Drug feeder and drug dispenser

Abstract

To provide a medicine feeder that can be suitably adopted in a medicine put-out device having no robot mechanism, and to provide a medicine put-out device adopting such a medicine feeder.SOLUTION: A medicine feeder 5 includes a medicine container 20 in which powdered medicine is stored, a container holding part 16 for holding the medicine container 20, and weight measuring means 25 for directly or indirectly measuring the weight of the medicine container 20. The medicine feeder can discharge the powdered medicine from the medicine container 20 by vibrating the medicine container 20, and detect an amount of discharged powdered medicine by the weight measuring means 25. The medicine container 20 includes an opening / closing member for opening / closing a powdered medicine discharge part, and further includes an opening / closing mechanism part. The opening / closing mechanism part imparts force to the opening / closing member directly or indirectly, and opens / closes powdered medicine discharge part by moving at least part of the opening / closing member. The force is imparted to the opening / closing member when bringing the powdered medicine discharge part into an open state, and into a closed state respectively.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a medicine feeder for measuring and dispensing a predetermined amount of powdered medicine. The medicine feeder of the present invention is suitably used as a device for supplying powdered medicine to a powdered medicine dispensing device that dispenses powdered medicine. The present invention also relates to a medicine dispensing device having a built-in medicine feeder. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, powdered medicine packaging devices and medicine dispensing devices equipped with a powdered medicine packaging function have been introduced in large hospitals and large pharmacies. The conventional medicine dispensing device disclosed in Patent Document 1 requires a person to manually remove the medicine bottle containing the prescribed powder medicine from the medicine shelf and measure the total weight of the specific prescribed powder medicine using a scale such as a balance, and therefore cannot be considered a fully automatic device. In order to address this problem, the present applicant has put into practical use the medicine dispensing devices disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3.

[0003] The medicine dispensing devices disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3 (prior art medicine dispensing devices) employ a medicine feeder formed by combining a medicine container with a container mounting device. The container mounting device has a vibration member in a horizontal position and a weight measuring means for measuring the weight of the medicine container. The medicine container is mounted on the vibration member, and the vibration member is vibrated to discharge the medicine little by little from the powder medicine discharge section, and the discharged amount of the medicine is detected by the weight measuring means.

[0004] The drug containers disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3 have a substantially rectangular prism shape, and are placed on the container mounting device in a horizontal position. In the medicine feeder disclosed in Patent Document 2, a substantially rectangular prism-shaped medicine container is placed horizontally on a container mounting device, and when assembled as a medicine feeder, the height of the medicine container is short compared to its horizontal length. Furthermore, in the devices for dispensing medicines disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3, a robot transports medicine containers to a predetermined position and opens and closes the lids of the medicine containers.

[0005] Patent Document 4 also discloses a powdered medicine supplying device used in a powdered medicine packaging machine. In the powdered medicine supplying device of Patent Document 4, powdered medicine is stored in each of a plurality of cassettes, and the cassettes are moved to a supply position and then the powdered medicine is discharged from the cassettes. In detail, the cassette has a screw, a shutter that closes a discharge port made of a cylindrical tip, and an agitating blade that rotates with the screw, and the shutter is configured to be forcibly maintained in a closed state by a spring. Then, by connecting the operating device at the supply position to the rear end of the rotating shaft of the screw, the screw moves while rotating. As a result, the screw presses the shutter, and the shutter moves against the biasing force of the spring, opening the discharge port. Meanwhile, the screw and the agitating blade rotate, causing the powdered medicine to flow toward the discharge port. As a result, the powdered medicine is discharged from the cassette.

[0006] In the powdered medicine supplying device of Patent Document 4, the cassette is automatically moved to and from the supply position. As described above, the powdered medicine feeder in this powdered medicine supplying device discharges powdered medicine by rotating the stirring blade and the screw, and does not discharge powdered medicine by vibration (by vibrating the entire cassette). The powdered medicine feeder is formed by an actuator at the supply position and one cassette, and the actuator simply supplies power to the screw of the cassette. In other words, the cassette has all the mechanisms for discharging powdered medicine. Furthermore, the movement of the shutter in the closing direction is performed by a spring. That is, the shutter opens by temporarily applying a force in the opening direction to the shutter, which is always intended to maintain a closed state, and when the shutter is closed, the force applied to the shutter is released to close the shutter. In other words, the opening degree of the shutter is not adjusted. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0007] [Patent Document 1] JP 2000-85703 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2018-35001 A [Patent Document 3] WO2015 / 076267 / A1 publication [Patent Document 4] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-132135 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0008] The drug feeders disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3 have a problem in that they occupy a large area when installed. Furthermore, the medicine dispensing devices disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3 have a problem in that they have a large number of parts. Furthermore, Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose a drug dispensing device that transports drug containers by a robot and opens and closes the lids of the drug containers, but such drug dispensing devices often have a problem that the entire device is large and difficult to introduce into small pharmacies. In order to solve such problems, when considering a device that does not use a robot mechanism and manually places drug containers in a predetermined position, there is a desire to make the mechanism for opening and closing the lid as compact as possible and provide it in another component, thereby reducing the size of the entire device. In this case, since the drug containers are transported manually, it is preferable to consider the ease of holding by a person. Furthermore, the medicine dispensing device disclosed in Patent Document 4 has room for improvement from the viewpoint of finely adjusting the amount of medicine discharged with a simple structure.

[0009] The present invention (Related inventions) In view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide a medicine feeder that can be suitably adopted in a medicine dispensing device that does not have a robot mechanism, and to provide a medicine dispensing device that employs such a medicine feeder. An object of the present invention is to provide a medicine feeder that can bring the powdered medicine discharge portion of the medicine container closer to the distribution tray than in the past, thereby reducing the splashing of powdered medicine. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] One aspect of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a medicine feeder having a medicine container in which powdered medicine is stored, and a vibration member that vibrates the medicine container to discharge the powdered medicine, the medicine container having a powdered medicine discharge section, the vibration member being located on the rear wall side of the medicine container based on the posture of the medicine container attached to the vibration member, and the medicine container is vibrated by the vibration member to discharge the powdered medicine in the medicine container from the powdered medicine discharge section located at one end opposite the rear wall of the medicine container. The drug container further has a bottom wall, and the powdered medicine discharge section is provided at one end of the bottom wall opposite the rear wall based on the posture of the drug container attached to the vibration member, the vibration member holds the drug container and vibrates the drug container, and has a vibration side vertical section that contacts the rear wall of the drug container based on the posture of the drug container attached to the vibration member, the container support section holds the vibration member and has a support side vertical section that faces the vibration side vertical section, the vibration means is disposed between the vibration side vertical section and the support side vertical section, the vibration member is held on the container support section by the vibration means, and the vibration member held on the vibration side vertical section by the vibration means vibrates the drug container to discharge the powdered medicine from the powdered medicine discharge section. It is a drug feeder. A preferred embodiment is The vibrating member further has a vibrating-side horizontal part perpendicular to the vibrating-side vertical part, and is a medicine feeder in which the vibrating-side horizontal part is in contact with the bottom wall of the medicine container. In a further preferred embodiment, the drug container further has an engagement portion, and the vibration side vertical portion further has an engagement portion, and the engagement portion of the drug container engages with the engagement portion of the vibration side vertical portion, thereby holding the drug container on the vibration side vertical portion. In a further preferred embodiment, the drug container is a rectangular parallelepiped, and the drug container is a drug feeder further having a front wall, two side walls, and a top wall. In a further preferred embodiment, the container support portion further has a support side horizontal portion perpendicular to the support side vertical portion, the support side horizontal portion and the vibration side horizontal portion are not in contact with each other, and the weight measuring means is disposed below the support side horizontal portion. A further preferred embodiment is a drug dispensing device which removes a predetermined amount of powdered medicine from a drug container, divides it into a predetermined number of portions, and then individually packages and discharges it, the drug dispensing device having a distribution tray which is provided with a drug input groove and rotated by a power, and in which a plurality of the above-mentioned drug feeders are installed in the vicinity of the distribution tray, and which discharges the powdered medicine from the drug container and deposits it into the drug input groove of the distribution tray. Another aspect of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a drug feeder that has a drug container in which powdered medicine is stored, a container holding section that holds the drug container, and a weight measuring means that directly or indirectly measures the weight of the drug container, and is capable of vibrating the drug container to discharge powdered medicine from the drug container and detecting the amount of powdered medicine discharged by the weight measuring means, wherein the drug container discharges powdered medicine to the outside from a powdered medicine discharge section, and is provided with an opening / closing member that opens and closes the powdered medicine discharge section, and further has an opening / closing mechanism section that applies a force directly or indirectly to the opening / closing member and moves at least a part of the opening / closing member to open and close the powdered medicine discharge section, and applies a force to the opening / closing member when the powdered medicine discharge section is opened and when it is closed.

[0011] In the medicine feeder of this embodiment, the opening and closing mechanism for opening and closing the opening and closing member applies force to the opening and closing member, so that the opening and closing of the opening and closing member can be finely controlled. This allows fine adjustment of the discharge amount by adjusting the opening degree (degree of opening, opening degree) of the powdered medicine discharge part. In other words, it allows finer adjustment of the discharge amount than when the discharge amount is adjusted only by adjusting the vibration amount.

[0012] In the above-mentioned aspect, it is desirable that the drug container can be manually held in the container holding part and manually removed from the container holding part, and that removing the drug container from the container holding part causes the drug container to move away from the container holding part and the opening and closing mechanism part.

[0013] By adopting the medicine feeder of this aspect in a medicine dispensing device, the device can be made smaller.

[0014] In the above-mentioned aspect, when the powdered medicine discharging portion is in an open state, it is preferable that the opening degree of the powdered medicine discharging portion can be adjusted in stages.

[0015] According to this embodiment, precise adjustment of the amount of powdered medicine discharged can be achieved.

[0016] In the above-mentioned aspect, it is desirable that the powdered medicine discharge section is a slit extending in a diagonal direction, the opening / closing member is provided with a closing wall that moves below the powdered medicine discharge section, the closing wall has a shape extending in the width direction of the drug container, and as the opening / closing member moves in the closing direction, the overlapping portion between the closing wall and the powdered medicine discharge section becomes larger, and the opening width effective for discharging the powdered medicine at the powdered medicine discharge section becomes smaller.

[0017] This embodiment also allows precise adjustment of the amount of powdered medicine discharged.

[0018] In each of the above aspects, it is preferable that the container holding portion has a vertical wall, the vertical wall is vibrated by a vibration means, and the drug container is fixed to the vertical wall and vibrated.

[0019] According to the medicine feeder of this aspect, the medicine feeder can be placed in a vertical position, and the occupied area can be reduced. That is, there is an effect that a considerable amount of powdered medicine can be accommodated, and the occupied area when installed is small.

[0020] In each of the above-mentioned aspects, it is desirable that the drug container has a large area side and a small area side, has a height that is greater than its width, has the powdered drug discharge section on the edge of the bottom and / or on the side near the bottom, has a partition member with an opening near the bottom, and the powdered drug passes through the opening and enters between the partition member and the bottom, and when the drug container is vibrated, the powdered drug that has passed through the opening moves between the partition plate and the bottom to reach the powdered drug discharge section.

[0021] The medicine container employed in this embodiment is narrow in width and tall in height, and therefore is narrow in width even though it can accommodate the same amount of medicine as a conventional medicine container. The drug feeder of this embodiment is narrow, and a large number of drug feeders can be arranged in a small space.

[0022] In each of the above aspects, it is desirable that the powdered medicine discharge portion has a slit shape extending in an oblique direction.

[0023] According to this embodiment, the area for discharging powdered medicine can be made larger.

[0024] In each of the above-mentioned aspects, it is desirable that the drug container has a large-area side and a small-area side, has a height greater than its width, the large-area side is openable, the drug container is detachable from the container holding portion, and the large-area side is opened when the drug container is removed from the container holding portion and powdered medicine is filled therein.

[0025] According to this embodiment, it is easy to put the powdered medicine into the medicine container.

[0026] In each of the above-mentioned aspects, it is preferable that a eaves-shaped temporary receiving plate is provided at a middle portion in the height direction of the drug container.

[0027] According to this aspect, the weight of the powdered medicine in the upper layer can be supported by the temporary receiving plate, and the powdered medicine in the lower layer is not pressed down. Therefore, the movement of the powdered medicine is not easily hindered when the medicine container is vibrated.

[0028] In each of the above-mentioned aspects, it is desirable to have a locking mechanism that locks the opening and closing member when the powdered medicine discharge section is closed, and to release the locking mechanism by holding the medicine container in the container holding section.

[0029] According to this aspect, the medicine is less likely to spill when the medicine container is removed from the container holding part.

[0030] In each of the above-mentioned aspects, it is desirable that the container holding portion has a vertical wall with a holding portion side engaging portion on the vertical wall, the drug container is held in the container holding portion by engaging with the holding portion side engaging portion, the drug container has an engaging portion, and the container holding portion has a detachment auxiliary member that engages with the engaging portion and presses the drug container in a direction to detach it from the container holding portion.

[0031] According to this aspect, the drug container can be easily removed from the container holding part.

[0032] In each of the above-mentioned aspects, it is desirable that there is a powdered medicine passage connected to the powdered medicine discharge section within the medicine container, the powdered medicine moves through the powdered medicine passage and is discharged from the powdered medicine discharge section, the powdered medicine passage has a ceiling wall, the opening / closing member has a protrusion that protrudes toward the powdered medicine passage when the powdered medicine discharge section is closed, the ceiling wall has a partition that protrudes downward into the powdered medicine passage, and the protrusion reaches the vicinity of the partition when the opening / closing member closes the powdered medicine discharge section.

[0033] According to this aspect, when the opening and closing member is in the open state, the medicine is less likely to spill out of the powdered medicine discharge section. Furthermore, according to this aspect, it is possible to prevent the powdered medicine from splashing or being blown out of the powdered medicine passage when the medicine is being dispensed.

[0034] The invention relating to a medicine dispensing device is a medicine dispensing device which removes a predetermined amount of powdered medicine from a medicine container, divides it into a predetermined number of parts, and then packages and discharges them individually.The device has a distribution tray which is provided with a medicine insertion groove and rotated by a power source, and a plurality of medicine feeders described above are installed near the distribution tray, and the powdered medicine is discharged from the medicine container and deposited into the medicine insertion groove of the distribution tray.

[0035] However, the conventional medicine dispensing device described above has room for improvement in terms of completing the operation of dispensing powdered medicine faster, in addition to the difficulty of reducing the size of the entire device. That is, in the above-mentioned medicine dispensing device, when it is decided to execute the operation of dispensing powdered medicine, the medicine container is moved from the storage position to the supply position, and then the powdered medicine is dispensed. In other words, time is required to transport the medicine container, and there is room for improvement in terms of speeding up the operation of dispensing powdered medicine.

[0036] Therefore, one aspect of the present invention related to the present invention for solving such problems is a drug dispensing device which comprises a plurality of drug feeders each having a drug container containing powdered medicine, a mounting base which holds the drug container, and a vibration device which vibrates the drug container, in which powdered medicine is allocated one-to-one in an amount greater than the amount of a single dose to be dispensed, and a distribution tray which has an input groove for holding the powdered medicine and is rotated by a power source, the plurality of drug feeders being fixed around the periphery of the distribution tray, a drug feeder being selected from the plurality of drug feeders, and a single dose of powdered medicine being dispensed from the selected drug feeder to the distribution tray.

[0037] Moreover, one aspect of the above-mentioned related invention is a drug dispensing device comprising a distribution tray having a ring-shaped drug insertion groove and rotated by power, and a plurality of drug feeders, each of which has a drug container containing powdered medicine, a mounting member for holding the drug container, and a powdered medicine discharge means for discharging the powdered medicine from the drug container, wherein each mounting member holds a drug container containing a predetermined powdered medicine, one or more drug feeders are selected from the plurality of drug feeders, and a predetermined amount of powdered medicine is dispensed from the selected drug feeder to the distribution tray.

