dispensing mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: to ensure that the medicine materials at the opening of the medicine discharging channel do not leak when the medicine storage drawer is pulled out, a partition board is provided between the layers of the medicine storage drawer.

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