Packaging device

Abstract

Provided is a packaging device capable of conveying packaging paper while maintaining the tension of the packaging paper without applying an excessive load thereto. A packaging device according to the present invention is a packaging device configured to package a medicament loaded from a loading hopper. The packaging device is configured to supply a medicament into the packaging tape through an opening formed by folding the packaging tape in half, and to close the packaging tape by sealing the opening. The packaging device includes: a packaging tape holder on which the packaging tape is wound and held; a plurality of rollers on which a portion of the packaging tape pulled out from the packaging tape holder is wound; a feed roller configured to repeatedly pull out the packaging tape in units of the length of a single package; and the tension adjusting mechanism is arranged on the downstream side relative to the packaging belt holder and the upstream side relative to the feeding roller, and the tension adjusting mechanism is configured to keep the tension of the packaging belt pulled out by the feeding roller constant. The tension adjusting mechanism includes a movable roller supported such that a rotational axis of the movable roller is movable in a direction orthogonal to the rotational axis, and an urging member that pulls the movable roller toward a reference position with a predetermined force. The movable roller moves when it is detected that the packaging tape receives a tensile force greater than or equal to a predetermined force.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a packaging device configured to package pharmaceuticals. Background Art

[0002] As is well known, a packaging device is configured to package powder or solid substances in a long strip of packaging paper that is segmented in units of a predetermined length, and heat-seal the packaging paper (see, for example, Patent Document 1, etc.).

[0003] Other configurations are also known, in which a tablet discharging device and / or a powder dispensing device are combined with the above-described packaging device, and these devices are configured to discharge pharmaceuticals in units of a predetermined amount, such that the packaging device operates as a pharmaceutical sub-packaging machine (see, for example, Patent Documents 2 to 4, etc.).

[0004] Such a packaging device generally adopts the following configuration: while feeding the packaging paper wound around a plurality of rollers with tension, pharmaceuticals are loaded into the packaging device through a hopper or the like at a predetermined position and sealed therein.

[0005] However, in the above-described packaging device configured to feed with tension, for example, when the diameter of the reel of the packaging paper changes as the packaging paper is consumed, the length of the conveying path increases, and as a result, the tensile force changes. Therefore, for example, a configuration for adjusting the tension based on the reel diameter has been proposed (see Patent Document 5, etc.).

[0006] Even in such a configuration for adjusting the tension based on the consumption amount, the tension increases when pulling out the packaging paper and decreases when feeding out the packaging paper. Therefore, the method of controlling the feeding-out and pulling-out timing often becomes complicated.

[0007] If any error occurs in these timings, it may cause the packaging paper to be overloaded, resulting in problems such as damage and abnormal conveyance.

[0008] Prior Art Documents

[0009] Patent Documents

[0010] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-51305

[0011] Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-188101

[0012] Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-168427

[0013] Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent No. 3524680

[0014] Patent Document 5: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-343699 Summary of the Invention

[0015] Technical problem to be solved by the invention

[0016] The present invention is to solve the above technical problems and provides a packaging device capable of conveying wrapping paper while maintaining the tension of the wrapping paper without applying excessive load thereto.

[0017] Technical solution for solving the technical problem

[0018] The packaging device according to the present invention is a packaging device configured to package pharmaceuticals loaded from a loading hopper. The packaging device is configured to supply the pharmaceuticals into a packaging tape through an opening formed by folding the packaging tape in half, and to close the packaging tape by sealing the opening. The packaging device includes: a packaging tape holder on which the packaging tape is wound and held; a plurality of rollers around which the portion of the packaging tape pulled out from the packaging tape holder is wound; a feeding roller configured to repeatedly pull out the packaging tape in units of the length of a single package; and a tension adjusting mechanism provided on the downstream side with respect to the packaging tape holder and on the upstream side with respect to the feeding roller, the tension adjusting mechanism being configured to keep the tension of the packaging tape pulled out by the feeding roller constant. The tension adjusting mechanism includes a movable roller and a biasing member, the movable roller being supported such that the rotation axis of the movable roller can move in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis, the biasing member pulling the movable roller toward a reference position with a predetermined force. When it is detected that the packaging tape receives a tensile force greater than or equal to a predetermined force, the movable roller moves.

[0019] Advantages of the invention

[0020] In the above packaging device, the possibility of problems such as damage and abnormal conveyance caused by the wrapping paper bearing excessive load is reduced. Description of the drawings

[0021] Figure 1 Shows the appearance of a pharmaceutical sub-packaging device as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 2 is Figure 1 A perspective view of the pharmaceutical sub-packaging device shown in, which shows the appearance of the pharmaceutical sub-packaging device.

[0023] Figure 3 Shows Figure 1 The configuration of the tablet processing unit shown in.

[0024] Figure 4 Shows Figure 1 The internal configuration of the tablet processing unit shown in.

[0025] Figure 5 Shows Figure 1 The components related to the configuration of the powder processing unit shown in for dispensing powdered pharmaceuticals.

[0026] Figure 6 shows Figure 5 exemplary drive sources and configurations of the vibratory feeder shown in

[0027] Figure 7 shows Figure 5 exemplary configurations of the conveying members included in the vibratory feeder shown in

[0028] Figure 8 shows Figure 5 exemplary operations of the vibratory feeder and the conveying members shown in

[0029] Figure 9 shows an exemplary positional relationship between the dispensing tray and the vibratory feeder.