[0038] According to these aspects, the overall size of the device can be reduced, and the operation of dispensing powdered medicine can be increased in speed. Effect of the Invention

[0039] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a medicine feeder that can be suitably adopted in a medicine dispensing device that does not have a robot mechanism, and a medicine dispensing device including such a medicine feeder. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0040] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view of a medicine dispensing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing a state in which a top cover is open. FIG. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the vicinity of a distribution tray of the medicine dispensing device of FIG. 1. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a drug feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the medicine feeder of FIG. 3 with information read / write means omitted. [Diagram 5] 5 is a perspective view of the medicine feeder as viewed from a different direction than that of FIG. 4. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a feeder body of the medicine feeder with medicine containers removed from a holding member. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a side view of the feeder body of the medicine feeder with the medicine container removed from the holding member. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a side view of the feeder body shown as a model of FIG. 7. [Figure 9] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the feeder body of the medicine feeder, with the medicine containers removed from the holding member, observed from a different direction than that of FIG. 6. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the feeder body, with the drug containers removed from the holding member, observed from a different direction than in FIGS. 6 and 9, and shows an enlarged outline of the shutter opening / closing mechanism. [Figure 11] FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a holding member of the feeder body. [Figure 12] FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the holding member of the feeder body in further detail. [Figure 13] 13(a), (b), and (c) are explanatory views showing the process from mounting a medicine container to a feeder body until powdered medicine is discharged, and an enlarged cross-sectional view of a part thereof. FIG. [Figure 14] 10, and the right is a perspective view showing the engagement piece holder 56 of the shutter opening / closing mechanism. (b) is an explanatory diagram showing the state where the engagement piece of the feeder body is recessed in the opening on the left, and the engagement piece of the feeder body protruding from the opening on the right. [Figure 15] FIG. 2(a) is a perspective view of the medicine container with the lid member open, and FIG. 2(b) is a front view thereof. [Figure 16] 1 is a perspective view showing a posture when filling a medicine container with powdered medicine. FIG. [Figure 17]13(a), (b), and (c) are front views of the lid portion of the medicine container, showing how the lid member is fixed to the container body. [Figure 18] 1A is a diagram showing the periphery of the fastening piece in the above-mentioned drug container with the lid member closed, the left figure being a perspective view, and the right figure being a plan view. FIG. 1B is a diagram showing the periphery of the fastening piece in the state where the lid member is closed in a drug container according to an embodiment different from that in FIG. 1A, the left figure being a perspective view, and the right figure being a plan view. [Figure 19] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the shutter of the medicine container. [Figure 20] 1A and 1B are explanatory views showing the operation of the shutter of the medicine container, in which (a) is a perspective view when the shutter is closed, and (b) is a perspective view when the shutter is open. [Figure 21] 13 is a perspective view showing a state in which an engagement portion of a transmission member of a medicine container is engaged with an engagement portion of a shutter opening / closing mechanism. FIG. [Figure 22] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the positional relationship between a drug feeder and a distribution tray. [Figure 23] (a) is an explanatory diagram showing the spread of powdered medicine when the shutter is fully open and the medicine is dropped into the distribution tray, and (b) is an explanatory diagram showing the spread of powdered medicine when the shutter is half open and the medicine is dropped into the distribution tray. [Figure 24] (a) is a bottom view of the drug container when the shutter is fully open, (b) is a bottom view of the drug container when the shutter is half open, (c) is a bottom view of the drug container when the shutter is closed, and (d) is an oblique view of the lower part of the container body and the shutter. [Diagram 25] 19 is a perspective view showing a state in which a sealing member different from that in FIG. 19 is attached to a shutter member, as viewed from below, (b) is a perspective view showing the sealing member in (a), and (c) is a bottom view showing the sealing member in (a). [Figure 26]26A and 26B are bottom views showing a drug container using the sealing member shown in FIG. 25, in which (a) shows the state in which the shutter is fully open, (b) shows the state in which the shutter is slightly open, and (c) shows the state in which the shutter is closed. [Figure 27] 1A and 1B are bottom views of a drug container according to an embodiment different from the above-described embodiment, in which (a) shows the state in which the shutter is fully open, (b) shows the state in which the shutter is slightly open, and (c) shows the state in which the shutter is closed. [Figure 28] FIG. 13 is a front view of a drug feeder according to another embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 29] 13A and 13B are perspective views showing the inside of a drug container according to still another embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) shows a state in which the shutter of the second partition is closed, and (b) shows a state in which the shutter of the second partition is open. [Diagram 30] 30 is an explanatory diagram showing the shutter opening and closing mechanism employed in the drug container shown in FIG. 29. [Diagram 31] FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the vicinity of a distribution tray of a medicine dispensing device according to another embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 32] This is an explanatory diagram showing the positional relationship between the distribution plate and the powdered medicine hopper, where (a) shows the state after the powdered medicine has been spread onto the distribution plate, (b) shows the state after the disk of the scraping device has been inserted into the distribution plate, and (c) shows the state when the powdered medicine is being scraped out of the distribution plate. [Diagram 33] 1A and 1B are perspective views showing a drug container according to an embodiment different from the above-mentioned embodiment, in which (a) shows the state in which the lid member is in a closed state, and (b) shows the state in which the lid member is in an open state. [Diagram 34] 33(a) is a perspective view showing the medicine container of FIG. 33(a) as viewed from a different direction, and (b) is a bottom view diagrammatically showing the medicine container of (a). FIG. [Diagram 35] 33(a) is a cross-sectional view showing the drug container, in which the cover member and other parts are cut along different sections. FIG. [Diagram 36] FIG. 33(b) is an exploded perspective view of the drug container of FIG. [Figure 37]37A and 37B are views showing the partition member of FIG. 36, in which (a) is a perspective view seen from below, and (b) is a front view. [Figure 38] 3(a) is a plan view showing a schematic diagram of the medicine feeder and the distribution tray of FIG. 2, and FIG. 3(b) is a perspective view showing the state in which the manual tablet distribution device of FIG. 1 has been changed in position. [Figure 39] FIG. 13A is a side view showing a model of a medicine feeder according to a second embodiment, and FIG. 13B is an exploded perspective view of a shutter opening / closing mechanism thereof. [Diagram 40] 10A, 10B, and 10C are explanatory views showing a state in which a medicine container is attached to a feeder body of a medicine feeder according to a second embodiment; [Diagram 41] 13A, 13B, and 13C are explanatory views showing a state in which a medicine container is removed from a feeder body of a medicine feeder according to a second embodiment; [Diagram 42] FIG. 13(a) is a cross-sectional view showing a drug container of a third embodiment, and FIG. 13(b) is a cross-sectional view showing the vicinity of a shutter when the shutter is in an open state. [Diagram 43] 13A and 13B are front views of a drug feeder according to still another embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) shows a state in which a drug container is attached to the feeder body, and (b) shows a state in which the drug container is being removed from the feeder body. [Diagram 44] A front view of a feeder body of yet another embodiment of the present invention, where (a) shows the state of the feeder body when a drug container is attached to the feeder body, and (b) shows the state of the feeder body when the drug container is removed from the feeder body. [Diagram 45] FIG. 13 is an exploded perspective view of a shutter of a drug container according to a third embodiment. [Figure 46] 46A and 46B are views showing the partition member of FIG. 45, in which (a) is a perspective view seen from below, and (b) is a front view. [Figure 47] 10A and 10B are diagrams showing a modified example of the partition member, in which (a) is a perspective view thereof, and (b) is a sectional view of a horizontal portion of the partition plate. [Figure 48] FIG. [Figure 49] 1A and 1B are perspective views of a medicine dispensing device showing modified top covers, in which (a) shows a state in which the cover is closed, and (b) shows a state in which the cover is open. [Figure 50] 11A and 11B are perspective views of a medicine dispensing device showing another modified example of the top cover, in which (a) shows a state in which the cover is closed, and (b) shows a state in which the cover is open. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0041] The medicine dispensing device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be further described below. For ease of understanding, the outline and general operation of the medicine dispensing device 1 will be described first, and then each member and device will be described in detail. The medicine dispensing device 1 of this embodiment is surrounded by a housing 2, the inside of which is divided into a tablet manual distribution area 300, a powder medicine dividing area 301, and a medicine packaging area 302. 1, the housing 2 has a top cover 3. The top cover 3 is attached to the main body of the housing 2 by a hinge (not shown). The tablet manual distribution area 300 is provided with a tablet manual distribution device 303 . Since the manual tablet dispensing device 303 is well known, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. The medicine packaging area 302 has a medicine packaging device 305 built in, as conceptually shown in Fig. 2. The medicine packaging device 305 is a machine that packages medicines into individual doses, and has a packaging paper supply device 306 (packaging paper supply section) and a packaging device 308 (sealing section). The medicine packaging device 305 also has a powdered medicine input hopper 310 above the packaging device 308, into which medicines are input. For ease of illustration, the powdered medicine hopper 310 is shown positioned away from the distribution tray 6, but in reality, the upper end of the powdered medicine hopper 310 is within the equipment storage opening 15 of the distribution tray 6.

[0042] The medicine packaging device 305 is used by mounting roll paper on a mounting portion of the main body (not shown) of the packing paper supplying device 306. The roll paper is a roll formed by winding a strip-shaped packing paper (wrapping paper) around a tubular core member. Although not particularly limited, the roll paper in this embodiment is a roll formed from a packing paper that has been folded in half to form a strip. Furthermore, the medicine packaging device 305 has a printing mechanism (printing unit) not shown. In the medicine packaging device 305, the packet paper fed from the roll paper is introduced into a printing mechanism, and information such as the patient's name, medicine name, and date and time of taking the medicine (information about the prescription, and information about the medicine to be provided) is printed. After that, the packet paper with the predetermined information printed on it is opened upward. In this state, it receives the medicine (powders) dropped (supplied) from the powder medicine input hopper 310. The packaging paper containing the medicine is then introduced into the sealing section (packaging device 308), where it is sealed vertically and horizontally, packaging the medicine one by one. This forms a medicine package containing one dose of medicine, and the medicine package is transported to the outside of the device. At this time, a plurality of consecutive drug packages are formed into a drug package band and transported to the outside of the device. However, instead of forming a drug package band, one or more individual drug packages may be formed and transported to the outside of the device. The horizontal direction is the payout direction (sending direction) of the packaging paper, and the vertical direction is the direction intersecting (perpendicular to) the payout direction of the packaging paper.

[0043] The core member of the above-mentioned roll paper may have an identifier attached to it. The identifier is a storage means that stores information that can individually identify the roll paper (information about the manufacturer (such as the manufacturer's name), information about the date of manufacture, the type of roll paper wound around the core, the order number, the shipping date, customer information about the delivery destination, the model name and model code of the packaging machine in which the roll paper will be installed, other IDs, etc.), and may be, for example, a memory such as an IC tag. It may also be a code such as a one-dimensional code (barcode) or a two-dimensional code, and if a code is used, it may be attached to a label. When the roll paper is attached to the packaging paper supplying device 306, a check may be performed against the device to be attached, that is, an operation of determining whether or not the specified roll paper is about to be correctly attached to the device may be executed. Also, information for identifying that the roll paper is unused may be stored in the identifier, and an operation of determining whether or not the roll paper is unused may be executed when the roll paper is attached. Furthermore, information regarding the remaining amount of packaging paper when the roll paper (packaging paper roll) is attached to the main body of the packaging paper supplying device 306 may be stored. Also, when a packaging operation for packaging medicines is performed, the remaining amount at an appropriate time during the packaging operation may be stored. This information regarding the remaining amount may be stored, for example, during the packaging operation. In addition, the remaining amount at the end of the packaging operation may be stored after the packaging operation. That is, when the medicine dispensing device 1 is operated, information regarding the remaining amount may be stored at an appropriate timing.

[0044] 2, the powdered medicine dividing area 301 is an area where a distribution tray 6 is installed, and around it, a medicine feeder 5 and a cleaning device 7 are arranged. In addition, a scraping device 8 is provided in the powdered medicine dividing area 301. The distribution dish 6 and the scraping device 8 are known and will only be described briefly. The distribution dish 6 is a disk-shaped member provided with a drug insertion groove 13 (input groove), also called a "concave groove." The drug insertion groove 13 surrounds the outer edge of the distribution dish 6 in an annular shape. The distribution dish 6 is provided with an equipment storage opening 15 in the center. Note that in FIG. 2, most of the opening is covered with a lid. The powdered medicine supply hopper 310 described above is installed at the equipment storage opening 15. The distribution plate 6 can be rotated at a constant speed or by a predetermined angle.

[0045] The scraping device 8 has a rotating plate 12 at the tip of a scraping arm. Specifically, a mounting base (not shown) that can be rotated by a motor is provided at the tip of the scraping arm, and the rotating plate 12 having a scraper plate and the like (not shown) is attached to this mounting base. In other words, the rotating plate 12 rotates by the power of the motor. The base of the scraping device 8 is installed in the equipment storage opening 15 of the distribution tray 6. A scraping arm of the scraping device 8 protrudes from the center of the distribution tray 6. The scraping device 8 may not be provided with a turntable, may not rotate as a whole, and may have a scraping arm that is swingable. 2, in the medicine dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, the upper opening serving as the medicine inlet of the powdered medicine input hopper 310 is located inside the distribution plate 6. That is, the distribution plate 6 is continuous in an annular (ring-shaped) shape outside the powdered medicine input hopper 310, and the powdered medicine input hopper 310 is located in an area surrounded by the distribution plate 6 in a plan view. The scraping device 8 is also located inside the distribution plate 6. When the scraping device 8 scrapes out the powdered medicine on the distribution plate 6 and puts it into the powdered medicine input hopper 310, the powdered medicine is scraped out toward the inside of the distribution plate 6. That is, the rotating plate 12 is rotated to move the scraper so as to move the powdered medicine on the distribution plate 6 to the inside of the distribution plate 6 (the rotating plate 12 is rotated so that the scraper moves in a direction crossing the distribution plate 6 from the outer edge side to the inner edge side). In this embodiment, the scraping device 8 is provided inside the distribution plate 6, and the powdered medicine is scraped toward the inside of the distribution plate 6, thereby reducing the number of parts outside the distribution plate 6. In other words, a large space is secured outside the distribution plate 6 around the medicine feeder 5, which makes it easier to manually attach and detach the medicine container 20 to and from the feeder body 10 and contributes to the miniaturization of the entire medicine dispensing device 1.

[0046] As shown in Fig. 4, the drug feeder 5 has a weight calibration unit 21 provided in a feeder section 22. The drug feeder 5 also has an information read / write means 66 (see Fig. 3) capable of reading and writing information from and to an information storage means 65 (see Fig. 4) described later. As shown in Figs. 4 to 10, the feeder section 22 has a drug container 20 in which powdered medicine is stored, and a feeder body 10 that holds the drug container 20. As shown in FIG. 8, the feeder body 10 is mechanically divided into a container support section 23, a weight measuring section 24, and a base section 26. 8, the container support part 23 has a support base 27, a vibration member 16 (container holding part), and vibration means 30a, 30b. The vibration means 30a, 30b are piezoelectric elements and have a plate shape. The vibration member 16 and the vibration means 30a, 30b are also vibration devices that vibrate the medicine container 20.

[0047] The support base 27 and the vibration member 16 are both L-shaped members having a horizontal portion and a vertical wall portion. That is, the support base 27 has a support-side horizontal portion 30 and a support-side vertical wall portion 31 as shown in FIGS. The vibration member 16 also functions as a container holder, and has a vibration-side horizontal section 32 and a vibration-side vertical wall section 33 (vertical wall). The vibration-side vertical wall section 33 is provided with an engagement section (a holder-side engagement section, which is a groove-shaped engagement section 48 (trapezoidal engagement section 47) described later and an engagement piece (holder-side engagement section) 50; see FIG. 10) that engages with the drug container 20.

[0048] The support base 27 and the vibration member 16 are connected by two vibration means 30a and 30b. There is substantially no contact between the vibration-side horizontal portion 32 and the support-side horizontal portion 30. Therefore, when electricity is applied to the vibration means 30a, 30b, the vibration member 16 vibrates.

