Automatic tabletting work station

Abstract

The invention belongs to the field of tabletting, and particularly relates to an automatic tabletting work station which comprises a mold storage frame, a consumable storage frame, a powder feeding device, a tabletting machine, a mold cleaning device and a mechanical arm. The mold storage rack is used for storing molds, and the consumable storage rack is used for storing powder material containers and green body trays; the powder feeding device is used for feeding powder to the mold; the tablet press is used for carrying out die assembly, tablet pressing and tablet unloading on a die filled with a powder material; the mold cleaning device is used for cleaning the mold; the mechanical arm is used for transferring the mold among the mold storage frame, the powder feeding device, the tablet press and the mold cleaning device, transferring the powder material container between the consumable storage frame and the powder feeding device and transferring the green body to the green body tray. Full-process automation of tabletting work is achieved, and the problem that in an existing laboratory, mold feeding, mold closing, tabletting, sheet unloading, cleaning and other steps need to be manually carried out is solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the field of tablet pressing, and particularly relates to an automatic tablet pressing station. Background Art

[0002] At present, the tablet pressing steps of laboratory ceramic materials are basically completed manually. In manual tablet pressing operations, it is usually necessary to weigh the powder, pour the powder into the mold, close the top mold, send the mold to a manual tablet press for tablet pressing, then turn it 180° to demold and take out the material, and then wipe and clean the mold. Repeated operations are inefficient and cumbersome, resulting in waste of time and manpower. This also causes R & D personnel to waste a lot of valuable time on non-R & D work, thus reducing the overall work efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an automatic tablet pressing station with high efficiency and high quality.

[0004] The present invention provides an automatic tablet pressing station, including a mold storage rack, a consumable storage rack, a powder feeding device, a tablet press, a mold cleaning device, and a manipulator; The mold storage rack is used to store molds, and the consumable storage rack is used to store powder material containers and green body trays; The powder feeding device is used to feed powder into the lower mold and the middle mold after the molds are combined; The tablet press is used to close the mold, press the tablet, and unload the tablet for the mold filled with powder material; The mold cleaning device is used to clean the mold; The manipulator is used to transfer the mold between the mold storage rack, the powder feeding device, the tablet press, and the mold cleaning device, to transfer the powder material container between the consumable storage rack and the powder feeding device, and to transfer the green body formed by the tablet press to the green body tray.

[0005] Furthermore, the consumable storage rack further includes a powder feeding transfer rack arranged on the side of the powder feeding device; The consumable storage rack is also used to store powder trays, and a plurality of powder material containers are placed on the powder trays; The manipulator is also used to transfer the powder tray between the consumable storage rack and the powder feeding transfer rack, and to transfer the powder material container between the powder feeding transfer rack and the powder feeding device.

[0006] Furthermore, the consumable storage rack includes a three-layer storage rack. The upper storage rack is used to place the green body trays for collecting the green bodies, another layer is used to place the green body trays with the collected green bodies, and the remaining layer is used to place the powder trays with the powder material containers.

[0007] Further, the manipulator includes a ground rail manipulator body and a clamping head; The clamping head includes two clamping plates that can approach and move away from each other. One end of the clamping plate is provided with a mold and a tray chuck, and the other end is provided with a container and a green blank chuck.

[0008] Further, the mold and tray chuck includes an arc-shaped groove provided at one end of a clamping plate, and the container and green blank chuck includes two clamping rods provided at the other end of a clamping plate.

[0009] Further, the relative distance between the two clamping plates at the end where the mold and tray chuck are provided is greater than the relative distance at the end where the container and green blank chuck are provided.

[0010] Further, the mold includes an upper mold, a middle mold, and a lower mold. The middle mold is provided with a through hole penetrating through the upper and lower ends. The upper mold includes a limiting portion and an upper mold rod arranged in sequence from top to bottom. The upper mold rod can be inserted into the through hole. The lower mold includes a lower mold rod and a lower mold base arranged in sequence from top to bottom. The lower mold rod can be inserted into the through hole. A mold cavity is formed by enclosing the lower end of the upper mold rod, the inner wall of the through hole, and the upper end of the lower mold rod; The tablet press includes a middle mold support and limit plate, an upper mold pressing mechanism, a lower mold pressing mechanism, and an upper mold support mechanism; The middle mold support and limit plate is provided with a middle mold limit through hole for placing the middle mold; The upper mold pressing mechanism includes a first linear movement mechanism arranged above the middle mold support and limit plate and facing the upper end of the middle mold limit through hole. The output end of the first linear movement mechanism is used to abut against the end of the limiting portion of the upper mold; The lower mold pressing mechanism includes a second linear movement mechanism arranged below the middle mold support and limit plate and facing the lower end of the middle mold limit through hole. A lower mold placement table for carrying the lower mold base is arranged on the output end of the second linear movement mechanism; The upper mold support mechanism includes a buffer guide post arranged on the middle mold support and limit plate, a buffer support head slidably arranged on the buffer guide post along the output direction of the first linear movement mechanism, and an elastic member for making the buffer support head always have a moving tendency towards the direction away from the middle mold support and limit plate. An engaging groove Ⅰ is arranged on the buffer support head. The upper end of the engaging groove Ⅰ is used to place the lower end face of the limiting portion of the upper mold. The upper mold rod of the upper mold passes through the engaging groove Ⅰ and enters and exits the through hole of the middle mold.

[0011] Further, the powder feeding device includes a rotating placement platform and a powder pouring mechanism; The rotating placement platform includes a rotating mechanism and a placement table provided at the output end of the rotating mechanism. The placement table is used for placing the mold to be loaded, and the rotating mechanism is used to drive the placement table and the mold to rotate during the pouring process. The powder pouring mechanism includes a rotating motor and a chuck provided at the output end of the rotating motor. The chuck is used for clamping the powder material container, and the rotating motor is used to drive the powder material container to tilt and swing to achieve pouring.