[0030] Figure 10 is an enlarged view of a scraping unit configured to convey powdery medicaments downward.

[0031] Figure 11 shows an exemplary internal configuration of a medicament sub-packaging device.

[0032] Figure 12 schematically shows Figure 1 exemplary configurations of the packaging device shown in

[0033] Figure 13 shows exemplary medicaments after sub-packaging according to the present embodiment.

[0034] Figure 14 shows an exemplary configuration of the packaging device.

[0035] Figure 15 is Figure 14 a plan view of an example of the packaging device shown in

[0036] Figure 16 shows an exemplary configuration of a tension adjusting mechanism included in the packaging device.

[0037] Figure 17 shows how the tension adjusting mechanism works.

[0038] Figure 18 shows an exemplary configuration of the prior art. Detailed Description

[0039] A detailed description of an example of a powder sub-packaging device according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0040] For simplicity, the drawings mainly show the elements necessary for describing the present invention and the elements related thereto, and detailed descriptions of fastening members such as bolts, drive sources such as motors, transmission members such as gears, circuits such as motor drivers, and electronic circuits such as controllers are omitted.

[0041] As Figure 1 shown, for convenience, in the illustration of the pharmaceutical packaging device 100 observed from the front side where the operator P stands, the direction from left to right is represented as the X direction, the direction from front to back is represented as the Y direction, and the direction from top to bottom is represented as the Z direction.

[0042] First, the pharmaceutical packaging device 100 according to the present invention is shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 the external view and internal configuration diagram in.

[0043] As Figure 1 shown, the pharmaceutical packaging device 100 is a packaging device including a tablet processing unit 110, a powder processing unit 120, and a packaging device 130. The tablet processing unit 110 includes a tablet processing unit 110 and a conveying unit 12. The tablet processing unit 110 is located in the upper part of the housing 101 and serves as a manual loading unit into which an operator P manually loads pharmaceuticals (such as tablets) for individual packaging. The conveying unit 12 is configured to direct the pharmaceuticals received by the manual loading unit 10 to the following packaging device 130 located in the lower part. The powder processing unit 120 is configured to receive pharmaceuticals (such as powdered pharmaceuticals) weighed by the operator P for a single prescription, and includes a dispensing tray 20 configured to dispense the pharmaceuticals in units of a predetermined amount according to the prescription instructions. The packaging device 130 is configured to individually package the pharmaceuticals (including tablets and / or powdered pharmaceuticals received from the tablet processing unit 110 and / or the powder processing unit 120) with wrapping paper. The pharmaceutical packaging device 100 also serves as a powder packaging device or a tablet packaging device.

[0044] Although the present embodiment relates to a configuration in which the tablet processing unit 110, the powder processing unit 120, and the packaging device 130 are integrated, the pharmaceutical packaging device 100 may further include a tablet cassette configured to store tablets and supply them one by one to the tablet dropping path 11. In addition, the pharmaceutical packaging device 100 may further include a pharmaceutical cassette configured to store powdered pharmaceuticals and / or a storage rack.

[0045] In the present embodiment, the pharmaceutical packaging device 100 includes a control unit 140, and an application for controlling the functions of the control unit to be described below is installed in the control unit.

[0046] As Figure 3As shown in the figure, the tablet processing unit 110 is located at the uppermost part of the pharmaceutical packaging equipment 100, and includes a pull-out tray 111, a conveyor 112, and a tablet loading port 114. The conveyor 112 is located below the tray 111 and is configured to convey the tablets loaded into the tray 111 to the lower part of the pharmaceutical packaging equipment 100. The tablet loading port 114 allows tablets to be loaded without using the tray 111.

[0047] The tray 111 can be pulled out from the housing 101 towards the proximal side of the operator P. Tablets are manually loaded into the plurality of dispensing units 111a, and the tray 111 is inserted again, so that the bottom surface of the unit 111a faces the lower conveying unit 12.

[0048] The conveying unit 12 can have any configuration. For example, as Figure 4 shown in the figure, the known conveying unit 12 is a conveying unit including a plurality of medicine boxes 113 and a conveyor 112. The conveyor 112 includes rollers and a conveyor belt configured to move the medicine boxes 113.

[0049] As described above, the tablets conveyed by the conveying unit 12 are combined with the powdery medicine at the tablet confluence unit 60 described below, and move to the loading hopper 70 (included in the packaging device 130 but not shown) for packaging processing.

[0050] As Figure 5 shown in the figure, the powder processing unit 120 includes a distribution plate 20, two hoppers 21, a chute 22, and a feeding drive unit 40. The distribution plate 20 has an annular shape. The hoppers 21 are attached to the distribution plate 20 on the operator side, and each hopper serves as a containing unit. The chute 22 is located below the corresponding hopper 21, and each chute serves as a conveying member for the powdery medicine loaded into the corresponding hopper 21. The feeding drive unit 40 is adjacent to the corresponding pair of hoppers 21 and chutes 22 and is oriented parallel to the conveying direction of the chute 22.

[0051] The powder processing unit 120 further includes a scraping unit 50, which is located on the distribution plate 20 and on the downstream side of the chute 22 in the rotational direction. Here, the rotational direction is the counterclockwise direction when observing the distribution plate 20 from above, but it is not limited thereto.

[0052] In this embodiment, multiple pairs of hoppers 21 and chutes 22 are arranged parallel to each other. The scraping unit 50 is located on the most downstream side with respect to the hoppers 21 and chutes 22. The scraping unit 50 is configured to scrape the powdery medicine placed on the distribution plate 20 towards the tablet confluence unit 60, as described below.