[0049] As shown in Fig. 8, the weight measuring unit 24 is disposed below the container support unit 23. The weight measuring unit 24 includes a weight measuring means 25 and a vibration isolating means 18. The weight measuring means 25 is a known load cell. The vibration isolating means 18 includes a vibration isolating member 28. The container support part 23 (support stand 27, vibrating member 16, and vibrating means 30a, 30b) is connected to the detection part of the weight measuring means 25. The base part 26 supports the upper members (support stand 27, vibrating member 16, and vibrating means 30a, 30b) via the vibration-proof member 28 of the weight measuring part 24. The weight of the container support part 23 is detected by weight measuring means 25. The weight of the vibration isolation means 18 is applied to the base part 26, but is not applied to the weight measuring means 25. Therefore, the weight of the container support part 23 (support stand 27, vibrating member 16, vibration means 30a, 30b) is detected by weight measuring means 25.

[0050] The medicine container 20 is a container filled with powdered medicine, and has a rectangular parallelepiped shape with a substantially square side surface. The drug container 20 is surrounded by a front wall 35 , a rear wall 36 , left and right side walls 37 , a top wall 38 and a bottom wall 40 . An openable / closable powdered medicine discharge section 11 is provided on bottom wall 40 of medicine container 20 near front wall 35 . Further, there are engagement portions (engagement groove 130, engagement recess 131, see FIG. 6) on the vertical side and the lower part of rear wall 36.

[0051] The drug container 20 is filled with powdered medicine and fixed to the feeder body 10 as shown in Figures 4 and 5. That is, the back wall 36 of the drug container 20 contacts the vibration-side vertical wall 33 (vertical wall) of the vibration member 16 serving as the container holder, and the back wall 36 side of the bottom wall 40 of the drug container 20 contacts the vibration-side horizontal part 32, and most of the drug container 20 is fixed to the feeder body 10 in a cantilevered state. That is, the vibration-side horizontal part 32 also serves as a mounting member (mounting table) on which at least a part of the drug container 20 is placed. Also, the engaging portions of the drug container 20 are engaged with two engaging portions of the vibration member 16 (a groove-shaped engaging portion 48 (trapezoidal engaging portion 47, the holding portion side engaging portion) described below, and an engaging piece (holding portion side engaging portion) 50, see FIG. 10). Therefore, the drug container 20 is integrated with the vibration member 16 and vibrates together with the vibration member 16.

[0052] Here, information storage means 65 is installed on one of the two left and right side walls 37 (see FIG. 4). Information on the medicine container 20 (information on the powdered medicine contained in the medicine container 20) is stored in the information storage means 65. For example, identification information for identifying the contained medicine (information on the medicine name, various codes, etc.) and remaining amount information on the current remaining amount of the contained medicine are stored. The information stored in the information storage means 65 is information that can be used in association with prescription data, etc., and by acquiring the information stored in the information storage means 65, an operation for identifying the type of powdered medicine contained in the medicine container 20, etc., can be performed. This information storage means 65 may be a memory such as an IC tag. Also, it may be a code such as a one-dimensional code (barcode) or a two-dimensional code, and when a code is adopted, it may be attached to a label.

[0053] As described above, the medicine feeder 5 has information read / write means 66 (see FIG. 3) capable of reading and writing information from and to the information storage means 65. In this embodiment, an RFID reader / writer is used as the information read / write means 66, and information can be read from and written to the information storage means 65 by wireless communication. The information storage means 65 is capable of reading cassette information and writing (rewriting) the remaining amount after dispensing powdered medicine from the medicine container 20. The cassette information is information related to the medicine container 20 described above, and includes, for example, the name of the medicine and the remaining amount. This information reading / writing means 66 is located outside the information storage means 65 when the drug container 20 is attached to the feeder body 10, and is disposed at a position slightly away from the information storage means 65 (see Figs. 3 and 4). Instead of the information reading / writing means 66, it is also possible to provide information reading means and information writing means that are capable of reading and writing information.

[0054] The weight calibration unit 21 detects whether the weight measuring means 25 is normal or not. The weight calibration unit 21 has a weight 42, a weight placement member 43 on which the weight 42 is placed, and a weight support member 45 that lifts the weight 42 into the air. The weight placement member 43 is fixed to the container support portion 23 of the feeder body 10. Therefore, the weight of the weight placement member 43 is added to the weight measuring means 25. On the other hand, the weight support member 45 is disposed so that a load is applied to the base portion 26 of the feeder body 10. Therefore, the weight of the weight support member 45 is not applied to the weight measuring means 25.

[0055] In this embodiment, six medicine feeders 5 are fixed around the distribution plate 6. The front wall 35 side of the medicine container 20 protrudes toward the distribution plate 6, and the powdered medicine discharge part 11 is located directly above the medicine input groove 13.

[0056] In the medicine dispensing device 1 of the present embodiment, the medicine containers 20 of the medicine feeders 5 are filled with different medicines in advance. Based on the prescription, a specific medicine feeder 5 is driven and powdered medicine is dispensed into the distribution tray 6. Specifically, a signal from a control device (not shown) causes a constant frequency current to flow through the vibration means 30a, 30b of the specific medicine feeder 5 to generate vibration, which in turn vibrates the vibration member 16 (container holding portion). Also, the distribution plate 6 is rotated around the time when the vibration starts.

[0057] Also, around the time when vibration starts, the weight of the drug container 20 is measured. The weight of the drug container 20 is obtained by subtracting a fixed value from the weight detected by the weight measuring means 25. More specifically, the weight of the drug container 20 is obtained by subtracting the weight of the container support part 23 from the weight detected by the weight measuring means 25. The weight of the medicine container 20 before the powdered medicine is discharged is stored as the original weight G. The weight of the medicine container 20 is constantly monitored. That is, the current weight of the medicine container 20 is monitored as the current weight g.

[0058] When the vibration member 16 starts vibrating, the medicine container 20 also vibrates. In this embodiment, the medicine container 20 is firmly joined to the vibration side vertical wall 33 (vertical wall) of the vibration member 16 by the engagement parts (a groove-shaped engagement part 48 (trapezoidal engagement part 47, the holding part side engagement part) and an engagement piece 50, which will be described later, see FIG. 10) provided at two places, and the degree of adhesion with the vibration member 16 is also high, so that the medicine container 20 vibrates at the same frequency as the vibration member 16. As a result, the powdered medicine stored in the medicine container 20 moves slowly toward the powdered medicine discharge part 11 side.

[0059] The powdered medicine then falls from the powdered medicine discharge section 11 and enters the medicine input groove 13 in the distribution tray 6 below.

[0060] The fact that the powdered medicine is falling is confirmed by a decrease in the weight of the medicine container 20. That is, in this embodiment, even when the powdered medicine is falling from the medicine container 20, the current weight of the medicine container 20 continues to be monitored as the current weight g. The original weight G of the medicine container 20 immediately after installation on the vibration member 16 is compared with the current weight g, and the falling amount H of the powdered medicine (G minus g) is constantly calculated. When the total amount H of powdered medicine that has fallen reaches a desired weight, the vibration of the vibrating member 16 is stopped.

[0061] The next operation is to drop the rotating plate 12 of the scraping device 8 into the medicine input groove 13 of the distribution tray 6. After that, the distribution tray 6 is rotated by an angle corresponding to the number of pieces to be distributed, and one dose of powdered medicine is collected on the front side of the rotating plate 12. The rotating plate 12 is then rotated, and the powdered medicine is scraped out of the distribution tray 6 by a scraping plate (not shown), and is input into the powdered medicine input hopper 310. The powdered medicine that has fallen from the powdered medicine input hopper 310 is packaged by the medicine packaging device 305 for one dose.

[0062] The series of medicine discharge operations described above is performed in a state in which the weight 42 is lifted by the weight support member 45 of the weight calibration unit 21. Therefore, the weight of the weight 42 is not detected by the weight measurement means 25. When checking whether the weight measuring means 25 is normal or not, the weight support member 45 is operated to place the weight 42 on the weight placement member 43 . As a result, the weight of the weight 42 is applied to the weight measuring means 25, and the weight of the weight 42 is detected. Since the weight of weight 42 is known, it can be said that weight measuring means 25 is normal if the increase in detected weight due to placing weight 42 is equal to the weight of weight 42. Conversely, if the increase in detected weight due to placing weight 42 is different from the weight of weight 42, it can be said that weight measuring means 25 is broken.

[0063] Next, each member and device of the medicine dispensing device 1 will be described. (1) Feeder body 10 As described above, the feeder body 10 is divided into the container support portion 23, the weight measuring means 25, and the base portion 26. Further, the container support part 23 has a support base 27, a vibration member 16 (container holding part), and vibration means 30a and 30b. 4 to 12, the external shape of the vibration member 16 is substantially "L" shaped. That is, the vibration member 16 has a vibration side horizontal portion 32 and a vibration side vertical wall portion 33 which is a vertical wall.

[0064] As shown in Figs. 9 to 12, the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 has a main body portion 63 made of metal and a lining member 46 made of resin provided on the main body portion 63. As shown in FIG. 10, the lining member 46 has a generally rectangular plate shape overall, and is provided with an engagement portion 47 on the front surface side. Engagement portion 47 is a trapezoid close to a rectangle when viewed from the front, except that one of the hypotenuse sides has a bulge 58 at the bottom. And dovetail-shaped engagement portion (holding portion side engagement portion) 48 is provided on the side corresponding to the hypotenuse side of the trapezoid.

[0065] 11 and 12, rectangular recesses 132 are provided at two positions, one above the other, on the back surface of the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33. The lower side of each recess 132 forms an inclined surface 133. The inclined surface 133 is inclined so that the lower side is deeper than the upper side. The inclined surface 133 functions as a seat for mounting the vibration means 30a and 30b.

[0066] 10 and 13, a substantially rectangular opening 51 is provided in the lower part of the front of the engaging portion 47. The engaging piece 50 is housed in the opening 51. The engagement piece 50 is connected to a retracting mechanism and projects from and retracts through an opening 51 .

[0067] The vibration-side horizontal portion 32 is a plate-like member made of metal. 9, 10, and 13, a shutter opening / closing mechanism 55 (opening / closing mechanism portion) is provided on one side of the vibration-side horizontal portion 32. The shutter opening / closing mechanism 55 is an opening / closing mechanism for discharging a fixed amount of powdered medicine from the medicine container 20. 10 and 13, the shutter opening / closing mechanism 55 is composed of an engagement piece holding part 56 and an arm 57. It also has a power part that operates (linearly moves) the arm 57. This power part is composed of a motor, etc. The engagement piece holding portion 56 has a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a recess that serves as an engagement portion 60 is provided on the upper surface. One end of the arm 57 is connected to the engagement piece holding portion 56 , and the other end is housed within the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 . It is connected to the aforementioned insertion / removal mechanism.

[0068] In this embodiment, to explain in detail, the feeder body 10 of this embodiment has an engaging member 210 (see the left diagram in FIG. 14(a)), the upper part of which constitutes the engaging piece 50. That is, the engaging member 210 has an upper engaging piece forming part 210a which forms the engaging piece 50, a lower abutting part 210b, and an intermediate part 210c which connects these. This engaging member 210 is constantly biased in the direction from the support side vertical wall part 31 to the vibration side vertical wall part 33 by a biasing member such as a coil spring. The engagement piece holding portion 56 also has a pressing protrusion 56a (see the right diagram in FIG. 14(a)) on the side surface. When the engaging piece holding portion 56 is positioned near the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33, as shown in the left diagram of Fig. 14(b), the pressing protrusion portion 56a presses the abutting portion 210b in the direction toward the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33. As a result, the engaging member 210 is pressed against the biasing force, and the engaging piece 50 is immersed in the opening 51. On the other hand, when the engaging piece holding portion 56 has moved to a position away from the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33, as shown in the right diagram of Fig. 14(b), the engaging member 210 is pressed by the biasing member and moves, so that the engaging piece 50 protrudes from the opening 51. In this manner, the engaging member 210 moves within the groove (recess) formed in the vibration-side horizontal portion 32.

[0069] 12 and 13, the external shape of the support base 27 is substantially "L" shaped. That is, the support base 27 has a support-side horizontal portion 30 and a support-side vertical wall portion 31. The front side of the support-side vertical wall portion 31 also has an inclined surface (not shown), which functions as a seat for mounting the vibration means 30a and 30b.

[0070] The vibrating member 16 is placed on a support base 27, and a vibration-side horizontal portion 32 is placed on a support-side horizontal portion 30. The convex side of a vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 faces the concave side of a support-side vertical wall portion 31. Two vibration means 30a, 30b are connected between the concave side of the support side vertical wall portion 31 and the convex side of the vibration side vertical wall portion 33. Both vibration means 30a, 30b are attached at an incline so that the support side vertical wall portion 31 side is upward and the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 side is downward. There is substantially no contact between the vibration-side horizontal portion 32 and the support-side horizontal portion 30 .

[0071] The weight measuring section 24 includes a weight measuring means 25 and vibration isolating means 18. The vibration isolating means 18 is composed of a vibration isolating frame 135 and a vibration isolating member 28. As shown in FIG. 12, the vibration isolation frame 135 has a higher frame 136 and a support base portion 137 . The high frame 136 has anti-vibration member mounting plates 140 arranged in parallel therewith. The support base 137 is provided between the anti-vibration member mounting plates 140 and at a position lower than the high frame 136. The vibration-isolating members 28 are attached to the four corners of the vibration-isolating member mounting plate 140 on the lower side. Furthermore, the weight measuring means 25 is fixed on the support base 137. Since the support base 137 is located below the high frame 136, most of the weight measuring means 25 is located below the high frame 136, but the upper surface of the weight measuring means 25 is located above the high frame 136.

[0072] The base portion 26 is a plate-like member made of metal and has a recess in the center. The container support part 23 is fixed to the upper surface of the weight measuring means 25 of the weight measuring section 24. Specifically, the support-side horizontal part 30 of the container support part 23 is fixed to the upper surface of the weight measuring means 25 protruding from the high frame 136. In addition, the vibration isolation member 28 of the weight measuring unit 24 is installed on the base 26 . In this embodiment, the container support part 23 (support stand 27, vibrating member 16, vibration means 30a, 30b) is placed on the upper surface of the weight measuring means 25, and the weight measuring means 25 can accurately measure the weight of these.

[0073] The feeder body 10 of this embodiment has a container holding section for holding the drug container 20 and an upright support section (support side vertical wall section 31), the container holding section having a vertical member (vibration side vertical wall section 33), and vibration means 30a, 30b are provided between the support section and the vertical member.

[0074] In the feeder body 10 of this embodiment, the vibration means 30a, 30b are provided on one side surface of the drug container 20. That is, the drug container 20 and the vibration means 30a, 30b are arranged side by side. Therefore, compared to a layout in which the vibration means 30a, 30b are located below the medicine container 20, the medicine container 20 can be placed at a lower position, and the powdered medicine discharge section 11 of the medicine container 20 can be brought closer to the distribution dish 6, thereby reducing the splashing of the powdered medicine.

[0075] (2) Drug container 20 Next, a description will be given of the drug container 20. In the following description, the length and width directions are based on the posture of the drug container 20 when it is placed on the feeder body 10. The drug container 20 has a sealable container body 70 . As shown in Figs. 6 and 15, the drug container 20 has a partition plate 68 (partition member), a flow straightening member 72, and a shutter structure portion 73 therein.

[0076] The external shape of the container body 70 is a long and narrow box-like member when viewed from the front side (the powdered medicine discharging part 11 side) based on the posture in which it is attached to the container support part 23 of the feeder body 10. The container body 70 is a rectangular parallelepiped with a substantially square side shape. That is, the drug container 20 has a large area side 61 and a small area side 62, and the height H is large relative to the width W. The container body 70 is surrounded by a front wall 35 , a rear wall 36 , left and right side walls 37 , a top wall 38 and a bottom wall 40 . The front wall 35 and the back wall 36 are small area side walls 62 and are vertically long rectangles. The left and right side walls 37 are rectangular, close to a square, and are large area side walls 61. The top wall 38 and the bottom wall 40 are rectangular.

[0077] The rear wall 36 is provided with a pair of engagement grooves 130 and one engagement recess 131, as shown in FIGS. The engagement grooves 130 are vertical grooves that are provided along the left and right vertical sides of the rear wall 36 and open inward. The engagement recess 131 is a recess provided in the lower part of the rear wall 36 .