[0012] Furthermore, the mold includes an upper mold, a middle mold, and a lower mold. A through hole penetrating through the upper and lower ends is provided on the middle mold. The upper mold includes a limiting portion and an upper mold rod sequentially arranged from top to bottom. The upper mold rod can be inserted into the through hole. The lower mold includes a lower mold rod and a lower mold base sequentially arranged from top to bottom. The lower mold rod can be inserted into the through hole. A mold cavity is formed by enclosing the lower end of the upper mold rod, the inner wall of the through hole, and the upper end of the lower mold rod. The mold cleaning device includes a mold rod cleaning mechanism, a through hole cleaning mechanism, and a blowing mechanism. The mold rod cleaning mechanism includes an adsorbent material and cleaning holes provided on the adsorbent material. The manipulator can insert the upper mold rod and the lower mold rod into the cleaning holes for cleaning. The through hole cleaning mechanism includes a middle mold placement seat and a cleaning rod. The middle mold placement seat is used for placing the middle mold, and the manipulator can drive the cleaning rod to clean the through hole. The blowing mechanism includes an air outlet. The manipulator can drive the upper mold rod, the lower mold rod, and the through hole to the air outlet for drying and blowing off the powder material.

[0013] The beneficial effects of the present invention: The automatic tablet pressing workstation provided by the present invention can realize the full-process automation of the tablet pressing work, solve the problems that in the existing laboratory, manual operations are required for steps such as mold feeding, mold closing, tablet pressing, tablet unloading, and cleaning, can save the time of R & D personnel and significantly improve the experimental efficiency. In the specific work, the tablet pressing operation and the powder feeding operation can be carried out alternately, further improving the work efficiency. Description of the Drawings

[0014] Attached Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of the present invention with a housing; Attached Figure 2 is a schematic structural diagram of the first angle of the present invention with the housing hidden; Attached Figure 3 is a schematic structural diagram of the second angle of the present invention with the housing hidden; Attached Figure 4 is a top view of the present invention with the housing hidden; Attached Figure 5 is a front view of the mold in the present invention; Attached Figure 6 is attached Figure 5Cross-sectional view taken along line A-A; Appendix Figure 7 Schematic structural diagram of the tablet press in the present invention; Appendix Figure 8 For appendix Figure 7 Partially enlarged view at position B in the appendix; Appendix Figure 9 Schematic structural diagram of the gripper head in the present invention; Appendix Figure 10 Bottom view of the gripper head in the present invention; Appendix Figure 11 Schematic structural diagram of the powder feeding device in the present invention; Appendix Figure 12 Schematic structural diagram of the powder feeding device with the housing hidden in the present invention.

[0015] In the figure, 1 - mold storage rack; 2 - mold cleaning device; 201 - adsorption material; 20101 - cleaning hole; 202 - intermediate mold placement seat; 20201 - air blowing port; 203 - cleaning rod; 204 - cleaning rod placement seat; 3 - tablet press; 301 - second linear movement mechanism; 306 - lower mold placement table; 307 - intermediate mold support and limit plate; 30701 - intermediate mold limit through hole; 308 - mold removal seat; 30801 - placement cavity; 30802 - inlet and outlet; 30803 - fitting groove II; 309 - buffer guide post; 3010 - spring; 3012 - buffer support head; 301201 - fitting groove I; 3017 - mold removal head; 301701 - mold removal plate; 301702 - fitting groove III; 3019 - first linear movement mechanism; 4 - powder feeding device; 401 - rotating placement platform; 40101 - rotating mechanism; 40102 - placement table; 402 - powder pouring mechanism; 40201 - rotating motor; 40202 - chuck; 40203 - three-axis moving platform; 5 - consumable storage rack; 501 - powder feeding transfer rack; 6 - manipulator; 601 - ground rail manipulator body; 602 - gripper head; 6021 - gripping plate; 6022 - mold and tray gripper; 6023 - container and green body gripper; 7 - mold; 701 - upper mold; 7011 - abutting portion; 7012 - limiting portion; 7013 - upper mold rod; 702 - intermediate mold; 7021 - through hole; 703 - lower mold; 7031 - lower mold rod; 7032 - lower mold base; 8 - powder material container; 9 - green body tray; 10 - powder tray; 11 - outer cover. Detailed implementation method

[0016] The following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts belong to the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0017] It should be noted that all directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back,...) in the embodiments of the present invention are only used to explain the relative positional relationship and movement conditions between components in a specific posture (as shown in the accompanying drawings). If the specific posture changes, the directional indications will also change accordingly.

[0018] In addition, in the present invention, descriptions such as "first" and "second" are only for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly indicating the quantity of the indicated technical features. Thus, features defined with "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise specifically defined.

[0019] In the present invention, unless otherwise clearly defined and limited, terms such as "connection" and "fixation" should be understood in a broad sense. For example, "fixation" can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or integrated; it can be a mechanical connection, an electrical connection, a physical connection, or a wireless communication connection; it can be directly connected, or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and can be the communication inside two components or the interaction relationship between two components, unless otherwise clearly defined. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific situations.

[0020] In addition, the technical solutions between various embodiments of the present invention can be combined with each other, but it must be based on the ability of those of ordinary skill in the art to implement. When the combination of technical solutions results in contradictions or cannot be implemented, it should be considered that such a combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the scope of protection required by the present invention.

[0021] As shown in the attached Figure 1 - attached Figure 12 As shown in the figure, the present invention provides an automatic tablet pressing workstation, including a mold storage rack 1, a consumable storage rack 5, a powder feeding device 4, a tablet press 3, a mold cleaning device 2, and a manipulator 6; The mold storage rack 1 is used to store molds 7, and the consumable storage rack 5 is used to store powder material containers 8 and green body trays 9, where a certain amount of powder material is contained in the powder material containers 8; The powder feeding device 4 is used to feed powder to the lower die 703 and the middle die 702 after the combination of the dies 7, so as to complete the feeding work of the dies 7; The tablet press 3 is used to close the die 7 filled with powder material, press the tablet and unload the tablet; The die cleaning device 2 is used to clean the die 7 to avoid the residual powder on the die 7 affecting the next use; The manipulator 6 is used to transfer the die 7 between the die storage rack 1, the powder feeding device 4, the tablet press 3 and the die cleaning device 2. Specifically, the lower die 703 and the middle die 702 of the die 7 are transferred to the powder feeding device 4 for feeding, and then transferred to the tablet press 3 for tablet pressing work. The upper die 701 of the die 7 is directly transferred from the die storage rack 1 to the tablet press 3 for tablet pressing work. The manipulator 6 is also used to transfer the powder material container 8 between the consumable storage rack 5 and the powder feeding device 4 to provide powder material for the lower die 703 and the middle die 702 of the die 7. The manipulator 6 is also used to transfer the green compact formed by the tablet press 3 to the green compact tray 9, so as to collect the green compact material.