[0053] The powder processing unit 120 is held inside the housing 101 and can slide and be pulled out.

[0054] In this configuration, the powder processing unit 120 is withdrawn from the housing 101 of the pharmaceutical packaging device 100, which helps to improve the convenience of cleaning.

[0055] As described below, each pair of hoppers 21 and troughs 22 are vibrated by respective feeding drive units 40, thereby serving as vibrating feeders configured to transfer the powdered pharmaceutical loaded into the hopper 21 to the dispensing tray 20 through the trough 22.

[0056] As Figure 5 and Figure 6 shown, the hopper 21 is supported by the hopper holding frame 41 of the feeding drive unit 40. The side surface of the hopper 21 tapers downward and narrows. The loaded powdered pharmaceutical is discharged from the opening 23 provided at the bottommost position into the trough 22. An outwardly projecting triangular projection 21a is provided on the outer side surface of the hopper 21. The projection 21a engages with the hopper holding frame 41 to support the hopper 21.

[0057] As Figure 6 and Figure 7 shown, the trough 22 is supported by the vibrator 42 of the feeding drive unit 40 and is slightly inclined from the operator side (rear end side) toward the side closer to the dispensing tray 20 (front end side). The rear portion of the trough 22 includes a powder dropping portion 24 and an inclined portion 25. The powder dropping portion 24 is designed to drop the powdered pharmaceutical onto the central portion of the dispensing tray 20. The inclined portion 25 tapers toward the powder dropping portion 24, and its inclination angle increases toward the powder dropping portion 24.

[0058] The vibrator 42 is a vibrating plate that can be vibrated by the feeding drive unit 40. A signal from the feeding drive unit 40 causes minute vibration of the vibrator 42, and thus vibrates the trough 22 mounted on the vibrator 42, thereby conveying the powdered pharmaceutical in the direction in which the trough 22 extends (i.e., the Y direction in the present embodiment).

[0059] The hopper holding frame 41 is a rectangular frame structure formed of columnar tubes and open at the front end side (i.e., the Y direction) of the hopper 21. The hopper holding frame 41 supports the projection 21a of the hopper 21 from below. As Figure 8 shown, the hopper holding frame 41 can rotate in the vertical direction about its rear end. Therefore, the hopper holding frame 41 can move the hopper 21 up and down along an arc trajectory centered on the rotation axis O1.

[0060] As Figure 8 shown, when the hopper holding frame 41 moves in a manner that raises the hopper 21, the gap between the opening 23 and the trough 22 increases, thereby enabling the powdered pharmaceutical in the hopper 21 to effectively discharge downward into the trough 22.

[0061] Meanwhile, since the vibrator 42 vibrates the hopper 22, the powdered medicine discharged onto the hopper 22 slides along the wall surface and falls onto the dispensing disk 20 after passing through the inclined portion 25 and the powder dispensing portion 24.

[0062] The powder dispensing portion 24 is a recess provided in the central portion in the width direction of the hopper 22. The powder dispensing portion 24 is a narrow portion having two side surfaces that are close to each other and extend in the conveying direction, so as to collect the powdered medicine toward the end in the conveying direction. The powder dispensing portion 24 is located directly above the recess provided in the central ring portion of the dispensing disk 20, and most preferably directly above the lowermost portion 20a of the recess. The lowermost portion 20a is Figure 5 shown by a dashed line in. In this configuration, the powdered medicine conveyed along the hopper 22 falls onto the central ring portion of the dispensing disk 20. In this process, by controlling the vibration generated by the vibrator 42, the amount of the powdered medicine falling from the powder dispensing portion 24 can be adjusted. Generally, as Figure 9 shown in, the powdered medicine falls from the powder dispensing portion 24 in units of a predetermined amount.

[0063] Therefore, when the dispensing disk 20 rotates one or more circles at a predetermined speed, the powdered medicine is scattered in a manner of being evenly accumulated on the dispensing disk 20.

[0064] Therefore, through the rotation of the dispensing disk 20 and the vibration of the vibrator 42, the powdered medicine falling onto the lowermost portion 20a at the central ring portion of the dispensing disk 20 is evenly scattered on the ring portion of the dispensing disk 20.

[0065] After the powdered medicine is evenly scattered on the dispensing disk 20, the control unit 140 rotates the dispensing disk 20 in units of a predetermined angle. Specifically, for a single prescription, 360° is set in units of 36° of rotation, so as to be divided into ten packages. Therefore, the powdered medicine is gathered in units of an amount suitable for a single package near the scraping unit 50, and the gathered powdered medicine is loaded into the loading hopper 70 through the scraping unit 50.

[0066] As Figure 10 shown in, the scraping unit 50 includes a disk 51 and a scraper 52. The disk 51 is a circular plate and contacts the dispensing disk 20 at its periphery. The scraper 52 is attached to the disk 51 and rotates to scoop up and rake out the powdered medicine in an amount for a single package blocked by the disk 51 on the dispensing disk 20.

[0067] The scraping unit 50 is supported by a rod 53 and is capable of moving up and down in the Z direction. The position of the scraping unit 50 can vary between the position where the disk 51 and the dispensing disk 20 are in contact and the position where the disk 51 is spaced upwardly from the dispensing disk 20. This configuration allowing vertical movement makes it easy for the operator P to clean the dispensing disk 20 after completing the subcontracting of a single prescription.