[0078] As shown in Fig. 19, there is a missing portion 77 in the region from the lower part of the front wall 35 to the front wall 35 side of the bottom wall 40. The portion of the bottom wall 40 on the front wall 35 side is missing at an angle. Therefore, the end of the bottom wall 40 on the front wall 35 side forms an oblique side as shown in Fig. 24. In this embodiment, the inclination of the end of the missing portion 77 is a combination of a steeply inclined portion 150 and a gently inclined portion 151.

[0079] The container body 70 is composed of a box portion 71 having one open side, and a lid member 75 . The box portion 71 constitutes five of the walls of the container body 70, excluding one side wall. A packing (not shown) is attached to the opening of the box portion 71. An engagement portion 81 is provided on the opening side of the front wall 35 of the box portion 71, as shown in FIG. The cover member 75 constitutes one of the side walls (the large area side wall 61) of the walls of the container body . The lid member 75 is attached to the rear wall 36 of the box portion 71 via a hinge 120 (see FIG. 15(a)) so as to be able to swing. A fastening member 76 is provided on the free end side of the cover member 75. The fastening member 76 employs a toggle-type fastening means, and includes a fastening piece 78 that can swing via a hinge 121 (see FIG. 15(a)). An engagement recess 80 is provided on the inner side of the fastening piece 78.

[0080] When closing the opening of the box portion 71 with the lid member 75, the free end of the lid member 75 is brought close to the box portion 71 as shown in Figure 17(a), the engagement recess 80 of the fastening piece 78 is abutted against the engagement portion 81 of the box portion 71 as shown in Figure 17(b), and the fastening piece 78 is tilted down until it comes into contact with the front wall 35 as shown in Figure 17(c). As a result, the free end side of the lid member 75 is drawn toward the opening of the box portion 71, and the inner surface side of the lid member 75 comes into contact with the packing of the box portion 71, sealing the inside of the container body 70. Further, the fastening piece 78 is positioned approximately parallel to the front wall 35 of the box portion 71 .

[0081] Here, in the drug container 20 of this embodiment, it is assumed that an external device or tool (not shown) is used when changing the opening of the box part 71 from a closed state to an open state. In other words, it is assumed that when releasing the fastening state (locked state) of the lid member 75, the fastening piece 78 is not directly operated by hand, but is changed in position by an external device or the like. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 18(a), the tightening piece 78 has an outer shape of a substantially triangular prism, and the thickness of the tightening piece 78 becomes thinner toward the free end side. When the tightening piece 78 is closed, an inclined surface is formed on the part opposite to the front wall 35, while the entire part except for a part on the front wall 35 side is in close contact with the front wall 35 without any gap. In detail, a notch 78a is formed on the free end side of the tightening piece 78, and a minute gap (not shown) is formed between the front wall 35 and the part adjacent to the notch 78a (the part located on the base end side of the tightening piece 78). Then, a part of an external device or tool is inserted into the gap from the notch 78a, and the tightening piece 78 is changed in position to release the tightening state. The notch 78a and the gap adjacent to the notch 78a are large enough that an average adult's finger cannot enter.

[0082] However, instead of the above-described drug container 20, a drug container designed to be manually released from a fastened state (locked state) as shown in FIG. 18(b) may be used. This medicine container has a clamping piece 278 different from that of the above-described medicine container 20. Therefore, when in a clamped state, as shown in Fig. 18(b), a gap 279 is formed between the clamping piece 278 and the front wall 35. This gap 279 is relatively large, and is large enough that an average adult's finger can be inserted therein with ease. In detail, when the fastening piece 278 in the fastened state is viewed in a plan view, more than half of the edge portion of the fastening piece 278 on the front wall 35 side is disposed at a position away from the front wall 35. Also, as shown in the right diagram of Fig. 18(b), the gap 279 is widest on the free end side of the fastening piece 278 (upper side in Fig. 18) and becomes narrower toward the base end side (lower side in Fig. 18). From the above, when the user inserts his / her finger into the gap 279 to change the position of the fastening piece 278, it becomes possible to release the fastening state (locked state).

[0083] The partition plate 68 (partition member) is formed by bending a strip-shaped plate, and has contact wall portions 141 and 142, a large inclined portion 143, a small inclined portion 145, and a horizontal portion 146, as shown in FIG. The partition plate 68 (partition member) has a horizontal portion 146 in the center, a large inclined portion 143 and a small inclined portion 145 formed on both sides thereof, and contact wall portions 141, 142 formed on both sides thereof.

[0084] The horizontal portion 146 is in a horizontal position when installed in the container body 70, and is provided with a large number of small holes (openings) 146. The small holes (openings) 146 employed in this embodiment are slit-shaped extending in the width W direction of the container body 70. The large inclined portion 143 and the small inclined portion 145 are portions that are inclined toward the horizontal portion 146 when installed in the container body 70, and the large inclined portion 143 is longer than the small inclined portion 145. The inclination angles of the inclined portions 143 and 145 are equal. The contact wall portions 141 and 142 are portions that are in a vertical position when installed in the container body 70.

[0085] The flow rectifying member 72 is a coil-shaped member.

[0086] The shutter structure 73 is made up of a guide member 90, a shutter member 91 (opening / closing member), a transmission member 92, and a biasing member 93, as shown in FIG. The guide member 90 is a member having a concave side shape, and has an upper horizontal wall 95, a lower horizontal wall 96, and a back wall 97 connecting the two.

[0087] 19, 20, and 21, the shutter member 91 has a closing wall 110, a guide wall portion 111, a connecting wall 112, and a stopper wall 113. In addition, a seal member (packing) is attached to a position that will be the upper side of the closing wall 110. The closure wall 110 is in a horizontal position when attached. The closure wall 110 has a hypotenuse 138. The guide wall portion 111 is a wall surface that is parallel to the closing wall 110. The connecting wall 112 is a vertical wall that connects the guide wall portion 111 and the closing wall 110. The closing wall 110, the connecting wall 112 and the guide wall portion 111 form a concave shape. The stopper wall 113 is a small wall that rises vertically from the free end side of the guide wall portion 111 .

[0088] The transmission member 92 is a stick-shaped member and, in this embodiment, is made of a thin and long metal plate. A shutter side mounting portion 118 is provided at one end of the transmission member 92. A notch portion 115 is provided at the other end of the transmission member 92, and the portion beyond the notch portion 115 serves as an engagement portion . The transmission member 92 is attached to the shutter member 91 at the shutter side attachment portion 118 , and is integrated with the shutter member 91 .

[0089] The biasing member 93 is a spring.

[0090] The partition plate 68 (partition member) and the flow straightening member 72 are housed within the container body 70. Most of the shutter structure 73 is within the container body 70, and only the transmission member 92 extends along the outer surface of the container body 70.

[0091] The partition plate 68 (partition member) is fixed to the container body 70 with the contact wall portion 142 fixed to the inside of the front wall 35 of the container body 70 and the contact wall portion 141 fixed to the inside of the rear wall 36 of the container body 70. The inclined portions 143, 145 and the horizontal portion 146 of the partition plate 68 (partition member) are in a state as if they were suspended from the front wall 35 and the rear wall 36 of the container body 70. The large inclined portion 143 of the partition plate 68 (partition member) is located at a position that reaches from the front wall 35 to the center of the container body 70. Horizontal portion 146 is located near bottom wall 40 of container body 70 but is not in contact with bottom wall 40, and a powdered medicine passage 117 through which powdered medicine passes is formed between the two.

[0092] The shutter structure portion 73 is accommodated on the lower side of the large inclination portion 143 . The guide member 90 of the shutter structure 73 is disposed with the back wall 97 facing the rear wall 36 side. The shutter member 91 is oriented so that the concave portion formed by the closing wall 110, the connecting wall 112, and the guide wall portion 111 engages with the recess of the guide member 90. In other words, the lower surface of the guide wall portion 111 of the shutter member 91 contacts the lower horizontal wall 96 of the guide member 90. Further, the closing wall 110 of the shutter member 91 is in contact with the outside of the bottom wall 40 of the container body 70 .

[0093] The biasing member 93 is located between the inner surface of the front wall 35 of the container body 70 and the stopper wall 113 of the shutter member 91 , and biases the shutter member 91 toward the back wall 97 of the guide member 90 . As shown in FIG. 21, the transmission member 92 is located outside the container body 70 as described above, and extends toward the rear wall 36 along the side wall.

[0094] The transmission member 92 is integral with the shutter member 91, and when the transmission member 92 is slid in the front-rear direction of the container body 70, the shutter member 91 also moves linearly. The shutter member 91 has a recessed portion in contact with the guide member 90 and the container body 70, and moves linearly while being restricted by these. When the transmission member 92 is closest to the rear wall 36, the closing wall 110 of the shutter member 91 covers the missing portion 77 at the bottom of the container body 70, sealing off the missing portion 77, which is the opening through which the powdered medicine is discharged. When the transmission member 92 is closest to the front wall 35, the closing wall 110 of the shutter member 91 leaves the inclined edge (the oblique edge on the rear wall 36 side) of the missing portion 77 at the bottom of the container body 70, and the bottom of the container body 70 opens. Here, the opening end of the missing portion 77 of the container body 70 (the portion of the missing portion 77 on the front wall 35 side of the bottom wall 40) is inclined, and the free end of the shutter member 91 is also an inclined edge 138, so that the opening which becomes the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 becomes a slit 148 in an oblique position as shown in Figures 24(a) and (b). In the medicine feeder 5 of this embodiment, the opening degree of the slit 148 can be adjusted, and the opening degree can be changed (control to adjust the opening degree) based on a signal from a control device (not shown). This control also controls the moving distance of the transmission member 92. The opening degree of the slit 148 may be changed according to (based on) the type of medicine to be discharged from the medicine container 20 (type of powdered medicine, flowability, particle size, etc.) and the amount of medicine discharged. The shutter member 91 is pressed by the biasing member 93 in a direction in which the powdered medicine discharging portion 11 is closed, and the powdered medicine discharging portion 11 is opened by moving the transmission member 92 toward the front wall 35 side.

[0095] Next, the positional relationship between the drug feeder 5 and the distribution tray 6 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of drug feeders 5 are arranged around a distribution tray 6. The drug feeders 5 are all oriented in a normal direction to the distribution tray 6. Since the drug feeders 5 of this embodiment are narrow, many of them can be arranged in a small area. Therefore, many of them can be arranged around the distribution plate 6. In this embodiment, six drug feeders 5 are arranged radially around the front half of the distribution plate 6. In the drug feeder 5 of this embodiment, the rear wall 36 of the drug container 20 is supported in a cantilever manner by the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 of the feeder body 10, so that most of the drug container 20 protrudes from the feeder body 10 in a cantilever manner. As shown in Figures 22 and 23, the position of powdered medicine discharge portion 11 provided on the front wall 35 side of medicine container 20 is located directly above medicine input groove 13 of distribution plate 6.

[0096] In the medicine feeder 5 of this embodiment, the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 has a slit shape and is inclined with respect to the medicine container 20. Therefore, the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 has an expansion in the width A direction of the medicine input groove 13 as shown in Figures 22 and 23.

[0097] Next, the operation of the drug feeder 5 will be described. In the medicine dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, as described above, the medicine containers 20 of the medicine feeders 5 are filled with different medicines in advance. When filling powdered medicine, the medicine container 20 is removed from the feeder body 10 and placed flat as shown in Fig. 16. Then, the cover member 75 is opened, and the large area side surface 61 of the medicine container 20 is Fill the powdered medicine from the Thereafter, the lid member 75 is closed to seal the inside of the drug container 20 .

[0098] Next, the drug container 20 is attached to the feeder body 10 as shown in FIG. At that time, the feeder body 10 is in a standby state as shown in Fig. 13(a). Specifically, the insertion / removal mechanism of the feeder body 10 is in a stored position, and the engagement piece 50 of the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 is recessed into the opening 51. In addition, the arm 57 of the shutter opening / closing mechanism 55 is drawn toward the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 , and the engagement piece holding portion 56 is in the vicinity of the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 . On the other hand, in the drug container 20, the transmission member 92 is pulled toward the rear wall 36, and the opening at the bottom of the container body 70 is kept closed.

[0099] In this state, the rear wall 36 of the drug container 20 is inserted from above along the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 of the feeder body 10 as shown in FIG. 13(a). Here, the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 has a trapezoidal engagement portion 47, and on the side corresponding to the oblique side of the trapezoid, there is a dovetail-shaped engagement portion (holding portion side engagement portion) 48. Meanwhile, the rear wall 36 of the container body 70 has a pair of engagement grooves 130. Therefore, by inserting the rear wall 36 of the drug container 20 from above along the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 of the feeder body 10, the engagement groove 130 of the container body 70 can be engaged with the engagement portion 48 of the vibration side vertical wall portion 33. At this time, since the engagement piece 50 of the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 is recessed within the opening 51, it does not become an obstacle when inserting the drug container 20.

[0100] At this time, the engaging portion 116 of the transmission member 92 is engaged with the engaging piece holding portion 56 of the feeder body 10 as shown in FIG. 13(b). In this embodiment, when the drug container 20 is attached, the dovetail-shaped engaging portion 48 functions as a guide that regulates the moving direction of the drug container 20 as described above. Therefore, the drug container 20 can be attached by simply moving the drug container 20 along the engaging portion 48, and the engaging portion 116 of the transmission member 92 can be engaged with the engaging piece holding portion 56. In other words, the engaging portion 116 of the transmission member 92 can be naturally engaged with the engaging piece holding portion 56 by simply attaching the drug container 20 without finely aligning the engaging portion 116 of the transmission member 92 with the engaging piece holding portion 56 (without being aware of the work required for engagement). As described above, a specific medicine feeder 5 is selected and driven based on the prescription. In this embodiment, the insertion / removal mechanism of the selected medicine feeder 5 is in a protruding position, and the engagement piece 50 of the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 protrudes from the opening 51 as shown in Fig. 13(c). As a result, the engagement piece 50 of the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 engages with the engagement recess 131 of the back wall 36 of the medicine container 20, and the medicine container 20 is firmly fixed to the vibration member 16. Furthermore, when the insertion / removal mechanism assumes the protruding position, as shown in Figure 13(c), the engagement piece holding portion 56 moves toward the front wall 35, the transmission member 92 slides forward, moving the shutter member 91, and the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 at the bottom of the container body 70 opens.

[0101] Next, the vibration of the vibration member 16 is started, and as described above, the drug container 20 vibrates together with the vibration member 16. Here, in this embodiment, the drug container 20 is firmly joined to the vibration member 16 by engagement parts provided at two places, and the degree of adhesion with the vibration member 16 is also high, so that the drug container 20 vibrates at the same frequency as the vibration member 16. In the drug container 20 of this embodiment, a partition plate 68 (partition member) is provided inside, and the inside of the container body 70 is divided into upper and lower parts. And, below the partition plate 68, a space (powdered medicine passage 117) through which the powdered medicine passes is secured. Therefore, the weight of the powdered medicine on the upper side is less likely to be exerted on the powdered medicine in the powdered medicine passage 117, and the powdered medicine moves more easily.

[0102] The medicine container 20 of this embodiment is narrow, and therefore tall in order to secure a volume for storing powdered medicine. The pressure applied to the powdered medicine is a function correlated with the height, and the higher the powdered medicine is stacked, the stronger the force with which the powdered medicine at the bottom is pressed. Therefore, without the partition plate 68 (partition member), the powdered medicine near the bottom wall 40 would be pressed against the powdered medicine above and harden, which could cause the powdered medicine to move less easily. In this embodiment, the weight of the powdered medicine on the upper side is supported by the partition plate 68, so that the powdered medicine near the bottom wall 40 is not pressed, and the flow due to vibration is smooth. Furthermore, by vibrating the medicine container 20 during the powdered medicine discharge operation, the powdered medicine in the medicine container 20 is stirred in the storage space, which is the space above the partition plate 68 (horizontal portion 146). At this time, a part of the stored powdered medicine moves in the upward direction up the large inclination portion 143, and moves toward the horizontal portion 146 in a direction above the horizontal portion 146. Therefore, on the small hole (slit) of the horizontal portion 146, the powdered medicine is unlikely to exert a force pressing downward from above, and the powdered medicine flowing due to the stirring falls appropriately from the small hole (slit), so that the powdered medicine can be discharged smoothly. When the powdered medicine in the powdered medicine passage 117 runs short, the powdered medicine falls into the powdered medicine passage 117 through a small hole 147 provided in the horizontal portion 146, and the powdered medicine is replenished in the powdered medicine passage 117.