[0022] The automatic tablet pressing workstation provided by the present invention can realize the full-process automation of the tablet pressing work, solve the problems that in the existing laboratory, manual operations such as feeding the die 7, closing the die, pressing the tablet, unloading the tablet, and cleaning are required, can save the time of R & D personnel and significantly improve the experimental efficiency. In the specific work, the tablet pressing operation and the powder feeding operation can be carried out alternately to further improve the work efficiency.

[0023] In one embodiment, the consumable storage rack 5 further includes a powder feeding transfer rack 501 arranged on the side of the powder feeding device 4; The consumable storage rack 5 is also used to store powder trays 10, and a plurality of powder material containers 8 are carried on the powder trays 10; The manipulator 6 is also used to transfer the powder tray 10 between the consumable storage rack 5 and the powder feeding transfer rack 501 and to transfer the powder material container 8 between the powder feeding transfer rack 501 and the powder feeding device 4.

[0024] In this embodiment, by setting the powder feeding transfer rack 501, the distance for the manipulator 6 to transfer the powder material container 8 between the consumable storage rack 5 and the powder feeding device 4 can be reduced, and since a plurality of powder material containers 8 can be arranged on the powder tray 10, the moving times of the manipulator 6 between the consumable storage rack 5 and the powder feeding device 4 can be reduced, thereby improving the work efficiency.

[0025] In one embodiment, the consumable storage rack 5 includes a three-layer storage rack. The storage rack located above is used to place the green body tray 9 for the green bodies to be collected. The space above the storage rack located above is vacant, which is convenient for the manipulator 6 to place the green bodies. Another layer is used to place the green body tray 9 with the collected green bodies, and this layer can be the second layer or the third layer. Still another layer is used to place the powder tray 10 with the powder material container 8, and this layer can be the third layer or the second layer.

[0026] In one embodiment, it further includes an outer cover 11. The outer cover 11 is provided with sliding doors at the positions of the consumable storage rack 5, the mold storage rack 1, and the mold cleaning device 2, which facilitates manual replacement of the green body tray 9, the powder material container 8, and the powder tray 10 in the consumable storage rack 5, facilitates manual replacement and maintenance of the mold 7 in the mold storage rack 1, and facilitates manual replacement and maintenance of the cleaning components of the mold cleaning device 2.

[0027] In one embodiment, the manipulator 6 includes a ground rail manipulator body 601 and a clamping head 602; Refer to the attached Figure 9 and the attached Figure 10 As shown in the figure, the clamping head 602 includes two clamping plates 6021 that can approach and separate relative to each other. The two clamping plates 6021 are driven by a linear reciprocating drive mechanism, such as an electric chuck. One end of the clamping plate 6021 is provided with a mold and tray chuck 6022, and the mold and tray chuck 6022 is used to clamp the mold 7, the green body tray 9, and the powder tray 10. The other end is provided with a container and green body chuck 6023, and the container and green body chuck 6023 is used to clamp the powder material container 8 and the green body. In this embodiment, one manipulator 6 can be used to clamp the mold 7, the green body tray 9, the powder tray 10, the powder material container 8, and the green body, with extremely high utilization rate, which can reduce the number of manipulators and lower the cost.

[0028] In one embodiment, the mold and tray chuck 6022 includes an arc-shaped groove provided at one end of a clamping plate 6021. After the two arc-shaped grooves cooperate, they can clamp the side wall of the mold 7, and the two clamping plates 6021 can directly clamp the green body tray 9 and the powder tray 10. The container and green body chuck 6023 includes two clamping rods provided at the other end of a clamping plate 6021. After the four clamping rods are combined, they can clamp the powder material container 8 with a test tube structure and the sheet-shaped green body.

[0029] In one embodiment, the relative distance between the two clamping plates 6021 at one end of the mold and pallet chuck 6022 is greater than the relative distance between the two clamping plates 6021 at one end of the container and green body chuck 6023. Since the diameters of the powder material container 8 and the green body are smaller than the diameter of the mold 7 and the outer dimensions of the green body pallet 9 and the powder pallet 10, and the manipulator 6 only uses one of the mold and pallet chuck 6022 and the container and green body chuck 6023 at the same time, the non-interference between the mold and pallet chuck 6022 and the container and green body chuck 6023 can be ensured by designing the distances between the two container and green body chucks 6023 and the two mold and pallet chucks 6022.

[0030] In this embodiment, the clamping head 602 can complete the clamping work of the mold 7, the green body pallet 9, the powder pallet 10, the powder material container 8 and the green body only through one linear reciprocating drive mechanism. Moreover, there is a large size gap between the powder material container 8 and the green body and the mold 7, the green body pallet 9 and the powder pallet 10, and the clamping head 602 can still perform clamping, with extremely high utilization rate. The ground rail manipulator body 601 can ensure that the moving range of the clamping head 602 is large enough to facilitate the transfer of the above objects between various devices, so as to solve the problem of time waste caused by manual transfer of each component.