[0068] As Figure 11 shown in the cross-sectional schematic diagram in, the tablet confluence unit 60 is a confluence unit, in which tablets falling from the tablet processing unit 110 through the conveying unit 12 and powdered medicaments dispensed from the powder processing unit 120 in single-packaging amounts are guided to the loading hopper 70 serving as a common falling path through their respective paths.

[0069] The tablet confluence unit 60 includes a tablet falling path 61 and a closing member 62. The tablet falling path 61 extends obliquely toward the operator side (i.e., the proximal side) inside the housing 101. The closing member 62 serves as a lid that is provided to close the falling opening of the tablet falling path 61. The closing member 62 can rotate about the rotation axis O2 to open and close the falling opening of the tablet falling path 61.

[0070] The tablet confluence unit 60 includes an arm 63, a pushing portion 64, and a biasing member 69. The arm 63 is integrally formed with the closing member 62 and extends toward the back side of the tablet falling path 61. The arm 63 moves the closing member 62 in the direction of opening the closing member 62 when pushed. When the pushing portion 64 contacts the arm 63 and pushes the arm 63 forward, the closing member 62 rotates to open the falling opening of the tablet falling path 61. The biasing member 69 is located above the closing member 62 and applies an elastic force to the closing member 62 in the direction of closing the falling opening.

[0071] The pushing portion 64 is provided with a drive source 65 on the distal side of the housing 101. The drive source 65 is a drive source for the pushing portion 64 and serves as a drive unit. When the drive source 65 drives the pushing portion 64 to move forward, the distal end of the pushing portion 64 contacts the arm 63 and pushes the closing member 62 forward.

[0072] In this operation, when the force applied by the pushing portion 64 exceeds the elastic force applied by the biasing member 69, the closing member 62 opens to open the falling opening of the tablet falling path 61. Accordingly, the tablets blocked at the lower end of the tablet falling path 61 fall into the loading hopper 70.

[0073] On the other hand, the pushing portion 64 is always under the action of an elastic force being pulled backward. Therefore, when the signal of the drive source 65 stops, the biasing member 69 returns the closing member 62 to the position of closing the falling opening of the tablet falling path 61.

[0074] A surrounding member 80 serving as a scattering prevention member is provided around a closing member 62 at the lower end of the tablet dropping path 61 and around the powder dropping port. The surrounding member 80 extends upward in a manner of closing the powder dropping port. The surrounding member 80 is located above the loading hopper 70 and has a function of suppressing the scattering of the powdered medicine scraped by the scraper 52 and falling into the loading hopper 70.

[0075] The shape of the surrounding member 80 is not limited to the shape shown in the drawings and can be any of various shapes. The surrounding member 80 can be tilted, for example, tilted along the left - right direction or the direction toward the proximal side.

[0076] When the tablet merging unit 60 is in the standby state (initial state), the closing member 62 remains closed. When the tablet is discharged from the tablet processing unit 110, the closing member 62 blocks the discharged tablet at the end of the tablet dropping path 61.

[0077] As described above, in order to discharge the tablet from the tablet merging unit 60, the drive source 65 is activated to rotate the closing member 62. Thus, the tablet falls into the loading hopper 70.

[0078] As described above, the discharge of the tablet and the scraping of the powdered medicine by the scraper 52 basically do not occur simultaneously. When the closing member 62 is closed, the powdered medicine is discharged. When the closing member 62 is opened, the tablet is discharged.

[0079] This control method is realized, for example, by the control unit 140: after the scraper 52 finishes scraping the powdered medicine and after the packaging device 130 finishes the predetermined packaging, the drive source 65 is activated. On the contrary, the scraping of the scraper 52 and the discharge of the tablet can be carried out alternately. However, if the powdered medicine is scraped while the closing member 62 is open, some powdered medicine may adhere between the tablet dropping path 61 and the closing member 62, for example, increasing the risk of so - called contamination and the like. This situation is not desirable.

[0080] As Figure 12 shown, the tablet or the powdered medicine that has fallen into the loading hopper 70 as described above is packaged with the medicine wrapping paper 131 by the packaging device 130.

[0081] Along the feeding path of the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131, the packaging device 130 successively includes a packaging tape feeder 132, a printer 133, a vertical seal 134, a loading hopper 70, a horizontal seal 135, a roller unit 136, and a cutter 137. The packaging tape feeder 132 holds the reel of the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131 and is configured to apply an appropriate tension to the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131 and successively feed the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131 from the rear end. The printer 133 is configured to print on the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131. The vertical seal 134 includes a heating element extending in the width direction (the up-and-down direction in this embodiment) of the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131, and the heating element is configured to heat and melt the sealing portion 131a of the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131. The loading hopper 70 is configured to move up and down so that its distal end is inserted into or withdrawn from the folded pharmaceutical packaging paper 131. The horizontal seal 135 includes a heating element extending in the horizontal direction, and the heating element is configured to heat and melt the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131. The roller unit 136 is configured to pull the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131. The cutter 137 is configured to punch or cut the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131.

[0082] In the above configuration, as Figure 13 shown in, pharmaceuticals such as tablets or powdered pharmaceuticals are packaged in segments of a predetermined length formed by the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131. In addition, in a state where the sealing portion 131a shown by the shaded line is heated and melted, the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131 maintains a continuous form of a certain length and is discharged toward the downstream discharge port 139.

