Production device and production method of Chinese patent medicine granules

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of traditional Chinese medicine granule production equipment, in particular to a Chinese patent medicine granule production device and method.The Chinese patent medicine granule production device comprises a powdered sugar grinding mechanism, a wetting agent adding mechanism, a powder adding mechanism, a stirring mechanism, a granulation mechanism and a drying and conveying mechanism; the wetting agent adding mechanism and the powder adding mechanism are connected to the other side of the upper portion of the stirring mechanism through metering pumps, the granulation mechanism is arranged on the lower side of a soft material discharging port of the stirring mechanism, the drying conveying mechanism is arranged on one side of a granule discharging port of the granulation mechanism, and a material gathering mechanism is arranged at the discharging end of the drying conveying mechanism; and a control box is further arranged on one side of the stirring mechanism. The production device is compact in structure and high in production stability, produced granules are uniform in granularity and stable in active ingredient distribution, the water content reaches the standard, meanwhile, the production efficiency is improved, and the manual intervention cost is reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of equipment technology for the production of traditional Chinese medicine granules, and in particular to a production apparatus and method for traditional Chinese medicine granules. Background Technology

[0002] In the pharmaceutical industry, traditional Chinese medicine granules, with their numerous advantages such as convenient administration, easy storage, and accurate dosage, are highly favored by patients and medical institutions, occupying an important position in the market. With the continuous improvement of people's health needs and the vigorous development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry, the market demand for traditional Chinese medicine granules continues to grow, which places more stringent demands on their production efficiency and quality. As a key piece of equipment in the production process of traditional Chinese medicine granules, the performance of the production equipment directly affects the product quality, production efficiency, and the economic benefits of the enterprise.

[0003] In the traditional production process of Chinese patent medicine granules, the following technical pain points are common, which restrict the improvement of product quality and production efficiency: (1) Solid sugar powder often agglomerates when mixed with concentrated Chinese medicine paste due to uneven particle size, resulting in poor material mixing uniformity. Ultimately, the distribution of effective ingredients in the granules is unbalanced, affecting the stability of the efficacy. (2) The cutting components of existing granulation equipment are mostly designed with fixed positions, which cannot dynamically adjust the cutting position with the movement of the granulation roller. This easily leads to problems such as missing or overcutting of soft material strips or uneven particle size. Moreover, adjusting the particle size requires stopping the machine to disassemble the components, resulting in production interruption and low efficiency.

[0004] In view of the shortcomings of the existing technology, there is an urgent need for an integrated production device that can realize fine pretreatment of sugar powder, precise mixing of materials, and stable continuous granulation, so as to improve the production quality and industrialization level of traditional Chinese medicine granules. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of this invention is to provide a production device and method for traditional Chinese medicine granules. The production device has a compact structure and strong production stability. The granules produced have uniform particle size, stable distribution of effective ingredients, and meet the moisture content requirements. At the same time, it improves production efficiency and reduces the cost of manual intervention.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides a production apparatus for traditional Chinese medicine granules, comprising a sugar powder grinding mechanism, a wetting agent adding mechanism, a powder adding mechanism, a stirring mechanism, a granulation mechanism, and a drying and conveying mechanism. The sugar powder grinding mechanism is located above the stirring mechanism on one side, and the wetting agent adding mechanism and the powder adding mechanism are both connected to the other side above the stirring mechanism. The granulation mechanism is located below the soft material outlet of the stirring mechanism, and the drying and conveying mechanism is located on one side of the granule outlet of the granulation mechanism. The discharge end of the drying and conveying mechanism is equipped with a material gathering mechanism, and a control box is also provided on one side of the stirring mechanism. The sugar powder grinding mechanism, the wetting agent adding mechanism, the powder adding mechanism, the stirring mechanism, the granulation mechanism, and the drying and conveying mechanism are all electrically connected to the control box.

[0007] Preferably, the sugar powder grinding mechanism includes a grinder body, a sugar powder feed hopper on the upper side of the grinder body, the bottom of the sugar powder feed hopper being connected to the upper side of the sugar powder inlet of the grinder body, an anti-blocking port on one side of the sugar powder inlet, an anti-blocking plate being slidably connected to the anti-blocking port, a sugar powder receiving hopper on one side of the anti-blocking port, a sugar powder discharge port on the lower side of the grinder body, and a rotating plate for blocking the sugar powder discharge at the sugar powder discharge port.

[0008] Preferably, the stirring mechanism includes a stirring box and a stirring shaft. The stirring shaft is rotatably connected inside the stirring box. The top of the stirring box is provided with a feed inlet for concentrated Chinese medicine paste. The top of one side wall of the stirring box is provided with a second sugar powder feed inlet. The sugar powder discharge outlet of the sugar powder grinding mechanism is connected to the second sugar powder feed inlet. The top of the other side of the stirring box is provided with a wetting agent feed inlet and a powdered auxiliary material feed inlet. The wetting agent adding mechanism is connected to the wetting agent feed inlet via a metering pump. The powdered material adding mechanism is connected to the powdered auxiliary material feed inlet. The outside of the stirring box is provided with a jacket. A heating component is provided inside the jacket. A temperature sensor is provided on the inner wall of the stirring box. A weighing component is also provided on the outside of the jacket of the stirring box.