[0031] In one embodiment, refer to Appendix Figure 5 and Appendix Figure 6, wherein the mold 7 includes an upper mold 701, a middle mold 702 and a lower mold 703. A through hole 7021 penetrating through the upper and lower ends is provided on the middle mold 702. The cross-sectional shape of the through hole 7021 can be determined according to the shape required for tablet pressing. For example, when pressing a blank with a round cake structure, the cross-section of the through hole 7021 is circular; when pressing a blank with a rectangular structure, the cross-section of the through hole 7021 is rectangular. The upper mold 701 includes a limiting portion 7012 and an upper mold rod 7013 arranged in sequence from top to bottom. The outer dimensions of the limiting portion 7012 and the upper mold rod 7013 gradually decrease to form a stepped structure. For example, when both the limiting portion 7012 and the upper mold rod 7013 are cylindrical mechanisms, the diameters of the limiting portion 7012 and the upper mold rod 7013 gradually decrease. The upper mold rod 7013 can be inserted into the through hole 7021. The cross-sectional shape of the upper mold rod 7013 is consistent with the cross-sectional shape of the through hole 7021, and the two are dimensionally adapted. The end face of the upper mold rod 7013 is preferably a flat plate, and it can also be other required structures according to the structure required for the blank, and is specifically selected according to actual needs. The lower mold 703 includes a lower mold rod 7031 and a lower mold base 7032 arranged in sequence from top to bottom. The lower mold rod 7031 can be inserted into the through hole 7021. The cross-sectional shape of the lower mold rod 7031 is consistent with the cross-sectional shape of the through hole 7021, and the two are dimensionally adapted. The end face of the lower mold rod 7031 is preferably a flat plate, and it can also be other required structures according to the structure required for the blank, and is specifically selected according to actual needs. The lower end of the upper mold rod 7013, the inner wall of the through hole 7021 and the upper end of the lower mold rod 7031 enclose a mold cavity. The upper end face of the blank formed through the mold cavity is consistent with the end face structure of the lower end of the upper mold rod 7013, the lower end face is consistent with the end face structure of the upper end of the lower mold rod 7031, and the side wall is consistent with the cross-sectional shape of the through hole 7021; Reference appendix Figure 7 - Appendix Figure 8 , the tablet press 3 provided by the present invention includes a middle mold support and limiting plate 307, an upper mold pressing mechanism, a lower mold pressing mechanism and an upper mold support mechanism; A middle mold limiting through hole 30701 is provided on the middle mold support and limiting plate 307. The middle mold limiting through hole 30701 is used to support the middle mold 702. During tablet pressing, the middle mold 702 is supported on the middle mold limiting through hole 30701 and limited on the middle mold support and limiting plate 307; The upper mold pressing mechanism includes a first linear moving mechanism 3019 arranged above the middle mold support and limiting plate 307 and facing the upper end of the middle mold limiting through hole 30701. The output end of the first linear moving mechanism 3019 is used to abut against the end of the limiting portion 7012 of the upper mold 701, and thus can drive the upper mold 701 to move towards the middle mold 702 for tablet pressing work. When the upper mold 701 has an abutting portion 7011, the output end of the first linear moving mechanism 3019 is used to abut against the end of the abutting portion 7011 of the upper mold 701; The lower die pressing mechanism includes a second linear movement mechanism 301 disposed below the middle die support and limit plate 307 and facing the lower end of the middle die limit through hole 30701. A lower die placement table 306 for carrying the lower die base 7032 is provided at the output end of the second linear movement mechanism 301, so as to drive the lower die 703 to move towards the middle die 702 for tablet pressing work. The upper die support mechanism includes a buffer guide post 309 disposed on the middle die support and limit plate 307, a buffer support head 3012 slidably disposed on the buffer guide post 309 along the output direction of the first linear movement mechanism 3019, and an elastic member for making the buffer support head 3012 always have a moving tendency in a direction away from the middle die support and limit plate 307. Preferably, the elastic member is a spring 3010 sleeved on the buffer guide post 309. One end of the spring 3010 abuts against the buffer support head 3012, and the other end abuts against the middle die support and limit plate 307. An engaging groove Ⅰ 301201 is provided on the buffer support head 3012. The upper end of the engaging groove Ⅰ 301201 is used to support the lower end face of the limiting portion 7012 of the upper die 701. The upper die rod 7013 of the upper die 701 passes through the engaging groove Ⅰ 301201 and enters and exits the through hole 7021 of the middle die 702.

[0032] The upper die support mechanism provided by the present invention, on the one hand, is used to support the upper die 701 and provide an installation position for the upper die 701. On the other hand, it can realize the buffer protection automatic tablet pressing function. Specifically, during tablet pressing, when the output end of the first linear movement mechanism 3019 abuts against the abutting portion 7011 of the upper die 701 and pushes it downward, the lower end face of the limiting portion 7012 will drive the buffer support head 3012 to move downward, and the buffer support head 3012 will compress the elastic member to store energy. When demolding is performed after tablet pressing is completed, in order to avoid damaging the blank when exiting the middle die 702 due to the difficulty in ensuring the synchronization of the first linear movement mechanism 3019 and the second linear movement mechanism 301 during demolding, the second linear movement mechanism 301 will slightly descend a small distance prior to the first linear movement mechanism 3019 and then stop at a certain position, and then the first linear movement mechanism 3019 will eject the blank. When the upper die support mechanism of the present invention is not available, the upper die 701 may simultaneously free-fall and impact the blank. At this time, the buffer support head 3012 of the upper die support mechanism of the present invention will support the upper die 701 and prevent it from free-falling, protecting the falling blank from safely landing on the lower die 703 and realizing the buffer protection automatic tablet pressing function. On the other hand, it can also assist in demolding the upper die 701 and the middle die 702. Specifically, after the first linear movement mechanism 3019 is reset, the restoring force of the elastic member will drive the buffer support head 3012 to reset. At this time, the buffer support head 3012 will drive the upper die 701 to move upward a certain distance, so that the upper die 701 and the middle die 702 are demolded. Finally, the elastic travel of the elastic member of the upper die support mechanism can also prevent the upper die 701 from overshooting and ensure the tablet pressing quality.

[0033] The mold provided by the present invention is composed of three parts: an upper mold 701, a middle mold 702, and a lower mold 703, which facilitates the configuration of the mold cavity, thereby realizing multi-profile powder pressure molding and customized-profile powder molding. Moreover, the mold is convenient for feeding the powder material and discharging the blank after pressing, and is also convenient for cleaning each part of the mold cavity to enable the reuse of the mold.

[0034] The upper mold pressing mechanism and the lower mold pressing mechanism provided by the present invention can achieve high-precision pressing and blank discharging by controlling the positions and pressures of the first linear movement mechanism 3019 and the second linear movement mechanism 301, and the blank will not be damaged during blank discharging.