[0083] The pharmaceutical packaging paper 131 is folded in half and the upper end is open to be drawn out from the packaging tape feeder 132. The packaging tape feeder 132 is, for example, a packaging tape holder for unwinding the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131 in the form of a reel.

[0084] Therefore, the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131 fed from the packaging tape feeder 132 is first printed by the printer 133, and then moves to a position below the loading hopper 70. Then, the front and rear portions of the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131 in the conveying direction are sealed by the vertical seal 134, and then pharmaceuticals are loaded from the loading hopper 70. Subsequently, the upper portion of the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131 is sealed. In addition, the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131 is cut or punched by the cutter 137 and discharged.

[0085] As described above, for the tablet confluence unit 60, whether it is a tablet or a powdered pharmaceutical in a single packaging quantity, it will fall into the loading hopper 70. Therefore, each segment of the pharmaceutical packaging paper 131 is packaged with a single packaging quantity of pharmaceuticals. Figure 13 An exemplary situation where the tablet packaging is completed is shown. Similarly, each segment formed by thermal melting is packaged with any powder such as a powdered pharmaceutical.

[0086] When it is detected that the medicament is loaded from the loading hopper 70 into the medicament wrapping paper 131, the horizontal seal 135 seals the upper part of the medicament wrapping paper 131, and the roller unit 136 pulls out the medicament wrapping paper 131 by a predetermined length, so that the medicament wrapping paper 131 conveys the length of a single package.

[0087] By repeating such an operation, the medicament wrapping paper 131 is conveyed to the discharge port 139 in the form of continuous medicine bags, and each medicine bag is packed with a single package amount of the medicament.

[0088] The segmental medicament sub-packaging device 100 configured as described above is a sub-packaging device capable of packaging medicaments such as tablets or powdered medicaments in single package amounts using the medicament wrapping paper 131.

[0089] The configuration of the packaging device 130 described in the present embodiment only relates to the scheme of conveying the medicament wrapping paper 131 in the horizontal direction. Alternatively, the packaging device 130 may have any configuration as long as the packaging device 130 is a packaging machine capable of packaging the medicament in compartments formed by segmenting the medicament wrapping paper into a predetermined width. The packaging device 130 is not limited to these configurations.

[0090] Now, reference will be made to Figure 14 describe the configuration of such a packaging device.

[0091] In the present embodiment, the medicament wrapping paper 131 is folded in half and held on the packaging tape feeder 132 in the form of a reel.

[0092] The medicament wrapping paper 131 drawn out from the packaging tape feeder 132 is wound around a plurality of rollers 159. In this state, as described above, the medicament wrapping paper 131 advances through the printer 133, the vertical seal 134, the loading hopper 70, the horizontal seal 135, and the roller unit 136, and is discharged to the discharge port 139.

[0093] When the medicament wrapping paper 131 is stationary, the tension applied thereto remains constant. When the roller unit 136 provided with a drive source rotates a predetermined distance, for example, rotates 80 mm for a single package to pull out the medicament wrapping paper 131, the portion of the medicament wrapping paper 131 in the form of a reel rotates. Therefore, the medicament wrapping paper 131 is drawn out from the packaging tape feeder 132 by the same length as described above.

[0094] As Figure 15 shown, a movable roller 151, a tension spring 153, and a sensor 152 are provided near the outlet of the packaging tape feeder 132. The movable roller 151 is supported such that its rotation axis can move in the X direction or the Y direction. The tension spring 153 serves as a biasing member that connects the movable roller 151 and the housing 101 to each other. The sensor 152 is configured to detect the position of the movable roller 151.

[0095] The packing tape feeder 132 includes a rotating mechanism 1321 that drives and is located at the middle part of the pharmaceutical wrapping paper 131 in the form of a reel. When the signal of the sensor 152 is off, the rotating mechanism 1321 drives the motor to rotate.

[0096] Through this operation of the rotating mechanism 1321, the pharmaceutical wrapping paper 131 held by the packing tape feeder 132 rotates in the counterclockwise direction in the drawing and is sent out.

[0097] The sensor 152 is a sensor for detecting the position of the movable roller 151. As Figure 16 shown, when the movable roller 151 moves in the XY plane, the sensor 152 turns off the signal. When the movable roller 151 is in the reference position, the sensor 152 keeps the signal on.

[0098] In this embodiment, the on / off switching of the sensor 152 is as follows. When the microswitch 1521 comes into contact with the bent portion 1541 formed around the rotation axis O5 of the movable roller support 154, the sensor 152 turns on. When the movable roller support 154 rotates on the bent portion 1541, the microswitch 1521 is spaced apart from the side surface of the bent portion 1541, so that the sensor 152 turns off. That is to say, this embodiment adopts a contact sensor configured to realize the switching of the switch state based on the separation and contact between the side surface of the bent portion 1541 and the microswitch 1521. The range in which the sensor 152 remains on can be controlled by, for example, changing the curvature and / or position of the bent portion 1541.

[0099] In other words, the range in which the bent portion 1541 and the microswitch 1521 keep in contact with each other is defined as the reference position of the movable roller 151. When the movable roller 151 moves in the XY plane to a position where the bent portion 1541 and the microswitch 1521 are separated from each other, the control unit 140 determines that the movable roller 151 has moved, as described below.