[0009] Preferably, the granulation mechanism includes a support shell, a drive assembly inside the support shell, a support base on the upper side of the support shell, a granulation cylinder on the upper side of the support base, a granulation mold, a granulation roller, and a cutting assembly inside the granulation cylinder, the granulation mold being fixedly connected to the upper side of the support base, a roller support in the middle of the granulation mold, the bottom of the roller support being connected to the drive assembly, symmetrically arranged eccentric shafts on both sides of the roller support, the granulation roller being connected to one of the eccentric shafts, and a positioning rod connected to the cutting assembly at the top of the roller support.

[0010] Preferably, the top of the granulation cylinder is provided with a feed hopper, which is located below the soft material outlet of the mixing mechanism. The lower side of the granulation cylinder is provided with a granule outlet, the other side of the granulation cylinder is provided with an air inlet, and the side wall of the granulation cylinder is provided with an observation window on the side above the granule outlet.

[0011] Preferably, the cutting assembly includes a connecting rod, a bending rod, a guide rod, and a cutting disc. One end of the connecting rod is fixedly connected to the positioning rod, and the other end of the connecting rod is connected to one end of the bending rod with a rounded transition. The bending rod has a downward bending structure, and the other end of the bending rod is located outside the granulation cylinder and connected to the vertically arranged guide rod. One side of the cutting disc is hinged to one side of the guide rod, and the other side of the cutting disc is hinged to the other side of the guide rod via an electric telescopic rod.

[0012] Preferably, the drive assembly includes a drive motor, a pulley, a second pulley, a gear, a second gear, a connecting shaft, and a connecting shaft. The drive motor is connected to the first pulley, the first pulley is connected to the second pulley via a transmission belt, the upper side of the second pulley is connected to the first gear via a connecting shaft, the first gear and the second gear are meshed, and the upper side of the second gear is connected to the rolling mold support via the connecting shaft.

[0013] Preferably, the drying and conveying mechanism includes a conveyor belt, a drying chamber, and a sieve cylinder for screening suitable particle sizes. The sieve cylinder is located on one side of the feed inlet of the conveyor belt, and the top of the sieve cylinder is located below the granule discharge port of the granulation mechanism. The bottom of the sieve cylinder is connected to the frame of the conveyor belt through a support column. The drying chamber is located in the middle of the conveyor belt, and the conveyor belt passes through the drying chamber. A temperature sensor is installed inside the drying chamber, and a near-infrared online intelligent detection device for detecting moisture and particle size is installed on the outlet side of the drying chamber.

[0014] Preferably, the material gathering mechanism includes a V-shaped material gathering plate, the closed end of which extends out of the conveyor belt to form a material drop outlet. Material gathering support rods are provided on both sides of the V-shaped material gathering plate. The end of the material gathering support rod away from the V-shaped material gathering plate is connected to the material gathering telescopic motor. The material gathering telescopic motor is connected to the frame of the conveyor belt through a support plate.

[0015] This invention also provides a method for producing traditional Chinese medicine granules, using the aforementioned apparatus for producing traditional Chinese medicine granules, comprising the following steps: S1. The sugar powder block is put into the sugar powder feed hopper of the sugar powder grinding mechanism. The grinding machine body is started through the control box to crush and grind the sugar powder block. The ground sugar powder is conveyed to the mixing box of the mixing mechanism through the sugar powder discharge port and sugar powder inlet of the grinding machine body. Then, powdered auxiliary materials are added to the mixing box through the powdered material adding mechanism. S2. The pre-extracted and concentrated Chinese herbal medicine paste is injected into the mixing tank through the Chinese herbal medicine paste inlet at the top of the mixing tank. The mixing mechanism is started by the control box. The mixing shaft mixes the Chinese herbal medicine paste with sugar powder and powdered excipients in the mixing tank. At the same time, the heating component in the jacket is started. The temperature sensor monitors the temperature of the material in the mixing tank in real time and feeds the data back to the control box. After the Chinese herbal medicine paste is mixed with sugar powder and powdered excipients for 5 minutes, the control box starts the metering pump to add 85% ethanol from the wetting agent adding mechanism into the mixing tank. After the mixing is completed, the control box controls the soft material outlet at the bottom of the mixing tank to open. S3. The soft material in the mixing tank falls into the feed hopper at the top of the granulation cylinder through the soft material outlet, and then enters the gap between the granulation die and the granulation roller. The drive component drives the roller support and the granulation roller to rotate eccentrically. The granulation roller applies a squeezing force to the soft material, so that the soft material forms a continuous soft material strip through the forming hole on the granulation die. S4. The cutting assembly moves synchronously with the roller mold support. The cutting blade is rotated around the hinge point of the guide rod by the extension and retraction of the electric telescopic rod. The distance between the cutting blade and the granulation die is adjusted. After the soft material strip is extruded from the forming hole, it is cut to form wet granules with uniform particle size. The cut wet granules fall into the screen cylinder of the drying conveying mechanism through the granule discharge port at the bottom of the granulation cylinder. S5. After passing through the screen cylinder, the wet particles fall into the conveyor belt and are then transported to the drying chamber of the drying box for drying. The dried particles are then conveyed out of the drying chamber and enter the material gathering mechanism. As needed, the dried particles are transferred to the volatile oil mixing unit or the finished product packaging unit for further processing.