[0103] In this embodiment, powdered medicine is replenished into the powdered medicine passage 117 only from the horizontal portion 146. The horizontal portion 146 is located closer to the rear wall 36 than to the front wall 35 in the horizontal direction, and is farther away from the discharge portion. In addition, since there is a large inclined portion 143 between the horizontal portion 146 and the front wall 35, the space is wider on the front side in the direction of movement of the powdered medicine. Specifically, the height of the space is higher. Therefore, a space is created above the powdered medicine flowing through the powdered medicine passage 117. Therefore, as the powdered medicine moves through the powdered medicine passage 117, the flow of the powdered medicine is straightened, the laminar flow progresses, and the flow becomes highly laminar.

[0104] In this embodiment, when the powdered medicine in the powdered medicine passage 117 advances toward the powdered medicine discharge portion 11, it passes through the flow straightening member 72 and passes through the gaps in the coil wire. Therefore, the flow of the medicine is smoothed. The powdered medicine falls from the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 of the shutter member 91 and enters the medicine input groove 13 of the distribution tray 6 below.

[0105] In this embodiment, the end face of the closing wall 110 is provided with an inclined edge 138, so that the effective opening degree can be adjusted. That is, in the medicine feeder 5 of this embodiment, the powdered medicine discharging portion 11 has a slit shape and is inclined with respect to the container body . Therefore, as described above, the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 has a width in the direction of width A of the medicine input groove 13. Since the powdered medicine falls with a width in the direction of width A of the medicine input groove 13, it falls evenly in the direction of width A of the medicine input groove 13. Therefore, when the powdered medicine is gathered together in a later process, the gathered powdered medicine is less likely to fall apart.

[0106] The inclination of the end of the cutout portion 77 of the container body 70 is a combination of a steeply inclined portion 150 and a gently inclined portion 151 . Therefore, as shown in FIG. 24(a), by increasing the amount of movement of the closing wall 110, the powdered medicine can be dropped from the entire width of the bottom wall 40 (see FIG. 23(a)). In contrast, when the amount of movement of the closure wall 110 is small, as in Figure 24(b), only the area between the steeply inclined portion 150 of the closure wall 110 and the oblique side of the bottom wall 40 opens, resulting in a narrower effective opening width (see Figure 23(b)). When a large amount of powdered medicine needs to be discharged, as shown in Figures 23(a) and 24(a), the movement amount of the closing wall 110 is increased to allow the powdered medicine to fall from the entire width of the bottom wall 40, and when the amount of powdered medicine discharged is small, the movement amount of the closing wall 110 is decreased to allow the powdered medicine to fall from a narrower width, as shown in Figures 23(b) and 24(b).

[0107] When a predetermined amount of powdered medicine has been discharged, the vibration of the vibrating member 16 is stopped. Thereafter, the insertion / removal mechanism of the feeder body 10 is operated to the retract side, so that the engagement piece holding portion 56 moves to the rear wall 36 side, the transmission member 92 slides rearward, and the shutter member 91 moves, and the opening at the bottom of the container body 70 closes. At the same time, the insertion / removal mechanism of the feeder body 10 takes the stored position, and the engagement piece 50 of the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 disengages from the engagement recess 131 of the drug container 20.

[0108] Other embodiments of the present invention will now be described.

[0109] The bottom portion (bottom surface) of the internal space of the medicine container 20 in the above-described embodiment, i.e., the bottom portion (bottom surface) of the powdered medicine passage 117 (see Figs. 15, 16, etc.) connected to the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 may be inclined. For example, the bottom surface may be an inclined surface inclined so that the height decreases toward one side in the width direction of the medicine container 20. In other words, it is an inclined surface inclined so that the height decreases from one side of the two left and right side walls 37 toward the other side, and may be formed so that the slope becomes downward toward the lid member 75 side when the lid member 75 is closed. With this structure, when the powdered medicine is discharged, the powdered medicine tends to gather on one side of the width of the medicine container 20, making it possible to discharge the powdered medicine accurately and stably even when a small amount of the powdered medicine is discharged. It is also possible to form the bottom surface so as to have a downward slope toward the powdered medicine discharge portion 11. That is, it is also possible to form the bottom surface so as to have a downward slope from one end side toward the other end side in a direction perpendicular to the width direction in a plan view.

[0110] The above-mentioned shutter member 91 may be fitted with a seal member 250 as shown in Fig. 25. The seal member 250 has an upright mounting piece portion 251 and a flat plate portion 280 protruding outward from one main surface of the mounting piece portion 251, which are integrally formed. As shown in Fig. 25(c), the attachment piece portion 251 extends in an oblique direction. Note that the oblique direction is a direction inclined with respect to both the width direction of the medicine container 20 (the left-right direction in Fig. 25(c)) and the flow direction of the powdered medicine when discharged (the up-down direction in Fig. 25(c)) in a plan view.

[0111] The flat plate portion 280 is partitioned into a first protruding piece 260, a second protruding piece 261, and a third protruding piece 262 from one side to the other in the width direction of the drug container 20 (the left-right direction in FIG. 25(c)). In the following description of sealing member 250, the width direction of drug container 20 (the left-right direction in FIG. 25(c)) is also referred to as the left-right direction, and the flow direction of powdered medicine (the up-down direction in FIG. 25(c)) is also referred to as the front-rear direction. In this case, the lower side in FIG. 25(c) is the front.

[0112] The first protruding piece 260, the second protruding piece 261, and the third protruding piece 262 have different protruding lengths from the mounting piece 251 in a direction (the direction indicated by the arrow X in FIG. 25(c)) perpendicular to the main surface of the mounting piece 251. Specifically, the protruding lengths are longer in the order of the first protruding piece 260, the second protruding piece 261, and the third protruding piece 262. Therefore, the protruding end face of the first protruding piece 260 and the protruding end face of the second protruding piece 261 are continuous with each other via a step. The protruding end face of the second protruding piece 261 is located rearward of the protruding end face of the first protruding piece 260 in a direction perpendicular to the main surface of the mounting piece 251. The protruding end face of the third protruding piece 262 is located further rearward of the protruding end face of the second protruding piece 261 in the same direction.

[0113] Although not particularly limited, the rearmost portion of the protruding end of the first protruding piece 260 (the portion indicated by P1 in the figure) and the rearmost portion of the protruding end of the third protruding piece 262 (the portion indicated by P2 in the figure) are positioned at the same position in the front-to-rear direction. That is, the flat plate portion 280 has a shape in which a notched portion is formed in a plate-like body having a substantially trapezoidal shape in a plan view, with a portion being missing.

[0114] As shown in Figure 26, this shutter member 91 moves back and forth (left and right in Figure 26) with the sealing member 250 inserted into the internal space of the medicine container 20 (powdered medicine passage 117, see Figure 15, etc.), thereby opening and closing the powdered medicine discharge section 11. 26(a) to 26(c), when the shutter member 91 is moved to switch between the closed state and the open state, the shutter member 91 moves with at least a part of the third protruding piece 262 always inserted inside the drug container 20. For this reason, the seal member 250 also functions as a guide when the shutter member 91 is moved.

[0115] For example, as shown in Fig. 26(a), the movement amount of the shutter member 91 (closing wall 110) is increased to fully open the powdered medicine discharge part 11. At this time, the first protruding piece 260 and the second protruding piece 261 are disposed at positions away from the powdered medicine discharge part 11, while a part of the third protruding piece 262 is inserted inside the powdered medicine discharge part 11 (inside the medicine container 20). Therefore, the powdered medicine is discharged from both the part of the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 facing the first projecting piece 260 and the part of the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 facing the second projecting piece 261. Also, a part of the opening forming the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 is blocked by the third projecting piece 262. In other words, the powdered medicine falls from the space between the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 and the first projecting piece 260 and the space between the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 and the second projecting piece 261.

[0116] 26(b), the movement of the shutter member 91 (closing wall 110) is reduced to slightly open the powdered medicine discharge section 11. At this time, the first protruding piece 260 is disposed at a position away from the powdered medicine discharge section 11, while a part of the second protruding piece 261 and a part of the third protruding piece 262 are inserted into the inside of the powdered medicine discharge section 11 (inside the medicine container 20). Therefore, the part of the powdered medicine discharge part 11 facing the first protruding piece 260 is in a state of communication between the inside and the outside, and the powdered medicine is discharged from this part. Also, a part of the opening forming the powdered medicine discharge part 11 is blocked by the second protruding piece 261 and the third protruding piece 262. In other words, the powdered medicine falls from the space between the powdered medicine discharge part 11 and the first protruding piece 260. In this way, when the movement amount of the shutter member 91 is small, the opening width effective for discharging the powdered medicine becomes small. In other words, the opening area of ​​the part of the powdered medicine discharge part 11 effective for discharging the powdered medicine becomes small.

[0117] 26(c), when the shutter member 91 is closed, the first protruding piece 260, the second protruding piece 261, and the third protruding piece 262 are inserted inside the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 (inside the medicine container 20). As a result, after the powdered medicine is discharged, the shutter member 91 is closed, so that the powdered medicine can be pushed back from the vicinity of the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 to the back side.

[0118] As described above, in this embodiment, the powdered medicine discharge section 11 can be opened in stages, and when a large amount of powdered medicine needs to be discharged, the movement amount of the closing wall 110 is increased to drop the powdered medicine from a relatively wide range, as shown in FIG. 26(a). When the amount of powdered medicine discharged is small, the movement amount of the closing wall 110 is decreased to drop the powdered medicine from a relatively narrow range, as shown in FIG. 26(a). In the above embodiment, the opening degree (opening degree) of the powdered medicine discharge section 11 is adjustable in two stages, but it may be possible to adjust it in multiple stages, such as three or more stages. That is, the number of protruding pieces may be four or more.

[0119] In addition to the structure described above that allows the opening of the powdered medicine discharge section 11 to be adjusted in stages, a structure may also be used in which the opening area (opening width) of the part of the powdered medicine discharge section 11 that is effective for discharging powdered medicine is continuously increased or decreased depending on the amount of movement of the shutter member 231 (opening / closing member), as shown in Figure 27.

[0120] As shown in Fig. 27, the shutter member 231 of this embodiment has a substantially quadrangular (substantially rectangular) plan view shape (bottom view shape) of the closing wall 232, which is different from the above. That is, the closing wall 232 has a shape that has a length in the width direction of the medicine container in a plan view, and the rearmost side 232a (left side in Fig. 27) is a side that extends in the same direction as the width direction of the medicine container. In other words, the rearmost side has a part that extends linearly. In contrast, the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 extends in an oblique direction. The front end portion of the bottom wall 40 also extends in an oblique direction in a plan view. The front end portion of the bottom wall 40 is also a boundary portion between the bottom wall 40 and a missing portion 77 (see FIG. 19, etc.) on the front wall 35 side.

[0121] When the closing wall 232 is in the fully open state as shown in Fig. 27(a), it is disposed at a position where it does not overlap with the bottom wall 40 in a plan view. That is, the entire closing wall 232 is disposed forward of the front ends (right ends in Fig. 27) of the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 and the bottom wall 40. In this case, the powdered medicine is discharged from the entire area of ​​the powdered medicine discharge portion 11. That is, the powdered medicine falls from the space located between the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 and the side 232a in a plan view (bottom view). When the shutter member 231 moves in the closing direction from the state shown in Fig. 27(a), as shown in Fig. 27(b), a part of the closing wall 232 is located below the bottom wall 40 and overlaps with the bottom wall 40 in the up-down direction (the depth direction in Fig. 27(a)). At this time, in a plan view, a part of the powdered medicine discharge section 11 (a part of the front end part of the bottom wall 40) is located forward of the side 232a, and the other part is located rearward of the side 232a.

[0122] In this state, the part of the powdered medicine discharge section 11 located behind the side 232a is an effective part for discharging the powdered medicine. In other words, the powdered medicine falls from the space between the part located behind the side 232a and the side 232a. Therefore, as the shutter member 231 moves in the closing direction and the overlap between the bottom wall 40 and the closing wall 232 becomes larger, the opening width of the portion effective for discharging the powdered medicine becomes smaller. Conversely, as the shutter member 231 moves in the closing direction and the overlap between the bottom wall 40 and the closing wall 232 becomes smaller, the opening width of the portion effective for discharging the powdered medicine becomes larger. In addition, when the container is in the fully closed state, as shown in Figure 27(c), the entire front end (the right end in Figure 27) of the powdered medicine discharge section 11 and the bottom wall 40 is positioned forward of the side 232a.

[0123] In the embodiment described above, the closing wall 110 of the shutter member 91 is in contact with the outside of the bottom wall 40 of the container body 70. Also, in the embodiment described above, the contour of the end face of the closing wall 110 is a simple inclined line. Alternatively, the closing wall 110 of the shutter member 91 may be configured to contact the inside of the bottom wall 40 of the container body 70 .

[0124] If the closing wall 110 of the shutter member 91 is configured to contact the inside of the bottom wall 40 of the container body 70, when the closing wall 110 is closed, the end of the shutter member 91 pushes the powdered medicine that has reached the vicinity of the opening of the bottom wall 40 of the medicine container 20 to the back side. Therefore, the powdered medicine is prevented from spilling out the next time the closing wall 110 is opened.

[0125] In the above-described embodiment, a partition plate 68 (partition member) is provided near the lower part of the container body 70. However, in addition to this, or instead of the partition plate 68 (partition member), a canopy-shaped temporary support plate 152 may be provided in the middle of the height direction of the drug container, as shown in FIG. 28. By providing the temporary receiving plate 152, the weight of the powdered medicine on the upper side can be prevented from being placed on the powdered medicine below. The temporary support plate 152 may have an opening.

[0126] In addition to the partition plate 68 (partition member) provided near the bottom of the container body 70, as shown in Fig. 29(a), a second partition 160 may be provided to separate the inside of the container body 70. It is also recommended to provide a shutter 161 on the second partition 160 as shown in Fig. 29(b). The shutter 161 is opened and closed manually. By providing the second partition 160, it is possible to promote first-in, first-out of powdered medicine.

[0127] It is desirable to use up all the powdered medicine in the medicine container 20 before refilling the medicine container 20 with new powdered medicine, but there may be cases where some medicine is left unused. In this case, the remaining powdered medicine is dropped under the second partition 160, and then the shutter 161 is closed to separate the lower and upper parts of the medicine container. The upper part is then filled with powdered medicine. After that, the shutter 161 is opened. By doing so, the new powdered medicine is piled on top of the original powdered medicine, and the old one is discharged.

[0128] The shutter 161 of the second partition 160 may be linked to the shutter member 91 of the powdered medicine discharging portion 11. For example, as shown in FIG. 30, the shutter member 91 and the shutter 161 of the second partition 160 are connected by a spring 170, and the shutter member 91 and the shutter 161 of the second partition 160 are interlocked. It is desirable that the interlocking spring 170 be a spring weaker than the spring of the biasing member 93 that biases the shutter member 91 in the closing direction. The reason for this is that if there is a large amount of powdered medicine remaining, the powdered medicine may become clogged in the shutter 161 of the second partition 160, causing the shutter 161 of the second partition 160 to be unable to close. The shutter 161 of the second partition 160 does not necessarily have to be fully closed. By weakening the spring 170, the shutter 161 of the second partition 160 can be brought into a half-open state.

[0129] In the medicine container described above, the powdered medicine is filled directly from the side surface, but the surface to which the powdered medicine is filled may be any surface. For example, powdered medicine may be introduced from the top side of the medicine container. 31, a medicine container 172 with an open top may be used. For example, a medicine container 172 with an open top may be attached to one or more feeder bodies 10. When packaging powdered medicine that is used infrequently, the powdered medicine is directly inserted through the top opening and packaged.