[0100] Instead of this contact sensor, the sensor 152 can be, for example, an optical sensor that is arranged at a position facing the movable roller 151 and is configured to turn off when the movable roller 151 moves a predetermined distance or more.

[0101] The determination of the on / off state can be performed in other ways, as long as it is possible to detect whether the movable roller 151 is in the reference position. However, in the case where the sensor 152 fails for some reason, if the failure does not cut off the power, when the sensor 152 is turned on, the rotating mechanism 1321 configured to rotate will still continue to rotate. On the contrary, the above-mentioned rotating mechanism 1321 is configured to rotate when the sensor 152 is turned off. Therefore, in the case of a power failure, the rotating mechanism 1321 will not operate and will not continue to rotate. Even in the case where the sensor 152 has a non-power-off failure, the rotating mechanism 1321 will stop and be prevented from continuing to rotate. Such a configuration is preferred.

[0102] The movable roller 151 is a movable roller that has a rotation axis O4 on the Z axis and is supported by a movable roller support member 154 extending in the XY plane, so that the movable roller 151 can rotate around the packaging tape feeder 132.

[0103] In the present embodiment, the movable roller 151 is elastically biased in the direction indicated by the arrow B by a tension spring 153 to maintain it in Figure 15 the reference position where the sensor 152 shown therein remains on.

[0104] The medicine packaging paper 131 is wound around the movable roller 151. When the roller unit 136 pulls out the medicine packaging paper 131, the medicine packaging paper 131 is subjected to an increasing force of tension in the pulling direction indicated by the arrow A in Figure 15 .

[0105] In this case, if the force FA acting in the pulling direction reaches a predetermined value or greater, the movable roller 151 rotates together with the movable roller support member 154 in the C direction as shown in Figure 17 .

[0106] As described above, the threshold value of the acting pulling force FA can be set to an appropriate value based on, for example, the fastening method of the movable roller support member 154 and / or the elastic force of the tension spring 153, and can be arbitrarily changed. Preferably, in order to prevent excessive tension from being applied to the medicine packaging paper 131, the threshold value can be set to be less than the tension value that the medicine packaging paper 131 can withstand before breaking.

[0107] In the case where the movable roller 151 provided near the outlet of the above-mentioned packaging tape feeder 132 can move in the XY plane, when the movable roller 151 rotates in the C direction as shown in Figure 17 the (b) of, the conveying path of the medicine packaging paper 131 is shortened.

[0108] When the length of the medicine wrapping paper 131 is insufficient relative to the length of the conveying path, the tension applied to the medicine wrapping paper 131 increases, and when the length of the medicine wrapping paper 131 is greater than the length of the conveying path, the tension decreases. That is to say, when the conveying path shortens, the tension decreases and becomes temporarily low.

[0109] There is an upper limit to the reduction in the conveying distance, which is set according to the movable range of the movable roller support 154, and its limit state is as shown in Figure 17 (c) of. Actually, in the present embodiment, the length of the medicine wrapping paper 131 pulled out by the roller unit 136 is set to 80 mm. Therefore, the movable roller 151 only moves a certain length, which corresponds to the amount of tension reduction achieved by the pulled-out length.

[0110] The moving distance of the movable roller 151 is not limited to 80 mm for the following reasons: The movable roller 151 moves along an arc trajectory, and this distance varies with the winding mode of the medicine wrapping paper 131, and this distance varies with the tightening torque of the movable roller support 154 and the degree of tension applied to the medicine wrapping paper 131, etc. For whatever reason, since the rotation and movement of the movable roller support 154 cause a change in the position of the movable roller 151, thereby shortening the conveying path of the medicine wrapping paper 131, the tension applied to the medicine wrapping paper 131 decreases. Therefore, the movable roller 151 stops at a position where the tension is less than the force that moves the movable roller 151.

[0111] In a known configuration where the movable roller 151 is not adopted but the position of the roller 159 is fixed, as shown in Figure 18 , the reel diameter of the medicine wrapping paper 131 changes with the remaining volume of the reel of the medicine wrapping paper 131. When the medicine wrapping paper 131 is in a full reel state just after replacement, the medicine wrapping paper 131 travels along the conveying path shown by the dotted line. As the medicine wrapping paper 131 is consumed to a certain extent, the length of the conveying path shown by the solid line increases with consumption. In short, it is known that since the conveying path changes with the reel diameter, that is, the remaining volume of the reel, the tension changes even if the pulled-out length of the roller unit 136 remains constant.

[0112] In order to reduce the tension change caused by consumption, for example, according to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-343699, etc., a device for detecting the volume of the sheet reel is provided at the core of the sheet reel, so that the tension can be adjusted by changing the rotation amount based on the volume of the reel.

[0113] However, in this scroll-based configuration where the remaining volume changes the tension, it is necessary to first determine the correspondence between the volume of the scroll and the tension applied to the medicament wrapper. In addition, the change amount per rotation varies with the thickness of the medicament wrapper 131. Therefore, if multiple types of medicament wrappers 131 are to be processed, the control operation becomes complex. For example, it is necessary to adjust the rotation amount separately for each case.

[0114] Another problem is that since the tension is increased or decreased by controlling the rotation amount of the packing tape feeder 132, the configuration of the motor and control unit required to control the rotation may also become complex.

[0115] In view of the above situation, the present embodiment employs a movable roller 151 that can move in the X direction and the Y direction. The movable roller 151 is configured to reduce the load by keeping the tension applied to the medicament wrapper 131 constant without determining the volume of the scroll.