[0016] Therefore, the present invention, employing the above-mentioned production apparatus and method for traditional Chinese medicine granules, has the following beneficial effects: (1) The present invention refines the sugar powder by setting a sugar powder grinding mechanism, which can improve the uniformity of mixing the concentrated Chinese medicine paste with sugar powder and powdered excipients. By setting a jacketed heating component in the stirring mechanism to heat and mix during stirring, the concentrated Chinese medicine paste with sugar powder and powdered excipients is fully integrated, so that the effective ingredients in the granules are evenly distributed, the mixing time is shortened, and the granulation quality is improved. The drying and conveying mechanism can accurately control the drying temperature and time, avoid the granules from being over-dried or unevenly dried, ensure the stability of the moisture content of the granules, and improve the stability and solubility of the product.

[0017] (2) In the granulation mechanism of the present invention, one end of the connecting rod is fixed to the positioning rod of the roller mold support and moves synchronously with the roller mold support. The downward bending of the bending rod provides the cutting blade with a movement space to avoid the inner wall of the granulation cylinder. The guide rod ensures that the cutting blade always cuts along a fixed trajectory, so that the cutting component can dynamically adjust the cutting position according to the eccentric rotation of the granulation roller mold, avoiding the problem of missing or overcutting caused by position deviation during the conveying of soft material strips. At the same time, the hinged connection of the electric telescopic rod can adjust the distance between the cutting side of the cutting blade and the granulation mold (i.e., the cutting distance), so that the soft material strips can be cut into particles of different sizes as needed, and there is no need to frequently stop the machine to adjust the cutting position, so that the granulation process is continuous and stable.

[0018] (3) The present invention uses an intelligent control module integrated in the control box to link the weighing components, temperature sensors, near-infrared online intelligent detection devices, etc., to collect key data such as particle size, material ratio, mixing temperature, particle moisture / particle size in real time, and automatically correct parameters such as grinding speed, sugar powder discharge speed, heating power, and cutting frequency to improve the product qualification rate.

[0019] The technical solution of the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. Attached Figure Description

[0020] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a production apparatus for traditional Chinese medicine granules according to the present invention; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the sugar powder grinding mechanism of the present invention; Figure 3 This is a side view of the sugar powder grinding mechanism and stirring mechanism of the present invention; Figure 4 This is a cross-sectional view of the stirring mechanism of the present invention; Figure 5 This is the present invention. Figure 1 A magnified view of a portion of the weighing assembly; Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the granulation mechanism of the present invention; Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the granulation mechanism of the present invention without the supporting shell; Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the granulation mold and granulation roller of the present invention.

[0021] Figure label: 1. Sugar powder grinding mechanism; 11. Grinding machine body; 12. Sugar powder feed hopper; 13. Sugar powder feed inlet 1; 14. Anti-clogging port; 15. Anti-clogging plate; 16. Sugar powder receiving hopper; 17. Sugar powder discharge port; 18. Rotating plate; 19. Micro servo motor; 110. Variable frequency motor 1; 2. Stirring mechanism; 21. Stirring box; 22. Stirring shaft; 23. Inlet for concentrated Chinese medicine paste; 24. Second inlet for sugar powder; 25. Heating component; 26. First temperature sensor; 27. Soft material outlet; 28. Second frequency conversion motor; 3. Granulation Mechanism; 31. Support Shell; 32. Support Base; 33. Granulation Cylinder; 331. Feed Hopper; 332. Granule Discharge Port; 333. Air Inlet; 334. Observation Window; 34. Granulation Mold; 35. Granulation Roller Mold; 36. Roller Mold Support; 361. Eccentric Shaft; 362. Positioning Rod; 37. Cutting Assembly; 371. Connecting Rod; 372. Bending Rod; 373. Guide Rod; 374. Cutting Blade; 375. Electric Telescopic Rod; 38. Drive Assembly; 381. Drive Motor 1; 382. Pulley 1; 383. Pulley 2; 384. Gear 1; 385. Gear 2; 386. Connecting Shaft 1; 387. Connecting Shaft 2; 4. Drying and conveying mechanism; 41. Conveyor belt; 42. Drying box; 43. Screen cylinder; 431. Support column; 5. Material gathering mechanism; 51. V-shaped material gathering plate; 52. Material gathering support rod; 53. Material gathering telescopic motor; 6. Control box; 7. Wetting agent addition mechanism; 8. Powder addition mechanism; 9. Near-infrared online intelligent detection device; 10. Weighing component; 101. Cantilever beam type weighing sensor; 102. Support ear plate; 103. Support crossbeam. Detailed Implementation

[0022] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. Unless otherwise defined, the technical or scientific terms used in this invention should be understood in their ordinary sense by those skilled in the art. The features mentioned above or in the specific examples mentioned in this invention can be combined arbitrarily, and these specific embodiments are only used to illustrate the invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

[0023] Example 1 like Figures 1 to 8As shown, this invention provides a production apparatus for traditional Chinese medicine granules, including a sugar powder grinding mechanism 1, a wetting agent adding mechanism 7, a powder adding mechanism 8, a stirring mechanism 2, a granulation mechanism 3, and a drying and conveying mechanism 4. The sugar powder grinding mechanism 1 is located above the stirring mechanism 2 and is used to grind and refine solid sugar powder such as sucrose to ensure uniform particle size (100-200 mesh) and improve the uniformity of mixing with concentrated traditional Chinese medicine paste. The wetting agent adding mechanism 7 and the powder adding mechanism 8 are both connected to the other side above the stirring mechanism 2. The wetting agent adding mechanism 7 is used to add a certain amount of 85% ethanol as a wetting agent, and the powder adding mechanism 8 is used to add powdered excipients, including dextrin powder, flavoring agent powder, or traditional Chinese medicine raw material powder. Both the wetting agent adding mechanism 7 and the powder adding mechanism 8 include storage tanks and feeding pipes as in the prior art, which will not be described in detail here.