[0035] In one embodiment, the tablet press 3 further includes a mold disassembling mechanism. The upper mold 701 further includes an abutting portion 7011 provided at one end of the limiting portion 7012 away from the upper mold rod 7013. In this embodiment, the upper mold 701 includes, from top to bottom, the abutting portion 7011, the limiting portion 7012, and the upper mold rod 7013. The outer dimensions of the abutting portion 7011, the limiting portion 7012, and the upper mold rod 7013 gradually decrease to form a stepped structure. For example, when the abutting portion 7011, the limiting portion 7012, and the upper mold rod 7013 are all cylindrical mechanisms, the diameters of the abutting portion 7011, the limiting portion 7012, and the upper mold rod 7013 gradually decrease. The mold disassembling mechanism is used to disassemble the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702 when the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702 cannot be separated due to being stuck by the powder material. The mold disassembling mechanism includes a mold disassembling seat 308 provided on the middle mold support limiting plate 307 and a mold disassembling head 3017 provided at the output end of the first linear movement mechanism 3019; A placement cavity 30801 is provided in the mold disassembling seat 308. One end of the placement cavity 30801 is provided with an inlet / outlet 30802. An engaging groove II 30803 is provided above the inlet / outlet 30802 in the placement cavity 30801. The engaging groove II 30803 is used to engage the side wall of the limiting portion 7012 of the upper mold 701. When the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702 are stuck, the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702 are placed in the placement cavity 30801 through the inlet / outlet 30802. At this time, the middle mold 702 is located in the placement cavity 30801, the limiting portion 7012 of the upper mold 701 is engaged in the engaging groove II 30803, and the abutting portion 7011 of the upper mold 701 is located above the placement cavity 30801; The demolding head 3017 includes a demolding plate 301701 and a fitting groove III 301702 provided on the demolding plate 301701. The upper end of the fitting groove III 301702 is used to support the lower end surface of the abutting portion 7011 of the upper mold 701, and the fitting groove III 301702 is used to fit the side wall of the limiting portion 7012 of the upper mold 701. When demolding, the first linear movement mechanism 3019 will drive the demolding plate 301701 above the placement cavity 30801 and ensure that the fitting groove III 301702 is aligned with the fitting groove II 30803. At this time, when the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702 are placed in the placement cavity 30801, the limiting portion 7012 of the upper mold 701 will simultaneously engage with the fitting groove III 301702, and the lower end surface of the abutting portion 7011 of the upper mold 701 will abut against the upper end of the fitting groove III 301702. At this time, only need the first linear movement mechanism 3019 to reset and move upward, the demolding plate 301701 will pull the upper mold 701 upward, while the middle mold 702 cannot move due to the limitation of the placement cavity 30801, so as to forcibly separate the stuck upper mold 701 and middle mold 702 by mechanical pulling force, and the separation direction is consistent with the separation direction of the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702, which can reduce the loss of the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702. In this embodiment, the separation driving force is realized by the first linear movement mechanism 3019, and the first linear movement mechanism 3019 is reasonably utilized, so that the first linear movement mechanism 3019 can be used as both the mold closing driving force and the mold opening driving force when the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702 are stuck. Moreover, the demolding seat 308 and the demolding head 3017 are directly arranged on one side of the pressing station of the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702. When demolding, the moving path of the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702 can be reduced, and the demolding efficiency can be improved.

[0036] The tablet press 3 provided by the present invention can perform a tablet pressing process, a blanking process and a demolding process; The tablet pressing process includes: S11, insert the lower mold rod 7031 into the through hole 7021 to complete the mold closing of the middle mold 702 and the lower mold 703, and inject powder material into the mold cavity through the upper end of the through hole 7021; S12, control the second linear movement mechanism 301 to drive the lower mold placement table 306 into the middle mold limiting through hole 30701, place the closed middle mold 702 and the lower mold 703 on the middle mold limiting through hole 30701, and the lower mold 703 is carried on the lower mold placement table 306; S13, place the upper mold 701 on the buffer support head 3012, the lower end surface of the limiting portion 7012 of the upper mold 701 is placed on the upper end of the fitting groove I 301201, and the upper mold rod 7013 of the upper mold 701 is aligned with the through hole 7021 of the middle mold 702; S14, the first linear moving mechanism 3019 and / or the second linear moving mechanism 301 operate. Preferably, the second linear moving mechanism 301 maintains the upper limit position of the lower die placement table 306, and the first linear moving mechanism 3019 drives the upper die 701 to move downward, causing the upper die 701 and the lower die 703 to approach each other relatively. The upper die rod 7013 and the lower die rod 7031 approach each other relatively and extrude the powder to complete tablet pressing. In this tablet pressing process, the first linear moving mechanism 3019 and the second linear moving mechanism 301 can be controlled to accurately position and control the pressure, flexibly customize the pressure application, pressure holding, and pressure relief process flows, and achieve customized tablet pressing.

[0037] The blanking process includes: S21, the second linear moving mechanism 301 resets a certain distance, causing the lower die rod 7031 to move relatively away from the upper die rod 7013; S22, the first linear moving mechanism 3019 continues to move, causing the upper die rod 7013 to separate from the blank through the through hole 7021, and the blank falls onto the upper end of the lower die rod 7031; S23, the first linear moving mechanism 3019 resets, and at the same time, the elastic member drives the buffer support head 3012 to reset, thereby driving the upper die 701 to move toward the end away from the lower die 703; S24, take away the blank and the mold to complete blanking.

[0038] During blanking of a conventional tablet press, it is difficult to ensure the synchronization of the first linear moving mechanism 3019 and the second linear moving mechanism 301, which may damage the blank when ejecting the middle die. In the present invention, the second linear moving mechanism 301 will slightly descend a small distance prior to the first linear moving mechanism 3019 and then stop at a certain position, and then the first linear moving mechanism 3019 ejects the blank. When the upper die support mechanism of the present invention is not available, the upper die 701 may simultaneously free-fall and impact the blank. At this time, the buffer support head 3012 of the upper die support mechanism of the present invention supports the upper die 701 and prevents it from free-falling, protecting the falling blank to safely land on the lower die 703 and realizing the buffer protection automatic tablet pressing function.

[0039] At the same time, in this blanking process, the upper die 701 and the middle die 702 are automatically demolded through the upper die support mechanism, improving the demolding work efficiency.