[0130] In the embodiment described above, the powdered medicine input hopper 310 is installed in the equipment storage opening 15 of the distribution tray 6. Here, it is desirable that the height of the opening of the powdered medicine feeding hopper 310 is slightly lower than the distribution dish 6 as shown in FIG. By making the height of the opening of the powdered medicine supply hopper 310 lower than that of the powdered medicine supply hopper 310 and rotating the rotating plate 12 relatively slowly, the powdered medicine can be put into the powdered medicine supply hopper 310 without being scattered.

[0131] The above-mentioned drug feeder 5 may employ a drug container 420 of a second embodiment as shown in Fig. 33 instead of the above-mentioned drug container 20. The drug container 420 of the second embodiment is detachable from the feeder body 10, similar to the above-mentioned drug container 20. In other words, it constitutes a drug feeder together with the above-mentioned feeder body 10.

[0132] This medicine container 420 is also surrounded by a front wall 435 and a rear wall 436 which are the side faces on the small area side, two side walls 437 which are the side faces on the large area side, a top wall 438, and a bottom wall 440. That is, this medicine container 420 is also a vertically elongated box-shaped member. Further, on the rear wall 436, an engaging groove 130 and an engaging recess (a recess that engages with the engaging piece 50 and not shown) are formed in the same manner as described above. And, in the medicine container 420, at a position near the front wall 435 in the bottom wall 440, there is an openable and closable powder discharging portion 411 (see FIG. 35). Further, the medicine container 420 has a shutter structure portion 473.

[0133] As shown in FIG. 34(a), the shutter structure portion 473 has a shutter member 491 (opening and closing member) and a transmission member 492. That is, it is different from the above-described embodiment in that it does not have a guide member 90 and a biasing member 93 (see FIG. 19 etc.). And, in the same manner as the above-described embodiment, when the transmission member 492 moves linearly, the shutter member 491 moves and the powder discharging portion 411 opens and closes. That is, in the same manner as the above-described embodiment, a part of the transmission member 492 on the rear wall 436 side is in a state of being exposed to the outside, and by holding the medicine container 420 in the feeder main body 10, the transmission member 492 engages with the shutter opening and closing mechanism 55.

[0134] Note that the medicine container 420 of the present embodiment has a holding projection portion 525 that holds a middle portion of the transmission member 492 and a locking projection portion 526. This locking projection portion 526 is a portion that forms a locking mechanism for maintaining the closed state so that the powder discharging portion 411 (the shutter) does not accidentally open when the medicine container 420 is removed from the feeder main body 10 and carried. The holding projection portion 525 is a pair of projection portions that extend in directions approaching each other from above and below. A part of the transmission member 492 is inserted into a groove-shaped portion formed inside the holding projection portion 525. The locking protrusion 526 is a protrusion formed integrally with the flat plate portions of the leaf spring member 520 located at the front and rear, and is a plate-like portion extending in a generally V-shape in a side view between the two flat plate portions. The locking protrusion 526 protrudes in a cantilever shape outward in the width direction of the medicine container 420 together with the front and rear flat plate portions, and elastically deforms together with the flat plate portions. The locking protrusion 526 engages with a notch portion (locking portion) formed above the transmission member 492 (above the engagement portion 116), thereby restricting unintended movement of the transmission member 492.

[0135] Then, by attaching the drug container 420 to the feeder body 10, the engagement (locked state) between the locking protrusion 526 and the transmission member 492 is released, and the transmission member 492 becomes movable. Specifically, by attaching the drug container 420 to the feeder body 10, the engagement portion 60 (see Figs. 13, 14, etc.) of the engagement piece holding portion 56 and the engagement portion 116 of the transmission member 492 are engaged with each other as described above (a portion of the transmission member 492 that is a part of the transmission member 492 and is located rearward of the engagement portion 116 is inserted into the engagement portion 60 of the engagement piece holding portion 56 from above). That is, in this embodiment, at this time, the flat portion on the rear side (back wall 436 side) of the locking protrusion 526 is lifted from below by the upper surface of the engagement piece holding portion 56 on which the engagement portion 60 is formed. As a result, both the locking protrusion 526 and the flat plate-like portion are elastically deformed so as to bend, and the engagement between the locking protrusion 526 and the transmission member 492 is released.

[0136] As shown in Fig. 33, in the medicine container 420 of this embodiment, the lid member 475 constitutes the top wall 438 among the walls. The lid member 475 is attached to the box part 471 with an open top, and the lid member 475 can be swung by the hinge 421. By opening the lid member 475, powdered medicine can be filled from above, and by closing the lid member 475, the medicine container 420 can be sealed. The medicine container 420 of this embodiment can be filled with powdered medicine while being held in the feeder body 10.

[0137] Lid member 475 of this embodiment has lid main body part 475a and small lid part 475b as shown in Fig. 35. Small lid part 475b is attached to the underside of lid main body part 475a (the underside when in the closed state) and is capable of swinging by hinge 421. Here, the lid member 475 has an in-lid storage section 527 which is a space capable of storing a desiccant or the like. In this embodiment, a humidity control agent is stored in the in-lid storage section 527. The in-lid storage section 527 can be opened and closed by swinging the small lid section 475b. That is, the in-lid storage section 527 is a space formed between the lid main body section 475a and the small lid section 475b. In detail, when the lid member 475 is in a closed state and the small lid section 475b is in a closed state, the in-lid storage section 527 is a space located above most of the small lid section 475b.

[0138] 34(a) and 35, the lid member 475 has a lid side locking piece 476 on the side opposite to the connection portion with the box portion 471. The lid side locking piece 476 is connected to the end portion on the front side of the lid main body portion 475a by a hinge 421 in a swingable state. As shown in FIG. 35, the cover side locking piece 476 has a locking protrusion 476a on the surface that faces inward when the cover member 475 is in the upright position. This locking protrusion 476a is a protrusion that extends from the front side to the back side when the cover member 475 is in the closed state, and is a protrusion that can be engaged with a protrusion 600 formed on the box part 471. In other words, the locking protrusion 476a and the protrusion 600 are a pair of engaging parts that engage with each other. When these are engaged, the cover member 475 is in a locked state (a state in which the closed state is firmly maintained). Note that the box part 471 is formed with an operation cutout 601 (see FIG. 34(a)) for operating the cover member 475. This operation cutout 601 is located on the side of the cover member 475 (on one side in the width direction) when the cover member 475 is in the locked state.

[0139] As shown in FIG. 36, the box portion 471 is formed by inserting a partition member 606 into a box body 605 from an opening portion on the front side, attaching a pressing plate member 607, and further attaching a shutter structure portion 473. The partition member 606 has a flat body portion 606a, a pressed plate portion 606b protruding upward from the upper surface of the body portion 606a, and a flow straightening portion 472 (see FIG. 37) formed on the lower surface side of the body portion 606a. The lower side of partition member 606 constitutes powdered medicine passage 517. Powdered medicine passage 517 is a passage leading to powdered medicine discharge portion 411, and is surrounded by the bottom of box portion 471, the lower part of the side wall, and partition member 606.

[0140] The main body 606a has a communication hole forming portion 546 on the rear wall 436 side. The communication hole forming portion 546 is a portion in which a large number of small holes (openings) 547 are provided, and in this embodiment, a row of long holes is formed. This row of long holes is formed by lining up a plurality of long holes in the front-rear direction. Each of the long holes penetrates the main body 606a in the thickness direction and extends in the width direction of the drug container 20. The small holes (openings) 547 employed in this embodiment are slit-shaped extending in the width W direction of the container body 70.

[0141] As shown in Fig. 37(a), the flow straightening section 472 of this embodiment is a protrusion group composed of a plurality of protrusions. Each protrusion belonging to the flow straightening section 472 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and protrudes downward from the lower surface of the main body section 606a (upward from the upper surface in Fig. 37(a)). Each protrusion has a thickness in the width direction of the drug container 420 and extends in the front-rear direction. Here, the multiple protrusions belonging to the rectifying section 472 are arranged in a staggered pattern. That is, the rectifying section 472 is composed of a first protrusion row 472a on the front side and a second protrusion row 472b on the rear side (the communication hole forming section 546 side). In each protrusion row, multiple (four in this embodiment) protrusions are arranged in parallel at intervals in the width direction of the medicine container 420. Then, the rear side portion of the protrusions belonging to the first protrusion row 472a is located to the side of the front side portion of the protrusions belonging to the second protrusion row 472b. Therefore, the rear side portion of some of the protrusions belonging to the first protrusion row 472a is arranged between the two protrusions belonging to the second protrusion row 472b. Then, a gap is formed between the side surface of the protrusions belonging to the first protrusion row 472a and the side surface of the protrusions belonging to the second protrusion row 472b, which are arranged at positions facing each other in the width direction of the medicine container 20. 37(b), the positions of the lower end surfaces of the multiple protrusions belonging to the flow straightening section 472 in the height direction are different. That is, as the arrangement position of the protrusions approaches one end in the width direction (the right side in FIG. 10(b)), the position of the lower end surface becomes lower.

[0142] As shown in Figures 35 and 36, the pressing plate member 607 has two mounting operation parts 610 and a pressing protrusion part 611 (see Figure 35). The mounting operation parts 610 are knobs that are elastically deformed when operated by a user. The two mounting operation parts 610 are formed at positions spaced apart in the width direction, and each has a protrusion part that protrudes outward in the width direction. 36, a box-side engaging portion 612 is formed on each of the left and right side walls of the box main body 605. The box-side engaging portion 612 is a hole penetrating the side wall, and engages with a protruding portion of the mounting operation portion 610. In other words, the two mounting operation portions 610 and the two box-side engaging portions 612 engage with each other, whereby the presser plate member 607 is attached to the box main body 605.

[0143] As shown in Fig. 35, the pressing protrusion 611 is a protrusion extending from the front side to the rear side (from the right side to the left side in Fig. 35) and is a part that abuts against the pressed plate portion 606b of the partition member 606 from the front. Specifically, the surface of the protruding end is in surface contact with the front surface of the pressed plate portion 606b. This makes it possible to prevent unintended displacement of the partition member 606.

[0144] As shown in Fig. 36, the shutter member 491 has a closing wall 510 (see Fig. 34(b) etc.), a guide wall portion 511, and a connecting wall 512. On the other hand, the above-mentioned stopper wall 113 (see Fig. 19 etc.) is not formed. In addition, a seal member 550 is attached to a position that will be the upper side of the closing wall 110.

[0145] In the medicine container 420 of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 34(b), when the powdered medicine discharge portion 411 is closed, the closing wall 510 is located forward of the bottom wall 440. That is, a part of the closing wall 510 does not overlap with the bottom wall 440 in the vertical direction. In this embodiment, the powdered medicine discharge portion 411 is closed by bringing the bottom wall 440 close to the powdered medicine discharge portion 411 and pressing the seal member 550 against the powdered medicine discharge portion 411. In addition, the powdered medicine discharge portion 411 is opened by moving the seal member 550 forward away from the powdered medicine discharge portion 411. In addition, when the powdered medicine discharge portion 411 is closed, a part of the seal member 550 enters the powdered medicine passage 517 from the powdered medicine discharge portion 411 (see FIG. 35).

[0146] 35, inside drug container 420 of this embodiment, communication hole forming part 546, which is a flat part, serves as a partition plate part (partition member). That is, a partition plate part (partition member) is disposed at the boundary between storage space 613 for storing the powdered medicine and powdered medicine passage 517. Powdered medicine passage 517 is a part through which the powdered medicine passes when the powdered medicine is discharged, and is a space located below communication hole forming part 546, and includes a part between communication hole forming part 546 and bottom wall 440.

[0147] In this embodiment, the bottom portion of powdered medicine passage 517 (upper surface of bottom wall 440) is inclined. Specifically, in the width direction of medicine container 420, it is inclined so as to have a downward gradient toward one end (the end on the rear side in the front-rear direction in FIG. 35). Furthermore, in the front-rear direction of medicine container 420 (the left-right direction in FIG. 35), it is inclined so as to have a downward gradient toward powdered medicine discharge section 411. In other words, as a whole, powdered medicine discharge section 411 is inclined toward one end of medicine container 420 in the width direction. In addition, the lower end portions of all of the multiple protrusions belonging to rectification section 472 are in close contact with the bottom portion of powdered medicine passage 517. Therefore, when the powdered medicine passes through rectification section 472, it passes between two protrusions, or between one protrusion and side wall 437 of medicine container 420. In other words, when the powdered medicine passes through rectification section 472, it passes through a small gap (narrow flow path), and the flow of the medicine is smoothed.

[0148] The communication hole forming portion 546 is a portion that assumes a horizontal position when the drug container 420 is held by the feeder body 10. In addition, a large inclined portion 543 and a small inclined portion 545 are provided in a portion adjacent to the communication hole forming portion 546 that serves as a partition plate.

[0149] When the drug container 420 is held in the feeder body 10, the large inclined portion 543 and the small inclined portion 545 together form an inclined surface that inclines toward the communication hole forming portion 546. The large inclined portion 543 is longer than the small inclined portion 545, and the inclination angles of the large inclined portion 543 and the small inclined portion 545 are equal to each other. In other words, the space between the large inclined portion 543 and the small inclined portion 545 (the lower portion of the storage space 613) converges toward the communication hole forming portion 546.

[0150] When discharging the medicine from the medicine container 420, the powdered medicine discharge part 411 is opened while the medicine container 420 is held by the feeder body 10, and the medicine container 420 is vibrated. At this time, when the powdered medicine in the powdered medicine passage 517 decreases due to discharge, the powdered medicine in the medicine container 420 moves from the storage space 613, which is the space above the communication hole forming part 546, to the powdered medicine passage 517 and proceeds toward the powdered medicine discharge part 411. Then, it is discharged from the powdered medicine discharge part 411. In this embodiment, too, the powdered medicine is stirred in storage space 613 by vibrating medicine container 420. At this time, a part of the stored powdered medicine moves in an upward direction up large inclination portion 543, and moves toward communication hole forming portion 546 in a direction above communication hole forming portion 546. In other words, as in the above, the powdered medicine is less likely to apply a pressing force to communication hole forming portion 546, and the powdered medicine can be discharged smoothly.

[0151] Next, a drug feeder 700 of a second embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 39 to 42. The drug feeder 700 has a drug container 701 of the third embodiment and a feeder body 702 of the second embodiment that holds the drug container 701. The basic configuration and functions of the drug container 701 and the feeder body 702 are the same as those of the drug containers 20, 172, 420 and the feeder body 10 described above, so only the improvements will be described. The feeder body 702 of this embodiment is provided with a removal assisting member 705 used when removing the drug container 701. The feeder body 702 also has a shutter opening / closing mechanism 706 with a function of locking the shutter 707 added thereto. On the other hand, the drug container 701 of the third embodiment is provided with an engagement portion 710 with which the above-mentioned detachment assisting member 705 engages. The drug container 701 also has a lock mechanism for maintaining a closed state so that the powdered drug discharge portion 711 (shutter) does not open inadvertently, but the structure thereof is different from that of the drug container 420 described above. 42, the structures of the powdered medicine discharge portion 711 and the shutter structure portion 713 of the medicine container 701 are different from those of the above-mentioned medicine containers 20, 172, and 420. The following will explain the structure.

[0152] In the feeder body 702 of this embodiment, a removal assisting member 705 used when removing the drug container 701 is provided on the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 (vertical wall) of the vibration member 16 (container holding portion). As shown in FIGS. 39, 40, and 41, the removal assisting member 705 is a lever that rotates about a horizontally provided shaft 720, and has an operating portion 721 and an acting portion 722. The operating portion 721 is shaped like an upward arch, and has an engagement pressing portion 723 and a release pressing portion 725 . The action portion 722 is a claw.

[0153] The operation unit 721 and the action unit 722 are connected by a substantially "L"-shaped connecting unit 726. The connecting unit 726 has a vertical side portion 727 that is in a vertical position and a horizontal side portion 728 that is in a horizontal position based on the state in which the drug container 701 is attached to the vibration member 16 (container holding unit). A shaft 720 is passed through the connection portion between the vertical side portion 727 and the horizontal side portion 728. The outer portion of the connecting portion between the vertical side portion 727 and the horizontal side portion 728 functions as a seating portion 731 and is a flat surface.

[0154] A biasing member 732 such as a spring is provided on the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 (vertical wall) and constantly biases the removal assisting member 705. Specifically, the biasing member 732 presses the horizontal side portion 728 upward, and biases the removal assisting member 705 in the rotation direction.