[0024] The granulation mechanism 3 is located below the soft material outlet 27 of the mixing mechanism 2, receiving the mixed soft material for granulation. The drying and conveying mechanism 4 is located on one side of the granule outlet 332 of the granulation mechanism 3, screening, drying, and conveying the granulated wet granules. The discharge end of the drying and conveying mechanism 4 is equipped with a material gathering mechanism 5, which is used to guide the dried granules to the next processing unit. A control box 6 is also located on one side of the mixing mechanism 2. The sugar powder grinding mechanism 1, the wetting agent adding mechanism 7, the powder adding mechanism 8, the mixing mechanism 2, the granulation mechanism 3, and the drying and conveying mechanism 4 are all electrically connected to the control box 6. The control box 6 is equipped with an integrated intelligent control module as in the prior art, realizing real-time parameter monitoring and automatic closed-loop control.

[0025] The sugar powder grinding mechanism 1 includes a grinding machine body 11. Inside the grinding machine body 11 is a set of grinding rollers rotating in opposite directions (the grinding rollers are prior art and are not shown in the attached drawings). The sugar powder is refined through squeezing and friction between the rollers. The grinding machine body 11 is driven by a variable frequency motor 110, and the grinding speed can be adjusted by controlling the variable frequency motor 110 through the control box 6. A sugar powder feed hopper 12 is provided on the upper side of the grinding machine body 11. The bottom of the sugar powder feed hopper 12 is connected to the upper side of the sugar powder inlet 13 of the grinding machine body 11 to ensure that the sugar powder enters the grinding chamber at a uniform speed.

[0026] A bridging port 14 is provided on one side of the sugar powder inlet 13. A bridging plate 15 is slidably connected to the bridging port 14. When bridging occurs in the sugar powder inlet 13, the bridging plate 15 can be slid open to quickly clear the blockage. A sugar powder receiving hopper 16 is provided on one side of the bridging port 14 to collect the sugar powder that falls during the clearing process, avoiding waste and pollution. The recovered sugar powder can be put back into the feeding hopper 331 for secondary grinding.

[0027] The lower side of the grinder body 11 is provided with a sugar powder outlet 17. A rotating plate 18 is provided at the sugar powder outlet 17 to block the sugar powder from being discharged. A sealing strip is provided between the rotating plate 18 and the outer wall of the grinder body 11 to prevent sugar powder leakage. The rotating plate 18 is driven by a micro servo motor (electrically connected to the control box 6), and the rotation angle can be set by the control box 6: when the rotating plate 18 is fully closed, it blocks the sugar powder from being discharged, which facilitates the no-load start-up or temporary shutdown of the sugar powder grinding mechanism 1; by opening the rotating plate 18 at different angles, the discharge speed of the sugar powder can be adjusted to achieve precise control of the sugar powder delivery amount, matching the mixing rhythm of the stirring mechanism 2 and the amount of sugar powder used.

[0028] The stirring mechanism 2 is used to thoroughly mix the ground sugar powder, powdered excipients, and wetting agents with the concentrated Chinese medicine paste. The temperature is controlled by the heating component 25 to accelerate the fusion and prevent material agglomeration. The stirring mechanism 2 includes a stirring box 21 and a stirring shaft 22. The stirring shaft 22 is rotatably connected inside the stirring box 21 and is equipped with spiral stirring blades. One end of the stirring shaft 22 extends to the outside of the stirring box 21 and is connected to a variable frequency motor 28. The variable frequency motor 28 realizes rotational stirring to ensure that the materials are mixed without dead corners.

[0029] The top of the mixing tank 21 is provided with a Chinese medicine concentrated paste inlet 23. A sugar powder inlet 24 is provided on the top of one side of the mixing tank 21. The sugar powder inlet 24 is connected to the sugar powder outlet 17 of the grinding machine body 11. The sugar powder outlet 17 of the sugar powder grinding mechanism 1 is connected to the sugar powder inlet 24. The top of the other side of the mixing tank 21 is provided with a wetting agent inlet and a powdered auxiliary material inlet. The wetting agent adding mechanism 7 is connected to the wetting agent inlet through a metering pump. The metering pump is used to add the wetting agent in a quantitative manner. The powdered material adding mechanism 8 is connected to the powdered auxiliary material inlet.

[0030] The mixing tank 21 is equipped with a jacket on the outside, and a heating component 25 is installed inside the jacket for heating the material inside the mixing tank 21. A temperature sensor 26 is installed on the inner wall of the mixing tank 21 to monitor the temperature of the material inside the tank in real time and feed the data back to the control box 6. The control box 6 automatically adjusts the power of the heating component 25 according to the set temperature to ensure that the mixing temperature is stable within the target range and to avoid changes in the material properties caused by temperature fluctuations.