[0040] When the upper die 701 and the middle die 702 are stuck, the tablet press 3 of the present invention also has a die removal process: The die removal process includes: In S31, the first linear movement mechanism 3019 drives the demolding plate 301701 above the placement cavity 30801, ensures that the fitting groove III 301702 is aligned with the fitting groove II 30803, and places the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702 into the placement cavity 30801 through the inlet / outlet 30802. At this time, the middle mold 702 is located in the lower middle part of the placement cavity 30801. The limiting part 7012 of the upper mold 701 is fitted on the fitting groove II 30803 and the fitting groove III 301702, and the abutting part 7011 of the upper mold 701 is located above the placement cavity 30801. In S32, the first linear movement mechanism 3019 moves upward. The demolding plate 301701 pulls the upper mold 701 upward, while the middle mold 702 cannot move due to the limitation of the placement cavity 30801, and then the stuck upper mold 701 and middle mold 702 are forcibly separated by mechanical pulling force.

[0041] Since the separation direction is consistent with the separation direction of the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702, the loss of the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702 can be reduced. In addition, the separation driving force is realized by the first linear movement mechanism 3019, and the first linear movement mechanism 3019 is reasonably utilized, so that the first linear movement mechanism 3019 serves as both the mold closing driving force and the mold opening driving force when the upper mold 701 and the middle mold 702 are stuck.

[0042] In one embodiment, refer to the attached Figure 11 and the attached Figure 12 The powder feeding device includes a rotary placement platform 401 and a powder pouring mechanism 402. The rotary placement platform 401 includes a rotary mechanism 40101 and a placement table 40102 arranged at the output end of the rotary mechanism 40101. The placement table 40102 is used to place the mold 7 to be fed. The feeding port of the mold 7 (the upper end of the through hole 7021) is arranged upward. The rotary mechanism 40101 is used to drive the placement table 40102 and the mold 7 to rotate during the pouring process, so that the powder enters the mold cavity evenly and is compacted, and a sand cone shape will not be formed to affect the final tablet pressing. The powder pouring mechanism 402 includes a rotary motor 40201 and a chuck 40202 arranged at the output end of the rotary motor 40201. The chuck 40202 is used to clamp the powder material container 8. The rotary motor 40201 is used to drive the powder material container 8 to tilt and swing to achieve pouring. The powder material container 8 swings around the rotation axis of the rotary motor 40201 when pouring the powder material. On the one hand, it can ensure that the powder material in the powder material container 8 is poured out completely, avoiding the retention of powder material in the powder material container 8. On the other hand, it can make the powder material have a lateral movement trend during the process of entering the mold cavity, and the landing points of the powder material in the mold cavity will be more dispersed, increasing the distribution area and thus avoiding the concentrated accumulation of powder material.

[0043] The combined use of the rotating placement platform 401 and the powder pouring mechanism 402 of the present invention can ensure that the powder material is evenly fed into the mold cavity in all directions after being loaded into the mold cavity, and the upper end of the powder material is relatively flat, so that the stress distribution is uniform during the tablet pressing in the mold cavity, the green compact of the powder is uniformly stressed, thereby ensuring the success rate and quality of tablet pressing, and at the same time ensuring the service life of the mold 7.

[0044] In one embodiment, the powder pouring mechanism 402 further includes a three-axis moving platform 40203, and the rotating motor 40201 is arranged at the output end of the three-axis moving platform 40203; The three-axis moving platform 40203 can drive the outlet of the powder material container 8 to align with the inlet of the mold 7, so as to ensure that the powder material poured from the powder material container 8 aligns with the inlet of the mold 7, avoiding the powder material being poured elsewhere. The three-axis moving platform 40203 can also drive the powder material container 8 to move up and down during the powder pouring process of the powder material container 8, which can also avoid the powder material staying in the powder material container 8, and can also improve the uniformity of the powder poured into the mold cavity, reduce the concentrated accumulation. The three-axis moving platform 40203 can also invert the powder material container 8 above the inlet of the mold 7 after the powder material container 8 finishes pouring. At this time, it can further avoid the powder material staying in the powder material container 8 and realize pouring all the powder materials in the powder material container 8 into the mold cavity. During this process, the three-axis moving platform 40203 can also move up and down, thereby further strengthening the pouring effect.

[0045] In this embodiment, by adding the three-axis moving platform 40203, it is significantly helpful for the pouring accuracy, pouring quality and completion degree of pouring.

[0046] In one embodiment, after the mold completes the tablet pressing process, powder will adhere to the components of the mold, which will affect the mold removal during the subsequent use of the mold and even affect the flatness of tablet pressing. Therefore, each mold needs to be cleaned after use; The present invention is also provided with a mold cleaning device 2, and the mold cleaning device 2 includes a mold rod cleaning mechanism, a through-hole cleaning mechanism and a blowing mechanism; The mold rod cleaning mechanism includes an adsorption material 201 and cleaning holes 20101 provided on the adsorption material 201. The manipulator 6 can insert the upper mold rod 7013 and the lower mold rod 7031 into the cleaning holes 20101 for cleaning. The adsorption material 201 can adsorb the powder materials of the upper mold rod 7013 and the lower mold rod 7031, thereby ensuring the cleaning effect. Preferably, the adsorption material 201 is made of sponge or foam. At the same time, the adsorption material 201 can also adsorb the cleaning liquid, such as alcohol. Thus, when the upper mold rod 7013 and the lower mold rod 7031 are inserted into the cleaning holes 20101 for cleaning, the upper mold rod 7013 and the lower mold rod 7031 can be wiped with alcohol to further thoroughly clean the remaining powder. In specific use, the manipulator 6 drives the upper mold rod 7013 and the lower mold rod 7031 to insert into the cleaning holes 20101 and move up and down multiple times to improve the cleaning effect. After the side walls of the upper mold rod 7013 and the lower mold rod 7031 are cleaned, the manipulator 6 can drive the end faces of the upper mold rod 7013 and the lower mold rod 7031 to move to the end face of the adsorption material 201 for friction to clean the end faces of the upper mold rod 7013 and the lower mold rod 7031. The through-hole cleaning mechanism includes a middle mold placement seat 202 and a cleaning rod 203. The middle mold placement seat 202 is used for placing the middle mold 702. The manipulator 6 can drive the cleaning rod 203 to clean the through-hole 7021. The setting of the middle mold placement seat 202 is for placing the middle mold 702, thereby facilitating the manipulator 6 to drive the cleaning rod 203 to accurately position the through-hole 7021 of the middle mold 702 for cleaning. At the same time, it is also convenient to collect the cleaning liquid of the cleaning rod 203. In specific use, the manipulator 6 drives the cleaning rod 203 to enter the through-hole 7021 and move up and down multiple times to improve the cleaning effect. In this embodiment, the manipulator 6 is also used to clamp the cleaning rod 203 to further improve its utilization rate. Specifically, the cleaning rod 203 is clamped by the container and the green body chuck 6023 of the manipulator 6. In one embodiment, both the adsorption material 201 and the cleaning rod 203 are infiltrated with a cleaning liquid. The cleaning liquid is preferably alcohol, and alcohol is easy to volatilize, thereby avoiding the situation that the powder body agglomerates and adheres to the inside of the mold due to the cleaning liquid not being dried. A plurality of cleaning rods 203 are provided. The through-hole cleaning mechanism further includes a cleaning rod placement seat 204 for accommodating the plurality of cleaning rods 203. A cleaning liquid receiving groove is provided on the cleaning rod placement seat 204. When there is no cleaning work, the cleaning rods 203 are placed in the receiving groove. Similarly, a plurality of cleaning rods 203 are provided. Thus, after a certain cleaning rod 203 has cleaned one or more middle molds 702 and there is a large amount of powder remaining in the cleaning rod 203 and it is no longer used, at this time, the manipulator 6 can replace a cleaning rod 203 to clean the middle mold 702 to ensure the cleaning effect.