[0116] The movable roller 151 moves in the XY plane as the movable roller support 154 rotates and the tension applied to the medicament wrapper 131 wound around the movable roller changes.

[0117] Specifically, when the roller unit 136 pulls out the medicament wrapper 131 and the tension of the portion of the medicament wrapper 131 wound around the movable roller 151 reaches or exceeds a predetermined value, the movable roller 151 itself moves in the XY plane along the tension direction of the pulled-out medicament wrapper 131, thereby reducing the tension and shortening the conveying path.

[0118] This shortening of the conveying path causes the movable roller 151 to create a certain "slack" in the medicament wrapper 131 to offset the increase in tension.

[0119] The slack imparted by the movement of the movable roller 151 described above is only temporary. When the movable roller 151 returns to the reference position, the tension increases again and remains at that level.

[0120] This situation is the result of the increase in tension caused by the roller unit 136 pulling out the medicament wrapper 131 by a predetermined length.

[0121] Therefore, as described above, in the present embodiment, when the movable roller 151 moves from the reference position, the packing tape feeder 132 rotates in the D direction to send out the medicament wrapper 131. Thus, the sending out of the medicament wrapper 131 offsets the increase in tension.

[0122] Specifically, the present embodiment employs a sensor 152 that serves as a movement detection device for detecting the movement of the movable roller 151 from the reference position. When the sensor 152 detects the movement of the movable roller 151 from the reference position, the rotation mechanism 1321 of the packing tape feeder 132 remainsFigure 17 Rotating in the D direction shown in the figure, the medicine wrapping paper 131 is sent out.

[0123] On the other hand, when the movable roller 151 is in the reference position, this feeding is stopped.

[0124] In this state, since the medicine wrapping paper 131 is temporarily slackened as the movable roller 151 moves, even if the rotation speed of the packing tape feeder 132 remains constant, no problem will occur. In this configuration, the control unit 140 only needs to rotate the rotation mechanism 1321 based on the detection result of the sensor 152, without performing complex rotation control operations. This configuration helps to reduce costs. In addition, the simplicity of the drive unit reduces the possibility of failures.

[0125] After the medicine wrapping paper 131 pulled out by the roller unit 136 causes the movable roller 151 to move from the reference position, the movable roller 151 is subjected to the tension of the medicine wrapping paper 131 and the elastic force of the tension spring 153. Therefore, according to the balance relationship of these two forces, the positions of the movable roller 151 and the movable roller support 154 may change.

[0126] As described above, when the medicine wrapping paper 131 is sent out as the rotation mechanism 1321 of the packing tape feeder 132 rotates, the tension of the medicine wrapping paper 131 will decrease.

[0127] Specifically, if the roller unit 136 first pulls out the medicine wrapping paper 131 by a length of 80 mm, and then sends out the medicine wrapping paper 131 by a length of approximately the same 80 mm, the tension applied to the movable roller 151 is the same as the initial tension applied when the movable roller 151 is in the reference position shown in (a) of Figure 17 As shown.

[0128] After pulling out a predetermined length, the rotation of the roller unit 136 is temporarily stopped until the medicine is loaded into the next segment from the loading hopper 70. Therefore, when the packing tape feeder 132 rotates and sends out the medicine wrapping paper 131 at a predetermined speed, the position of the movable roller 151 to offset the tension gradually changes. Therefore, the movable roller 151 is subjected to the elastic force of the tension spring 153 and moves from the position shown in (b) of Figure 17 As shown to the reference position and stays there.

[0129] That is to say, during the period after the medicine is loaded and before the roller unit 136 pulls out the medicine wrapping paper 131, the movable roller 151 is subjected to the elastic force of the tension spring 153 and returns to the reference position.

[0130] The above series of operations, including the pulling by the roller unit 136, the movement of the movable roller 151 from the reference position, and the rotation of the rotation mechanism 1321 of the packing tape feeder 132 and the elastic force of the tension spring 153 to return the movable roller 151 to the reference position, are repeatedly performed in each packing cycle. Therefore, the packing device 130 packs the medicine into the medicine packing paper 131 for individual packing and sends out the packed product.

[0131] In this process, the pulling length of the roller unit 136 and the corresponding increase amount of the tension applied to the medicine packing paper 131 automatically determine the position where the movable roller 151 is about to move to. In addition, the elastic force of the tension spring 153 reliably returns the movable roller 151 to the reference position. Therefore, there is no need to control the tension during the packing process. As a result, the configuration of the control operation is simplified such that the rotation mechanism 1321 rotates when the movable roller 151 moves from the reference position and stops rotating when the movable roller 151 returns to the reference position.

[0132] In short, the movable roller 151, the movable roller support member 154 that supports the movable roller 151, and the tension spring 153 constitute a tension adjusting mechanism, which is configured to prevent excessive tension from being applied to the medicine packing paper 131 when the roller unit 136 pulls out the medicine packing paper 131.

[0133] Since the movable roller 151, the movable roller support member 154, and the tension spring 153 operate as described above, excessive load on the medicine packing paper 131 is prevented. Therefore, the possibility of problems such as damage and abnormal conveyance is reduced.