[0031] A weighing assembly 10 is also provided on the outside of the jacket of the mixing tank 21. The weighing assembly 10 includes a cantilever beam load cell 101, a support ear plate 102, and a support beam 103. The support beam 103 is connected to a support frame on the outside of the mixing tank 21 and is flush with the middle of the mixing tank 21. The support ear plate 102 is connected to the outer side of the middle of the mixing tank 21. The cantilever beam load cell 101 is fixedly connected to the support beam 103. The lower side of the support ear plate 102 abuts against the force point on the upper side of the cantilever beam load cell 101. The weighing assembly is electrically connected to the control box 6, which can monitor the mass of the material in the mixing tank 21 in real time and display it dynamically on the display screen of the control box 6. By cooperating with the metering pump, the amount of each material added can be adjusted according to the needs of the weighing assembly 10.

[0032] The granulation mechanism 3 is used to extrude the mixed soft material into strips and cut them into uniform wet granules. It includes a support shell 31, and a drive assembly 38 is installed inside the support shell 31. A support base 32 is provided on the upper side of the support shell 31, and a granulation cylinder 33 is provided on the upper side of the support base 32. A feed hopper 331 is provided on the top of the granulation cylinder 33. The feed hopper 331 is located below the soft material outlet 27 of the stirring mechanism 2. A granule outlet 332 is provided on one side of the lower part of the granulation cylinder 33, which is inclined downward to facilitate the granules to slide off. An air inlet 333 is provided on the other side of the granulation cylinder 33. A filter screen is provided inside the air inlet 333, which can be connected to a hot air device to introduce 50-60℃ hot air to preliminarily dehumidify the soft material strips and prevent them from sticking together. An observation window 334 is provided on the side wall of the granulation cylinder 33 above the granule outlet 332, so that the operator can observe the granulation process in real time.

[0033] The granulation cylinder 33 is provided with a granulation mold 34, a granulation roller 35 and a cutting component 37. The granulation mold 34 is fixedly connected to the upper side of the support base 32. The granulation mold 34 has a ring structure and is coaxial with the granulation cylinder 33. The inner wall is uniformly provided with forming holes, and the soft material is formed into a continuous soft material strip through the forming holes.

[0034] A roller mold support 36 is provided in the middle of the granulation mold 34. The roller mold support 36 is an I-shaped support structure located in the middle of the granulation mold 34. Its bottom is connected to the drive assembly 38. Symmetrically arranged eccentric shafts 361 are provided on both sides of the roller mold support 36. The granulation roller mold 35 is a cylindrical structure and is connected to one of the eccentric shafts 361. The outer wall of the granulation roller mold 35 is in contact with the inner wall of the granulation mold 34 (the contact pressure can be adjusted by the eccentric shaft 361). When the roller mold support 36 rotates eccentrically, it applies extrusion pressure to the soft material and squeezes the soft material out of the forming hole.

[0035] The top of the rolling die support 36 is provided with a positioning rod 362 connected to the cutting assembly 37. The cutting assembly 37 includes a connecting rod 371, a bending rod 372, a guide rod 373, and a cutting piece 374. One end of the connecting rod 371 is fixedly connected to the positioning rod 362, and the other end of the connecting rod 371 is connected to one end of the bending rod 372 by a rounded transition. The bending rod 372 has a downward bending structure, which provides the cutting piece 374 with movement space to avoid the inner wall of the granulation cylinder 33. The other end of the bending rod 372 is located on the outside of the granulation cylinder 33 and connected to the vertically arranged guide rod 373 to ensure that the cutting blade 374 moves along a fixed trajectory. One side of the cutting blade 374 is hinged to one side of the guide rod 373, and the other side of the cutting blade 374 is hinged to the other side of the guide rod 373 through the electric telescopic rod 375. By adjusting the extension frequency and extension amount of the electric telescopic rod 375 through the control box 6, the cutting blade 374 can be driven to rotate around the hinge point, and the cutting distance between the cutting blade 374 and the granulation mold 34 can be precisely adjusted to achieve the cutting of particles of different sizes without stopping the machine for adjustment.

[0036] The drive assembly 38 includes a drive motor 381, a pulley 382, ​​a pulley 383, a gear 384, a gear 385, a connecting shaft 386, and a connecting shaft 387. The drive motor 381 is connected to the pulley 382. The pulley 382 is connected to the pulley 383 via a transmission belt. The upper side of the pulley 383 is connected to the gear 384 via the connecting shaft 386. The gear 384 and the gear 385 are meshed. The upper side of the gear 385 is connected to the roller mold support 36 via the connecting shaft 387. This drives the roller mold support 36 and the granulation roller mold 35 to rotate eccentrically, providing stable power for the extrusion of soft materials.

[0037] The drying and conveying mechanism 4 is used for screening, removing impurities, precisely drying, and continuously conveying wet granules to ensure that the moisture content of the granules meets the standards. It includes a conveyor belt 41, a drying chamber 42, and a sieve cylinder 43 for screening suitable particle sizes. The sieve cylinder 43 is located on one side of the feed inlet of the conveyor belt 41. The top opening of the sieve cylinder 43 is directly below the granule outlet 332 of the granulation mechanism 3. A screen is fixed to the inner wall of the sieve cylinder 43, with an aperture size adapted to the target particle size. After the wet granules fall into the sieve cylinder 43, they are screened by their own gravity and guided by the spiral guide ribs, removing agglomerated particles and fine powder. Qualified granules fall through the screen onto the conveyor belt 41, while agglomerated particles can be collected and re-granulated. The bottom of the sieve cylinder 43 is fixed to the frame of the conveyor belt 41 by three support columns 431 to ensure the stability of the sieve cylinder 43.