[0155] Similarly to the above-described embodiment, the shutter opening / closing mechanism 706 of the feeder body 702 is composed of an engagement piece holding portion 735 and an arm 57. Similarly to the above-described embodiment, a recess serving as an engagement portion 60 is provided on the upper surface of the engagement piece holding portion 735. In addition, in this embodiment, a protrusion 737 is provided on the upper surface of the engagement piece holding portion 735. The protrusion 737 has an inclined surface 738. The inclination direction of the inclined surface 738 is such that, with respect to the protruding direction side of the arm 57 as the reference, the front side is lower and the rear side is higher.

[0156] Similar to the drug container 420 of the second embodiment described above, the drug container 701 of the third embodiment has a lid member 475 attached to a box portion 471 having an open top, and the lid member 475 is capable of swinging by a hinge 421. As described above, the drug container 701 is provided with the engagement portion 710 with which the removal assisting member 705 described above engages. The engagement portion 710 is a protrusion provided on the rear wall 436. The position of the engagement portion 710 is arbitrary, and it may be on the side wall 437 or the bottom wall 440.

[0157] 39, the shutter structure 713, like the second embodiment described above, has a shutter 707, a shutter member 740 (opening / closing member), and a transmission member 741. Then, as the transmission member 741 moves linearly, the shutter member 740 moves, and the powdered medicine discharge portion 711 opens and closes. 39, a notch 742 is provided on the upper side of the transmission member 741, similar to the drug container 420 of the second embodiment. A front side inclination 743 of the notch 742 is gentle, and a rear side inclination 745 is steep. The drug container 701 of this embodiment also has a leaf spring member 748 and a locking protrusion 747 . The leaf spring member 748 is attached in a cantilever manner on the outer side in the width direction of the medicine container 701. The locking protrusion 747 is a roughly triangular member, and is fixed integrally with the leaf spring member 748. 39, the lower surface of the locking protrusion 747 has a front side incline 750 and a rear side incline 751. The front side incline 750 of the locking protrusion 747 is a gentle incline, and the rear side incline 751 is a steep incline.

[0158] As shown in FIG. 42, shutter member 740 (opening / closing member) has a protruding portion 760 that protrudes towards medicine container 701 when powdered medicine discharging portion 711 is closed. The cross-sectional shape of the protrusion 760 is a substantial triangle as shown in Fig. 42, with an upper surface 761 being substantially horizontal and a lower surface 762 being an inclined surface. A tip portion 763 is a substantially vertical surface. The inclination angle of lower surface 762 is 30 degrees or less. The inclination angle of lower surface 762 is desirably smaller than the angle of repose of the powdered medicine contained in medicine container 701.

[0159] Inside the medicine container 701, there is a powdered medicine passage 517 connected to the powdered medicine discharge section 711, and the powdered medicine moves through the powdered medicine passage 517 and is discharged from the powdered medicine discharge section 711. In this embodiment, partition member 620, which corresponds to the ceiling wall of powdered medicine passage 517, has partition portion 766 protruding toward powdered medicine passage 517 (downward) (FIGS. 42, 45, 46). The height (hanging amount) of partition portion 766 is 1.2 mm to 3.0 mm, or 1 / 5 to 3 / 5 of the passage height. When the shutter member 740 (opening / closing member) closes the powdered medicine discharging portion 711 , the tip end 763 of the protruding portion 760 comes extremely close to the partition portion 766 . Furthermore, upper surface 761 of protruding portion 760 comes extremely close to partition member 620 which corresponds to the ceiling wall of powdered medicine passage 517 . Angle D between lower surface 762 of protrusion 760 and the bottom surface of powdered medicine passage 517 is an angle less than or equal to the angle of repose of the powdered medicine.

[0160] Therefore, immediately after the shutter member 740 (opening / closing member) is opened, the angle E of the slope at the tip of the powdered medicine P in the traveling direction is an angle less than the angle of repose as shown in Figure 42 (b), so that the powdered medicine P is less likely to spill out. In addition, since the space for the powdered medicine to enter is small between the upper surface 761 of the protrusion 760 of the shutter member 740 and the ceiling wall of the powdered medicine passage 517, the powdered medicine is less likely to get on the upper surface 761 of the protrusion 760, and the powdered medicine is less likely to spill out from the upper surface 761 of the protrusion 760 when the shutter member 740 is opened. Since the space into which the powdered medicine can enter is small between tip 763 of protrusion 760 of shutter member 740 and partition 766, the powdered medicine is less likely to adhere to tip 763 of protrusion 760, and the powdered medicine is less likely to spill out from tip 763 of protrusion 760 when shutter member 740 is opened.

[0161] Next, the operation of mounting the drug container 701 on the feeder body 702 will be described. When the drug container 701 is not attached, the feeder body 702 is in a standby state as shown in Fig. 40(a). Specifically, the horizontal side portion 728 of the detachment assisting member 705 is pressed by the biasing member 732, and the detachment assisting member 705 is in an inclined position as a whole. The engagement piece 50 of the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 is immersed in the opening 51.

[0162] In this state, the rear wall 436 of the drug container 701 is inserted from above along the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 of the feeder body 702 as shown in FIG. 40(b). At this time, it is desirable to first tilt the powdered medicine discharge part 711 of the medicine container 701 so that it faces upward, and then insert it into the vibration-side vertical wall part 33. By doing so, the powdered medicine in the powdered medicine passage 517 of the medicine container 701 is separated from the powdered medicine discharge part 711, and the powdered medicine is less likely to spill out when the shutter member 740 is opened.

[0163] By inserting the rear wall 36 of the drug container 701 from above along the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 of the feeder body 702, the engagement groove 130 of the drug container 701 can be engaged with the engagement portion (holding portion side engagement portion) 48 of the vibration side vertical wall portion 33. The engagement piece (holding portion side engagement portion) 50 of the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 is recessed into the opening 51 .

[0164] As the drug container 701 is inserted, the action portion 722 of the removal assist member 705 comes into contact with the engagement portion 710 of the drug container 701 . As drug container 701 is further inserted, action portion 722 of removal assist member 705 is pushed by drug container 701 and rotates, so that vertical side portion 727 assumes a vertical position and horizontal side portion 728 assumes a horizontal position, and removal assist member 705 assumes a stable position. As described above, the removal assisting member 705 can be rotated by inserting the drug container 701, but the removal assisting member 705 may also be rotated by additionally pressing the engagement pressing portion 723 of the operating portion 721. In any case, when the drug container 701 is correctly attached to the feeder body 702, the horizontal side portion 728 of the detachment assist member 705 assumes a horizontal position as shown in Fig. 40(c). Therefore, by visually checking that the operation portion 721 is horizontal when viewed from above, it is possible to recognize that the drug container 701 is reliably attached to the feeder body 702.

[0165] When removing the drug container 701 from the feeder body 702, the release pressing portion 725 of the operation portion 721 is pressed as shown by the arrow in FIG. 41. As a result, the detachment assisting member 705 rotates in the opposite direction, and the action portion 722 of the detachment assisting member 705 rises. Therefore, the action portion 722 engages with the engagement portion 710 of the drug container 701 to push up the drug container 701, and the drug container 701 moves upward and is removed from the feeder body 702.

[0166] According to this embodiment, the drug container 701 can be easily removed from the feeder body 702. That is, in the medicine dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, the medicine feeders 5, 700 are arranged closely together, so that there are few gaps between the medicine containers 701, making it difficult to insert fingers. According to the medicine feeder 700 of this embodiment, there is no need to insert fingers between the medicine containers 701, so that the medicine containers 701 can be easily removed.

[0167] Next, a mechanism for locking the shutter 707 of the drug container 701 will be described. In the drug container 701, when the shutter member 740 is closed, the transmission member 741 is retracted, and the locking protrusion 747 attached to the leaf spring member 748 is engaged with the notch 742 of the transmission member 741. Here, the rear side inclination 745 of the notch 742 and the rear side inclination 751 of the locking protrusion 747 are both steeply inclined. Therefore, even if the transmission member 741 tries to move in the direction to open the shutter 707, the steeply inclined surfaces of the notch 742 and the locking protrusion 747 engage with each other, and the movement of the transmission member 741 in the direction to open the shutter 707 is prevented. Therefore, the shutter 707 of the medicine container 701 is in a locked state, and the shutter 707 does not open.

[0168] On the other hand, when engaging piece holding portion 735 is moved toward front wall 35 in order to discharge powdered medicine from medicine container 701, engaging piece holding portion 735 moves and protrusion 737 abuts against locking protrusion 747 of medicine container 701. At this time, the abutting surface on the protrusion 737 side is inclined surface 738, and as protrusion 737 advances, it pushes up locking protrusion 747 of medicine container 701 against leaf spring member 748. As a result, the locking protrusion 747 attached to the leaf spring member 748 leaves the notch 742 of the transmission member 741, and the engagement between the locking protrusion 747 attached to the leaf spring member 748 and the notch 742 of the transmission member 741 is released. The engaging piece holding portion 735 moves towards the front wall 35, the transmission member 741 slides forward, and the shutter 707 is moved, and the powdered medicine discharging portion 711 of the medicine container 701 opens.

[0169] As a measure to make it even easier to remove the drug container 20 (hereinafter, drug containers of other structures may also be used), it is possible to provide a spring or other such biasing member 770 on the feeder body 10 as shown in Figure 43, and to constantly bias the drug container 20 upward using the biasing member 770. In this embodiment, when the engaging piece 50 of the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 is retracted, the restriction that fixes the medicine container 20 is released, and the medicine container 20 is lifted upward by the biasing member 770.

[0170] In the embodiment described above, the engagement piece 50 that engages with the drug container 20 is connected to the insertion / removal mechanism and is structured to work in conjunction with the shutter opening / closing mechanism 55, but the engagement piece 50 may also be configured to appear and disappear independently. For example, as shown in FIG. 44, the engagement piece 50 is biased in a protruding direction by a spring 780, and by operating a lever 781, the engagement piece 50 can be pulled in and disengaged from the drug container 20. According to this embodiment, the engaging piece 50 can be pulled in without relying on the actuator of the shutter opening / closing mechanism 55, and the drug container 20 can be removed from the feeder body.

[0171] The small hole (opening) 146 provided in the container body 70 of the first embodiment and the small hole (opening) 547 provided in the container body 70 of the second embodiment are both slit-shaped extending in the width W direction of the container body 70. However, the shape of the opening is not limited to this configuration. For example, the small hole (opening) 782 shown in FIGS. 45 and 46 is in the form of a slit extending from the rear wall 36 side of the container body 70 to the front wall 35 . The small hole (opening) 782 has a long and narrow triangular shape in plan view, and the opening width becomes wider toward the front wall 35 side. According to an experiment, the powdered medicine flows more smoothly when the shape of the small hole (opening) 782 is the shape shown in Figures 45 and 46. The shape of the opening is not limited to the shape shown in Figures 45 and 46.

[0172] As described above, the partition member 620 shown in Fig. 46 has the partition portion 766 on the lower surface. Furthermore, in the partition member 620 shown in Fig. 46, the shape of the flow straightening portion 621 is columnar.

[0173] Also, as in the partition member 622 shown in FIG. 47, unevenness 625 may be provided on the upper surface side. According to this embodiment, it is possible to prevent the powdered medicine from being compacted in the medicine container 20. The unevenness 625 employed in this embodiment is sawtooth or wavy, and has an inclination. Therefore, the weight of the powdered medicine itself on the upper side near the partition member 622 can be released, and the powdered medicine near the partition member 622 can be prevented from being compacted. The shape of the projections and recesses is not limited to a sawtooth or wave shape, but may be a pyramidal shape such as a conical triangular pyramid.

[0174] In all of the above-described embodiments, the drug container 20 is attached to the feeder body 10 for use. Here, it is preferable to provide a sensor for checking whether the drug container 20 is correctly attached to the feeder body 10. The structure of the sensor is arbitrary, but it is preferable to use a sensor that can detect objects, such as a photoelectric sensor or a proximity sensor. The mounting position of the sensor is arbitrary, but the vibration side vertical wall part 33 or the vibration side horizontal part 32 of the feeder body 10 are possible mounting positions.

[0175] In the embodiment described above, an RFID tag is attached to the medicine container 20 as the information storage means 65. Instead of or in addition to the RFID tag, an AR marker may be provided. The AR marker is a photograph, illustration, or other figure that is registered in advance. A label on which the AR marker is printed is attached to the medicine container 20 in a visible position. The AR marker can be recognized by a camera. In recent years, there is a tendency for multiple cameras to be installed in the device so that the medicine dispensing process can be monitored and confirmed later. For example, a camera for monitoring dispensing may be installed near the medicine feeder 5. For example, the camera is used to photograph the AR marker and identify the medicine container 20. This makes it possible to verify whether the drug container is set correctly by comparing it with the drug information based on the prescription information. While RFID tags require a certain detection distance, AR markers have fewer such restrictions. Also, surveillance cameras can be used to capture AR markers, so using AR markers instead of RFID tags can reduce the number of parts required to read RFID tags.

[0176] In the above-mentioned medicine dispensing device 1, as shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc., a plurality of medicine feeders 5 are fixed around the distribution tray 6. The plurality of medicine feeders 5 are arranged radially. That is, as shown in Fig. 38(a), each medicine feeder 5 is arranged so that its own widthwise center overlaps with the center of rotation of the distribution tray 6 (point P3 in the figure) in a plan view. In the above-mentioned medicine dispensing device 1, one type of powdered medicine is stored in the medicine container 20 of one medicine feeder 5. That is, the medicine container 20 of one medicine feeder 5 and a predetermined powdered medicine are assigned one-to-one. In this case, the medicine container 20 may store more than one dose of the powdered medicine. When performing the above-mentioned operation of discharging the powdered medicine, the medicine feeder 5 to which the powdered medicine to be discharged is assigned is selected from the multiple medicine feeders 5, and the powdered medicine in an amount equivalent to one dose can be discharged from the selected medicine feeder. Furthermore, when one or more types of powdered medicine are discharged from one or more medicine feeders 5, a predetermined amount of powdered medicine may be discharged (dispensed) into the distribution tray 6 from one or more selected medicine feeders 5.

[0177] When the medicine dispensing device 1 of the above embodiment is continuously used, the powdered medicine in the medicine container 20 may run out in any of the medicine feeders 5. That is, the powdered medicine, which is a consumable item, may run out. In such a case, in the drug dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, a user (such as a pharmacist) removes the drug container 20 from the feeder body 10, fills the drug container 20 with powdered medicine, and then reattaches the drug container 20 to the feeder body 10. In other words, when the powdered medicine runs out (or is predicted to run out) in any of the drug feeders 5, the user, who is notified by a notification operation or the like, performs the above-mentioned operations. Here, in the drug dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, when the drug container 20 is reattached, it can be attached to other feeder bodies 10 in addition to the feeder body 10 to which the drug container 20 was originally attached. That is, if there is a feeder body 10 to which the drug container 20 is not attached other than the original feeder body 10, the drug container 20 can be attached to that feeder body 10. That is, when reattaching, the drug container 20 can be attached to any one selected from all feeder bodies 10 that do not hold the drug container 20 at that time. This makes it possible for the user to easily perform the above operation, as he does not need to think about where to attach the drug container 20.

[0178] As described above, it is preferable that the powdered medicine discharge part of the medicine container can change the opening width (exit width of the powdered medicine) effective for discharging the powdered medicine. For example, as described above, the blocked part of the opening part of the powdered medicine discharge part can be changed stepwise or continuously. With such a configuration, it is possible to combine with a control that changes the flow rate of the powdered medicine by changing the vibration amount, and more accurate powdered medicine discharge operation is possible.

[0179] Incidentally, the medicine dispensing device 1 described above is designed to be compact. Here, if the entire device is made compact, the housing 2 (the entire device) may tilt even if the impact it receives is small. If the housing 2 tilts when the medicine dispensing device 1 is moved or receives an impact when it is installed, and the medicine dispensing device 1 is operated with the housing 2 tilted, there is a risk of malfunction occurring in various operations (for example, an operation of measuring the weight of powdered medicine). Therefore, the medicine dispensing device 1 may be provided with a gyro sensor (a tilt detection means, a level). Also, a tilt notification operation may be performed to notify the tilt of the housing 2 based on information detected by the gyro sensor (a signal transmitted from the gyro sensor). This tilt notification operation is an operation to notify the user that the tilt of the entire device detected by the gyro sensor exceeds a specified value. This operation may be an operation executed on the condition that the power supply of the medicine dispensing device 1 is turned on. In addition, for example, the operation may be an operation in which a sound generating means such as a speaker is provided in the medicine dispensing device 1 to output a warning sound (alert) or a message.