[0047] The blowing mechanism includes an air outlet. The manipulator 6 can drive the upper die rod 7013, the lower die rod 7031, and the through hole 7021 to the air outlet to dry and blow off the powder material. That is, the blowing mechanism can be used to blow off the powder material to further improve the cleaning effect of the mold. When the cleaning rod 203 and the adsorption material 201 are both soaked with the cleaning liquid to improve the cleaning effect, the blowing mechanism can also dry the cleaning liquid, thereby preventing the powder from caking and adhering to the inside of the mold due to the residue of the cleaning liquid during the next use. In a preferred embodiment, a blowing port 20201 is provided at the lower end of the middle die placement seat 202, and the air outlet of the blowing mechanism is connected to the blowing port 20201. In this embodiment, combining the blowing mechanism with the middle die placement seat 202 can improve the structural compactness and directly perform the blowing treatment on the through hole 7021 of the middle die 702 after cleaning, thereby improving the cleaning efficiency of the middle die 702.

[0048] The mold cleaning device 2 provided by the present invention can thoroughly clean various positions of the mold cavity of the mold 7, avoiding the influence of residual powder on the mold during the next use. The transfer of the mold uses the manipulator 6 to solve the problem of time waste caused by the multi-position transfer of manually taking the mold, cleaning the mold, and placing the mold. The manipulator 6 can also be used for other processes such as loading and unloading the mold, greatly improving the utilization rate of the manipulator 6. The die rod cleaning mechanism can efficiently clean the side walls and end faces of the upper die rod 7013 and the lower die rod 7031, and the through hole cleaning mechanism can clean the through hole 7021 of the middle die 702. The blowing mechanism can be used to blow off the powder material to further improve the cleaning effect of the mold. When the cleaning rod 203 and the adsorption material 201 are both soaked with the cleaning liquid to improve the cleaning effect, the blowing mechanism can also dry the cleaning liquid, thereby preventing the powder from caking and adhering to the inside of the mold due to the residue of the cleaning liquid.

[0049] The present invention also provides a tabletting method using the above automatic tabletting workstation, including the following steps: S1, Place the powder material container 8 and the green compact tray 9 on the device consumable storage rack 5; S2, The manipulator 6 transfers the combined lower die 703 and middle die 702 of the mold 7 from the mold storage rack 1 to the powder feeding device 4, and transfers the powder material container 8 to the powder feeding device 4. The powder feeding device 4 feeds the powder material in the powder material container 8 into the combined lower die 703 and middle die 702; S3, The manipulator 6 transfers the loaded lower die 703 and middle die 702 from the powder feeding device 4 to the tablet press 3, and transfers the upper die 701 of the mold 7 on the mold storage rack 1 to the tablet press 3, and the tablet press 3 performs tabletting; During the tablet pressing process of the tablet press 3, the manipulator 6 can transfer the powder material container 8 after emptying to the consumable storage rack 5, and the manipulator 6 can perform a new round of step S2; S4. After the tablet press 3 finishes tablet pressing, the manipulator 6 transfers the green compact to the green compact tray 9, and transfers the mold 7 to the mold cleaning device 2 for cleaning, and after cleaning, transfers it to the mold storage rack 1.

[0050] As mentioned above, this is only an embodiment and does not impose any limitations on the present invention. Any person skilled in the art can, without departing from the scope of the technical solution of the present invention, make many possible changes, modifications or equivalents to equivalent embodiments by using the technical content disclosed above. Therefore, any simple modification, equivalent change and modification made to the above embodiments based on the technical essence of the present invention without departing from the content of the technical solution of the present invention shall fall within the scope of protection of the technical solution of the present invention.

Claims

1. An automatic tablet pressing workstation, characterized in that, It includes a mold storage rack (1), a consumable storage rack (5), a powder feeding device (4), a tablet press (3), a mold cleaning device (2), and a manipulator (6); The mold storage rack (1) is used to store molds (7), and the consumable storage rack (5) is used to store powder material containers (8) and green body trays (9); The powder feeding device (4) is used to feed powder onto the lower mold (703) and the middle mold (702) after the molds (7) are combined; The tablet press (3) is used to close the mold (7) filled with powder material, press tablets, and unload tablets; The mold cleaning device (2) is used to clean the mold (7); The manipulator (6) is used to transfer the mold (7) between the mold storage rack (1), the powder feeding device (4), the tablet press (3), and the mold cleaning device (2), to transfer the powder material container (8) between the consumable storage rack (5) and the powder feeding device (4), and to transfer the green body formed by the tablet press (3) to the green body tray (9).