[0038] The drying chamber 42 is a multi-section drying chamber, located in the middle of the conveyor belt 41, which runs through the drying chamber of the drying chamber 42. A temperature sensor 2 is installed inside the drying chamber to monitor the drying temperature in real time, and the data is fed back to the control box 6. The control box 6 precisely controls the drying time by adjusting the power of the hot air furnace and the rotation speed of the conveyor belt 41, ensuring stable moisture content of the particles.

[0039] A near-infrared online intelligent detection device 9 (using existing technology) for detecting moisture and particle size is installed on the outlet side of the drying oven 42. Its detection probe can simultaneously acquire the near-infrared spectral signal of the particles. The moisture and particle size of the dried particles are detected by an algorithm model built into the control box 6 (the algorithm model is existing technology and will not be elaborated further). When the particle moisture content is unqualified, the near-infrared online intelligent detection device 9 feeds the data back to the control box 6, which then adjusts the temperature of the drying oven 42 or the amount of wetting agent or volatile oil added. When the particle size is unqualified, the control box 6 adjusts the extension and retraction of the electric telescopic rod 375, adjusting the cutting distance between the cutting disc 374 and the granulation mold 34, thus achieving real-time control of particle quality.

[0040] The material gathering mechanism 5 includes a V-shaped material gathering plate 51. The opening of the V-shaped material gathering plate 51 faces the conveying direction of the conveyor belt 41, and the closed end extends outward from the outside of the conveyor belt 41 to form a material drop outlet. Material gathering support rods 52 are respectively provided on both sides of the V-shaped material gathering plate 51. The end of the material gathering support rod 52 away from the material gathering plate is connected to the material gathering telescopic motor 53. The material gathering telescopic motor 53 is connected to the frame of the conveyor belt 41 through a support plate. The extension and retraction of the material gathering telescopic motor 53 is controlled by the control box 6, which can adjust the size of the formed material drop outlet to adapt to different conveying speeds or different capacity receiving containers.

[0041] Example 2 The present invention also provides a method for producing traditional Chinese medicine granules, using a traditional Chinese medicine granule production apparatus as described in Example 1, comprising the following steps: S1. Input the formula parameters (such as sugar powder ratio, quality of concentrated Chinese medicine paste, target particle size 1-3mm, moisture 3%-5%) through the control box 6. The intelligent control module of the control box 6 will automatically generate the benchmark parameters such as grinding speed (1000-1500r / min), stirring speed (300-500r / min), and drying temperature (60-80℃).

[0042] Weigh solid sugar powder according to the formula ratio (e.g., sucrose:dextrin = 1:1), remove impurities, and set aside. Add the solid sucrose to the sugar powder feed hopper 12 of the sugar powder grinding mechanism 1. Start the grinding machine body 11 via the control box 6 to grind the solid sucrose. The ground sugar powder is then conveyed to the mixing chamber 21 of the mixing mechanism 2 through the sugar powder outlet 17 and sugar powder inlet 24 of the grinding machine body 11. Monitor the weight of the sugar powder in the mixing chamber 21 using the weighing component 10. Then, add dextrin powder to the mixing chamber 21 according to the set formula ratio via the powder addition mechanism 8.

[0043] S2. The total weight of sugar powder and dextrin powder in the mixing tank 21 is monitored by the weighing component 10. Then, according to the set formula ratio, the pre-extracted and concentrated Chinese medicine concentrate is injected into the mixing tank 21 through the Chinese medicine concentrate inlet 23 at the top of the mixing tank 21. The stirring mechanism 2 is started by the control box 6. The stirring shaft 22 stirs the Chinese medicine concentrate, sugar powder and dextrin powder in the mixing tank 21. At the same time, the heating component 25 in the jacket is started. The temperature of the material in the mixing tank 21 is monitored in real time by the temperature sensor 26 and the data is fed back to the control box 6.

[0044] After the concentrated Chinese medicine paste is mixed with sugar powder and dextrin powder for 5 minutes, the control box 6 starts the metering pump and adds 85% ethanol from the wetting agent addition mechanism 7 into the mixing box 21 according to the set formula ratio. After the material forms a uniform, non-agglomerated soft material (which can be squeezed into a ball by hand and easily dispersed by gentle kneading), the mixing is completed, and the control box 6 controls the soft material outlet 27 at the bottom of the mixing box 21 to open.

[0045] S3. The soft material in the mixing tank 21 falls into the feed hopper 331 at the top of the granulation cylinder 33 through the soft material outlet 27, and then enters the gap between the granulation die 34 and the granulation roller 35. The drive assembly 38 drives the roller support 36 and the granulation roller 35 to rotate eccentrically. The granulation roller 35 applies a squeezing force to the soft material, so that the soft material passes through the forming hole on the granulation die 34 to form a continuous soft material strip.

[0046] S4. The cutting assembly 37 moves synchronously with the rolling die support 36. The cutting blade 374 is driven to rotate around the hinge point of the guide rod 373 by the extension and retraction of the electric telescopic rod 375. The distance between the cutting blade 374 and the granulation die 34 is adjusted. After the soft material strip is extruded from the forming hole, it is cut to form wet granules with uniform particle size. The cut wet granules fall into the screen cylinder 43 of the drying conveying mechanism 4 through the granule outlet 332 at the bottom of the granulation cylinder 33.