[0134] <1>

[0135] According to the present embodiment, the packing device 130 is a packing device configured to pack the medicine loaded from the loading hopper 70, and includes: a packing tape feeder 132 on which the medicine packing paper 131 is wound and held in a reel form; a plurality of rollers 159 around which the portion of the medicine packing paper 131 drawn out from the packing tape feeder 132 is wound; a roller unit 136 configured to repeatedly pull out the medicine packing paper 131 in units of the length of a single pack; and a tension adjusting mechanism provided on the downstream side with respect to the packing tape feeder 132 and the upstream side with respect to the roller unit 136, the tension adjusting mechanism being configured to keep the tension of the packing tape pulled out by the roller unit 136 constant.

[0136] The tension adjusting mechanism includes a movable roller 151 and a tension spring 153. The movable roller 151 is supported such that its rotation axis O4 can move in the X direction and the Y direction orthogonal to the rotation axis, and the tension spring 153 pulls the movable roller 151 toward the reference position with a predetermined force. When it is detected that the medicine packing paper 131 receives a tension greater than or equal to a predetermined force, the movable roller 151 moves.

[0137] In this configuration, the medicine wrapping paper 131 is prevented from bearing an excessive load. Therefore, the possibility of problems such as damage and abnormal conveyance is reduced.

[0138] <2>

[0139] According to the present embodiment, in addition to the configuration described in <1>, the movable roller 151 is held so as to be movable in a direction in which the distance of the moving path of the medicine wrapping paper 131 wound around the movable roller 151 is shortened.

[0140] In this configuration, the possibility of problems such as damage and abnormal conveyance caused by the wrapping paper bearing an excessive load is reduced.

[0141] <3>

[0142] According to the present embodiment, in addition to the configuration described in <2>, a sensor 152 is provided, and the sensor is configured to detect the movement of the movable roller 151. When the sensor 152 detects the movement of the movable roller 151, the packing tape feeder 132 rotates in the direction of feeding out the medicine wrapping paper 131.

[0143] In this configuration, the medicine wrapping paper 131 is fed out only when the movable roller 151 moves. Therefore, when the medicine wrapping paper 131 is pulled out with a large force that moves the movable roller 151, the movable roller 151 moves in a manner that reduces the load applied to the medicine wrapping paper 131, and feeds out the medicine wrapping paper 131 in a manner that cancels the increase in tension that causes the movement. Therefore, the possibility of the medicine wrapping paper 131 bearing an excessive load is reduced.

[0144] <4>

[0145] According to the present embodiment, in addition to the configuration described in <3>, when the tension applied to the medicine wrapping paper 131 is less than or equal to a predetermined force, the tension spring 153 returns the movable roller 151 to the reference position.

[0146] In this configuration, when the movable roller 151 returns to the reference position under the elastic force of the tension spring 153, the feeding stops. Therefore, the medicine wrapping paper 131 does not become excessively slack.

[0147] <5>

[0148] According to the present embodiment, in addition to the configuration described in <4>,

[0149] If the movement detector detects that the movable roller has returned to the reference position, the packing tape holder stops feeding out the packing tape.

[0150] In this configuration, the operation of starting and stopping the feeding can be simply controlled based on the position of the movable roller 151 detected by the sensor 152. Therefore, there is no need for complex operations such as controlling the rotational speed, which helps to reduce costs.

[0151] Description of Reference Numerals

[0152] 20: dispensing tray, 60: tablet confluence unit, 61: falling path (tablet falling path), 62: closing member, 66: partition, 70: loading hopper, 100: medicine packaging equipment, 102: mounting surface, 110: tablet processing section, 120: powder processing section, 130: packaging device, 131: packaging tape (medicine packaging paper), 132: packaging tape holder (packaging tape feeder), 159: roller, 151: movable roller (tension adjusting mechanism), 152: movement detector (sensor), 153: tension spring (biasing member), 154: movable roller support (tension adjusting mechanism), O4, O5: rotation axes.

Claims

1. A packaging device configured to package a medicament loaded from a loading hopper, The packaging device is configured to supply the medicament into the packaging tape through an opening formed by folding the packaging tape in half, and to close the packaging tape by sealing the opening. The packaging device includes: A packaging tape holder on which the packaging tape is wound and held; A plurality of rollers around which the portion of the packaging tape pulled out from the packaging tape holder is wound; A feed roller configured to repeatedly pull out the packaging tape in units of the length of a single package; And A tension adjustment mechanism provided on the downstream side with respect to the packaging tape holder and on the upstream side with respect to the feed roller. The tension adjustment mechanism is configured to keep the tension of the packaging tape pulled out by the feed roller constant, wherein the tension adjustment mechanism includes a movable roller and a biasing member. The movable roller is supported such that the rotation axis of the movable roller can move in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis. The biasing member pulls the movable roller toward a reference position with a predetermined force, and wherein when it is detected that the packaging tape receives a tensile force greater than or equal to the predetermined force, the movable roller moves.

2. The packaging device according to claim 1, wherein The movable roller is held so as to be movable in a direction that shortens the distance of the movement path of the packaging tape wound around the movable roller.

3. The packaging device according to claim 2, wherein The tension adjustment mechanism includes a movement detector configured to detect the movement of the movable roller, and when the movement detector detects the movement of the movable roller, the packaging tape holder rotates in the direction of feeding out the packaging tape.

4. The packaging device according to claim 3, wherein When the tension applied to the packaging tape is less than or equal to the predetermined force, the biasing member returns the movable roller to the reference position.

5. The packaging device according to claim 4, wherein If the movement detector detects that the movable roller has returned to the reference position, the packaging tape holder stops feeding out the packaging tape.

Images