2. The automatic tablet pressing station according to claim 1, characterized in that, The consumable storage rack (5) further includes a powder feeding transfer rack (501) arranged on the side of the powder feeding device (4); The consumable storage rack (5) is also used to store powder trays (10), and a plurality of powder material containers (8) are placed on the powder trays (10); The manipulator (6) is also used to transfer the powder tray (10) between the consumable storage rack (5) and the powder feeding transfer rack (501), and to transfer the powder material container (8) between the powder feeding transfer rack (501) and the powder feeding device (4).

3. The automatic tablet pressing station according to claim 2, characterized in that, The consumable storage rack (5) includes a three-layer storage rack. The storage rack located above is used to place the green body tray (9) for collecting green bodies, another layer is used to place the green body tray (9) with collected green bodies, and the remaining layer is used to place the powder tray (10) with powder material containers (8).

4. The automatic tablet pressing workstation according to claim 1, characterized in that, The manipulator (6) includes a floor rail manipulator body (601) and a gripper head (602); The gripper head (602) includes two gripper plates (6021) that can approach and move away from each other. One end of the gripper plate (6021) is provided with a mold and tray gripper (6022), and the other end is provided with a container and green body gripper (6023).

5. The automatic tablet pressing workstation according to claim 4, characterized in that, The mold and tray gripper (6022) includes an arc-shaped groove provided at one end of a gripper plate (6021), and the container and green body gripper (6023) includes two gripper rods provided at the other end of a gripper plate (6021).

6. The automatic tablet pressing workstation according to claim 5, characterized in that, The relative distance between the two gripper plates (6021) at the end provided with the mold and tray gripper (6022) is greater than the relative distance at the end provided with the container and green body gripper (6023).

7. The automatic tablet pressing station according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, The mold (7) includes an upper mold (701), a middle mold (702) and a lower mold (703). A through hole (7021) penetrating through the upper and lower ends is provided on the middle mold (702). The upper mold (701) includes a limiting portion (7012) and an upper mold rod (7013) arranged in sequence from top to bottom. The upper mold rod (7013) can be inserted into the through hole (7021). The lower mold (703) includes a lower mold rod (7031) and a lower mold base (7032) arranged in sequence from top to bottom. The lower mold rod (7031) can be inserted into the through hole (7021). A mold cavity is formed by enclosing the lower end of the upper mold rod (7013), the inner wall of the through hole (7021) and the upper end of the lower mold rod (7031). The tablet press (3) includes a middle mold support and limit plate (307), an upper mold pressing mechanism, a lower mold pressing mechanism and an upper mold support mechanism; A middle mold limit through hole (30701) is provided on the middle mold support and limit plate (307), and the middle mold limit through hole (30701) is used for placing the middle mold (702); The upper mold pressing mechanism includes a first linear movement mechanism (3019) arranged above the middle mold support and limit plate (307) and facing the upper end of the middle mold limit through hole (30701). The output end of the first linear movement mechanism (3019) is used to abut against the end of the limiting portion (7012) of the upper mold (701); The lower mold pressing mechanism includes a second linear movement mechanism (301) arranged below the middle mold support and limit plate (307) and facing the lower end of the middle mold limit through hole (30701). A lower mold placement table (306) for carrying the lower mold base (7032) is provided on the output end of the second linear movement mechanism (301); The upper mold support mechanism includes a buffer guide post (309) arranged on the middle mold support and limit plate (307), a buffer support head (3012) slidably arranged on the buffer guide post (309) along the output direction of the first linear movement mechanism (3019), and an elastic member for making the buffer support head (3012) always have a moving tendency in the direction away from the middle mold support and limit plate (307). A fitting groove I (301201) is provided on the buffer support head (3012). The upper end of the fitting groove I (301201) is used for placing the lower end face of the limiting portion (7012) of the upper mold (701). The upper mold rod (7013) of the upper mold (701) passes through the fitting groove I (301201) and enters and exits the through hole (7021) of the middle mold (702).

8. The automatic tablet pressing workstation according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, The powder feeding device (4) includes a rotating placement platform (401) and a powder pouring mechanism (402); The rotating placement platform (401) includes a rotating mechanism (40101) and a placement table (40102) arranged at the output end of the rotating mechanism (40101). The placement table (40102) is used for placing the mold (7) to be fed with powder. The rotating mechanism (40101) is used to drive the placement table (40102) and the mold (7) to rotate during the powder pouring process; The powder pouring mechanism (402) includes a rotating motor (40201) and a chuck (40202) provided at the output end of the rotating motor (40201). The chuck (40202) is used to clamp the powder material container (8), and the rotating motor (40201) is used to drive the powder material container (8) to tilt and then swing to achieve pouring.

9. The automatic tablet pressing workstation according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, The mold (7) includes an upper mold (701), a middle mold (702), and a lower mold (703). A through hole (7021) penetrating through the upper and lower ends is provided on the middle mold (702). The upper mold (701) includes a limiting portion (7012) and an upper mold rod (7013) arranged in sequence from top to bottom. The upper mold rod (7013) can be inserted into the through hole (7021). The lower mold (703) includes a lower mold rod (7031) and a lower mold base (7032) arranged in sequence from top to bottom. The lower mold rod (7031) can be inserted into the through hole (7021). A mold cavity is formed by enclosing the lower end of the upper mold rod (7013), the inner wall of the through hole (7021), and the upper end of the lower mold rod (7031). The mold cleaning device (2) includes a mold rod cleaning mechanism, a through hole cleaning mechanism, and a blowing mechanism. The mold rod cleaning mechanism includes an adsorbent material (201) and cleaning holes (20101) provided on the adsorbent material (201). The manipulator (6) can insert the upper mold rod (7013) and the lower mold rod (7031) into the cleaning holes (20101) for cleaning. The through hole cleaning mechanism includes a middle mold placement seat (202) and a cleaning rod (203). The middle mold placement seat (202) is used to place the middle mold (702). The manipulator (6) can drive the cleaning rod (203) to clean the through hole (7021). The blowing mechanism includes an air outlet. The manipulator (6) can drive the upper mold rod (7013), the lower mold rod (7031), and the through hole (7021) to the air outlet for drying and blowing off the powder material.

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