[0047] S5. After the wet granules are screened through the screen cylinder 43, the granules that meet the particle size requirements fall into the conveyor belt 41, while the unqualified granules are returned to the mixing tank 21 for secondary granulation. Then, they are conveyed by the conveyor belt 41 to the drying chamber of the drying box 42 for drying. The dried granules are then output from the drying chamber by the conveyor belt 41, detected by the near-infrared online intelligent detection device 9, and enter the material gathering mechanism 5. Finally, as needed, the dried granules are transferred to the volatile oil mixing unit or the finished product packaging unit for further processing. The volatile oil mixing unit includes a mixing tank and a spray tank as in the prior art. The volatile oil is stored in the spray tank. When volatile oil needs to be added, the dry granules are transferred to the mixing tank, and the volatile oil is sprayed onto the dry granules in the mixing tank through the nozzle of the spray tank. The volatile oil is sprayed while stirring to ensure the uniformity of the volatile oil addition.

[0048] Therefore, this invention employs the aforementioned production apparatus and method for traditional Chinese medicine granules, comprising a sugar powder grinding mechanism 1, a stirring mechanism 2, a granulation mechanism 3, a drying and conveying mechanism 4, a material gathering mechanism 5, and a control box 6. These mechanisms work together to automate the entire process from sugar powder pretreatment to material mixing, granulation, drying, and collection. Specifically, the sugar powder grinding mechanism 1 refines the sugar powder; the stirring mechanism 2 ensures uniform material fusion through jacket heating; the cutting component 37 of the granulation mechanism 3 moves synchronously with the rolling die for dynamic and precise cutting; the drying and conveying mechanism 4 precisely controls the temperature during drying; and the material gathering mechanism 5 achieves centralized collection. Using this apparatus, the production method produces traditional Chinese medicine granules with uniform particle size and stable distribution of active ingredients by setting key parameters. This invention offers high production efficiency, produces products that meet pharmacopoeia standards, and is suitable for industrial-scale mass production.

[0049] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and not to limit them. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent substitutions can still be made to the technical solutions of the present invention, and these modifications or equivalent substitutions cannot cause the modified technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present invention.

Claims

1. A production apparatus for traditional Chinese medicine granules, characterized in that: The application relates to a granulating device for traditional Chinese medicine concentrated paste, which comprises a sugar powder grinding mechanism, a wetting agent adding mechanism, a powder adding mechanism, a stirring mechanism, a granulating mechanism and a drying conveying mechanism.

2. The apparatus for producing granules of Chinese medicine according to claim 1, wherein: The sugar powder grinding mechanism is arranged on one side above the stirring mechanism, the wetting agent adding mechanism and the powder adding mechanism are both connected to the other side above the stirring mechanism, the granulating mechanism is arranged below the soft material discharge port of the stirring mechanism, the drying conveying mechanism is arranged on one side of the granule discharge port of the granulating mechanism, the discharge end of the drying conveying mechanism is provided with a material gathering mechanism, one side of the stirring mechanism is further provided with a control box, and the sugar powder grinding mechanism, the stirring mechanism, the wetting agent adding mechanism, the powder adding mechanism, the granulating mechanism and the drying conveying mechanism are electrically connected with the control box.

3. The production apparatus for traditional Chinese medicine granules according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sugar powder grinding mechanism comprises a grinder body, the upper side of the grinder body is provided with a sugar powder feeding hopper, the bottom of the sugar powder feeding hopper is in communication with one upper side of a sugar powder feeding port of the grinder body, one side of the sugar powder feeding port is provided with a blockage preventing port, a blockage preventing plate is slidably connected to the blockage preventing port, one side of the blockage preventing port is provided with a sugar powder receiving hopper, the lower side of the grinder body is provided with a sugar powder discharge port, and a rotating plate for blocking the discharge of the sugar powder is arranged at the sugar powder discharge port.

4. The production apparatus for traditional Chinese medicine granules according to claim 1, characterized in that: The stirring mechanism comprises a stirring box and a stirring shaft, the stirring shaft is rotatably connected in the stirring box, the top of the stirring box is provided with a traditional Chinese medicine concentrated paste feeding port, one side of the top of the stirring box is provided with a second sugar powder feeding port, the sugar powder discharge port of the sugar powder grinding mechanism is in communication with the second sugar powder feeding port, the other side of the top of the stirring box is provided with a wetting agent feeding port and a powder auxiliary material feeding port, the wetting agent adding mechanism is in communication with the wetting agent feeding port through a metering pump, the powder adding mechanism is in communication with the powder auxiliary material feeding port, the outside of the stirring box is provided with a jacket, a heating assembly is arranged in the jacket, a temperature sensor one is arranged on the inner wall of the stirring box, and a weighing assembly is further arranged outside the jacket.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of the first and second conveyors, and a plurality of the third conveyors. The granulating mechanism comprises a support shell, a driving assembly is arranged in the support shell, a support seat is arranged on the upper side of the support shell, a granulating cylinder is arranged on the upper side of the support seat, a granulating fixed die, a granulating rolling die and a cutting assembly are arranged in the granulating cylinder, the granulating fixed die is fixedly connected to the upper side of the support seat, a rolling die support is arranged in the middle of the granulating fixed die, the bottom of the rolling die support is connected with the driving assembly, eccentric shafts are symmetrically arranged on the two sides of the rolling die support, the granulating rolling die is connected to one of the eccentric shafts, and a positioning rod connected with the cutting assembly is arranged on the top of the rolling die support.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of the first and second conveyors. The top of the granulating cylinder is provided with a feeding hopper, the feeding hopper is arranged below the soft material discharge port of the stirring mechanism, one side of the lower part of the granulating cylinder is provided with a granule discharge port, the other side of the granulating cylinder is provided with an air inlet, and an observation window is arranged on one side above the granule discharge port of the side wall of the granulating cylinder. The cutting assembly comprises a connecting rod, a bent rod, a guide rod and a cutting piece, one end of the connecting rod is fixedly connected with the positioning rod, the other end of the connecting rod is circularly and arcuately connected with one end of the bent rod, the bent rod is downwardly bent, the other end of the bent rod is connected with the vertically arranged guide rod outside the granulating cylinder, one side of the cutting piece is hinged with one side of the guide rod, and the other side of the cutting piece is hinged with the other side of the guide rod through an electric telescopic rod.

7. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of the devices according to claim 1. The driving assembly comprises a driving motor, a belt pulley, a belt pulley, a gear, a gear, a connecting shaft and a connecting shaft, the driving motor is connected with the belt pulley, the belt pulley is connected with the belt pulley through a transmission belt, the upper side of the belt pulley is connected with the gear through a connecting shaft, the gear is connected with the gear, and the upper side of the gear is connected with the gear through a connecting shaft.

8. The apparatus for producing traditional Chinese medicine granules according to claim 1, characterized in that: The drying conveying mechanism comprises a conveying belt, a drying box and a screen cylinder for screening suitable particle size, the screen cylinder is arranged on the side of the feeding port of the conveying belt, the top of the screen cylinder is located on the lower side of the granule discharge port of the granulating mechanism, the bottom of the screen cylinder is connected with the rack of the conveying belt through a supporting column, the drying box is a multi-section drying box arranged in the middle of the conveying belt, the conveying belt penetrates the drying inner cavity of the drying box, a temperature sensor two is arranged in the drying inner cavity, and a near-infrared online intelligent detection device for detecting moisture and particle size is arranged on the outlet side of the drying box.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of the devices. The material gathering mechanism comprises a V-shaped material gathering plate, the closed end of the V-shaped material gathering plate extends out of the conveying belt to form a material falling port, the two sides of the V-shaped material gathering plate are respectively provided with material gathering support rods, one end of the material gathering support rod away from the V-shaped material gathering plate is connected with a material gathering telescopic motor, and the material gathering telescopic motor is connected with the rack of the conveying belt through a supporting plate.

10. A method for producing a granule of a Chinese medicine, characterized by comprising: The use of a traditional Chinese medicine granule production device according to any one of claims 1-9 comprises the following steps: ​ S1, the sugar powder block is put into the sugar powder feeding hopper of the sugar powder grinding mechanism, the grinding machine body is started by the control box to crush and grind the sugar powder block, the ground sugar powder is conveyed into the stirring box of the stirring mechanism through the sugar powder outlet and the sugar powder feeding port two of the grinding machine body, and then the powdered material auxiliary materials are added into the stirring box through the powdered material adding mechanism; S2, the pre-extracted and concentrated traditional Chinese medicine concentrate paste is injected into the stirring box through the traditional Chinese medicine concentrate paste feeding port on the top of the stirring box, the stirring mechanism is started by the control box, the stirring shaft stirs the traditional Chinese medicine concentrate paste, sugar powder and powdered material auxiliary materials in the stirring box, and the heating assembly in the jacket is started at the same time, the temperature sensor one is used to monitor the temperature of the materials in the stirring box in real time, and the data is fed back to the control box, after the traditional Chinese medicine concentrate paste, sugar powder and powdered material auxiliary materials are mixed for 5 minutes, the control box starts the metering pump to add 85% ethanol in the wetting agent adding mechanism into the stirring box, and after the stirring is completed, the control box controls the soft material discharge port at the bottom of the stirring box to be opened; S3, the soft material in the stirring box falls into the feeding hopper at the top of the granulating cylinder through the soft material discharge port, and then enters the gap between the granulating fixed die and the granulating rolling die, the driving assembly drives the rolling die support and the granulating rolling die to eccentrically rotate, the granulating rolling die applies extrusion force to the soft material, so that the soft material forms continuous soft material strips through the forming holes on the granulating fixed die; S4, the cutting assembly moves synchronously with the rolling die support, the cutting piece is driven to flip around the guide rod hinge point through the extension and retraction of the electric telescopic rod, the distance between the cutting piece and the granulating fixed die is adjusted, the soft material strip is cut after being extruded from the forming hole to form wet granules with uniform particle size, and the wet granules after cutting fall into the screen cylinder of the drying conveying mechanism through the granule discharge port at the lower part of the granulating cylinder. S5, the wet granules fall into the conveying belt after passing through the sieve cylinder, and then are conveyed to the drying inner cavity of the drying box for drying. The dry granules after drying are output from the drying inner cavity into the material gathering mechanism along with the conveying belt, and are transferred to the volatile oil mixing unit or the finished product packaging unit according to needs for next step processing.

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