[0180] It is also recommended to use a three-axis acceleration sensor as the tilt detection means. For example, a board on which a three-axis acceleration sensor is mounted is attached to a partition or plate supported horizontally inside the housing 2. A 3-axis acceleration sensor is an inertial sensor designed to measure acceleration and can detect three-dimensional inertial motion (translational motion in three orthogonal axes). A 3-axis acceleration sensor can measure gravity, motion, vibration, and shock. For example, the medicine dispensing device 1 is installed at a predetermined position, and output values ​​for each axis of the three-axis acceleration sensor are stored after the horizontal adjustment of the housing 2. The three-axis acceleration sensor can detect gravitational acceleration, and since gravitational acceleration is always applied in the vertical direction, when the housing 2 is tilted, the detection values ​​of each of the three axes change. Based on the change in the detection value, the degree of inclination of the housing 2 is calculated to detect the inclination of the housing 2. It may also be possible to display how the attitude should be corrected to return to a horizontal attitude. Conversely, when the change in each of the detection values ​​along the three axes is less than a certain level, it can be determined that the medicine dispensing device 1 is not tilted and its posture is stable.

[0181] Incidentally, the powdered medicine discharge operation in the medicine feeder 5 described above may be an operation in which the powdered medicine discharge unit 11 is kept in a closed state (with the shutter closed) and the medicine container 20 is vibrated, and then the powdered medicine discharge unit 11 is opened and the medicine container 20 is vibrated to discharge the medicine. In other words, prior to the operation in which the powdered medicine discharge unit 11 is opened and the medicine container 20 is vibrated (hereinafter also referred to as the open state vibration operation), an operation in which the powdered medicine discharge unit 11 is closed and the medicine container 20 is vibrated (hereinafter also referred to as the closed state vibration operation) may be executed. Here, the closed state vibration operation may be an operation that vibrates the medicine container 20 more strongly than the open state vibration operation. That is, the medicine feeder 5 may be configured to be able to change the vibration number (frequency) or the amplitude. The closed state vibration operation may be an operation with a larger vibration amount (vibration magnitude) than the open state vibration operation, or an operation with a larger number of vibrations per unit time. The closed state vibration operation may be an operation that vibrates the medicine container 20 with the strongest vibration, that is, an operation with the maximum vibration or the maximum number of vibrations per unit time. In more detail, immediately after filling the medicine container 20 with medicine, there may be no powdered medicine near the powdered medicine discharge section 11. If a normal powdered medicine discharge operation is performed in such a state, it may take a long time to discharge a small amount of powdered medicine. That is, if the powdered medicine discharge section 11 is opened and the medicine container 20 is vibrated with strong vibration, a large amount of powdered medicine may fall at once when the powdered medicine actually starts to be discharged. For this reason, it is difficult to vibrate the medicine container 20 with strong vibration when discharging a small amount. Also, if the vibration is weakened, a long time is required before the powdered medicine actually starts to be discharged. Therefore, by performing the above-mentioned closed state vibration operation and open state vibration operation to discharge powdered medicine, the time required to discharge powdered medicine can be shortened even when discharging a small amount of powdered medicine as described above.

[0182] Here, as shown in Figures 1 and 38(b), the above-mentioned manual tablet distribution device 303 is a member whose overall shape is roughly a rectangular parallelepiped, and is attached in a swingable state. That is, the position can be changed between a normal position (see Figure 1) in which the opening of the box-shaped part on the upper surface faces upward, and an inclined position (see Figure 38(b)) in which the opening faces rearward and upward. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the cleaning device 7 is disposed below the tablet manual distribution device 303 (see Fig. 1). The cleaning device 7 has a suction port 7a connected to a suction device (not shown), and is a device that generates negative pressure to suck in dirt (residual powdered medicine, dust, etc.) together with air. In detail, the cleaning device 7 has an extension 7b that extends from the outside to the inside of the distribution plate 6, and the suction port 7a is formed in this extension 7b. The cleaning device 7 cleans the distribution plate 6, and the suction port 7a is usually facing downward.

[0183] Here, in the medicine dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, the tablet manual distribution device 303 and the cleaning device 7 are linked. That is, when the tablet manual distribution device 303 is changed from the normal posture, which is the posture during use, to the inclined posture, the cleaning device 7 automatically performs a rotational operation accordingly, as shown in FIG. 38(b). Specifically, this rotational operation is an operation in which the extension part 7b rotates once, and the rotation axis at this time is the same direction as the extension direction of the extension part 7b. As a result, the suction port 7a goes from a state facing downward to a state facing side (side with respect to the normal state) and a state facing upward, and then returns to a state facing downward. With such a configuration, it becomes easier for the user to check whether the periphery of the suction port 7a of the cleaning device 7 is dirty. That is, when the user changes the posture of the tablet sprinkling device 303, this posture change is detected by a sensor (not shown) or the like, and the cleaning device 7 automatically starts rotating. By moving the cleaning device 7 in this way, it is possible to make it easier for the user to look at the cleaning device 7 (it is possible to easily attract the user's attention). Also, parts that are likely to get dirty around the suction port 7a and are difficult to see in the normal posture become easier to see. That is, if the periphery of the suction port 7a is dirty, the user can be made aware of the dirt. Subsequently, it is possible to prompt the user to determine whether cleaning of the cleaning device 7 (maintenance of the cleaning device 7) is necessary.

[0184] Water, cleaning liquid, etc. are put inside the chemical agent container 20, and in this state, the chemical agent container is attached to the feeder main body 10 and the chemical agent container 20 is vibrated, whereby the inside of the chemical agent container 20 can be cleaned.

[0185] Next, the upper lid 3 will be described. The upper lid 3 is provided with an electric display 800 as shown in FIG. 48. The electric display 800 has a plurality of light emitting groups 801a to 801f in which a plurality of light emitting parts 802 are arranged in a row. Each of the light emitting groups 801a to 801f corresponds to the chemical agent feeder 5 in the powder dispensing area 301. That is, six chemical agent feeders 5 are installed in the powder dispensing area 301. The light emitting group 801a corresponds to the chemical agent feeder 5a, the light emitting group 801b corresponds to the chemical agent feeder 5b, the light emitting group 801c corresponds to the chemical agent feeder 5c, the light emitting group 801d corresponds to the chemical agent feeder 5d, the light emitting group 801e corresponds to the chemical agent feeder 5e, and the light emitting group 801f corresponds to the chemical agent feeder 5f. In the present embodiment, the light emitting groups 801a - 801f are arranged in a fan shape. The light emitting parts 802 belonging to the light emitting group 801 are a mixture of those having different colors and / or brightnesses, and are arranged stepwise so that the colors etc. change gently from the center side towards the outside. In the present embodiment, the center side is a light color and emits light in a darker color towards the outside.

[0186] The light emitting group 801 emits electric light to inform the user of the operating status of the medicine dispensing device 1 so that the user can easily grasp the operating status. When the medicine dispensing device 1 is started and in the preparation stage, the light-emitting parts of the light-emitting group sequentially emit light according to the preparation status. The brightness and color may change. For example, they emit light sequentially according to the temperature rise of the heat seal heater. Similarly, when the tablet manual distribution device 303 is in the preparation stage, the light-emitting state changes according to the preparation stage. When the medicine dispensing device 1 is stopped, a fan for cooling the heater is driven, and the light-emitting parts of the light-emitting group are turned off depending on the cooling state. When there are multiple light-emitting groups, each light-emitting group may be turned off.

[0187] Moreover, the light emission state changes depending on the mounting state of the medicine container 20 in each medicine feeder 5. Furthermore, a warning is given if the medicine container 20 is left unattended. After the work for the day is completed, the drug container 20 is removed from the feeder body 10. If any drug container 20 is forgotten to be removed, the light emitting unit 802 of the corresponding light emitting group 801 is illuminated to warn the user. It is desirable to reduce the number of light emitting units 802 and light emitting groups 801 that are illuminated over time. The color and brightness of the light may be changed.

[0188] When powdered medicine is being dispensed from medicine container 20, light emitting units 802 of corresponding light emitting group 801 emit light in a predetermined order. For example, light may be emitted from the back to the front, or from a light color to a dark color. When the amount of medicine held in the medicine container 20 is insufficient for the requested amount to be dispensed, the light emitting unit 802 of the corresponding light emitting group 801 displays differently from usual. For example, the light is emitted from the front to the back, or from the dark side to the light side, which is the opposite of the usual case. When all the medicine in the medicine container 20 has been dispensed and the medicine container 20 becomes empty, the corresponding light emission group 801 goes into a specific light emission state.

[0189] If there is an error, a clearly different display is made, for example, all the light-emitting parts 802 are made to emit red light. The type of error is not limited, and possible errors include an abnormality in the drug container 20, an abnormality in the feeder body 10, and other abnormalities. In addition, the other abnormalities include an abnormality in the tablet manual distribution device 303.

[0190] It is desirable to make the light emitting group 801 emit light in accordance with the mounting state of the medicine container 20. The light emission states shown below are merely examples and are not limiting. For example, when the drug container 20 is not attached, the corresponding light emitting group 801 is in a predetermined light emitting state, and when the drug container 20 is attached, the light emitting group 801 is in a different light emitting state. For example, when the drug container 20 is not attached, the corresponding light emitting group 801 is turned off, and when the drug container 20 is attached, the light emitting group 801 emits light in a pale color or with low brightness. When a drug is being dispensed from the drug container 20, the corresponding light-emitting group 801 is in a predetermined light-emitting state, and when dispensing from the drug container 20 is temporarily stopped, the light-emitting group 801 is in a different light-emitting state. For example, when a drug is being dispensed from the drug container 20, the light-emitting unit 802 of the corresponding light-emitting group 801 is continuously lit, and when dispensing from the drug container 20 is temporarily stopped, the light-emitting unit 802 of the corresponding light-emitting group 801 flashes. When dispensing of the medicine container 20 is completed, the light emitting part 802 that was emitting light is turned off. When a drug container 20 is to be placed in a particular feeder body 10, the corresponding light emitting group 801 is in a predetermined light emitting state.

[0191] Also, the light emitting groups 801 may be illuminated in sequence in accordance with the rotation of the distribution dish 6. For example, the arc-shaped light-emitting portion 802a closest to the Yuyama logo is divided into small segments in the same direction as the rotation direction and lights up and flashes. The medicine dispensing device 1 may be illuminated in a predetermined light state according to the state of the medicine dispensing device 1 by a maintenance personnel performing a predetermined operation.

[0192] The opening and closing structure of the top cover 3 is not limited to a hinge. For example, covers 616 and 617 may be provided on a top cover 615 as shown in Figures 49 and 50. The cover 616 shown in FIG. 49 can be slid toward the rear as shown in FIG. 49(b), and by moving the cover 616 toward the rear, a part of the top lid 615 can be opened.

[0193] The cover 617 shown in Fig. 50 can be slid forward and then tucked underneath as shown in Fig. 50(b). The cover 617 shown in Fig. 50 can also be changed in position to open part of the top lid 615. [Industrial Applicability]

[0194] The present invention is a device for dispensing medicines, which can achieve the third Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), which is to "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages." The drug dispensing device of the present invention is a device that can be performed by non-pharmacists such as technicians by eliminating powdered drug inspection work such as powdered drug weighing that should be performed by qualified personnel such as pharmacists. Specifically, the worker can reliably perform and complete the packaging work required for the prescription by simply taking out the drug container number specified based on the prescription information, or the drug container specified by a lamp or the like if placed on a shelf, without being aware that it is a drug, and placing it on the drug dispensing device. This allows qualified pharmacists to shift from object-oriented work such as dispensing work to person-oriented work that faces patients, and since the necessary dispensing work can be performed by non-pharmacists, the third goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is to "ensure healthy lives and promote welfare for all at all ages." The present invention also reduces labor costs and improves economic productivity, which can also contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). [Explanation of symbols]

[0195] 1;drug dispensing device, 5;drug feeder, 6;distribution tray, 8;scraping device, 10;feeder body, 11,411;powdered drug discharge section, 13;drug input groove, 16;vibration member (container holding section), 18;vibration isolation means, 20,172,420,701;drug container, 22;feeder section, 23;container support section, 24;weight measuring section, 25;weight measuring means, 26;base section, 27;support stand, 28;vibration isolation member, 30;support side horizontal section, 30a;vibration means, 30b;vibration means, 31;support side vertical wall section, 32;vibration side horizontal section, 33;vibration side vertical wall section (vertical wall), 55;shutter opening / closing mechanism (opening / closing mechanism part), 56; engaging piece holding part, 61; large area side surface, 62; small area side surface, 68; partition plate, 70; container body, 71,471; box part, 72; flow straightening member, 73,473; shutter structure part, 75,475; lid member, 76; fastening member, 91,231,491,740; shutter member (opening / closing member), 110,232,510; closing wall, 117,517; powdered medicine passage, 130; engaging groove, 131; engaging recess, 132; recess, 152; temporary receiving plate, 301; powdered medicine dividing area, 302; medicine packaging area, 310; powdered medicine input hopper 705: detachment auxiliary member, 710: engagement portion, 760: protrusion portion, 766: partition portion

Claims

1. A medicine feeder having a medicine container in which powdered medicine is stored and a vibration member that vibrates the medicine container to discharge the powdered medicine, The medicine container has a powder medicine discharge portion, the vibration member is located on the rear wall side of the medicine container based on the posture of the medicine container attached to the vibration member; The medicine container is vibrated by the vibration member to discharge the powdered medicine from the powdered medicine discharge part at one end of the medicine container opposite to the rear wall of the medicine container; Further comprising a container support section and a vibration means, The medicament container further has a bottom wall; With reference to the posture in which the medicine container is attached to the vibration member, the powdered medicine discharge portion is provided at one end of the bottom wall opposite the rear wall, the vibration member holds the medicine container and vibrates the medicine container, and has a vibration-side vertical portion that comes into contact with a rear wall of the medicine container based on the posture of the medicine container attached to the vibration member; the container support portion holds the vibration member and has a support-side vertical portion opposed to the vibration-side vertical portion; The vibration means is disposed between the vibration-side vertical portion and the support-side vertical portion, and the vibration member is held by the vibration means on the container support portion; A medicine feeder in which a vibration means vibrates a medicine container using a vibration member held on a vibration side vertical portion, thereby discharging powdered medicine from the medicine container through a powdered medicine discharge portion.

2. The vibration member further has a vibration-side horizontal portion perpendicular to the vibration-side vertical portion, 2. The drug feeder according to claim 1, wherein the vibration-side horizontal portion is in contact with a bottom wall of the drug container.

3. The drug container further has an engagement portion, The vibration side vertical portion further has an engagement portion, 3. The drug feeder according to claim 1, wherein the engaging portion of the drug container engages with the engaging portion of the vibration-side vertical portion, so that the drug container is held on the vibration-side vertical portion.

4. The drug container is a rectangular parallelepiped.

4. The drug feeder according to claim 1, wherein the drug container further comprises a front wall, two side walls and a top wall.

5. The container support portion further includes a support-side horizontal portion perpendicular to the support-side vertical portion, The support-side horizontal portion and the vibration-side horizontal portion are not in contact with each other, 5. The drug feeder according to claim 1, further comprising a weight measuring means disposed below the support-side horizontal portion.

6. A drug dispensing device that takes out a predetermined amount of powdered medicine from a drug container, divides it into a predetermined number of portions, and then individually packages and discharges the portions. A distribution plate having a medicine injection groove and rotated by a power source is provided, A medicine dispensing device comprising a plurality of medicine feeders according to any one of claims 1 to 5 disposed in the vicinity of the distribution tray, for discharging powdered medicine from a medicine container and depositing the powdered medicine into a medicine input groove in the distribution tray.

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